135 Portuguese Merchants Visit Part :2
Alexio Fernandes and his colleagues followed the boy to inspect the arms workshops. While they were boarding a carriage and heading to their destination, Andre Sousa noticed something unusual about the carriage ride. He did not notice it before because they were still in the outskirts of the city when they met with Thomas, but now that he looked at it, the whole carriage ride was very smooth. Out of curiosity, Andre pulled the curtain of the carriage aside only to see a neatly paved grey road stretching in a straight line to the heart of the city.
Out of curiosity, he had the carriage stop, got out, and personally inspected the road. He even took the sphere the guard soldier was holding and hit the road with all the force he could muster. To the surprise of everyone around him, except for Laksh and the residents of Vijayanagara, there was no substantial visible damage.
"Boy Landon, what kind of material is this? It's as strong as a rock. If not for my rich experience and keen vision to spot the aggregation of broken stones at the edge of the road, I would have been fooled into thinking that all this is from a single rock."
Now that Andre had pointed out the peculiarity, the rest of the merchants also noticed some unusual features of this road. They observed how Andre attempted to poke a hole in the road with the help of a sphere, but aside from a few chips of dust and debris, there was no permanent damage to the road. Considering the road was laid throughout the city, the merchants speculated that it must not be overly expensive, given that a country like Vijayanagara could afford to have such a road in its capital.
Laksh, hearing the question, answered, "Yes, sir. This is a new invention of our Vijayanagar Empire. This material is called cement. As a raw material, it comes in a powdered form. The use of this material is also very simple. First, you take the powder, mix it with sand and gravel in various ratios. The paste you get is called cement. This cement can then be used to lay roads or build buildings, depending on the task for which it is needed. For this road you are standing on right now, it is reinforced with iron, making it more resistant to damage."
Listening to the characteristics of this cement, everyone in the visiting merchant group couldn't help but think about Roman Cement, which had similar properties. This revelation caused them to be shocked because even they did not have the formula for Roman cement. Does the Vijayanagara Empire have this formula? All the merchants were getting excited. Andre asked a question, "You said that it is newly invented. Does that mean this is not Roman cement, but something else?" He asked his doubt, which brought the excited merchants to calm down.
Laksh was even more confused as he did not know what this Roman cement was. Noticing Laksh's confusion, Andre explained the properties of Roman cement. Listening to the explanation, Laksh's doubts were cleared as he answered, "No, sir, this is nothing like the Roman cement you talk of. It does not have the same shelf life of 1000 years. But as far as I have heard, the craftsmen who built this road say that this particular cement could only have a shelf life of a maximum of 40 years."
Hearing about the abysmal life cycle of this road, many lost interest. However, Andre was not among them, as he continued to inquire, "Then, is this road expensive?"
Laksh assured, "I don't know about these details, sir. You will have to inquire about these details with the Minister of Trade and Commerce. But as far as I know, these cement roads were relatively cheap because His Majesty had the same kind of roads paved in all the major cities of the Empire. So I think it is a manageable price."
This News brought back everyone's attention, as they never knew this kind of material was so cheap that it was used to pave the roads all over the Kingdom, even in its main cities. Wouldn't that mean the price is so cheap that Vijayanagara could afford to cover this throughout even the major towns? Thinking about this, they grew eager again. But seeing as how Laksh has no more information to offer, they had to wait until the end of this visiting trip.
Soon, they made their way to the northern outskirts of the city where most of the workshops are located. As soon as they got down from the carriage, they saw rows and rows of workshops neatly throughout the street. There were nothing but workshops in this district. Alexio looked around the surroundings to see if there was a chimney nearby. Spotting none, he asked his doubt, "Is the smelting not done here?"
Laksh explained, "No, gentlemen. The smelting is done in another location in the Empire, and all the processed iron is transported here to be made into the complete product. As per the instructions I have been issued, you will have to forgive me as I will not be able to show you the manufacturing of the cannons or the smelting and processing workshops of the military industry that have been deemed state secrets. I hope the gentlemen will understand. As for the area we are in right now, it is one of the many auxiliary parts manufacturing areas for our guns and one of the main manufacturing places for cold weapons and leather equipment."
Alexio still did not believe that this way of splitting the tasks to manufacture works. So he inquired, "What is the annual output of iron in Vijayanagara?"
Laksh responded, "Sir, the annual output of Vijayanagara has reached 4000 tonnes."
Hearing this number, most of the merchants wore smug expressions on their faces. Although the Portuguese had been overtaken by the British and the French in iron production, the annual output this year still reached a staggering 15,000 tonnes, even if it is still far from the British or the French. It is still three times ahead of Vijayanagara.
