please make me king

Chapter 407

Do you know why this governor had the cheek to ask Zhang Shenyan for these timbers?It turned out that when he made firearms in Douzhuang, the pig iron he used was the local crucible iron.

According to the standards of this era, these pig irons belong to pig iron, but according to the standards of later generations, they are actually high-carbon steels with high sulfur and silicon content.The iron mines near Qinshui in Yangcheng already have low sulfur content and are rich in coal with low sulfur content, so they can naturally smelt good iron.

And the coal mines of Lushi Iron Mine are all high in sulfur, no matter how the blacksmiths Zhang Shun brought back from Yangcheng smelted, they couldn't smelt the iron like Yangcheng, Shanxi.Zhang Dudu had no choice but to put his mind on the charcoal.

Since the Song Dynasty, due to the increasing population in the north, the serious destruction of forest vegetation, and the general lack of wood and firewood, China began to use coal to smelt iron.

Coal iron smelting can easily increase the temperature of the furnace, but it will inevitably be doped with sulfur.Sulfur is a harmful element in steel, which makes steel hot brittle and reduces the ductility and toughness of steel.

Due to the limited technical conditions at that time, it is not that the iron smelters in Shanxi did not consider the method of sulfur removal.Methods such as adding quicklime often mentioned in later online novels can only reduce the sulfur content to a certain extent, and cannot avoid the problem of high sulfur content in the smelted steel.

When Zhang Shun blindly gave instructions and still couldn't solve the problem of high sulfur content in steel, Dudu Zhang proposed that Guangzhou Railway and Fujian Railway had always used charcoal to smelt iron, which was quite superior and could be emulated.

Zhang Shun had no choice but to listen to the opinions of professionals.He wrote a warrant to send Dudu Zhang to Zhang Shenyan to ask for the felled wood, so as not to waste manpower, he deliberately felled wood for charcoal.

Zhang Shenyan felt strange, and asked: "These many trees were originally alive, but now they have been cut down, and the humidity is too heavy, how can they burn charcoal?"

Zhang Dudu laughed when he heard the words, and said: "Mr. Zhang has lived in the temple for a long time, but he doesn't understand these strange skills. You need to use fresh wood to burn charcoal. If it is completely dry, it will not work."

Zhang Shenyan really didn't know, but he was educated after hearing the words, so he smiled and said: "In this case, you can take as much as you need. But there is only one thing, and I need to trouble you."

"Originally, I was going to ask for the warrant of the lord, and then I went to look for you. You happened to be here today, and I told you together. The lord ordered to reclaim the wasteland, and now some of the wasteland has been reclaimed, but there is a lack of equipment. It cannot be farmed."

"Leaving aside other things, there is currently a shortage of tools such as shovels, shovels, picks, axes, and hoes, which cannot eradicate the grass roots and tree roots on the wasteland. In addition, the rakes and plows needed for returning to farming also need to be provided in time, and we have to trouble Zhang Supervise it."

Zhang Dudu was also a little dizzy when he heard it. Most of these agricultural tools are made of wrought iron, which requires a lot of manpower. How can they be completed in a hurry?After thinking about it, I can only use the hydraulic forging hammer near Kangjiazhuang to speed up.

After Zhang Shun heard this, he knew that this was a big deal, so he hurriedly ordered Dudu Zhang to burn a few pits of charcoal first, smelted a furnace of good iron, and quickly forged tools with the power of a hydraulic forging hammer.

Fortunately, Zhang Shenyan is experienced. Zhang Shun was born on a construction site in his previous life, and he also knows the magic of sub-project construction.They simply do it in order to save time and manpower.

The specific method is to perform their own duties.Some are responsible for clearing the vegetation around the land to be burned to avoid fires.Some are specifically responsible for burning wasteland, and after burning one piece, proceed to the next piece of wasteland burning.Some are responsible for logging and digging roots, some are responsible for leveling the land, and some are responsible for loosening the soil and harrowing the ground.As for the matter of sowing, we will not mention it for the time being because it is not the time for farming.

When Zhang Shun finished counting population and fields, Zhang Shenyan cleared less than [-] mu of land, and Zhang Shun became anxious immediately.

According to his calculation, at least [-] shi of grain are needed to feed [-] people under his command.Now he only has more than [-] taels of silver in his hands, and he can buy more than [-] shi of grain at most, which can barely support him for a while.But when it comes to next year, there is nothing we can do. We can only rely on this year's autumn harvest for food.

According to the statistics of Zhang Shun and Xu Ziyuan, there are a total of more than [-] households under his control, more than [-] cultivated land, and about [-] shi should be paid for grain.In addition, the reclamation near Baodu Village can produce [-] shi of grain, and there is still a gap of about [-] shi.

It is roughly estimated that more than [-] mu of land needs to be cultivated to barely support the rebel army's rations for one year.If there are other expenses, it is estimated that there will be no nearly [-] mu of land, and this day will be impossible.

With this in mind, Zhang Shun didn't care about taking a break, and hurried to the vicinity of Luanchuan Town to look for Zhang Shenyan.

Zhang Shenyan was not in the inspection department of Luanchuan Town, he had already gone to the reclamation site to supervise and command, so Zhang Shun had no choice but to go to the reclamation site to find him.

When Zhang Shun arrived near the reclamation land, he could see a fire in front of him from a long distance, and the puffs of smoke brought by the fire, it was the rebel army burning the wasteland there.

When Zhang Shun came to the front, Zhang Shenyan, who was lonely and thin, was standing in the cold wind and pointing, arranging how Ding Zhuang under his command should behave.

Zhang Shun yelled, and Zhang Shenyan temporarily put down his work and came to see Zhang Shun.Zhang Shun saw that Shen Yan's face was still stained with some wood dust, and he was a bit embarrassed.

He quickly supported Zhang Shen and said, "Thanks for your hard work, Mr. Zhang! Thanks to you, this matter has made such progress."

Zhang Shenyan didn't have time to be courteous with him, so he just sighed wryly: "There are many forests in this mountainous area, it's different from when I was farming in Tianjin and other people in the past, cutting down the roots, really wasting time. Now the progress is slow, it's really my fault."

Zhang Shun said a few words of comfort, and quickly followed around to check.I saw that Zhang Shenyan really put his heart into it, and deliberately chose flat and fertile terrain with few trees for reclamation, but it was still unavoidable to cut down the roots with a huge workload.

Trees are different from plants in that their root system spreads even more than the crown of the tree.In this era, there are no chainsaw tree pullers, and no excavators and cranes. Everything can only be done by manpower, which is very labor-intensive.

Zhang Shun looked at it for a while, then suddenly frowned, and asked, "Why is it still chopping with a knife and an axe? Why don't you use a saw to saw?"

Zhang Shenyan hastily pointed out a few places, and said: "The saw is complicated in technology and cannot be provided in time due to the urgency. I reluctantly bought and made more than ten pairs, and they have already been put into use. It's just that the matter is urgent, and I may not be able to wait, so I have to let them do some work first!" "

Zhang Shun raised his eyes and saw that the hills and valleys were crowded with people, and no one was at leisure. He couldn't help but admire him.

It turned out that there were more than [-] young men and [-] people staying in Baodu Village, and they followed the command of the red lady. First, they continued to build the camp, and second, they were responsible for reclaiming the wasteland near Baodu Village.The remaining [-] people are all here, and they are surrounded by Zhang Shenyan alone, which is really a skill.

　Thanks to the fan "easonChou" for the reward, thank you for your support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)