Just when Gao Xiuer and the others were cheering for finding the treasure left behind by the Nanchen Dynasty, Liu Ziqiu also began to smelt steel.
Furnaces made of granite are neatly arranged outside Weiding City. Coal from the north bank of Xihai Lake and iron ore from near the Golmud River are continuously transported over and piled on both sides of the furnace like hills. Under the command of He Chou
, Xianbei prisoners of war knocked coal and iron ore
into small pieces, and then spread them layer by layer on the bottom of the furnace, and ignited them with wood. After burning for four hours, the fire gradually extinguished, and some black lumps appeared in the furnace. He has organized this iron-making process.
The Xianbei prisoners of war tried it dozens of times and are now very proficient.
He Chou pointed to these black lumps and explained: "My lord, these things are called lumps of smelting iron. After they are hammered while hot, they will turn into pig iron."
While talking, some Xianbei prisoners of war had already fished out these black lumps and hammered them repeatedly. Soon, the black lumps gradually formed, and there were many things like cinders and slag scattered around. Liu Ziqiu nodded.
, said: "No wonder there is a saying called striking while the iron is hot. It turns out that this is where it comes from."
He Chou's eyes suddenly lit up and he said: "My lord, coal is much more powerful than charcoal. These pieces of iron can almost be used directly as pig iron."
But Liu Ziqiu was very dissatisfied, shook his head and said: "The pig iron Liu gave to Tuoba is much better than this."
He Chou smiled and said: "What the lord sent over should be wrought iron. The lump of iron is smelted and repeatedly forged and hammered several times, and it becomes wrought iron. My subordinates looked at these lumps of iron and found that some of them are better than wrought iron."
, it’s even close to that of iron, the firepower of coal is indeed much stronger than that of charcoal.”
In modern industrial production, there are a series of mature processes such as reduction, sintering, and slag removal to extract iron from iron ore. But in ancient times, there were no blast furnaces, no coke, and no blast. Ironmaking was an extremely time-consuming process.
It is a laborious process with low yield and a lot of impurities. However, through the iron-making process, we can see the ancient people's indomitable spirit of not being afraid of hardships, which is really admirable.
For half a month, He Chou lived and ate on the construction site with these Xianbei prisoners of war. He personally lit the fire and pounded the iron blocks. After a lot of sweat and hardship, he finally got a satisfactory iron block today. Naturally, his heart was filled with joy.
He couldn't hide his excitement. Liu Ziqiu was also very satisfied with He Chou's performance. Although He Chou liked to flatter others, he was still worthy of praise for his serious work. However, whether it was smelting iron, pig iron or wrought iron, Liu Ziqiu didn't want to do it the most.
Wanted.
"Master He, thank you for your hard work. Liu will mark your merits." Liu Ziqiu encouraged He Chou and asked, "How can this thing be made into iron?"
Both pig iron and wrought iron are brittle and easy to break. In Liu Ziqiu's eyes, only steel can be truly valuable if it is made into steel, which is what we call iron in this era.
He Chou was confident about this. He stroked his beard and said with a smile, "There is no other way but to refine your ears over time."
But after hard work, it is easier said than done. Even though the firepower of coal is much stronger than that of charcoal, Liu Ziqiu assigned all 1,500 strong Xianbei prisoners of war to He Chou, who worked hard every day.
The output was still only over two hundred kilograms. In He Chou's eyes, this output was already quite remarkable, and the quality of the iron was far higher than before, but Liu Ziqiu was still not satisfied.
In order to obtain more high-quality iron and steel as soon as possible, Liu Ziqiu decided to implement the plan to form a standing army ahead of schedule.
Because a lot of communication and preparation work was done in the early stage, the process of establishing a standing army did not encounter too many obstacles.
Those who were most opposed to the formation of a standing army were definitely the leaders of the tribes. Liu Ziqiu offered them an exchange that they could not refuse. For every man from the tribe, Liu Ziqiu provided them with one hundred kilograms of pig iron. Since the Han Dynasty, iron had been under the control of the imperial court.
An important tool for the surrounding nomadic tribes. When these nomadic tribes invaded the Han territory, the first thing they plundered was not gold and silver, nor slaves, but iron pots. This shows the unique status of iron.
On the other hand, Liu Ziqiu also conducted careful research on the selection of soldiers. Those selected into the standing army were all young men aged 17 or 18 who had not yet married, and they could not be the only son in the family. The more brothers and sisters, the more priority they would receive.
If there are many brothers and sisters, one less person will have minimal impact on herding. At the same time, it can also reduce the burden on the family and make it easier for herders to accept it.
Half a month later, five thousand Xihai standing troops from various tribes gathered outside Weiding City. The first task Liu Ziqiu gave them was not to train or fight, but to follow He Chou to smelt iron. This one
Over the past month, in addition to the fifteen hundred Xianbei prisoners of war, Liu Zi
Qiu also mobilized more than 5,000 Xihai people to participate in excavation and transportation of iron ore and coal. The iron ore and coal outside Weiding City were piled up into hills, and ironmaking had become the biggest bottleneck. Liu Ziqiu established a standing army in advance,
The purpose is to concentrate manpower and solve this bottleneck problem.
…
Although Liu Ziqiu already had a clear blueprint for his future plans, he knew that haste makes waste. In the next three months, Liu Ziqiu did not make any big moves, but just wandered around in various places like the last time.
