The Strongest Lu Bu's Sweeping Thousands of Armies

Chapter 358 Excessive wear and tear
Zhou Yu bluntly said that it was impossible for Lu Bu to wipe out Cao Cao in one fell swoop, which really made Lu Bu feel a little headache.

Cao Cao is a hero in the world, and he used the emperor to make the princes accumulate a lot of family property for several years.

Although he also knew that it would not be easy to destroy Cao Cao, Lu Bu also knew that as long as Cao Cao still existed in this world, there would be many obstacles to his great cause of hegemony.

"What does Gongjin think I should do?" Lu Bu asked Zhou Yu.

"Back to the Marquis of Chu." Zhou Yu said: "It is not so easy to completely destroy Cao Cao. The best result is to snatch the current Majesty from Cao Cao. As long as the emperor has the power of the Han Dynasty, who will the Marquis of Chu crusade in the future? Is it logical?"

Lu Bu nodded, and said somewhat reluctantly: "Gong Jin is right, but if Cao Cao is still there, I always feel uneasy. It is not a day or two that he wants to kill me. As long as Cao Cao is kept, we will be impossible." Have a good time!"

"I understand Chuhou's intentions." Zhou Yu replied, "It's just that Cao Cao is powerful, and his generals are like a cloud. Most of the soldiers in the three armies are fierce fighters. It is not so easy for our army to completely destroy him."

"I understand what Gongjin means." Lu Bu replied, "Let's stand first and then talk about the future. We won't know until we defeat Xudu. Now that we have not fought with Cao Cao, it is not clear what the battle will be. After so many considerations, it is all It's of no use."

"What Chuhou said is true!" Zhou Yu agreed.

Lu Bu then said to him, "There's nothing else going on at the moment, why don't Gongjin come with me to the coal mine and see what's going on there."

Zhou Yu agreed, and followed Lu Bu out of the study.

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu accompanied Lu Bu out of Pengcheng and headed for the coal mine.

Coal mines will produce a lot of dust, if it is too close to the city, or inside the city, it will make the whole city filthy.

Because of this, although Lu Bu was committed to the development of coal mines, he never allowed the carriages transporting coal to enter Pengcheng. Unless it was coal transported to Pengcheng for sale, the rest would be blocked outside the city.

Following Lu Bu to the entrance of the mine, Zhou Yu said, "I don't know how Chu Hou thought that coal can be burned. In the past, we used charcoal or firewood. No one really thought that the black carbon dug from the ground could be much more resistant to burning than charcoal. "

"Charcoal is actually a good thing." Lu Bu said, "It's clean and refreshing, and it burns a lot of heat. It's perfect for home use. Coal contains a lot of sulfur, and when it burns, there will be thick smoke. If you keep it at home , the whole family will be choked and unable to sit still."

Although he didn't quite understand what Lu Bu said, Zhou Yu nodded as if he understood.

He then asked Lu Bu: "How did the Marquis of Chu know that there is coal underground in Pengcheng?"

Of course Lu Bu would not tell Zhou Yu that he came from the era after 2000, so it is not surprising that there is coal underground in Pengcheng.

He said to Zhou Yu: "In fact, many things have been recorded in books. I also read too many books, and I know that there is coal in Pengcheng. After the coal is refined into tar, it is better for forging steel than charcoal. Today, the steel in Xuzhou is forged from coal."

"I've also paid attention to the steel in Xuzhou." Zhou Yu nodded: "The current steel is indeed more resilient than before. Whether it is forged into weapons or tools, it is not comparable to the past."

"It is for this reason that Yuan Shao wants to get more coal from me." Lu Bu said, "He also knows that it will be impossible to win Xuzhou for a while, and the only way to get coal is to join forces with me to attack Cao Cao. "

"The Marquis of Chu really expects Yuan Shao to send troops to attack Cao Cao?" Zhou Yu said, "Yuan Shao should understand that whether Cao Cao defeats Chu Hou or Chu Hou defeats Cao Cao, what he will face is a powerful enemy that he has never met before. If I were Yuan Shao may cooperate with the weak side to destroy the strong side before the battle becomes clear."

"Yuan Shao is not you, and none of his staff are you." Lu Bu smiled slightly: "With Yuan Shao's temperament, even if his staff saw something, he would never forget it. No matter how Yuan Shao chooses in the future, at least Today, he will not be my enemy."

