Daqin Engineers

Although Bian Heqian didn't know the reason, he still meticulously followed Shen Bing's requirements... No way, who made Shen Bing the boss?Whatever the boss says.

One week later, after the first batch of molten iron was released, Ben felt a little different... People who have been smelting iron for a long time like Ben, can feel the change in the quality of the molten iron only by looking at the flow rate, consistency and curing time of the molten iron. A little bit.

After the iron ingot was solidified, Ben took a hammer and struck forward. At first, it was only a small force, and then the more vigorous, the more frightened.

If it was the old iron ingot, it would have been cracked and then broken apart at this time, but the iron ingot in front of me was only slightly deformed after being hit with several times the force.

When other blacksmiths heard the percussion, they also realized that they were wrong, and gathered around.

Then a few people tried to beat them, and finally they cracked the iron ingot with great strength.

All the blacksmiths including Bian and Xiao cheered with excitement, Bian even tears, and said excitedly to Shen Bing:

"General, his subordinates have been seeking this iron-smelting technique all their lives, but they are always out of their way."

"I don't want the general to simply rebuild the blast furnace to get this iron. The subordinates really admire it."

Oow also sighed:

"It's no wonder the general wants me to wait and keep secrets."

"As soon as this iron is released, it can be used to make weapons and even armor. It is not difficult to imagine that it will be much stronger than bronze."

"This method is really not known to outsiders."

Owing is the point.

Once iron makes up for its shortcomings of brittleness and fragility, bronzes will be completely eliminated due to its simple manufacturing process, cheap and strong, and the importance of iron will naturally rise rapidly.

In fact, this is not a sophisticated technique.

If only reducing the carbon content in iron, the blacksmiths of the Warring States Period could have done it.

Iron in this era is divided into pig iron and wrought iron.

Pig iron is hard, wear-resistant, and has good castability, but it is brittle and easy to break. This is the characteristic when the carbon content exceeds 2%.

Wrought iron is soft and has good shapeability and can be drawn, but it is not hard enough. It has a carbon content of less than 0.5%.

The method of making wrought iron is to reheat the pig iron to 1500 degrees to reach the melting point of iron, and then use tools to continuously stir.

In this way, the carbon in the molten iron will be oxidized and discharged due to contact with air, and finally wrought iron is obtained... This process is like cooking pig iron, hence the name "wrought iron".

The carbon content of steel is between pig iron and wrought iron, so it has the characteristics of pig iron and wrought iron.

The iron smelting method used by Shen Bing in the Han Dynasty was to further reduce its carbon content while being able to train raw iron, so the characteristics of it were approached in the direction of steel to meet the requirements for making equipment and weapons.

Of course, it is only "meeting the requirements."

If you want a higher quality weapon, it is not iron but steel to be made.

However, this iron is completely sufficient, especially at this time the equipment all over the world is bronze, and iron equipment is sufficient to form an advantage.

Then Owe asked:

"General, with this iron, what shall I wait to make first?"

This is a problem.

Is it an iron sword or a shield or spear armor?

There must be a first-come-first-served equipment for the equipment. After all, the output of iron was limited and time was limited at the beginning, and it was impossible to control them all at once.

After thinking about it, Shen Bing replied:

"Crossbow, and arrows."

I cannot help but wonder:

"Crossbow? A crossbow made of iron?"

This is a strange thing. Crossbows are usually made of wood or bamboo.

Iron crossbows were impossible before this. It was difficult to make iron into thin crossbow arms, and it was fragile and easy to break. I was afraid it would break after a few strokes.

But now it is possible to use iron for making crossbows...

But Shen Bing didn't have this idea for the time being.

He shook his head and said:

"Not making a crossbow, but adding an iron ring to the front end of the crossbow arm for trampling."

Bian didn't quite understand it, so he yelled "Oh" and nodded in praise:

"General wise, this method is very good!"

At this time, the Qin Army...It should be said that the crossbows of the Central Plains countries are divided into two types: arm stretched crossbow and stretched crossbow.

Both have advantages and disadvantages.

As the name suggests, an open-armed crossbow is to open a crossbow by hand. Its range is not much farther than that of a bow and arrow, and sometimes because the crossbow is short and has a straight ballistic.

Its advantages are that it is convenient to open the crossbow, and the rate of fire is fast. It can be done by hand. To make up for the lack of riding skills, the Central Plains cavalry prefers to use the crossbow.

Infantry is more of using a crossbow.

Because for infantry, it is better to choose a bow and arrow if you choose an open-armed crossbow...The speed of the bow and arrow is faster than that of an open-armed crossbow, and the range is not far away.

But there is another fatal shortcoming of the crossbow: you must sit on the ground to open the crossbow.

The standard method of opening a crossbow is to sit on the ground with your legs left and right against the recess of the crossbow, and then pull the strings with both hands to pull the crossbow away from the crossbow machine.

It has to be done every time after firing, so the crossbowman usually sits on the ground to operate.

This is no problem when defending the city, but if it is siege or field battle, it will cause big problems.

Especially in the field...you have to sit on the ground and open the crossbow. What if you want to chase the enemy after winning the battle?

Or what if you want to fight and withdraw after a defeat?

It's impossible to suddenly sit on the ground and open a crossbow when chasing an enemy or retreating?

This will not only slow down its own speed but also block its comrades, it will also reduce the speed of the entire army.

As a result, the crossbowman has almost no combat effectiveness in action, and cannot maneuver when he wants combat effectiveness.

In addition, there are many other problems:

For example, sitting with a low vision can easily be blocked by one's own people, and at the same time greatly reduce the range of shooting compared to standing.

For example, it is necessary to sit and open the crossbow when it rains or snows... Although this can be overcome most of the time, it can be fatal in some special circumstances. I'm afraid I will be frozen and can't get up.

But it would be different if a tread ring could be added to the front end of the crossbow.

Because of this change, the crossbowman can stand and operate:

Step on the pedal ring and buckle the strings with both hands, and use the same waist strength to stretch... the crossbow opens.

So almost all the shortcomings of the old-style crossbow are avoided:

It is easy to maneuver, easy to shoot, and the rate of fire is also accelerated.

More importantly, this modification is very convenient, and it also extends the life of the crossbow...

It is convenient to modify because it only needs to add a round or triangular iron ring to the front end of the crossbow arm.

To extend the life of the crossbow, it is necessary to push the foot on the crossbow in the past method of opening the crossbow. The uneven force during the opening of the crossbow makes the crossbow easily broken.

With an iron ring at the front end, the main force when opening the crossbow is on the crossbow arm, and the force on the crossbow is uniform.

All in all, this small change greatly increased Qin Nu's power.