However, when Luo Lan personally started operating it, he discovered that the actual situation was far from as simple as he had imagined.
After working in the backyard for four or five days, the harder drill bits were successfully made. Utilizing Anna's high-temperature flames, he could easily obtain molten iron above 1500 degrees Celsius. Without the constraint of temperature, the conventional stir-frying steel method could conveniently and quickly produce small batches of steel – that is, using iron rods to quickly stir the molten iron, so that excess carbon and other impurities in the pig iron fully contacted the air and oxidized. After repeated several times, the molten iron cooled down and high-quality steel could be obtained.
The problem lay with Steam Prototype No. 1.
When this prototype machine worked, the noise and vibration were extremely alarming, which made it impossible for the drill bit to stably drill a complete iron pipe. When doing rough and heavy work, this degree of vibration was inconsequential, but obviously, it would not work for processing gun barrels.
If he wanted to improve this, he would have to first create a centrifugal governor to control the output power of the steam engine, and then use gear combinations to reduce vibration and adjust the rotation rate of the drill bit. And processing gears required a simple lathe. Calculated in this way, Luo Lan realized that he simply could not achieve this goal before the Month of the Demons arrived.
In the end, he could only use the old method, relying on the blacksmith's hands to hammer it out bit by bit. The plan to mass-produce muskets was bankrupt. According to the number of blacksmith shops in Border Town, at most 3-4 gun barrels could be produced in a month, and this was under the condition of stopping the construction of the second steam engine.
The only good news was that there was no need to worry about the qualified rate of the gun barrels. The blacksmith only needed to hammer out the approximate round tube, and then Anna would uniformly seam them together. The effect was close to that of a seamless tube cut out by a boring tool, which basically eliminated the risk of explosion.
Helplessly, Luo Lan had to modify his previous plan. He originally planned to recruit hunters from Border Town to form a musket team – most of them were proficient in archery, and both bows and crossbows were their handy weapons. In addition, firearms training took a short time, which could enable them to quickly have combat effectiveness.
But now, at most four flintlock guns can be manufactured before the Month of the Demons, so he can only select the most outstanding people among the hunters to create an elite squad. Luo Lan decided to hand this over to Iron Axe. He had been in Border Town for fifteen years and was recognized as the best hunter.
*******************
Brian had not been happy for the past half month.
Especially when he met the militia team on the street, the feeling of unhappiness would be amplified... even with a trace of unwillingness in his heart.
He felt that he had been forgotten by His Royal Highness the Prince.
He was full of excitement when he was called to the chief knight a month ago. To be in close contact with the Fourth Prince and accept the Prince's personal inquiries was such a lucky and honorable thing.
He grew up in Border Town. Although he came from an ordinary hunter family, he served as the patrol captain by virtue of his own ability. He knew that he could not rely on his family to become a knight, but could only wait for an opportunity to make contributions and accept the conferment of superiors.
The Prince's inquiry made him feel that the opportunity had come. Obviously, the Fourth Prince Luo Lan was unwilling to give up his territory, and he was trying to find a way to fight against the evil beasts. The large-scale construction of the city wall also proved this point. There was no doubt that they would spend the Month of the Demons in Border Town this year.
To block the invasion of evil beasts in this place, a team that dared to fight head-on must be formed. Brian originally thought that he was the most suitable candidate. He was proficient in reconnaissance, swordsmanship, and horsemanship. The fact that he stayed behind to light the beacon every year proved that he was not lacking in courage. However, he never expected that the Prince would actually plan to select a team from the civilians to fight the evil beasts!
That's right, a purely civilian team. Not only him, but none of the ten members of the entire patrol team passed the chief knight's review. This was simply incredible. Could it be that the Prince believed that this group of people who had never held swords would be better at fighting than himself? They would probably be defeated at the sight of the ferocious appearance of the evil beasts!
But the Prince seemed to be serious... He not only trained this mob, but also provided them with uniform clothing. Every afternoon, Brian could see this group of people wearing brown-gray leather armor, running in two columns from the street. At the beginning, the team was still sparse, but recently it has become more and more orderly.
And he is still
Performing boring tasks every day, without seeing the hope of promotion.