Among the tribes, and with the tribe leaders and elders, they drank and chatted happily. However, with the above
The difference this time was that Liu Ziqiu wanted to go much deeper this time. He not only deepened his relationship with these tribal leaders, but also got down and carefully understood the living conditions of each tribe. Since he promised to let the people of each tribe live a good life,
On that day, Liu Ziqiu planned to conduct a thorough investigation.
Because he really wanted to do something practical, the effect of traveling around Xihai County this time was much better than the last time, and more than a dozen small tribes were willing to merge into the Xihai tribe. The grassland by the Xihai Lake originally had a lot of free time, and gradually became lively.
When you get up, the scenery of wind-blown grass and cows and sheep no longer only exists in poems and paintings, but can be seen everywhere. As the Xihai tribe grew stronger, the Dangxiang and Tiele tribes also became nervous and took the initiative to make friends with Liu Ziqiu.
Today, Liu Ziqiu came to attend an appointment at Tuoba Mumi's invitation. This was the fourth time he came to Tuoba tribe's village, and he was already familiar with the roads. At the entrance of the village, two colorful "big cats" roared and rushed over.
The leopard cub grows very fast. In half a year, it has grown to over one meter long. It stands majestic and imposing.
Tuoba Qianyu chased after him and said with surprise on his face: "Brother, you are here. No wonder these two little guys were so good at first, but suddenly they became restless."
Two little leopards had already run up to Liu Ziqiu, their round furry heads rubbing against Liu Ziqiu's body. Although it would take a long time to see each other again, these two little leopards could clearly remember Liu Ziqiu's scent, quite a bit.
Liu Ziqiu was also quite surprised by the aura.
"Qianyu, the prince invited me here, what's the important thing?" Liu Ziqiu gently patted the heads of the two little leopards and walked towards Tuoba Qianyu. The two little leopards shook their heads and swung their tails, following him closely.
behind.
Tuoba Qianyu didn't answer, but pouted and said in anger: "I have worked hard to raise these two little guys for so long, but I have never seen them so affectionate."
In fact, in the village, these two little leopards only listened to Tuoba Qianyu's words. They would not eat beef and mutton when others fed them. But as soon as Liu Ziqiu came, these two little leopards would definitely circle around Liu Ziqiu, but they
It's also amazing.
"Why are you so angry with two beasts?" Liu Ziqiu laughed, pinched the bridge of Tuoba Qianyu's nose, and said, "Tell me, what's going on?"
The two leopards were obviously dissatisfied with Liu Ziqiu's contempt and roared lowly.
When Tuoba Qianyu saw this, she couldn't stop laughing, and after a while she said: "My father invited you here mainly to discuss our marriage."
Although Dangxiang's daughter is enthusiastic and generous, Tuoba Qianyu's face became hot when she talked about her life-long events. She lowered her head and said, "Father also wants to organize a Dangxiang alliance, and I want you to host it."
Liu Ziqiu knew very well that unifying the eight branches of the party was Tuoba Muya's lifelong wish. It was a lie that he invited him to discuss the marriage, but it was true that he wanted to gain his support.
Although the Fine Feng Department, which was once evenly matched with the Tuoba Department, has been severely weakened, Liu Ziqiu's influence among the eight parties is increasing day by day. Without Liu Ziqiu's support, Tuoba Mumi's desire to unify the party would not be possible. Tuoba Mimi's desire to unify the party would be impossible.
Mu Mi was a smart man, and he felt this keenly. Because of this, his attitude made a 180-degree turn, and he no longer stopped his daughter from interacting with Liu Ziqiu, and even wished they could get married now.
Although Liu Ziqiu could see through Tuoba Mumi's thoughts, he still smiled and said: "No problem, I will definitely come when the time comes. I will try my best to persuade the leaders of each department to support your father."
"Brother, you are so kind." Tuoba Qianyu was originally worried that Liu Ziqiu would find excuses to evade, but now Liu Ziqiu couldn't help but agree to host the party meeting, and also offered to persuade the leaders of various ministries. A stone in her heart finally fell to the ground, and she endured
He kept standing on tiptoes, kissed Liu Ziqiu on the face, and then ran quickly into the village.
Liu Ziqiu chuckled and walked towards the village. What he said was very clear, that is, he supported Tuoba Mumi to unify the party. Tuoba Qianyu could naturally hear that he was anxious to report the good news to Tuoba Mumi.
The reason why Liu Ziqiu changed his mind was of course due to Tuoba Qianyu, and more importantly, he
Today's horizons are much broader than before. Even if the eight parties are unified, their strength cannot compete with the Xihai Clan. Here, the Xihai Clan is still the well-deserved boss. What's more, Liu Ziqiu's ambitions in the world are not limited to the West Sea Wasteland.
Whether the parties are unified or not is not that important.
In any case, with Liu Ziqiu's verbal promise, Tuoba Mimi's wish to unify the eight departments of the party was at least half realized. He was naturally in a good mood. He drank happily at the banquet and got extremely drunk. Liu Ziqiu had the same symptoms as the last time he was drunk.
through
Li, this time he was more careful, and secretly used his internal strength to offset most of the drunkenness. But Tuoba Yuanju, who was almost half drunk, put his hand on Liu Ziqiu's shoulder and said: "When it comes to heroes in the world, Master Liu is one of them. I