Chapter 144: 142: Confusion (Added for volkerz)
19 Lombard Street, in the study.
Luo Yi flipped through the documents in his hand and asked without looking up, "Is it because the Caroline family's rail supply is insufficient?
Douglas promised me that the quality and quantity would be guaranteed, and there would be absolutely no problem. How could such a problem arise in such a short time?"
Maruna stood upright, but he smiled helplessly when he heard this, and said, "Master, let me say this, this matter really cannot be blamed on the Caroline family.
They have tried their best, but they are really helpless in the current situation."
Luo Yi looked up, interested: "Tell me more about it?"
"It's not that they produce too slowly, but that we work too fast..."
After Maruna explained it in detail, Luo Yi suddenly understood.
There were actually only two conditions that Roy had put forward to seduce Douglas.
First, Loy paid for the purchase of the railway company shares, so he didn't have to actually pay.
At that time, the shares will be transferred directly to Luo Yi, and he will also give him 2% of the shares.
In other words, Douglas could get original shares of the Northern Railway Company worth 10,000 gold teals just by talking.
Even he couldn't ignore such a huge fortune.
Of course, Douglas was a man who would not do anything without profit. After truly seeing the value of the shares, he actually paid for Gentile himself.
In other words, he is now one of the shareholders of the Northern Railway Company in name only, holding 6% of the shares.
Secondly, Loy promised to give the order for railroad tracks, the largest consumable material for railway construction, to the Caroline family.
This was something Roy proposed on his own initiative, and it was also what Douglas was most excited about.
There is no doubt that when building a railway, rails are the largest consumable material and the most valuable.
Douglas has always wanted to get involved in this field. The Caroline family's cast iron factory mainly produces railroad tracks.
However, the Caroline family's cards are not strong enough, and Douglas is only a second-level magic mechanic, which is not enough in front of the real big businessmen.
As a result, the produced rails were actually sent to other large factories, where they were picked and selected. Only some of the good quality ones were kept, and the rest were returned.
In other words, the Caroline family's iron foundry was just a contract manufacturer, and was subject to all kinds of criticism and exploitation by the client.
Don't be fooled by Douglas Hill's smiling face, which is always exaggerated, but in fact, he is extremely fed up with these clients.
It can even be said to be hatred!
Therefore, when Luo Yi proposed that he be the 'client's father', even though he knew it was dangerous to get involved in the struggle between the nobles, he did it without hesitation.
However, although Roy was Miller's boss, he knew the importance of quality better than anyone else.
So, he and Douglas made it clear upfront that any order could be given to him and the price would be the market price, and they would never ask for a lower price.
But the quality must not be bad!
Douglas Hill agreed readily at the time and said that there was absolutely no problem.
But now there is a problem. It’s not that the quality is wrong, but that the quantity cannot keep up.
But, as Maruna said, the Caroline family really cannot be blamed for this.
The truth is, the railway was built too quickly.
The workers at this stage are basically former farmers, and they still have the simplicity and diligence unique to farmers.
Loy's Northern Railway Company really has no shortage of money, and the conditions it offers are really good. Not only does it stipulate working hours, but it also puts a lot of effort into food, accommodation, and medical care.
As a result, a group of migrant workers found that life here was much better than at home.
Then, they repaid the debt in their own way, which was to work hard!
In order to speed up the progress, Miller opened three locations and started working at all three locations without hesitation.
In this way, the work efficiency soared, and the 360 kilometers of railway were continuously laid at a speed far exceeding the estimated speed.
As a result, there was a problem with the supply of rails!
The Caroline family's productivity really couldn't keep up, and even with the help of the iron foundries in other surrounding cities, they still couldn't keep up.
This slowed down the construction of the railway.
Although Douglas is not to blame for this, he still has to be the one to solve the problem.
Without much hesitation, Roy asked Maruna to prepare a carriage, and then took Mira and Gary to the Philante Magic Academy.
In the Moonstone Mage Tower, Roy met Douglas, who obviously knew why Roy came.
Without waiting for Luo Yi to speak, he said, "I have already contacted the large iron foundry in the Ruhr area through the channels of the Mage Tower.
