[Refined Smelting Furnace (Green): After personally constructing or participating in the construction of a smelting furnace within the territory, metal recovery (extraction) rate increases by 50%, impurity removal efficiency increases by 50%, and the strength of materials made into finished products increases by 100%]
"It's another enchantment entry!"
Luo De's eyes lit up instantly.
Take iron ore as an example. The iron yield in this era was typically between 50% and 60%.
With the bonus from the entry, the iron yield from the furnace built by Luo De could reach 75% to 90%, which was simply a qualitative leap!
No need to sell ore anymore; directly processing ore into iron ingots could be profitable!
No, no, no!
This kind of low impurity, high-strength iron ingot shouldn't be sold yet!
Luo De pondered to himself as he continued to browse through the information in his mind.
After unlocking the entry, besides the ability boost, Luo De also had a wealth of knowledge about the smelting furnace in his mind, including construction and usage details.
The smelting furnace itself was not advanced, but it was an upgrade to an ordinary furnace, with technology and ideas far ahead of this era.
The smelting furnace was larger, often reaching three to five meters, and its design was more reasonable.
Compared to ordinary iron furnaces, the furnace's internal temperature was higher, making iron smelting more efficient, and the iron produced had fewer impurities.
Additionally, the furnace could be continuously reused. As long as enough raw materials were added to the furnace, molten iron would flow out continuously, making it very suitable for large-scale production.
However, building a furnace required fire bricks or a large number of stones, which usually took several months to half a year to complete, a duration too long for Luo De's current situation.
After roughly browsing, Luo De turned to check the requirements for unlocking the next entry,
[Next entry: Produce one hundred pounds of pig iron in the territory, unlock: Vein Detection]
"Fortunately, I don't have to smelt it myself, or I'd be circling around the furnace all the time."
Luo De closed the prompt interface and turned his head to find everyone looking at him.
"What's the matter?"
"Noble lord, your smile just now was quite frightening."
Luo De automatically ignored this topic and looked at Hammer, asking, "How much iron ore do we have now?"
Hammer turned to look at another blacksmith, the owner of this blacksmith shop.
Upon hearing this question, the blacksmith involuntarily shivered.
He already felt that the lord's personal visit to repair his shop today was not a good sign, and now it seemed his intuition was right.
The lord had set his sights on his iron ore.
"Over a hundred pounds, lord."
Seeing the two strong knights beside the lord, the blacksmith answered honestly.
A little over a hundred pounds is a bit too little.
Iron ore was not expensive in the Northern Wasteland, and one hundred pounds was worth only one silver coin.
In fact, without considering the high taxes imposed by the lords, craftsmen like blacksmiths were truly high-income individuals.
The blacksmith should have more assets; having just over a hundred pounds of iron ore was truly not much.
Without the lord's exploitation, ending up like this could only mean this blacksmith's skills were indeed lacking.
Fortunately, Luo De had brought Hammer from the city.
A hundred pounds of iron ore could only produce twenty pounds of iron at most. Even with the enchanted furnace built by Luo De, only thirty pounds of pig iron could be produced.
It was far from Luo De's target, not even enough to make full body armor for Durant and Gang Le.
Making just a single piece of full body plate armor would require fifty to sixty pounds of iron material; what these ores could produce was only enough for one piece.
"Where did you get your iron ore from?"
Luo De asked, "Otto never mentioned there was an iron mine nearby."
"Sometimes you can find some picking in the mountains and rivers, or trade with the Black Stone Mountain People." The blacksmith answered honestly.
"Who are the Black Stone Mountain People?"
"They live in the Black Stone Mountain Range, mostly relying on hunting for survival. They frequently come down the mountain to trade animal skins and iron ore for some food with us."
Luo De remembered.
The Black Stone Mountain Range was to the northwest of Frost Leaf Town, nearly eighty miles from here, a stretch of mountain forests.
