Northern Ridge, the largest iron mine controlled by Earl Ronin Fisallo, was also the largest iron mine on Northern Ridge.
After years of development, the area was riddled with wounds, and mining entrances everywhere could be seen, some abandoned and others still in use.
Everywhere, workers rested, these mine workers' jobs were dangerous and very busy every day.
They entered the dim mines, then mined the iron ore, placed the ore into their bamboo baskets and large baskets, and carried it out of the mines with effort.
Then they carried the ore to a fixed collection point, received the corresponding voucher, and after accumulating enough vouchers, they could exchange them for their daily wages.
Such a system ensured the miners' efficiency and, to some extent, ensured the reasonable allocation of time to maintain the high efficiency of the mine.
A miner sitting by the road complained while wiping his sweaty neck with a towel covered in grime, "Lately, work really seems more and more hopeless. Although Lord Earl pays well, the work in the mine is definitely getting more exhausting."
Now they were required to work 12 hours a day, which could be said to be a very harsh work duration.
However, these workers did nothing but complain, for if they went to work in the mines of other nobility, it was not surprising to work 14 hours a day.
Another miner also complained, gasping for air, clearly having just carried a basket of ore out, "Right? Just yesterday we were made to work an extra hour... when I got home, I just collapsed to the ground."
An old man sitting nearby with graying hair snorted, leaving his clothes open in the already cold weather, showing off his muscles inside, "You think you had it bad? My son and the others worked till midnight yesterday! Descending the mine with carbide lamps! Nearly worked to death."
Many of the people here were third-generation miners, their grandfathers were miners, their fathers were too, and naturally, their sons as well.
They did the same work, and generation after generation rarely left this land, watching with their own eyes as the mountains were dug into a honeycomb, losing their shape.
While speaking, the old man sighed, "There's nothing we can do. Lord Earl needs a lot of steel, so we can only do some extra work to help him out."
What he said resonated with many miners. They knew how the Earl looked after them, which is why at times , they helped the Earl increase the steel production.
Even if unwilling, even if exhausted and covered in grime, they still responded with their simplest actions to the ruler's slight, inadvertent kindness.
This is the simple people, these are the kind people, this is the power that resides within the common folk—just a glimpse of it is enough to change dynasties!
"Ah, this damn life, when will it end?" someone voiced what was on everyone's mind amidst the crowd.
Thus, more sighs resounded, unwittingly merging into a chorus.
"Have you heard? Another mine collapsed yesterday. It took over an hour to dig out a passage and rescue people, with 7 injured. Scared everyone half to death," a new topic began at someone's inquire.
Another miner next to him nodded, still shaken, "Of course I heard. That mine shaft was dug temporarily in the first place, and now with constant mining, how could there not be accidents?"
Ever since people learned to use minerals and started extracting them by digging, mining disasters have always been the miners' nightmare who rely on mining for a living.
Once a disaster strikes, a collapse buries lives under the mine, paralyzing the miners' livelihood, leading to utter despair.
Fortunately, this time the collapse of the vein at Northern Ridge wasn't severe. Work soon resumed, and there was no substantial loss of life.
An old miner sighed for himself and for everyone around him, "Ah, the old mines keep getting deeper, and new mines keep increasing. That's just how it is, there's no other way imaginable..."
The foreman came over with a carbide lamp, reminding the resting miners as he walked, "Stop talking, take a good rest, and get ready to go down the mine soon."
His words brought about more sighs, as everyone felt oppressed by life, unable to breathe freely, "Ah..."
Suddenly, not far from next door, a roar like a tidal wave suddenly erupted, "Oh!"
Everyone heard it clearly, they all got up from the ground, and looked in the direction from where the shouts came.
Then, they heard even more distinct shouts, as if the people over there had all gone mad, "Long live!"
The miners here also started to show signs of minor unrest, with everyone bustling around and curious questions occasionally emerging from the crowd, "What are they shouting about over there?"
