Seeing that the end of summer is coming to an end, and the last and hottest month of summer is approaching in Frontier Town, Roland is even more reluctant to leave the castle. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The saltpeter he bought from Margaery, except for gunpowder, was used by him to lower the temperature of the room - and in almost every room there was now a bucket of saltpeter, and a kettle was also soaked in it. This can not only play the role of heat absorption and cooling, but also drink ice water to quench thirst. Only in this way will he not be sweating profusely every day as soon as he sits in the office.

Except for Anna, the rest of the witches were also stopped from their work by him, except for the necessary practice and study every day, they basically gathered in the hall on the first floor, either chatting or competing with each other to play Gwent cards, looking like they were having a good time. And Anna ...... It's not that Roland doesn't want her to rest, it's that she's not afraid of the heat at all. The red iron ingots could be held directly in her hands, and the heat of the hot summer was nothing to her. Even if she was busy by the steelmaking furnace for an afternoon, she wouldn't sweat a single drop.

To reward Anna for her hard work, Roland has recently made some ice treats for her, such as the classic ice cream of later generations, which is made by mixing egg yolks, cream, milk and sugar water and then cooling it with saltpeter. Anna is a big fan of this cold, glutinous and unusually sweet snack, and every time he takes a small bite of ice cream, the appearance of his blue eyes bent into a slit will be pleasing to his eyes.

In addition, it is also a great pleasure to look through the various month-end summaries sent by the city hall.

So far, the population of the border town has doubled again, reaching nearly 18,000. In addition, Changge Fortress will "hand over" a batch of serfs every month, and it will not be a problem to break through the 20,000 mark in the next year. If you don't count the number of villages and towns in the territory, this scale is almost comparable to the big cities of Chishui City, Golden Harvest City, and Wangdu.

It's a bit of a pity that the population has grown a lot, but the quality hasn't improved much. The town's more than 1,000 natives are still being educated, and it will probably take a year or so to graduate – Carr's previous private colleges, while producing a group of early graduates, are still insignificant compared to the total population.

Perhaps we should educate the refugees in the East first, rather than wait until enough dormitories have been built, Roland thought to himself, after all, there is only benefit to early education, not harm.

The town's factories are also developing very well.

After more than half a year of construction, the industrial park now has three factories in operation: two steam engine production plants and one bullet processing plant. The number of blacksmiths at the No. 1 factory has expanded from a dozen or so blacksmiths to more than 100 now, and most of the people who have joined have joined since then are indigenous people, which is exactly what he wants to see, and one group of apprentices gradually grows into craftsmen, and then leads the next group of apprentices.

The workers of Plant 2 belonged to the Moonmoon Bay caravan, and in just one month, they had roughly mastered the use of each machine tool, and although the yield rate was relatively poor, these craftsmen performed better in the first month than the blacksmiths of Plant 1. It's just that before the contract expires, all the steam engines they produced belong to Roland. The two factories now produce about eight to ten steam engines per month, and are the main source of income for the border town.

As for the bullet factory, it was handed over directly to the First Army after it was completed, not only was there a sentry at the entrance, patrols were arranged around it, and even the production work was taken care of by the soldiers. After a week of trial operation, mass production of a new generation of fixed-loading ammunition has begun.

Roland's design of the assembly line could not achieve fully mechanical production, whether it was a primer, gunpowder or warhead, it required manual loading and compaction. The main processing tools were two mechanical presses, one for pressing Anna's cut copper sheets into the shape of a shell, and the other for stamping primer cups.

The soldiers only had to place the mercury thunder acid powder evenly between two sheets of tissue paper, glue the pieces of paper tightly, clamp them into the primer cup, and finally stuff the primer cup into the annular groove at the end of the cartridge case, and they were done. As for the process of loading black powder and compacting the warhead, it is exactly the same as the previous reloading exercise.

The factory has a small number of people, only about 40 people, and can produce more than 500 rounds of ammunition almost every day. Roland intends to turn these forty or so people into full-time processing staff to maintain the normal operation of the bullet factory.

Roland then plans to add a soap factory, a vital part of the military industry, and a perfume factory, which may open up a new trade channel for the town. As for the bicycle factory, it can be dragged back a little longer, as long as it is put into production before the Kingdom Avenue is repaired.

"Your Highness," Nightingale pushed open the door, "Maisie and Lightning are coming. ”

The two of them slipped past the nightingale and ran to the table and poked their heads out, "You have something to do with us?"

"Tomorrow is Ji Xia," Roland pulled out the already written reply from the drawer and handed it to Maisie, "When you return to the fjord, remember to pass it to Tilly for me." ”

"Ah......h

Seeing the other party's suddenly realized look, I am afraid that I don't remember that I have to go back every month to report the news, Roland held back a smile in his heart, it seems that the charm of the town is really great.

"I forgot that tomorrow is a new January," Lightning pressed his forehead, "Isn't it a long time since we have seen each other?"

"Last time, Mistress Tilly's cleanup plan delayed time, and I'll be back as soon as possible this time," Maisie shook her long white hair that was about to drag to the ground, "That eagle's nest won't be allowed to explore until I'm back...... Goo!"

"I see," the little girl pouted, "and that's it." ”

"You also have a mission," Roland spread out a drawing of the southern area of the town, "This is a map you drew yourself, remember the location of a shoal in the direction of the mountain near the sea?"

"Remember," lightning gestured to the map, "it's probably in this place." ”

"Very well, you can take Maisie with you later, and then plant two flags at the junction of the shallows and the mountains, and mark them on the map," he said, looking at Maisie, "If Tilly agrees to send a witch, you can lead the sailboat to the ford, and I will meet you at the top of the mountain." ”

"Send out the witch?" Lightning wondered, "Is there a new sister coming to Bordertown?"

"I don't know yet," Roland smiled slightly, "it depends on Tilly's answer...... But I think she'll say yes. (To be continued.) )