Chapter 85 New Tradition
This year’s summer came faster than in previous years. After a heavy rain at the end of May, the weather suddenly became hotter.
This was the day when Wesson called for a regular meeting of various departments. Frederick was in a daze. Not only did the participants have white shirts and dark trousers, but each of them also held a thermos cup in his hand.
There are many more people in the conference room today than last year. There are the butler Afu, the administrator Frick, the tax collector Neuer, the judge Otto, the military officer the old knight Franz, the business officer Officer Janis, Industrial Officer Omet, Agriculture Officer Matias, Undersecretary of Agriculture (in charge of animal husbandry) Monoflo, Vice President of Weissenburg University Manuel and others, as well as the Castle of Weissenburg in the Territory of Weissenburg , Hausen City in the northwest, Langnar City in the south, Ringen City in the east, Heim City in the southwest and the mayor of Oak City under preparation.
After the reform of various government departments under Wesson, among the new officials were the old people who were originally responsible for relevant matters as leaders of relevant functional departments, such as the old knight Franz as the military officer and the family businessman Janis as the commercial officer. , as well as Ogilvy and other airborne scholars, the mayors of each city were promoted from the original official system based on their performance in sheltering disaster victims in the past and last year.
The main content of today's meeting is to ensure the harvest and purchase of summer grain, as well as the issue of football fields encroaching on farmland.
These two problems are not troublesome.
The summer grain harvest can be the same as in previous years, no need to say anything more.
Grain purchases can still be exchanged for Wesson syrup. Although the Bright Church has a recipe, they only use it for team building within the church and do not sell it to outsiders or disclose it.
Frederick did not expect that football fields would occupy farmland, and finally decided that each city could only build one standard field and up to five five-a-side pitches, and each town could build up to three five-a-side pitches. Each village can build a small five-a-side field at most. At the same time, it is required that the football fields in towns and villages can be covered with thick tape to serve as drying fields during busy farming periods.
Frederick then emphasized the collection of taxes this summer and notified the establishment of Wesson Bank and the issuance of currency.
The latter two things have been spread through Ogilvy, but everyone thinks this is normal. After all, more and more merchants are coming to Weisenling to wait for the opening of the canal. Banks and their own currencies It's a matter of time.
In contrast, everyone is more concerned about what the master’s mahogany-style mansion looks like.
The meeting ended after Manuel reported the enrollment status of Weissenburg University this year.
Frederick did not take any time off after the meeting, and began inspection work in the territory the next day.
He first came to the glass workshop outside the city.
The carriages formed a long queue outside the workshop, and the merchants who came to purchase gathered together to brag in the steamed bun shop next to the gate.
Frederick walked into the glass workshop, put on a gas mask, and inspected the factory under the leadership of the factory director.
Now the professionals in the glass workshop admire the master very much. The problem of glass bubbles that has plagued the industry for many years has been solved with a handful of arsenic and a few more stirrings.
They have been studying how to remove small bubbles before, but they did not expect to do the opposite. Arsenic will produce large bubbles when the glass raw material melts, and then stir the large bubbles to absorb the small bubbles. After they all disappear, there will be no bubbles in the glass liquid.
What impressed them was the newly built furnace. Coal is burned in the middle furnace, and the flame is transmitted to the three surrounding smelting chambers through the fire channel through the automatic bellows. The temperature is high and it saves fuel.
The method of making glassware made them even more surprised. Pour a spoonful of glass liquid into the mold, press the mold up and down. If there is too much material, trim the edges. A bowl, dish or cup made of glass. Just came out.
You can even press half of it at a time to form a narrow-mouthed glass bottle or jug, which is much easier than before until your cheeks get sore from blowing.
What I didn’t expect was the glass plate.
In the past, the glass plate was made by blowing the liquid glass into a ball and letting it be cut and flattened.
It's simple here. A large red steel plate is heated by a magic circle. Pour the glass liquid on it and spread it out. When it becomes as flat as the water surface, it slowly cools down. A flat glass as big as a door panel is ready. .
In addition to transparent flat glass, you can also use a patterned roller to roll over the glass, making it transparent but making it difficult to see the patterned glass on the opposite side.
This glass workshop is Frederick's own property. The craftsmen receive dividends according to their positions and performance. Seeing that they have completed the expected tasks by the end of June, they will also receive double and half bonuses. The children have kindergarten helpers, and the wife can Working in the kitchen of the workshop or in the shop will bring you more income, and your life will be better than that of the previous master.
Frederick walked around the workshop and finally came to another workshop, where another flagship product was produced: crystal glass.
The formula of crystal glass mainly contains one more lead oxide than ordinary glass. This is a commonly used pigment now and it is not difficult to buy it.
