A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 35: Cairn Steelworks (Part )
The further you go in, the more unbearable the heat becomes.

Hakimi led the two to the heart of the steelworks. A massive blast furnace towered overhead, its core connected by dense pipes. The sound of shovels crushing coal was incessant. From time to time, shirtless workers trotted by, pulling trailers filled with crushed coal. They didn't feel the cold at all; the room temperature was at least 45 degrees Celsius. Just a moment later, beads of sweat were already beading on Xia Dai'er's smooth forehead.

Pulverized coal is the most critical step in the steelmaking process. Workers need to break up fist-sized lumps of finished coal into a fine powder. Pulverized coal fuels the blast furnace, and only finely divided powder burns efficiently. If larger lumps of coal are mixed in, the firepower will be weakened, and even blockages and explosions can occur.

In the original design of the blast furnace, the fuel was finished coal, but the firepower was insufficient and it took one-third longer to boil a pot of molten steel than with coal powder, which was unacceptable to the business owners.

The Philippine Empire had the most advanced iron smelting technology in the world, but since the Misty Sea blocked the shipping routes to the Northern Continent twenty years ago, only a few countries in the Southern Continent were able to industrialize steelmaking. Although the Eastern Kingdom had the technology, it lacked minerals and was heavily dependent on imports for steel.

In the southern continent, the leaders of the steelmaking industry are Britain and the Kingdom of Luo. The city of Aishiwell, which is sandwiched between the two countries, has absorbed Roan's alchemy technology and Britain's alloy blast furnace. At the same time, it can also purchase the lowest price of raw ore from the western continent. In addition, Aishiwell's taxes are much lower than those in monarchical countries, making the steel here almost in short supply.

Beneath the blast furnace, one can see a large red-painted slogan: 'Time is gold!'

Purchasing three tons of raw ore can produce one ton of steel. If this steel is then processed into steel products, the profit will directly increase fivefold.

Even if the coin casting furnace is of the same size, its efficiency in producing gold pounds cannot be compared with that of a steelmaking furnace.

The Fourth Brave Man once said a famous saying: If there is a 50% profit, the capitalists will take risks; if there is a 100% profit, the capitalists will dare to risk being hanged; if there is a 300% profit, capital will dare to trample on all human laws!
So, even though it meant hiring an extra fifty workers to pound the coal and taking on a higher risk of a furnace explosion, the Cairn Steelworks opted for pulverized coal. This wasn't unique to this particular steelworks; nearly all of Eswell's steelworks adopted the same approach. These workers, covered in pulverized coal, were mostly refugees from the Western Continent, with no identity or housing. For just 45 pence and the most basic food and lodging, they could pick up a pickaxe and work for a full day.

If Britain had not restricted the export of blast furnaces to protect its own interests, Ashwell would be full of steel mills.

Ping-pong-pong, except for the noisy sound of pickaxes and the crackling sound of rising flames, the huge steel mill was surprisingly quiet. So many workers were working hard, but no one spoke to each other. They were like bodies without souls, working numbly.

"Brother," Xia Dai'er couldn't help but feel a little creepy. "Why aren't they talking? Don't they need to communicate at work?"

The supervisor beside them immediately replied, "They are all from the Western Continent. They don't speak Mandarin very well, or their accents are very heavy, so they don't like to talk."

"Not talkative?"

Elon sneered: "You don't dare to speak."

"This, this is not a prison. We are a steel mill, not a prison." The supervisor laughed dryly and stared at the workers passing by with a vicious look, telling them not to cause trouble.

Elon put his hands behind his back and walked under the blast furnace.

"See those orc overseers around here who don't do anything? Besides overseeing production, their most important job is finding excuses to find fault and impose fines."

Thick smoke billowed from the pipes, sparks from the molten iron flashed in the iron troughs, and sweating workers pulled coal carts and danced with shovels, but the burning flames could not illuminate their faces because their bodies could not stop, and only by lowering their heads could their tired souls get a brief rest.

