Chapter 604 Iron Tools, Innovative Productivity!

"The rise of the military nobles and warrior class impacted the traditional nobles and priests, and promoted the political changes of the kingdom! However, such changes also require supporting improvements in productivity."

Near lunch, the prayers of tens of thousands of warriors came from the camp outside the city. Shulot listened for a moment, smiled, and then found two documents from the Department of Industry and Mines in the kingdom report. The key to the kingdom's productivity innovation lies within it.

"Your Highness, your warrior, Nekali reports to you: There are already 8,000 mining slaves in the Qinganbat mining area. Among them, there are more than 6,000 mining slaves in six large and small copper mining areas. There are three to four coal mines. There are more than a thousand mining slaves in the area, and there are hundreds of mining slaves in the surrounding logging camps.”

"Your divine inspiration has always guided us! Your warriors, according to your instructions, used more ventilation equipment and transport wheelbarrows. More blast furnaces over two meters tall were built in the mining area, and expanded large drums were used. Feng Pi Nang. And around the mining area, closed walls were built using copper smelting slag and stones from the mountains."

"Now, the average monthly mining and smelting of copper in the mining area is about 8,000 jins per thousand people, and the total monthly output of copper materials is 50,000 jins! God bless! In two years, the copper output in the mining area has increased significantly. Twice as much!”

Seeing this, Shulot nodded with satisfaction and was quite pleased.

The quality of the copper ore in the Chinganbat mining area is indeed excellent. Through the large-scale increase of mine slaves and the use of shaft furnaces and large bellows, the mining area has reached a monthly production level of more than 20 tons of copper materials. With such a significant increase in output, more bronze could flow into the production of agricultural implements and tools, thereby fundamentally increasing the productivity of the entire kingdom. Of course, in the Middle Ages, mining was one of the most arduous and dangerous labors. Behind the increase in copper production is the price paid.

"Your Highness, your warriors, I beg you: Can we recruit a new group of mining slaves from the captives from the Kingdom's Eastern Expedition? The monthly loss in the mining area is about 150 people."

Shulot's eyes flashed and he calculated in his mind. A monthly loss of 150 people means a loss of about 1,800 people a year. But based on the ratio of 8,000 people in the mining area

"On average, each mining slave can only live for more than four years?"

Shulot lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment. Then, with his expression unchanged, he picked up the pen and wrote down the new king's order.

"Necali, my warrior, you have done a great job! Continue to increase production capacity and minimize losses. Increase the number of mining slaves to 10,000. Copper production must reach a monthly output of more than 30 tons! As for suppression, The samurai, I will replenish all the mine slaves you consume!”

After writing the king's order, Shulot took out the seal and printed the king's emblem. When the red emblem falls in the eyes, it looks like blood. However, blood is unavoidable. It is the fuel for the progress of the times and the bones of all living beings. Next, there is the second document, from the Tekos warrior Mavik, the person in charge of the Black Rock Mountain Iron Mine.

"Your Majesty! Your seaside scales, Mavik is reporting back to you: The rainy season has passed, lightning no longer falls, and mining in the Black Rock Mountain iron ore area has returned to its original state! There are now 1,600 Tekos in the mining area. Miners and four hundred loggers are busy day and night. In fact, this is open-pit mining, and the number of manpower in the mining area can be increased a lot. However, the supply of food in the mining area has always been somewhat tight."

Seeing this, Shulot thought for a moment and nodded slightly. There are less than ten thousand Tekos tribesmen stationed in the Black Rock Mountain area. Their level of farming is also very limited and it is difficult to provide much surplus food. The main source of food in the mining area comes from Zicao City, four hundred miles away in the north. Passing the waterway of the Tulsas River and going down the river, this journey is not difficult and can be easily reached by transporting grain.

However, since the Eastern Expedition, Zicao County has resettled too many Tlaxcala young people, and food is very tight. On the river plain north of Trout Village, more than 10,000 Tlaxcala tribes were settled. They will have to wait until next year's autumn harvest before they can produce food.

"The development of industry and mining requires an agricultural foundation. The southern lowlands are vast and sparsely populated, and are far less prosperous than the river mouths and Gyeonggi Fu, so they must be further cultivated. Since there are iron mines in Heiyan Mountain and convenient waterways, the focus of the kingdom's development must be Sloping towards the southern seaside.”

Having made up his mind, Shulot looked at it again and reported on the details of mining and smelting. This part of the content was probably written by priests and craftsmen. It is very detailed.

