At dawn on the second day, more than 80 people in the shabby thatched hut, which was full of sweat and foot odor, was woken up early by a reddened inkman with red eyes.

After receiving breakfast, I followed the road that was either repaired or unrepaired, and walked to the river in the distance.

This is a river that can lead to Surabaya, Pu, Wei and others do not know, but Mo Zhi has already taken a car to measure the direction and length of the river.

It is not only close to iron mines, but also has rivers that can be used as transportation, and the geographical location is also between Pei, Liu, Xiao, Pengcheng, Danshui and Surabaya.

From a distance, there was a small mound that was not very tall, and a furnace that looked strange at this time stood by the river.

There was something that looked like a water-powered mill next to it, and Pu Wei and the others saw that several ink artists were next to the thing that looked like a water-powered mill, and they didn't know what to say.

When you look closer, you can see that it is not a mill, but a huge wooden bellows pulling, which is snorting and moaning rhythmically along with the wooden wheels pushed by the water.

Next to the bellows, there is a pile of pottery pipes, which should be freshly fired, and they look a little strange, but it is just that Pu Wei and others look strange.

As for thousand-year-old cities such as Luoyi, Anyang, and Shangqiu, people in the city have seen this kind of pottery pipe for a long time, but it is used for drainage in the city, but it is not used to smelt iron and blow wind.

Under the tall furnace is a pair of solid ground paved with what the inkers call "bricks", sunken into the ground, arranged one by one, as if used to hold the dregs.

Next to him, an inkman was holding a long stick with a pottery or stone kettle at the front, pouring water into a wooden mold.

There were dozens of people standing next to the ink man, and Pu Wei and the others heard the ink man teaching there, and said, "When the time comes, when the molten iron comes out, you will pour it into the mold." How to irrigate, I also said before that you have been practicing for more than a month, but molten iron and water are always different, I'm afraid you will have to practice more when the time comes. Don't be afraid that you won't be able to do it well, I have only cast copper, and I have never cast iron......"

When Pu heard this, he was a little curious, and asked the red-eyed inkman who brought them here, "Is the iron poured in?" ”

The ink man smiled, "Where have I seen it?" But as I said, it was like water, poured into a jar and froze into ice, and then smashed the jar, so isn't the ice what the jar looks like? ”

Pu was surprised: "Iron comes from stones, so don't you want to burn stones like water?" ”

The ink man pointed to the big hydraulic bellows and said, "Why don't you do this?" Fortunately, the mill was repaired a lot before, and it was not difficult for the craftsmen to do this. At that time, he only thought that he was going to make mill wheat flour, but he was going to make iron at that time? ”

It sounds like the ink man has a lot of respect for Shi, even though he looks older than Shi.

Pu asked again: "They all say that they will go back in three months, and these people have practiced for two months, what will they do when they go back?" ”

The ink man pointed to those people: "It's not local to Pei County, or it's just one person in the family." If they do a good job, they may not be less profitable than farming, and they don't go home after three months. Now they are receiving money, and there are people everywhere, most of them are from big cities and huge cities. They also do farming, isn't it the same to do this? ”

Pu understood, nodded again and again, and couldn't understand the rest of the things, so he didn't ask any more questions, and followed the ink man to a dirt house.

The inkman went in and said a few words, and then came out of it.

These people had just met Shi three or five days ago, and Shi Ye had spent enough time remembering the names of most of them, and at this time he took the trouble to greet them one by one, congratulating them on what they had done the fastest, and using some words that benefited the world as a reward.

After eating, he was busy doing things, so he said: "You came just in time, there is a shortage of manpower here recently, and I am really a little too busy." ”

Wei and Shi were most acquainted, so they asked, "What are we going to do?" ”

Shi smiled: "It's still digging the soil." You can't do anything else, and you're slow to learn. The ore is to be washed, crushed, washed and dried. Dig a canal downstream, and transport it directly to the furnace when the time comes. ”

It was a very simple job, but Pu heard a hint of excitement and asked, "Since there is only one thing left to dig the canal, is everything else done?" ”

Shi nodded, pointed to the furnace in the distance, and said: "If the road is repaired, in fact, the iron will be produced in a few days." The rest of the work can only be done after the iron is mined. ”

He explained the reason why the water was frozen, either he was very excited, or he wanted the people to increase their confidence, and said, "You know, this frozen ice and then smashing the jar will always waste a lot of man's hands to make the jar. The same goes for iron. If you want to save manpower, you have to find a way not to break the jar. ”

"There is a way, but you have to wait for the iron to come out, and then you can make a 'jar' out of iron, and divide the 'jar' into two halves, which can be opened at any time, so that you don't have to smash it. If you do this again, it has nothing to do with you, but if you do it, you can get a lot of farm tools every day. ”

Pu came to his senses and said in his heart, wouldn't the molten iron stick to the iron mold?

He knew that he would not, because he believed that Shi must have a way, but he had never even seen molten iron, and even if he thought that no matter how much Shi said, he couldn't understand it, so he didn't ask.

