Chapter 6 < Obstacles and Solutions >
Kim Ki-woo could tell why he was running.
He couldn’t help but know when he saw the iron ore in his hand.
“I found it! I found the place you were talking about!!”
Big Rock’s voice was filled with joy.
‘He found it faster than I thought’
He was happy, but not enough to show it much. It was planned, after all.
He just thought it would take more than a month to find the mine, so he was impressed that the mine was found quickly.
Kim Ki-woo looked over the iron ore that Big Rock handed him.
‘It’s high-quality iron ore.’
He had a rough feeling. He had trained enough to see and distinguish various ores of minerals, not just iron ore, in modern times.
“Good. It’s a very good iron ore. Where did you find it?”
“It took a long walk from the village until my legs hurt. Do you want me to show you?”
“Yeah. Let’s go right away.”
There was no sense of time here. Of course, there was no clock either.
He had to educate the tribesmen when civilization was ripe enough.
There was only primitive writing here. There was a fairly sophisticated number system in Central and South America, but not in the Creek tribe.
So Kim Ki-woo had been thinking for a while. Numbers were obviously taught in Arabic numerals, but letters were different.
Should he teach them the alphabet or Hangul?
Other languages, such as Chinese characters, were out of the question. They were too hard to learn.
There were pros and cons to each, but Kim Ki-woo eventually made a decision.
‘It has to be Hangul!’
The reason was nothing special.
It was familiar to him.
Wouldn’t his mother tongue be more familiar? Hangul was not inferior to the alphabet either.
Of course, there were parts that did not match modern Korean. Because the pronunciation was different.
That part needed correction.
“Here we are.”
“Chief Spirit, you’re here.”
“You’re here!”
“Yeah. You’ve all worked hard. You found iron ore here?”
“I found it.”
“Oh, really?”
He was a familiar face. He always came forward whenever he tried to do something.
His name was Big Rock.
He was a respected warrior in the tribe and one of the 16 men who saw Kim Ki-woo come down from the sky.
Big Rock always boasted about that fact. His body might be solid, but his tongue was light and soft.
Kim Ki-woo checked where the iron ore was mined.
It was hard to dig deep iron mines with their current technology. It was just starting, so it was natural.
So they had to find a place that was easy to mine near the surface as much as possible. In that respect, this place was perfect.
‘I can finally build my first iron mine.’
Maybe when the era went beyond modernity to modernity, this place would be designated as a cultural heritage by a place like modern UNESCO.
As an iron mine that led humanity’s leap.
Kim Ki-woo wanted to see that scene with his own eyes.
*
This place, where Alabama is now, does not have temperatures below freezing most of the time. It didn’t feel like winter for Kim Ki-woo who lived in modern Korea.
Of course, summer is very hot and long. That’s why cotton grows so well here.
So they could continue developing the iron mine smoothly even in winter.
Kim Ki-woo managed and supervised the iron mine with special attention to safety accidents.
He tried his best to adapt to the reality of this era by using his memories from the future as milestones.
So far, there were no warriors who were seriously injured.
The village was lively.
Food team that went hunting and gathering, miner team that mined iron ore, logging team that brought wood, etc.
They were divided into three categories and worked until sunset every day.
A day off?
There was no such thing in this era. Every day was a succession of work.
‘No wonder there are no evil bosses here.’
He felt that way, but he didn’t have a day off either. Kim Ki-woo consoled himself with that thought.
“Ready to go.”
“Yeah?”
Straight Tree came into Kim Ki-woo’s room and reported. Only then did Kim Ki-woo get up from his seat.
He was right. When he went outside, he saw 60 warriors carrying loads on their backs waiting for him.
‘I desperately need a cart.’
But for now, a load was a hundred times better than a cart. There was no road to pull a cart on.
‘No choice. I have to carry it on my back to the village.’
There was no furnace in this village yet. It would take time to make one, and not only the furnace, but also the conditions for making charcoal and limestone were not ready. The biggest problem was the lack of manpower.
That meant they had no choice but to carry the iron ore on their backs and walk to the tribe for the time being.
At least it was easier to move things with loads.
The first thought was hard, but the principle of making a load was not very difficult. One of the reasons why the logging team kept bringing wood was that.
“Let’s go!”
As Kim Ki-woo’s words ended, the warriors’ march began.
‘I’ll have to say goodbye to this place for a while.’
Kim Ki-woo thought as he walked, looking back at the village that was getting farther away.
He had made sure that the mining team knew how to operate and be careful about the iron ore. Over time, professional miners would be formed around them.
With their efforts, the Creek tribe would enter a full-fledged iron age.
He didn’t have time to linger in this village. He had to teach the Creek tribesmen how to use iron step by step.
He heard that many of the ongoing works were squeaking after Kim Ki-woo left.
The village could not sustain growth without Kim Ki-woo yet.
