43: Development Technology

In the Reincarnation World, Gu Chang, whose strength had greatly increased and who found it difficult to improve further in a short period, decided to dedicate a portion of his mind and energy to developing his forces.

"How many people do we have in total right now?"

Inside the stronghold, Gu Chang checked the recent situation while asking Li Ergou and the others.

"We have a total of roughly three thousand people. Our own stronghold accounts for half, and the rest are other strongholds that have pledged allegiance to us."

Li Ergou thought for a moment and then gave Gu Chang an approximate number.

"Three thousand people, that's not a small number. After all, these mountains can't support as large a population as the areas outside."

Gu Chang was quite satisfied with this number; three thousand people were enough for him to do many things.

"Next, I need a group of blacksmiths, carpenters, and stonemasons. Go organize them. I will personally explain what needs to be done when the time comes."

"Additionally, besides daily martial arts training, you must also learn basic arithmetic and literacy from now on. You all need to be prepared, or else you'll all be nothing but uneducated ruffians!"

The advantage of having one's own forces was precisely this: being able to easily mobilize personnel and resources under his command, without having to worry about every single matter.

However, the quality of the current population was ultimately not up to par, and many things still required Gu Chang to handle himself.

"Uh, there probably won't be many of these craftsmen, since most of those who can escape into the mountains are people who couldn't survive outside."

"Also, Big Brother, why do we big, rough men need to learn those fancy scholarly things?"

Li Ergou couldn't help but scratch his head after hearing Gu Chang's requests. The former was fine; he could always find a few if he searched. But the latter was troublesome.

Making them endure hardship, train, and fight on the battlefield was no problem, but the thought of making them learn arithmetic and literacy made Li Ergou feel an urge to run away.

"Stop talking nonsense! Just listen to the arrangements obediently!"

Seeing his expression, Gu Chang knew this guy was definitely very unhappy in his heart, so he glared at him, intentionally reprimanding him.

"Yes, yes, yes, I'll go do it right away!"

Li Ergou immediately shivered, then scurried off to find people.

About two days later, the dozen or so remaining craftsmen in Da Wu Mountain were brought before Gu Chang. Most of them were carpenters and stonemasons, with only a mere two blacksmiths.

Gu Chang was not particularly surprised by this; after all, skilled craftsmen could survive anywhere.

"Greetings, Chief!"

"Greetings, Chief!"

"..."

These craftsmen of varying ages, upon seeing Gu Chang, were immediately intimidated by the Qi he exuded. They each respectfully bowed to Gu Chang, their hearts filled with apprehension.

"Mm, very good!"

"Next, I have some matters I'd like you all to help with. Of course, these matters won't be a waste of your efforts."

"If these matters are handled well, not only will each of you receive a batch of grain, cloth, and meat, but your suitable children and relatives will also be able to learn martial arts and literature under my command."

Gu Chang understood that these people's fear of him outweighed their respect. To make them work diligently, simply exploiting them would not work; all due benefits must be provided.

"Thank you, Chief!"

"Chief, please just say what you need done! As long as this old man can do it, I will certainly do my best!"

"Yes, Chief, just give the orders."

"..."

Upon hearing Gu Chang's words, several older craftsmen immediately became excited. This was definitely a good thing for their descendants!

"Very good, then I'll get straight to it!"

"Next, I want you to cooperate with me to do this..."

Gu Chang poured out his thoughts to these craftsmen in one breath.

After a brief moment of confusion, these craftsmen's eyes widened, and then they immediately pricked up their ears, afraid of missing a single word.

Gu Chang, at the end of the day, was not a true ancient person. With his experience and knowledge from his previous life, he naturally understood concepts like standardization, industrialization, proceduralization, and assembly lines.

It was naturally unrealistic to engage in large-scale industrial development with their current conditions, but small-scale manufacturing of machinery, construction of workshops, and improvement of production efficiency were not a problem.

