Guiding Production
After seeing that Master Mikhail was engrossed in his work, Victor did not disturb him further and left the Arms Factory directly.
He then went to the Machine Factory to check on the production situation. The Machine Factory had stopped producing farm implements because the limited iron and steel materials in the territory had to be given priority to the Arms Factory in order to complete the expansion of the army, but other production had not been suspended.
Currently, the most important task of the Machine Factory is to produce wool textile machines. After providing Edelweiss Territory with cashmere textile technology and textile machines this year, Edelweiss Territory has already begun to be put into use.
However, a problem arose. The craftsmen at Edelweiss Territory had limited technical skills, and the cashmere spinning machines produced according to the blueprints had many issues. They were far inferior to the prototypes provided by Two Rivers Territory and were simply unusable.
Viscount Roy, Victor's maternal grandfather, placed an order with the Two Rivers Territory for 200 cashmere spinning machines for 400 gold coins. The agreement was that the machines would be shipped to the Edelweiss Territory every 20 machines produced, with cash on delivery. Four transactions have already been completed, marking the first time the Two Rivers Territory have seen a return on their investment.
Viscount Roy also sent Victor a batch of newly produced cashmere coats with Edelweiss Territory, also designed by Victor, combining aesthetics and practicality. Victor then brought in the Gorn Trading Company, asking them to provide sales channels for the Edelweiss Territory.
Currently, Edelweiss Territory has expanded the scale of cashmere goat breeding, but it will take time to expand the scale of textile products. Victor has also done calculations through the Calculation Module to make a specific plan for the human and material resources input of the entire Edelweiss Territory cashmere production line.
This plan was designed according to Viscount Roy's requirements. To meet the production needs of 200 cashmere spinning machines, Edelweiss Territory would have to expand its cashmere goat breeding scale to at least 50,000 heads, which would be about eight times the previous scale. At the same time, because the cashmere spinning machines provided by Victor were only for the final stage of processing, namely the five steps of winding, warping, threading, and weaving, the other processing stages were still mainly done by rudimentary manual labor, so a large number of workers were needed. Edelweiss Territory's current agricultural-based production method could not provide so many workers. Victor simply had the Calculation Module design a cashmere processing machine that could meet the needs of opening, drawing, carding, roving, and spinning, which could also be produced by the Machine Factory and then sold to Edelweiss Territory.
As for the lack of funds for Edelweiss Territory, Victor also solved it. Victor directly approached the Gorn Trading Company and obtained a low-interest loan of 5,000 gold coins by using Edelweiss Territory's cashmere products for the next three years as collateral. This loan was given to Viscount Roy to expand production, and part of this money will also be used for equipment purchases in the Two Rivers Territory. Orders from Edelweiss Territory will also be the main production task of the Machine Factory for the next period of time.
Victor handled the matter brilliantly. After his mother learned of it, she kept writing letters praising Victor. To thank Victor, Viscount Roy simply transferred all two great merits accumulated by the Snowflake Family to Ron. Viscount Roy stated that after Ron became a baron, he would be vassal of Victor would have all the power over the territory, as long as the heir had the blood of the Edelweiss Territory.
After inspecting the production situation at the Machine Factory, Victor went to the Steelworks. The Steelworks's manager was named Rafam, who had been Victor's former subordinate. Rafam had been seriously wounded during the civil Civil War a year earlier and lost his right hand. After losing his dominant hand, he was basically unable to go to the battlefield again.
Fortunately, Rafam was literate and diligent. During the expansion of Two Rivers Territory, he worked with Powell in government affairs for a period of time. When the Steelworks was being built, Victor simply brought him in as the person in charge.
Rafam was very grateful to Victor for giving him this opportunity and worked diligently. The Martin furnace technology that Victor used was modified Number One times by the Calculation Module. Although the simulated production went smoothly, there would still be many problems in actual production. After all, this technology had never appeared in this world before. Rafam was very smart. He summarized these problems and brainstormed to find many ways to solve them. He also compiled these contents into a technical manual. It can be said that Rafam made a great contribution to the Steelworks's official production. Therefore, Victor officially appointed him as the Steelworks's director.
Victor found Rafam and said, "The Steelworks hasn't been operating for a long time because of raw material issues, has it?"
"Yes, Lord Victor, the last time the steel furnace was turned on was in August before you received the conscription order. We only clean and maintain the steel furnace periodically now."
"A batch of iron will be delivered from Red Soil Village this month. It's not much, only four or five tons. You can try another blast furnace instead of the steelmaking furnace for now."
Victor built two blast furnaces at the Steelworks. One was Martin furnace specifically for steelmaking, capable of producing 40 to 50 tons of steel per furnace. However, this Martin furnace was very expensive, and Victor personally participated in its construction. Due to limited materials, many rare materials were used, and the territory was unlikely to have the funds to build a second one in the short term. The other was a makeshift blast furnace, mainly for producing pig iron, capable of producing about 10 tons of iron at a time. Victor considered that if a mineable iron ore deposit were discovered in the territory in the future, the makeshift blast furnace would be simpler to build, easier to expand production, and would make it much easier to increase the Steelworks's capacity.
"Viscount, there is something I would like to report to you as well. While you were leading your troops on the expedition, I personally led a group to explore the Red Earth region. We found an exposed mine about 80 kilometers west of Red Soil Village, which should be iron ore."
"Great, Rafam, you've done something amazing without making a sound. Let me see it." Victor was very happy. He had sent people to search the area before, but they hadn't found the mine.
Soon Rafam brought over a piece of ore, and Victor picked it up and examined it carefully, calling for Number One to join him in the examination.
This iron ore is reddish-brown overall, covered with bean-shaped structures, and doesn't look very appealing. It's completely different from the vanadium-iron magnetite ore that Victor saw in his previous life in Panzhihua. Moreover, when you hold it in your hand, you can feel that this ore is not heavy, has a low iron content, and is not of high quality.
Number One quickly concluded. "This is a piece of hematite formed by weathering and leaching. It contains at most 20 iron and a large number of impurities, making it unsuitable for industrial production."
"I knew it wouldn't be that easy to solve the iron shortage problem. This kind of mine was a waste mine in my previous life." Victor with some disappointment.
Victor was about to reassure Rafam and tell him the truth.
At this moment, Number One stopped Victor.