Wu Fanghai was very patient, explained in detail, and pointed out the key points, intending to cultivate Zhang Hao's war wisdom.
Zhang Hao also studied seriously. He understood that the fighting methods of the spiritual world, especially the fighting methods of large legions, were by no means simple.
Wu Fanghai gave Zhang Hao the most intuitive understanding of the Eastern Expedition by taking several classic wars as examples:
But he said that the Kingdom of Taihua and the Kingdom of Canglan were very cheap.
why?
Because they never take the initiative!
As long as they control the trade routes, they can drain the marrow of the Western countries little by little, and perhaps the vast resources; when the fruits are ripe, they will obtain the vast land of the West without any effort.
Therefore, they set up defenses along the Daxue Mountains and Qiufeng Ridge. After thousands of years, this line of defense has been really airtight. Various formations and outposts are endless.
The two countries also encourage non-governmental forces to go to the Daxue Mountains and Qiufeng Mountains for training when cultivating future generations.
Many people, including large and small families, also migrated to farm, breed, mine, etc. at the foot of the mountain.
Under various arrangements, there are almost no loopholes along the border.
Western countries also sent their masters for sneak attacks. As a result, after thousands of masters crossed the mountains, they were surrounded by tens of thousands of troops from the other side. Several sneak attacks resulted in heavy losses, and they had to give up the sneak attack in the end.
Wu Fanghai sighed: "In war, one thing is eternal, and that is: use your own strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses!
So, what are our strengths in the West?
It’s a large amount of black iron resources!
We can use black iron to create huge and sharp war weapons. These war weapons only require those in the Qi Refining Stage and Foundation Establishment Stage to control them; but they can cause fatal damage to the Golden Core Stage and even the Nascent Soul Stage."
"So, we must launch a large army operation.
Use our masters to hold off the enemy's masters and create opportunities for a large number of grassroots soldiers to win.
This is our way of war.
This is also the most effective way of warfare that Western countries have summarized over thousands of years.
Victory needs to be created by grassroots soldiers."
…………
Zhang Hao stood in front of the map all night, and it was not until dawn that he collected the map and returned it to Wu Fanghai.
Such military maps are state secrets.
After sending Wu Fanghai away, Zhang Shengde finally breathed a sigh of relief, but held Zhang Hao's shoulders tightly, "You are crazy. Five thousand tons of 95% black iron have to be delivered to the imperial capital in two months. This...
…
Also, we have promised others a lot of black iron before, including thousands of tons!"
Zhang Hao smiled easily: "Dad, if I say that we can produce 10,000 tons of black iron within two months, will you believe me?"
"real?"
"Of course! But we need sufficient raw materials. Just what the city lord provides may not be enough."
"No problem. We can obtain raw materials through the Black Iron Guild."
Zhang Hao nodded, thought for a while and said: "Dad, the guild has one function, which is technical exchange. I think we should strike while the iron is hot and conduct a technical exchange to consolidate the Zhang family's position."
Zhang Shengde thought thoughtfully: "Then what technology are we going to disclose this time?"
"Ore crushing, spiritual stone crushing, water separation and other production "means". The real technology is not disclosed. For example, blowing air into the molten iron cannot be said."
Zhang Shengde thought for a moment, nodded in agreement, and handed Zhang Hao the responsibility.
With the experience of making water forging public last time, Zhang Hao first conducted the test himself this time to find out everything clearly.
…………
At dawn, City Lord Liu Jingming was awakened. The emperor's oral instructions came as expected: fully cooperate with the Zhang family in smelting black iron, and supervise the Zhang family. If there is any misbehavior, they can be dealt with easily.
…………
In the early morning, the door of the Black Iron Guild was closed tightly, and those who came to purchase Black Iron were met with rejection.
Speaking of which, since the Black Iron Guild was established, although the price has increased slightly, the quality has also improved a lot, and the market has returned to order. For the time being, it seems that everyone is happy.
Moreover, the price of black iron in Ninghe County is still the lowest.
The quality is good, the price is low, and there is an endless stream of buyers.
But this morning, the door of Xuantie Guild was closed, with more than a dozen young masters in the foundation building stage guarding the door.
