As the Midsummer Day was drawing to a close and Border Town was about to usher in the last and hottest month of summer, Roland felt less and less inclined to leave the castle.
The saltpeter he bought from Margie was not only used to make gunpowder, but the remainder was also used to lower the room temperature. Now, almost every room had a bucket filled with saltpeter and water, with a kettle soaking inside. This not only absorbed heat and cooled the room, but also provided ice water to quench his thirst. Only in this way could he avoid being drenched in sweat as soon as he sat down in his office.
Apart from Anna, he also ordered the other witches to stop working. Besides the necessary daily practice and study, they mostly gathered in the hall on the first floor, either chatting or playing Gwent against each other, looking quite cheerful. As for Anna... it wasn't that Roland didn't want her to rest, but that she wasn't afraid of the heat at all. She could hold red-hot iron ingots directly in her hands, and the high temperature of the hot summer was nothing to her. Even if she stood by the steel furnace for an afternoon, she wouldn't sweat a drop.
To reward the diligent and serious Anna, Roland had recently been making ice desserts for her, such as the classic delicacy of later generations, ice cream—made by mixing egg yolks, cream, milk, and sugar water evenly, and then cooling it with saltpeter. Anna loved this cold, glutinous, soft, and exceptionally sweet snack very much. Every time she took small bites of ice cream, her lake-blue eyes curving into slits, he found the sight pleasing.
In addition to this, reviewing the various month-end summary reports sent by the City Hall was also a great pleasure.
So far, the population of Border Town had doubled again, approaching ten thousand people. With the serfs "submitted" by Longsong Stronghold every month, it would be no problem to break through the twenty thousand mark by next year. Not counting the population of villages and towns within the territory, this scale was roughly comparable to large cities such as Clearwater City, Goldenshield City, and the Royal Capital.
The only slight regret was that while the population had increased significantly, the quality had not improved much. Currently, the only people receiving education were the town's original thousand or so residents, and it would likely take about a year for them to graduate smoothly. Although Karl's privately-run academy had produced a batch of early graduates, the number of fewer than a hundred was still insignificant compared to the total population.
Perhaps he should start educating the refugees from the Eastern Territory first, instead of waiting until enough dormitory communities were built, Roland thought. After all, there were only benefits and no drawbacks to starting education early.
The town's factories were also developing very well.
After more than half a year of construction, the industrial park now had three factories in operation: two steam engine production plants and one bullet factory. The number of workers in Factory No. 1 had expanded from a dozen or so blacksmiths at the beginning to more than a hundred now. The subsequent additions were mostly original residents—which was exactly what he wanted to see, a batch of apprentices gradually growing into artisans, and then driving the next batch of apprentices.
The workers in Factory No. 2 belonged to the Crescent Moon Bay Merchant Guild. In just one month, they had roughly mastered the use of the various machine tools. Although the yield rate was relatively poor, compared to the blacksmiths in Factory No. 1, these artisans' performance in the first month was clearly more outstanding. However, before the expiration of the contract, the steam engines they produced belonged to Roland. Now, the two factories could produce about ten steam engines per month, which was also Border Town's main source of income.
As for the bullet factory, after it was built, it was directly handed over to the First Army. Not only were there sentry posts at the entrance, but patrols were arranged around the perimeter, and even the production work was done by soldiers. After a week of trial operation, mass production of new-generation fixed ammunition had begun.
The assembly line designed by Roland could not achieve fully mechanized production. Whether it was the primer, gunpowder, or bullet head, it all required manual loading and compaction. The main processing tools were two mechanical stamping machines, one of which could press the copper sheets cut by Anna into bullet casing shapes, and the other was used to press primer cups.
The soldiers only needed to evenly place mercury fulminate powder between two thin pieces of paper, glue the paper together, insert it into the primer cup, and finally insert the primer cup into the ring-shaped groove at the end of the bullet casing, and the process was complete. As for the process of loading black gunpowder and compacting the bullet head, it was exactly the same as the previous reloading practice.
There were not many people in the factory, only forty or so, and they could produce more than five hundred bullets almost every day. Roland planned to turn these forty or so
people into full-time processing personnel to maintain the normal operation of the bullet factory.
Next, what Roland planned to make up for were the soap factory and the perfume factory—the former was a very important part of the military industry, and the latter might open up a new trade channel for the town. As for the bicycle factory, it could be delayed a little longer, as long as it was put into production before the Kingdom Avenue was completed.
“Your Highness,” Nightingale said as she pushed the door open, “Maggie and Lightning are here.”
The two squeezed past Nightingale and ran to the table, poking their heads out. “You wanted to see us?”
“Tomorrow is the last month of summer,” Roland said, taking out the letter he had already written from the drawer and handing it to Maggie. “When you return to the Fjords, remember to pass it on to Tilly.”
“Ah…!” She was stunned for a moment, blinked a few times, and then took the envelope, carefully stuffing it into her close-fitting bag. “No problem, gu!”
Seeing her look of sudden realization, she probably didn't remember that she had to go back to report every month. Roland resisted the smile in his heart. It seemed that the charm of the town was really quite great.
“I forgot that tomorrow is the new month again,” Lightning pressed her forehead. “Doesn't that mean we won't be able to see each other for a long time again?”
“Last time, it was Lady Tilly's cleaning plan that delayed the time. I'll be back as soon as possible this time,” Maggie shook her long white hair that was almost dragging on the ground. “That Eagle Nest is not allowed to be explored until I come back... gu!”
“I know,” the little girl pouted. “It's settled then.”
“You also have a mission,” Roland spread out a map of the southern area of the town. “This is the map you drew yourself. Do you remember the location of the shallow beach near the mountains facing the sea?”
“I remember,” Lightning gestured on the map. “It's probably around this place.”
“Very good. You will take Maggie for a flight later, and then insert two flags at the junction of the shallow beach and the mountains, and mark them on the map,” he instructed, then looked at Maggie. “If Tilly agrees to send witches, you will guide the sailboat to this shallow beach location, and I will be waiting for you on the top of the mountain.”
“Send witches?” Lightning asked curiously. “Are there new sisters coming to Border Town?”
“I don't know yet,” Roland smiled slightly. “It depends on Tilly's answer... but I think she will agree.”(。)