*
A large amount of iron ore began to flow into the village. But a lot of labor was essential for pre-modern ironmaking.
So many warriors and even women were mobilized for ironmaking and various works.
Fortunately, thanks to the orange crops and improved seeds, food production increased and they could mobilize many people for work.
But they were still people who were squeezed out of those who were not there. They were too scarce.
As a result, Kim Ki-woo had no time to rest. He had to lead them himself and increase production efficiency as much as possible so that various industries could run more smoothly.
But that wasn’t the end of it. The problem was that he started another work in the midst of being so busy that he had no time to breathe.
‘I can’t just use wrought iron.’
He had to make steel.
Steel?
Isn’t steel an industry that represents modernity? Wasn’t it hard to make steel in ancient and medieval times?
But surprisingly, this happened as early as the 4th century BC in India.
“Start.”
“Yes.”
Today, he will demonstrate the historic steel sword.
After Kim Ki-woo’s words ended, a warrior with a steel sword raised it high in the sky. For a moment, the sword reflected the sunlight and struck Kim Ki-woo’s eyes. It looked very brilliant.
Swoosh!
Crash!
“Wow!”
“Can, can that be…”
Exclamations and sighs echoed in the open space.
He had a good reason to be surprised, as the iron rod that was fixed between the logs broke in one go.
Yet, the steel sword looked unscathed.
“How can that be? They are both made of iron, aren’t they?”
“They may look the same on the outside, but they are different on the inside.”
“What do you mean?”
“It depends on how you process the same material, and what else you add to it.”
“Hmm…”
The smart one realized that he couldn’t understand the words of the spirit chief with his own experience.
“I feel very ashamed of my name.”
“Ha ha. You shouldn’t think like that. The real shame is not knowing something, but not seeking knowledge about it even though you don’t know. Why don’t you gradually discover various truths from now on?”
“Oh, indeed!”
Kim Ki-woo turned away from the admiring gaze of the smart one and looked at the ongoing performance test of the steel sword.
‘Good. Very good.’
The test was very successful. Kim Ki-woo was very satisfied.
‘In modern America, steel weapons are unbeatable.’
This was possible because he had the steelmaking method of Uts steel in his head.
The rough outline of the steelmaking method was as follows.
High-quality iron ore with a purity of over 50% mined from the mountains was turned into pig iron in a blast furnace.
Then, a certain ratio of pig iron lumps and charcoal pieces were put into a crucible.
Then, the entrance was sealed and the temperature was raised in the blast furnace. The melted pig iron absorbed carbon from the charcoal.
Although this process was very difficult and produced little, there was no choice but to do it because pig iron couldn’t be used as it was.
More importantly, Kim Ki-woo had a reason to make such an effort and make steel.
As the Creek tribe began to live well, it was obvious that the surrounding major tribes noticed and had sinister thoughts.
Moreover, he didn’t know when the famous Aztec Empire, located on the Mexican plateau, would extend its tentacles.
If a treasure is given to a weak person, it is bound to be taken away by a stronger person nearby. To overcome this, he had to raise his level of military power to be equal or superior to them.
*
Time passed quickly. It had been quite a while since Kim Ki-woo returned to the central village of the Creek tribe.
Now it was time to sow seeds.
‘Steelmaking and ironmaking are also stabilizing.’
There were countless things that could be done with solid steel. First of all, farming became easier.
He made basic agricultural tools such as hoes, sickles, and weeders. Solid iron greatly improved the efficiency of farming.
‘The most important thing is still weapons.’
The primary goal of steel production was steel weapons. Therefore, he prioritized increasing steel weapons.
He also made essential items for living such as needles and basic scissors. As a result, it became easier to make cloth.
He also made nails that could easily connect wood.
In short, it started to be used in various places. Of course, it wasn’t a lot because of the lack of iron.
During this period, Kim Ki-woo and all the tribesmen continued their forced march. But as time passed, they got used to it and got better than before.
It might get better if more time passed, but at least other work was impossible for now. Besides, they had to farm now.
‘There are still many things to make…’
He had to make pottery to innovate dishes and other storage containers, develop limestone mines, and produce cement.
There were also countless things that he was only planning for now.
Such as roads, boats for water transportation, water wheels, paper, pencils, and even soap and gunpowder…
‘Sigh. They are all pie in the sky. There is not enough labor.’
Even with the blessing of the yellow crops! He even made new farming tools! Even though he mobilized a lot of women!
It was truly lamentable.
Since Kim Ki-woo came to the Creek village, he had been emphasizing hygiene and gradually improving the sanitary conditions. The food supply had increased and the nutrition was balanced.
Therefore, as time passed, the infant mortality rate would decrease and the population would naturally increase.
But not right now.
Rather, if more infants were born, many of the laborers who were mobilized now would have to leave to take care of them in the short term.
A population of just over 20,000 was not enough to raise an industry.
‘Is that the only way?’
< Obstacles and Solutions. > The End