Aztec Eternals

The night is deep, and the mountains in the distance are like beasts lying on the ground, hidden under the dark sky. The moonlight is dim, and the nearby mines are like a journey of no return, leading to the dark depths of the ground. The age of myth remains in people's hearts, making all natural scenes full of unknown divinity.

The mountains of Chingambat under the night moon are full of darkness, except for a bonfire flickering in the main mine. Loyal samurai patrolled the night, sternly holding their weapons tightly, guarding the safety of the king. In the center, closely guarded by the warriors, is the only simple stone house in the mine. Looking from a distance, the flames could be seen faintly flickering in the house.

The bonfire is blazing, the old charcoal ignites green smoke, and the new coke is indifferent. The warrior commander held his breath and dozed off, guarding the king's side. There is silence in the stone house, only the rustle of the pen tip falling on the paper.

Shulot sat kneeling in the room, writing on paper with a slender quill. After a while, he stopped the pen in his hand, looked at the burning fire, and smiled comfortably.

"This charcoal is of good quality, with few impurities and strong firepower. It's a pity to use it as firewood."

Berthard opened his eyes and saw His Highness smiling from the heart, so he also asked with a smile.

"Your Highness, have you finished writing the "Industrial Science and Technology Plan" you were talking about?"

"Well! The general framework is here."

Shulot nodded with a smile. During these days in the mining area, he has been thinking about the follow-up plan. Many long-term memories are becoming increasingly blurred, requiring careful writing to recall and calculate. He also took advantage of this opportunity to put the idea of ​​industrial technology development on paper as a long-term blueprint for future kingdom construction.

"Berthard, come and watch together!"

The king beckoned, and the warrior commander approached and knelt down, listening.

"The eagle's eyes look thousands of miles away. The root system of the sacred tree has grown for thousands of years. All important events must be arranged from the very beginning, so that they can fly to the height of the eagle and support the stability of the sacred tree!"

"Berthard, you are my most trusted confidant, and you have followed me all the way for many years. Only you can roughly understand this plan, and it will also help you in your future tasks. I told you before that I intend to ask you to let you stand alone."

"You have to go to the distant eastern great lake for me, master the long snake island in the lake, and establish a state there. There will be a lot of mineral deposits on that island, and the open pit is easy to mine. It is the place that the Lord God bestowed on us Mexica people. It is also a gift for guarding the edge of the world. What you need to do will be many and difficult, and your life is always in danger!"

"Your Highness, even if the storm is dangerous and thousands of miles away, I am willing to die for you! I will definitely prevent you from being captured and killed!"

Berthard looked solemn and nodded solemnly. Although His Highness's prophecy is only a few sentences, it has always remained in his heart.

"Okay! Berthard, don't worry. The first few batches of foreign races were only a few hundred people. They came by boat thousands of miles away, without a stronghold, so it's nothing to worry about."

Shulot smiled gratifiedly, patted the shoulder of the warrior commander, and instructed carefully.

".Your most important tasks in the future, one is to integrate the various ministries on the island, the other is to prevent terrible diseases, the third is to build artillery fortresses, and the fourth is to make iron and steel!"

Berthard memorized every sentence, and then asked inexplicably.

"Smelting iron and steel? I remember that Mayan merchants brought you iron and stone. As for steel, what is it?"

"From iron ore, iron can be smelted, and iron can be turned into steel after proper treatment! Steel is extremely hard, and can be made into the best weapons and the strongest armor. More importantly, steel is The gate to industrialization! And blast furnace coke iron smelting is the most important step under the gate!"

While talking, Xiulot reached out and pointed to the wide roll of paper spread out on the table.

On the top of the scroll, there are words circled in boxes and separated by bars, representing different fields of science and technology. Under the glossary are notes mixed with numbers, letters, equations, and text. And among the vocabulary technology, there are arrows connecting them in one direction, indicating the front of technology.

Bertard looked at the first column, and the word "fuel" came into his eyes. After "fuel", there is a strange "C" first, followed by "timber", "coal", and "oil", three vaguely understandable names. And under these names, there are also small arrows, descriptions of different fuel forms, possible locations of discovery, and some bible-like symbols.

He skipped those difficult words and looked directly at the mysterious and vague location. Behind the coal is marked Qinganbat, a small amount; thousands of miles to the north, and Chihuahua, southwest of Texas, a huge amount. After the oil, there is a note, east of the north, thousands of miles away, the Texas oil field is deeper.

Seeing this oracular description, the warrior commander's eyes once again showed awe.

"Your Highness, this is?"

"These are burning materials! Fuel is the cornerstone of technology and the food and blood of industry."

Shulot smiled. He didn't ask Bertard if he understood, but he explained in detail while sorting out the threads in his heart.

