Chapter 1058
Later, in order to avoid the jealousy of the soldiers' committee, the shrewd Turín weapons merchant, Laos, took the initiative to cooperate with the armory of the army and let the armory of the army sell the high-quality weapons they produced. This revitalized the armory of the army, which had been declining in the competition in the kingdom's arms market. Within a few years, branches were set up in various cities and towns in the kingdom. Half of the employees were disabled soldiers, and the salary was not low.
But Aristaglas made a difficult choice — to start a business. He chose the industry he used to work in — stone mining. He asked his comrades to raise funds and obtained the strong support of the soldiers' committee. He brought a few disabled soldiers who were willing to work with him to the Ministry of Commerce, hoping to contract a stone mine.
After the establishment of Diónia, a resolution was passed: the mines in the territory could not be sold to merchants, and only contracted by them. Not only must important mines be auctioned, but after obtaining the mine, the Ministry of Commerce would also send people to supervise the mine within a specified period of time. They would not allow the mine to produce too little or overexploit, so as to ensure that the annual contribution to the kingdom was constant.
In the end, the Ministry of Commerce agreed to let Aristaglas contract a stone mine in Lucania, not because he was a disabled soldier and should be taken care of, but because the stone mine was located in the mountains, inconvenient to transport and not abundant in production. Moreover, it was a limestone mine, so no merchants were willing to take over it. So the Ministry of Commerce let him contract it at a lower price and only gave him a one-year contract, just to give it a try.
Unexpectedly, after Aristaglas took over, he overcame many difficulties and not only did the production of the stone mine increase greatly, but he also sold it at a good price. At that time, Lucania Municipality had belonged to Diónia for several years, and after vigorous cultural dissemination, the local people had gradually accepted the lifestyle of the Diónia. They lived in Greek-style houses, and the temple of Hades needed a lot of limestone.
As a result, Aristaglas gained a lot of wealth and won the trust of the Ministry of Commerce. With this as a foundation, and with the disabled soldiers as the backbone, he made a name for himself in the stone market of the kingdom and became a very famous stone merchant.
Four years ago, he did not join the Turií Chamber of Commerce organized by Laos and went to the Latin Theater of Operations. It was because he had just contracted the Turií stone mine that was of great importance to him and the kingdom. There were so many things that he had to deal with one by one and he could not spare time to go to Latin. Moreover, there was no stone mine in Latin.
Now, he was a well-known stone merchant in the kingdom. He had a group of capable subordinates, and he no longer needed to personally supervise and command the mines. However, the reconstruction of the main temple of Hades had a huge impact. The Kingdom's Administrative Office ordered that the marble needed for the temple would mainly be supplied by the Turín stone mine (because the stone mine was close to the Turín, and the cost was low, and it was not easy to damage). They also provided all the slaves of the kingdom to the stone mine to ensure that there would be enough stone for the construction of the temple in a short time. Because of this, Aristaglas felt that he had a great responsibility and did not dare to neglect it. He personally went to the scene every day, afraid that something would go wrong.
Aristaglas first saluted the soldiers who escorted the slaves and said seriously, "Thank you for your hard work, brothers!"
Then he asked the foremen, "Which team do you belong to? How many slaves did you bring? "
The foremen reported the number and number of people in their team. Aristaglas's men picked up the wooden planks, checked them, and said, "Come with me."
The foremen brought the slaves into the mine. Aristaglas stood at the entrance and chatted with the team officer while waiting for the subsequent slaves to come in. After confirming that all the slaves of the kingdom had arrived and the number was in line, he said to his men, "Go and bring in our slaves and pack-carts."
The man responded, but he did not leave immediately. Instead, he reminded him, "Boss, according to the judgment of several old sailors, there is likely to be heavy rain in Turín tomorrow. Just in case, we have to move all the stones in the mine today. Otherwise, if it really rains heavily, the ground of the mine will become slippery and muddy, and transporting the stones will become very difficult and dangerous."
It was difficult to mine the ore, and it was even more difficult to transport it. Aristaglas knew this very well. He immediately made a decision. "I will discuss with Blos (the officer in charge of escorting the slaves today) and try to extend the working hours of the slaves as much as possible to ensure that all the stones can be transported today."
After saying this, he thought of another thing and said, "Take some time to go to the Academy of Engineering of Diónia and contact the scholars there. Tell them that I have agreed to build a railway to transport the ore that they mentioned last time. When we are done with the stone supply for the main temple of Hades, invite them here to carry out … well, according to them, it's called an experiment."