"I'm afraid that besides being penalized for not meeting production standards, they'll also be penalized for talking, using the restroom, and even for asking questions, all for reasons like delaying production. Over time, they'll naturally become afraid to speak up."

"This, this is all for management purposes. Otherwise, how can we guarantee production and product quality?" The supervisor felt no shame, as most companies do the same. "And Councillor, you misunderstood. Workers who ask questions about their work will definitely not be fined."

Elon smiled and nodded: "Then your boss is quite kind."

Xia Dai'er followed her brother silently.

She no longer needed to hold an umbrella. Rain could not fall into the workshop, and even some water stains and moisture would be driven away by the heat wave. There was no rainy or sunny days, no day or night in the blast furnace workshop, only the bell for going to and from get off work that rang every fourteen hours.

She looked at the dirty workers. Perhaps the pitiful wages of all of them added together were not enough to buy the beige cashmere cloak she was wearing. She felt that her cleanliness seemed a little out of place. It was not that she felt disgusted or alienated. Before coming, her brother never told her what she would see. She thought it would be an exciting investigation like the plot of a novel.

The girl was only sixteen years old, and her experience was not enough for her to think deeply. She just felt a little sad, but she couldn't tell whether it was sympathy or helplessness, because she herself was rich, and the Branson family also had a steel mill, which was much bigger than this one. She didn't know whether her family treated workers the same way.

She could only follow her brother silently, looking somewhat lonely.

"Hey."

Elon suddenly hit Xia Dai'er on the head with his cane. She was in a daze and didn't dodge.

"What's wrong?" The girl felt pain, covered her pink bangs and muttered in dissatisfaction.

"Don't feel guilty." Elon said suddenly.

There was a faint smile on the corner of his mouth. The congressman had been smiling from time to time since he entered the steel plant, but only at this moment did his smile contain no sarcasm and was sincere.

"They are indeed pitiful, but if they hadn't come here, they would have died in the war in the Western Continent. At least they survived and can still have a meal to eat. Life is something that needs to be earned. Without the jobs provided by these factories, some of the refugees would have turned into mobs, and the incident at the jewelry store that night would have happened again and again, and these poor people would have become citizens—"

"Yes, yes, yes!" The supervisor nodded frantically. "That's a great idea, Councillor!"

"You're such a jerk to your mother." Elon frowned and glanced at him with a knife-like gaze: "I'm talking to my sister, and you're interrupting me?"

There were snickers among the workers, so he didn't dare say anything more. He nodded and bowed but didn't dare to say anything more. He felt very aggrieved.

"These kinds of sweatshops are an inevitable product of the times. They're not just at Kane Steel; they're also found in textile mills, canneries, and slaughterhouses. When there's an imbalance between job supply and demand, exploitation will always exist—you wouldn't understand even if I told you that. All you need to understand is that as cities develop and productivity improves, these kinds of steel mills will increase in number. When workers become a more sought-after resource, their pay will naturally improve."

Xia Dai'er thought about her brother's words for a long time, and then looked at the workers again, still feeling a little depressed.

"So what should they do? Are they going to wait until their treatment gets better? Why can't the parliament pass some laws to protect their rights? It's obvious that if they only earn a little less, their lives will be much better."

"Guaranteeing rights?" Elon's eyes returned to their emotionless state. "Monarchs, in order to maintain their rule, will balance the relationship between the people and the capitalists. They need to win the hearts and minds of the people, but we in Eswell don't need that. The votes in the parliament are in the hands of the citizens of Eastwell. These refugee workers don't have any votes. They are just tools of production."

"But, I remember that a few years ago," Xia Dai'er recalled the news at the time, "the parliament amended the Refugee Labor Protection Law?"

"Oh, of course there are laws, but laws that are not enforced are worse than toilet paper."