"With a kiln, we can burn wood into charcoal and coal into coke. Coke has removed sulfur-containing impurities, has a higher calorific value, and is more suitable for smelting metals. In the process of coal coking, a large number of by-products can be produced. The product, this is the most primitive coal chemical industry, and in the processing of petroleum, you can get more high-value products, this is petrochemical industry, unfortunately, it will probably not be seen in this life.”

Shulot moved his finger and stayed on "coking", recalling the smell he smelled during the day.

"Ammonia gas is produced during the coking process. Ammonia gas can be made into an important fertilizer, but it needs acid to absorb it."

The warrior chief looked at the "acid" column in the corner, and saw "hydrochloric acid", "sulfuric acid" and "nitric acid" written on it. He knew every word above, but when put together, he was completely at a loss.

"The acid that is most easily obtained is sulfuric acid. If you can find sulfates, such as vitriol and bile vitriol, you can dry them directly in a clay pot. If you can't find them, you can also use the lead chamber method. We already have sulfur and saltpeter. Combustion produces mixed gas, which is oxidized to obtain sulfuric acid through a corrosion-resistant lead chamber. Well, this should be the general principle. There are also lead-zinc mines here, and it is very easy to smelt lead. If you don’t pay attention to purity and efficiency, you can use the local method to try it out. "

Xiulot thought for a moment before pointing to the word "fertilizer" again.

Bertard looked carefully and saw "N, P, K" behind the fertilizer, a group of mysterious symbols. Then there is a note of "guano stone" in the back, and the location is "at the end of the Leman River flowing into the Western Great Lakes, thousands of miles north along the coast, in Lower California, on the arid seabird island".

"Through ammonia gas into sulfuric acid, you can get ammonium sulfate fertilizer, which can effectively increase the output of the field. This is the easiest nitrogen-containing fertilizer to be artificially produced. And ammonium nitrate is not only a fertilizer, but also an extremely powerful explosive. Of course, with The difficulty of manufacturing nitric acid, within a lifetime."

Shulot shook his head and looked at the "Explosives" column next to him. The top is naturally "black powder", followed by "nitrifying explosives", and then "TNT". There are question marks in the last two names, and the production process is unknown, but there is a comment in small words: "God said, the more nitro, the higher the difficulty and the greater the power!"

The king smiled lightly and continued to talk.

"Bertard, look here."

The samurai chief heard the words and looked around, only to see a column of "metallurgy" in the most eye-catching position, followed by "bronze smelting", "iron smelting", and "steel smelting", with "Cu, Sn, Mysterious symbols such as Fe, C".

"The metallurgy of Fengguo started with bronze, because the alliance has two kinds of ore materials, copper and tin. However, bronze is inherently defective in toughness, and the cost of excavation and smelting is also high."

Shulot paused, and rested his finger on the "smelting iron". The samurai commander continued to look back, and saw the three locations labeled "Colima, Southwestern Mountains", "Cuba, in the Eastern Lake, the eastern end of the serpentine Long Island", "North America, thousands of miles to the north", and suddenly felt something Enlightenment.

"The scale of the copper mine will be doubled, and the bronze smelting in the capital will also use coke. The bronze production in the kingdom will soon increase significantly. After the bronze smelting develops, the next step is iron smelting."

"It is iron that can be popularized on a large scale and completely change the world! With coke, build a blast furnace, and blow in air, you can have enough high temperature to melt iron. The technology for large-scale ironmaking is already mature. It's just this world. During this period, iron ore is hard to find. I have been trying to find the source of iron ore."

Shulot sighed faintly. The iron mines of Colima are deep, and the iron mines of North America are far away. Cuban iron ore requires navigation. Among the three, the Cuban iron mine is an open-pit rich mine, and its location can be clearly determined, which has the advantage of mining. Thinking of this, the king patted the shoulder of the warrior commander before continuing.

"There are two types of refined iron, raw and cooked, corresponding to the carbon content. Carbon content is the vitality contained in iron, which is similar to bronze containing tin. High content makes it brittle, and low content makes it soft. But the special thing is , if the carbon content is just right, it will be both hard and tough, call it steel!"

Xiu Luote's finger slid down "Steelmaking", and there were four groups of "Forged Steel", "Irrigated Steel", "Fried Steel", and "Pig Iron Steelmaking" below, and then marked with different words such as carburizing and decarburization .

"Blast furnace coke smelts iron ore, and pig iron will be smelted. If pig iron is smelted again, and the temperature and oxygen are controlled, steel can be obtained directly, which is called pig iron steelmaking. Of course, this method seems to be the easiest, but it is actually too difficult. , there is no hope for decades.”

Xiulot smiled helplessly, and his thoughts flew back from the distant industrialized future, back to the beginning where everything was zero.

