Wizard Farming Guide.

Chapter 127 Magic Mechanism

"Let me see. This new batch of citizens numbers over five thousand, with young adults making up more than 80%, along with seven knights and over three hundred professional soldiers."

Rod took the report handed to him by Owen, the statistician of Rivermouth Town.

The above details the specific circumstances of those exiled nobles after their registration.

"There are about 500 knowledgeable people who can read and do arithmetic and have received professional education, which is quite good."

After reviewing the relevant records, Rod nodded in satisfaction.

Besides the knights and professional soldiers, many of the commoners among these exiled nobles were also quite remarkable.

Blacksmiths, carpenters, tailors, clerks, and so on—unlike village serfs, they were more like working-class people from big cities, often possessing a special skill.

It is no exaggeration to say that any barren new territory can quickly develop its industries once it gains access to these civilians.

The time required for town construction, which originally took more than three years, has been reduced by half.

This is the foundation of the Alvis family as a duchy viscount family, and their hope for a future resurgence.

But now, with Chief Meg choosing to submit, all that heritage has benefited Rhodes.

"Disperse all the professional soldiers and have them join the army's third battalion. Chief Meg, who is an Extreme Knight, will be put in charge of the Iron Wall Battalion as its deputy battalion commander, stationed at River Mouth Town."

Rhodes made the arrangements, "After Holmes drinks the Snow Lotus Potion, his advancement to Extreme Knight will be just around the corner this month, so there's no need to worry about him not being able to suppress it."

"As for knowledgeable people, we still need to disrupt them first and disperse them to different guilds in the three territories."

Although Hekou Town urgently needs talent to manage its businesses, its foundation is too weak.

Directly assigning these new talents could easily lead to a dispersion of power, which the existing management system cannot withstand.

Rhodes planned to use these knowledgeable individuals to first establish the guild's education system.

To improve the living standards of the original inhabitants of the territory and facilitate balanced management.

Besides that, the most important thing was the expansion of the army.

The arrival of new residents also means a sufficient labor force, which can significantly increase the iron ore production in Mole Town.

The commerce that developed in River Mouth Town was enough to give Rhodes the funds to develop a stronger army.

In the days that followed, he planned to add two hundred cavalry to his personal guard.

The Iron Wall Battalion has been reinforced with 600 shield and spear soldiers.

The Divine Archer Battalion has been reinforced with 200 longbowmen and 200 crossbowmen.

If all goes well, the total number of the three battalions of the army will be five hundred cavalry, one thousand spearmen, three hundred longbowmen, six hundred crossbowmen, and one hundred medics.

Including the forty Snowfield Cavalry of the extraordinary unit type, ten Heavy Armored Sword Guards, and ten Ice Bow Hunters.

A total of 2,560 people.

Rhodes did the math and realized that, according to his army's plans, a large amount of equipment would still be needed, including horses, armor, weapons, and bows and arrows.

The equipment vacancy for the third battalion soldiers costs around 1800 gold coins.

Judging from the figures alone, it far exceeds the capacity of his treasury.

However, this price is based on the market price of Broken Dragon Fortress, which contains a lot of markup.

The heavy armor for the shield-spearmen, the steel shields and spears, and the steel crossbows for the crossbowmen can all be forged in Mole Town, and it will only take three or four months to complete.

Warhorses are expensive.

However, through his previous purchase, Rod has already established a connection with the Mayfield family, to which Charlie belongs in the league.

The Earl family of this Golden Sword Territory is famous for its warhorses, and has even bred the family's unique Flame-Patterned Horse.

Considering our relationship, the price for large-scale purchases of warhorses can be reduced to 1 gold and 20 silver.

After his fame spread, the pioneering knights around him expressed their goodwill towards him.

The most direct manifestation of this is that you can do business with their families at preferential prices.

From warhorses and armor to the Rosa longbow, you can find the corresponding production families for each item.

In the end, Rhodes calculated that the actual amount of money he had to pay was only about 610 gold coins.

The various families even allowed him to pay in installments.

Once these two thousand troops are built, the monthly maintenance cost will be around 350 gold coins.

It was within the limits of what he could bear.

With the help of gold bread and a military merit system, the dual support on both material and spiritual levels is enough to completely squeeze the war potential of the territory.

Frankly, this is a tightrope walk. Aggressive militarism will oppress the economy and people's livelihood of the territory, which in turn will restrict development.

But there was nothing he could do; he was situated on the border with the barbarians.

There is also an evil god who is about to break free of his seal and is stirring.

Without violence at your disposal, all the gold coins in your treasury will be a joke when the enemy's army comes knocking.

After finalizing his plan, Rhodes notified his knights to officially begin the large-scale expansion of his territory.

The collective exercise of the army's third battalion had just ended.

The residents of the territory are at the height of their enthusiasm for enlisting in the army.

He didn't need to worry about manpower; the statisticians in the three territories were busy every day.

Even while having a meal, I was surrounded by enthusiastic residents who came to sign up.

After confirming that the expansion was proceeding in an orderly manner, Rhodes arranged for ravens to deliver messages at any time.

He then returned to Pingdingshan to prepare for new research.

The territory's economy was under too heavy a burden to maintain its military.

To solve this problem, we need to start with the iron mine in Mole Town.

With the spore explosion of the sun mushroom, iron ore mining has become much easier.

