After the steel ingot cooled down, Old Liu Tou, who was beside Zhu Hongyu, hurried forward to take a closer look, and even reached out to touch the steel ingot which was still a little hot.
Looking at the large steel ingot in front of him, he was so shocked that he couldn't speak. His old face was full of shock.
When he turned around, he knelt down in front of Zhu Hongyu, kowtowed and said loudly.
"Long live Emperor Taizu, there is hope for the revival of the Ming Dynasty!"
Seeing this scene, many craftsmen and Liberation Army soldiers around him kowtowed to Zhu Hongyu.
"Long live Emperor Taizu, long live the general, there is hope for the revival of the Ming Dynasty!"
"Long live Emperor Taizu, long live the general, there is hope for the revival of the Ming Dynasty!"
"..."
Everyone knows how difficult it is to make steel, and where has anyone seen such a method of making steel?
In just half a day's work, such a large steel ingot was produced!
In their eyes, such a magical steel-making method is no different from magic.
Except for what Emperor Taizu taught Zhu Hongyu in his dream, they could not think of any other possibility.
Since Zhu Hongyu really has the blessing of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, it is no longer a lie to drive out the Tartars and restore China.
Maybe Zhu Hongyu can really take them back to the Central Plains!
Even the Spanish craftsmen imitated the Chinese, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to Zhu Hongyu, praising Zhu Hongyu and trying to flatter him.
These Spaniards know that their lives are controlled by the people in front of them. If they don't want to die, they can only please the people in front of them.
Amidst the cheers of long live, Zhu Hongyu was not carried away, but ordered everyone to do their own things.
Lao Liu Tou took his people to try to make weapons with the newly trained steel, while Hu Dinggao took his people to explore the situation around the river valley.
Zhao Erhu, who rose to prominence in the mine battle, took his men to the location of the open-pit coal mine and was responsible for mining coal and iron ore.
More people are working in the river valley, building shacks and cultivating fields.
Zhu Hongyu personally led people to start making cement. The limestone was crushed and ground into powder, mixed with clay, and then calcined.
After calcining, add the remaining slag from ironmaking!
In order to determine the best proportion of cement ingredients, Zhu Hongyu ordered people to try three materials with different proportions.
After the cement is produced, the solidification speed and strength of the cement will be tested, and finally the best formula will be selected.
Then mass production will begin!
…
The first building built in the river valley was a weapons workshop.
The Liberation Army now has no shortage of craftsmen or steel. The most important thing is to properly sort out the weapons and equipment of the Liberation Army.
You know, there are still many soldiers in the Liberation Army who have no weapons to use. In the battle at the mine, many soldiers went to the battlefield with a wooden stick.
And in that battle, many weapons were damaged and needed to be repaired by a blacksmith before they could continue to be used.
Therefore, even if the current Liberation Army has captured the mines from the First Battle, they are still very lacking in weapons.
Not having enough weapons will greatly affect the combat effectiveness of the Liberation Army!
Lao Liutou was naked from the waist up, showing off his strong muscles.
He swung a hammer vigorously, large drops of sweat dripped from the tips of his hair, and a triangular spearhead was gradually hammered into shape.
Quenching, beating, quenching, beating again...
Old Liu Tou kept repeating the above process.
Bah!
This is the sound of the hot spearhead being cooled in the cold water, and white smoke rising from the bucket.
Old Liu Tou fished the spearhead out of the bucket and began to polish it.
Zhu Hongyu just watched his movements quietly. After a while, the triangular spearhead was polished until it shined brightly, and the sharp spear tip shone with cold light.
Old Liu Tou handed the spearhead to Zhu Hongyu with a proud look on his face, and then said.
"General, do you think this three-sided spearhead is suitable for use?"
"The old man has never struck a three-edged spearhead before. Today is the first time for a big girl to get on the sedan chair!"
Zhu Hongyu took the spearhead, looked at it carefully, nodded and gave a very pertinent evaluation.
"Not bad, really good!"
Old Liu Tou then spoke.
"This spearhead is made of fine steel!"
"If Master Longwu and his friends had had so much good steel to make weapons back then, they wouldn't have been unable to defeat Jianyi's Manchu heavy infantry."
"If the three-edged spearhead made of this good steel is pierced into a human body, it will be useless even if it penetrates the armor. One stab will create a bloody hole, and the bleeding may not be stopped!"
The Qing Dynasty did not rely on cavalry and archery to conquer the world, but their Manchu heavy footwork.
The Qing army's Eight Banners battles usually involved riding horses and then dismounting and fighting on foot after arriving at the battlefield.
The average person has double armor, and there are even a small number of elite white-armored soldiers who can fight in triple armor.
The Manchurian heavy infantry of the Qing army, everyone wearing armor, faced off against the beggar soldiers of the Ming army guard who were almost unarmored. It was a one-sided crushing.
Facing the heavy armor of the Qing army, the Ming army was unable to break through the armor at all, and often suffered dozens of casualties before it could defeat a Qing army's heavy armored infantry.
The Qing army relied on this advantage in armament to defeat the Ming army with fewer enemies and more enemies again and again!
Old Liu Tou couldn't help but sigh, if the Ming army had so much good steel to make weapons, the Qing army would not be so arrogant in Manchuria.
As for why the Qing army, which only occupied a corner of Liaodong, was able to arm the entire army and crush the rich Ming Dynasty in terms of weapons and equipment?
I can only say that Ming Dynasty has its own national conditions!
Even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's steel production was still the highest in the world. I dare not say that it accounted for 60 to 70% of the world's total. To be conservative, half of it was still there.
With such steel output, it would not be impossible for the imperial court to replace all the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops with heavy armor.
If the Ming army had hundreds of thousands of heavy infantry, could the Manchu heavy infantry of the Qing Dynasty still be so arrogant?
However, due to constant natural disasters, excessive taxes and land annexation, refugees spread everywhere and a large amount of tax revenue was lost financially.
In addition, there are various reasons such as official corruption and the military's empty pay and soldiers' blood.
The Ming Dynasty could not compare with the Manchu Qing Dynasty in terms of military equipment!
Zhu Hongyu pondered for a moment, and then proposed the concept of sleeve bayonet to Old Liu Tou.
"Can the three-sided spear point be used as a bayonet?"
"The bayonet is installed on the musket with a sleeve instead of being inserted into the barrel. In that case, the bayonet on the musket will not affect the normal firing. After a round of salvo fire, our army can immediately launch a bayonet charge.
.”
"In this way, the combat effectiveness of our Liberation Army can be greatly enhanced!"
"Can such a sleeve bayonet be made?"
Old Liu Tou had a thoughtful look on his face, and after thinking for a moment, he spoke.
"It's possible, but I'm afraid that the bayonet made will not be strong enough!"
Although the plug-in bayonet has various shortcomings, it is strong enough that as long as it is inserted into the barrel, there is generally no fear of falling out.
As for the sleeve-type bayonet, due to the insufficient strength of the steel, the connection part of the sleeve is likely to break when the bayonet is assembled.
If such a situation occurs on the battlefield, it will be quite dangerous!
Zhu Hongyu nodded and said.
"Then use the best steel for it!"
"Try to make a few sleeve-type bayonets and test them out!"
Lao Liutou nodded and agreed, saying that he would give it a try.