The subject changed, and Lu Bu went on to say: "What I want is not that he really sends troops, but that he waits and watches and does not interfere in the battle between me and Cao Cao. When I destroy Cao Cao, he will cavalry to attack Xuzhou. At that time I already have the foundation, how can I be afraid of him in Hebei?"

"The Marquis of Chu gave Yuan Shao so much coal, so he will definitely speed up forging steel." Zhou Yu said, "Handan, Hebei is a big city for forging steel. In comparison, our Lujiang forged steel is much less than theirs. Moreover, Hebei Iron and Steel was originally of better quality than Lujiang's steel..."

"When I mentioned steel, I remembered one thing." Lu Bu said, "Earlier, I taught blacksmiths a skill. After forging weapons, they should know what it means to burn the blade with soil. I don't know how the blacksmith learned it."

"Cover the soil and burn the blade?" Never heard that there is such a particularity in forging weapons, Zhou Yu looked at Lu Bu with a look of astonishment: "What Chu Hou said is..."

In fact, burning the blade with soil is a forging method that some island country blacksmiths figured out when they made weapons after they learned the two-handed sword from the Central Plains and developed their kendo.

They have forged a knife, but it is not a complete product. They still need to dig a hole, put the knife into the hole, and then set up firewood on the hole to burn.

This firing will have two results.

One of the results is that after the tool is taken out, it deforms due to insufficient toughness.

Knives like this, of course, have to be remade.

Another result is that ripples like running water appear on the side of the forged weapon blade.

The appearance of ripples is not just for the better appearance of the weapon, the most important thing is that both toughness and hardness are better than weapons without soil-covered burnt blades.

Therefore, the really good Japanese swords of later generations are even worth a lot.

Of course, the Central Plains at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty did not have such craftsmanship.

Lu Bu proposed covering the blade with soil, and most of the blacksmiths had tried it.

Since the toughness of steel in this era is relatively poor, most of the weapons that have been covered with soil and burnt will be deformed and worthless, and only a few can be barely used.

Although he had never heard of the term "burning the blade with soil", Zhou Yu knew that the craft taught by Lu Bu to blacksmiths was not very popular.

He said to Lu Bu: "I have heard a little about what Chuhou said. It's just that I heard that the blacksmith doesn't agree with that method."

"Don't you agree?" Lu Bu asked in surprise: "Don't they think that the weapons covered with soil and burned with blades are not very good?"

"No." Zhou Yu replied: "What the blacksmith told me is that the quality of the iron is not good at the moment, and it is difficult to withstand the soil-covered blade. Most of the weapons have changed shape after the soil-covered blade, and they cannot be used at all. If you succeed, you will lose more."

"It seems that I have to think about how to improve the quality of steel first." Lu Bu frowned slightly. He had too many things to do recently, and he really didn't bother to understand them.If Zhou Yu hadn't said it, he wouldn't have known this.

When they came to the main entrance of the mine, several stewards were already waiting there.

Seeing Lu Bu and others coming, the stewards rushed up to meet them.

After paying respects to Lu Bu, the steward who took the lead said, "We only got the news when Marquis Chu came suddenly. We didn't make any preparations. Please forgive me."

"Prepare?" Lu Bu said: "What do you want you to prepare? I came here to see that you are not prepared. If you are prepared, I don't have to come over to see. Everything has been prepared by you, and I can do it." How many real ones have you seen?"

"What Chuhou said is true." The steward quickly agreed.

"Lead the way ahead." Lu Bu signaled the steward to go ahead and lead the way for them.

The steward responded, and stood sideways with the others to the side of the road, making way for Lu Bu and others.

After leading the crowd into the mine, Lu Bu asked, "Do you use open fire for lighting in the mine now?"

"Exactly." The steward replied, "Besides an open fire, we can't think of anything else that can be illuminated..."

Frowning slightly, Lu Bu didn't ask any more questions.

He really couldn't blame the steward of the mine.

Even he, who has more than 2000 years of cognition, doesn't know how to deal with underground light sources, let alone people like stewards who have never heard of cold light sources.

There are several coal mines that can be mined in the place Lu Bu occupies now.

Therefore, only one site in Pengcheng was mined. There is a very important reason, that is, the underground light source has not been solved.

