17 The real craftsman
"Alright, Uncle Roger, Mathews! Just get a few apprentices to keep an eye on the dashboard, and you can go about your business!" After briefly delegating the tasks, Tang Mo left the newly promoted production manager to his own devices.
This middle-aged worker named Parker had been working at the drill press for nearly ten years. Such a worker could understand the power of this automatic drilling machine even more easily than Tang Mo had imagined.
All he had to do was clamp the qualified gun barrel in the fixture, then he could wait for the drill bit to complete the work that used to take three days.
Nothing could excite him more, especially when he knew that not only would he not be unemployed, he was about to become a "foreman," his frown turned into a foolish grin.
Having called Roger and Mathews back, Tang Mo took them to his office. The place was still spartan, but for Roger and Mathews, who were visiting again, it seemed to be shining with a great brilliance everywhere.
As they entered Tang Mo's room, Mathews described his shock to old Roger, "Can you believe it? The boss even designed a governor... With rotation and springs, precise control can be achieved... Who would believe that..."
Mathews was truly shocked by Tang Mo's design, because with his experience, he could tell it was an absolutely mature design once the machine started to move!
What is a mature design? A mature design is one that has been polished and improved in every detail through long-term use and understanding!
Theoretically, these improvements in details should come from discovering problems in use, then spending time to solve them, and only gradually reveal the most reasonable prototype.
Yet the design Tang Mo presented had every one of these details considered without a single miss. It even included some ingenious designs that Mathews had never heard of, all of which were presented before his eyes!
This situation shouldn't have been possible, but there it was, abruptly appearing before Mathews' eyes! So, Mathews had already begun to worship Tang Mo as the god of craftsmen in this world.
Roger had just emerged from his shock, too, his mind still filled with the turning flywheel and the pressure relief valve that occasionally emitted a puff of white steam.
So, as he walked into the room, he exclaimed, "All I know is... it can keep working like this, needing just four people to shovel coal, three to watch the pressure gauge..."
"See that? It can drive five drilling machines... By the gods above... Five apprentice workers, with just one hour of training, can easily produce gun barrels... and they can make two a day," Mathews said, stretching out his short, yet incredibly flexible and steady hand, and showing five fingers.
"What if... we had two steam engines?" Tang Mo walked over to the corner, took a cup from the box of ale shipped from Northern Ridge, and placed it on the pile of steam engine blueprints.
Mathews didn't know whether to laugh or complain, his humming voice changing in tone, "Damn it... Let Shireck go to hell... I'm spending my life here, not going anywhere else! He's the god of craftsmen, I really mean it."
"We just need to make dozens of these steam engines, and we could monopolize the entire Kingdom's weapon production... not to speak of producing 300 gun barrels a month, as long as we have enough machines, I can make 1000!" Roger added excitedly.
"You all need to take a break." Tang Mo continued to bend over, lifted a bottle of ale from the wooden crate in the corner, and pulled off the wooden stopper: "Take the day off, get a good night's sleep! Then we'll replicate today's success!"
"I feel like I don't need any rest at all! I've never felt as good as I do now," Mathews said with a resonant voice.
He was brimming with energy, having witnessed the birth of a miracle with his own eyes.
"Things don't happen overnight." Tang Mo poured ale into three cups and handed one to Roger and another to Mathews, "Rest well, for better work tomorrow."
"I've quit," Mathews didn't take the cup of ale from Tang Mo. Although from the look in his eyes, Tang Mo could tell he actually quite wanted to take that cup.
Tang Mo readily retracted the cup, simply asking curiously, "When?"
"Just now! I need to make sure my hands are still this steady in five years," the old Dwarf waved his two hands in front of his eyes, "I've seen too much in my life, but none so marvelous as these past few days! I don't want to miss anything, so I need to keep myself in shape."
"Ha, not a bad idea," Tang Mo chuckled, raising his own cup in a toasting gesture to the two men, "To today's success!"
"To the workshop!" Roger lifted his cup in front of him, swishing it a bit, then downed the ale in one gulp—he really felt like drinking something, his heart full of excitement.
