Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 56 A seemingly normal world

How should an ordinary time traveler, who comes to an ordinary fantasy world, make the most of the situation?
Although this world doesn't seem so ordinary, Zeus always feels that something is wrong, but he still tries to put everything back on track.

Soap, glass, cement, gunpowder, these things are enough to deal with the natives.

Right?

Zeus has always thought so, so he transformed the workshop and made samples. However, the recent [cognitive barrier] and pollution made him feel that something was wrong, and he began to doubt the nature of this world.

Is this really just an ordinary fantasy world, even with some extraordinary powers?

There was a haze in Hughes' eyes.

But it's already been done, so now I can only bite the bullet and give it a try, and pray that everything goes well.

He brought Connor here to see it yesterday, and as he expected, his finished product also received a series of shocks.

Since no problems have been found so far, let's stick to the previous plan and use industry to flatten the world.

It will go well.

Steam engines and chemical processes are the two most important lines of his industrial technology. Now that the banshees have been involved in the research of steam engine manufacturing, the chemical processes cannot be left behind.

Hughes started selling it to Alexei.

"Soap, the main product of our factory in the future is this little thing in your hand." Hughes took a few steps back. A servant had prepared a basin and a jar in advance.

After smearing some sludge from the jar onto his hands, Alexei tried to wash it off with soap.

"What a magical thing." Alexei exclaimed, "This cleansing ability is almost the same as the church's Holy Water No. 9."

All major churches sell holy water all year round, which is divided into thirteen types according to their effects. The main effect of Holy Water No. 9 is cleansing.

The effects of holy water are very good, but the price is shockingly high. Most small nobles can't afford it. This is the less expensive No. 9 holy water.

The stuff is good, but not that amazing, right?
Alexey glanced at the thin layer of soap that had been rubbed off.

At this rate of consumption, if the price of this soap can be lowered to less than 50 gold rums per piece, it will be able to compete with Holy Water No. for the market.

But since this is a product of alchemy.
Alexei secretly shook his head. Compared with the products of alchemy, even the holy water sold by the church seemed cost-effective.

But why did Connor look at me with such a strange look?
Is there anything else unique about this soap?

"The cost of this soap is about 50 gold rums per ton." Hughes said with a smile.

Alexei sighed secretly. As expected, it was too fantastical to let Alchemy products enter the market by relying on cost performance. It was better to be honest.
and many more!

He felt his brain suddenly jammed.

"50 gold rums for what?"

"Per ton."

Alexei froze in place, his hand slipped and the soap fell to the ground.

Connor showed a satisfied expression.

Ton, this is a somewhat old unit, rarely used in the empire. One ton is roughly equal to more than 2,000 pounds. This kind of soap must weigh at least four or five pieces to weigh one pound, that is, that is
Alexey wasn't very good at math. One gold rum was one gold pound, which was roughly equivalent to 25 imperial rios. 50 gold rums was a full 1250 rios.
"Don't count it, this thing can be bought for 8 yuan a rio."

Alexei's mouth opened wide, completely frozen in place.

An orphan like him, who has been struggling from the bottom of society for a long time, is quite clear about the prices.

One rio would buy six pounds of bread, or a pound and a half of meat, and two rios would give you a very good meal in a Rhine restaurant.

In his previous life, Zeus worked as a lowly laborer in a factory, earning about 700 rios a year, which was an average of 2 rios a day. This salary was enough to cover accommodation and basic living expenses, and he could barely save some money.

A small bottle of the church's No. 30 Holy Water costs 8 leones, enough for Hughes to work in the factory for two weeks without food or water. He'd only used up that small bottle after washing jewelry twice. Now, this "soap" can be exchanged for yuan per leone? Can each yuan be equivalent to dozens of uses of holy water?
Alexei had become somewhat numb. He only knew that even the poorest people could buy this kind of soap to wash clothes.

"By the way, the predicted production capacity of this soap is about three tons per day, which is a bit low. It still won't work without a steam engine."

三吨
Alexei turned his head mechanically. He suddenly felt that his original worries were a little ridiculous. As long as Zeus was willing to hand over the formula, the Queen could declare war on Gem Bay that day.

"You mean we have a nearly unlimited supply of Holy Water No. 9?"

"Almost infinite?" Hughes laughed. "If we only supply Castel, then it is indeed nearly infinite."

"But what if we supply the entire continent?"

“The entire continent.”

Businessmen will go crazy for this.

Is Castel located in a remote area? There are many merchants willing to take risks and sell any goods to this stormy ocean.

Three times the profit was enough for merchants in the New World to establish a merchant republic and challenge the empire across the ocean. How much profit could this soap make? Could it be a thousand times?
And such highly profitable stuff, three tons a day.

With just soap, the entire continent can be harvested - the Queen will definitely not mind giving it a secret push, as this thing that can replace holy water will inevitably greatly weaken the authority of the church.

Alexei was a little dazed.

It seems that the soap is quite effective. Zeus nodded secretly. After all, it is one of the time-travel artifacts. Once his factory is built, everything will be fine.

Suppressing the inexplicable uneasiness in his heart, Hughes gestured for Connor to come forward and explain.

Connor cleared his throat. "Butler Alexei, this soap is difficult to deteriorate and can be cut into pieces at will, making it very easy to transport. The cost of shipping it by sea is also extremely low. Shipping it to the Rhine would only cost double, and that's the highest estimate."

"Moreover, according to cost accounting, our costs will be lower and lower in the future. If..."

Connor glanced at Hughes.

"If the degree of automation is high enough, the cost of soap can be reduced to an unimaginable level if it is close to the place of origin."

"The current limitation is whether the olive production can keep up."

When Alexei heard the word "automation", he felt a slight headache, but then the candy in his mouth melted into a cool breeze and the headache disappeared.

"How can there not be enough olive trees? Aren't there trees all over the mountains?"

Hughes and Connor looked at each other and both relaxed a little.

It seems that as long as the principles are explained a little bit, the pollution caused by scientific knowledge is not that serious, and low-level pollution will gradually disappear on its own.

"That brings us back to the previous problem. We need to build a road to get there."

"."

“And we need to build roads not only between the northern plains where the factories are located and the southern mountains, but also between the factories themselves.”

"There are roads between factories?" Alexey was surprised. Most of the current factories were converted from former wine-making workshops. There are not many completely newly built ones, and most of them are near the old workshops. After all, they have to transport materials to build them.

"Not enough. Those dirt roads are far from enough. We will need to transport a lot of materials between factories in the future, and we must build better roads to handle it."

“Inter-factory transport?”

“Yes, olive oil is used to make soap through saponification. The finished product is not only soap, but also a by-product - glycerin.”

"No, maybe it can't be called a by-product. It's what I mainly want." Xius's eyes flashed.

(End of this chapter)