Lord Harland.

Chapter 87 Iron Ore

The current brick kiln factory in Harland Territory has a production efficiency of 70.00%, and can produce six 10,000+ bricks per week.

It will take about 36 weeks to complete Baron Sharp's order.

Long-distance transportation of bulk building materials such as bricks requires a lot of money.Even if the cost is low, it simply cannot compete with local adobe kilns.

The brick kilns in Harland's territory can seize the market of up to [-] kilometers nearby, and they still need to compete with the brick kilns in Flame Fort, Black River Fort, and Harden Castle.

On the contrary, the market for soil cement is larger, and the project is more promising.

Li Cha has been in Chenxi Continent for ten years, and he has never seen cement.

Although there is no cement, there are magicians in the Dawn Continent. Magicians can use the mud-to-stone spell to turn mud into stone.

The important buildings in Dawn Continent are all attended by magicians.

The building that the magician participated in constructing does not leave gaps between the stones, and the structure is an integrated building, which is much stronger than cement.

But the number of magicians is limited.

Especially in the Kingdom of Grant, the number of magicians is very small. If the cement can be produced, it will have a very good sales prospect.However, the efficiency of soil cement production in the Harland Territory is very low, and the production capacity is basically used for the construction of the territory, so it is difficult to sell a large amount of it for money in a short period of time.

Since two or three years ago, Li Cha has sent prospectors to search for ore in the territory.

It's just that Chenxi Continent's prospecting technology is very primitive, and there has been no good news.

When Baron Sharp brought his slaves into Richard's road to build the road, six kilometers southwest of Sofia Castle, iron ore on the surface was dug out.

After receiving this news, it has already entered mid-April, and Li Cha and Sophia's husband and wife have just finished their busy spring plowing and have some free time.

With excitement, the two led the prospectors and led the blacksmiths to the vicinity of the mine, surveyed the mine carefully, and found that in addition to the high-purity iron ore, this vein was also accompanied by some precious blood steel. .

Blood steel, mountain copper, mithril, and fine gold are all precious super magic metals.Can be used to make enchanted weapons, magic equipment.

Blood steel has the most reserves, and the market price is six silver coins per catty.

Six silver coins can buy more than 500 catties of grain, which is enough for a family to save for several months.

The prices of Orichalcum, Mithril, and Fine Gold are rising step by step.

The price of mountain copper is three gold coins per catty, the price of mithril is one hundred gold coins per catty, and the price of fine gold is more than two thousand gold coins per catty.

Bloodsteel and Orichalcum are usually used to make enchanted weapons for the most elite soldiers.

Mithril and adamantine forge high-level enchanted weapons and magic equipment for high-level professionals and magicians.

There are three pieces of magic equipment on Sophia, some of which increase mental power, and some have magical effects.

The price of each piece of magic equipment is more than a few hundred gold coins, enough for an ordinary family of four to live for more than 100 years.

The discovery of iron ore greatly increased the economic value of Li Chaling.

The development of iron ore has become the most important thing for the Harland family.

The development of iron ore first requires a lot of labor, from mining to building blast furnaces and ironmaking requires a large number of people.

In addition, cement kiln expansion is also on the agenda.

To implement all these tasks, at least 3000 people are needed.

The population under Richard's current control can be transferred to 3000 people.

However, the transfer of labor will affect other projects.

The construction progress of Sophia Castle will be slowed down, and agricultural production will also be affected.

Sophia Castle is related to the security of the territory, the construction progress must not be slowed down, and food production is the top priority.

Therefore, to develop iron mines and build cement kilns, we can only buy people from outside.

With [-] gold coins in cash in hand, [-] have been consumed to buy slaves, and the remaining [-] gold coins are not enough.

Fortunately, Baron Sharp brought a part of the deposit for the purchase of bricks, which finally relieved the urgent need.

The brick kiln factory is now operating at full capacity, and all men, women and children are in battle.In addition to the construction of Fort Sophia, the remaining bricks were continuously supplied to the Shaprafel Joint Territory in exchange for much-needed development funds.

Chenxi Continent has not developed a machine revolution, and mining is a labor-intensive industry. A series of links from mining, ore dressing, smelting, and casting require a lot of labor.

Without enough labor, it is difficult to burst out the production capacity before the next orc invasion.

The territory does not have much financial resources now, and the main income is the sale of food.A large number of young and middle-aged laborers are used in planting and land reclamation.

Food is a strategic material in Chenxi Continent, and it is a guarantee for the stability of the territory.

If a territory wants to develop rapidly, population is the most important factor.

Therefore, the food reserves increased, and the cash income of the territory decreased rapidly.

Although the sugar extraction industry has prospects, it will take some time to develop.

The current Harland Territory is extremely short of funds.

Regarding this situation, Li Cha and Sophia were helpless.

Anxiety can't solve things.In this state of anxious getting angry, Harland spent April in his territory.

In May, Baron Sharp's funds were in place, and Richard arranged for his uncle Soros to go to the Black River Castle, Flame Castle, Flying Bear Castle, and Wright Castle slave market to buy people.

Although the scale of these castle slave markets is small, they are relatively close to the territory.

If the number of slaves to be purchased is small, it is more cost-effective to buy them nearby.

In this way, the slaves gradually arrived. Although the number was far from enough, the barracks were initially built.

In order to protect the mining area, Li Cha also asked the army to expand the patrol area to the vicinity of the mining area.

In addition, he also transferred half of the veterans of the squadron to the mining area to prevent the mining area from being destroyed by monsters.

In June, although the living conditions in the mining area are still rudimentary, they have finally got rid of the embarrassing situation of sleeping in tents.

A lot of food has been stored, the forest has almost been cut down, and barracks have been built for slaves to live in.

The conditions of the veins are not bad, and many areas can be open-pit mined.

Under Li Cha's command, a masonry steelmaking furnace was also built.

In the village of Li Cha's previous life, there was a small steel factory that could produce [-] tons of steel every year.

In the 90s, this small steel mill was shut down for rectification and became an abandoned steel mill.

At that time, the adults were not at home, and the children liked to play in the abandoned steel factory.

When Li Cha was a child in his previous life, his favorite thing was to climb up the ten-meter-high steel-making furnace, and then hide in the steel-making furnace.

Li Cha still understands the structure of the blast furnace. Although Chenxi Continent does not have conveyor belts and ventilation equipment, Li Cha has a large number of workers in his hands, and he can use large bellows to replace them manually.

In late June, under Li Cha's command, the smelting workers completed the preparations and started the first blast furnace ironmaking in Chenxi Continent.

(End of this chapter)