Chapter 457 Weights and Measures and Dwarf Artisans
In this way, there are three types of clockwork muskets in the Salvation Army.
The first category is the light and heavy spring-loaded muskets, also known as the holy muskets or sea mortine rifles, which are the main rifle guns on the current battlefield.
The second category is shotguns and hand cannons, which are mainly used for public security and suppressing riots, which are the Canned gun series.
The third category is the ampere gun which has not yet been put into production. Horn may use it for skirmishing or ambush to snipe enemy high-level knights.
If classified according to this tactical function, then the big gun can barely be counted in this category.
After clarifying the matter of the Ampere Gun, I chatted with several craftsmen for a while.
After a few clichés like "How many people in the family are eating well, and do you need any help from the religious order?", Horn said goodbye to the gunsmiths and went to find the blacksmith's forging director. Kelgen.
In the Ordnance Research Institute, Seamotine is the clockwork director, and Kelgen is the second-ranking forging director.
This Kelgen is also a dwarf from the Dragon Cult. He is Brock's cousin, but his skills are not as good as his. He had been opening a shop in Mound County before.
However, war broke out later, and many local Dragon Cult dwarves were captured by the army and forced to forge weapons, so Kelgen fled to Langsander County.
I also brought a dozen dwarves, old and young, with me. Currently, these dwarves are building the mithril firing rod.
Across the second-floor office, Horn walked around and found the old dwarf named Kelgen in an inconspicuous corner.
Standing on the roof that was turned brown-black by the black and white smoke, seven or eight dwarves wearing only aprons and trousers were walking through the smoke amid the flowing iron water.
Holding pliers, hammers and rivets, they looked coldly at Horn and his party who came over, and just said hello lightly.
Knowing that Horn and others were looking for Kelgen, they just pointed indifferently toward the center of the work shed: "There."
Steam like a dreamy gauze penetrated from under the beard of the old red-haired dwarf. passed, covering half of his body.
This scalding steam can scald a person's skin into blisters, but this dwarf's copper-oak skin was only burned red.
For dwarves who live in volcanic areas all year round, this temperature is nothing. Kelgen held a hammer and knocked on the mithril slats.
Seeing Horn coming, he glanced up and said nothing, just tapping the iron plate dully.
"Why don't you bow to your Majesty when you see him?" Duvalon strode out from behind Horn and shouted righteously towards Kelgen.
Horn pulled Duvallon behind him, and he was not angry. He smiled and asked Kelgen: "Have you eaten?"
"………… "
"If you haven't eaten, I would like to treat you to a lunch at the Mechanical Palace."
Then Kelgen raised his head, with thick hair on his head as wide as his neck. Between his eyebrows and beard, a pair of red bean-like eyes looked at Horn: "If you want me to leave, just tell me. There's no need to be pretentious."
Horn was stunned for two seconds before he reacted: "Who told you that I want you to leave?"
Kergen raised his head full of resentment: "Learn the dwarves' skills, and then drive the dwarves away. Isn't this a common trick of you humans?"
"When will I drive you away?" Horn was really confused this time, "I'm not bad to you, I even allow it. Are you disclosing your belief in the Dragon Worship?"
"Huh." As he spoke, Kelgen lowered his head and said, "Then let me ask you. You, you said the parts don’t match, will you discuss this issue with me in the next few days?”
“I don’t mean to drive you away”
"The parts don't match? Let me tell you, it's impossible!" Waving the heavy hammer in his hand, the people around him subconsciously dodge out of fear, and Kelgen raised his head stubbornly.
"Although all the parts are hand-made, they are all the same. We have tested each one, one by one, and they are all the same. Dwarves do not tell lies!"
After listening Kelgen's words were full of persecution and paranoia, and Horn shook his head dumbfounded: "I didn't mean that, please listen to me explain slowly."
The so-called parts mismatch are not parts made by the dwarves. It doesn't match, but the parts in Ashheard Town and Autumnset Island don't match. Many war monks have complained that the spare gear is either too big or too small, and sometimes the first pawl cannot be inserted in. After using a knife to make the hole bigger, the second pawl becomes wider.
The main reason for this problem is weights and measures.
Human weights and measures are used in Ashheard Town, while Qiumu Island uses dwarf weights and measures. Although the drawings and data are similar, the parts that can be made are different.
The Salvation Army is fine now, but when it becomes bigger in the future, it will be difficult to change.
A typical example is the defiant British unit that was abandoned by its own motherland.
Seeing that Kelgen still looked dubious, Horn smiled and said: "How do you usually determine weights and measures?"
After looking at Horn's sincere face for a long time, he took out a greasy ruler from his crotch and said, "Here, this was passed down from my grandfather. We have been using this for generations."
Looking at the greasy ruler in front of him, Horn took a step back slightly, but didn't know what to say.
In later generations, people often confused the municipal system and the metric system. They were just two sets of weights and measures, but in this world, a guild or even a workshop shared one weight and measure.
Why not use normal weights and measures and come up with a bunch of units like one cubit, one foot, one brogue?
The purpose is to formulate standard measuring tools and standard systems, establish technical barriers in the guild, and prevent people from learning from others.
At this time, most of the craftsmen inherited their experience. You took the measuring tool and made it according to the formula and drawings, memorizing it.
Their drawings are all designed and drawn in their own units. The cubit on it may be 50 centimeters for a human, but only 30 centimeters for a dwarf.
I got a drawing. The cube on it is 50 Brock and the other cuboid is 20 Halkin.
It seems that the cube is larger than the cuboid, but the unit of "Brock" may be 1 centimeter, while the unit of "Halkin" is 1 millimeter.
Things made in this way will not be assembled correctly no matter how you assemble them.
Even if someone learns the craft and steals the blueprints, there is still no way to build something without standard ancestral measuring tools.
This core technology of standard molds and weights and measures is a top secret passed down from father to son for craftsmen. Many guild craftsmen even have to work as laborers for a lifetime before they can even get a handle on it.
To say the least, even if someone creates it, they will not be recognized by the guild, and they will even be sued by the guild.
Dare you disobey the standard system and create chaos?
The end would be the same as Sisi’s: his certificate would be revoked, he would be kicked out of the pharmacists’ guild, and he would not be able to sell medicines normally.
Therefore, the purpose of Horn's trip to find Kelgen was to discuss the issue of weights and measures.
Isn’t there a unified standard of weights and measures within the guild?
What he wants to do is to unify the standards of weights and measures throughout the entire Redeemer Pope!
Completely break the guild's monopoly on weights and measures. Otherwise, not only the craftsmanship will not be able to develop, but even Horn's rational natural theology will not be able to develop.
After listening to Horn's statement, Kelgen was still doubtful.
Horn didn't tell the whole story, he just talked about the problem of non-uniform parts caused by different weights and measures, but he always felt that it was not simple behind the scenes.
Human rats don’t know how to study skills on their own, so they have to steal and cheat through crooked ways.
“You’re not using this method to deceive us dwarfs about their skills?”
“Of course not.” Horn shook his head calmly. When the time comes, we will wait for the unified weights and measures and mathematical methods to be promoted. Yes, their skills are just the afterglow of the old times.
Horn doesn't like their little skills.
"Then you swear, I swear on your mother."
"I swear, if I lie, my mother and I will both be beheaded."
(End of this chapter)