Lynn rode on horseback, accompanied by Colin and a dozen others, traversing the limestone road between the fields, heading towards the wasteland on the right side of the town.
An hour later.
Lynn and his group rode their horses, stopping and starting, finally halting on an expanse of undeveloped wasteland.
As it was now late winter, the weeds on the wasteland had long withered and lay flat.
At a glance, it was a chaotic golden hue.
Lynn's gaze swept around in contemplation.
He spoke, "The site for the papermaking workshop will be set here."
This location, situated below the Acadia River, is nearly twenty miles to the forest.
Lynn was well aware that the papermaking workshop should ideally be close to the source of raw materials.
However, thinking of the pollution and damage to the water from the papermaking workshop once production began,
he was more inclined to build the papermaking workshop downstream from the town.
The town had many wells dug for daily use,
but the Acadia River remained the main water source for the territory,
essential for irrigation, waterwheel operations, and more.
Building the papermaking workshop downstream could effectively avoid water pollution, being closer to the red brick factory that produced the red bricks, and even drawing water from the Acadia River.
The only downside was the increased distance for transporting the felled raw timber bark.
But with the Acadia River, the newly established shipyard, and skiffs ready for production,
the transportation issue could be perfectly resolved!
It even saved the step of using horse carts and ox carts to transport red bricks.
Upon hearing Master Lynn's words, Colin's gaze swept around as well.
"Yes, master."
Colin turned to the apprentices behind him and gave some instructions.
Dozens of apprentices rode off on horseback, returning to the town to arrange personnel and fetch various needed iron tools.
On the wasteland.
Lynn, Colin, and four guards remained standing.
Looking at the red brick factory several thousand meters away, piles of stacked, square-shaped red bricks were already piled outside.
Lynn roughly estimated at least dozens of stacks.
With two thousand bricks per stack, there were at least several hundred thousand already kiln-fired red bricks.
Yet, despite this, Lynn had not stopped the brickmaking work at the red brick factory.
The development and construction of this territory still required more red bricks!
For example, the papermaking workshop ready to begin construction needed a large quantity of red bricks.
Moreover, rather than rushing production later, it was better to have the workers pre-produce and stockpile the bricks in advance.
Lynn withdrew his gaze.
Looking at Colin, he calmly said, "Colin, you've never heard of a papermaking workshop, but have you heard of papyrus and parchment?"
Colin nodded somewhat perplexedly, "I've heard of them, but... we can't afford paper..."
Lynn nodded.
While they could produce papyrus and parchment now, the complex and time-consuming manufacturing process meant that costs remained high.
Ordinary free people and farmers had no use for paper.
Moreover, all income was spent on buying food, farming tools, and repairing wooden houses, leaving no money for paper.
Paper, in this world, was a scarce resource.
Often only the Church, nobility, and scholars had the qualification and ability to use it.
Most crucially, never having received education, they could neither read nor write, making paper needless!
Lynn smiled faintly, "Once this papermaking workshop is built and production begins, everyone on the territory will be able to afford paper."
"Moreover, future apprentices will no longer need to rely on you to orally transmit and teach production skills."
"Under the unified teaching of scholars, they will learn the basic carpentry skills."
"And once they learn to read and write, they can even teach themselves!"
Hearing Lynn's words, Colin raised an eyebrow.
As an experienced carpenter, he could certainly teach apprentices to learn carpentry skills.
However, this process was extremely lengthy.
The most basic introductory stage could take several months, or even a year for longer durations.
To graduate from being a carpenter apprentice, they needed to spend several years at least.
That was still acceptable.
The biggest headache for Colin was the irregular time apprentices came to the workshop.
Simply put, just as he taught the first batch of apprentices the skills and techniques to use various tools,
and was about to enter the second stage, the second batch of carpenter apprentices would arrive at his workshop.
He would have to re-teach all the tool usage skills and techniques again...
and again!
If things were as Master Lynn described, wouldn't this avoid excessive redundancy?
With these thoughts, Colin found himself inexplicably more expectant about building the papermaking workshop.
While Lynn and Colin continued their conversation,
teams of carpenter apprentices drove in horse-drawn carts loaded with vast supplies of tools, arriving at the wasteland.
The carts were used to transport building materials such as red bricks, sand, and quicklime.
Iron tools were used to dig the foundation of the papermaking workshop.
After Lynn sprinkled lime powder to mark out a roughly five thousand square area, over two hundred carpenter apprentices began the excavation.
With each shovel and hoe falling onto the soil and flipping forward, weeds and roots were entirely unearthed.
They collected them by hand, piling them aside, waiting for others to transport them to the pasture.
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.