Chapter 1222 The Rolling Molten Iron, Waiting for the Bow
Chunjiang Water Nuan, a batch of transport catamaran boats departed from the port of Lithospermum City, loaded with pumpkins, sweet potatoes and corn. They quickly traveled down the river to the lower reaches of the Talsas River, the mouth of the river four hundred miles away. When they arrive at the small town at the mouth of the sea, the fleet will unload the grain, load it with boatloads of crude iron farm implements and tools, and then row and even pull fiber, back to Zicao City.
In many previous trips, they could only load back half a boatload of ironware, but this time, there was an extraordinarily large amount of ironware shipped from the Black Rock Mountain Iron Mine, fifty miles to the west! And they also met another navy fleet, bringing back thousands of mining slaves from the Purple Grass Legion that expedition to the Mixtec coast!
The sea was surging with waves, and thick black smoke was rising from the iron yard of Black Rock Mountain. In the eyes of the local Nantecos tribe, this already famous thunder mountain has become more and more like a lair of gods and monsters. This lair swallowed countless mine slaves and charcoal, and spit out countless black and hard iron materials, spurting out the power to change tribes and villages.
There are a thousand warriors from the kingdom guarding this place, and the mining slaves who work in the mines and the civilians who cut wood and burn charcoal add up to six or seven thousand people. These people all have heavy physical labor. The local tribe's food supply is limited, and a batch needs to be transported from Zicao City every month.
And when the dark smoke faded, in the iron yard at the foot of the sacred mountain, next to a large shaft furnace that was five meters high, a loud, ceremonial shout rang out!
"Blessed by the Lord God! Fire God をん! The iron is out!!"
The fire was so hot that people were sweating all over even though they were six or seven meters away. Blacksmith Otani Kengang was shirtless and holding a long iron fork in his hand. He was the first to pull out the slag from the bottom of the furnace. Four blacksmith apprentices also followed suit. Without these impeding slag, the melted molten iron flows blazingly and slowly into the iron storage pool below, glowing with a red and hot color, and it looks like magma!
"God bless you! More iron is coming out!"
Blacksmith Otani shouted again, and more blacksmith apprentices came over. The furnace temperature of this shaft furnace is still limited, and the temperature of the molten iron is only slightly higher than the melting point. When the rolling molten iron flows out for a while, it quickly solidifies from liquid to iron. At this time, the apprentices need to push away the red iron pieces to let more molten iron flow down!
"The Lord God bless you! The iron is gone! Worship the furnace!..."
Watching the molten iron in the large shaft furnace drain away, leaving only a pile of slag falling from the top of the furnace. Blacksmith Otani took a deep breath and let out one last cry. Then, he and all his apprentices bowed together and bowed respectfully towards the large shaft furnace that he had built with his own hands, but now had the "divine nature of making iron" and communicated with the "flame of the main god"!
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Seeing such a ceremony, the corners of Watanabe Masumi's lips twitched and he remained speechless. He pursed his lips and looked at the large shaft furnace for tapping iron, looking at the amount of tens of thousands or even 100,000 kilograms of iron tapped at a time, and his expression changed vaguely. This large furnace, which spared no effort in manpower and material resources, was just built, and was even sealed with volcanic ash. The volume is estimated to be more than ten cubic meters, and the amount of iron it can burn at one time is equivalent to the ten original small furnaces in the Jiaoren Kingdom!
And when the furnace successfully produced iron, blacksmith Otani's status instantly jumped up, becoming the most important iron smelting master in the iron field! It is said that this position is equivalent to that of the martial arts family in the Jiaoren Kingdom. It has all the power in the entire huge iron field. There are dozens or hundreds of apprentices who can command it! And he can use more civilian materials than a wealthy family in the countryside...
"God bless you! After worshiping the furnace, the iron has cooled down... We all took the iron materials to the small furnace for forging! The old apprentices went to break the stone with hammers, and the royal flag team who was building the road sent people to urge them twice. They are all in great demand...the new batch of apprentices will start with making simple farm tools...Don't stop!..."
After paying homage to the iron furnace, blacksmith Ogu shouted and drove a large number of apprentices to a row of small forging furnaces. Soon, the sound of hammering iron echoed throughout the entire iron yard.
