Kingdombuilding: All My Inventions Are Novelty

After the spring rain, the weather gradually warmed.

The construction of Brambleford’s roads officially began. The cement workshop was working day and night to produce cement, while at the same time, new cement pipe workshops had sprung up in the community.

These workshops bought cement from the cement factory, then used molds to mix sand and cement to produce cement pipes.

Once the underground pipes in Brambleford were being dug, the merchants who had contracted the pipe construction came daily to purchase these cement pipes, which brought significant profits to the cement workshop’s owners.

Jason Holmes, the owner of the cement workshop, grinned as he accepted fifty caps of silver. He was a local merchant from Brambleford and one of the first to join the local merchant guild.

"Billy, I’ll accept this silver., Jason said, smiling at Billy.

Billy, the young man from Tottle Village, had become quite famous in Brambleford. He had borrowed three thousand caps from the government, contracted ten local roads and underground pipe constructions, showing courage and ambition far beyond that of ordinary villagers.

"Jason, you’re too polite. I must also thank you for agreeing to extend credit on the pipes before; otherwise, I wouldn’t have had enough silver to complete the project." Billy said with a big grin.

The villagers, who had come to help Billy with his projects, were also benefiting from the work. Since he contracted the construction of Brambleford’s roads, he had returned home and quickly hired people from the village.

Each person earned thirty points a day. For the elderly and young men, this was an excellent opportunity. Thirty points a day might not seem like much, but in a month, it added up to almost one cap of silver, quite a lucrative deal for the villagers.

"Don’t be so modest. Your brother is the hero of our village. With your brother’s reputation, I’m more than happy to extend credit to you." Jason smiled.

Billy proudly thought of his brother, Collin, who looked majestic in his dark green military uniform. He had been granted an exceptional loan, thanks to his brother’s reputation with the prince.

Looking towards the setting sun in the west, Billy said. "In any case, thank you. I’ll treat you to tea at the tavern another day."

"Good, good," Jason said happily. "The day is getting late. You should quickly transport these pipes to Brambleford City."

Billy nodded. This time, he had rented ten carts to transport the cement pipes, and renting those carts also cost money.

At first, Billy knew very little. The borrowed three thousand caps of silver had been spent quickly, but after some guidance from the prince, he started managing his finances more carefully.

The cost of purchasing materials, renting carts, and carefully organizing laborers was all part of his learning process. Only then did he begin to earn profits.

If the carts didn’t make it into the city tonight, they would need to stay another day, adding another day’s rent to the cost.

Inside Brambleford City

Simon rode his horse towards the machinery department. As he passed through each street in Brambleford, he couldn’t help but look around.

With construction underway throughout the city, the roads were currently in chaos, with piles of dirt everywhere. Merchants from the six cities were busy with the citizens, while some areas already had completed cement roads.

Laying cement roads was relatively simple. First, flatten the surface, lay down a layer of sand and gravel, then erect 20-centimeter-high wooden boards on both sides and pour the concrete on top, flattening it.

While the project was large, the key factor was manpower. Without machinery, Simon had to use a ’human wave’ strategy.

After one month, about one-fifth of Brambleford’s roads were paved. The Eastern and Western Markets, as the focus of the construction, not only had cement roads but also cemented ground surfaces.

To maintain cleanliness in these markets, trash bins were set up along the sides, encouraging vendors to dispose of waste in the bins instead of littering.

While the roads were being worked on, the machinery department continued producing cutting tools. Today, Gru came with news that he had successfully created spring steel.

The team had already forged most of the musket mechanism parts. Only the main spring was missing, but with the successful production of spring steel, that problem was solved.

Arriving at the machinery department, Simon saw the team gathered together. Gru was holding the musket mechanism’s tumbler while explaining something.

When the other craftsmen noticed Simon’s arrival, they quickly turned to face him.

"My Lord, look," Gru said, handing the tumbler to Simon.

The flintlock musket was now in the mature production stage, bypassing the experimental phase. Forging the tumbler in just one month wasn’t difficult.

The real challenge had been the spring steel for the tumbler, but that had been resolved with the iron-manganese alloy.

"My Lord, I’ve tested the iron-manganese alloy over a hundred times and finally got the right ratio of iron to manganese. The rest of the mechanism parts were forged long ago." Gru explained.

Simon nodded with satisfaction. Producing spring steel was a critical breakthrough for the flintlock musket. Now, only the barrel remained.

Though the current technology was outdated, and the produced alloy had many impurities, it was still more than sufficient for the musket. Simon wasn’t aiming to meet modern standards.

"The tumbler is ready. Now let’s install it into the stock." Simon instructed.

"My Lord, which type of wood is best for the stock?" Gru asked.

"Peach wood or walnut wood will work. The wood should be dense, flexible, and easy to shape. This ensures the stock will have a good texture, feel, and be resistant to cracking and decay." Simon said as he examined the tumbler.

The craftsmen had already riveted the hammer, pan, and frizzen onto the tumbler’s main structure using traditional riveting techniques.

Riveting was a straightforward process: drill small holes in both the parts and the main body, then insert nails and flatten them to secure everything in place.

Gru nodded. "My Lord, now that the tumbler is ready, should we organize the craftsmen to start working on the production of other parts?"

After spending some time at the armaments workshop, Gru understood that dividing the labor would greatly increase efficiency.

Just like with the cannons, Simon planned to use a division-of-labor approach. In fact, Europe had used this system during the flintlock era; otherwise, they could never have produced millions of muskets at this time.

"Yes, follow the current division of labor in your team. Once you return to the workshop, each craftsman should organize small teams to handle the parts, stocks, and assemblies should be split up." Simon instructed.

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