"Your Majesty, iron ore and copper ore are both condensed essences of the Mother Earth. But iron ore has been baptized by the Lord God's lightning and is harder than copper ore! The miners mine iron ore much slower than copper ore. In addition, iron ore is mined much slower than copper ore. , Iron ore smelting is more difficult, and the iron produced is less than the same amount of copper ore."

Seeing this, Shulot thought for a moment. The quality of the Black Rock Mountain iron ore is obviously lower. When compared with the high-quality copper ore in Qinganbat, it immediately becomes clear that it is superior. At the same time, the Mohs hardness of iron ore is 5-6, while the Mohs hardness of copper ore is 3.5-4.5. Based on the current technological level, the cost of mining and smelting iron ore is probably higher than that of copper ore.

"It has been two years since the Black Rock Mountain Iron Mine produced iron. According to His Majesty's continuous divine revelations and for His Majesty's generous rewards, the priests and craftsmen have continued to explore and have achieved some results."

"First, use kaolin and clay to build a shaft furnace of more than two meters, equipped with a large blast bladder. The bottom is fuel, and the top is iron ore. With the help of the power of the God of Fire, the power of the God of Wind is blown in to melt the energy of the Earth Mother. Essence. The iron-making furnace produces molten iron and solidifies into iron material. However, the iron material at this time is very brittle and cannot be used. Therefore, the craftsmen immediately put the iron material in the iron-melting furnace. Melt it twice and produce molten iron, and it will be better.”

Seeing this, Shulot nodded with satisfaction. What is produced in the iron-making furnace is pig iron with a high carbon content. Secondary melting is to reduce the carbon content in pig iron as much as possible.

Under his hard thinking and advanced guidance, the kingdom's iron-making technology quickly surpassed the primitive stage of block smelting and reached the stage of high-temperature pig iron smelting in shaft furnaces. This is also the inspiration inherited from the Celestial Dynasty, a technology that has emerged during the Warring States Period.

"Behind the iron furnace, there is a row of pottery molds. According to His Majesty's instructions, the current focus is on the manufacturing of farm tools. As for the iron molds you pointed out, the craftsmen are still exploring, but some results have been achieved. Molten iron is poured into the pottery molds. , solidified into different farm tools. However, it is still slightly brittle at this time and needs to be heated by a blacksmith. The more times it is forged, the better the effect will be until durable farm tools are made. This is the result of repeated tempering and the introduction of the power of the Lord God. Make the iron stronger! Of course, after the forging is completed according to your instructions, there will be a quenching step to introduce the power of the God of Rain! The result is a hard and tough iron!"

"Your Majesty, as for the 'extremely hard iron' you mentioned, 'soft iron and hard iron are mixed and forged', and what about 'semi-melted molten iron, adding iron powder to stir-fry steel', 'maintaining molten iron, stirring mature iron for a long time in the open air' '.Well, the priests and craftsmen are working hard to explore the kingdom! There will definitely be a breakthrough in the mining area next year!

Seeing this, Shulot's expression changed and his brows wrinkled slightly. He frowned, thinking about the current situation of iron smelting in the kingdom.

After being forged many times, the pig iron was beaten into a relatively low-quality steel that could be used as farm tools and shorter weapons. This is also the current situation in the Black Rock Mountain mining area, which provides some iron farm tools for the kingdom's farms and further explores steel-making technology.

To obtain better quality steel, we need the "fried steel method" of the Han Dynasty or the mature "steel filling method" of the Northern and Southern Dynasties to smelt wrought iron and then mix it with pig iron to make steel. It will still take time for these breakthrough technologies to be reproduced in Central America, which has a weak foundation.

If higher quality steel is urgently needed, wrought iron can also be produced using the block smelting method, and then combined with pig iron from the shaft furnace to obtain higher quality steel. It’s just the cost and the quality of the final product that are hard to describe. In general, the most feasible steel-making method at present should be the steel-frying method of the Han Dynasty.

"Easier said than done, requires accumulation. The Kingdom's smelting technology is not accumulated enough. Even if it knows a clear route and bypasses hundreds of years of exploration, it will be difficult to achieve it overnight!"

Shulot sighed softly, helplessness appearing on his face. He could not have asked for more from the priestly craftsmen of the Black Rock Mountain mines. In the face of the devout faith of the Lord God and the attractive rewards of the kingdom, the craftsmen have done their best. The rest are really limited in ability and lack of experience.

"If I could get craftsmen from the Old World"

The divine smoke rises like rising desire. The young king whispered to himself. His eyes looked towards the east again, thousands of miles away.