Chapter 258 Bronze Smelting

The group of people walked quickly through the tall inner bluestone wall, passed the guarding warriors who bowed their heads and saluted, and then came to an extremely wide open-air workshop, the center of bronze production.

Shulot looked around, his eyes shining. This was his first time seeing a large-scale metal smelting and casting site.

The large workshop is as wide as a square, with an open-air working space in the center and a circle of sturdy stone storage buildings surrounding it. Piles of red copper, white tin, and green and black charcoal were piled up in the corner. Rows of copper utensils, copper farm tools, and bronze weapons were laid out in rows, glowing red, yellow, and even cyan. On the outermost layer of the copper instrument, a bronze cannon about one meter tall was lying quietly on the ground, shining with a green-gold dark light.

Inside the workshop, against the wall, there is a row of more than ten clay shaft furnaces responsible for smelting copper, and twice as many small green brick furnaces. Dark red flames were burning in the furnace, and billowing heat was rising from the side of the shaft furnace. The air was filled with the copper smell of verdigris powder, the burnt smell of burning wood, and the smell mixed with sweat.

Shulot sniffed it lightly, his eyelids twitched and his brows furrowed slightly. Then, his eyes paused on the bronze cannon for a moment, and then he walked towards the center of the workshop expressionlessly.

In the center, dozens of warriors stood with spears in their hands, their faces solemn. Hundreds of coppersmiths were naked and kneeling on the ground, their sweat already making the dirt floor wet. At the front of the craftsmen, kneeling were two craftsman leaders wearing short clothes and wearing copper-inlaid leather hats on their heads.

The two craftsman leaders lay on the ground and held their breath, watching a pair of deerskin boots getting closer and closer before their eyes. Although the boots were simple in style, they walked steadily step by step in the center where everyone was gathered. It wasn't until the boots stopped in front of the two of them that the craftsman leaders saluted respectfully, then raised their heads slightly and shouted greetings.

"Master craftsman Qin Congcan, head of the bronze workshop, master smelter (master casting), Chalape Thiam (Tiripi Thiam), greetings to Your Majesty!"

Xiuluo nodded, his expression calm. Many long-distant memories flashed through his mind, as well as recent accounts from knowledgeable elders.

In the Prepecha language, "Tiam" means metal. The Thiam family is a family that has been responsible for metal things for generations. From the mouth of the new Chief Jatiri, Shulot gained an in-depth understanding of the ins and outs of this family.

At the beginning of the founding of the Kingdom of Tarasco, the "Tiam" metal family was still at the third level of the three-tier system. However, with the expansion of the copper trade over the past hundred years and the invention of bronze technology in the early part of this century, the importance of the metal family gradually increased. Finally, during the reign of the third ancestor, he was promoted to the second level of palace nobles and was directly subordinate to To the royal family, it just does not have a fiefdom.

Yes, different from the stereotype of many people in later generations. It was not until he arrived at this era that Shulot was surprised to find that the Mesoamerican civilization in the 15th century was already in the early Bronze Age and had a very prosperous copper trade. "Chalape" means red, and Chalape Thiam is the red metal, red copper in the Prepecha language. And this special name has also been passed down by the leader of the metal family, and he has been the bronze official of the kingdom for generations.

Red copper is purple-red pure copper. Throughout the world, the copper age has lasted for hundreds of years. The murals from the Fourth Age show scenes of the copper trade in the Kingdom of Urishu. The Lake Patzcuaro area of ​​the Prepecha people and the Oaxaca mountains of the Zapotec people are the two most important bronze production centers in the world. The Kingdom in the Lake is not only rich in copper mines, but also has the most mature copper casting technology, and was the first to set up a dedicated copper workshop.

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, sometimes mixed with a certain proportion of lead to overcome the brittleness of bronze. The tin mines in the world are mainly located in the south controlled by the Mexica Alliance, in the land of Jontar on both sides of the Talsas River, and in the state of Teiscatlalpan. It was not far from the Land of the Lake.

Bronze technology first appeared in the Kingdom of Tarasco and has been used in weapon forging. A large number of bronze axes and spearheads were unearthed from the Qinchongcan site in later generations. As the war progresses, bronze technology is gradually spreading to surrounding countries, and the recent Mexica Alliance has been able to cast bronze weapons. However, the optimal copper-tin mixing ratio is still regarded as a secret and is firmly in the hands of the Condor Royal Family.

