Sword and Sorcery and Martial Arts

Chapter 252 Acquaintance (4000 words)
After filling his stomach, Rhodes left the tavern. Before leaving, he asked Baron to release recruitment information in other taverns in the town, asking him to help with the first step of screening.

After leaving the tavern, he went to the grocery store to buy some animal skins and ink that could be used for writing, and then rode back to the castle. He found the castle's study and walked in.

He plans to write part of his knowledge of inorganic chemistry on the animal skin tonight, and hand it over to Gilbert to study it. It is best to write it clearly, so as not to need to explain it again.

Gilbert was able to manufacture such an alchemy workbench by himself, and he would definitely be able to build an ironworks using blast furnace ironmaking in the territory based on the "Metallurgy Guide" and this knowledge of inorganic chemistry.

But in this way, Rhodes still needs a lot of miners to mine for him, whether it is coal or iron ore, they are all indispensable.

Now all his citizens are farming and can't support themselves. If they want some of them to mine, they have to wait for them to popularize the agricultural tools made by the chief scholar to liberate productivity.

Thinking about it this way, there are still a lot of things waiting for Rhodes to solve, and I don't know if the chief scholar can let the cattle that have not been fully domesticated in this world honestly pull the plow.

Rhodes still has more than half of the winter to settle these matters, and it is useless to be anxious. He wonders if he can attract some refugees to his territory, or directly buy serfs from slave traders...

"My lord, it's time for lunch!"

Rhodes raised his head and followed the sound. Lorraine stood outside the study and poked his head in.

"It's already noon now," she said again.

Rhodes hasn't had a good rest for the past few days. He stayed in the warm room with the fireplace, and his drowsiness surged up like a tide, so that he fell asleep on the desk in the study yesterday. Good basic inorganic chemistry knowledge is all written on the animal skin, and it will be handed over to Gilbert later.

"You go down first, I'll come down right away." Rhodes sat up and rubbed his numb arms. Sleeping on the table with his arms on his pillow was a skill he learned when he was in school. Sometimes he couldn't fall asleep in bed, but As long as you get to the classroom, you can fall asleep by lying on the table. After traveling for a year, you still can't get rid of this habit.

"Okay, my lord, then I'll go down first, remember to brush your teeth." After speaking, Lorraine closed the door of the study.

Rhodes stood up and walked towards the toilet in the study. He said that the toilet was not suitable. There was only a chamber pot and a basin filled with water in it. There was no faucet or toilet.

It seems that we need to find a time to redecorate the castle, repair the sewers and the hot water pipes buried in the walls in the castle, it is not safe to use the fireplace, there is a possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning, and the ashes of the charcoal fire will get everywhere in the castle.

He decided to try to bury the pipes circulating hot water in the walls of the castle, which would be comfortable and safe.

The problem of tap water is easier to solve. Build a water tower next to the castle, and then use the artificial pump installed in the modern well to pump water into the water tower. There is a well next to the castle. The structure of this hand-pressed artificial pump is not complicated. , it was recorded in a book of miscellaneous studies that Rhodes drew before.

Let the craftsmen in the town make a special one according to the drawings, and they will definitely be able to make it. However, it is estimated that some changes will be made to pump the water to such a high position. It should not be difficult for them. As long as Rhodes uses money to offer a reward, Countless inspirations will emerge from the heads of these craftsmen.

Rhodes felt that Gilbert needed to make a water purification device. There are many minerals and microorganisms in the well water. It might deteriorate if stored in the water tower. It would also cause scale in the water tank of the water tower and the tap water pipes in the castle. .

After dealing with his personal problems, Rhodes walked to the first floor of the castle, where steaming food was placed on the long table.

"My lord, you are finally here. I made today's lunch alone." Lorraine came out of the kitchen with a basket of freshly baked bread.

"Is there no chef in the castle?" Rhodes asked a little strangely.

"There was one before, and then he went to live in that house in the town with the chief maester, and most of the servants followed. Didn't you find that there were not many people in the castle?" Hamer grabbed a piece of bread and started to eat .

