Chapter 1210: Chapter 1138: A Day at the Canning Factory (Part 2)
Arriving at the entrance of the cannery, the gate was open, and Kuvasz could easily see inside.
The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the smell of coal smoke lingered in the moist air.
The brick factory in front of him was even more spacious than what he had just seen, almost like a palace.
As for the area in front of the palace, a sandy land about one acre in the center was cleared amidst the weedy wasteland.
Hundreds of workers stood in rows in the open space, wearing coarse cloth shirts with frayed edges and woolen trousers.
Unable to make sense of it, Kuvasz was pushed and pulled closer.
"Stand straight!" A hoarse command came from the front of the open space, spoken by a middle-aged man wearing an indigo canvas shirt.
A copper whistle was tucked at his waist, and his forearm muscles were taut.
"First, swing your arms! Left, right, left, right, pay attention to your breathing..."
Under this middle-aged man’s direction, the group of workers followed with each motion.
Swinging arms while marching, bending to touch toes, jumping jacks in place...
Although the movements were slow and seemed simple, a fine sheen of sweat appeared on every forehead.
Before Kuvasz could inquire, the well-prepared Moroka began to explain to him.
"This is the exercise regime of the Holy Alliance..."
According to Saint Son Horn, factories exist for the welfare of the believers of the Holy Alliance, and profits are also for their welfare.
Indeed, factories now require long and extremely tiring hours of work.
But this does not mean that factories should exploit workers as machines or slaves.
The laborers, too, are entitled to the right to health.
Although some industrialists find Horn’s philosophy to be somewhat "hollow benevolence," they still have to comply.
Particularly after last year’s purge, which resulted in a heap of heads rolling, the industrialists once again realized the terror of a certain Pope...
Therefore, according to the generally accepted regulations of the Holy Alliance, all must follow the call of the Saint Sun Pope, leading to the formation of the morning exercise regime.
That means the first thing workers do upon arriving at the factory each day is exercise.
These exercises were compiled by a group including high-ranking officers from the Holy Alliance like Knight Moro and Herman, as well as mercenary officer Griffin and the captured prisoner high-ranking knight Leia.
They can be basically considered as a downgraded version of the Knight’s Breathing Technique.
Although not as effective as full-time training, practicing it long enough results in the first or second level of the breathing technique.
Plus, with the breathing technique, both mental and physical states are improved.
According to Horn’s requirements, now throughout the Holy Alliance, anyone with the opportunity and ability will practice the Knight’s Breathing Technique.
After all, food supply in the Holy Alliance is abundant, and prices for meats like chicken and eggs are not high.
Refining the breathing technique requires different amounts of meat and grain for adults than it does for youths, with youths needing less.
Starting from a young age makes it easier to practice than starting as an adult.
Thus, the Holy Alliance even starts teaching the breathing technique from elementary school, with students receiving a first-level athlete certificate after reaching one stage, and a second-level after two stages.
And so on.
Of course, such certificates do not offer any specific advantage; they are more of an honor.
Besides, during recruitment, those with athlete certificates are in the first recruitment category.
Looking at the notes transcribed from briefings and yearbooks, Moroka closed the notebook with a sigh: "A nation of the extraordinary... could the Holy Alliance really achieve it?"
Becoming a nation of the extraordinary is also one of the long-term goals of the Holy Alliance, a goal Horn proposed when the country was first established.
The inequality of the former empire was because some were extraordinary while others were not.
The current Holy Alliance seeks equality, which can only be achieved if everyone becomes extraordinary, meaning no one is extraordinary.
A Deng Jia’er array, an entirely extraordinary force, could defeat the empire’s knights that had dominated for almost a thousand years, losing teeth in the process.
An entirely extraordinary country... Moroka couldn’t help but shudder.
This was not only fear of such a nation’s strength but also fear of the Holy Son steadily making this a reality.
With better diets, ample milk supply, along with active government promotion, the number of civilian "athletes" is increasing.
Not to mention the veterans returning from military service, who have almost all been injected with the Holy Favor Seed.