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"What comes next will be much easier, as long as we can produce enough steam engines, we'll be able to save on labor and manufacture more parts at a faster pace." The industrial mother machines that Tang Mo needed, driven by steam engines, would soon be able to produce more components.
By assembling these parts, more machines could be made. With more machines, Tang Mo could expand his production at an even faster rate.
This is the self-reproduction of industry, which can be described as geometric growth! Once this trend starts, it won't stop until it elevates the planet's productive capacity to the limits of industrial production.
"After a good rest, let's figure out how to use the current steam engine power to connect more sophisticated machine tools and produce steam engine components at an even faster rate," Tang Mo also drained his glass in one go and then shared his vision of a bright future with the two men.
"Compared to workers, these machines are the true artisans of this era! They don't slack off, don't need rest, just proper maintenance and they can keep on working! As long as we have plenty of coal and water, enough raw materials like steel, we can continuously produce the products we want!" He placed the wine glass back on the table and excitedly said, "Soon you will find... the times have changed!"
When Tang Mo saw his own steam engine truly in motion, all his plans fell into place.
He could now comfortably produce his own industrial mother machines, comfortably produce more mechanical equipment, and effortlessly fulfill Lord Earl's orders.
With a never-ending stream of orders, he would have even more resources to invest in larger production—a virtuous cycle was beginning, and Tang Mo's power would grow stronger over time!
Roger was startled when he heard this, but then he understood all that Tang Mo was saying. These machines, increasingly agile, would make production easier and quality control more precise.
Although hand-crafted items actually have higher precision, their production speed limits the scale of handmade manufacturing! Once machines become widespread, manufacturing becomes simple.
Mathews also understood Tang Mo's words. Becoming an artisan wasn't a threat to him because he knew his hands were much more flexible than any machine.
And the machinery of this era was not yet as revolutionary as five-axis machine tools; no matter how exquisite, they were simply rotating and cutting—ultimately, it was still human hands that were needed to create individual components…
"Oh!" While they spoke, the workers outside let out cheers. After several minutes of uninterrupted rotation without any malfunctions, they finally confirmed a fact: the device before them was indeed a success.
The cheers formed a continuous wave that made the workshop even louder. The roaring of the machines, coupled with the workers' cheers, filled the workshop with life.
Next, it was time to tackle the issue of bullets, Tang Mo thought tentatively. Bullets in this era were actually quite dangerous, prone to accidental discharge, often wounding the user before anyone else, and were not widely embraced.
The fool willing to tuck a pistol under their arm had not yet appeared, naturally, there wouldn't be madmen who stuffed their pockets full of bullets either.
Besides the risk of accidental discharge causing injury, the bullets of the time were also unreliable. Apart from the carefully hand-crafted high-quality control bullets, mass-produced rounds frequently failed to fire.
On the battlefield, if a unit of 1000 soldiers with flintlock guns could fire only 900 bullets, it wasn't something embarrassing; on the contrary, it was a glory that suggested well-trained troops and well-maintained weapons!
Every soldier on the battlefield was tense, so it was no surprise that accidents could happen. Some soldiers had bullets get stuck in their gun barrels with the first shot, then kept loading and firing until the barrel was jam-packed with bullets.
However, Tang Mo felt it was time to change this state of affairs. He planned to teach these simpletons from another world a lesson with the force of mechanical industry, showing them what near flawless quality control really meant!
Once machines largely replaced human hands, it would be possible to control the quality of products, and the bullets would become reliable.
Northern Ridge had coal, Northern Ridge had iron! With coal and steel, Tang Mo was confident in building a qualified army for this era!
Once Earl Ronin Fisallo won the imminent war with the K1 Quick Gun, the fame of Tang Weapons would be well known to all.
By that time, opponents would genuinely take his existence seriously, and likewise, by then, Tang Mo would be able to boldly stand before the Shireck Consortium and face the upcoming storm.
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Um, thanks to Teacher Zhang... um, I'm feeling so bashful...
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