"I didn't notice. Yesterday I felt that the castle was much cleaner than before. It's not full of dust like before, and it's not inhabitable at all." Rhodes also picked up a piece of bread and started to eat it. Although the nobleman put the bread on the dinner plate, He ate slowly with a knife and fork, but he was too lazy to pay attention to that much.

"Those rooms were all cleaned up by my mother. I feel that there is still some furniture missing in the castle, and it looks empty." Lorraine said again.

Rhodes nodded and asked, "How do the soldiers living next to the castle solve the problem of eating?"

"They have special cooking soldiers. You don't need to take care of this. I think you should hire some servants from the small town. Such a big castle doesn't have many servants." Hamer replied.

"Where are Baron and Gilbert?" Rhodes only saw Hammer, Heyman and Ott at the dining table, not the two of them.

"They went to town early in the morning, and they don't know what to do." Hamer answered vaguely while eating the bread.

Your good friend left with someone else, why don't you go and have a look?

"Heyman, you will take Ott to the small town to hire some servants to the castle. You must choose those who look clean, and don't take the ones that are too dirty." Rhodes threw a gem in the past "This gem is worth about [-] gold coins. You can ask a carpenter to make some furniture for the castle. It doesn't need to be too luxurious, just practical. You can see what is missing in the castle. If there is more, you two can share it among yourself." , but don’t cut corners, if you don’t have enough, you can ask me for it.”

"Okay, my lord!" Heyman replied after putting away the gem. Heyman looked much more energetic than yesterday. His hair, which was messed up like a chicken coop, was neatly combed. There was a confident air about him.

There was a lot of furniture missing in the castle, many rooms didn't even have beds, and there wasn't even a bookshelf in his study, but if he didn't pursue luxury, five hundred gold coins should be enough.

Rhodes also wanted to take this opportunity to see what kind of people the two of them were, and to see if the two of them only spent part of the money to deal with him, or whether they would do things well with respect and responsibility.

In fact, Rhodes also hoped that they would come to him after all the money was used up.

He plans to recruit some more business-minded people to serve as caravan leaders. He plans to form several caravans, at least let each country have one of his caravans, and let each caravan compete with each other.

After Rhodes finished his meal, he took a good walk around the castle. After observing the castle carefully, he returned to his study to draw the design drawings for the decoration of the castle, but finally found that he couldn't draw such things at all.

It is better to find someone who understands architecture, and I will talk to him slowly.

Rhode found Hamer again, and gave him a sum of money to ask the blacksmith to customize the water pipes to see if the blacksmith could make water pipes that were not easy to rust.

Steel water pipes are prone to rust, and the water pipes used on the earth are generally stainless steel or plastic pipes.

Plastic can't be made now. Rhodes didn't learn organic chemistry well. He only knows that plastic water pipes are made of polymers.

As for the alloy used for stainless steel, the proportion of metal added is different, or the production process is different, and the stainless steel obtained is also different.

It is also possible to make water pipes with copper, not only does not rust easily but also sterilizes, but it is too extravagant to make water pipes with metals that can be used to make money.

We can only see if the blacksmith in this small town can replace it with materials unique to this world.

Now that I think about it, I need to quickly develop the heavy industry in the territory.

With the rise of heavy industry, iron farm tools can also be produced in large quantities.

Rhodes left the castle again. He decided to go to the town to see if there were any slave traders. If not, he would go to Qingliu City across the river. He needed labor too much now.

The residents of the small town are busy building docks, textile mills and paper mills, and there are not enough people to repair the road leading to the castle.

Rhodes returned to the hall on the first floor of the castle, and when he was about to go out, he ran into Lorraine again.

"My lord, how is my craft?" Lorraine looked at Rhodes expectantly.

"It's okay, it's just a little lighter, you can add a little more salt." Rhodes replied.

"Salt is so expensive, it's better to eat less. If you eat too much, you won't have time to drink water." Lorraine exclaimed.

Rhodes suddenly remembered that this was an inland place, and what they ate were rough mineral salts that had not been purified. He also wondered why the food they ate these days had a strange bitter taste.

He decided to come back and develop the work of refining salt in the territory. No matter where it is or what era it is, controlling salt is very important.