If Vijay knew their thoughts, he would have laughed out loud in amusement. What he was using was not the normal blower furnace found across Europe, but Darby's blast furnace, which was invented in the early 18th century. When this blast furnace was first put into use in the Raya Iron Works, it was producing an impressive 280 tons of iron per year. With further technological improvements, a single blast furnace now reached 400 tons per year. Although Vijayanagara is still a long way from catching up with Portugal, Vijayanagara has only put 10 blast furnaces into use, which is sufficient for Vijayanagara's daily needs. And this number can be improved whenever needed.
Oblivious to all these details, the Portuguese merchants roamed around the street to see the scenery they had never seen before. In a dedicated route, the carriage filled with iron blocks was transported to this area. Each workshop takes what they have ordered. They saw a workshop that took in 5 tons of iron and started to make it into European-style swords. There is no doubt that these swords are being manufactured for them. What was fascinating was the sword was not made by a single person, but many people came together to make this sword.
11:43
Oblivious to all these details, the Portuguese merchants roamed around the street to see the scenery they had never seen before. In a dedicated route, the carriage filled with iron blocks was transported to this area. Each workshop takes what they have ordered. They saw a workshop that took in 5 tons of iron and started to make it into European-style swords. There is no doubt that these swords are being manufactured for them. What was fascinating was the sword was not made by a single person, but many people came together to make this sword.
The process started with a person taking all the iron blocks and cutting them according to the required type of weapon. After the cutting process, the same person takes chalk, which is placed in his ear, and writes down the type of weapon and its measurements. From here on, two people take over the work simultaneously. One person goes to the furnace and starts heating multiple iron blocks that have already been measured and get them melted for the next process. Another person, at the same time, prepares two different moulds for the molten iron to be poured. As the molten iron is poured, the sword moves to the next process. Skilled craftsmen take over the sword, temper and shape it according to the required measurements. After more processing like this, a handle prepared by another workshop that specializes in preparing handles is inserted and inspected, thereby completing the manufacturing of the sword right in front of the Portuguese visiting group.
All the Portuguese merchants were mesmerized as they saw this beautiful dance of precision and timing. They now saw a glimpse of how this industrial chain system of Vijayanagara works. Unwilling to admit that Portuguese craftsmanship is backward, which would hurt their pride, Alexio commented, "This is all a waste of labour. If only one person was allowed to make the sword, we could save the rest of their salary, and there would be no need to pay for another workshop. I don't see how this way of manufacturing is superior to the traditional method."
Laksh, who had enough of this man's contempt, thought to teach him a lesson as he asked, "Sir Alexio if you don't mind me asking, what do you think is the most difficult process to do in this whole sword-making process?"
Alexio, without hesitation, replied, "Why It is the craftsman who tempers and shapes the sword, of course."
"You are right, Sir Alexio. In the traditional method, if this skilled craftsman were to make a sword, he would have to do all the menial things that even normal people could do, wasting his time. And in our model which you see here, if you notice, the skilled craftsman is not wasting any time as the sword or any other weapon, in fact, is getting completed one after the other. So although this method might look more labor-intensive, it focuses more on efficiency, time, and speed. And the money you lose by paying for extra labour would be gained back from selling more swords."
Laksh replied in front of the Portuguese, who had enlightened expressions on their faces. He took up a finished sword and showed it to Sir Alexio. "Now, Sir, this is a normal plain sword. If it was manufactured in a traditional way, skilled craftsmen would be able to manufacture 3 or 4 such swords per day. And if this particular kind of sword needed more detailing, like carvings, it would take even more time. But now, with our model, a single workshop utilizing skilled craftsmen as a core can produce at least 8 to 10 Swords a day. And on top of that, if the swords require carving, it would not affect the efficiency of other products manufacturing because it could always be sent to a dedicated artist who is specialized in metal carving." He pointed across the street to show an old man working with some swords. "A new metal carving workshop has just been opened across the street. And the old man you see there is a very experienced artist. He carves inscriptions and patterns on metal objects for a living. So he is more exquisite in his art than, say, a dedicated blacksmith, who might be excellent in his blacksmithing but maybe very dull in the art area."
Even Alexio was now fully convinced by this model. After listening and seeing the whole process taking place in action, he was eager to go back to the Portuguese empire and try it himself. After inspecting the Cold Weapons Workshop, they visited many other workshops specializing in woodworking for the handles of muskets and flintlocks. Some more precision-size workshops were seen working with small parts like the trigger of a musket or the barrel of a gun.
Another street down the line, it was the leatherworking area where processed leather was brought from a dedicated workshop, and leather was turned into various products according to the users' requirements in various shops. After more exploring, the day ended.
By the end of the day, all the Portuguese merchants had a shift in thinking, as they quickly wanted to go back to Portugal and try the new manufacturing methods they had learned.
It was this event that changed the course of Portuguese history in this timeline, different from the parallel timeline.
To Be Continued... Like it ? Add to library!
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