Great Zhou Tianzi

The other corner of Tuolongguan was built as a blacksmith workshop, and dozens of tall furnaces sprang up. The first batch of 120 blacksmiths recruited from Wudi, most of them have been engaged in smelting work for generations.

In addition, there are hundreds of cars of iron ore with extremely high content, which were sent by the cavalry team of Qin's Trading Company, and Qin Qing promised Ji Jie that he would send as much as he wanted.

Although the current iron ware has begun to gradually replace the bronze ware, the temperature required for iron smelting is much higher than that of bronze, and the process complexity is also much higher. In addition, the pig iron produced from iron ore has gone through a series of complicated processes. Iron can only be turned into fine iron, and then it can be turned into fine steel after a more complicated process. Therefore, in the Seven Kingdoms, bronze smelting is still the main method, and iron products are rarely used for forging weapons, and are mostly used for the production of farm tools.

Looking at the iron ore unloaded from the carriage, Ji Jie was well aware of the importance of this item. Of course, it is no problem to focus on purchasing at the initial stage, but once it is mass-produced, there must be a large amount of raw material supply, and it is impossible to purchase and transport by carriage. Meet the requirements, and easily restricted by others.

"Is there anyone who knows this thing after you?" Ji Jie asked.

All the blacksmiths nodded one after another. They have been dealing with iron ore for many years, so they are naturally familiar with it.

"I don't mean the thing in front of you!" Ji Jie said with a smile: "I mean, can any of you find this thing in the wild? I mean in an environment you are not familiar with."

Everyone was silent, a middle-aged man with a square face stood up and said in a deep voice: "My lord, although the villain dare not guarantee the ticket directly, but he thinks he knows quite a lot about iron ore, and he has often followed my father's house since he was a child. My ancestor went up to the mountain to collect it by himself, and my ancestor once said that if you want to forge a peerless magic weapon, you must strive for excellence in the use of materials from the beginning, and you must do it yourself, without any sloppy!"

"Well said!" Ji Jie walked up to the man and asked, "What's your name?"

"Under Ou Ming!"

"Your surname is Ou?" Ji Jie suddenly remembered Ou Yezi, a world-famous master swordsmith, and couldn't help asking: "Do you have a relationship with the sword master Ou Yezi?"

Ou Ming bowed and replied, "Ou Yezi is the ancestor of the family!"

I made it. I didn’t expect to recruit Ou Yezi’s grandson. Ji Jie was so excited. What’s even more commendable is that this Ou Ming not only knows about casting, but also knows about iron ore. Technology, on the one hand, send people to detect the existence of iron ore nearby.

"I have decided to set up a foundry supervisor here!" Ji Jie immediately made a decision: "Ou Ming is appointed as the foundry supervisor, who is fully responsible for iron casting and ore discovery, and the rest must do their best to assist him. It is everyone's credit for the achievement, and I will definitely reward you heavily!"

"Thank you for your love!"

Since then, in addition to the rhythmic sound of the paper mill, there are also jingling sounds in Tuolong Pass. On the third day, the first furnace of molten iron was successfully smelted, and black pig iron rods were displayed in front of everyone. .

Ji Jie picked up an iron rod. Pig iron is brittle and not as strong as a wooden rod. He has never dabbled in smelting technology, but as a modern person with extensive scientific knowledge, there are still many things that surpass these blacksmiths. place.

For example, he knows the principle of smelting into steel. Although he doesn't know what the process is like, he also knows that turning a piece of pig iron into mature iron and then into refined steel requires countless times of calcination and beating. The purpose is to remove impurities and reduce its content. amount of carbon.

In addition, he has heard of folding, composite steel clamping, carburizing and other processes in forging technology. He brought out these theoretical things to discuss with Ou Ming, which benefited Ou Ming a lot.

Ou Ming applied the theoretical knowledge acquired from Ji Jie to practice. They were not in a hurry to produce a shocking finished product, but put all their energy on the production of materials, and first mastered the processes including smelting, casting, etc. , and then turning it into a finished product becomes very simple.

Ou Ming is worthy of being the descendant of foundry master Ou Yezi. He has mastered various crafts and made innovations. Under his leadership, the foundry supervisor took out more than a dozen steel samples of different hardness and softness one month later. Ask Ji Jie to come over and review.

"Look, Your Majesty!" Ou Ming picked up a piece of bright steel and said, "This is the hardest piece of iron we have ever forged. The shape and hardness are more than three times that of bronze!"

"So hard?" Ji Jie was taken aback.

"That's right!" Ou Ming continued, "It's just that the production of this kind of steel is extremely complicated, and once formed, it cannot be changed, so it cannot be widely promoted! But don't worry, your lord, we have also forged another sample with the same hardness. It is slightly weaker than that, but it has strong plasticity and ductility. The blade made of it is extremely sharp, and it will not curl when slashed many times. It can be forged with steel bars with excellent toughness to achieve a combination of rigidity and flexibility. Effect!"

Ji Jie held the samples in his hand one by one. Different samples had great differences in color and weight. He was glad he used Ou Ming correctly. Survival in the world must rely on a strong army, and the foundation of a strong army is the weapons in the hands of soldiers.

"Are there any difficulties during the actual operation?" Ji Jie asked.

Ou Ming shook his head, nodded immediately, and said, "It's mainly because iron ore smelting takes a lot of time and effort, and the temperature of charcoal is difficult to control, which wastes a lot of time. If this can be solved, the next thing It will definitely get twice the result with half the effort!"

Then change the charcoal to coal. Ji Jie started to do it immediately, described the nature of coal carefully, and sent a large number of people to look for it.

Little did they know that Ji Jie’s decision pushed the history of human civilization forward for hundreds of years. There is no way, who gave us a modern brain, not to mention that we have failed God’s kindness.

Good news came frequently. The first returning team reported that there was a large amount of coal reserves near Qishan, located several meters below the surface, which could meet the requirements of open-pit mining.

The second team reported that iron ore was found in the Gobi area at the junction of Dazhou and Yan, and it was hematite with a high iron content. The mine was so large that it could not be seen at a glance. It has always been ignored, so that it has been inaccessible for hundreds of years and is suitable for secret mining.

"Great, it's all stuff that tmd can get without spending money!" Ji Jie was so happy. On the one hand, he recruited peasants in the nearby fief Zhaocheng to mine coal; Set up camps and border defenses on the beach, and at the same time recruit more civilians, and go there to mine after the autumn harvest.