"Forged steel is the carburization of wrought iron. The process is complicated, time-consuming and labor-intensive. It is also called hundred-forged steel. Filling steel is to put pig iron and wrought iron together, first melt the pig iron, and soak it in the wrought iron , and then smelted and hammered into one piece. Fried steel is when the pig iron is smelted in the blast furnace, the molten iron flows out, is exposed to the air and kept stirring, and is heated and decarburized at the same time, and finally directly becomes steel.”

"Actually, it's still too difficult to fry steel directly. Well, it's better to fry pig iron into iron, and then use the method of forging steel or pouring steel, which is time-consuming but stable to get steel!"

Thinking of this, Xiu Luote's eyes showed fascination. Although there are only general ideas for these crafts, as long as you continue to invest manpower and material resources to try, you will step by step and steadily move towards success.

"The biggest advantage of the traverser is not the specific level of craftsmanship, but pointing out a correct direction in the vast darkness!"

The king murmured softly, with incomparable confidence surging in his chest.

Botard bowed his head in admiration, and looked at the bottom of "Metallurgy". There are two words "metal processing" written there, followed by a row of incomprehensible words: "turning, milling, planing, grinding, boring, drilling, thread". There is no explanation after these words, but a "hydraulic forging hammer" is added.

"Your Highness, what do these mean?"

Shulot's face froze. He only roughly remembered this formula. As for the specific metal processing machinery, it was naturally impossible to remember. The king just pointed at the end and explained.

"Build a water wheel by the river and connect it with a forging hammer to make metal armor or rough armor. In addition, you can also use a water wheel to process food. Oh, yes, there is also a windmill mill."

Xiulot added "windmill" under "simple machinery" next to it. Many jumping words have been written in this column, including "loom", "spinning machine", "cotton gin", " Arm plate signal tower". Of course, in the king's mind, these machines are just a noun, and they only know the general function. With one exception. "Steam Engine"!

Xiulot's eyes stayed on the "steam engine" for a long time. An arrow is directed from each of "metallurgy" and "metal processing", silently telling about the difficulty of this technology. However, the word steam engine seems to have a unique magic power, which always attracts his thoughts.

"Dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the Steam Engine"

Xiulot whispered to himself, trying hard to recall the textbooks that were almost forgotten. Those illustrations that were once extremely clear are now only abstract and blurred shapes.

"Cylinder, piston, steam valve opening and closing, cold water condensation, power transmission of tie rods."

Vague shapes and clear principles were combined in the king's mind at the same time, but unfortunately, a "complex" Watt steam engine was not combined. After a long time, Xiulot sighed softly. He picked up a pen and drew a simple "Friend of the Miner", Savery's steam water extractor.

"Although bronze cylinders can be used, and vulcanized rubber can be used as seals. But before metallurgical technology and metal processing technology are sufficiently advanced, a practical and cheap steam engine is just a delusion. This is still the hope of the lifetime!"

Soon, Xiulot recognized the reality and laughed at himself. It is worth mentioning that the most rare vulcanized rubber when the traverser sealed the steam engine was within easy reach for him in America.

Rubber is native to America and has been widely used all over the world. Primitive vulcanized rubber had been invented in ancient Olmec times, so the Olmecs were known as the Glue Men. They combined the boiled juice of the rubber tree with the sap of the American grape vine to vulcanize the rubber most primitively and made it into a waterproof rain suit. This kind of rain suit has a unique religious significance and is often worn by people for ceremonial ball games, accompanied by sacrifices for the losers.

Shulot shook his head slightly, raised his hand and wrote the word "vulcanized rubber" in the "Uncategorized" column at the bottom. Vulcanized rubber can also be obtained by fumigation with sulfur. It is temperature-resistant and impermeable, not easy to become sticky and deformed, and resistant to oxygen and wear. It can be used to make many practical appliances, such as important car tires, convenient rubber shoes and raincoats.

In this column, there is also "fired glass". The glass research of Lozano, the chief stonemason, continued for two years with little progress. Now with coke and blast furnaces, the difficulty of melting glass can be greatly reduced.

"Glass beads are the cheapest monopoly trade item"

Shulot smiled lightly. The wide scroll is almost at the end. Bertard looked down again, where there was the last column "Future". There are some difficult words written in a mess, including "electricity", "telegraph", and "internal combustion engine".

"Your Highness, what are these?"

The king hesitated slightly, and said seriously.

"These are the final guidelines of the Lord God, and also my future after death."

Hearing this, Bertard was silent for a moment. There was a flash of light in his eyes, and it took a long time before he spoke in a low voice.

"Your Highness, this scroll is so important, it should be given a more appropriate name."

"oh?"

Xiulot is very interesting, with a smile in his eyes.

"what name?"

"God-revelation book!"

I wrote this chapter after reading a lot of materials on technological development. In the new January, the author is begging for votes and support! In addition, I sincerely thank Qingshan Hemlock for the chapter push!