The weeds and thorny bushes on the hillside had been cut down, and several piles had been piled high under the hillside, and the whole hillside was already bare, and there was crimson iron ore everywhere. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Zhao Ziliang walked up to the rocky hillside, picked up a piece of hematite ore and looked at it in his hand, and then beckoned to the prospecting technician.

The little old man crawled to Zhao Ziliang's side and said, "What do you command?" ”

Zhao Ziliang asked, "What do you think of the purity of this iron ore?" Can it be refined into pig iron? ”

The little old man said: "According to the previous experience of the little old man, the purity of this hematite should be very high, as for whether it can be refined into pig iron, this requires an ironsmith."

Zhao Ziliang nodded, and took a big circle on the hillside, accompanied by Brehan, Gao Shi, Cen Shen and others, until the sun hung high and did not go down.

Coming down from the hillside, Zhao Ziliang said to Brehan as he walked: "The question now is whether these hematite can be refined into pig iron, as long as it can be refined into pig iron, things will be easier to do in the future." Are there any refugees recruited from the interior who can make iron? ”

Gao Shi was in charge of assisting Brehan in handling the civil affairs of Xilin's guard, and he arched his hand and said: "General, among the displaced people we have recruited in the past year are basically landless farmers, and there are no craftsmen in this area, and there are no such craftsmen among the prisoners and soldiers sent from all over the court!" ”

Cen Shen was a little anxious, rubbed his hands and said, "Seeing that a golden mountain is right in front of us, but we have no way to get it, how is this good?" ”

At this time, Wang Can stood up and said: "General, the last general remembers that when we were in the Broken Leaf Governor's Mansion, a group of prisoners were sent over, and among these people, the heads of two families were smelting masters who were supervised by the imperial court, but I don't know if they are still there now."

"Oh?" Zhao Ziliang was stunned for a moment, thinking as he walked, and then stood up and said to Wang Can: "Immediately send a flying pigeon to Broken Leaf City to inquire about the whereabouts of these two people, and report immediately if there is any news!" General Ben has been waiting here for the past two days to hear from these two people! ”

"No!" Wang Can agreed, and immediately ran to the stable next to him.

Zhao Ziliang said to Brehan again: "You go and prepare, in the past two days, I am waiting here for the news of the master smelter, if there is something important to deal with over there, you can go back and deal with it first, you don't have to accompany me again!" ”

Brehan hesitated: "This ?????? The general is here, how can the last general leave? ”

Cen Shen stood up and arched his hand: "Otherwise, the lower official will stay and accompany the general, and the two of you will go back to Xilin to guard and deal with official business, if the general has any orders, the lower official will report to the two at any time!" ”

Brehan and Gao Shi looked at each other, and Gao Shi smiled and said, "That's fine, just leave Brother Cen here to accompany the general!" ”

After Brehan and Gao Shi and others left, Zhao Ziliang rode a horse to check the terrain around the foot of the mountain, asked Cen Shen to bring pen and ink and a large piece of white paper, and after turning around, he drew a map of the surrounding terrain from memory.

After the topographic map of the place was drawn, Zhao Ziliang used his pen to mark it out in several steep key positions, and he summoned Cen Shen and said: "Wait for the smelter to find it, if these hematite can be smelted into pig iron, this is the only place where we can mine iron ore, this is extremely important to us, as long as we control here, the entire Beiting and Anxi will not lack iron, so this place must not be lost, this general intends to build a fort here, and the entire fort must build a comprehensive defense facility." Once the craftsmen have determined that the hematite can be smelted into pig iron, you will immediately organize the manpower to develop and build here! You see this, this is the surrounding topographical map, several places marked on this map are steep places, easy to defend and difficult to attack, build sentry towers in these two locations, build walls in these two places, build two arrow towers on each side, arrange archers and bed crossbows on the arrow towers, and arrange soldiers to stand guard and patrol on the wall. Barracks were to be built in these two locations, two barracks to be able to accommodate a thousand soldiers, a private house to house for the miners, a large ore storage warehouse to be built here, a castle lord's house, a miners' canteen, and a colonel's canteen ??????."

Cen Shen nodded again and again.

Two days later, Wang Can hurried back and brought the flying pigeon from Broken Leaf City to pass the book.

"General, the side of Shattered Leaf City said that they found those two smelters, and now they have sent someone to escort these two to Xilin to guard and arrest them!" After Wang Can reported it, he handed a small note to Zhao Ziliang with both hands.

Zhao Ziliang took it and looked at it, nodded, and instructed Cen Shen: "These two people can't afford to lose, send two hundred elite horsemen to answer!" ”

These two people, one is called Liu Hongyi, the other is called Liu Tianci, ten years ago were the master smelting master of the imperial court craftsman supervisor, a smelting process due to the improper operation of an ordinary craftsman, resulting in the iron-making furnace overturned, the red molten iron poured out and burned to death the craftsman who happened to be watching from the sidelines, the craftsman supervisor is the master of the craftsman supervisor, the master of the craftsman supervisor was burned to death by molten iron, this is terrible, the court investigated down, a large number of people were imprisoned, Among them, Liu Hongyi and Liu Tianci, the two masters who were in charge of this iron-making furnace, were executed if they were not properly operated, and the others were sent to various places by the army, and the two of them were sent to the Broken Leaf Governor's Mansion by the army.