"No, no idea... Why did they suddenly start cheering?" More people were in a state of confusion, looking around at each other, clueless about what had happened on the other side.
So, aside from those asking questions, even more people could only exchange puzzled glances and join in asking, "Strange, what's going on?"
"Over there, isn't that Mine No. 3? What on earth is happening?" An old miner, having discerned the direction, asked the foreman standing by his side.
The foreman did know something and responded, "This morning, quite a few carriages came by, saying they brought some kind of, some kind of machine."
He tried hard to recall what the machine looked like, only remembering parts resembling a chimney, along with some wheels and metal rods.
In any case, with his experience, he couldn't figure out what the thing was. All he knew was that many workers accompanied it, and there were over a dozen carriages just for transport.
He then saw those unfamiliar workers unloading many components from the carriages, some gears appeared to be quite large.
As he reminisced, he described everything he had seen: "Those workers were constantly assembling the machine, though I have no clue what it's for."
"Old Jamie took some people to look, and they saw lots of individuals carrying segments of steel into the mine, clueless as to what they were doing," another miner with some knowledge of the situation joined the conversation.
In short, Mine No. 3 had been wrapped in mystery since this morning. Now, with a day having passed and cheers coming from there, it wasn't so surprising after all.
"Anyway, it's all a big confusing mess, and later they started burning coal, still no idea what it's all about." The partially informed worker gesticulated, then feeling baffled by his own words, shook his head, pursed his lips, and fell silent.
The old miner frowned, looking towards the direction of the cheering, and muttered, "But, what's the cause of those cheers?"
"Who, who knows? Maybe, maybe there was a mine collapse, and there's no more work to do?" A young miner felt he was onto something brilliant.
"Are you stupid? Cheer for no more work? What will you eat if there's no job? Idiot!" The foreman by his side looked at the fool with disdain.
The old miner also thought the 'brilliant' young one beside him was beyond help: "We just don't want to work an extra 3 hours a day, not that we don't want to work at all! You dimwit!"
"What am I to say about you? Pig-brained... No, no, no, pigs are much smarter than you, hahaha!" The well-informed miner also took a look at his colleague and let out a sly laugh.
Meanwhile, in front of Mine No. 3, a not-so-huge machine was spinning rapidly.
Its flywheel was rotating at a dizzying speed, making spectators extremely nervous. Under the swift operation of this machine, a series of gears transferred motion, causing the metallic chains nearby to begin turning bit by bit.
Before the watchful eyes of the crowd, one mining cart after another was sent into the mine, and not long after, emerged on the other side filled with heaps of ore.
On the connected iron rails, these carts were efficiently unloading ores, requiring only a few workers to continuously empty the contents onto the adjacent ground.
It was like a tireless bull capable of replacing humans, tirelessly hauling ore out of the mine.
From now on, the miners of Mine No. 3 wouldn't need to frequently travel between the surface and the depths; they just had to keep mining within the mine.
With this machine, the miners no longer had to work overtime to achieve their previous outputs. If they were willing to do extra work, they could even triple their production speed.
Just install such machinery at every mine, and the Earl's mining fields would extract ores at several times the pace of other fields!
Alice stood by the side, her beautiful eyes shimmering with excitement. When she saw the equipment finally assembled and starting to operate, a new thought crossed her mind, a desire to visit Brunas.
She was genuinely curious about the kind of person who could design such a sophisticated device.
As she watched the machine tirelessly spinning before her, it seemed nothing short of a colossal money printer, ceaselessly working.
That feeling was simply too marvelous—at that moment, she envisioned countless scenes: looms shuttling back and forth under the drive of the steam engine, millstones rotating ceaselessly, hammers repeatedly striking the anvil... And the sounds of friction, pounding, and clanking mingled together in her ears, transforming into the sound of coins clashing...
For her, that was truly the most delightful sound in the world.