Aztec Eternals

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

Shulot looked around, his eyes sparkling. This is the first time he has seen a large-scale metal smelting and casting site.

The large workshop is as wide as a square, with an open-air working area in the middle and a circle of solid storage stone houses around it. Large piles of red copper, white tin, and green and black charcoal piled up like mountains in the corner, and rows of bronze utensils, copper farming tools, and bronze weapons were laid out one by one, glowing red, yellow or even blue. On the outermost layer of the copper utensils, a bronze cannon over one meter long was lying quietly on the ground, shining with a dark green-gold light.

Near the wall in the workshop, there is a row of more than a dozen clay shaft furnaces responsible for copper smelting, and there are twice as many small green brick furnaces. A dark red flame was burning in the furnace, and billowing hot air was rising from the side of the shaft furnace. The copper stench of patina powder, burnt wood, and sweat mingled in the air.

Shulot sniffed lightly, his eyelids twitched, and his brows frowned slightly. Then, his eyes rested on the bronze cannon for a while, and he walked towards the center of the workshop expressionlessly.

In the center, dozens of warriors stand with spears and solemn faces. Hundreds of coppersmiths were bare-chested and knelt on the ground, sweat had already wet the dirt floor. In front of the artisans, there were two artisan leaders in short jackets kneeling, with copper-inlaid leather caps on their heads.

The two artisan leaders fell to the ground and held their breath, watching a pair of buckskin boots getting closer and closer. Although the boots were simple in style, they walked steadily, step by step, in the center surrounded by everyone. It wasn't until the boots stopped in front of the eyes of the two that the artisan leaders saluted respectfully together, raised their heads slightly, and greeted loudly.

"Qin Congcan Master Craftsman, Head of the Bronze Workshop, Master Smelter (Master of Casting), Charape Thiam (Thirip Thiam), Greetings to Your Majesty!"

Xiuluo nodded with a calm expression. Many long-standing memories flashed through his mind, as well as the recent narrations of the wise elders.

In Prepeca language, "Tiam" means metal. And the Thiam family is the family responsible for metal things for generations. From the mouth of the new Chief Jatiri, Xiulot has a deep understanding of the ins and outs of this family.

At the beginning of Tarasco Kingdom, the "Tiam" metal family was still in the third level of the three-level system. However, with the expansion of the copper trade in the past century and the invention of bronze technology at the beginning of this century, the importance of the metal family gradually increased, and was finally promoted to the second rank of court nobles during the reign of the third ancestor, directly subordinate to the For the royal family, it just doesn't have a fief.

Yes, contrary to the stereotype of many people in later generations. It wasn't until this era that Schlott was surprised to find that the Mesoamerican civilization in the 15th century was already in the early Bronze Age and had a very prosperous bronze trade. "Charape" means red, and Chalape Thiam is red metal, copper in Prepecha. And this special name has also been passed down by the leader of the metal family, serving as the bronze official of the kingdom for generations.

Copper is purple-red pure copper. Throughout the world, the Copper Age has lasted for hundreds of years. In the murals of the Fourth Era, there are scenes of the Urihiu Kingdom conducting copperware trade. The Lake Patzcuaro area of ​​the Prepecha people and the Oaxaca mountains of the Zapotec people are the two most important copper production centers in the world. The Lake Kingdom 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 doped 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 Chuntal on both sides of the Talsas River, Teiskatla Pambang. It was not far from the land in the lake.

Bronze technology first appeared in the Kingdom of Tarasco, and has been used in forging weapons. A large number of bronze axes and spearheads were unearthed in the Chin Tsung Can site in later generations. As the war progressed, bronze technology was 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, "Tilipi" means gold, and Thiripi Thiam is the golden metal, which here refers to bronze. The meaning of this inherited title is Bronze Forger. Its appearance has only been a few decades, and it also represents the formal maturity of bronze technology in the Kingdom of Tarasco. And Tilippi in front of him is the third person with this title.

Thinking of this, the king collected his thoughts a little, and carefully looked at the two people in front of him.

Bronze smelting and casting is a labor of both physical strength and skill. The two artisan leaders are brothers to each other, both in the prime of their forties. The elder brother on the left, Chalape, is slightly older with a smile on his face. He is good at smelting and is a senior copper official. He often deals with the royal family and nobles, and he can be regarded as a technocrat. At this moment, Chalape looked respectful and natural, with a slightly rounded face and a smooth smile on his face.

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

"Yes, Your Majesty. The God of the Sun possesses infinite power and dominates light and flames! Ever 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 descends on everyone regardless of race!"

Hearing this, Shulot smiled and nodded slightly. After becoming chief, Jatiri gave full play to his influence and recommended many names to him, Chalape was one of them. They are the first group of elites among the Prepecha people to take the initiative to move closer to the alliance and join the rule of the country.

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

Tiripi on the right pursed his lips and was a little younger. He is a pure master craftsman, possessing the most outstanding bronze casting technique 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 there was obvious tension on his face.

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

"Your Majesty, forgive me! Tilippi was ignorant for a while, and served the false king Suangwa. Now he has devoutly converted to the Lord God, and is willing to dedicate his life to the great you!"

Charape raised his head, looked at the king's face, and carefully interjected a word. At the same time, he stretched out his hand and quietly pulled the short robe of the clan brother.

Shulot glanced at Charape faintly, and the other party immediately bowed his head in awe. He looked at Tilippi again, the master craftsman was closing his mouth tightly, looking at the king with a stiff expression. There was a moment of silence in the workshop, and everyone was sweating on their foreheads.

