The weeds and thorn bushes on the hillside have been cut down, and there are several piles high at the bottom of the hillside.
The entire hillside is bare, and there are red iron ore everywhere.
Zhao Ziliang walked up the hillside with rugged rocks, picked up a piece of hematite ore, looked at it in his hand, and then waved to the prospecting technician.
The little old man crawled to Zhao Ziliang and said, "What are your orders, sir?"
Zhao Ziliang asked: "Do you think the purity of this iron ore can be refined into pig iron?"
The little old man said: "Based on my previous experience, the purity of this hematite should be very high.
As for whether it can be refined into pig iron, this requires an iron smelter."
Zhao Ziliang nodded and walked around in a big circle on the hillside.
Bo Lehan, Gao Shi, Cen Shen and others stayed with him until the sun was high in the sky before going down the mountain.
Coming down the hillside, Zhao Ziliang said to Brahan as he walked: "The question now is whether the hematite can be refined into pig iron.
As long as it can be refined into pig iron, things will be easy to handle in the future.
Refugees recruited from the mainland Is there anyone among them who knows how to make iron?”
Gao Shi was responsible for assisting Bulhan in handling the civil affairs of Xilin Shoutu.
He handed over his hand and said: "General, the refugees we have recruited in the past year are basically landless farmers.
There are no craftsmen in this field.
The imperial court has sent them from all over."
There are no such craftsmen among the prisoners and soldiers."
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, what should we do?"
At this time Wang Can stood up and said: "General, I will remember that when we were in Suiye Governor's Mansion, a group of prisoners were sent over.
Among these people, the heads of two households were master smelters who were overseen by the imperial craftsmen.
It's just that I don’t know if they are still there now.”
"Oh" Zhao Ziliang was stunned, thinking as he walked, and then stood still and said to Wang Can: "Immediately send a flying pigeon letter to Suiye City to inquire about the whereabouts of these two people.
If there is any news, please report to this general immediately."
Waiting here for specific news about these two people.”
"No" Wang Can agreed and immediately ran to the stable next to him.
Zhao Ziliang said to Brahan again: "Go and prepare.
I will be waiting here for the past two days for news about the master smelter.
If there are important matters to be dealt with at Xilin Shouchuo, you can go back and deal with them first.
You don't have to accompany me again."
Brahan hesitated and said: "This general is here, how can the general leave?"
Cen Shen stood up and cupped his hands and said: "How about this?
I will stay with the general and you two will go back to Xilin to guard and handle official business.
If the general has any orders, I will report to you at any time."
Bo Lehan and Gao Shi looked at each other, and Gao Shi smiled and said, "That's fine, I'll leave Brother Cen here to accompany the general."
After Bo Lehan, Gao Shi and others left, Zhao Ziliang rode around the foot of the mountain to check the terrain.
He asked Cen Shen to bring him pen and ink and a large piece of white paper.
After turning around in a circle, he drew a map of the surrounding terrain from memory. out.
After the topography of the area was mapped out, Zhao Ziliang used a pen to mark out several dangerous key locations.
He called Cen Shen and said, "When the smelting craftsman comes, if these hematite ores can be smelted into pig iron, this is the only place where we can The place where iron ore is mined is extremely important to us.
As long as we control this place, the entire Beiting and Anxi will not be short of iron, so this place must not be lost.
This general plans to build a Wu Fort here.
The entire Wu Fort must be built with comprehensive defense facilities.
These hematite can be smelted into pig iron.
You should organize people immediately We are developing and constructing here.
Look at this.
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This is a topographic map of the surrounding area.
The marked places on this map are steep places that are easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Build sentry towers at these two locations.
Walls were built everywhere, and two arrow towers were built on each side.
Archers and crossbows were placed on the arrow towers.
Soldiers should be deployed to stand guard and patrol.
Barracks should be built in these two locations.
The two barracks should be able to accommodate a thousand soldiers.
Residential houses should be built here for mining workers to live.
A large ore storage warehouse should be built here.
This is the castle master's palace.
Mining workers’ canteen, this is the generals’ and soldiers’ canteen.”
Cen Shen nodded repeatedly.
Two days later, Wang Can hurried back and brought the flying pigeon letter from Suiye City.
"General, Suiye City said that they found the two smelting craftsmen.
Now they have sent people to escort these two people to Xilin to guard their capture."
Wang Can reported and handed a small note to Zhao Ziliang with both hands.
Zhao Ziliang took it and read it once, nodded, and told Cen Shen: "These two people cannot afford to make any mistakes.
Send two hundred elite cavalry to respond."
These two people, one named Liu Hongyi and the other named Liu Tianci, were both master smelters working as supervisors for the imperial court ten years ago.
During a smelting process, due to improper operation by an ordinary craftsman, the iron-making furnace overturned and the red molten iron poured out.
He came out and burned to death the chief craftsman who happened to be watching.
The chief craftsman was the chief among the chief craftsmen.
The leader was burned to death by the molten iron.
This was a serious matter.
The court investigated the case and a large number of craftsmen were imprisoned.
