Chapter 134 Charcoal and Crow

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Although Etalik is old, his steps are brisk and powerful, and he moves as fast as the wind. His steps are precise, his hands and feet are coordinated, and his legs are loose. When walking, the old warrior carries his legs with his hips, and his center of gravity only rises and falls slightly, and the leisurely charm naturally arises.

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Seeing this, Bertard's eyes narrowed, and he exerted force on his feet, running like a tiger. He took alternating strides, with an imminent leaping feeling, and coordinated with the rhythm of a tiger and a leopard.

Shulot has a strong body. Although he cannot compare with the two veteran warriors who have been tempered for thousands of years, he has completely mastered the running skills of the warriors. When the young man walks, his muscles are integrated, flexibility, speed, balance, and explosiveness, four standards

Entering the room, you are always ready for a fight.

In this era of weak long-range and insufficient lethality of stone tools, personal force has been demonstrated to the greatest extent. The training of samurai counts for ten years, and they can firmly suppress the militia several times. Naturally, they have gone a long way in the exploration of physical strengthening. Unparalleled

The fierce generals control the pace and can kill seven in and seven out in the scattered formation, but the stone spears of the militiamen pose no threat.

However, the charcoal in front of Shulott combined with sulfur and earth salt, ending the era of fierce generals ahead of schedule!

The use of charcoal in Mesoamerica can be traced back to the Teotihuacan civilization. In the banquets in the murals, the ancestors used charcoal to grill venison. For teenagers, charcoal burning technology is an important cornerstone of civilization.

Charcoal can be used to make pens and inks for painting, absorb moisture to forecast the weather, and purify air dust...

And most importantly, charcoal can be used as high-temperature fuel, participating in the preparation of gunpowder and the forging of metals!

Although charcoal was invented very early, in fact, the quality and productivity of charcoal vary greatly under different production methods.

The essence of charcoal is carbonized porous wood produced by incomplete combustion or pyrolysis. It is flammable, smokeless, has high calorific value and extremely low water content. The quality of charcoal is reflected in the unit calorific value, which depends on the temperature conditions during carbonization.

The higher the carbonization temperature, the greater the specific calorific value of charcoal and the better the quality. The productivity of charcoal is the efficiency of converting a fixed weight of wood into charcoal.

In Xuelot's memory, the power of black gunpowder lies in the oxidation heat and gas release during the reaction. The sharply rising temperature heats a large amount of released gas, and the gas volume increases exponentially, resulting in a violent expansion explosion. Therefore, charcoal

The better the quality, the higher the combustion temperature, and the greater the power of black powder.

In metal forging, the biggest restriction of classical technology is insufficient temperature. When the gray cast iron water is below 1500 degrees, the properties of the cast iron will improve as the temperature increases. Due to the addition of carbon, the initial forging temperature of forged steel is higher than the optimal temperature of cast iron.

200-300 degrees lower, roughly around 1200 degrees, and then the final forging temperature gradually decreases until about 800 degrees.

To achieve such a high temperature of more than a thousand degrees, in addition to designing a blast furnace, excellent charcoal or coal coke with high calorific value is essential.

In other words, charcoal, a high-heat fuel, also acts on bronze, iron, gunpowder and even the industrial age, and is an indispensable source of power for the development of civilization!

Shulot stood in front of the mound of charcoal with smoke curling up, facing the kneeling charcoal-burning craftsman, thinking silently.

Seeing the calm His Highness, the leader of the charcoal workers at the front took two steps on his knees and bowed his head to the ground.

"Your Highness, God of Fire bless you! We have just finished burning two piles of charcoal, please check it out."

After hearing this, Shulot looked up and saw a black mud pile in front of him, shaped like a "grave mound", less than one meter high and about two meters in diameter at the bottom.

Several cracks have been cracked on the surface of the mud pile, which were just plastered over with new mud by the charcoal workers. The color is lighter. There are several ventilation holes at the bottom of the mud pile, which are presumably channels for oxygen. At this time, they have been blocked. And in

On the top of the mud pile, there was a two-palm-sized fire vent, which was not completely blocked at this time. The plume of green smoke was rising from the "grave mound". To the young man, it looked like a good omen in the legend of the Celestial Dynasty.

Shulot looked to the side again, and saw that another pile of charcoal had been burned and cooled.

The leader of the charcoal workers, whose face was full of dust, whispered, and the charcoal workers stepped forward together, opened up the mud pile, and took out large handfuls of black charcoal. Then the leader of the charcoal workers picked through it and picked out a few pieces of surface from the middle and upper layers.

The lustrous, hard and dark coal was held in his arms and handed to His Highness like a gift.

