Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 417 Eastern Investigation
The huge airship landed at the pioneering base in the eastern basin, attracting the busy workers around to stop and stare in amazement at the flying vehicle slowly descending from the sky.

Harvey was the first to walk down from the airship pod, but the Eye of Illusion who followed behind him had unsteady steps, and the other three necromancers who were experiencing the test flight also staggered.

"Ugh... Ugh..." Michelle, looking pale, could no longer bear it. She dry-heaved several times with a painful expression and apologized to Harvey, "Lord City Lord, I'm so sorry. I've never experienced flying before... I didn't expect it to be so uncomfortable."

The Eye of Illusion quickly said, "For some reason, I can fly normally when I use my own magic, but when I get on this airship that can take off without any magic power, I feel dizzy... Could it be that Mr. Michel and I are both spellcasters who are naturally unsuited to flying?"

Harvey couldn't help but hold back his laughter. He had heard in the past that some people had a "special constitution that doesn't make them sick when driving but makes them sick when sitting in a car". There was no way to solve the problem with medication or treatment, and they could only rely on forcing themselves to adapt.

"I heard that a saline-alkali land was discovered near the mountains in the southwest of the basin, and a large area of saltwater reeds grew there?" Harvey summoned the city hall officials temporarily stationed at the Dongtuo base and asked with interest.

Although it was a test flight attempt of the airship, Harvey's main purpose was to come to the pioneer base to inspect the development work.

The northern wasteland is rich in copper and iron deposits. At the beginning of the development of Spark City, mining was also the pillar industry. However, people's livelihood industries such as salt and sugar have always been weak. Harvey was forced to rely on many chambers of commerce in the southern border to "import" sea salt and sugar from the distant southern coast, which was a heavy expenditure burden on the city's finances.

Although a special salt-extracting crop, saltwater reed, a specialty of the North, was discovered later, the fertile land was mostly used for grain cultivation and salt production was not expanded on a large scale. Therefore, the fortunate discovery of a large salt mine in the eastern basin was truly a pleasant surprise.

"Lord City Lord, that saline-alkali land is even larger than the Green Water Swamp near Spark City..." The official in charge of mineral resource surveys at the City Hall was delighted. "We'll first arrange for workers to work with the alchemy beasts to harvest the naturally growing saltwater reeds in the saline-alkali land and send them to the Dongtuo base for processing..."

"What about the salt mines? How will they be mined? What will the quality be like?" Harvey didn't know much about the salt-making industry of this era. He used his preconceived common sense from his previous life to judge and subconsciously believed that sea salt was of better quality than mine salt.

A saltworker who had previously served the nobles in Grizzli Territory stepped forward and said, "Your Excellency, in the past in Grizzli Territory... brine was mined by drilling salt wells. The salt production method was slightly different from that in coastal areas, primarily relying on boiling."

The northern border is different from the southern coastal area. There is no constant sea breeze and high temperature sunshine day and night, so it is naturally impossible to use the salt drying method to produce large quantities of sea salt. The two salt wells in Frost Flower Town and Mill Town in Grizzli Territory can only barely supply the entire border area of the principality with the well salt... The output is not even enough to sell it to other places.

"No wonder the market price of salt in the central countries has always been high..." Harvey touched his chin and sighed.

The salt worker sighed and quietly complained to his city lord, "It's incredibly difficult to get salt out of the deep wells manually... The well openings are small, and you can't just drop buckets down to collect it. Whenever we collect brine, we have to first pour a large amount of hot water into the well. Once the brine dissolves into the water, we scoop it up bit by bit using a specially made copper barrel with a pointed bottom."

Harvey ordered his attendant to bring pen and paper, and instructed the salt worker to draw a simple diagram of the salt well and the salt removal tools. After taking a look at it, he wondered, "Why do you have to make the well mouth so small? Can't you just expand it and dig it out?"

The salt worker smiled and said, "City Lord, the salt layer is deeper than the metal ore layer. If we dig like digging a well, the well wall will collapse when we dig halfway... But now it is much easier. With your magic-powered machine, we can rely on copper pipes to directly extract brine from the salt well. The two pipes go in and out, and the production efficiency is incomparable." So that's how it is. It seems that the method of collecting well salt by injecting water and soaking in brine is a method that people are forced to use in this era due to technological limitations, but it is an effective and empirical method after all. Now that we have the assistance of magic-powered machinery, the collection efficiency can be greatly improved, and there is no need to go to great lengths to make any technological innovations.

If sufficient salt production can be obtained from the eastern basin, it will not only bring the much-needed large amount of high-quality salt to Spark City, but also greatly alleviate the financial pressure on the city hall to import sea salt from the southern coast. When it comes to people's livelihood issues such as food, clothing, housing and transportation, Harvey is absolutely unwilling to pass the costs on to the people. The price stability of grain, salt and sugar is the bottom line principle.

"I see... Now let's talk about sugar production."

The south grows sugarcane to extract sugar, and the north grinds grains to make maltose... It is completely consistent with the world Harvey lived in in his previous life, but it is also a completely unchangeable fact that sugarcane cannot be grown in the cold north.

Even the half-elf Egno, who is proficient in plant modification and seed enchantment, said he was powerless to do anything about it... The means to completely change the growth habits of crops is not something that a mortal spellcaster can easily do. I'm afraid it really requires the power of the gods.

Fortunately, the vast and rich land of the Northern Wasteland can always bring Harvey some special surprises at critical moments.

Harvey was still shocked when he saw the pioneer officials happily pushing a wooden cart and bringing a huge plant fruit as big as a washbasin to him.

"Melon?" He raised his hand and patted the huge fruit that was still covered in mud, and found that it did not feel like a melon or fruit.

"It's not a fruit... City Lord, this is something dug out from the ground, something like a cassava tuber." The official took out a small knife and inserted it into the fruit tuber in front of everyone. After stirring it around, he pulled it out. Immediately, a sticky but slightly yellow juice like honey gurgled out from the broken part of the tuber.

Before Harvey could reach out, Captain Tommy snatched out two fingers, dipped them in the thick juice, and quickly put them into his mouth to suck. "It's sweet! But it's not as sweet as honey..."

In the southern and northern regions, where sugarcane cultivation and sugar production were already impossible, honey, a rare commodity with limited production, had always been something only aristocratic families could afford. Ordinary people simply could not enjoy it...

The pioneer official quickly said, "But it's better than honey! This stuff is the rhizome of a woody plant that grows in the middle of the basin... The reserves are as much as an endless forest!"

Harvey clapped his hands and smiled with satisfaction. "Then call it the Sugar Tree! A saltwater reed that resembles sugarcane... a tree whose rhizomes can be used to extract sugar. The Northern Wastes truly offer unexpected surprises at every turn."

(End of this chapter)