Chapter 281: Mobilization
"We’ve located the tungsten mine?"
Joy instantly washed over Simon. They had been searching for the mine for nearly a year, and now, finally, there was news.
"My Lord, this old servant’s search has truly paid off! What a good omen to start the year with; this must mean you’ll have great fortune ahead." Roland said, grinning from ear to ear.
Simon had returned from Ashenford in a sombre mood, but this sudden good news lifted his spirits. He said. "Come to the main hall and tell me everything in detail."
Still smiling widely, Roland followed Simon into the main hall.
Once they sat down, Simon asked eagerly. "Where exactly is the tungsten mine located?"
"My Lord, it’s fifty kilometres outside West Hollow City," Roland replied.
West Hollow and Ashenford were neighbouring cities on the same peninsula, just 200 kilometres apart. According to the Latin invasion plan, they intended to land at Ashenford in three years, seize West Hollow next, and then take over the entire Solas Peninsula.
According to the map in the system, West Hollow was the only place in Solas with tungsten reserves. That made this mine critical; losing it would seriously hinder future technological advancements.
So, now that it was found in West Hollow, Simon knew he couldn’t afford to lose control of either Ashenford or West Hollow. Both were also crucial coastal cities with strategic seaports.
"Immediately send labourers to begin mining the tungsten. If we’re short on workers, bring them in from other mines. There must be no delays. Go now!" Simon ordered sternly.
The discovery of tungsten and cobalt meant he could begin producing tungsten steel and high-speed steel, ideal materials for crafting lathe tools.
Although Simon’s city’s current technology couldn’t match modern tungsten carbide hardness, this steel would still outperform their existing iron and steel.
Hearing the urgency in Simon’s voice, Roland understood the matter’s importance. He nodded firmly. "Yes, My Lord. I’ll go assign the workforce right away."
With Roland rushing off to prepare the mining operations, Simon didn’t rest either. Now that the mine was found, the next step was to produce tungsten steel tools, an extremely complex process.
Unlike traditional steelmaking, producing tungsten steel tools required a full sequence: powder preparation, wet milling, mixing, grinding, drying, sieving, cobalt addition, more drying and sieving, granulation, pressing, shaping, low-pressure sintering, forming, cylindrical grinding, and fine polishing.
The first major hurdle was tungsten refinement. Although they found the mine, it was low-grade ore and needed to be enriched and processed into concentrate before it could yield usable tungsten powder.
Another technical challenge was pressing the tungsten powder into tool shapes before sintering, which required crafting tungsten steel moulds first.
Simon barely warmed the seat in the main hall before hurrying off to the machinery department.
"Bjorn, call for Tony!" Simon ordered upon arrival.
Now that Fjord was overseeing the military workshop, Tony had become the chief craftsman of the machinery department.
Tony was second only to Fjord in skill and had become a pillar of the machinery department. Simon remembered how nervous Tony had been last time; that’s how critical he was.
Soon, Tony, smelling of oil and metal, arrived. He had been helping the craftsmen repair the water-powered trip hammers. Lately, they had been mass-producing parts for the repeating crossbow, and the workload often caused breakdowns.
Only a few craftsmen who had worked on the original hammers could fix them.
"Your Highness." Tony greeted, wiping sweat from his forehead and bowing.
Once Tony arrived, Simon said. "Gather the top craftsmen from the machinery department. You’re going to start making lathe tools."
"Lathe tools? Has the tungsten mine been found?" Tony immediately brightened with excitement.
Simon nodded. "Yes. Roland just reported that the mine was discovered near West Hollow. Start preparing the moulds immediately."
"That’s great news!" Tony beamed.
A year ago, they had built hydraulic lathes in Brambleford’s workshop, but due to poor-quality tools, the lathes were only suitable for shaping wood. They couldn’t be used to process metal because the tools would break after one cut.
Eventually, with the galleons needing to be built, the lathe workshop was repurposed entirely for woodworking.
But the craftsmen had been waiting for the day they could put those lathes to proper use. If they could machine steel as easily as wood, they believed they could build something even greater than galleons.
"Don’t celebrate yet. Let me explain how tungsten steel tool production works."
Once all twelve craftsmen involved in the process were gathered, Simon began teaching the technical procedures.
He sketched and wrote on a blackboard. The visuals were so vivid that the craftsmen felt like they were already inside a workshop producing tungsten steel, it was as if they were witnessing it firsthand.
This feeling wasn’t new. By now, they had grown used to it. In their minds, Simon was simply that brilliant; none of them would guess that the source of his knowledge was a system.
"Your Highness, will we only be producing tools for the milling machine, boring machine, and drill press?" One craftsman asked.
"Yes. These three machines are sufficient to produce our current parts. Let’s not bite off more than we can chew. Focus on mastering how to process steel with these three machines first." Simon replied.
Tony and the others nodded. Each machine required a different tool. Drill bits were simple cylindrical shapes, but the milling and boring tools were more complex. Accurately forging those moulds would be a real challenge.
After teaching the basics, Simon didn’t leave. Instead, he picked up a pen and drew the tool designs directly in the machinery department, labelling them with precise measurements.
Since announcing the standardisation of weights and measures at a previous council meeting, both the machinery department and the military workshop had adopted scientific units of measurement.
Millimetres, centimetres, and meters replaced the old units, bringing precision to manufacturing.
Now, as they prepared to make high-precision tools, Brambleford’s production had to become more refined and refinement required exact dimensions.
Before Tony could begin moulding, he would need precision measuring tools.
With that in mind, Simon told Bjorn to make him a compass.