The Black Stone Mountain Range spanned over a thousand square kilometers, comparable to the territory area of some small counts in the Broken Rock Empire. It was rich in wild resources, with river tributaries at the foot of the mountains.
There being an iron vein there was not surprising to Luo De.
The Black Stone Mountain Range was the northwestern border of Black Pine Ridge, but the landmark line of the Northern Wasteland was not clear, making the ownership of the Black Stone Mountain Range highly contentious.
To Luo De, the Black Stone Mountain Range could belong to Black Pine Ridge.
However, Luo De had not yet even surveyed the entire Black Pine Ridge territory, and he didn't have the energy to manage the Black Stone Mountain Range for the time being.
"Melt that hundred pounds of iron ore, you'll receive the due reward."
Luo De looked at the blacksmith and said, "I can give you silver coins, pay you in rye now, or record it as work points for future exchange of food."
In truth, Luo De could have levied the iron ore with a tougher stance, but skilled labor like the blacksmith was valuable, and he should act more diplomatically.
Moreover, having just completed tax collections, Luo De had abundant food supplies. He had over thirty thousand pounds of barley and wheat combined, along with various eggs, frozen meat, fish, and so on. Resources were plentiful, so he didn't need to exploit excessively.
Currency was the least available, with only over five hundred copper coins.
Currency wasn't circulating well here, so Luo De instructed Lawrence to create a work point record chart based on copper coin prices. Except for slaves, work done by commoners would be recorded as work points.
At the end of each month, work points would be tallied, allowing commoners to exchange them for food and resources, or to accumulate them.
Luo De thought, the commoners couldn't work for nothing, or they would eventually run away.
With work points, he provided reimbursement while also establishing a connection between the commoners and Black Pine Ridge.
"There's enough rye at home to eat... I'd like some meat or fish, lord." said the blacksmith quietly.
"Fish will be delivered to you tomorrow, but your work will only be recorded as work points for now."
Luo De understood that blacksmithing was labor-intensive work, requiring the blacksmith to consume more meat to maintain his strength.
"Okay, okay, thank you."
The blacksmith bowed excitedly.
The lord did not directly confiscate his iron ore and even personally helped repair his shop.
The lord was not as bad as he had imagined.
Luo De turned to Durant and said, "Bring all the iron ore from our tax collection and have it smelted."
There were about two hundred pounds of iron ore in the tax resources, so they could start by forging two pieces of equipment.
Whether it's plate armor or chain armor, the production time would take nearly a month, so they had time to gather more iron ore during this interval.
"Prepare the materials to make the furnace, let's get all the iron ore smelted today."
The main ingredients for the low furnace were clay mixed with quartz sand and hay,
The furnace's floor had to be laid with a layer of sand first, followed by clay mixed with quartz sand, ensuring a firm and level base.
After the clay was mixed, it had to be rolled and shaped into thick cylindrical columns, bent into semi-arches and stacked together to eventually form a round platform-shaped furnace (with the top of the cone cut off).
Notably, a fire should be started once the furnace base was halfway built, baking it dry while continuing to construct it.
The ratio of charcoal to iron ore was one-to-one, and the weight of the iron ingots ultimately smelted would be about 10% to 20% of the ore's weight.
Of course, if the iron ore quality were high, the iron ingot yield would also be higher.
"My lord, are you going to make a furnace with us too?"
The blacksmith looked at Luo De in surprise.
Durant and Gang Le were already aware that Luo De had personally farmed, so they weren't too surprised.
"I will make one, and you make one. Hammer and Gang Le will be responsible for mixing clay."
Luo De's purpose was to conduct an experiment—what level of participation was required for the so-called "participate in making" the furnace.
Theoretically, if Luo De ordered the blacksmith to make a furnace, that would be considered participation, right?
After all, in criminal offenses, the mastermind behind the scenes was severely punished.
The blacksmith scratched his head in confusion, not understanding why two furnaces were needed.
Luo De didn't bother with further explanation and commanded, "Let's get to work."