The utensils made of crystal glass are more transparent, clear and bright, and are specially used to make exquisite high-end utensils. The characteristics of being softer than ordinary glass make it the first choice for grinding lenses.
The lens grinder who was fished out of the prison in the Kingdom of Sardinia has arrived. He is currently studying "The Nature of Light" and waiting for his customized tools.
The machine driven by the magic reciprocator rotates powerfully and continuously. It does not use legs to drive the machine like before, which would cause problems when the legs cramp. This is very conducive to the work of grinding lenses. This craftsman feels that it can be grinded very quickly. Make the lenses Frederick needs.
At the same time, the craftsman also promised Frederick to write a letter inviting other colleagues to come to Wesson to make a fortune.
Frederick finally went to the financial office to check the financial statements and found that the plate glass had been bought by the glass mirror workshop managed by Philip of the Principality of Mainz.
He immediately instructed that the glass sold there could be given a suitable discount.
Nowadays, this glass workshop focuses on the mid-range market. It has staggered its customer base from the surrounding established glass industry workshops. It has made a lot of money in emerging markets and provided Frederick with a large amount of funds.
At this time, Frederick couldn't help but think that it seemed that it was not impossible to equip all members of the army with silver scale breastplates.
The arrival of a man surprised Frederick a little. "Manuel?" He raised an eyebrow, "Come to order something for the school?"
At that moment, Manuel seemed to want to run away.
"No...nothing." He replied hesitantly, "I just want to order some glass bottles."
Seeing his curiosity, Frederick asked again: "What is the glass bottle used for?"
Manuai has seen the world and immediately returned to normal, replying: "My wife wants to do some business, buy milk every morning and put it in bottles Sold to kindergartens and people with children at home.”
“You also know that I am a necromancer. Although milk is easy to spoil, I am going to order a tanker that can kill the contents with magic. Microorganisms are no longer afraid of damage. ”
"I have tried it. As long as you use magic once to kill the microorganisms when you first buy it and when it is sealed for sale, the milk can be stored for two or three days without being opened."
Frederick immediately said: "This is a good thing."
Milk is very cheap now, but it is expensive to process it into cheese. The price of 10 liters of fresh milk is 9 copper coins.
A child drinks 0.25 liters of fresh milk a day, only 90 liters a year, and the cost is 81 copper coins. However, the bacteria in this world are relatively ferocious, and it is difficult to store milk for a long time, so few people drink it.
Even if Manuai and the others add in labor costs and profits, the price of a bottle of fresh milk is still within the reach of ordinary people.
Frederick couldn't help but think that if the scale of dairy farming was expanded, maybe the children in the territory could be given a bottle of milk every day.
But there is a problem. He asked again: "Ordinary families in the city rarely drink milk unless they are sick. How did you convince them to give milk to their children?"
He still remembered that when he originally planned to develop milk powder, he failed because of his eating habits.
Manuai did not answer the question, but changed the subject and said: "Oh, that's nothing."
"By the way, principal, can you lend me some money so I can move out? Quite tired.”
The guy said and hit his waist.
Frederick did not ask any more about the milk and asked: "What are your plans?"
Manuel replied proudly: "It was the condensed soup last year. At that time, I I found that some soups were edible but the taste changed after being left for a while. ”
“Later, I researched and found that soups with sage or rosemary would not have this problem. "
"Now I have found a formula that adds rosemary alcohol extract to food without changing the taste."
"So now I plan to build a workshop to specialize in the production of foods such as concentrated soup, and then try to preserve fresh fruits and vegetables."
After hearing this, Frederick naturally agreed, but still said: "You write an application to me. After a while, the bank is established and I use it as the first loan application."
"However, I can lend you a sum of money first and wait for the loan to be approved. Give it back to me.”
Manuel agreed immediately.
Frederick did not participate in his holding the glass bottle and returned to the castle in a carriage.
Halfway through, he opened the small window on the carriage and asked the coachman: "Do you have a child who is five years old this year?"
The coachman felt flattered and immediately replied: "Thank you, sir, for thinking about her." She is about to turn six."
Frederick asked again: "Are you willing to give her milk?"
The coachman's income is not low, and driving is a technical job. Help the master block the knife.
"Of course I do." The coachman replied, "Now everyone is saying that you are so smart because you drink milk every day. We have all seen it."
"Now my girl has started drinking milk every day. We pooled our money and went to the manor to buy it early in the morning."
"People in the manor will boil the milk early in the morning and bottle it. It’s okay to keep it closed until noon.”
“I don’t ask her to be smart, as long as she doesn’t get deceived in the future.”
Frederick was stunned for a moment. , Are you leading the trend and changing the tradition?
(End of this chapter)