In the local language, "Tiripi" means gold, and "Tiripi Thiam" means golden metal, which here refers to bronze. The meaning of this heritage name is bronze forger. Its appearance occurred only a few decades ago and represented the formal maturity of bronze technology in the Kingdom of Tarasco. And the Tiripi in front of him is the third person with this name.

Thinking of this, the king gathered his thoughts for a moment and carefully looked at the two people in front of him.

The smelting and casting of bronze is a job that requires both physical strength and skill. The two craftsman leaders were brothers, both in their prime forties. The elder brother Chalape on the left has a smile on his face and is slightly older. He is good at smelting and is a senior copper official. He often deals with the royal family and nobles and is considered a technocrat. At this moment, Chalape's expression was respectful and natural, his face was slightly rounded, and he had a smooth smile on his face.

"Charape, the knowledgeable elder mentioned you to me. I heard that after you converted to Christianity, you prayed day and night, believed in the Lord God devoutly, and were willing to dedicate the rest of your life to the Lord God?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The Lord God of the Sun has infinite power and dominates light and flame! Since I have devoutly believed in the Lord God, I am full of power even when smelting bronze."

"Very good! The Lord God protects us. His light falls on everyone regardless of ethnicity!"

Hearing this, Shulot smiled and nodded gently. After becoming the chief, Jatiri gave full play to his influence and recommended many names to him, and Chalape was one of them. They were the first elites among the Prepecha people to actively move closer to the alliance and join the feudal rule.

"Tiripi, King Suangwa has a pair of bronze armor, which is extremely strong and difficult for arrows to penetrate. Well, I heard that it was made by you?"

Tiripi on the right purses his lips and is slightly younger. He is a pure master craftsman, possessing the most outstanding bronze casting technology in the kingdom, but lacks experience in dealing with nobles. At this moment, facing the king's inquiry, his expression was much more reserved, and his face showed obvious nervousness.

"Your Majesty, I made the bronze armor a few years ago when my skills were immature. The parts of that armor were not well connected and it was not extremely strong. The most important thing was that it was too heavy."

"Your Majesty, forgive me! Tiripi was ignorant for a moment and served the false king Suangua. Now he has sincerely converted to the Lord God and is willing to devote his life to the great you!"

Chalape raised his head, looked at the king's face, and carefully interjected. At the same time, he reached out and quietly pulled the clan brother's short robe.

Shulot glanced at Chalape lightly, who immediately lowered his head in awe. He looked at Tiripi again. The master craftsman was closing his mouth and looking at the king with a stiff expression. There was silence in the workshop for a while, and everyone had sweat on their foreheads.

"Haha! Yes, devout faith will lead to a bright future."

The king laughed out loud, and the atmosphere in the venue suddenly became much more relaxed.

"Chalape, you are an expert at smelting bronze. Please tell me about the smelting of bronze!"

Chalape nodded repeatedly. He stood up and led Shulot to the copper-smelting shaft furnace inside.

"Your Majesty, this is the shaft furnace for smelting bronze! It is built with the clay of the Earth Mother Goddess. It has the power given by the Sun God and can divinely strengthen the red copper. The entire shaft furnace can be roughly divided into three parts. The bottom furnace base, the furnace hearth containing mineral materials and the outer furnace body."

Thulot stretched out his arm and measured the specific dimensions of the shaft furnace. The entire shaft furnace is about one person tall and half a person wide, and looks like a huge clay pot buried in the soil. The distance from the bottom of the furnace to the top of the furnace is a little over 1.2 meters, the material column is just over 1 meter, and the thickness of the furnace wall is 30-40 centimeters. After a brief calculation, he knew that the volume of the furnace was about one-third of a cubic meter, which was also the maximum volume of bronze that could be smelted at one time.

"Your Majesty, the furnace base is under the furnace. It has a wind channel that connects to the power of the God of Wind. There is also a long and narrow air outlet on the furnace. And at the lower part of the front wall of the furnace, there is a golden door for discharging materials and a hole for discharging slag."

Xiulote looked at the wind ditches and vents and knew that these were channels for oxygen to flow in, but he did not find any special blowing equipment.

"Your Majesty, every time you build a furnace, you can fill it with three to four thousand kilograms of copper materials and hundreds of thousands of kilograms of tin materials. The copper materials and tin materials must be melted first, passed through the small furnace, and removed. The scum inside.”

As he spoke, Chalape pointed with his hand to the other side, where there was a long-term furnace built with blue bricks, but it was only half the size of the shaft furnace. Then, he pointed to the big furnace in front of him.

