Chapter 123 Li Bing
Zhang Chong and the guards used up the grain, then mounted their horses and ran towards Mount Tai in the east, where there was a small iron official post set up by Zhang Chong.
Qingzhou has benefited from salt and iron since ancient times. At that time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up forty-eight iron officials in the world. Among them, there were seven in Qingyan, and two of them were in Jinan, namely Dongpingling and Licheng.
Therefore, there were a lot of iron workers in Jinan, so Zhang Chong asked Ji Sun to help recruit some iron workers and import them into the mountains. In fact, Taipingdao has already developed influence among major iron officials in Jinan.
After all, these iron official slaves were the most exploited group by the Han court. They worked day and night and ate sour water. Even if they were injured at all during the work, they would be abandoned by the officials and left to fend for themselves. Therefore, most of these people believe in Taiping Dao, and there is nothing else but to stay together and stay warm.
Taiping Road also paid special attention to iron official slaves. Because you rebelled, in addition to food and grass, you have weapons and armor, and craftsmen slaves who can forge iron weapons are naturally the focus of Taiping Dao. In addition, because the iron official slaves work together, they are particularly hard-working and organized. With a little training, they become a strong soldier.
It is precisely because the iron official slaves or iron workers are so important that Jinan did not want to send them away. Later, they decided to sacrifice Sun Yat-sen and said that Huang Tian's great cause was important, so they sent 20 iron workers, most of whom were smelting and manufacturing. There are also three knife makers and a armor maker who make farm tool molds.
This armor craftsman is a real master craftsman, and it is also a great gift given to Zhang Chong by his grandson.
The Han court was very strict in supervising this kind of special craftsmen. All armor-makers must be registered in the register, and no supernumeraries were allowed at all. And this armor craftsman was introduced to Taiping Road after Ji Sun avenged his blood and helped him fake his death to escape.
The iron official office that Zhang Chong was going to at this moment was built by him for these more than 20 iron workers. He also sent more than 200 hard-working and capable Shanliao children there to let these iron workers teach them.
When Zhang Chong was about to arrive at the iron official station built in the valley, the iron officials were already waiting outside the station. The leader was a strong man with scars on his arms. He is the only armor craftsman in the institute, Deng Zhi.
As soon as Zhang Chong got off his horse, he complained about Deng Zhi and said:
"Old Deng, don't do these false courtesy with me in the future. If you have this skill, it would be a great gift to me to teach our Shanliao apprentices more about blacksmithing."
Deng Zhi is also a storyteller. This man should have had a future as an iron officer in Dongpingling. He once presented a piece of fine armor to Commander Iron, but who knew that it would lead to him being killed.
Of course, the iron official wouldn't keep it after he got this fine armor. He didn't need it, so why keep it? Therefore, he dedicated this armor to Gao Zong, the meritorious officer of Dongpingling.
Gao Zong liked this armor very much, and then he came up with the idea of bringing the craftsman who made this armor to Wubao as a craftsman slave. You must know that making armor is a serious crime, so Gao Zong can only do it secretly.
But the incident was discovered by Liu Yao, the patrolling commander at the time. In order to silence him, Gao Zong had no choice but to send people to kill Deng Zhi's entire family. Deng Zhi was later rescued by Ji Sun, who was preaching nearby, and Ji Sun even helped him kill the killer of his sect. But the real culprit, Gao Zong, could not help Deng Zhi as a sacrifice to his grandson. Later, when he pushed Deng Zhi into the mountain, he said:
"If you follow Taishan Qu, he may be able to avenge you in the future."
Deng Zhi naturally had a deep hatred for his whole family, but he was a man with no trace of bitterness on his face. Only his hoarse voice could express how much he hated.
So at this moment, Deng Zhi replied to Zhang Chong in his usual hoarse voice:
"Qu, if you don't tell me, I will teach those people with all my heart. All of this is for Huang Tian's great cause. But the etiquette of teaching and returning to religion cannot be abolished. Otherwise, there will be no respect and inferiority. Wouldn't it be a mess?"
Zhang Chong was very proud of this kind of technical talents. Although he did not agree with Deng Zhi's words, he did not get entangled and directly led the craftsmen into the Iron Office.
On the way, Zhang Chong asked about the current progress of the institute. Deng Zhi was the most skilled ironworker in the institute, so he was naturally promoted to the iron officer by Zhang Chong.
Deng Zhi nodded and started counting Zhang Chong from memory:
"So far we have produced a total of 400 iron hoes, 200 iron fans, 40 ring-head knives, and one armor collar. In addition, there are still 300 kilograms of iron ingots left."
Zhang Chong nodded, then looked at the Shanliao apprentices who were still forging iron, and asked Deng Zhi:
"How many of the two hundred Shanliao disciples can become teachers now?"
Deng Zhi shook his head:
"None."
Probably because he was worried that Zhang Chong would think they were hiding something, he explained to Zhang Chong:
"Qu, it's like this. As ironworkers, if we devote ourselves to teaching, it will take three years to get ahead. If some ruthless ironworkers lead apprentices, it may take ten years to touch the crucible."
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Zhang Chong understood that he actually had a way to speed up this learning process. It was nothing more than streamlining the ironwork's smelting, forging, quenching and other environments, and then dividing the work and specializing it.
But Zhang Chong can't do this now, because he now wants to raise two hundred seeds that can lead people, rather than just fishing for the sake of exploding that little bit of production capacity. So, Zhang Chong nodded and started walking.
At this moment, Zhang Chong had walked to the only large crucible iron-making furnace in the institute.
This thing looks about four meters high, less than two meters wide, and about one meter deep underground. But this is the pinnacle of iron-making technology in this world. In later generations, around the time of the Republic of China, this kind of crucible was still used for iron-making furnaces. Woolen cloth. So even though it looks like a mound, it is actually moving forward.