Turning his head to look at the strange pile of low furnaces in the distance, Pu Qi said, "How many iron smelting furnaces are there?" ”

Shi looked at the small annealing kilns in Pu Zhi, and said with a smile: "That's not iron smelting." The smelted iron, like a raw egg, is easily broken. Put it in it and steam it for seven or eight days, and it will be steamed, even if it can be broken, it will not be broken so neatly. ”

He explained in very superficial terms, in words that farmers could understand, the annealing technology that appeared in the Han Dynasty, annealing brittle pig iron into ductile cast iron that could be used as agricultural tools.

Without annealing, it is difficult to ensure the quality of iron as a farm tool, which is the same as furnace iron, which belongs to the cross-era technology, and annealing technology can also ensure that the quality of Peixian's farm tool iron is better than those who have learned from other places.

Pieces of iron smelting are made into agricultural tools, and it is estimated that they can be popularized by craftsmen.

Pig iron directly baked is used as agricultural tools, and it is estimated that the brittle ones are easy to be damaged by stones.

The furnace iron guarantees the quantity, and the annealing ensures the quality.

As for the technology of pig iron to be wrought iron with curved reflection and iron and fuel isolated and stirred, what is lacking now is only refractory materials, and it should not be difficult to have pottery and primitive porcelain as technical support.

He doesn't know too much, just scratching the surface, but enough time to try, no one is born with it. Those iron smelting masters of the Han Dynasty are too far away from him when it comes to theory, but they can also sum up the best way from experience, he has theoretical support, even if he starts from scratch, at most slower, he can definitely get it.

The temperature can be tried, the time can be tried, and the filler can be tried...... You can try anything, and you don't have the urgency to catch up with others, so you can do it with confidence.

No matter how many things he had, he didn't explain much, and after telling everyone about his daily treatment, he said that he had other things to do, so he went first.

Pu listened to a rough idea, it seemed that it was about installing a blower pipe, and he didn't ask much, and he didn't even know what the blower pipe that came to call him meant.

After more than half a month, Pu Wei and the others were a little anxious, because the speed of digging the canal was faster, and they looked forward to seeing the iron before they returned home.

If...... It would be nice to be able to bring a few iron farming tools with you when you get home.

More and more people have finished their work and come to help dig the canal together, and the canal is being extended day by day, and the news is increasing.

One day, when it was time to drink again, the last group of people digging the canal brought a message.

The road from the mine to here has been repaired.

The mine on the mine has already begun to dig, and it seems that several people have died.

The Ink Artist used gunpowder to blow up a section of the most difficult stone mountain, and it was rumored that a big snake crawled out of it, which may have turned into a dragon, but was stewed and eaten by the Ink Maker.

And Pu Wei and others, who were digging the canal here, also sent the news they knew to these newcomers.

The mold has been made, and the clay mold for the future iron mold has also been completed.

The bellows and clay pipes were already connected, and the hydraulic hammer used to smash large pieces of ore had to wait for the iron to come out.

Charcoal was prepared enough, and one of the charcoal kilns collapsed a few days ago, but fortunately no one was killed.

One of the pieces in the charcoal kiln has been burned, and when it is dug up, it is as slippery as ice on the outside, which is very beautiful.

There were already as many ores piled up next to the furnace as there were hills, and the inkman seemed ready to add charcoal and ore to them.

A tiger in the distance was killed by a fowl and a man, and in the name of harming the world, he ate it, and asked for the tiger's knee and said that he wanted to soak in wine and drink.

The giant came from Peiguo a few days ago, but he never left, and it seemed that he would wait for the iron to go back......

All kinds of news, gathered together, finally turned the hope that seemed to be shrouded in fog into the fiery red of the morning, which is about to break through those clouds and mountains, so that everyone who was full of hope can truly feel the heat.

On the fourth day after the canal was completed, eight days before the three-month period of servitude, news came early in the morning.

Today the weather is right, everything is ready, just waiting for the fire.

As soon as the news spread, the whole iron-smelting field was in a stir, and even the people living in the thatched huts that built the road far away rushed over and formed a large circle.

The high-level of the ink people are basically gathered, and the distance is the closest.

The material had already been filled, and those who were about to pour the molten iron waited early, even though they knew that they would have to wait a long time before the iron could be produced, and they could not contain the excitement in their hearts.

The pits used to pile up the slag were still empty, but everyone who had heard of the many iron-smelting processes looked forward to the fact that they would be filled with slag at night.

All kinds of clay molds are prepared near the taphole.

The first batch to be cast is a sledgehammer for crushing, an iron drill for mining, a tongs for clamping iron, and a reused iron fan.

There are no farm tools, but everyone knows that when these things appear, more and more farm tools will be produced.

Mozi held the torch and shouted to light the fire, and all the people in the iron-smelting land turned into Mozi's echoes, converging into two words that he had already wanted to shout when he heard the Promised Land two years ago.

"Ignition!"

If faith can be canonized as a god, then iron ...... It must be the noblest and most powerful god at this moment.