Walking into the mine, Lu Bu suddenly asked the steward, "You guys mine coal, is there a way to extract sulfur from the coal?"

"The Marquis Chu is asking about sulfur?" the steward asked.

"Exactly." Lu Bu said: "If there is sulfur, I can think of a way to solve the mine light source."

"Actually, it's good to use an open fire in the mine." The steward replied, "It's just that some places use an open fire, which makes people feel that it's roasted..."

"What do you know?" Lu Bu glared at him: "Now the mine is not very deep, and the gas concentration has not reached enough to explode. Once the gas concentration reaches it, we will use an open flame. We have to collect the corpses of as many miners as we go down. Mining Coal mines, it’s not as simple as bringing coal up from below. If it’s really that simple, I’d still have to work hard to build local ventilation fans for you?”

"What Chuhou said is true." The steward responded quickly.

"How do you use the fan?" Lu Bu asked the steward.

"Back to the Marquis of Chu." The steward replied, "The fan is very useful, but it breaks down too fast. It won't be long before we have to ask someone to rush to make another batch."

"How could it be broken so fast?" Lu Bu asked, "How do you all use it?"

"Just follow the method taught by Marquis Chu earlier." The steward replied, "But the shaft of the fan will break after a while. We didn't think of any way..."

"Are there any broken ones?" Lu Bu said, "Take me there to have a look."

The steward agreed, and told the other steward who was following behind him: "Get someone ready, I'll lead the way for Marquis Chu to check the broken fan right away."

The steward left one step ahead, and the steward said to Lu Bu: "Although the fan broke down very quickly, the craftsmen in the mine feel much better than before in the mine. There is also a bathhouse. The craftsmen are still talking about it now. I am grateful to Chuhou Ende."

"They make money for me, so I should do this." Greeting everyone, Lu Bu, led by the steward, went to the place where there were piles of damaged fans.

The steward led Lu Bu to a corner of the mine.

There are many broken fans piled in the corner.

It hasn't been too long since Lu Bu invented the fan last time, and it's really incredible that it can be damaged so much.

When he came to the place where the damaged fans were piled up, Lu Bu checked the damaged parts, and found that all the fans had fallen off from their rotating parts.

"Just because of this, you reported all the fans as damaged?" Lu Bu asked the steward.

The steward replied in panic, "We really don't know what to do other than re-manufacture..."

"This is the fracture of the rotating shaft caused by long-term wear." Lu Bu said: "There are two ways to solve it. One is to replace the rotating shaft, and the other is to drip oil on the rotating shaft when it is in use. With oil lubrication, it will not It’s so easy to break. I think the damage you reported should be running non-stop every day, and it’s not bad if it can last for three or two days.”

Lu Bu told the period and reason of the fan damage, and the steward replied tremblingly, "It's because I didn't find out how to use the fan. Please punish me by the Marquis of Chu."

"Most of these damaged fans are useless." Lu Bu said, "Tell the carpenter who made the fan to make more rotating shafts for replacement. In addition, you also need to get some oil, and put the fan on once after isolation Oil. Replacing the rotating shaft is much cheaper than replacing the whole fan, and pouring more oil on it will also prolong the service life."

"I've written down what Chuhou said." The steward bowed and agreed.

Just as he was about to leave the place where the discarded fans were piled up, a guard came over and said, "Report to Marquis Chu, Zhang Shiping begs to see you."

"Zhang Shiping?" Lu Bu didn't call him over immediately, but asked the steward, "Is he coming here very often recently?"

"Back to the Marquis of Chu." The steward replied, "Zhang Shiping used to control the coal, but now the Marquis of Chu has allocated some of the coal to the Yuan family. His interests have been damaged, and it is true that he has come more often."

"Is the coal allocated to Yuan's family ready?" Lu Bu asked the steward again.

"It's been prepared a long time ago." The steward said, "According to Chu Hou's order, we mixed a lot of gangue into the coal for the Yuan family."

There are many kinds of gangue in mines, most of which are off-white, and many of them are the same color as coal.

These waste rocks also contain some coal components, but it is not easy or even impossible to burn.

Sooner or later, the Yuan family would turn against each other, and Lu Bu didn't plan to be more honest with them in business. He had already ordered him to add some waste rock to the Yuan family's coal.

(End of this chapter)