Rome Must Fall

"Brothers, listen to my command." The centurion shouted loudly: "Two arc-shaped horizontal formations!"

The soldiers quickly formed a formation. Although it was significantly shorter than the previous long row, it was a little deeper. At the same time, the arc presented had the potential to surround these Skordisqi people.

"Sit down with your shield up!"

Hearing the sound of armor, the soldiers stood their shields sideways in front of them, sat down neatly, and looked directly at the Skordisqi people in front of them.

Some Skordisqi people were intimidated by the soldiers' momentum and subconsciously approached Geweis.

Gowes deliberately loudly comforted his men: "We are sincerely here to seek refuge. There is nothing to worry about! Everyone is either fighting or marching these days. We are all tired now. It's time to sit down and have a good rest. I believe the Knicks tribe The leader will be moved by our sincerity and will come to see us in person and let us join the tribe!”

After what he said, everyone felt a little calmer.

…………………………………………………………………………

When the tribesmen of the Nyx tribe were plowing the fields on the north bank of the Kupa River, they took the time to dig out a dirt road under the command of the Ministry of Works. Hagux rode his horse and galloped westward along this dirt road. It took more than half an hour to cross the wooden bridge and arrive at Snodia's main house.

"The leader has gone to the papermaking workshop." Cassius, who was staying in the hall, said sternly: "Captain Hagues, if you have anything urgent, please go to the room next to you and wait for a while. I will rush to inform you. The leader is back."

"No need, I'll go by myself." Hagux felt a little annoyed: if he had known that the leader was at the papermaking workshop, he wouldn't have needed to run so far.

The papermaking workshop is in the northernmost part of the workshop area. Maximus has allocated a large piece of land to it. More than ten square pits have been dug in it, but only two are in use, and the others are still there. It is vacant, waiting to be used as a circulating pool for static wastewater in the future.

Another large part of the workshop is the paper drying area. It is a flat, solid mud floor that has been repeatedly tamped. The ground has been repeatedly scrubbed and is not prone to dust. It is surrounded by simple wooden walls that can barely block the strong river. Wind, there are multiple large wooden frames placed in the venue, and each frame on the wooden frame is neatly arranged with square wooden frames of the same size...

Maximus was invited by Public Works Officer Capito to inspect the papermaking workshop.

At this moment, he was standing on the paper drying ground, and Capito showed him the results of the papermaking workshop's efforts in the past few months: "Chief, this is the "paper" made by the craftsmen according to the method you taught! It can really be written on with a pen, and the handwriting can be seen clearly and can be maintained for a long time, just like papyrus!

Moreover, it is like a piece of cloth, which can be folded and kneaded. Although it is easy to break, it is stronger than papyrus! The key is this kind of paper - it can be made in large quantities from tree bark that we can easily obtain. Children can use it to learn knowledge, officials can use it to write reports and record data, and craftsmen can use it to draw Patterns, making equipment, we can also use it to write books! Use it to paint! Use it to..."

Capito, who had always been calm, became more and more excited as he spoke. His face turned red and he waved his arms as emotionally as a lawyer speaking in court.

Compared to Capito's excitement, Maximus seemed very calm. He stared at the paper placed in front of him: it was roughly square, about the same size as a linen frame, but the edges were uneven, obviously. It was damaged when the paper was removed. The paper is mainly gray-white, with some black spots and yellow stains scattered at the same time, and there are many slender protrusions, just like the veins on human skin, and there are several finger-sized holes...

Maximus frowned slightly, stretched out his hand, and gently touched the paper: the paper was uneven, some of the bumps were a little bit irritating, as if there were hard objects wrapped inside, and some of the bumps were very soft, like... There were blisters, and it was obvious that the upper half of the paper was thicker and the lower half was thinner, so it could not be laid flat on the wooden frame, but the lower half was tilted, and the whole paper was even a little shrunk...

He picked up the two ends of the paper with both hands and pulled gently. It was still a little tough and not broken, but with a little force, it tore a seam.

Capit immediately shouted "Ah", snatched the paper from Maximus's hand, and wiped the crack with his hand with great pain.

Maximus ignored him, turned to look at the craftsmen standing aside, and asked in a calm tone: "Do you have any questions about the paper you made?"

