Chapter 1439: The Elves Who Burn The Boiler
After coming out from the city lord’s castle, Mag immediately went to the factory in the north of the city.
All the machines had been assembled according to his requirements. Steam spinning machines had been set up in the spacious workshop. Although they looked very humble and shabby when compared to the modern machines, it was the second combination of steel and steam engine in this world. It had an epoch-making significance.
Mag was certain that this batch of machines could complete their spinning mission, and their efficiency was at least 100 times that of the normal weavers’.
However, because the elves had no idea how to use these machines, they left them idle. They were currently practicing their archery and magic under their captain’s, Ashley’s, lead.
Mag found Ashley. The captain was rather storky when compared to the normal elves. She was one of Irina’s most trusted elves, and was also the existence that restrained the Night Elves’ behavior and trained them whenever Irina left them on their own.
“How can I assist you, Mr. Mag?” Ashley asked. She was always very respectful to this human who had given plenty of assistance to the Night Elves.
Mag smiled. “It’s like this. I plan to teach you all how to use the machines in the factory today so we use the machine to spin efficiently. Then, the factory will be able to start its operations.”
“Please give me a minute to gather the Night Elves.” Ashley turned to walk away.
“Wait a sec.” Mag quickly stopped. He took two steps forward and shook his head. “There’s no need to assemble everyone now. Because the restaurant is rather busy now, I would like to teach 10 elves who are nimble and have good memory in a small group first. They will then teach the other elves after they are familiar with it.”
“Alright. Please wait here for a moment, Mr. Mag. I will go get 10 elves right now.” Ashley nodded and strode away. Soon, she returned with 10 elves.
Mag took a closer look at those elves. There were five males and five females, and their power was all above 6th-tier. They were considered rather exceptional as the Night Elves in the factory had rather low power, after all.
“Do you think they are suitable, Mr. Mag?” Ashley asked.
“Of course. Ladies and gentlemen, please come with me.” Mag swiftly nodded. It was just spinning fabric, and if a group of 6th-tier and 7th-tier elves were not good enough, wouldn’t his requirements for weavers be a tad too high?
Mag brought them into the manufacturing workshop. They went to the boiler room first. Mag introduced the steam boiler, and explained the steam engine’s principle of operations that drove the boiler to them.
“May I ask, can we really make those metal monsters out there move by burning a fire in here?” a female elf asked curiously. They had seen how humongous those machines were earlier.
“Yes. This is the wonder of the steam engine.” Mag nodded with a smile. However, he didn’t explain too much of the scientific fundamentals to this group of magic casters. After making sure that the three male elves who were in charge of burning the boiler were taught how to operate it and given a boiler manual each, he brought the rest of the elves to the manufacturing workshop.
Mag was just like a teacher. He explained to the elves how to use the textile machine to turn the cotton wool into bales of complete cotton cloth.
Mag didn’t show any emotions outwardly when he sensed all their gazes of admiration, but he was still a little smug.
Although he was standing on the shoulders of giants, it showed that he hadn’t forgotten all that stuff that he had learned earlier.
“The operation and explanation are roughly like this. I hope all of you have remembered them. However, if you all want to be qualified weavers, you will still need to be continuously honed on the assembly line.” Mag smiled at all the elves. “Hence, we will start a formal operation now.”
Although the elves were rather surprised that Mag let them try it out so soon, they still quickly returned to their respective positions according to their previous arrangements.
“Can I bother you to start burning the boiler in the boiler room first?” Mag said to the elf in charge of the overall planning.
That elf quickly left, and black smoke soon began to appear from the boiler room’s chimney. Steam poured into the workshop through the pipeline and into the cylinder of the textile machine. Accompanied by the sounds of the catching of gears, the steam spinning machine began to move. The cotton wool that was tossed into the spinning machine’s mouth was swiftly swallowed up. The sophisticated and complicated machine moved back and forth, and fine cotton yarns began to appear. They spun around a spool themselves, and they soon filled up one spool fully.
All the elves present were staring at this scene with their eyes wide open. It was only after some time that an elf reacted and went forward to remove the spool of yarns that was done, and wrapped the cotton yarn around another wooden spool.
“Oh, this is so incredible. We just have to toss the cotton wool into that opening, and the machine will spit cotton yarn by itself. Furthermore, it is much more delicate and softer than the cotton yarn spun by ordinary female workers!” An elf drew out a cotton yarn, and was amazed by it.
“Yes. Such yarns could make very good cloth, and they should sell for a very good price, right?”
“What’s most terrifying is its spinning efficiency. Even the most skilled textile worker isn’t 1% as fast as this machine. Furthermore, we don’t have to do much. All we have to do is to toss the cotton wool in, and change the spool after it is full of yarns.”
All the elves were discussing excitedly. At first, they were wondering what these metal chunks were for, and they finally saw these big guys in action now. These machines could actually spin even more delicate cotton yarn than female workers. All the elves had abandoned their doubts, and all they had now was admiration for Mag.
What kind of amazing machine was this?!
With them in existence, were those textile workers going to lose their jobs?
Mag picked up a spool of yarn to have a closer look. The quality of the yarn was indeed rather excellent, with an even thickness and a soft texture. He could see that the machine was very stable.
Watching the machine spin out spools of cotton yarns, Mag suddenly realized the introduction of these yarns might have a devastating impact on the textile industry in this world.
This world was still in the state of the low efficiency of the primitive single cotton yarn spinning. The steam spinning machine was equal to jumping two big steps forward by leaps and bounds, and leaving the entire world behind them.
While the production efficiency is improving, the labor costs have dropped sharply. This is going to have a disruptive impact on this industry. This seems to be a rather good dagger for that unassailable empire. Maybe I could try giving it a stab. Mag pondered with a smile on his lips.
The Roth Empire was this world’s largest textile producer. 70% of this world’s cotton yarns were manufactured in the Roth Empire. Those landowners who controlled countless weavers and textile workers had relied on this to amass a great deal of wealth.