Chapter 255 - First Meeting In The New Great Room
Einar, who was meeting with Seren, Gerd and all the blacksmiths, were looking with quiet joy at some stones that some slaves had been looking for months.
"Today I gathered everyone in this meeting room in the new great hall building.
How can you see in front of you an investigation of months finally gave results. We managed to find some extremely important mineral veins.
First, in the river near the new town of Fiskefontene where the dike is being built, we found a large amount of gold running down the mountain.
This is extremely important because for the first time, we have a source of gold to be able to make our own currency, because of this the entire gold mine will be owned by the royal family bank.
I hope you understand that at the moment only gold coins will be made by following the coins of the city of Carcol as a guide.
If we find more gold ore, it will be sold by the bank to make handicrafts and jewelry. "
All the smiths and Seren nodded, understanding that they must first guarantee a coin of their own before using the resources on other projects.
"The second most important metal we found was lead."
Einar, taking a gray stone, showed it quite proudly "The ore vein seems to be quite large and for our fortune it is in a place close to our tribe.
But at the same time it has a sufficient distance to be able to found a lead smelting center in that place to make ingots.
How do we know lead is a highly polluting material so putting people near the smelter will be suicide.
That is why an exclusion zone of 5 kilometers around will be created where no one outside the slaves and soldiers who take care of the place is allowed to enter.
There I also planned to build an iron foundry that would use the new method of making steel by transforming pig iron into a functional metal.
Although we find the right way to reduce the carbon level in the steel, the process will be very polluting and will require a blast furnace to melt the metal.
The construction of these two foundries will take a few months but when they are ready, they will be the first places for the manufacture of materials for the tribe.
Due to the pollution of the operation of that place and after doing some experiments using a large amount of paint to see the ocean currents.
It may have been a simple way, but we discovered a place on the coast where the current collides with another, making a small current that carries everything south. "
Einar sighed and looked at everyone seriously "I really don\'t know where that current ends, but at least we could see what was going into the sea for more than 10 kilometers before the ink was completely imperceptible.
That is why in that place will be the mouth of the drainage of those foundries and anything that is built in the future in that place.
When the drainage is built, signs will be created on the beach to prevent someone from trying to fish or enter the beach because of the danger it will represent.
I will also make some wooden buoys to mark where fishing should be avoided, although it will be a small sacrifice and in this way, we will avoid diseases in our population.
But let\'s move on to the last material we found. "
Einar, putting on a black leather glove, took a red stone that was on a glass plate "This is mercury, a material that serves many purposes, fortunately, due to the lack of silver mineral we do not need to use it in large quantities.
That is good because the vein of the mineral was found in the cave that Ansgar had to go through on his way back, although I do not know how much mercury there is.
I am sure that we will have to use the worst slaves to do this work, but at the moment we will only do small-scale mercury mining.
In the area where the two smelters will be, we will build a special area to get mercury, this to make thermometers to measure the temperature with that things will improve. "
Leaving the red stone, Einar looked at everyone quite seriously. "Although in these months we have only found these minerals, with the exception of the iron mine that we have, we have to look for a coal mine or an oilfield.
Although the methods that we are using to obtain charcoal work well, we cannot always use little tricks in the design of the furnaces to increase the temperature.
If we don\'t have a supply of anthracite charcoal, we\'ll just wipe out every tree on the island before we know it.
That is why I would like to form a team consisting of Ansgar, a group of 5 warriors, 3 slaves and two blacksmiths with experience in materials.
They will be called the Icelandic Expeditionary Group, their mission will be to survey the entire terrain of the island and in the process, they must try to find more valuable resources.
Due to the danger of the task, you will carry with you a large amount of food and resources, as well as tools, so that you can place poles throughout your journey.
These posts will serve as a guide to know where they are walking, if they find a good place to found a town, the post will have to have marks that indicate it.
One of the slaves who will accompany them was the assistant to a court painter to a Frankish nobleman, so he has knowledge about drawing.
He will be in charge of drawing the maps, but anyway in these two weeks while everything is prepared for the expedition, I will train that slave.
So that your drawing is good enough to be able to place the distance on a scale, for this I will give you specially prepared ropes to make the measurement in kilometers.
It is very important that you always remember to mark the number of kilometers on the maps and signs that you leave, as it will save a lot of time in the future.
Due to the dangerous winter, they will start with the northwest part of the island where Ansgar\'s path is, that way, if something happens.
You would know how to return, due to the possible threat of bears all the warriors will carry lever crossbows with steel-tipped bolts.
Those crossbows bolts have a higher penetration power than what we commonly use and the new crossbow has more firing power, not to mention easier to reload.
With this it should not be a problem to kill white bears with just a few shots, but in case the situation is serious they will have to return to report.
To carry out an extermination expedition, those animals do not belong to the island and will only destroy livestock.
Perhaps in the future in a part near the center of the island, we will found a sanctuary for white bears, but until then there should be no free bears.
Do you have anything to say to complement what was discussed at this meeting? "
One of the blacksmiths raised his hand "Herald Einar, I understand that it is oil from the many times he explained to us what it looked like.
But because we need it in the smelting process, it is a material that can be ignited as easily as charcoal. "
Einar smiled and spread his hands "The oil refining process is simple, it is only boiled and later in a small condensing tower the materials are allowed to come out for future use."
Lowering his hands, Einar sigh "Although it is the most basic process, because if I want to turn into something else I would need a brutal amount of materials and different things that I don\'t know what they are.
We may only be able to use the most basic refining method, but the result should be enough to generate a much better fuel than wood.
Although if we had a little phosphoric acid and other materials, we could make our own Greek fire even more powerful. "
Seeing everyone\'s surprised faces, Einar just shook his head "I know it sounds fantastic, but at least it will take 10 to 20 years to create something like that.
With the premise that we already have oil, why without it is not possible to do something like that ... "
Einar interrupted his words when the door to the meeting room opened and Felipa rushed in.
"Einar, my mother, and Helmi are going into labor. I need your help in the operating room to be able to receive the babies.
The midwives and assistants trained to help us are already downstairs. "
Getting up somewhat concerned, Einar gave Seren a look "Prepare everything you need for the expedition in two days you can come and find me so we can talk about your doubts.
See you later, as my wives can\'t wait. "
After this he left the room and began to walk with Felipa to the elevator where Kassia and Helmi were waiting, who were sitting in wooden wheelchairs.
The two women when they saw Einar only smiled because it gave them the confidence to have Einar by their side.