However, when Roland operated it himself, he found that the actual situation was far from being as simple as he thought.

After four or five days of working in the backyard, the drill bit with higher hardness was successfully made, and with Anna's high-temperature flame, he could easily get molten iron above 1500 degrees. Without the restriction of temperature, the conventional steel frying method can easily and quickly produce a small batch of steel - that is, the molten iron is quickly stirred with an iron rod, so that the excess carbon and other impurities in the pig iron are fully oxidized in contact with the air, and the molten iron can be cooled down after several times to obtain high-quality steel.

The problem is with the first steamer.

The noise and vibration of this prototype machine are so alarming that even the drill bit cannot stably drill the entire iron pipe. When doing rough and heavy work, this level of tremor does not matter, but machining the barrel clearly does not work.

To improve this, he had to build a centrifugal governor to control the output power of the steam engine, and then use a gear combination to reduce chatter and adjust the rotation rate of the drill. Machining gears requires simple lathes. With that in mind, Roland found himself unable to achieve this goal before the Demon Moon.

In the end, I had to use the old way, relying on the hands of a blacksmith to hammer it out. The plan for the mass production of muskets went bankrupt, and at most 3-4 barrels were produced in a month, according to the number of blacksmiths in the border towns, and this was when the construction of a second steam engine was stopped.

The only good news is that there is no need to worry about the pass rate of the barrel. The blacksmith only hammers out a rough round pipe, and then Anna uniformly closes the seam, the effect is similar to that of a seamless pipe cut by a boring knife, which can basically eliminate the risk of exploding.

Roland had no choice but to revise his plan, he had planned to recruit hunters from the frontier towns and form a musket team - most of them were proficient in archery, whether it was a bow or a crossbow, they were handy weapons. In addition, firearms training takes a short time, which can make them combat effective quickly.

But now in Demon Moon, you can build up to four flintlock pistols, so you can only select the best hunters to build an elite group. Roland decided to leave this matter to Iron Axe, who had been in the border town for fifteen years and was considered the best hunter.

Brian hasn't been happy in the past half a month.

Especially when you meet a militia on the street, the feeling of unhappiness is multiplied...... There is even a trace of unwillingness in my heart.

He felt that he had been forgotten by His Royal Highness the Prince.

When he was called over by the Chief Knight a month ago, he was full of excitement. It is such a lucky and glorious thing to have close contact with the fourth prince and receive personal inquiries from His Royal Highness.

He grew up in a border town, and although he came from an ordinary Orion family, he took on the position of patrol captain with his own ability. He knew that he could not rely on his family to become a knight, so he could only wait for the opportunity to make a meritorious achievement and accept the canonization of the superior.

His Highness's inquiry made him feel that the opportunity had come, and it was clear that the fourth prince Roland was unwilling to give up his territory, and he was trying to find a way to fight the evil beast. The walls that were later built on a large scale also proved that there was no doubt that they would spend the Demon Moon in the border town this year.

If you want to stop the invasion of evil beasts here, you must assemble a team that dares to fight head-on. Brian thought he was the right man, he was proficient in scouting, swordsmanship, and horsemanship, and he stayed behind every year until the last to light a beacon fire to prove that he was not lacking in courage, but he never expected that His Highness would actually choose a team from among the civilians to fight the evil beast!

That's right, a purely civilian team, not only him, but none of the ten members of the entire patrol passed the review of the chief knight. This is simply incredible, could it be that His Highness thinks that this group of people who have never held a sword before will be better at fighting than himself?

But His Highness seems to be serious...... Not only was he training the rabble, but he was also giving them uniform clothing. Every afternoon, Brian could see the men in brown and gray leather armor running through the streets in two columns. At first, the team was sparse, but recently it has become more and more tidy.

And he still performs boring tasks every day, and he can't see any hope of promotion.

At night, when he tossed and turned and couldn't sleep, there was a noise next door, and then the door was pushed open, and someone crept in.

"Hey, get up," the man whispered. Brian heard the other party's voice, he was a member of the patrol, nicknamed Scar.