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

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

"Chalape, you are a master at smelting bronze, so tell me about smelting bronze!"

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

"Your Majesty, this is the shaft furnace for smelting bronze! It is built with the clay of the Mother Earth Goddess. It has the power bestowed by the Sun Lord God and can strengthen the red copper. The entire shaft furnace can be roughly divided into three parts. The bottom furnace foundation, the furnace hearth for the ore charge and the outer furnace shaft.”

Xiulot stretched out his arm, measuring the specific size of the shaft furnace. The entire shaft furnace is about one person high and half a person wide, and looks like a huge clay pot buried in the soil. From the bottom of the hearth to the top of the furnace is a little more than 1.2 meters, the material column is over 1 meter, and the thickness of the furnace wall is 30-40 cm. After a little calculation, he knew that the volume of the hearth was about one third of a cubic meter, which was also the largest volume of bronze that could be smelted at one time.

"Your Majesty, the base of the furnace is below the furnace hearth. It has a wind channel connecting the power of the wind god. There is also a long and narrow tuyere on the furnace hearth. On the lower part of the front wall of the furnace, there is a golden door for discharging materials and a hole for discharging slag."

Xiulot looked at the air ducts and air outlets, and knew that this was a channel for oxygen to flow in, but he didn't find any special air blowing equipment.

"Your Majesty, every time the furnace is built, three to four thousand catties of copper and hundreds of thousands of catties of tin can be filled into it. The copper and tin have to be melted first, and then go through the small furnace to remove The scum inside."

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

"Lord God bless! Thousands of catties of copper and tin are calcined in a large furnace, and they can be cast into bronze. It takes one day to prepare the copper and tin, and about one day to build the furnace. It takes a day to heat up the furnace until the copper and tin melt. It will take one day to fully mix it. When the temperature cools down and the flame is turned off, the stove will be pushed down and the bronze will be taken out, and it will take another day.”

Having said that, Chalape looked at the king with pride on his face.

"The Lord God bless! Your Majesty, in total, in about five days, each furnace can produce an astonishing four thousand catties of bronze!"

Xiu Luote remained expressionless, and nodded slowly. He was a little disappointed in his heart, the daily output of each furnace was less than a thousand catties, and it would take two days to build and knock down the furnace. Thinking of this, the king frowned.

"Charape, your clay stove, is it disposable?"

"Exactly, Your Majesty!"

Chalape nodded affirmatively.

"The furnace can only be fired if it is sealed well enough. After the firing is finished, the furnace must be dismantled to remove the bronze. If the manpower is sufficient, it is not troublesome to build a furnace. In fact, in this workshop , what is really not enough is the supply of copper material!"

"Insufficient firepower. Low temperature. Blowing oxygen"

Shulot was lost in thought. He tried his best to recall the wooden box that was blown in the countryside 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 samurai commander had been prepared for a long time, and handed over the pen and paper at the right time. Right in front of Chalape, the young king drew a simplified blower box with his own hands.

"Chalape, to increase the firepower, you need a blower. You make a batch of large clay pots, tie the mouth of the pots with a piece of half-folded buckskin, and open a valve for air intake on the buckskin. Leave a Hole, and then connect a clay air pipe, seal the connection with mud, and then lead to the furnace. In this way, when you pull up the buckskin, the folded valve will open to inhale. When you press the buckskin, the leather will The valve will be closed, and the air in the clay pot will be pressed into the furnace. Once you pull and press, the whole process is like beating a drum. And the speed of the blowing depends on how fast you press the buckskin!"

Looking at His Majesty's painting and narration, Charape showed surprise. As soon as he constructed a general situation in his mind, a low exclamation came from beside him, followed by the voice of his brother Tiripi.

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

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

"Chalape, charcoal kilns and clay brick kilns outside the city are under construction. In addition to blowers, there will be a batch of high-quality charcoal every month, which will be given priority to you. You need to build a batch of green kilns that can be used repeatedly. Brick shaft furnace, get ready for the big bronze smelting!"

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

"Follow your will, Your Majesty!"

Hearing Shulot's will, Chalape hurriedly pulled his clan brothers and saluted the king together. Then, he stood up, continued to guide the king, and walked to a row of bronze weapons. Berthard looked solemn, and patted Hei Lang on the shoulder. The two generals took two steps forward, holding down their weapons with their right hands, and guarded His Highness closely.

"Blessed by the Lord God, according to the kingdom's decades of experience, the best ratio of copper to tin is."

Charapey paused, carefully looking at the king in front of him.

"Your Majesty, this is the kingdom's secret. The personal guard behind you."

"Chalape, but it doesn't matter! They are all my personal guards, and there is no need to avoid them. And I will send some of them to you, and also participate in the production of bronze."

Shulot shook his head. The scale of bronze smelting and casting in front of him is still too small, and production needs to be expanded rapidly. Once the production is 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, His Majesty obeys your will"

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

"For a durable bronze, five parts copper and one part tin; for a broad-bladed bronze ax, four parts copper and one part tin; for a sharp bronze spearhead, three parts copper and one part tin. , the more tin you add, the deeper the golden color will be, and the bronze weapon will be harder, but it will also become brittle and easy to break.”

"Okay! Chalape, you summed it up well!"

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

"Fifths of gold and tin are part of it, which is called the alignment of axes and catties; four parts of gold and tin are part of it, which is called the alignment of spear and halberd; three parts of gold and tin are part of it, which is called alignment of big blades. axes, bronze spears, and bronze swords"

Thinking of this, the king looked solemn and looked at the other master next to him.

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