（0058）

"I hope you all take care of your errands!"

For the request of these five soldiers, Xu Xingxia readily approved.

Five soldiers were taken out at once to take charge of logistics production, and the fighting strength of Niujiaodun was greatly reduced suddenly. In addition to the four officers, there were only three non-commissioned officers. These three soldiers, although they are relatively young, have strength or something, and there are some, but their combat skills are really not complimentary. Like Huang Fei, he can basically only be used as a sentry. If Huang Fei and Tartar were to fight hand-to-hand, it was estimated that five Huang Fei would not be able to kill a Tartar.

Fortunately, Xu Xingxia never expected them to be able to go into battle to kill the enemy. At present, he is still the only firepower output point, Zhang Quanfu and the like, he can only fight cold guns, and it is still relatively difficult to meet the enemy head-on. Xu Xingxia's only hope is that they can detect the arrival of the Tartars in time and raise the alarm. As for more tasks, they will have to be divided after a new combat team is formed.

That night, the horn pier was very quiet. The soldiers who had been tired all day went to bed early, and after a while, they were already snoring. Xu Xingxia couldn't sleep a little. After all, this was the first night he spent in Niujiaodun after crossing over. The experience of the past few days has profoundly told Xu Xingxia a cruel reality, that is: in this chaotic era, there are risks everywhere. If you're not careful, you risk breaking your bones. In the future, he can't predict what it will be.

In the middle of the night, Xu Xingxia tiptoed up, inspected the sentry on the top floor, and found that there was no accident, so he went back to sleep. When it was almost early in the morning, the sentry was changed, and Xu Xingxia got up again to take a look. When I got up twice, the surrounding fields were exceptionally quiet. Within the light of the torches, there were no living creatures in sight. Occasionally, there are some unknown small birds skimming, and occasionally there is a strange insect call or two. Other than that, there is nothing else. Everywhere the fire did not shine, it was all darkness.

Xu Xingxia is so cautious, it's not unnecessary. Once the sentry is asleep, the horn pier will be dangerous. There are only a few people in Niujiaodun, once they are touched by the Tartars, it will be absolutely doomed. Of course, it is unlikely that the Tatars attacked the horned pier. If the Tatars wanted to attack the horn pier, they had to walk. Even if the horse's hooves are wrapped in sackcloth, the sound of the horse's hooves hitting the field can still be felt, after all, the distance is too close.

In fact, every time the Tatar cavalry arrived, the movement was quite large. The Tatars never hid their whereabouts, and they did not bother to hide their whereabouts. In front of the Ming army in Ningxia Town, the Tatars did not need to do this at all. In addition, the strengths of the Tartars are all on horseback, and they will not give up this talent easily.

Early the next morning, Xu Xingxia received a report that Liu Guangliang had arrived with three old craftsmen. This was agreed yesterday, and Xu Xingxia asked them to discuss something.

"Let them in."

Xu Xingxia waved his hand and said.

Soon, Liu Guangliang and three old craftsmen appeared in front of Xu Xingxia.

Among the military households in Weizhenbao, these artisans are the most difficult to make a living. The craftsmen, including Liu Guangliang, were all dressed in tatters, and two of them were barefoot, and they didn't even have a pair of straw sandals. Judging by the way they looked, they probably came without breakfast. Maybe their family doesn't have the concept of breakfast at all.

Xu Xingxia said straight to the point: "The three of you are invited here today, mainly to build some weapons and equipment. ”

Liu Guangliang immediately said: "Don't worry, as long as we can build it, we will go all out." ”

Xu Xingxia nodded and said with satisfaction: "I thank you in advance." ”

The first thing he wanted to build was, of course, his own Black Feather Arrow. The thirty Black Feather Arrows I currently have always don't feel like they're enough, and if there are too many Tartars and there aren't enough Black Feather Arrows, it's a trouble. Especially if the number of Tartars is very large, and if he besieges the horn pier, he only has thirty black feather arrows, which is far from enough.

At present, Niu Jiaodun's combat effectiveness is basically only him, Gao Meng, Zhang Quanfu, Liu Chuang and other four people, Yu Lijun is obviously not good at combat effectiveness, not to mention others, and they can't even play the role of cannon fodder. And there are only two archers, him and Zhang Quanfu. If the Tartars were not afraid of death and were willing to pay the price of about fifty people to storm the horn pier, the consequences would still be more troublesome. After thirty black feather arrows are fired, there will be only hand-to-hand combat. If it is simple hand-to-hand combat, how many Tartars can Xu Xingxia kill?

