Kingdombuilding: All My Inventions Are Novelty

At West Hollow, Roland drank some water as he watched the slaves busily working.

He had been shouting commands all morning, and his throat was already hoarse, overseeing the construction of various facilities within the mining zone.

To quickly transport tungsten powder, some slaves had already begun digging for ore, while others were working on sorting and enriching the tungsten powder from the soil.

”Uncle, His Highness has arrived.” A young man ran up to inform Roland.

”His Highness is here?” Roland nearly leaped from his chair. He said to the young man. ”Ethan, when His Highness arrives, don’t speak out of turn. Let me explain to him about sending you to the Oxford Academy.”

”I’ll listen to you, Uncle.” Ethan nodded, a hint of expectation in his eyes.

Just then, a group of armored cavalrymen appeared at the mining area. Their imposing presence made it obvious that they were Simon’s personal guards.

Seeing them, Roland quickly rushed forward. He immediately spotted Simon, surrounded by guards.

”My Lord! What brings you all the way out here?” Roland greeted him warmly.

Simon smiled and said. ”Came to have a look. Also brought you the slaves Edger bought from the steppe, five thousand strong men. Should be enough for now?”

Roland glanced at the group of slaves under guard and grinned. ”Oh, Edger finally wised up. These are all sturdy ones! Five thousand of them are worth more than ten thousand from before.”

”If he hadn’t wised up, I’d have sent him home to farm,” Simon said, dismounting.

Passing by Roland, Simon looked toward the slaves digging at the bottom of the pit.

Mining had always been grueling work, especially without modern machinery. Everything had to rely on human labor, chiseling and digging. A single metal ore field could stretch for miles.

Right now, the slaves had dug about five meters deep into the surface layer, where the tungsten content was very low.

”My Lord, this is black tungsten ore,” Roland said, handing over a stone with a white-blackish hue.

The mineral resembled coal. If not for some translucent crystals on the surface, it could easily have been mistaken for coal.

Simon nodded with satisfaction. White tungsten ore was more common but usually low-grade. Black tungsten ore was rarer but typically richer, and it usually appeared alongside manganese, a metal he also needed.

Weighing the tungsten stone in his hand, Simon felt genuine joy. He had specifically asked Roland to prioritize black tungsten ore for this very reason.

After checking the mining and sorting areas, Simon was very pleased with the progress. In just a few days, they had already achieved notable results.

Though it came at a cost, slave laborers were living in the open with only a few tents and no proper houses yet.

”You’ve been sleeping in tents too?” Simon asked, moved by the sight.

”No choice, My Lord.” Roland smiled. ”The cement and bricks from Brambleford won’t arrive for a while. At least it’s warmer now, and the slaves carried their own bedding. Grouped together, it’s not too cold.”

”You’ve all worked hard. Just endure for a little while longer. I’ll have the government send rewards soon.” Simon promised with a smile.

Roland grinned broadly. Then he remembered something and pulled a young man forward.

”My Lord, this is Ethan, my nephew.”

”Ethan? The one who was enslaved to the government?”

”Exactly. Thanks to Her Highness’s kindness, she petitioned His Majesty to pardon him. Now he’s returned to me. Your Highness also knows that I have no other relatives left. I treat him as my own son.”

Ethan bowed deeply. ”Greetings to Your Highness.”

Simon knew well that Roland, who had essentially become a eunuch within the royal system, placed all his hopes on this one remaining family member.

Since Roland rarely made personal requests, Simon took it seriously. He glanced over Ethan, noting the resemblance to Roland.

The Empress’s effort to seek a pardon on Ethan’s behalf seemed to be a reward for Roland’s many years of loyalty.

”You look just as honest as your uncle,” Simon said.

”My Lord, honesty runs in our family!” Roland laughed heartily. ”I would like to ask Your Highness to let Ethan study at the Oxford Academy. That way, I can focus on running the mines, and he can learn enough to assist me in the future.”

”You have a point,” Simon said, observing Ethan again. ”Very well. Let him enroll at the Oxford Academy for a while.”

”Thank you, My Lord!” Roland let out a sigh of relief.

Truthfully, even if not for Roland, Simon needed to cultivate talents for mineral exploration. Brambleford’s supply of skilled individuals was pitifully small; new blood was urgently needed to support future industrial development.

After inspecting the mine, Simon returned to Brambleford, carrying with him three tons of tungsten powder extracted so far.

At the Machinery Department

Bringing the tungsten powder, Simon headed directly to the machinery department.

”Your Highness, how should the springs be made?” Gru asked, sniffing; he was clearly battling a cold.

With flintlock musket production moving forward, Simon had gathered Brambleford’s strongest research team. The old machinery department’s talents had been fully reassembled.

However, Simon hadn’t set them all to work on the musket together. He assigned specific tasks.

Tony and his team would focus on tungsten steel tools and barrel production.

Gru was responsible for producing musket bullets and the intricate lock mechanism.

According to Simon’s broader plan, Fjord would specialize in artillery research while Gru would lead firearms research.

Although barrel production hadn’t started yet, small steel ball manufacturing and lock mechanism development could begin immediately. The steps could proceed in parallel; after all, Simon wasn’t starting from scratch. He had access to detailed firearm production data.

”What about extracting pure tungsten from the powder?” Tony added.

Both questions pointed to technical challenges. Producing springs involved solving the elasticity problem of steel, while refining tungsten at this stage couldn’t guarantee high purity; at best, maybe 20% refinement, which was still enough.

”One thing at a time. Tony, you and your team handle the molds first. Gru, you stay, I’ll explain the structure of the lock mechanism to you.” Simon ordered.