There were waterfalls and rivers in Da Wu Mountain where they were located, and the water volume was not small, which was a ready source of power.

Some iron ore, copper ore, and other metal deposits could also be found in the mountains. If they could be utilized, they could be forged into various tools and weapons, which would be good for both developing the people's livelihood and strengthening their power.

Thus, over the next few months, Gu Chang led a group of craftsmen to engage in large-scale production and construction in Da Wu Mountain.

They dug river channels, built dams, crafted waterwheels, and set up water-powered forges. At the same time, they searched for mineral deposits, opened up roads, laid wooden tracks, built charcoal kilns, constructed blast furnaces, smelted iron and copper, and forged various tools and equipment.

For this, in addition to the dozen or so craftsmen, Gu Chang also mobilized at least a thousand laborers to assist with various odd jobs and heavy tasks.

Sometimes, he and martial artists like Li Ergou would also personally lend a hand, greatly accelerating the progress of the project.

Thus, after just three months, two basic mining and forging production lines were created.

Although the mineral deposits they found in Da Wu Mountain were not large, they were definitely more than enough for their use!

One month after these two mining and forging production lines were completed, a large number of metal tools were distributed to every household in the stronghold.

Iron farm tools, copper implements, and even finely crafted steel weapons that had undergone countless hours of tempering.

"Big Brother! Big Brother!"

"Good news! Absolutely good news!"

"That thing you called a lathe has been made!"

On this day, Gu Chang was, as usual, supervising the soldiers and children under his command in the school, learning arithmetic and literacy, when Li Ergou's extremely joyful voice suddenly came through.

"Mm, you all continue! I'll be doing a spot check this afternoon!"

Hearing Li Ergou's words, Gu Chang swept his gaze over everyone in the school, then uttered a sentence that made them wail endlessly.

"Yes, sir!"

"You should call me teacher!"

"Yes, teacher!"

"..."

However, despite their wailing, they still had to respectfully respond to Gu Chang's command.

Even though they looked miserable while studying, the mere fact that they could become Gu Chang's students was enough to make countless people envious.

"Let's go, let's take a look!"

After leaving the school, Gu Chang said directly to Li Ergou.

"Alright!"

The two quickly arrived at the processing and forging workshop, where many craftsmen were already waiting.

"The Chief is here!"

"Quick, quick, move aside!"

"Let the Chief see, if there's anything wrong!"

"..."

As soon as Gu Chang arrived, these craftsmen immediately made way, then revealed the lathe behind them, a mixture of metal and wood.

The structure of the entire lathe was rudimentary: a wooden base, metal clamps, and manually crafted slides, cutting tools, and so on.

But to build this thing, Gu Chang and the craftsmen had put in a lot of effort.

"Connect the power and test the effect!"

Gu Chang merely took a look, then directly gave the order. Immediately, a craftsman came over and connected the lathe to the water power. The lathe then began to rotate, though not very fast.

"First, try with wood to see the effect, and check if any parts are loose or have too much tolerance."

"Alright!"

Soon, after clamping the wood, the lathe started again, and one of the carpenters began to carefully test it with a cutting tool.

A large amount of wood chips scattered, and soon a relatively straight wooden rod was processed.

After taking it off and examining it, Gu Chang found that this lathe was basically qualified. Of course, only basically qualified; the precision of various parts was clearly still far off, and a lot of improvements would be needed in the future.

"Not bad, it's basically usable!"

"With this thing, it will be much more convenient to make various objects in the future!"

"However, this cannot be achieved without your continuous research. No matter how good this thing is, it can only be considered a tool; without the skillful hands of craftsmen, it ultimately cannot display its full effect."

Gu Chang praised the craftsmen present with satisfaction. In reality, being able to develop industry to this stage already made Gu Chang extremely satisfied.

If they wanted to continue developing further, the meager information in their minds would simply not be enough; it would require generations of craftsmen to continuously delve into it to keep pushing forward.