American: Native Empire

The influx of a considerable amount of iron ore had begun to flow into the village. However, in pre-modern steelmaking, a significant amount of labor was essential. As a result, numerous warriors, even women, were mobilized for steelmaking and various other tasks. Fortunately, thanks to the use of ancient crops and improved varieties of seeds, food production had increased, allowing many people to be employed in work. 

However, they were still woefully lacking in personnel. This meant that Kiwoo had no time to rest. To ensure that various industries ran smoothly, he had to take charge and increase production efficiency.

But that wasn’t the end of it. The problem was that Kiwoo had once again caused trouble for himself amidst the busy work.

“I can’t just leave it alone.”

He didn’t want to do this, but it was necessary, not a choice.

“I can’t just use pig iron.”

Steel had become a representative industry of modern times, hadn’t it? Wasn’t it difficult to make steel in ancient and medieval times?

Surprisingly, steelmaking had been born in India as early as the 4th century BC.

“Let’s begin.”

“Yes.”

Today, a demonstration of the historic iron sword was underway.

After Kiwoo’s words, a warrior holding an iron sword raised it high into the air. The sword reflected the sunlight and shone brightly in Kiwoo’s eyes for a moment. It looked stunning.

Swooosh!

Clang!

“Wow!”

“I, I can’t believe it…”

Exclamations and sighs echoed throughout the field. It was because even though the iron rod fixed between two logs had easily broken, the iron sword remained undaunted.

“How is that possible? They’re made of the same iron, aren’t they?”

“They look the same on the surface. But if you look inside, they’re different.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even if they’re made of the same material, the processing method and what goes into it can result in different products.”

“Hmm…”

Astute Mind understood. He couldn’t understand the words of the chief shaman.

“I’m so embarra*sed by my name.”

“Haha. That’s not how you should feel. The real shame is not knowing, but not exploring knowledge about it. From now on, you can gradually understand various truths, can’t you?”

“Oh, yes indeed!”

Kiwoo ignored the doubtful gaze of his clever servant and continued to watch the ongoing performance testing of the iron sword.

“Good. Very good.”

The test was very successful. Kiwoo was very satisfied.

“In modern America, if you have a steel weapon, there’s no way your enemy can stand against you.”

This was possible because Kiwoo had the method of making steel in his head.

The rough overview of the steelmaking process is as follows:

High-quality iron ore with more than 50% purity is turned into pig iron from the furnace. Then, a certain proportion of pig iron chunks and charcoal pieces are put into a furnace. After sealing the entrance, the temperature is raised, and the molten iron absorbs carbon from the charcoal.

Although this process was very difficult and the production volume was small, they had no choice but to make steel because they couldn’t just use pig iron.

Above all, the reason why Kiwoo was so determined to make steel was that the Creek Tribe began to live well, and it was clear that the surrounding major tribes were thinking about it negatively.

Moreover, the famous Aztec Empire, located on the Mexican plateau, might attack at any time.

If treasure is given to a powerless person, it is likely to be taken away by the surrounding strong people. To overcome this, they had to increase their military power and become equal or even stronger than the surrounding strongmen.

***

Time pa*sed quickly, and Kiwoo had been back to the central village of the Creek tribe for quite some time now. The planting season was approaching.

“The production of iron and steel is stabilizing,” he thought to himself.

The number of things that could be made from strong steel was countless. They had first focused on making basic farming tools such as hoes, sickles, and shovels. The strong steel had greatly increased the efficiency of farming.

“But above all, the most important thing is weapons,” Kiwoo muttered.

The primary purpose of iron production was to create steel weapons. As a result, they had prioritized the production of steel weapons above everything else. They also made essential items for daily life such as needles, scissors, and even produced fabric more easily.

They made nails to easily join wood, and steel was used all over the place. Of course, they couldn’t produce a lot due to the shortage of iron, but at least it was being used.

During this period, Kiwoo and all the other tribe members continued to work hard. Although things got better as time pa*sed, it was still difficult. Other tasks were impossible for the time being. They had to focus on farming now.

“There is still a lot left to make,” Kiwoo sighed.

They needed to innovate by making pottery to create storage containers, develop a limestone mine to produce cement, and so on. There were numerous other things that they could only think of for now, such as making roads, building boats for transportation, producing paper, pencils, soap, and even gunpowder.

“Sigh…it’s all wishful thinking. We don’t have enough labor,” he thought.

Even with the blessing of ancient crops, this was still the case. They had produced new farming tools, and even the women had been recruited for work. Yet, it still seemed impossible to Kiwoo.

Since Kiwoo had arrived in the Creek Tribe, he had emphasized hygiene, and gradually the sanitary conditions had improved. Food had also increased, and nutrition was relatively balanced.

As a result, infant mortality would decrease over time, and naturally the population would increase. However, that was not the case right now. If anything, with more infants, the labor force that they had now recruited would have to go to caring for them.

With a population of just over 20,000, it was simply not enough to create an industry.

“I guess there is no other way,” Kiwoo sighed.