"Understood, the next official will arrange it!" Cen Shen agreed, and immediately called a school captain and ordered this person to lead two hundred elite horsemen to meet him on the way to Broken Leaf City.

Five days later, Liu Tianci and Liu Hongyi were escorted to Zhao Ziliang, and Brehan quickly came after getting the news, leaving Gao Shi to guard and handle official business in Xilin.

Liu Tianci and Liu Hongyi were brought to the vein, and after the two saw the open-pit hematite all over the mountains, they directly ignored Zhao Ziliang's generals and officials, and the two stared at the mountains of hematite with wide eyes and couldn't help but murmur: "God, I can't imagine that I will be able to see such a huge open-pit hematite in my lifetime, and I will be blind to death!" ”

After the two of them cried for a while, Zhao Ziliang motioned to the soldiers next to him to help the two of them up, and asked, "Two gentlemen, are you sure that this is hematite?" ”

The two wiped their tears, and Liu Tianci bowed down and said: "General, the two of us have been in charge of iron-making matters as supervisors for many years, how can we not know this hematite?" ”

Zhao Ziliang hurriedly asked: "Those two may smelt this hematite into pig iron, and then refine pig iron into steel?" ”

After listening to Zhao Ziliang's words, Liu Tianci and the two looked at each other and smiled, Liu Hongyi arched his hand and said: "The general is just joking, as a blacksmith, how can I not smelt this hematite into pig iron?" As long as the iron-making furnace is built, as long as there are enough craftsmen, as long as the hematite is mined, and there are enough tools, we will find a way to make it into pig iron! ”

Zhao Ziliang looked at the two of them and asked, "The two of you are still guilty now, right?" ”

The two of them looked gloomy, "Yes, General! ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded and said: "You help General Ben make iron and steel, General Ben exonerates your family, and gives you a generous salary, so that your family can have no worries about food and clothing!" How is it? ”

Liu Tianci and Liu Hongyi glanced at each other, and there was a hint of joy in their eyes, they knew that their own sins could not be avoided so easily, but their families were only implicated, if they could get rid of their families, their families could be exempted from a lot of miscellaneous labor and labor, and they were also very happy to be able to re-engage in iron-making and steel-making, and they could also get a good salary to support their families, where to find this kind of good thing?

The two of them immediately knelt down: "We are willing to serve the general, I just hope that the general can exonerate our family as soon as possible and let them come to the villain's side!" ”

Zhao Ziliang said with a smile: "Since you agree to make iron and steel for this general, this matter will be easy to handle!" You don't have to go back, from now on there will be remnants of the affairs of casting iron-making furnaces and steel-making furnaces, we people don't know how to cast iron-making furnaces, and we haven't even seen them, but you used to be people who specialized in iron-making and steelmaking, so you should know how to cast, right? ”

Liu Tianci and Liu Hongyi said: "General, this matter is easy! As long as the general allocates enough manpower and casting raw materials, the two of us can guarantee that an iron-making furnace and a steel-making furnace will be cast within half a month! ”

"Oh? It's pretty fast! If pig iron is smelted, how are you going to make steel? ”

Liu Tianci introduced: "General, there have been several methods of steelmaking since ancient times, the first use is carburizing steel, that is, using pig iron to make iron, and then the pieces of iron are constantly folded and forged, so that the result is carburized steel. The second use is the frying steel method, the steelmaking furnace is built underground, the furnace mouth is straight with the ground, first put charcoal or charcoal (coal), and then put the crushed pig iron filings, covered with charcoal chips or charcoal chips, and then ignite, blast, close the furnace mouth, after the pig iron melts, continue to stir with iron rods or wooden rods, and soon the sponge block metal appears in the furnace, clamped out and forged to remove impurities, and give a certain shape, which is called the steel frying method. The third is 100 steel, 100 steel is also a kind of carburizing steel, and the pig iron is repeatedly folded and forged hundreds or even thousands of times to obtain 100 steel. The steel obtained by this method is generally used to forge sharp swords and swords, and is only suitable for generals, because forging such a blade can sometimes take months. Fourth, it is the steel filling method, using pig iron and wrought iron as raw materials, pouring pig iron into the wrought iron tire, sealing mud and refining it. Fifth, it is the crucible method, which was available in the Han Dynasty, but the heat is difficult to master, and if it is not well controlled, it can only be smelted into pig iron! ”

Zhao Ziliang saw that Liu Tianci talked about the method of steelmaking, so he knew that he and Liu Hongyi had the ability, so he said: "Okay, General Ben has decided to build a mining farm here, which is specifically responsible for mining hematite, and then guard and cast a steel factory in Xilin, and order you two to be responsible for ironmaking and steelmaking as master craftsmen!" First build an iron-making furnace and a steel-making furnace, Mr. Liu is in charge of the steel-making furnace, Mr. Liu is in charge of the iron-making furnace, and the craftsmen required are all under your full responsibility for command and deployment! Can you two be confident that you can do this? ”

The two glanced at each other, and immediately arched their hands and said, "We will live up to the general's expectations!" ”

"Okay, General Ben is waiting for you to wait for good news!" (To be continued.) )