When he tossed and turned at night and couldn't sleep, there was a noise from next door, and then the door was pushed open and someone quietly came in.
"Hey, get up," the person shouted in a low voice. Brian recognized the other party's voice, a member of the patrol team, nicknamed Scarface.
There were five people sleeping in his room. Except for himself and Greyhound, the other three quickly got up, as if they had been prepared for a long time, without even taking off their coats.
"Captain, get up quickly, I have something important to tell you."
Scarface had a noble relative in Longsong Stronghold, who was said to be a very important noble, so his status in the team was very high. Brian couldn't ignore him, so he had to get up and ask, "What's the matter?"
Greyhound was also woken up, "This... it's so late, you... you don't sleep... sleep?"
"I have a good job to introduce to you, do you want to be knighted?"
"Wh... what? Knight?" Greyhound asked in surprise.
Brian's heart also jumped, and he quickly asked, "What exactly is the job?"
"You all know my uncle Hilltai, right? He is the earl conferred by the Duke and also the Duke's confidant. This news was personally instructed by him," Scarface lowered his voice and said, "The Fourth Prince is preparing to break away from Longsong Stronghold and work alone, which makes the Duke very unhappy. He decided to let the Prince know who is the master of the Western Territory."
"Could it... could it be... you plan to... assassinate..." Greyhound stammered more when he was nervous, and he couldn't finish a short sentence for a long time.
"How is that possible," Scarface sneered, "No matter what, he is still a prince. If he dies, even the Duke can't protect us. I said, this is a good job."
Brett subconsciously felt that this deal was definitely not as simple as he claimed, but the temptation of being knighted was too great, and he couldn't help but open his mouth and said, "Tell me about it."
"Grain. Without grain, he can only obediently roll back to Longsong Stronghold. This job was promised by the Duke. As long as we can successfully burn the grain bought by the Fourth Prince, he will hold a knighting ceremony for us and grant us a piece of land east of the stronghold. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Captain, what do you think?"
"You, you're crazy... The, the Prince said that the Month of the Demons this year is likely to last more than four months. If you burn the grain, what will everyone eat!" Greyhound shook his head repeatedly and said, "The, the incident two years ago, did, did everyone forget?"
"What does it matter to us?" another person said disdainfully, "Anyway, I don't plan to stay here. After we do things for Lord Ryan, we can live a comfortable life in the stronghold."
"That's right, do you still want to eat slag in this ghost place for the rest of your life?" others echoed.
Damn it, they had already colluded, Brett felt a chill in his heart. Except for himself and Greyhound who grew up in Border Town, most of them came from all over the kingdom and had no attachment to the town at all. Seeing that he was unable to stop them, he had no choice but to change the subject and said, "But those wheat have been transferred to the Prince's castle, and there are the Prince's personal guards guarding the door. How could you possibly get in?"
"That's why I want to call you," Scarface said with a smug smile, "You've been in this broken place since you were a kid, no one is more familiar with the environment here than you. I remember you once said that there is an abandoned well in the back mountain gully, which is connected to the waterway below the castle. Through it, you can quietly reach the castle garden. Didn't you climb in there when you were a kid? How about doing this deal with me, and you can become a knight in the future – a knight personally conferred by the Duke."
No... A knight should be brave enough to fight against injustice, should be fearless of the powerful, and protect the weak! Just for the Duke's personal grievances, disregard the threat of hunger and death to the residents of the town? What glory is there to such a knight other than an empty shell!
Before he could refuse, Greyhound had already shouted.
"A, a bunch of lunatics! You, you, dare to plot against the grain, I will never let you leave here! I want to report
, report to... cough," Greyhound's voice suddenly froze halfway through his words. He turned his head in disbelief, and a former teammate was standing behind him with a cold smile. A black dagger was inserted from behind Greyhound's waist, and the entire dagger was submerged in his body. He trembled twice, opened his mouth to say something, but could only make a hoarse gasping sound.
The other party stirred the dagger twice and then pulled it back suddenly. Greyhound immediately slumped to the ground like a rag doll that had lost its support.
"How about it?" Scarface approached Brett, who could even feel the fishy smell exhaled from his mouth, "I think you should have made up your mind, Captain?"
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