Among them were Liu Hongyi and Liu Tianci, two great craftsmen who were responsible for the iron-making furnace.
They had improper operation.
The craftsman was executed, and the others were sent to different places by the army.
The two of them were sent to Suiye Governor's Mansion.
"Understood, I'll make arrangements right now."
Cen Shen agreed with his hand, and immediately called a school captain over and ordered him to lead 200 elite cavalry to meet him on the way to Suiye City.
Five days later, Liu Tianci and Liu Hongyi were escorted to Zhao Ziliang.
After receiving the news, Bulhan rushed over quickly, leaving Gao Shi behind in Xilin to handle official duties.
Liu Tianci and Liu Hongyi were brought to the mine.
After they saw the open-pit hematite all over the mountains and plains, they directly ignored Zhao Ziliang and other generals and officials.
They stared at the hematite all over the mountain and couldn't help but murmur.
He shouted: "Oh my God, I never thought that I would be able to see such a huge open-pit hematite mine in my lifetime.
I will die with peace of mind."
After the two cried for a while, Zhao Ziliang motioned to the soldiers next to him to help them up and asked: "Two gentlemen, are you sure this is hematite?"
The two of them wiped away their tears, and Liu Tianci bowed his hands and said: "General, we have been working as supervisors for iron smelting many years ago.
How could we not know this hematite ore?"
Zhao Ziliang asked hurriedly: "The two of you can smelt this hematite into pig iron, and then refine the pig iron into steel."
After listening to Zhao Ziliang's words, Liu Tianci and Liu Tianci looked at each other and smiled.
Liu Hongyi cupped his hands and said, "General, this is just a joke.
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As a master blacksmith, how can I not smelt this hematite into pig iron?
As long as the iron furnace is built, , As long as there are enough craftsmen, as long as these hematite is mined, and there are enough tools, we will find a way to turn it into pig iron."
Zhao Ziliang looked at the two of them and asked, "You two are still guilty now, right?"
The two looked sadly, "Yes, General" Zhao Ziliang nodded and said: "How about you help me make iron and steel, and I will let your family off the hook and give you a generous salary, so that your family can have enough food and clothing."
Liu Tianci and Liu Hongyi looked at each other, with a hint of joy in their eyes.
They knew that their own sins were not easily absolved, but their families were only implicated.
If they could get away with it, their families would They can avoid a lot of chores and labor, and they are very happy to be able to return to iron and steelmaking.
They can also get generous wages to support their families.
Where can they find such a good thing?
The two of them immediately knelt down: "We are willing to serve the general.
We just hope that the general can free our family members as soon as possible and let them come to the little people."
Zhao Ziliang smiled and said: "Since you have agreed to make iron and steel for me, this matter will be easy to handle.
You don't have to go back.
From now on, we will remain in the affairs of casting iron and steel furnaces.
I know how to cast iron and steel-making furnaces, and I have never even seen one, but you used to be people who specialized in iron-making and steel-making, so you should know how to cast."
Liu Tianci and Liu Hongyi said: "General, this 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 can be cast within half a month."
"Oh, it's quite fast.
If pig iron is smelted, how do you plan to make steel?"
Liu Tianci introduced: "General, there have been several methods of making steel since ancient times.
The first one used was carburized steel, which is to use pig iron to make a block of iron, and then fold and forge the block of iron continuously, and so on.
The result is carburized steel.
The second application is the steel-frying method, where the steel-making furnace is built underground, with the furnace mouth and The ground is flat, first put in charcoal or pebble coal, then put crushed pig iron chips, covered with charcoal chips or pebble chips, then ignite, blast, seal the furnace mouth, and continue to use iron rods or wooden rods after the pig iron melts After stirring, a spongy lump of metal soon appeared in the furnace.
It was pinched out and forged to remove impurities, giving it a A certain shape, this is called the fried steel method.
The third is Baili steel, which is also a kind of carburized steel.
The product obtained by repeatedly folding and forging pig iron hundreds or even thousands of times is Baili steel.
The steel obtained by this method is generally used to cast sharp swords and knives, and only generals can use it.
It sometimes takes several months to make such a weapon.
The fourth is the steel filling method, which uses pig iron and wrought iron as raw materials, pours molten iron into the wrought iron tire, and seals it with mud.
It is the crucible method.
This method has been around since the Han Dynasty, but the heat is difficult to control.
If the control is not good, pig iron can only be made."
When Zhao Ziliang saw that Liu Tianci talked about the method of steelmaking, he knew that he and Liu Hongyi were capable, so he said: "Okay, I, the general, have decided to build a mining field here to mine hematite, and then in Xilin Shouchuo casts a steel plant , I ordered you two to be the master craftsmen responsible for iron-making and steel-making.
First, build an iron-making furnace and a steel-making furnace.
Mr.
Liu is responsible for the steel-making furnace, and Mr.
Liu is responsible for the iron-making furnace.
You have full authority over all the craftsmen needed.
You two are responsible for commanding and deploying.
Can you be confident in doing this well?"
The two looked at each other and immediately said, "We will live up to the general's expectations."
"Okay, I will wait for you to hear the good news, general":