Rhodes was concerned with how to improve the efficiency of blacksmiths in forging pig iron, as manual forging was simply too slow.

He needs to utilize the wizard's productivity.

"Magic Mechanism, a branch of wizard alchemy technology."

Rhodes closed his eyes and carefully reviewed the detailed description of this technique in the wizard's manual.

【Magic Mechanisms】, as the name suggests, describes how wizards use magic to drive real materials through alchemical rituals.

This allows for the construction of a complex mechanism that enables self-operation.

The [Magic Mechanism] is mainly divided into two parts: material activation and magic drive.

The most classic example is the alchemical golem.

The activation of matter gives it the power to think, and the driving force of magic ensures its flexible action.

The software programs and hardware structure, similar to those of robots from the previous generation, are not difficult to understand.

However, it is not easy to put into practice.

Rhodes' research has yet to reach the basics of material activation.

On the other hand, he made some progress with the magic-driven aspect, which allowed him to continue his plan.

Magic-driven is a general term for a large category of knowledge.

Further subdivided into two categories: "material property transformation under alchemy" and "material motion and change under alchemy".

Performance conversion is responsible for changing the hardness, elasticity, and other properties of a material.

This allows the alchemical golem, despite its entire body being made of steel, to move as flexibly and freely as a human.

The fossilization of mud and the transformation of mud into stone that Rod possessed were simple extensions of the transformation of properties.

Leaving that aside for now, the focus of his research during this period was actually on motion and change.

And I learned two of the simplest exercises.

Rotation and reciprocation.

Rhodes went to his laboratory and picked up a palm-sized round steel plate from the table.

The surface of the steel sheet resembles Damascus steel, with unique swirling patterns emerging.

This is a revolving alchemical ritual.

Rhodes pressed his index finger against the center of the steel plate, drawing pure magic from the magic pool and injecting it into it.

The next second, driven by magic, the steel sheet began to spin rapidly at his fingertips.

After it stopped, Rod went to the other side.

There, a metal hammer, held in place by a rail, was moving up and down, constantly striking the iron ingot below.

Alchemy golems require tens of thousands of combinations of movements and variations to truly come to life.

Rod can't do it, but he doesn't need to right now.

Achieving full automation of production in the territory is a distant future goal.

For Rhodes at present, the disassembled rotation and reciprocating mechanisms are sufficient.

With the power supplied by the magic pool and the ability to fly using the large bricks, he can create simplified versions of blowers, steelmaking converters, and large power hammers.

This will enable the territory's steel production to achieve a leapfrog development.

After confirming the next steps in production and construction, Rhodes sent someone to notify Mole Town.

The five most skilled weaponsmiths there, along with their apprentices, were summoned to Pingdingshan.

"The first step is the manufacture of the cannon barrel," Rhodes thought, pondering the design drawings.

From the five weapon craftsmen who arrived, Rhodes learned that the Duchy of Northern Frost had also manufactured its own cannons.

It's not forging, but casting.

That is, after melting pig iron into molten iron, it is poured into a sand pit to cast a rough blank shape, and then polished into shape.

It is easy to imagine how poor the quality of these cast iron cannons was.

The probability of firing a cannon is almost equal to the probability of self-destruction.

As for why they didn't use molten steel for casting, the biggest problem was that the temperature wasn't high enough.

Pig iron melts at temperatures above 1100℃, while steel requires 1500℃.

In addition, the cold highland environment of the Northern Frost Duchy made steelmaking even more difficult.

After several disastrous attempts, the duchy naturally gave up on manufacturing them and settled for using the dwarves' white steel cannons.

"As for the temperature, we can use the magical flames of the Ash Furnace Rat, along with a blower and a converter, to solve the problem. After casting the steel billet for the cannon, we can hand it over to the weapon craftsman to forge it with a large power hammer."

Rhodes outlined the ideal production scenario, adding, "We also need to design an ultra-long drill bit for deep hole machining inside the gun barrel."

Weapon craftsmen were not unfamiliar with the structure of cannons.

Theoretically speaking, given the current conditions in Pingdingshan, it is already capable of producing such high-quality steel artillery.

Once all the preparations on paper were complete, Rod designated an area in Pingdingshan.

Large quantities of steel were transported from Mole Town, and construction of the Magic Steel Plant officially began.

Compared to other power sources, the biggest advantage of the [Magic Mechanism] is its controllability.

The entire process was completely controlled by the wizard.

As long as you have a strong enough mind and high enough self-control.

From atomic robots to global transporters, creation is up to your imagination.

This significantly reduced the pressure on Rhodes when he was manufacturing converters and power hammers.

After numerous failed experiments, the production equipment had taken shape in just half a month.

Rhodes is teaching five weapon craftsmen how to use them.

Looking at their expressions, as if they had seen the god of forging, Rhodes felt both pleased and somewhat disappointed.

The Magic Mechanism, while convenient, requires magic to operate.

There are magic pools available in Pingdingshan.

However, the people in Mole Town who need this most probably won't be able to enjoy this convenience in the short term.

But it wasn't bad either; Rhodes witnessed the weaponsmith's movements change from cautious to skillful and effortless.

It takes about ten days to complete a 76mm caliber cannon.

Combined with the terrifying power of the Sun Mushroom spores, a single cannonball is enough to blast open an ordinary five-meter-high city wall.

An explosion on flat ground can cause effective damage within a radius of ten meters.

(End of this chapter)