The Brook Family moved quickly. When Wayne returned to the restaurant for lunch, the butler arrived with a map.

It marked three windmill mills at different locations for Wayne to choose from. Wayne casually picked the one closest to the steam train station, and the butler stated that it had already been cleared out. The land within the temporary fence surrounding the mill, as well as the houses within this area, could be freely used by the Detective Agency.

Furthermore, the usage rights granted by the Brook Family to the Detective Agency seemed quite extensive, and the butler explained it in detail:

"I will arrange for someone to inform the Plantation's stewards shortly. During the period the mill is used by your Detective Agency, employees and slaves from the Plantation will be prohibited from entering the area without authorization. If anyone violates this prohibition, employees can have the stewards assist in handling them, while slaves can be dealt with as your Detective Agency sees fit.

"As for the mill and those houses, you can modify them as needed, including renovation and demolition. The stewards of the Plantation will not attempt to inquire or obstruct.

"Additionally, due to the relatively short notice, there might be some household items left in the houses near the mill. Your Detective Agency's personnel can consider those items as abandoned and ownerless, and dispose of them as they wish."

It sounded like the people who originally lived on the Plantation had undergone a forced relocation in the past few days...

That "Papa Biddle" seemed quite gentle at the ball, but he turned out to be a "domineering CEO" type when it came to actual business.

Note to self, note to self. I need to be more careful when talking to him in the future.

But no matter what, the mill issue was temporarily resolved.

Wayne escorted the butler to the back door, asking him to convey his thanks to the Brook Family. After the butler left in his carriage, Wayne also went out.

He went to the Brook Family's factory, picked up Miss Mary's brother, and then the carriage headed towards the Plantation's location on the map.

When Wayne and his group arrived, the people from the Brook Family responsible for giving notice at the Plantation had not yet left. The steward managing the Plantation took the opportunity to lead the group to the mill for a tour, after which the handover could be completed on the spot.

The Plantation was quite large. The group, starting from the residences of the stewards and overseers, needed to use "transportation" to get to the mill.

So Wayne, rarely having the chance to ride a horse again, did not continue to ride in the carriage with the Brook Kid. He even picked a horse on the spot from the nearby stables. Just by looking at the number of horses, one could roughly guess how many overseers there usually were, and by extending that, even the number of slaves and the Plantation's output could be roughly estimated.

He glanced at the fields on the way. It wasn't too far from Wayne's expectation; the main crop grown here was tobacco.

This stuff is said to gradually degrade the land. An experienced person could tell how long tobacco had been grown here just by looking at the tobacco's growth and soil conditions. Unfortunately, Wayne only learned this piece of knowledge in the academy; he knew it was a thing, but he couldn't discern it himself.

Many dark-skinned slaves were toiling among them, with overseers occasionally cracking their whips.

Objectively speaking, although professors at the academy had statistically shown that the average lifespan of slaves on Plantations was not long, and the disability rate was not low, at least on the East Coast, most of that could not be directly blamed on the overseers.

— Slaves were the property of their owners. Overseers had the right to beat and scold them, but they could not wantonly damage them without authorization.

Without the employer's authorization, punishment of slaves by overseers was generally limited to "superficial injuries," with exceptions only during slave gatherings, rebellions, or escapes. The whip would not hit the slaves every time; often, it was simply an "empty crack."

However, on the other hand, it wasn't entirely unfair to say that overseers "frequently beat and scolded" slaves on average. At least when Wayne and his group were heading towards the mill, an overseer was "clearing the way" ahead, and slaves who were deemed not to have avoided quickly enough truly got whipped.

Wayne actually didn't really want to see such a scene, but his sympathy for slaves was actually not as high as his sympathy for Indigenous people with familiar skin tones, and it wasn't strong enough for him to intervene.

So he expressed his attitude to the Plantation steward. The steward seemed to have seen a lot in this regard and understood instantly. However, the steward's response was merely to have the overseers responsible for "clearing the way" run even further ahead.

It had a bit of the flavor of "keeping the butcher away from the gentleman."

It was likely that when ladies and young ladies visited the Plantation, the stewards and overseers operated in the same manner.

Upon arriving at the mill, the overall maintenance was found to be in good condition. At least it wasn't like the mills in some estates, which were almost always idle, where the windmill might not even be able to turn.

The steward had two slaves called over. Alex Brook skillfully directed them to operate it. After observing, he felt quite satisfied: "This place has always been in use, hasn't it? Just by listening to the sound of it running, I can tell the maintenance is good."

Knowing he was being asked, the steward quickly interjected, "Bask is very generous. This mill is allowed for slaves to use during the non-harvest season. They usually use it to grind some beans or grains they've grown themselves, which is much more convenient and labor-saving than in some Plantations where slaves still need to grind by hand after finishing work. Therefore, they also learn to maintain it."

The steward's implication was not difficult to understand. If the mill broke down before the grain harvest season, the Plantation would not specifically hire craftsmen to repair it unnecessarily.

If the slaves wanted to use it, they would need to learn how to perform daily maintenance on the mill themselves.

And anyone with some knowledge of grains knows that wheat before and after grinding are almost two different foods.

Otherwise, people wouldn't go to such lengths to grind them—"wheat rice" cooked directly from wheat is even less popular in America than the sour and gritty "black bread" from the Old Continent.

Alex Brook nodded, indicating his agreement, "Bask is indeed generous."

After echoing the praise, Wayne then pulled Alex Brook aside and presented his functional vision for the remodeled mill.

Wayne was not a very professional designer, but luckily, this Brook elder brother was a sufficiently excellent R&D person. After understanding the specific requirements, he entered deep thought and finally designed a set of devices that already had the rudimentary form of a "production line" for this era:

"Replacing the grinding disc with a blade and an iron, disc-shaped container should allow it to mince meat. The windmill's power is sufficient. If you think it's not minced finely enough, you just need to extend the mincing time. Anyway, the mill is yours to use now, and it's not charged by the hour.

"When mixing and stirring, you actually don't need to change the blade—that would reduce the durability and sturdiness of the connecting rod—you just need to put the minced meat back into the container, add the 'ingredients' you mentioned according to the proportion, and you'll get the semi-finished product you need.

"Then, design a movable baffle opening on one side of the container. Load the semi-finished product into a container via a chute, and what comes out should be ready for steaming.

"I can also have someone open a hole in this wall of the mill and design a large chute. The large steamer you need will be installed on the outside of this wall, at the end of the chute. Then, containers full of semi-finished products can slide directly into the steamer one by one via the large chute. After steaming, the finished product will be ready, and after cutting, it can be sold. Not much human labor will be needed for transportation in between. What do you think of this plan?"

Wayne was very satisfied. Industrial production and home-made goods are often different, and having an expert help oversee things was indeed convenient: "Just as you said, if the functionality is as good as I imagine, I'm even willing to pay for the equipment's cost myself."

Alex Brook waved his hand, "No need. Just as we agreed, this is compensation for your machine gun 'idea.'"