Xu Xingxia took out the four black feather arrows, handed them to the four craftsmen, and said eloquently: "Everyone, please take a look, it's this thing, see if you can build it in the same way." ”

Liu Guangliang looked at the black feather arrow carefully for a while, and said to an old craftsman next to him: "Old Guo, bows and arrows seem to be your business, you can talk about it." ”

This old craftsman, whose name was Guo Fuquan, was already very old, almost sixty years old, and his hair was completely gray. The traces of time are very obvious on his body. His face was full of wrinkles, and his two eye sockets were deeply sunken. If it weren't hereditary, an old man like him would have retired a long time ago. However, due to the perverted military household system, he still had to continue to serve. The service of the craftsman is almost lifelong.

After all, the craftsman's craft requires a long period of study and practice before it can be slowly accumulated. The older the craftsman, the more experience he has, the more skilled he is, and the better the quality of the weapons and equipment he creates. In the era of pure handmade production and no mechanized production, this is very important. Therefore, in every workshop of the Ming Dynasty, there were a large number of old craftsmen, and the same was true within the Weisuo Army.

In the craftsmen of Weizhen Fort, Guo Fuquan is specially responsible for making arrowheads. After carefully studying the Black Feather Arrows, he said slowly: "My lord, these Black Feather Arrows are all made of the best wrought iron, the cost is relatively high, and it is also more troublesome, and they have to be forged repeatedly. If it is replicated, it will also be expensive. ”

Xu Xingxia said quietly: "How much does it cost?" ”

Guo Fuquan made a rough calculation and said cautiously: "A tael of silver must be wanted." One such black feather arrow requires six catties of pig iron. If you add two more pieces of silver, you can play better. ”

Xu Xingxia took the black feather arrow back, and said expectantly: "Can it be better?" ”

Guo Fuquan nodded and said, "Yes." Arrows can be made a little stronger, even if they are shot on the bone, they will not crack. If it is not deliberately destroyed, it is completely okay to use it repeatedly for several years or even more than ten years. ”

Xu Xingxia said hopefully: "You tell me about it in detail." ”

Guo Fuquan briefly introduced: "My lord, this kind of ......"

These black feather arrows were all made more than two hundred years ago. Although the quality of the construction at that time was very good, after all, two hundred years have passed, and time has passed. In the past two hundred years, the cast iron and steelmaking technology of the Ming Dynasty has been developing, especially the continuous progress of steel frying technology, and the technology of 100 steelmaking has gradually matured, which makes the quality of steel better and better.

Xu Xingxia's black-feathered arrows and arrows are all forged from raw steel (also known as crude steel), and their quality is better than that of wrought iron. Two hundred years ago, it was supposed to be the best quality steel. However, after two hundred years, this raw steel is a bit backward. Now the steel ingots obtained by frying steel, or the hundred steels that have been repeatedly forged, are of better quality than raw steel.

Guo Fuquan's meaning is that through repeated forging, the arrowhead is completely forged into the quality of 100 steel. In this way, when the arrow hits the bone, it will not crack and be damaged. A black feather arrow with a hundred steel arrows, repeated use for several years, is no problem. Of course, the cost of 100 steel is much higher than that of raw steel.

Xu Xingxia asked curiously: "I don't know if you can get all kinds of raw materials?" ”

Liu Guangliang said: "This is not very difficult, pig iron is still relatively cheap." ”

Seeing that Xu Xingxia was a little confused, Liu Guangliang explained in detail. If you want to say that Emperor Wanli has contributed to the development of science and technology, it is estimated that it is the blast furnace. In order to earn private money, he privately sent eunuchs to dig mines, make iron in batches, and in many places, built special iron-making furnaces. The scale of these iron-making furnaces is quite large. According to historical records, there is a blast furnace in Foshan, Lingnan, with a daily pig iron output of more than 3,600 catties, which shows that the output is quite amazing.

In Ningxia Town, there are also three such large blast furnaces, all of which use raw materials from Helan Mountain. Helan Mountain is not only a treasure trove of animals and plants, but also a treasure trove of various ores, and the iron ore, coal and other ores it produces are of high quality. All the raw materials needed for ironmaking can be found in Helan Mountain. These blast furnaces in Ningxia Town also produce thousands of catties of pig iron every day, supplying the entire northwest.

In fact, the production of pig iron in the Ming Dynasty has always been very large, with an annual output of nearly 100 million catties (about 48,500 tons), which can basically meet the needs of military and civilian use. However, the only thing missing is steel. To forge pig iron into steel, the process is more troublesome. At that time, it was quite difficult to reduce the carbon content. Whether it is frying steel, or making steel, the labor cost is quite high, and ordinary people can't afford it.

[Author's note: Regarding the iron production of the Ming Dynasty, there are two theories, one is 97 million catties, and the other is 9,700 tons, and I take the more optimistic former. Note that it is iron production, not steel production. When it comes to steel production, it's tragic. 】

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