Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 118 - 22: The Autumn Tiger

Chapter 118: Chapter 22: The Autumn Tiger

The land had been mined for coal, but its true use had not yet been realized.

Iron refining technology relied on bloomery methods.

The furnaces were very low.

Wood and charcoal were placed inside the furnace and lit, with iron ore on top of the charcoal for smelting, dissolving the impurities in the ore, and after all the slag flowed out, what remained was honeycomb-like sponge iron.

To remove the sponge iron, the furnace shell had to be broken open—it was almost like disposable chopsticks, used once then thrown away, manufacturing a new pair for each meal.

Naturally, the iron yield was low.

Because the demand for iron was so great, blacksmiths had to improve their smelting methods.

They built permanent iron stoves out of stone and lined the inside with clay, achieving a similar effect to the furnace, and after each iron smelting session, only the clay lining needed replacing.

But the output still could not be raised.

So don’t blame the high price of iron ingots.

Rumors spoke of a brilliant Human Clan empire from hundreds of years ago, with extremely advanced iron refining technology, but those techniques were lost with the empire’s destruction.

Roman knew that it was commonplace for barbarism to overcome civilization.

Even if that past empire had been more advanced and powerful, it couldn’t change the fact that this era was backward.

A skilled charcoal burner could produce twenty to thirty pounds of charcoal each day.

pounds of charcoal and 500 pounds of iron ore could melt down to roughly 50 pounds of sponge iron.

This 50 pounds of sponge iron then required an additional 25 pounds of charcoal for calcination.

Using wooden or stone hammers, the impurities were pounded out on stone or wood anvils.

Finally, the iron was forged into long bars of iron ingots, which were then cut and sold—30 to 50 pounds of iron ingots in exchange for 1 Gold Coin.

The difficulty of refining iron was extreme.

Yet the military could not do without the need for steel.

There was no choice but to buy iron.

Many Noble estates produced only agricultural yields.

Hundreds of tons of grain had to be transported out to sustain the consumption of steel and the military expenses.

Compared with steel, salt was somewhat less valuable.

Roman could not dedicate all of Sige Town’s labor force to Mining the Salt Mine—it could indeed feed the entire Sige Town and earn a fortune.

But a large output would impact the market price, causing ripples that could radiate across the Northern Land.

The Nobles behind other salt-producing areas would not sit idly by.

If things escalated too much, within two months a military force could be assembled to come over.

Although Roman didn’t care for those idiots’ opinions.

The biggest reason he didn’t expand production was a lack of manpower, and distribution was also an issue—those small traders couldn’t transport tens of thousands of pounds of salt.

What he wanted was not for them to come to him, but for him to go out and give them a couple of solid punches!

He had to drive down the price of salt!

Damn it!

Dare to charge me a sky-high price of 1 copper coin again, and I’ll slaughter you all!

I’m sharpening my knife right now!

...

Roman needed to Manufacture firebricks, which were crucially important.

In the current era, the formula for firebricks was like black technology.

But that was also a necessary condition for the construction of blast furnaces and coking furnaces, and he had those 100 laborers dig for coal.

Now Sige Town had built three roads, namely the Salt Road, the Iron Road, and the Coal Road.

Roman planned to construct a coal and iron processing plant at the intersection of the Coal Road and the Iron Road, to transport coal from the salt mines and iron ore from the iron mines, ultimately processing them into finished steel to be sent to the blacksmith shops.

And those two constructions wouldn’t need the assistance of the builders anymore.

There’s an old saying, "Specialization breeds expertise," and Roman had to personally cultivate a group of skilled ironworkers.

...

days later.

The roadwork crew had finished their job.

Over these days, they had bypassed lakes and mountain ranges, extending that dirt road to the front of the iron mine, albeit in poor condition, requiring two to three days for a round trip.

But when Roman received this news, his previously tense nerves relaxed.

He even laughed heartily, forgetting to maintain his appearance.

Because he knew that from now on, nothing could threaten or hinder his progress.

Steel was of great strategic importance, but its downside was the distant iron mines that required relocation of the population.

Now speaking of the season, it was supposed to be autumn.

But the gradually declining temperatures had surged again, making the weather unbearably hot.

At the height of summer, the felt temperature barely reached forty degrees, dropping to thirty degrees after the end of summer; now it had bounced back, like a final glimmer of summer, breaking past the fifty-degree mark.

The dry, stifling air and the scorching afternoon heat was blistering the land.

Even Roman was struggling to bear this skin-searing heat.

The people of Wandong called this phenomenon "the harbinger of winter night," marking the end of a brief and warm summer, before the Northern Land entered a long and boundless winter night;

the people of Divine Mysterious called it "Demon residue," which in Church scripture, refers to a Demon God who enslaved forty-two demons and who would destroy the world at summer’s end. But the All Gods had combined forces to kill the terrifying demon beforehand, its ashes creating this extraordinarily hot natural event;

and then the Igo people of North Ice referred to it as the "twilight of the summers," believing that all the gods died out during the last summer of the ancient epoch. Thus, the Church was extremely displeased with them, constantly causing trouble, while the North Ice Pirates took great delight in cleaving open the skulls of the Priests with their War Axes.

Originally, Roman planned to send people to build several wooden houses at the mining site—settle down first, and don’t even think about brick houses for now.

But after hearing that dozens of workers had succumbed to heatstroke on the road, with more than ten unable to be saved, despite the unlimited supply of cooling tea, which failed to save their lives,

Roman always put himself in other’s shoes; he too was having trouble adapting to the extreme heat, and moreover, the iron mining operations were ready.

It was time to take a break.

So he recalled all the workers to take shelter from the heat and incidentally gave them a three-day holiday.

He was surprised by their work efficiency.

Naturally, he had a very positive attitude towards these hardworking and willing subjects; he rarely scolded them as fools, and had Jimmy distribute several Gold Coins as consolation money to the families of the farmers who died from heat illness during road construction.

The other deceased were slaves.

Some of the slaves were in poor physical condition and should have been categorized as the infirm and given simpler tasks.

But they were still young and physically intact, and Roman needed a large labor force.

So, he enlisted them into the roadwork crew; the slave workers were sometimes lacking in strength, either collapsing on the road or falling asleep in the afternoon heat never to wake up.

Roman arranged for a dignified burial for the deceased, preparing a vast cemetery for this purpose, with their names and causes of death engraved on the tombstones.

He didn’t want any of those who sacrificed their lives for him to end with nobody to care about their fate.

He quietly propagated this act, which soon spread throughout the entire Sige Town.

Whether slave or native, they all felt a unique and profound shock from this humanitarian action deep in their souls.

They, who were supposed to be like weeds without names, destined for a hasty burial, now had monuments to be remembered by future generations.

Their hearts were unsettled, they wanted to do something, yet didn’t know what to do.

This undoubtedly touched something deep within their once indifferent, merely surviving mindset, imprinting them with something enduring.