Harrenhal, iron smelting district.
It was a bright, sunny day. The sun licked the earth viciously, and the scorching air caused the scenery in the distance to shimmer.
A group of blacksmiths were called together; the place was piled high with all kinds of soil and materials.
"Why do you think Lord Roman called us here? Making us play with mud on such a hot day?"
Before long, Roman brought people to drag a pile of black charcoal in front of the blacksmiths, and the scene instantly went quiet.
"Everyone." Roman glanced at the crowd below.
There were only 80 or so blacksmiths left on site. It seemed Old Jessy had put in a lot of effort.
"I've gathered you all here today to discuss matters regarding iron smelting."
The blacksmiths were confused, not knowing what the new lord wanted to do.
Iron smelting in Westeros was still at the stage of logging and charcoal burning, which was not only wasteful of wood but also inefficient.
Westeros had quite abundant coal resources, or rather, this land, which was the size of South America, was full of treasures, and even the Riverlands did not lack coal.
Roman had long ago used existing kilns to make a coking oven and added his own White Flame to burn the first batch of coke.
He picked up a piece of coke and said to the blacksmiths: "This is a new fuel that the Scholar and I have come up with. It is better than firewood, hotter, and cheaper. I now hope you can build a taller and larger furnace to accommodate this new fuel."
The blacksmiths looked at the coke and then at each other. They couldn't understand why their high-and-mighty lord was suddenly interested in the work of smelting iron.
But the salary at Harrenhal was high enough that they didn't care even if Roman was messing around.
The blacksmiths quickly divided into several groups, found those who knew how to build kilns, and then began to take action.
"That's not right, the furnace is too small! It should be taller."
"Make a reverse slope at the bottom of the furnace so the molten iron and slag can flow out."
"Don't just smear it with mud! Use bricks!"
To be honest, after Roman started doing it himself, he finally understood the technical requirements of iron smelting.
The structure of the blast furnace, construction methods, site selection, fuel usage, raw material processing, and so on were all problems.
Roman provided a blueprint for a blast furnace, but the details made his progress difficult.
It took a whole week for the workers and blacksmiths to build a blast furnace that met the requirements.
During this period, Roman couldn't hold back, and ignoring the Guard's advice, he went up to move bricks himself.
"My Lord, this is unseemly."
"Once the blast furnace is built, you'll know why I'm in such a hurry. Also, you lot, stop talking nonsense. If you really have nothing to do, come and help me."
In this regard, the blacksmiths were quite touched because Roman worked with them and encouraged them.
Even if someone didn't do something well, Roman mostly encouraged them. In such a long time, only a few lazy people were whipped severely.
For Roman, you could fail, but you were not allowed to be lazy!
When the blast furnace was completed, Roman looked at the behemoth in front of him, covered in dust.
This blast furnace was located next to a rapid stream; the waterway had been expanded, and the double-acting bellows had been installed.
And this blast furnace was four times taller than the iron smelting furnaces of the Seven Kingdoms, and its volume was even greater.
Everyone looked at their achievements with joy, and everyone was convinced that this was the largest iron smelting furnace in Westeros.
"Seven Gods above! Look at this big guy. With it, we can smelt as much iron in one day as other castles do in a week!"
"Lord Roman is truly a god-like man!"
But to everyone's surprise, the surprise was yet to come.
When the blacksmiths lit the coke Roman had given them, the rising flame was not the usual orange-yellow, but a pale color with a hint of blue.
"As expected, dragonflame can continue to burn on fuel." Roman sighed to himself.
The blacksmiths were surprised to find that the heat generated by these black cokes was terrifyingly high, and they were more durable than charcoal.
After a brief moment of daze, the blacksmiths immediately and ecstatically took the dragonflame coke to experiment.
They found that the time to melt iron ingots using White Flame was one-third shorter than with ordinary charcoal, and impurities in the molten iron smelted by White Flame were quickly precipitated.
After smelting some scrap iron, it could even reach the level of refined steel.
The blacksmiths were excitedly hammering iron on the side, and incidentally taking some poorly made iron ingots to re-smelt.
But an accident happened on the blast furnace side.
The furnace exploded...
When Roman arrived, the top of the blast furnace had already exploded, and there was black, lava-like soil and stone flowing down.
The people nearby all showed deep fear in their eyes, because this shape was too similar to the burned-down Harrenhal.
It was only then that Roman realized he had forgotten to make firebricks.
"Sigh~ Let's start over."
While Roman was working overtime, Lady Helaena of House Hoare had already received a letter from Robert.
In the letter, Robert simply greeted Lady Helaena of House Hoare and then asked about Roman's situation, his words full of curiosity.
The King also mentioned the banquet Roman had promised, hoping to see him again soon.
"My Lady, is this...?"
Lady Helaena of House Hoare handed the letter to Scholar Tom and said: "This child Roman has coaxed Robert very well. He has even written a letter to Harrenhal."
Scholar Tom's eyes also widened. Ever since Robert ascended the throne, he would absolutely not contact Harrenhal unless necessary.
"It seems Lord Roman has figured the King out. This way, we don't have to worry too much about the iron throne attacking us."
Subsequently, Tom handed a report to Lady Helaena of House Hoare.
"My Lady, this is a report about dragons. According to the materials I have consulted, the White Flame on Lord Roman is undoubtedly dragonflame, but it is clearly different from the dragons of the Targaryen."
Lady Helaena of House Hoare carefully read the Scholar's report, her face becoming more solemn as she read.
"Scholar, go and inform Roman later. Don't spread such things until Harrenhal is truly strong, otherwise, it will bring great trouble to us all!"
Scholar Tom nodded heavily. With Roman's act of purifying ghosts, there were now many interpretations of Roman's flames from the outside world, but no one had ever linked it to dragons.
Most people thought this was nothing but the Harrenhal people deceiving themselves. After all, they did not believe in any "White Fire driving away spirits" and treated Harrenhal as clowns.
But if Westeros, especially the iron throne, knew that this was dragonflame, then Roman would face Robert's violent retaliation.
Time passed, a month went by, and it was now the end of 294 AC.
Because of the Long Summer, the temperature in Harrenhal was still very high.
But this could not stop the cheers in the iron smelting district.
Roman's blast furnace was finally built!
When the craftsmen saw the blast furnace burning in the White Flame of the coke for a day and a night without any issues, they burst into violent cheers.
The blacksmiths had verified that with White Flame coke, ordinary small furnaces could smelt high-quality steel, so this behemoth blast furnace went without saying.
Roman was covered in dust, his face a mixture of sweat and mud, but it still couldn't hide his excited expression.
"The blast furnace is a complete success! You are all heroes of Harrenhal. Later, I will have the chef make a feast for everyone. After you wash up and eat your fill, go to me to collect your bonuses!"
Under the reflection of the White Flames on the top of the blast furnace, the craftsmen and soldiers laughed as they cleaned up the site, praising Roman.
The new era of Harrenhal would rise from the dragonflame.