Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 156 Blast Furnace Steelmaking
Between the vast farm and the mine in the southwest of the territory, a newly built workshop complex is bustling with activity.

Cartloads of iron ore pulled here from the mine by alchemical camels are piled up into towering hills in the open-air ore stockpile area. They are then transported by metal cranes and continuously sent to the iron foundry to be smelted into finished iron ingots.

As the iron ore output of the mines in the territory became more and more stable, Harvey moved many production factories originally located in the core area of the territory to the peripheral areas far away from the market area and residential areas, and officially named it the Industrial Zone.

After all, the previous iron foundry and civilian iron workshop operated on a three-shift work system, with harsh production noises heard all day long, and pungent smoke from smelting waste filled the air over the entire territory, seriously affecting Harvey's daily routine and the air quality in the territory.

He decisively waved his hand and asked Reiner to arrange the construction department to relocate all production units except the magic military factory to the outskirts of the territory, away from his castle and municipal residential area.

The original site after the demolition was allocated separately to Egno, who began to formally build his magic potion botanical garden. The remaining scattered plots allowed this natural spellcaster to quickly catalyze the planting of a large number of green trees and flower shrubs that purify the air, turning the original polluting factories into exquisite street gardens.

"Replace the cold water for the alchemy beast! Let it continue to blow air into the furnace!" A factory supervisor in charge of smelting iron ore in the iron foundry loudly directed the workers.

Next to the cement brick furnace, a huge alchemical beast lay on the ground, with its huge black mouth facing the furnace mouth, constantly moving its belly made of animal skin to blow air into the furnace.

Several skilled workers carried buckets of ice water that had been rapidly cooled by the frozen magic stones and poured the ice water into the alchemy beast from the water inlet on its back. They then pulled the joystick on its side to expel excess high-temperature steam from its tail.

Although they couldn't see what was happening inside the furnace, the workers continued to add burning charcoal into the furnace. Their faces were red from the high temperature from the furnace, and their light gray uniforms kept getting wet and dry, leaving behind a large area of white sweat crystals.

"Boss! The iron ore has melted, and I see the molten iron rolling in the furnace!" A worker stood on the top of the furnace, responsible for observing the situation inside the furnace and reporting to his supervisor at any time.

"Hurry up! Open the bottom slag outlet."

Several workers guarding the furnace immediately used long iron hooks to pull open the iron grid behind the furnace, allowing the slag that had flowed into the special groove to flow out through the slag discharge port.

These slag wastes cannot be discarded at will. They still need to be flushed with water and cooled, and then transported to the stockpile yard by alchemical camel beasts. Naturally, people from the Ministry of Construction will arrange for their transportation. According to them, these are excellent road paving and foundation materials.

The workers in the iron foundry privately called those guys from the Ministry of Construction who were covered in dust all day long "gray donkeys."

Whether it was cement powder from a cement factory, fine slag from a cast iron factory, or even riverbed sand excavated from a dock construction site, they accepted them all, as if any bit of ash could be considered a treasure.

Under the direction of their supervisor, the workers opened the slag outlet intermittently several times. The worker in charge of observation reported that all the molten iron in the furnace had sunk to the bottom and flowed into a special groove. They only needed to open the iron outlet to let the molten iron flow out and into a special cast iron mold to cool, and then they could obtain freshly baked finished iron ingots.

The factory supervisor wiped the greasy sweat from his face. He had already completed the cast iron production target that he was responsible for during the morning shift.

"Alright! Everyone, shut down the Alchemy Beast and cool it down. Follow safety procedures and be careful of the high-temperature steam!"

"Also, change into clean work clothes and wash off your dirty faces. I've received notice that the Ministry of Construction's grimy donkeys might come to the industrial zone for a survey this afternoon. Don't show up looking dirty and embarrass our Ministry..."

……

Haru is the luckiest and most intelligent guy among the first batch of wasteland refugees to join the territory.

Although he tragically lost one leg during his enslavement by the evil orcs, his stonemasonry skills helped him to survive. Instead of being slaughtered as food for the evil orcs, he remained with them, helping them set up camp and dig stoves. After being rescued by Lord Pierce, he joined Lord Harvey's domain and quickly received elementary literacy training from Mr. Asdalen, becoming the first wasteland refugee in the domain to be able to read and write fluently.

The more than one year he spent living in the territory was a hundred times happier than the first thirty years of his life combined.

Lord Harvey gave him the opportunity to earn food and wages through labor, so that after building the first batch of houses, Haru got a new two-story house of his own as he wished.

Moreover, because he was good at stonemasonry, he was recruited by the lord into the municipal center and became a territorial official with a fixed salary and high subsidies every month, and he was also the chief official in charge of the construction department!
He was naturally grateful to the lord, and diligently continued the construction work he was responsible for in the territory, ensuring the quality and quantity of the work. With the help of the people who continued to join the territory and the technical staff of the Construction Department, he built the pioneer territory into its current appearance bit by bit.

Lord's castle, resident community, municipal building, convenience market...

When the towering city wall that surrounded the territory for dozens of miles was officially completed, the lord personally put an exquisite badge made of black iron on his chest, patted him on the shoulder and praised him as the cornerstone of the frontier territory and an outstanding pioneer in the development of the territory.

Everyone standing on the newly built city wall applauded and cheered for him, and Lord Harvey smiled and supported him as he almost collapsed to the ground from crying. This scene was unforgettable for him for the rest of his life.

Later, the territory city hall directly rewarded him with a house, so that he no longer had to save money to buy the property rights of the rental house.

After working for fifteen years, he can rest at home without working, and he will still receive a generous allowance every month. Lord Reiner said that it is called a pension, and he can receive it until his death.

What is the difference between this luxurious treatment and entering the kingdom of gods?

"Minister? Minister!" The deputy beside him gently pulled Haru's sleeve, interrupting his beautiful fantasy of retirement life and making him immediately turn his attention back to the real world.

Yes, the lord has given him a new construction task, but he needs to cooperate with the people from the Ministry of Industry to complete it.

He carefully picked up the architectural drawing given to him by the lord, which showed a... tall tower.

The tower was marked with a height of nearly seven meters, several times taller than the furnaces he had previously built for the Ministry of Industry. The tower was thin at the top and thick at the bottom, with the smallest internal diameter being two and a half meters. If it was not built with cement-concrete bricks, it would easily collapse, and a support system connected to the tower and the foundation must be built with cast iron at the bottom.

There is a circle of vents at the bottom of the tower, and its shape is designed to allow the alchemy beast to blow air into the tower.

There is also a set of facility drawings that match the tower, which is a set of ore transportation equipment that uses alchemy beasts as power, and an iron ore transportation line with rails and special mine carts.

"This tall tower... no, it's a furnace tower!" Haru turned to the end of the drawing and saw the name of the drawing written by the lord himself - Steelmaking Blast Furnace Design Drawing.

His task was to build six such magnificent furnace towers and all the supporting facilities and equipment in the industrial zone.

"This is a test from our Lord!" Haru rolled up the blueprints and waved his fists at his men. "Let's go! Let's go to the industrial zone and survey the construction site. Let's show those stokers from the Ministry of Industry what we can do!"

(End of this chapter)