Xia Dai'er suddenly remembered a sentence her brother often said:

How can you be good at politics if you're with those insects in the parliament? "So that's why you want to be a member of parliament, brother?" She looked at Elon happily.

Elon walked in front and no one saw his expression at this moment.

".I am a selfish guy, but I am not that noble."

Idealism cannot be achieved so superficially. Behind the suffering, there is an entire heavy era.

Fortunately, in this world, there is a power that can burn the era to ashes.

Being a district councillor is not enough.

"Woof!" Hakimi shouted suddenly.

In front of it was a half-open door, and the base of the blast furnace was suspended high above. The huge bearings made of steel were pulled by iron chains and gears. The boiler was turned over to pour the molten iron down. The heat wave rushed in from the gap in the door, and the smell of alchemical potion in the air was so strong that it was pungent.

Elon frowned, taking off his suit jacket and throwing it to his sister.

"Stop your nose, stand back, and don't come in."

After saying that, he reached out and pushed open the iron door.

Even the eyelids felt a slight sting. The air in the room was as thick as if it was soaked in alchemical potion. This was the cooling area for the molten iron. After the temperature dropped a little, the pipes would spray alchemical potion into the molten iron.

By stirring molten iron mixed with chemicals, it becomes molten steel, and impurities rise to the surface. This is the impurity removal and purification process. Under the supervision of supervisors, workers carefully scrape away the surface impurities with shovels, while ensuring that too much of the molten iron is not removed. The cleaned molten iron flows through channels to the continuous casting workshop, where it is forged into steel products of acceptable purity.

There were only four workers working in the cooling area, two of them pushing the mechanism that stirred the molten iron, and two holding shovels to shovel out impurities.

Although water mist was sprayed to cool them down, molten steel was pouring down day and night, and the temperature in the room was close to 50 or 60 degrees, which was not a place for humans to survive.

What is even more dangerous is the alchemical potion that is everywhere in the air.

Even a little bit more can cause irreversible nerve damage, which can lead to disability at the mildest and paralysis at the worst.

Xia Daier and Elon described that the bandit who kidnapped her had a trembling step.

Hakimi twitched his little nose as he went in, and the overwhelming pungent smell in the air seemed to have no effect on him.

"Why, you won't come in with me?" Elon stared at the supervisor who was standing outside the door.

"Hahaha!" The supervisor laughed dryly. "Mr. Councillor, there's nothing interesting to see in the utility room. The alchemical potion is too polluted and not good for the human body. You'd better not go in—"

"Aren't those four people human?"

"They get a break every ten minutes," the supervisor said seriously. "And their daily wages are higher than other workers'."

"How much higher? One penny or five pennies?"

".10p."

"Wow, you're so generous that you'll go to heaven."

With a sneer, Elon shook his head and stepped into the cooling area.

Because the smell of the alchemical potion was so strong, Hakimi paced around the room for a long time before finally finding the source of the smell in his memory.

It stands in front of the push rod that stirs the molten iron.

No roaring, just wagging his tail.

Elon walked over slowly, his eyes naturally falling on the connection between the push rod and the molten iron pot.

This is a millstone-like mechanical structure. The ingenious lever design allows two push rods to push a large pot of molten iron weighing thousands of pounds, thereby achieving stirring.

He moved closer, almost sticking to the boiling molten iron. The temperature at this distance must have been around 70 or 80 degrees, but there was not even a drop of sweat on Elon's forehead.

At the joint of the putter, he saw several spots of mottled, deep black.

This is not rust, nor is it alchemical potion, but bloodstains accumulated over the years.

Dried out by the high temperature, it completely covered the iron pan, as deeply rooted as paint.

Elon called a worker over and asked directly, "Why is there blood here?"

When the workers saw Elon's attire, they subconsciously thought he was a big shot in the factory.

"This is what was left after the hand was broken. Some of the blood was burned away, but some is still here."

"Broken hand? Whose hand is broken?"

Elon stared into his eyes and asked seriously, "Speak clearly."

(End of this chapter)