"Your Highness, you see, this is the best quality charcoal! It is hard, black and shiny, and it burns hot and fierce. You can touch two pieces to make sure they are crisp and delicious!"

Charcoal is related to military and national affairs, so Shulot directly reached out and took two pieces, bumped them against his ears and listened. His palms were quickly blackened, and the familiar smell of charcoal was choked on his nose, and there was indeed a crisp bang in his ears.

The sound. Long-lasting memories appeared in the young man's mind, and he nodded slightly.

Immediately, Xiulote took two steps forward, and under the surprised eyes of the charcoal workers, he squatted in front of the charcoal pile and looked through it to check the shape of the mud pile. Then he took out two more pieces of charcoal from the bottom, and his tentacles softened slightly.

There was no black light on the outside. The face of the leader of the charcoal workers changed instantly. The young man put the charcoal to his ears and bumped it. The sound was muffled, indicating that the heat was insufficient and the quality was poor.

Shulot took a step back and stood in front of the charcoal pile, silent. The leader of the charcoal workers stood beside him and carefully explained the specific process of burning charcoal.

Obviously, the charcoal-making process used by the charcoal workers is the most primitive pile-burning method, which is about the same technical level as the tribes in the black African continent. First, insert a wooden stake in the middle of the open space as a pillar, then pile upright firewood on both sides, and then

Wrap leaves on the firewood pile, cover it with wet mud, and leave vents and fire openings.

When the top fire port is ignited, oxygen flows in from the bottom vent, and the flame extends from the top downwards and burns against the oxygen flow. The charcoal workers use the amount of ventilation to control the size of the flame, and seal the vents where they are burned.

, after blocking the vents, block the fire vent until you see green smoke coming out, then you can cool down and wait to turn on the "furnace".

After listening, Shulot simulated the specific combustion process in his mind. Generally speaking, the charcoal near the fire mouth should be over-burned, the middle quality is the best, and the charcoal at the vent should be under-burned.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After a moment, he looked at the worried leader of the charcoal workers and asked calmly.

"What is the yield of this pile of charcoal? Can high-quality charcoal produce half of it?"

The leader of the charcoal workers was slightly startled. Then, he quickly ordered the craftsmen to weigh the weight on a simple large scale. He glanced left and right, and while His Highness was not paying attention, he kicked a few stones into the charcoal on the large scale. Another moment passed.

After meeting, the leader of the charcoal workers respectfully reported back.

"Your Highness, eighty parts of wood can produce fifteen parts of charcoal."

Shulot calculated mentally for a few seconds, divided 15 by 80, which was about 19%, which is a ridiculous hexadecimal system. This efficiency was much lower than what he remembered.

"Is it dry wood?" the boy asked.

The leader of the charcoal workers nodded, of course it was dry wood, and only a little bit of raw wood was burned.

"How much high-quality charcoal did you pick out just now?"

In Xiulote's view, only high-quality charcoal is suitable for making gunpowder charcoal powder. It is difficult to prepare nitrate, the output is limited, and the purity cannot be guaranteed. If the quality of charcoal powder is not good enough, the power of gunpowder can be imagined.

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"Five... no, seven." The leader of the charcoal workers gritted his teeth and said.

Well, five copies. Xiulote nodded clearly, the first number was believable. Then he shook his head again, 6-7% of the qualified charcoal output. The efficiency of this charcoal burning is too low, it must be carried out

Technical Improvement.

The young man once again recalled the familiar memories. His thoughts flew back to the distant times and the future of the Celestial Empire. Building kilns to burn charcoal and building kilns to burn bricks, these two kinds of local architecture are lost memories in the countryside, but in his eyes

A glimpse in a childhood fantasy.

Hulott fell into long and difficult thinking. Bertard had already prepared and sent charcoal pencils and wide wooden boards that were made from local materials. Etalik looked delighted and sat down cross-legged on the hot mud pile, paying attention.

With His Highness’s “divine revelation”.

Shulot was not distracted. He first drew an enlarged version of the earthen kiln, doubled the size, and changed the shape to a square. Finally, it was four meters long, two meters wide and two meters high. The boy roughly calculated, 16 cubic meters.

meters, it is estimated that 2-3 tons of dry wood can be put in. Thinking of the difficulty of logging in this era, he shook his head again and changed the dimensions to 2 meters in length, 1 meter in width and height, to test the specific design effect.

Next, with reference to vents and fire outlets, Shurot recalled two key words: flue and fire channel.

The young man first drew a fire channel on each of the length and width of the kiln bottom, and then painted away another one, leaving only a two-meter-long fire channel along the center of the long surface. The fire channel connects the two ends and has a similar function to the fire port for insertion.