"Lord God bless you! Thousands of kilograms of copper and tin materials are calcined in a large furnace to cast them into bronze. It takes one day to prepare the copper and tin, and about one day to build the furnace. The furnace needs to heat up until the copper and tin melt, which takes one day. . It will take another day to mix thoroughly. When the temperature cools down, turn off the stove and take out the bronze. It will take another day."

Having said this, Chalape looked at the king, his face full of pride.

"God bless you! Your Majesty, in total, in about five days, each furnace can produce an astonishing more than 4,000 kilograms of bronze!"

Shulot remained calm and nodded slowly. He was a little disappointed in his heart. The daily output of each furnace was less than a thousand kilograms, and it took two days to build and tear down the furnace. Thinking of this, the king frowned.

"Charape, is this clay stove of yours disposable?"

"Exactly, Your Majesty!"

Chalape nodded affirmatively.

"Only if the furnace is sealed well enough can the fire be put in. After burning, in order to take out the bronze, the furnace must be dismantled. If there are enough manpower, it is not troublesome to build a furnace. In fact, in this workshop, , what is really not enough is the supply of copper materials!”

"Insufficient firepower. Low temperature. Ventilation and oxygenation."

Shulot was lost in thought. He tried hard to recall the wooden boxes used for blasting in rural areas in later generations, but his memory was already a little blurry. He thought about the rationale for a moment and stretched out his hand. The warrior commander was prepared and handed over the pen and paper at the right time. The young king drew a simplified blast box with his own hands right in front of Chalape.

"Charape, to increase the firepower, you need to blow air. Make a batch of large clay pots, tie the mouths of the pots tightly with a half-folded piece of deerskin, and open an air intake valve on the deerskin. Leave the walls of the pots open. A hole is then connected to a clay air duct, the connection is sealed with mud, and then passed into the stove. In this way, when you pull up the deerskin, the folding valve will open and inhale when you press the deerskin. The valve on the skin will close, forcing the air in the pot into the furnace. The whole process is like beating a drum, and the speed of the air blowing depends on how fast you pull and press the deer skin!

Looking at His Majesty's paintings and narration, Chalape looked surprised. As soon as he constructed a rough situation in his mind, a low exclamation came from beside him, followed by the voice of his clan brother Tiripi.

"Open the air intake, close the air compression. Well, Your Majesty, you are really smart!"

Hearing this, Chalape's face darkened. He looked at the king carefully, but saw that the king didn't care at all and even smiled.

"Chalape, the charcoal kiln and clay brick kiln outside the city are under construction. In addition to the blower, a batch of high-quality charcoal will be supplied to you every month in the future. You need to build a batch of blue brick vertical furnaces that can be used repeatedly to prepare for the large-scale bronze smelting!"

"As for the source of copper and tin materials, I will solve it myself!"

"Obey your will, Your Majesty!"

Hearing the will of Shulot, Chalape hurriedly pulled his cousin and saluted the king together. Then, he stood up and continued to guide the king to a row of bronze weapons. Bertard looked serious and patted Black Wolf on the shoulder. The two generals took two steps forward, holding their weapons with their right hands, and guarded His Highness tightly on both sides.

"God bless you, according to the experience of the kingdom for decades, the best copper-tin ratio is."

Charape paused and looked carefully at the king in front of him.

"Your Majesty, this is the secret of the kingdom. The guards behind you."

"Charape, you can say it! They are all my guards, no need to avoid them. And I will send some people to you to participate in the production of bronze."

Xuluot shook his head. The scale of bronze smelting and casting in front of him was still too small, and production needed to be expanded rapidly. Once production was expanded, more people must be involved. The Spaniards will arrive in America in less than ten years, and these so-called secrets are actually meaningless.

"Ah, this. Your Majesty obeys your will."

In the vigilant eyes of the warrior leader, Charape reached out to touch the bronze weapon in front of him and said respectfully.

"To cast durable bronze, it should be five parts copper and one part tin; to cast a wide-bladed bronze axe, it should be four parts copper and one part tin; to cast a sharp bronze spearhead, it should be three parts copper and one part tin. In general, the more tin is added, the deeper the gold color will be, even blue, and the harder the bronze weapon will be, but it will also become brittle and easy to break."

"Good! Chalape, you have summarized it well!"

Hearing this, Shulot nodded in admiration. A familiar line of words emerged in his mind.

"Five parts of gold and one part of tin is called the axe; four parts of gold and one part of tin is called the halberd; three parts of gold and one part of tin is called the large blade. Bronze axe, bronze spear, and bronze sword"

Thinking of this, the king looked serious and looked at another master next to him.

"Tiripi, where is the bronze sword I asked you to cast?"