King

77: Chapter 76, Replicating Original Iron Smelting Process_1 77: Chapter 76, Replicating Original Iron Smelting Process_1 With a newly acquired fertile land, Hudson’s original territorial development plan had to be completely reconsidered.

The development of the mining area was of utmost importance, but achieving self-sufficiency in food was also crucial.

With no one to maintain it, there wasn’t much hope for a substantial harvest this season, but it couldn’t continue to be neglected in the following season.

No matter what is planted next, a large labor force is required.

If we want to cultivate over twenty thousand acres of land with current productivity, at least seven to eight hundred strong laborers should be deployed.

This is assuming that there are enough livestock.

Without four or five hundred horses or cows, it simply cannot be done.

Mining is a labor-intensive industry, and all the intermediate phases, from “charcoal burning—mining—ore selection—smelting—continuous casting,” require abundant manual labor.

Without a substantial labor force, it would be tough to restore the previous capacity within a short period.

As the primary source of income for the territory, mining production must be prioritized.

There simply isn’t enough labor to spare for agricultural work.

Using the comparatively weak labor force of the elderly, women, and children, double manpower is a must.

Considering the severe shortage of livestock in the territory, more labor is needed to make up for this shortfall.

Relying on his solid mathematical knowledge, Hudson quickly reached the conclusion that there was a severe shortage of population in his territory.

Without mentioning expanding productivity, just restoring previous production levels, the labor force in the territory is far from sufficient.

Now it all depended on how many people his subordinates could persuade to come over.

If there is a severe shortage of labor, they would have to figure out a solution at that time.

After all, even if they wanted to buy slaves, there was a shortage in the Southeastern Province!

All the lords of the territories in Layton and Wharton Counties were desperately short of people, and the competition for getting people had already begun.

Before the territory was determined, the price of young and robust slaves in the Southeastern Province had risen by a third.

At this moment, it must have skyrocketed even further.

Hudson, who wasn’t well-off, didn’t have the capability to overspend.

He did not have enough fund to buy slaves before, and he could even less afford to do so now.

Some domain people were dispatched to newly acquired land for cultivation.

With the expansion of the army’s patrol range, Hudson’s focus once again returned to the mining area.

Simple barracks had been set up.

While the living conditions were still rudimentary, at least they weren’t sleeping on the ground with only the sky as their blanket.

They had a fair amount of charcoal, and the mine had been almost cleared.

Although the Rebel Army caused much destruction, the primary deposits in the Salam Mountain Range were near the surface.

The best locations could be mined in the open.

The less favorable, the mine tunnels would only extend a few tens of meters at most.

With their current mining technique, trying to extract buried ore from deep underground was courting death.

The profits from iron ore are good, but it hasn’t driven the lords to desperate measures.

If they strike gold, silver, or the even more valuable magic crystal mines, miners can only pray for the protection of the Lord of the Dawn.

Considering the severe shortage of labor in the territory and Hudson’s conscientious lordship, they naturally wouldn’t consider mining the deep strata, even if the ores beneath the ground offered higher purity.

Under the strong request of the lord himself, the ironworkers, who had completed the preliminary preparations, initiated the first smelting session after the war.

Hudson watched as the miners put the iron ore and charcoal into the clay furnace and started the fire.

The bellows, used as a stand-in for the alchemy wind machine, began working.

It was clear that the workers were uneasy about this new equipment.

Like a detached observer, Hudson only watched from afar for a few moments before leaving the smelting field.

Primitive ironmaking technology coupled with charcoal that doesn’t burn hot enough, it was almost inevitable that the quality of the pig iron produced would not pass muster.

No miracles took place.

The iron lump taken out of the furnace was very loose, similar to an anthill, filled with big and small holes.

Its purity was so low, Hudson didn’t even bother to comment.

However, the workers were quite enthusiastic.

Apparently, the pig iron they normally smelted was of a similar quality.

No complaints needed, they moved onto the next process: hammering—burning—hammering—burning—hammering…
After repeated processing for several hours, and once the iron lump had solidified enough, the workers submerged it in water for hardening.

Poor quality pig iron formed into shape could traditionally be taken to the market and traded for quite a price.

Based on the pig iron’s quality, and using pre-war market prices, each pound of pig iron could be sold for about 30-55 copper coins.

What it was later processed into was the blacksmiths’ business.

After all, the former lord, Viscount Alphonse, never provided after-sales service, nor did he care what the customers did with his product.

Seeing the current sample, Hudson quashed his idea of immediate mass production.

Without a doubt, the pig iron before him was substandard.

To improve the quality of the metal, it would have to go through continuous hammering and burning.

Further processing wasn’t carried out because the cost benefits ratio of continuing forging was too low.

After all, they were using charcoal.

Given the current technology, even after being hammered a hundred times, the strength was unlikely to meet the weapons-making standard.

According to the original production mode, selling pig iron could make money, but the profit was far less lucrative than Hudson had anticipated.

The price of pig iron seemed high, but the output of the mine was low.

Based on the workers’ memories, during the peak period in Salam Mining Area, there were more than four thousand workers.

But according to what Hudson knew, Viscount Alphonse, the largest supplier of pig iron in the Southeastern Province, only had a shipment volume of slightly less than a pitiful 180,000 pounds a month.

Even if some of it was used by the workers themselves, the daily production per person was only about one and a half pounds.

The efficiency was unspeakably low.

Considering the need to purchase a portion of the charcoal and the higher nutritional needs of the miners due to the heavy physical labor, added the taxes, the cost of maintaining the infrastructure and equipment, the estimated profit will be about 50%.

Considering most of the pig iron produced by the territory was of low quality, with a discounted price for large-scale wholesale, according to the selling price of 25 copper coins/pound, the income from a monthly shipment of 180,000 lbs would be about 3000 gold coins, with an approximate net income of around fifteen hundred gold coins.

This income seemed quite good and could rank high among many baron’s territories in the Kingdom, but it was far from the massive profit Hudson anticipated.

To get a higher return, improving smelting techniques, increasing capacity, and the quality of pig iron, were of utmost importance.

Without the support of an industrial system, high-tech technology was out of the question.

Hudson was left with the only option of traditional techniques.

The process of blast furnace ironmaking is widely known, but the actual operation isn’t simple at all.

Luckily, Hudson traveled a lot and had personally seen many remains of blast furnaces, hence, he somewhat understood the process of blast furnace ironmaking.

Attempting to build a blast furnace by mimicking what he had seen, Hudson ended up teaching the workers how to make kiln bricks instead.

After working with his craftsmen back and forth for half a month, experiencing many failures, Hudson finally produced the first kiln bricks.

The quality was indescribable, perhaps due to the inability to control the fire properly, or the chosen soil not being up to par, or maybe the workers didn’t fully understand Hudson’s instructions.

Most of the bricks had cracks and only a small fraction were slightly usable.

Directing the workers to attempt building a blast furnace, Hudson found himself mentally and physically exhausted.

Scaling the technology tree was not a task for ordinary people.

Copying the most basic original iron smelting technology was already this trouble.

If it was a more advanced technology requiring the support of other industries, what then?