Three days later, the situation I expected immediately occurred. Under the guidance of the former slave soldiers I assigned (the slaves who first became my subordinates in Custer City), the ordinary villagers each mastered the production technology of a process. In three days, the ordinary workers have begun to mass produce products and quickly and effectively increase their daily output.
For example, in the most difficult and troublesome process of forging swords, the operators could not even finish 3 swords on the first day, but after 3 days, they could quickly and properly forge more than 10 swords. This is one of the ultimate characteristics of the production line with separate processes, that is, the operators of each process only need to master their own small part of the production process, and the rest is just to continuously improve their own production speed on the basis of producing qualified products to obtain higher rewards.
After these three days, the blacksmiths were getting a little impatient. Since they had to personally produce each sword, they had to do all the processes in between by themselves. But everyone knows that no matter how familiar and knowledgeable you are about each process, when you switch from one process to another, you will feel a little unfamiliar and alienated. And that was the case for the blacksmiths. After making the sword body, they had to grind, polish and sharpen the sword body by themselves. The time wasted and the energy required in the process were immeasurable.
At this time, they were surprised to find that those ordinary villagers, whom they had looked down upon before, could now receive the same or even more rewards as them. They were extremely confused. So, they looked at the weapons made by those villagers in confusion, but what was even more unbelievable to them was that those weapons might not be as sophisticated and detailed as theirs, but all the weapons were undoubtedly qualified products. . . . . .
Holding the weapons made by the villagers on the assembly line, the blacksmiths found sadly that the skills they had painstakingly learned for so many years could only be compared with those of laymen who had only learned for a few days. And in terms of income, perhaps in the near future, this gap will be very obvious.
So, several young blacksmiths who were not so stubborn began to negotiate with the person in charge of the factory, trying to get themselves a chance to work on the so-called assembly line. Under the careful arrangement of the person in charge of the factory, those blacksmiths were sent to the most critical production processes. And that very evening, those young blacksmiths who were focused on one process actually broke the record by winning 60 copper coins. . . . . .
Although these 60 copper coins are definitely a relatively small salary for those blacksmiths, here, it is the reward that a blacksmith can get for making three long swords a day. For those blacksmiths, this is definitely an income that is beyond their expectations. Three swords a day, this is a workload that all blacksmiths can't imagine.
However, when they heard the blacksmith on the assembly line say something else, they were stunned!
"Hey, I just went up today, I'm not familiar with that machine yet, and I don't quite understand their size standards, otherwise, I would definitely get 1 silver coin today...
But having said that, their inspectors actually said that my sword was polished too well, and asked me to speed up and lower the quality in the future.
This is really strange. I have only heard of people not building it well enough, but no one has ever complained that it was too good. I really don’t know what those people are thinking. But it doesn’t matter. I can do a little more tomorrow. ...
After a day of confused guessing, it was also time to get off work, and the blacksmiths surrounded the young blacksmith again; "Hey, brother, I wonder how much work you did today? How much did you earn? You were very confident yesterday, but you look regretful today. It's not that you made much less than yesterday, right?" For the first person to try something new, this group of people were not only envious, but also jealous.
"No, I worked too fast today and scrapped a sword. I regret it so much! For that scrapped sword, I paid 20 copper coins..." The young blacksmith slapped his head in regret, his face full of remorse. The other blacksmiths all showed a gloating expression, but soon, their faces were frozen. "Otherwise, I could earn 140 copper coins today, but now I can only get 120 copper coins... Well, I will continue to work hard tomorrow, maybe I can get 2 silver coins a day soon!" Looking at a group of colleagues who were still getting paid 20 copper coins a day, the young man who was the first to try was so happy, let alone!
Shen Xiang, who had been watching from a distance, smiled with satisfaction. In his heart, he was more convinced of his master. It seemed that soon, those blacksmiths would beg to go to the assembly line.
By then, I will be able to build this assembly line more perfectly according to the adults' requirements. After all, there are still too few experienced people on the assembly line who really understand this industry. Some of the key processes are not something that ordinary workers can master immediately after learning for a few days. In addition, the final inspection of those weapons also depends on those experienced all-round veterans.
Satisfied with watching the blacksmiths slowly disperse, Shen Xiang immediately turned around and walked into an independent, heavily guarded workshop. Then, under the escort of several soldiers, he took four swords and quickly ran towards the main base of the Flame Legion.