"Making the railway to transport the ore?" The man was a little puzzled. Obviously, he did not know about this.
"I'm not too sure about the specific situation. When you arrive at the academy, ask the scholars in detail." Aristaglas waved his hand impatiently.
The Academy of Engineering of Diónia was established shortly after the end of the war in the Western Mediterranean. Most of the scholars came from the original Academy of Mathematics. It was a discipline that put theoretical science into practice, mainly responsible for the design of public buildings and various instruments. The construction of the railway and the mine cars came from the idea that the Devers mentioned by chance when they visited the newly established academy and talked to the scholars. The scholars regarded it as the most important research topic for the expansion of the influence of the new academy.
Corsica and Sardinia belonged to the kingdom, and the entire Etrurian Alliance was allied with Dionia. This allowed the kingdom to have a sufficient supply of iron ore and solved the problem of resources. Laos was also willing to produce this special, high-quality railway. However, it was difficult to find a mineral merchant who was willing to cooperate with him. This was because the initial investment was huge. It was mainly to spend a huge amount of money to purchase enough railway tracks. The price of iron in the kingdom was not cheap. Even though a few years ago, some new territories with rich iron ore resources were obtained, mining was difficult, and transportation was even more difficult. All of these had undoubtedly pushed up the cost.
The scholars of the Academy of Engineering had discussed this with Aristaglas several times, but he had been a little hesitant. However, after he accepted the task of providing stone materials for the main temple of Hades, due to the urgency of the task, he had lost seven or eight pack oxen and more than a dozen private slaves just to transport the ore to the main temple of Turín. He finally made up his mind to cooperate with the Academy of Engineering to solve the transportation problem.
After making this important decision, he also felt a lot of pressure in his heart. He wondered if he could get a huge loan from the Cristoya Bank to ease the financial situation. After all, according to the scholars of the Academy of Engineering, this was a very important research invention of the Kingdom. The King of Diónia also attached great importance to it.
But before that, he had another thing to do first. He turned to another man and said, "Go to the port later and book a passenger ship for me first. If it really rains tomorrow, I'll go to Syracuse and inspect the stone mines there. After all, they are also responsible for providing limestone for the main temple. There can't be any mistakes! (Syracuse has the richest open-air limestone resources in the entire Western Mediterranean. Aristaglas has contracted the mining rights of one of the stone mines.)
… …
Maximus brought the 50 slaves to the mining area that they were previously responsible for. They didn't start mining immediately. Instead, they had to make a judgment first. As the captain, he had to decide where to start mining. If the initial location was chosen well, the subsequent mining would be smoother, and there would be fewer casualties. This required the captain to have rich mining experience and foresight.
The reason why Maximus could become the most trusted captain of the foreman was that he was very rational. He did not make a judgment on the spot. Instead, he had already prepared for today's mining at the end of yesterday. This was a working habit he had developed after serving several terms as Rome's municipal magistrate.
The huge and flat rock in front of them had been poked with a few vertical and horizontal grooves, forming the outline of a rectangular stone.
At this time, Maximus asked six slaves to step on a wooden ladder and climb up the rock. They worked in groups of two and hammered pieces of dry wood into the grooves with a wooden hammer. When all the grooves were filled with dense sawdust, the rock cracked slightly along the grooves.
Maximus immediately ordered the slaves who had already brought water cans to pour water on the wooden wedges. The water flowed into the grooves and soaked the wooden wedges. The wooden wedges absorbed the water and expanded, becoming bigger and bigger. The rock was stressed, causing the cracks in the grooves to become bigger and bigger. This process required some time.
At the same time, Maximus did not waste this time. After carefully observing the rock next to him, he began to measure with a tape measure. He then used an ink pen to draw the outline of the rock. After that, a few slaves took a brush (there was an iron saw attached to the wooden board) and brushed along the outline of the rock back and forth. Finally, a deeper groove was carved out.
At this time, under the continuous expansion of the wooden wedges, the cracks on the rock next to them became wider and deeper.
Maximus felt that the time was right, so he sent another five slaves up. Each of them held a slender and strong wooden crowbar. They inserted the crowbar into the cracks between the wooden wedges and began to pry the rock out. It was an extremely laborious and difficult process. After a few more waves of slaves and a few broken crowbars, the rock finally separated from the rock.
Comments