In order to build this iron furnace, Zhang Chong bribed an iron official and sent a furnace maker to the mountains for three months to build the furnace, and then he went back. But it doesn't matter, this kind of technical talent is recorded in Zhang Chong's notebook. As long as there is a chance, he must dig the roots of Hanting.
When this stove was being built, Zhang Chong was present during the entire process in order to steal some lessons. The craftsman didn't hide it and started making the furnace in front of Zhang Chong. Maybe he is laughing in his heart, and he can learn it just by looking at it, so what do you want him to do?
But in fact, the craftsman really underestimated Zhang Chong. He could really learn it just by looking at it, because he understood physics and chemistry. The craftsman first dug a rectangular pit in the ground, leaving it as the furnace door, and then began to apply thin mud around the walls of the pit.
After that, we started making refractory bricks, and when the fire bricks were burned out, we started building the furnace roof. Then a layer of refractory mud was put on the inside. There is something special about this mud, it has to be volcanic mud. After finishing the inner wall, you need to apply a layer of straw plaster on the outer wall.
After that, it is time to make the furnace door, furnace pit, kiln chamber, and chimney.
The furnace door is mainly for ventilation, and the furnace pool is inside the door, which is used as a wind nest during combustion. Next is the furnace, the inner wall of which is also plastered with straw. This is where rows of crucibles, charcoal and other fuels are stored. At the end of the furnace are three chimneys, which are easy to understand and are used for exhausting smoke.
In this way, an iron-smelting furnace is created.
After that, Deng Zhi started to smelt the first furnace of iron. First, a clay-style crucible is placed in the furnace, and then crushed iron ore and charcoal are placed in it. There is a trick in this. If you don't know this, those who imitate the master will produce nothing but rubbish.
Before Deng put the iron ore and charcoal into the crucible, he had actually laid a layer of brick fragments on the bottom of the crucible. Deng Zhi placed these himself and did not tell outsiders. The purpose of these brick fragments is to ventilate the bottom of the furnace.
And if they are outsiders, they only saw Deng Zhi directly putting iron ore and charcoal. If they want to steal the lesson and learn from it themselves, they will only be able to smelt scrap iron in the end.
So when he told Zhang Chong this clever trick, Zhang Chong suddenly realized that ancient craftsmen really had a strong sense of anti-theft!
Then Deng Zhi continued to put charcoal, and then placed a crucible, and then followed the steps step by step. After filling the iron ore, spread a layer of charcoal, then put the crucible, and finally filled the furnace.
So a furnace of iron actually contains three crucibles. After that, it is necessary to ignite the fire, blow the air, and wait until the ore in the crucible is melted into pig iron.
When Zhang Chong saw this standard Han Dynasty ironmaking process, he had already thought about how to improve it.
One is the combustion aid. Nowadays, craftsmen generally use charcoal, so Zhang Chong will replace it with coal, which is easier to smelt.
There is also a ventilation, and now it is a cowhide bag used to exhaust the air. This thing is very labor-intensive. At that time, in order to smelt this furnace of iron, a lot of effort was wasted by the Shanliao apprentices. Therefore, Zhang Chong thought of using water to drain the bladder, but the design is still under construction and has not yet been finalized.
So what can be done immediately is to find coal to improve charcoal, which Zhang Chong will do later.
In later generations, Shandong was a major coal mining province, especially Jinan where he was located. Zhang Chong searched carefully and finally found an open-pit coal mine for him. After that, he hurriedly transported a batch of coal to the Iron Government Office. One of the purposes of his visit this time was to see the efficacy of coal.
But just now Deng Zhi told him that the effects were good and bad. The advantage is that the temperature rises quickly, but the disadvantage is that the iron produced is too raw.
Too raw?
Zhang Chong suddenly realized that this meant that the smelted iron contained high carbon content and was brittle. Later, Zhang Chong thought about it carefully. It may be because coal is more likely to stick to iron ore, causing the smelted iron to contain too many impurities.
When Zhang Chong felt that his reforms would end in failure, Deng Zhi said again:
"But coal is still better than charcoal!"
Zhang Chong was surprised, why.
Then Deng Zhi explained that the charcoal material was not resistant to burning, so charcoal had to be continuously put into the furnace during smelting, which was not only time-consuming but also extremely dangerous. But now with this coal, one furnace of charcoal can be burned until iron is produced, which is very convenient. Although the cast iron is a bit brittle, if they forge it more, it can still be used.
Hearing this, Zhang Chong was happy, okay, as long as it can be useful.
Then Zhang Chong came to the armor-making area, which is the most important place in this iron official office.
It was also here that Deng Zhi led ten apprentices and made the first collar.
At this moment, the armor is hanging on the wooden frame and has been painted with a layer of paint. This armor is a typical two-crotch armor, which is two pieces of armor on the chest and back, and then two belts are used to tie the two armor pieces together. When the time comes to wear this armor, you will need to wear it with a crotch shirt, otherwise the iron will be quite harsh.
Zhang Chong equipped his army with this kind of armor, which was simple to make and had good protective power. As long as the production of iron sheets is increased, they can be installed in the team on a large scale.
But the difficulty now is how to increase iron sheet production on a large scale. Zhang Chong asked how long it took to make this collar. Deng Zhi said that it would take two months at the earliest.
If you calculate it this way, Zhang Chong can only get the Sixth Class A in one year, so what's the use of it? Zhang Chong also estimated that the most labor-intensive part was the two armor pieces.
So how to quickly create these two armor pieces?
I signed up for Youyou and read the reviews of my own book. My blood pressure suddenly shot up and I immediately stopped reading to save my life.
(End of chapter)