The quality of the iron ore in Heiyan Mountain is not high, and the quality of the pig iron produced from the large shaft furnace is average. It takes a lot of effort to make fine iron that is useful and can be used as weapons. These new apprentices don't have the skills to master it at all. Therefore, the current task of the apprentices is to build various farm tools and tools that are used daily and have low requirements. They have to practice them for at least a year and a half before they can think about making weapons. And if an apprentice in a blacksmith shop in the Republic of China wants to learn the craft of fine iron weapons, he will have to work hard for at least five years!
"God bless you! Watanabe, there's too much iron coming out of the big shaft furnace, and I'm busy here! Are you going to help and follow the apprentice to forge iron, or go to the back and work on your bow-making work?..."
"God bless you! Well... I'd better go and bake the bamboo material! At least the front burnt bamboo must be baked before it can be used as bow material..."
Monk Soldier Watanabe smiled and said a few words. Blacksmith Otani nodded slightly and went to do his own business. He is repeatedly tracing his father's craftsmanship, trying to use the method of infiltrating charcoal to forge a sharp sword. And the purpose of this sword is naturally to be dedicated to the rumored, noble and sacred Lake Daimyo who flows with divine blood, to win the favor of His Majesty!
"Damn it! This guy Otani is just a small iron man from a small village, a low-level warrior who can't even use a long sword! But now he has gained power in the Jiaoren tribe with his blacksmithing skills, and he doesn't even look at me. ! You should know that at the beginning, he couldn’t even say a word to tease people, so he still relied on me to translate! … Be patient, be patient! …”
Monk Soldier Watanabe secretly gritted his teeth, still maintaining a smile on his face. He stayed in the iron yard because it was originally arranged by the knowledgeable Mickey to be Otani's translator so that he could build a real large shaft furnace for iron smelting! But now, this large furnace that produces nearly 100,000 kilograms of iron has been built and can produce iron smoothly. Dagu has also learned the language of the Jiao tribe... So the purpose of his translation is actually of little use...
"Hey...O Lord God! O Great Bodhisattva Hachiman!"
Monk Soldier Watanabe sighed silently, took one last look at the blacksmith Otani who was concentrating on making the sword, and then turned around and left. Otani's thoughts were very clear in his mind. Because he also had the same idea and wanted to offer an amazing Japanese bow to the famous figure in the lake who had many legends and sent a fleet to the west for 20,000 miles! …
“It’s too slow to bake the bamboo material for making bows! Even if I work day and night, it will take more than half a year to bake the bamboo that can be used to make bows... Including the time for bow making and training... May the Lord God bless you! Patience, patience!…”
Back in his small courtyard, Monk Watanabe held the sun amulet around his neck and prayed devoutly for a while. Then, he frowned and stared at a row of dozens of bamboo sticks, all placed on the firepit with a small fire burning. There are two apprentices from the Nantecos tribe, looking after the bamboo materials by the fire pit. When they saw him, they both bowed their heads respectfully.
“Keep busy!…”
Monk Soldier Watanabe waved his hand, pushed open the door of the wooden house, and walked inside. The leaders and priests of the Jiao people did not value their martial arts, nor did they care about their origins. After arriving at the Kingdom of the Lake, as long as they are skilled and skilled, they will receive preferential treatment from the kingdom, obtain important technical positions, and be able to command their apprentices. The monk soldier Watanabe could neither farm nor forge, nor could he build a ship or sail. Apart from martial arts, he had no other skills!
After thinking about it, he was really desperate, so he signed up for the "bow making" skill. Under the somewhat suspicious gaze of the Jiaoren priest, he finally got a small courtyard and two bow-making apprentices. As a direct descendant of the martial arts family, he has practiced bow skills and knows how to maintain and maintain bows. He has seen bow makers make bows with his own eyes, and has also heard about how to make good bows.
But in fact, how are these bamboo bows and bows made? What are the details that need to be paid attention to? He had never done it with his own hands, and he felt very confused. However, to make a bow, you need to bake the bamboo material first, which can take as short as half a year or as long as a year. With this period of time, he can slowly recall and slowly try to figure it out. What's more, he also has a bold idea. Although it is just hearsay among Kyoto temples, there is currently information, which was carefully collected at Jiao Ren's Whale Port...
Thinking of this, Monk Soldier Watanabe slowly raised his head and looked at the gray-black whale baleen hanging on the wall. The whale baleen had been carefully processed by him, oiled and baked carefully, and slowly tamed into shape every day, until it roughly took the shape of a bow.
"The Lord God protects me! The baleen of the giant whale in the sea...can also be used as a bow in the hands of the Ezo people!..."