These veterans, if equipped with a middle school education, are invited to become alchemical engineers or to directly enter craft schools to study alchemy.
Supported by their severance pay, after two or three years of training, they are immediately sought after by major factories and workshops.
An alchemist is highly sought after, and the entire Holy Alliance lacks them.
At this pace, within three generations, the Holy Alliance could indeed become a nation of the extraordinary, perpetually inheriting an extraordinary populace.
"Have you seen enough?" Grosien softly asked, awakening the trembling and frightened Moroka.
Only then did Moroka come to his senses.
Why am I panicking? I’ve already become a citizen of the Holy Alliance. I’m one of them. I should be happy!
Though their visit to the factory was delayed, Grosien and Palak patiently accompanied the two.
They brought Moroka and Kuvasz to witness this spectacle firsthand.
Some things cannot be understood without seeing them in person.
Pilgrims who came from all over the empire to study at the Holy Alliance’s center usually stayed for a year or more.
Otherwise, it’s hard to establish a strong sense of strategic confidence and revolutionary determination.
The dream of the Celestial Kingdom is not just a tale for the Holy Alliance people but is for all believers of the empire.
"I’ve seen enough. Let’s go." With this, Kuvasz and Moroka moved forward.
After greeting the guard at the gate holding the spring-loaded gun, the group dared to pass through the large iron gate of the workshop and enter inside.
Both Moroka and Kuvasz’s first reaction was that this felt like entering a Great Cathedral.
You have to know, normal buildings usually have ceiling heights of around three to four meters, even for large workshops.
Yet the factory in front of them was like a palace, with a very high ceiling, making the space between the roof and the ground vast and open.
On both sides were second and third-floor galleries, which looked like warehouses or manager offices.
Palak and Grosien waited at the gate for the Dwarf brothers to arrive, while Moroka and Kuvasz stood on the second-floor gallery looking downwards.
Looking down, one could see assembly lines and tools for making tinplate on the stone floor.
First was the rolling mill driven by a spring machine, composed of two hard steel cylindrical rollers.
Softened iron bars heated to a high temperature in the Dragon Speech alchemy furnace were inserted through the rollers, with the thin tips of the rollers adjusted, repeatedly inserted to flatten into sheets of different thicknesses.
Once the iron sheets were sent to the back, they were cut.
After being cut, they went to the rust removal room, where they were soaked in a solution and black rye fermentation liquid to de-rust and prevent oxidation.
Next was the annealing room, responsible for improving the iron sheet’s toughness.
Behind the annealing room was a grease tank to prevent oxidation of the iron sheets.
This was followed by the tin coating room, where molten tin covered with resin and whale oil covered the surface in the tin plating tank.
Finally, cold rolling smooths the tin layer, rolling it into a can shape, and then the base is heated and welded on to complete the process.
According to Palak, after cold rolling, there should be a painting process.
This process requires black lacquer extracted from black rock by Highland Dwarfs and Northern Norn people.
After applying black lacquer, it provides longer preservation time for tinplate cans and makes them less prone to damage.
However, the problem is that they currently have not mastered this process.
Black lacquer is only found in the north, with only a few mining sites.
In the future, they might have to trade for black lacquer with the Northern Norn people, and currently, Evangelist Busak is busy with this matter.
"So that’s how it is."
After listening to Palak’s explanation, Moroka quickly jotted down the information provided by Palak and the others in his notebook with a feather pen.
Don’t be misled by these seemingly impressive Holy Alliance entrepreneurs; they are not much smarter than ordinary people.
They excel in two areas: resource differences brought by first-mover advantage and the Matthew effect, and simple, pure information asymmetry.
In an era without the internet in the Holy Alliance, a crucial piece of information really could be worth a thousand gold pounds.
Kuvasz, on the other hand, wandered along the gallery, bored.
But soon he stopped in front of a small blackboard, staring in a daze at the simplified words written on it.
After hesitating for a long time, he slowly read out: "Reasonable workload, differentiated piece-rate wage, standardized work methods and processes..."
"Hmm, you’ve got it right this time."
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