Workers lined up to climb up to the feeding port, threw the selected iron ore into the steelmaking furnace together with charcoal, and lit the furnace fire to start ironmaking.

Dawn Continent ironmaking has stepped out of the unique technology tree.

Alchemy includes steel-making techniques, and many special steels require the help of magic.

In the kingdom of Makholm, Sophia has seen alchemy blowers, as well as special catalytic reductions.

Alchemy blowers can provide energy through magic crystals, and the ventilation effect is very good, which can be compared to large electric blowers.

But the price of alchemy blowers is very high, and none of them are sold in the Grant Kingdom.

If you want to buy this large alchemical item, you can only order it from countries with high magic such as Macholm.

Buying an alchemy blower from Makholm, tens of thousands of gold coins can't be beaten.

Without alchemy blowers, the vents had to be replaced by large bellows.

The bellows manufacturing technique was very simple, Richard found two carpenters, described them a little, and the carpenters made a qualified bellows.

There was no shortage of wood in the territory, and large bellows were quickly manufactured.

The three of them pulled the large bellows, and a stream of air entered the steelmaking furnace.

The primitive smelting process, coupled with the insufficient temperature of charcoal burning, the quality of the smelted pig iron is average.

Not only is the texture loose, but there are also large and small holes on the surface.

However, the interest of the workers' gate was very high.

After all, without using magic alchemy technology, a furnace can smelt several tons of pig iron, an efficiency that has never been seen in the Dawn Continent.

The ordinary iron-making furnace in the Dawn Continent, the pig iron smelted in ordinary times, is not only of average quality, but also very small in weight, and only one furnace can smelt about dozens of catties of raw iron.

This kind of iron-making furnace is the kind of clay furnace that is more than one meter high.

After smelting the pig iron, the ironmaker hands the pig iron to the blacksmith and moves on to the next round of the process.

Constantly beating, calcining, after thousands of tempering, put into the coolant quenching, become a qualified steel.

The price of this steel is very expensive, according to the normal price in peacetime, about twenty copper coins per kilogram.

In wartime, the price of iron may increase several times.

Of course, the price of steel will fluctuate with the quality, the better the quality, the higher the price of steel, and the lower the quality, the lower the price.

The worst quality freshly baked pig iron is about six copper coins per kilogram.

Working as a part-time worker in the market, each person earns about four copper coins a day.

A day's labor can be exchanged for less than a kilogram of the worst pig iron.

Buying a long knife of a little more than two kilograms, the price is more than three silver coins, and it requires ordinary people to work for a month without eating or drinking.

In fact, ordinary people need to support their families and save money to buy a knife, which usually takes half a year to a year.

A set of full-body armor weighs more than 20 kilograms, and the material money is about two gold coins.

To make iron armor, it also requires the consumption of a large amount of charcoal, artificial.

Blacksmiths who can make iron armor are excellent talents wherever they go, and their salaries are higher than those of the soldiers of the main legion.

A piece of iron armor in the market often costs more than ten gold coins.

Ordinary families struggle for ten years, but they may not be able to save up to buy an iron armor.

In addition to blast furnace ironmaking, Richard also knew about a crucible steelmaking technique.

But what proportion of graphite clay was mixed into the crucible, Richard did not know. In addition, the manufacture of high-temperature refractory crucibles is also a precursor technology for crucible steelmaking.

Richard did not know the technical details, so he had to explain to Thomas, the director of the steel mill, and ask him to study the technology.

Thomas successfully forged the large iron cauldron and became the leader of the blacksmith team.

His blacksmithing skills were not the best among the many blacksmiths, but this man was very intelligent, liked to specialize in smelting, successfully made an iron pot, received Richard's reward, and stood out from many blacksmiths.

The steelmaking plant is divided into four workshops: mining, selection, steelmaking, and forging.

For the time being, there are more than 600 male and female workers, and in addition, there are more than 500 elderly people and children living in the barracks of the steel mill, all of whom are family members of steelmakers.

When these people entered Haaland's territory, they also became indentured slaves, and they had to work for the lord for five years before they could be freed.

After the steel mill is put into operation, it can open the furnace four times a month, and make about eight tons of steel a month.

The output of eight tons of steel a month looks very funny, and a village-run steel plant in a major steel province in the past century could have a production capacity of several million tons.

However, the monthly output of eight tons of steel in Haaland's territory is already the lord with the largest steel production in Geda Province.

There were only a few big nobles who produced more steel than Richard. The number of people who invested in the steel industry by the great nobles was at least more than 10,000.

The efficiency of the steel mill in the territory is already about ten times that of other lords.

Eight tons of steel, one and a half tons of territory for their own use, mainly used to make agricultural tools, weapons and equipment.

If there is a surplus of steel products, you can open a shop in Heihe Fort to sell them.

Two and a half tons were used to make weapons, equip new squadrons, and increase the coverage of iron armor.

With the increase in the number of blacksmiths, the annual output of Haaland has reached the level of eighty iron armors.

The remaining four tons of steel, Richard is ready to sell.

Four tons of steel, according to the market price of about 222 gold coins.

Even if a large amount of steel from Haaland's territory was put into the market, causing a certain amount of market volatility and reducing the price of steel by 10 percent, Richard would be able to earn 200 gold coins a month.

In a year, it increased the cash of 2,400 gold coins, and also saved the cost of buying steel.

Coupled with the income from the monthly city brick orders, the development of the territory has finally formed a positive cycle.

By August, Richard had begun to pay off his debts.

After the Haraland family was granted a fiefdom and William became a hereditary baron, he had already incurred a debt of 8,000 gold coins in recent years.

In the first year of buying slaves, he owed four thousand for the management of the territory, and for the next two years he had to borrow money every year. With some interest, the size of the debt has doubled to eight thousand gold coins.

The first to be repaid was the loan shark owed by William.

The annual interest rate of these usurys is 20 percent, and with the annual interest rollover, it will double about twice in three years.

can put usury in Heihe Fort, so that people like William dare not default, there must be a big man standing behind it.

Such a big man, the Haaland family can't afford to offend.

With the income from the territory, Richard had a bottom in his heart, and immediately withdrew cash to repay the loan shark.

As for the money borrowed from his uncle Soros and Lady Ola's brother Rand, he can only repay part of it first, and pay it off slowly in two installments.

Now the Haaland family is already a relatively important nobleman in Geda Province, controlling three territories and controlling a population of more than 17,000.

There are five squadrons of soldiers in the territory, and the strength has surpassed that of most baronial families.

Having such aristocratic relatives is very beneficial to the development of in-laws.

Rand does business in Fort Blackriver and Fort Wright, and will not be easily bullied. Uncle Soros can also use the channel of Haaland's territory to make war achievements, and he is not worried about being deducted.

Although I owe money to my relatives, everyone can accept it for the time being.

(End of chapter)