Although Ben Heqian didn't know why, he still followed Shen Bing's request meticulously... There was no way, who made Shen Bing the boss? Whatever the boss said would be done.
A week later, Ben felt something different after the first batch of molten iron came out... People like Ben, who have been smelting iron for a long time, can feel the change in quality by just looking at the flow rate, consistency and solidification time of the molten iron, even if it is extremely A tiny bit.
After the iron ingot solidified, Ben came forward and struck it with a hammer. At first, it was only with a small force, but then it became stronger and stronger, and at the same time, he became more and more frightened.
If it were an iron ingot from the past, it would have cracked and broken into pieces by now, but the iron ingot in front of me was only slightly deformed even after being hit several times harder.
The other blacksmiths heard the knocking and realized something was wrong, so they gathered around.
Then several more people tried to knock on it, and finally the iron ingot was cracked with the strength of nine cows and two tigers.
All the blacksmiths, including Ben and Qian, cheered excitedly. Ben even burst into tears and said to Shen Bing excitedly:
"The general, his subordinates and others have been seeking this kind of iron-smelting art all their lives, but they have never been able to get in."
"I don't think the general simply modified the blast furnace to produce this iron. I am really impressed by my subordinates."
Qianye raised his hands and sighed:
"No wonder the general wants us to keep the secret strictly."
"Once this iron is produced, weapons and even armor can be made from it. It is not difficult to imagine that it will be much stronger than bronze."
"This method cannot be known to outsiders."
I got to the point.
Once iron makes up for its shortcomings of being brittle and easy to break, bronze will be completely eliminated because of its simple manufacturing process, cheapness and strength, so the importance of iron will naturally increase rapidly.
In fact, this is not a sophisticated technology.
If it were just to reduce the carbon content in iron, blacksmiths during the Warring States Period could already do it.
The iron of this era was divided into two types: pig iron and wrought iron.
Pig iron is hard, wear-resistant, and has good castability, but it is brittle and easy to break. This is a characteristic when the carbon content exceeds 2%.
Wrought iron is soft, has good moldability, and can be drawn, but it is not hard enough because the carbon content is less than 0.05%.
The method of making wrought iron is to reheat pig iron to 1500 degrees to reach the melting point of iron, and then use tools to stir continuously.
In this way, the carbon in the molten iron will be oxidized and discharged due to contact with air, and finally wrought iron will be obtained... This process is like boiling pig iron, hence the name "wrought iron".
The carbon content of steel is between pig iron and wrought iron, so it has the characteristics of both pig iron and wrought iron.
The iron smelting method of the Han Dynasty used by Shen Bing was to further reduce the carbon content of pig iron while making it possible, so its characteristics were closer to those of steel, thus meeting the requirements for making equipment and weapons.
Of course, it only "meets the requirements".
If you want to get higher quality weapons, you have to make them not from iron but from steel.
However, this iron is completely sufficient. Especially at this time, the equipment all over the world is made of bronze, and iron equipment is enough to give it an advantage.
Then he asked:
"General, with this iron queen, what should we make first?"
This is a problem.
Is it an iron sword, a shield, or a spear and armor?
Equipment must come on a first-come, first-served basis. After all, the production of iron was limited in the beginning and time was limited, so it was impossible to make them all in one go.
After thinking for a while, Shen Bing replied:
"Crossbow, and arrows."
After hearing this, I couldn't help but wonder:
"Crossbow? Made of iron?"
This is strange, crossbows are usually made of wood or bamboo.
It was impossible to make an iron crossbow before. It was difficult to make a thin crossbow arm from iron, and it was also brittle and easy to break. It might break after just a few uses.
But now it is possible to use iron to make crossbows...
However, Shen Bing had no such idea for the time being.
He shook his head and said:
"It's not about making a crossbow, but adding an iron ring to the front of the crossbow arm for stepping on."
Ben didn't quite understand what he heard, so he just said "oh" and nodded in approval:
"The general is wise, this method is very good!"
At this time, the Qin army... It should be said that the crossbows of various countries in the Central Plains were divided into two types: arm-opening crossbows and kick-opening crossbows.
Both have advantages and disadvantages.
As the name suggests, the arm-opening crossbow is fired by hand, and its range is not much farther than that of a bow and arrow. Sometimes, the range is even worse than that of a bow and arrow because the crossbow arrows are short and have flat trajectories.
Its advantages are that it is convenient to open the crossbow, has a fast rate of fire, and can be completed by hand. In order to make up for the lack of riding skills, the Central Plains cavalry preferred to use arm-opening crossbows.
Infantrymen mostly use crossbows.
Because for infantry, if you choose an arm-loaded crossbow, it is better to choose a bow and arrow... The bow and arrow shooting speed are better than the arm-loaded crossbow, and the range is not far different.
But there is another fatal flaw in the crossbow: you have to sit on the ground to open the crossbow.
The standard way to open a crossbow is to sit on the ground and use your legs to press the concave part of the crossbow, then pull the string with both hands and use waist strength to open the crossbow and lock it on the crossbow machine.
You have to do this again after each launch, so the crossbowman usually sits on the ground to operate.
There is no problem in doing this when defending a city, but if you are attacking a city, it will cause big problems in field battles.
Especially in field battles... you have to sit on the ground and fire a crossbow. What if you want to win the battle and chase the enemy?
Or what should I do if I lose the battle and want to retreat while fighting?
It's impossible to suddenly sit on the ground and fire a crossbow while chasing an enemy or retreating, right?
This will not only slow down your own speed and block your comrades, but it will also slow down the entire army.
Therefore, the crossbowman has almost no combat effectiveness in action, and cannot maneuver when he wants to have combat effectiveness.
In addition, there are many other problems:
For example, if you sit down and have a low field of vision, you can easily be blocked by your own people. At the same time, the range is greatly reduced compared to standing.
Another example is that you have to sit down and fire a crossbow when it rains or snows... Although this can be overcome most of the time, it is fatal in some special circumstances. For example, in the extremely cold conditions of the north, if you sit on the ground, the armor will only I was afraid that I would be frozen and unable to get up.
But it would be different if a step ring could be added to the front end of the crossbow arm.
Because of this change, the crossbowman can operate while standing:
Step on the pedal ring with your feet, buckle the string with both hands, and also use your waist strength to straighten and stretch...the crossbow will open.
Therefore, almost all the shortcomings of the old style crossbow are avoided:
It is easy to maneuver, easy to shoot, and the rate of fire is also accelerated.
What's more important is that this modification is very convenient and also extends the life of the crossbow...
The modification is easy because you only need to add a circular or triangular iron ring to the front end of the crossbow arm.
When it comes to prolonging the life of a crossbow, the previous method of firing a crossbow required pedaling the foot on the crossbow. This caused uneven stress during the firing process, making the crossbow easily broken.
With an iron ring added to the front end, the main force when firing the crossbow is on the crossbow arm, and the force on the crossbow is uniform.
All in all, this small change greatly increases the power of the Qin Nu.