Restart:Untalented Man

Chapter 29 Construction Materials

?It is now late at night, Riz is still awake. Since he started his education for the past two weeks, he didn't have much free time during the day.

Except for horsemanship, swordsmanship and etiquette, he pretty much excels in other subjects.

Stuart was surprised by this and kept calling Riz a genius in front of Richard.

Richard was very proud to hear Stuart's compliment. Riz didn't take it to heart as he has studied until degree level.

Of course, he can't say that to Stuart

Therefore, he needs to utilize the little time he has to plan for Ryntum's future.

Riz starts writing down his next plans for the territory.

At present, Ryntum March is embarking on the path of centralization.

The Kingdom of Bagyarosia gives freedom to its nobles on how they want to rule their territories. In exchange, they need to pay taxes to the king every year. The more land they have, the more they need to pay.

The amount of military the noble can personally possess was also limited by the king to prevent an uprising, treason or coup. The maximum amount of military depends on the rank of nobility.

Baron; 1,000 men

Viscount; 3,000 men

Count; 6,000 men

Marquess; 8,000 men

Duke; 10,000 men.

These men are mainly used to guard the territorial border, keeping peace within the territory and guarding the safety of the nobles and their families.

Richard hasn't told the three barons under his rule about it yet.

If he tells them about it too early, they will definitely oppose it. After all, centralization pretty much strips most of their power. The right to collect taxes and raise an army is no longer in their hands.

To make sure Ryntum's intention doesn't leak out or arouse their suspicions, many buildings and facilities need to be built first to ensure the smoothness of governance.

Only after everything is ready then Richard will personally 'convince' them.

However, the current construction technology makes progress slow.

It has been two months since the Bideford government plaza started yet only ninety percent of the construction site was cleared.

'Maybe this is a good thing. I can introduce concrete as a new construction material and make a concrete building', Riz thought as he tried to recall the ingredient needed to produce concrete.

'I need cement, water, gravel or crushed stone and sand. Now, the problem is cement.'

Cement is an important ingredient to make concrete, it acts like glue to hold other materials.

'I need limestone, shale, sandstone and iron. First, I need to find the limestone deposit', Riz rings the bells to call Charlotte.

"Yes young master, did you call?", Charlotte is still awake. She usually sleeps after Riz has slept.

"Yes, I did. Tomorrow I want you to hire as many people as possible to find a soft rock that is easily scratched. It is usually grey, but it may also be white in colour".

"Yes, young master", Charlotte replied energetically, it has been a while since the young master gave a task to her. She thought Riz had forgotten about her.

After Charlotte left, Riz leaned on the chair and stared at the ceiling.

'Once I have cement, any construction will become easier. But another crucial material needs to be solved'

Riz was thinking about iron ore. He needs a massive amount of iron in the future. If he didn't somehow increase the production rate of mining output, it gonna cost him a lot of money.

Although he is rich, probably richer than his father's annual income, he can't splurge on money as he likes.

"I guess I have to take a trip to Coreton", he first needs to know the situation there before making any plan.

....

The next day, Riz meets his father at the office.

"Father, I want to go to Coreton this weekend"

"Hmm? For what?"

"I want to check the iron mine there. I need a lot of iron in the future"

Richard is thinking for a while. Although he's worried, his son is going to succeed him in the future.

Holding him back won't do him any good.

Taking account of his several successes in the past, Richard has grown confident in Riz's ability.

"Fine, but you need to bring guards along with you."

"Thank you, father", Riz exits the room and searches for Charlotte.

"Charlotte, prepared for a trip to Coreton. I will leave the matter of security to arrange". By now, Riz already regards Charlotte as his secretary. She is really capable when doing her job.

On weekends, Riz and Charlotte depart from Bideford to Coreton. It takes six days to arrive there.

....

From inside his carriage, Riz finally sees the farm fields. There's no one in the field since it is currently late January.

"Finally", he sighed. The past few days have been tiring for him.

This is why he doesn't like to travel. The condition of the road and the carriage kill off his mood.

From afar, he saw several silhouettes standing at the town entrance.

"Hmm!!?", Riz trying to see the identity of the silhouettes.

As his carriage approached the town, the identity of the silhouettes became clearer.

It's Baron Coreton, his wife and several knights.

"It's an honour to meet you, young master Riz", the baron greets Riz as soon as he steps out from the carriage.

"Sorry for the last-minute visit, Baron Coreton"

"Hahahaha, not a problem at all, young master. Let's have lunch first". Baron Coreton leads Riz and his entourage to his mansion.

"Let's do that", he only eats so little during breakfast. He is afraid that he will puke due to the shaking carriage.

Baron Coreton has prepared a feast for him. Probably trying to get on his good side.

Riz tries to enjoy lunch but has been constantly interrupted by Baron's compliments. To be honest, Riz is getting sick of hearing the thing over and over again.

Not wanting to waste any time, he quickly finished his lunch and asked Baron to lead him to the mine.

It took him ten minutes of walking to reach the southwest of the town where mine is located.

There, Riz can see the people going in and out of the mine shaft. Miners are a dangerous job in this era. Days must be spent underground, where there is a chance of cave in and collapses.

Typically, miners handled all of the work from mining the ore, extracting the valuable metals from the waste and smelting.

"Let's go inside"

"Young master?!!", Charlotte was surprised by Riz's intention.

"Relax, I'm just going to take a look", he assured Charlotte.

Once he entered the mine, he saw the miners were extracting ore only from shallow depths.

'I bet there are many more hidden underneath this wall. I need to use explosives to open up new veins.'

Two hours later, he returns to Baron's mansion where he starts writing his plan to improve the efficiency of iron production.

First, instead of letting miners do all the work, it is better to make a divisions of labour.

Next, he designed a safety system to prevent mine from collapsing. Most of these miners are actually farmers. Losing them means losing a precious workforce. Although Riz agriculture devices have spread across the entire fief, it doesn't mean that the liberated farmers has no value.

Riz designed a large bloomery with the application of water power to it.

Ever since ancient times, the primary way of making iron and steel was the bloomery furnace.

The blast furnace will change this entire process. He scales up the bellow and powers it with a water wheel. By doing this, a constant blast of air can be supplied to the furnace, making it capable of generating enormous heat.

After its construction is completed, ironworkers can reach the temperatures that far exceed the iron's melting point. Instead of a solid reduced-iron bloom, liquid iron can be produced from the bottom of the blast furnace. The liquid iron will be poured into casts, creating cast iron which is generally purer than bloomery iron.

Before he realizes, he has spent three days hole up in his room.

Although there are several missing pieces like explosives, Riz looks satisfied with his plan for now.