Only members of the Black Iron Guild can enter; the rest are not allowed to enter.
"What's wrong?" Liu Xian from Yunying Trading Company looked dumbfounded.
Some time ago, the black iron purchased on credit from the Zhang family was almost exhausted and I was ready to restock, but I was turned down.
"I'm sorry, senior, please come back tomorrow, please. We have some internal matters today that need to be rectified. I'm sorry for the inconvenience caused to senior." Gongsun Xuan, the young master of Longyun Trading Company, came up and apologized.
"What is it?"
"Our internal affairs." Gongsun Xuan continued to accompany him with a smile.
"Okay." Liu Xian left helplessly.
At this time, inside the Black Iron Guild and inside the barrier, there were crowds of people.
Today, the Zhang family will hold the first technical exchange meeting since the establishment of the Black Iron Guild; all members of the Black Iron Guild can participate. The only thing is that this is an internal technical exchange meeting, and secrets must not be leaked to the outside world, and they have sworn to do so.
"Quiet." On the high platform, Liang Siguan, as the organization minister, shouted, "Let us welcome the representative of the Zhang family, Zhang Hao!
Today, Zhang Hao will show us some of the Zhang family’s black iron smelting technology.”
Everyone applauded, and Zhang Hao walked up to the high platform step by step, returned the gift with his hands, and started talking:
"One of the purposes of establishing the Dark Iron Guild is to promote the advancement of Dark Iron technology. If technology wants to advance, it must communicate.
So today, I will show you the Zhang family’s latest black iron smelting method.
For example, how to smelt dark iron with a purity of over 60% without forging!"
Whoosh!
Everyone’s eyes suddenly brightened!
Although water forging is good, it still requires forging, and the craftsmen are also very hard-working.
In fact, everyone has a lot of speculation about the Zhang family's black iron smelting technology.
Unexpectedly, the Zhang family would take the initiative to make it public.
Zhang Hao was very straightforward in his work. After saying that, he smiled again and said: "Then, please keep an eye on it."
The craftsmen of the Zhang family came on stage, and some small smelting equipment was quickly set up. The smelting furnace is only one foot in size - or it may be more appropriately called a large crucible.
The craftsmen worked in an orderly manner, and Zhang Hao was responsible for explaining.
"We believe that there are three main sources of impurities in black iron. In addition to the 'iron' that everyone usually thinks of, there are also impurities from the ore itself, as well as impurities from inferior crushed spirit stones.
Then, if we can find a way to remove the impurities in the iron ore and the impurities in the crushed spirit stone in advance, we can directly obtain high-purity crude iron."
"First, we select the highest quality ore."
"Secondly, the iron ore needs to be crushed, preferably into fine powder."
"Third, water separation, or flotation. During water separation, stir vigorously. The stone powder is lighter and will be taken away by the water flow; what is left behind is called 'iron ore fine powder', or directly
Just call it 'iron powder'.
Pay attention to the degree of attention and the amount of water during the mixing process.
The mixing is too light and the amount of water is too small, so the effect is not ideal.
If the mixing is too heavy and the amount of water is too much, unnecessary losses may occur.”
"After water selection, it needs to be settled and dried."
"Next is the spirit stone. In order to smelt high-purity black iron, we use spirit stones instead of non-inferior broken spirit stones. The spirit stones must also be crushed."
"The last thing is charcoal. Normal charcoal contains higher impurities. We use bamboo charcoal instead of charcoal."
"Then there's the flame. We replaced the earth fire with the flame triggered by the spirit stone."
After saying that, Zhang Hao stood aside while the craftsmen were busy nervously.
It was quiet down below, everyone's eyes were bright and their breathing slowed down, for fear of disturbing the craftsmen.
For a moment, the only sounds inside the barrier were the busy sounds of craftsmen.
Unconsciously, it took more than two hours, and the boiling molten iron was poured into thin iron sheets. After cooling, they were distributed to everyone.
Suddenly there was an exclamation of surprise.
"61%!"
“It turns out that 60% of crude iron is actually directly smelted!”
Zhang Hao stood on the high platform, looking down at everyone from this perspective for the second time.