When the time comes, I will personally bring the dimensional bag and go through the Mage Tower to pick up the goods."
"I promise that the supply of rails will be restored in the shortest possible time. There will be no delay. Please make this clear to Baron Miller."
Douglas was also holding back his energy. It was his first time being the "client's dad". If he messed up, it would be a blow to his own reputation.
Therefore, he really used all the relationships he had built up over the years, not only to find sources of goods, but also to arrange for teleportation magic and dimensional bags.
The price was high, but he knew it was necessary.
Having said that, Luo Yi couldn't point fingers at anything, but he still said, "Douglas, I'm not trying to find fault with you.
I think it’s not a big deal if it keeps changing hands like this.”
"This is our Northern Railway Company's first battle, and we've made a name for ourselves. In the future, we'll definitely be taking on more than one or two railway construction projects like yours.
Are you sure it's not your own production capacity, but you're relying on outsiders for help?"
Since they were already familiar with each other, Luo Yi spoke without so many reservations. Douglas Hill smiled bitterly and said, "Of course I know, but upgrading the iron foundry is not as simple as you think.
That requires enough skilled workers and blacksmiths, otherwise production capacity will not be able to keep up."
Luo Yi suddenly asked, "How is your blast furnace steelmaking going?
So far, there really hasn't been any results at all?"
"Of course, we haven't achieved any results, but the most critical issue has not been resolved."
"What?"
"Furnace temperature! Steelmaking requires a furnace temperature high enough to completely melt the iron ore.
But, until now, I haven’t been able to find a feasible solution.”
Luo Yi became interested and asked, "Can you let me see? I also want to see what experiments you have done after spending so much time and wasting so many materials!"
Douglas Hill hesitated slightly, but finally said, "Then come with me."
As he said that, he led Luo Yi out of the living room, into the laboratory, and started to walk around.
Roy had been to Douglas' laboratory more than once. It was so messy inside that he couldn't even put his feet inside.
Moreover, the inside was filled with the smell of rust and engine oil. It didn't smell very good.
However, with Douglas's active introduction, his research ideas on the topic of "blast furnace steelmaking", various experiments, and even experimental results were all presented to Roy one by one.
Then he discovered that Douglas was not without results.
If you want to melt gold and smelt iron, there are still ways in this world, especially in magical materials, there are many additives that can increase the temperature.
Douglas tried it and achieved some results, but once he calculated the cost, he could only frown.
Magic materials have always been extremely expensive, especially before artificial breeding could be carried out on a large scale, and they were limited in number.
Its price is naturally high, and it is a bit reluctant to use it normally, let alone now.
If that magical material were really made into a common auxiliary agent, Douglas felt that the steel he produced would be extremely expensive.
If the cost is high, it will naturally be uncompetitive, and subsequent promotion will be out of the question.
Therefore, Douglas did not mention these immature plans to Roy.
Only now, when introducing it, did I say a few things.
This is also the current status of the development of magical machinery in this world, which is always limited by the influence of classical alchemy.
However, the more you look back, the weirder Luo Yi's expression becomes. He even paces and spins around a machine. It seems like he has some idea that he is about to grasp, but always falls a little short.
Douglas was dizzy from being confused by him and couldn't help but ask, "Luo Yi, what are you doing around a universal power machine?
If you have anything to say, just tell me directly."
Luo Yi suddenly caught on to the topic and asked, "What did you just say?"
"If you have anything to say, just tell me..."
"No, no, what about the previous sentence?"
"I mean, you're around a jack-of-all-trades..."
"That's right, that's right, that's it!"
Roy finally looked up at Douglas and asked, "I noticed that all your designs require the universal power machine, but why?"
"Why do you want a universal power machine?"
“Isn’t that how it’s used???”
Douglas paused as he spoke as a matter of course.
Luo Yi said: "In other words, what you are doing now is actually converting magic energy into kinetic energy, and then converting kinetic energy into high temperature.
In this way, you will always be able to move to a higher level.
But if we can directly transform the magic energy into high temperature, is there any way to deal with it?"
At this moment, Douglas' eyes lit up, like a lit torch.
This chapter is an additional update for volkerz. Thank you for the reward of 3700 Qidian coins!
(End of this chapter)
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