Chapter 179: Farming the Foundation of War

Author: Gongsun Wujiu

Chapter 179: Farming the Foundation of War

After hearing this, Pang Yi stopped asking further, and immediately gathered people to try to build the new type of iron-making furnace Zhang Yue said.

After half a month of trying, a brand new iron-making furnace that spanned a thousand years appeared in front of everyone.

The iron-making furnace in front of us is 4 feet high, with a bottom diameter of 1.5 feet. The middle part is thicker, and the furnace wall is three feet thick (Han ruler).

The outer skin of the blast furnace is built with gravel walls, and the inner wall is built with sandy refractory soil.

Zhang Yue patted the newly built iron-making furnace with satisfaction and asked, "Can I try it out?"

Pang Yidao, "Wei Zeng, I was just waiting for the prince to come here!"

Zhang Yue nodded, "Let's get started!"

Soon the craftsmen got into action, adding stone carbon to those who added stone carbon, and ores to those who added minerals.

Soon all the preparations were completed.

After everyone finished their preparations, they were all waiting for Zhang Yue's order.

Zhang Yue nodded with satisfaction and signaled to Pang Yi that he could start.

Pang Yi first performed some sacrificial activities according to ancient rituals, and then ordered to "light the fire"!

Soon the fire started burning in the stove.

In order to increase the temperature of the furnace, the craftsmen began to take turns to blow air continuously.

The technical difficulty of smelting pig iron is much higher than that of smelting copper because the melting point of iron is as high as 1535 degrees.

The limit that a general flame can reach is only 1200 degrees, and the temperature of ordinary wood or charcoal is only a few hundred degrees.

When people smelt iron, they must find ways to lower the melting point of iron.

After thousands of years of research, people have now discovered that adding gray stone to iron can make it easier to melt.

As long as the appropriate utensils and techniques are selected, liquid pig iron can be obtained.

Because this is the first time that stone carbon has been used to smelt iron ore.

No one, including Zhang Yue, is absolutely sure.

The craftsmen still follow the same steps as before.

In order to ensure the intensity of the flame, the blowing workers were divided into three groups and took turns to blow forward.

Pang Yi was watching the situation in the furnace carefully.

Time passed little by little, but no one showed any impatience.

Zhang Yue was also waiting patiently.

At this time, Wang Hu came over.

"Your Majesty, you should go back and rest first. It is not certain when the iron will be released..."

What Wang Hu said is indeed the normal state of ironmaking in this era.

When using charcoal to make iron, just making high-quality charcoal is a cumbersome task.

After the charcoal is made, the same goes for starting the furnace to make iron.

The same operation takes only a few hours to make a furnace of iron, but it takes several days if it is long.

Zhang Yue and his party could wait for a few hours, but it was not necessary for a few days.

After all, everyone has their own jobs and tasks.

If Zhang Yue doesn't leave, it will be difficult for others to leave.

Although Zhang Yue was sure that using stone carbon to make iron would be much faster, he didn't know exactly how long it would take.

After looking around and thinking for a moment, Zhang Yue stood up and prepared to inspect the construction of the fort first.

He had just walked not far when he suddenly heard Pang Yi's exclamation.

"The iron is out!"

When everyone heard the sound, they all looked back in surprise.

Sure enough, Pang Yi had already opened the furnace.

After a while, the red molten iron flowed out.

"The iron is out...the iron is out..."

Cheers resounded throughout the valley.

Zhang Yue also ran back excitedly.

Seeing Zhang Yue, Pang Yi said with tears in his eyes, "The Lord is out of trouble..."

Zhang Yue grabbed his shoulders with equal excitement.

After a long time, Pang Yi finally calmed down his excitement and began to handle the trained iron.

Because this was the first time that stone carbon was used to make iron, the best stone carbon was chosen.

The highest temperature at which this kind of stone carbon can be burned can reach 2,000 degrees, so what is produced in this furnace is not the white iron of the past.

Instead, it was directly smelted into molten iron. At this time, what was obtained after solidification was already cast iron.

"Cast iron! This is actually cast iron!"

This discovery surprised Pang Yi even more.

"Good...great good..."

Pang Yi shouted happily while leading the craftsmen to process the molten iron.

It was as if he transformed into a child in an instant.

Zhang Yue also had a smile on his face at this time.

Steel is one of the basic materials for the development of civilization.

With these irons, many problems encountered by the wheel platform can be easily solved.

To celebrate the iron production from the iron plant, Zhang Yue held a grand banquet in the mining area seven days later.

At this banquet, except for Yang You who was far away in the Altyn Mountains and Dong Fei who was already on his deathbed, all senior officials of the Han Army in the Western Regions were present.

Zhang Yue judged that the Western Region would have a relatively stable period in the future.

Zhang Yue has planned to use this rare period of peace to vigorously develop Luntai's industry and agriculture.

"Your Majesty, now that there is so much iron, it's time for the soldiers' equipment to be changed, right?"

At the banquet, Han Ye toasted Zhang Yue and asked.

Zhang Yue laughed and said, "You can ask Mr. Pang to decide how to use these irons..."

When Pang Yi heard this, he smiled and said, "There is no war now, so why panic? The iron must be used on plows and water trucks first..."

Zhao Guanghan stood up and said with a smile, "Geng Zhan! Geng Zhan! Mr. Pang can't be too kind to one another... Forget Han Ye... But the Huanshou Sword that I owe to someone should still be mended..."

Hearing this, Pang Yi glared at Zhao Guanghan, "When did you owe this kid a knife on his head?"

Zhao Guanghan laughed and said, "Pang Gong, you personally promised me the last time I was at Qiuci Palace..."

Pang Yi drank a glass of wine and said, "I don't remember someone, so I won't count!"

Zhao Guanghan said loudly, "Mr. Pang, you can't bully an honest person like this!"

Pang Yi pointed at Zhao Guanghan with a smile and laughed loudly, "Second and Third Son, is this boy an honest man?"

Han Ye and Zhao Yi yelled at the side, "This kid dares to call himself an honest person. Who doesn't know that he is the most cunning..."

"Hahaha"

Everyone laughed!

…

While everyone was celebrating the production of iron from the Yanqi Iron Mine, a group of people in Yuanqu City also conspired again.

"Is there any news from the inside?" asked a person who looked like a leader.

"It's coming. The target passes here every day... There are usually more than twenty personal guards around him..."

"According to the news from the inside, there are two people around the target who need to pay attention... The first is a Qiang named Zhang Chen, and the second is a person named Liu Yi..."

The commander asked, "Have you carefully inquired about these two people?"

A man in black said, "My subordinates have already investigated. Zhang Chen was originally the leader of a Qiang tribe, but he is a rare warrior among the Qiang people..."

"The more troublesome thing is Liu Yi. He is probably a member of the clan... and he is also a sharp archer..."

"Why do people from the clan come here?" The leader said with surprise.

The man in black said, "This subordinate has sent someone back to Chang'an... However, the journey is far away and I haven't received a reply yet..."

The commander pondered for a moment, "I can't wait any longer. So what about the clan? In this land of the Western Region, if you kill, you will kill..."

…
Chapter completed!