"Sir, according to your instructions, I have already aroused the emotions of those blacksmiths. I think in a few days, those blacksmiths will turn around and beg us. Also according to your instructions, I have made four samples according to the production requirements you gave. I wonder how you plan to test them?" After entering my office, Shen Xiang immediately reported to me what he had just seen, reported his own speculation to me, and took out four long swords.
"All of you go down and guard the door. No one is allowed to come in unless I summon them." I was extremely excited when I saw the objects I had carefully prepared. I immediately expelled everyone in the room except the two elves and Shen Xiang.
"Sir, this is sample No. 1. According to your request, we made it into long strips using quartzite chips (resistant to high temperatures of about 1,600 degrees, and a cheap and widely available product even on Earth) made from ground refractory materials. When casting the sword body, we integrated the chips into the sword body. After casting, according to your request, I did not do any heat treatment or forging. I only ground and polished the surface of the sword body, then sharpened the blade and added a scabbard. But sir, what's the use of this sword? Apart from looking like an ordinary longsword, it can't be used in combat at all... Uh! Then sir, let me introduce you to the second sample..." Seeing my sideways look, Shen Xiang immediately stopped his inner doubts and tried to change the subject.
"Give me the No. 1 sword..." I stopped him from talking any more and reached out to him to get the No. 1 sample sword. After I drew the sword out of its sheath, I just briefly observed the surface of the sword, and then took out a wooden gun barrel that I had prepared. After cutting off three sections of the gun barrel, I drew out my military standard sword and chopped it down fiercely.
With a sound of "click", the No. 1 sample sword immediately broke into two pieces. Except for a soybean-sized gap at the intersection of the two swords, the rest of the sample sword was completely broken due to the brittleness of the sword body material. After the break, an irregular quartz cross-section was clearly revealed in the core of the sword body, and the steel part was only a 3-5 mm thin piece of quartz wrapped around it.
"Good, very good, very good..." After laughing loudly, I signaled Shen Xiang to continue.
"My lord, this is sample No. 2. It is made of all-steel castings, but like the previous sword, it has not been annealed or tempered, only surface hardened on the blade. The quenching depth is also based on your requirements, about 2-3MM... According to estimates, this sword may be okay for ordinary use, but if it is used in high-intensity combat, or if there is an overly intense collision between two swords, there is a great possibility that it will break... Uh, my lord, maybe you should find a soldier to let them try..."
Following Shen Xiang's introduction, I swung my sword again and chopped at the sword, but what was frustrating was that my sword could not even leave a crack on the surface of the sword blade. Instead, the Flame Legion standard sword in my hand unfortunately broke a crack. Damn the defects left over from the overall heat treatment... The hard parts that should be hard are not hard, and the hard parts that should not be hard are hard!
(Overall heat treatment results in a small difference in hardness between the blade and the body of the sword. If the hardness of the blade is too high after heat treatment, the brittleness of the sword body will increase and it will be easy to break. If the hardness of the blade is low, although the toughness of the sword body can be enhanced, the blade will be easily cut due to its low hardness. The sword in my hand is obviously the latter)
Listening to Shen Xiang's suggestion awkwardly, I finally gave up my meaningless efforts and waved my hand to let Yunyue go to the door to call a guard. After listening to my instructions, the guard gritted his teeth and slashed at the long sword in Shen Xiang's hand. After a sound of metal clashing, Shen Xiang waved his shocked hand and handed the broken sword to me. Then he waved his hand to let the guard, who was looking at the gap in his long sword and was heartbroken, leave the office.
"Okay, very good. There's no need to try the last two. I already have an idea of the result. Now, can you tell me how much we can produce every day based on the current situation of the factory?" Observing the cross-section of the broken sword and analyzing the possible composition and strength level of the sword metal, I waved my hand to stop Shen Xiang from continuing to introduce the two remaining sample swords.
"Sir, if we only produce No. 1 swords, I can guarantee that a factory with 200 people can produce more than 1,400 swords per day; No. 2 swords can reach 1,000 swords per day; No. 3 swords can also produce 1,000 swords; but No. 4 swords can only produce 600 swords at most. However, after those blacksmiths join the production line and let those workers become more skilled, I estimate that the output can be further increased, and we may need to add another smelting furnace, otherwise the billets will not be able to keep up with the subsequent production needs, resulting in shutdowns.
In addition, in another factory of ours, we are now producing arrows and special items in large quantities according to your requirements, including the long swords you described. It is estimated that the daily output will be about 6,000 arrows and 200 long swords. . . . . . "(To be continued)