Dry firewood is used to ignite the fire, thereby burning the wood into charcoal.

He was not sure about the width and height of the fire channel. He just estimated that the width and height of two palms were marked. Then, he thought about it again. The flame should be from the ignition point, from bottom to top. The ignition port of the fire channel was

It should be lower than the end. How much lower? Well, it should also be two palms.

Next is the flue. According to the young man's analysis, the flue should be opened in the surrounding soil. The upper end of the flame has the highest temperature. The wood in the kiln is carbonized from top to bottom, so the flue is reversed, from bottom to top.

The opening is at the bottom, and the width is only about two palms wide. Then, the smoke goes up from the bottom along the flue in the outer wall, and spreads out from the top smoke hole. It is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, making it easier to seal the hole at the top. Well, the smoke hole is only

The size of a palm.

At this point, Shulot's talent and learning had been exhausted. He thought seriously for a moment, and found that there was no problem with the logic.

Continuing to think about it, he marked several more pictures of smoke: if there is thick smoke, add firewood and add fire; if there is a lot of green smoke, seal the mouth to seal the fire; if it is full of green smoke, turn off the heat and let it cool down. In fact, these are the views that the leader of the charcoal workers just told him.

The secret of smoking. Finally, the boy drew the shape of vertical firewood. How to place it was left to the charcoal workers to figure out on their own.

The warriors and craftsmen waited quietly around in silence. After a long while, His Highness completed the divine revelation.

Shulot waved to the leader of the charcoal workers, who smiled and stepped forward respectfully.

"your name?"

"Your Highness, I am Koskachi from the capital city in the lake."

Koscach's face was covered with dust, and his age could not be seen. He could only see a bright smile. His voice was low and hoarse, probably caused by being smoked for a long time.

Xiuluo nodded. He was a charcoal worker who was ignored by the alliance. He was from an ordinary civilian background. He was flexible in doing things and was proficient in numbers.

"Koskachi, I give you a military mission!"

Hearing that it was a military mission, Koscach trembled all over. He lowered his head to cover himself, his face turned bitter.

"Look up and look here! This board is the new charcoal kiln I designed. You have to build it according to the shape above, paying special attention to the fire channel and flue! As for the specific size and details, I will leave them to you to explore...

"

Hearing this, Koscage's eyelids twitched. His Highness had only been here for an hour, but he already gave out a new design! He had been working on it for twenty years, and he didn't dare to change it at will!

Shulot looked at the expression of the leader of the charcoal workers and felt that the other party did not believe in the blueprints he had worked so hard to design. In this case... the young man spoke majestically again.

"Koskaci, the alliance requires you to build five new charcoal kilns within a week, and then ignite them one after another. The general shape remains unchanged, and you can adjust the technical details. No matter what method you use, within a month, your charcoal production rate will be

Must reach 40% of dry wood! Excellent charcoal must account for half!

If you meet the standard, I will promote you to a senior craftsman of the Divine Enlightenment Institute. If you exceed the standard, you will be a master craftsman! If you are short of one piece of wood, you will be whipped once. If it is only 30%, you can kill yourself!"

In Xiulote's opinion, this standard is not strict. The charcoal production rate of charcoal kiln-dried wood in later generations can reach 50% and 75%. At this time, the charcoal workers of the Ming Dynasty can also stabilize at around 50%. They have made their own breakthroughs.

The design guidance of the times, what the leader of the carbon workers needs to implement is just detailed operations.

Hearing His Highness's strict order, Koscak's eyelids trembled violently at first, and then his whole body began to tremble. However, His Highness ruthlessly thrust the wooden board with the mission objectives into his hands, and then coldly turned around and left, heading to the adjacent area.

brick kiln workshop,

The old warrior Etalik showed Koscak a fierce and deep smile. Then, he stretched out his strong hand, patted the charcoal leader's shoulder, then gently brushed the other's fragile neck, and continued to leave with a smile.

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Green smoke was still rising from the top of the mud pile, but Koskaci felt cold all over. The skin on his neck was scraped by the calluses of his fingers, and goosebumps suddenly appeared all over his body.

The leader of the charcoal workers trembled slightly and stood still, like a crow frightened by a kestrel. It was not until His Highness and the warriors disappeared that he suddenly turned around and jumped up, shouting hoarsely at the surrounding charcoal workers.

"You lazy blackbirds! From today on, you will all sleep on the kiln! If you cannot achieve His Highness's goal within a month, I will pluck your bird feathers first!"

In the sky, a clever crow was attracted by the plume of smoke on the ground. It came happily and circled over the heads of the lively charcoal workers, chirping like a chorus.


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