"Yes, there are many problems." A craftsman stepped forward, pointed at the paper in Capito's hand, and said seriously: "Chief, you should have seen that there are many black spots on this paper, which should not be Yes, it may be that we did not remove the impurities from the pulp, which caused such a result. It may also be that the dust blown by the wind stuck to the paper when it was dried...

Those yellow spots on the paper... I think it should be due to the continuous rain a few days ago and the humid weather, which made the paper a bit moldy... When we were pounding the pulp, we did not pound the pulp completely, so the paper still contains There are some tree tendons... The linen we use is not woven finely enough and is a bit soft. After the pulp is spread on it, some of it can pass through the mesh, and after it dries, it becomes this uneven...

Also, when we use the wooden frame to scoop the pulp out of the paper trough, it is either too fast or too slow, and we cannot hold it very flat, so that the pulp cannot be spread evenly on the linen cloth. This also requires us A lot of practice... I was too anxious when drying the paper and didn't notice that there was still water in the paper pulp that had not been absorbed, causing it to gather together and drip down, forming these small holes... and when we tore the paper. Not skilled enough, inexperienced...and there are air bubbles in these papers..."

The craftsman talked a lot, but Maximus listened very seriously. He asked: "What kind of book cover do you use?"

"Oak trees, this kind of tree is the most common in the nearby mountains. We have also tried oak trees, but the bark is hard, so we gave up for the time being. But we will try again in the future. I think paper made from oak bark may be More resilient.”

"Where's the adhesive? What did you use?"

"Emmerich recommended several kinds of grass to us, and finally we chose a tree vine. Its sap is milky white and very sticky, just like snot, so we called it snot vine. This kind of snot vine is in It is also very common in the mountains. The reason why this paper is still a bit brittle is that there may be less adhesive... Next time, I should squeeze more snot vine juice and add it to the paper slot. The characters should be better. Closer."

Maximus asked a few more questions, to which the craftsman answered.

This craftsman was Tormias, the head of the papermaking workshop appointed by Capito. He was once a slave who washed clothes and fabrics for the Sarapian nobles.

Maximus looked at him at this moment, with a smile of approval on his face: "Tolmias, you are not satisfied with just making paper, you can also find so many problems, and try to analyze the causes of these The cause of the problem and the solution are also proposed, which is great!

With a responsible leader like you and hard-working companions like you, I believe you will be able to make very useful paper and make a huge contribution to the tribe! At that time, you will also receive rewards from the tribe! "

These words made the craftsmen very excited.

Maximus then asked: "Are there any difficulties that I need to solve?"

"Chief... Chief, we... need more manpower." Tormias mustered up the courage and said seriously: "With the number of people we have now... we can only make a dozen or hundreds of pieces of paper. There is no problem." , but this will definitely not meet the needs of our entire tribe. Collecting bark and snot vines, pounding pulp and extracting juice all require a lot of manpower..."

"No problem, Capito, it's up to you to solve this matter." Maximus thought for a while and then said: "I just took a look and found that pounding mud is indeed a very laborious job, and because of the constant It's repetitive and easy to get tired. Please ask Spukala to come over when you have time and see if you can make a small device similar to a water hammer. Using water power instead of manpower can help pound the pulp, which can greatly improve the efficiency of making paper. Efficient!”

"Okay, Chief." Capito responded respectfully.

"Any other requests?"

"I heard that brick kilns are making more and more stone bricks now. Can we lay ceramic tiles on our paper drying factory and replace the surrounding wooden walls with stone walls to ensure that no dust and debris will blow into the paper pulp? Inside." Seeing that Maximus had adopted his previous suggestion, Tormias made another bold request.

"Haha, your commander Capito has raised this issue with me before, and I have made a decision to lay tiles and build stone walls for you tomorrow."

The craftsmen cheered.

At this time, Akguo came over and whispered a few words in his ear.

Maximus suppressed his smile and said after a moment of thought: "Go and tell Hagux to ask him to find Emmerich, and ask Emmerich to meet these Skodisci people.

At the same time, you ask Hagux to tell Emmerich that you must make sure that these people join our tribe sincerely and not for other purposes, otherwise the Nyx tribe will refuse to accept them. "

"Yes, leader." Akago turned and left.

Not long after, Maximus also walked out of the papermaking workshop.

"Chief, would you like to take a look at the iron workshop? The water hammer and water mill that Spukala and the others are building are now making great progress!" Capito, who was following behind, suggested.