Refining table salt is much simpler than developing heavy industry.

"Don't be so frugal. Money is not saved by you. If you want to become rich, the most important thing is to find ways to increase your income to make money." Rhodes said.

"Forget it, let's not talk about it." Lorraine covered his ears and shook his head.

"I still have something to do, so I'll go out first." Rhode walked out of the gate of the castle.

"Wait, I still have a question to ask you." Lorraine reached out and grabbed Rhodes's clothes.

"What's the matter?" Rhodes turned around and asked.

"I just want to ask Lord Lord how old you are this year. You look so young, and you don't even have a beard." Lorraine said.

Rhodes touched his face, and it seemed that he did not have a beard. Could it be that the golden bell cover iron shirt and iron head skills made my skin thicker?
"Seventeen, eighteen in summer." Rhodes replied.

"What a coincidence, I was also born in summer, but I'm one year younger than you." Lorraine said excitedly.

Rhode nodded, "It's a coincidence."

After speaking, he walked towards the direction of the stables.

"My lord, where are you going? Can I go with you?" Lorraine chased after him and asked.

"The place I'm going to is very dangerous, I'd better go alone." Rhodes shook his head and rejected her, those slave traders are not good people, maybe something unexpected will happen, he can do everything by himself Don't be afraid, but if you take Lorraine with you, you have to consider her safety.

"It's so boring in the castle." Lorraine complained.

Rhodes thought for a while, and took out a cookbook "Compendium of Home Cooking" that he picked up in Miscellaneous Studies from the system space. Apart from a small amount of text, it mainly taught people how to cook in the form of pictures. People who can read can understand.

"You study this cookbook, and I will check your craftsmanship when I come back." Rhodes handed over the recipe. This cookbook is colorful like a magazine, and there are many photos of the finished products on it. It should be modern published books.

If this is the case, Rhodes may be able to get a classical Chinese dictionary, so that he can translate those obscure martial arts written in classical Chinese to the dictionary.

Lorraine took it and flipped through it, and was attracted by the bright pictures on it.

"What kind of magic is used? Such a smooth book, such beautiful pictures, just looking at the pictures makes my mouth water." Lorraine said with wide-eyed eyes.

Her words reminded Rhodes that printing should be used. Color printing like this is not yet possible, but printing black and white text is very simple. After the paper mill is put into production, education can also rely on paper and printing. pervasive in his domain.

As long as he provides some practical education to the people in his territory, it only takes one or two years, and countless useful talents will emerge in his territory.

"You don't know magic, and it's too complicated to explain to you. Take your time, I have something to do and I'll leave first." Rhodes didn't give Lorraine another chance to speak, and rode away from the castle towards the direction of the town. run away.

He first inquired in the small town, and after learning that there were no slave traders in the small town, he decided to go to Qingliu City on the other side of the river.

Although the town does not have a dock for large ships, there are still some small boats that can cross the river by the river.Qinghe is not so much a river as it is a river. The widest part of Qinghe is 200 meters wide. If the difference in buoyancy between sea water and river water is not taken into account, even seagoing ships can sail on Qinghe.

Rhodes left the horse in the stable in the big house where the chief bachelor stayed, and then he found Gilbert and gave him the animal skin with the knowledge of inorganic chemistry, asking him to study hard and return it to him. They arranged tasks, such as asking Hamer to go to the blacksmith to find materials for making water pipes.

After doing this, Rhodes found a boatman by the river and asked him to take him across the river. Rhodes was wearing knight's armor and a helmet, so the boatman didn't recognize him, and thought he was a wandering knight.

Qingliu City was downstream on the other side of the river. About an hour later, Rhodes arrived at Qingliu City. The boatman did not enter the pier, but put Rhodes outside the city.

Rhodes walked into Qingliu City. He had been to this city before and was quite familiar with it. He decided to find a tavern to find out. He came to the "Fat Salmon" where he lived before.

Walking into the tavern, you will still be greeted by the unpleasant smell mixed with the smell of alcohol and vomit.

Rhode saw an acquaintance sitting in the corner of the tavern...

(End of this chapter)