There were five people sleeping in his room, and except for himself and the greyhound, the other three quickly rolled over and got up, as if they had been prepared, and did not even take off their coats.

"Captain, get up, I have something important to tell you. ”

Scar has a noble relative in Changge Fortress, and I heard that he is still a great nobleman, so his status in the team is very high, Brian can't ignore him, so he has to get up and ask, "What's the matter?"

The greyhound was also woken up, "This ...... It's so late, you...... You don't sleep...... Sense?"

"I have a good job to introduce to you, do you want to be canonized as a knight?"

"What...... What?," Greyhound surprised.

Brian's heart also jumped, and he hurriedly asked, "What kind of work is it?"

"You all know my uncle Hiltai, he is the earl of the Duke and a close confidant of the Lord. He personally told me this news," Scar said in a low voice, "The fourth prince is going to throw off the Changge Fortress and do it alone, which makes the Duke very displeased. He decided to let the prince know who was the master of the West. ”

"Difficult, difficult, difficult...... What are you going to ...... Sting, assassinating......" The greyhound stammered even more as soon as he was nervous, and he didn't finish a sentence for half a day.

"How is it possible," Scar sneered, "he is a prince no matter what, and if he dies, even the Duke will not be able to protect us." I said, it's a good job. ”

Bright subconsciously felt that this deal was certainly not as simple as he claimed, but the temptation to canonize the knight was too great, and he couldn't help but say, "Let's hear it." ”

"Grain. Without food, he could only obediently roll back to the Changge Fortress. This work was promised by the Duke, and as long as we can successfully burn the grain bought by the fourth prince, he will hold a canonization ceremony for us, and give us a fief on the east side of the fortress. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Captain, what do you think?"

"You, you're crazy...... Ah, didn't Your Highness say it, this year...... The month of the demon is likely to hold ...... For more than four months, you burn and burn the grain, what will everyone eat!" Greyhound shook his head again and again, "Two ...... Two years ago, everyone's forgotten?"

"What's the matter with us?" said the other, dismissively, "I don't plan to stay here anyway, and leave Lord Ryan's business done, and we'll be able to live comfortably in the fortress." ”

"That's right, do you still want to eat the slag of a lifetime in this hellish place?" the others also helped.

Hell, they've been colluding for a long time, and Bright feels cold, except for himself and Greyhound growing up in a border town, most of them come from all over the kingdom, and they don't have any nostalgia for the town at all. Seeing that he was powerless to stop it, he had no choice but to change the subject, "But all the wheat has been transferred to the castle of His Royal Highness the Prince, and there are His Highness's personal guards and knights guarding the door, how can you get in?"

"That's why I'm calling you," Scar smirked, "I've been in this place since I was a kid, and no one knows the environment better than you." I remember you said that there was an abandoned well in the back ravine, which was connected to the waterway below the castle. From it, you can reach the castle gardens silently. Didn't you climb into it when you were a kid? Well, if you do this with me, you will be a knight in the future, too-a knight canonized by the Duke himself. ”

No...... A knight should have the courage to fight against injustice, he should not be afraid of power, and he should protect the weak! For the sake of the Duke's personal vendetta, he should ignore the threat of starvation and death for the sake of the Duke's personal vendetta?

He was about to say no, but the greyhound barked.

"1. A bunch of crazy people! You, you, how dare you fight for food, I will never, never let you leave here and here! I will report and report to ...... Ahem," Greyhound said mid-point, his voice froze abruptly, and he turned back in disbelief to see a former teammate standing behind him sneering at him. The black dagger was thrust from behind the greyhound's waist, and the dagger was completely submerged in the body. He shuddered twice and opened his mouth to say something, but all he could do was let out a hoarse inhalation.

The other party stirred the dagger twice, and then pulled it back violently, and the gray dog suddenly collapsed to the ground limply like a rag doll that had lost its support.

"How's that?" Scar approached Bright, who could even feel the fishy breath coming out of his mouth, "I think you should have decided, Captain?"