Aztec Eternals

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

Near lunch, the prayers of tens of thousands of warriors came from the camp outside the city. Xiulot listened for a moment, smiled, and found two documents from the Ministry of Industry and Mining from the Kingdom Report. The key to the productivity innovation of the kingdom lies in it.

"Your Highness, your warrior, Nekali reports to you: There are already 8,000 miners in the Qinganbat mining area. Among them, there are six copper mining areas, large and small, with a total of more than 6,000 miners. Three to four coal mines There are more than 1,000 miners in the area, and hundreds of miners 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 were built in the mining area, and enlarged large drums were used. Wind skins. Around the mining area, copper smelting slag and stones from the mountains were also used to build closed walls."

"Now, the average monthly copper mined and smelted in the mining area is about 8,000 catties per thousand people, and the total monthly output of copper is 50,000 catties! Lord God bless! In two years, the copper production in the mining area has increased fully Doubled!"

Seeing this, Xiulot nodded in satisfaction, quite relieved.

The quality of the copper ore in the Qinganbat mining area is indeed excellent. Through the large-scale increase of miners and the use of shaft furnaces and large wind boxes, the mining area has reached a monthly output of more than 20 tons of copper. With such a significant increase in production, more bronze can flow into the production of farm implements and tools, thereby fundamentally increasing the productivity of the entire kingdom. Of course, in the Middle Ages, mining was the most arduous and dangerous labor, bar none. Behind the increased production of these copper materials is the price paid.

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

Shulot's eyes flickered, and he was silently calculating. A loss of 150 people per month 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 miner can only live for more than four years?"

Shulot lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment. Afterwards, with his expression unchanged, he picked up the pen and wrote down the new Wang Ling.

"Nekari, my warrior, you are doing a good job! Continue to increase production capacity and minimize losses. Increase the number of mine slaves to 10,000. The output of copper materials must reach more than 30 tons per month! As for the suppression Samurai, I will make up for the mine slaves you consume!"

After writing the king's decree, Xiulot took out the seal and printed the king's emblem on it. When the red emblem fell into the eyes, it was like blood. However, blood is unavoidable, it is the fuel for the progress of the times, and it is also the bones of countless sentient beings. Next, came the second document, from the person in charge of the Black Rock Mountain Iron Mine, Terkos warrior Mavic.

"Your Majesty! Your scales by the sea, Mavic reports to you: the rainy season has passed, the lightning will no longer fall, and the mining of the Black Rock Mountain Iron Mine has resumed its original state! There are now 1,600 Tekos in the mining area. The miners and 400 lumberjacks are busy day and night. In fact, this is open pit mining, and the manpower in the mining area can be increased a lot. But the supply of food in the mining area has always been somewhat tight."

Seeing this, Xiulot thought for a while and nodded slightly. In the Black Rock Mountain area, there are less than 10,000 Tekos tribe residents stationed. Their cultivation level is also very limited, and it is difficult to provide too much surplus food. The main source of food in the mining area comes from Zicao City, four hundred miles to the north. Through the waterway of the Talsas River and down the river, this section of the journey is not difficult, and it can be easily transported to arrive.

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

"The development of industry and mining requires the foundation of agriculture. The southern lowlands are vast and sparsely populated, far less prosperous than Hekou and Gyeonggi Fusheng, so further reclamation is necessary. Since Heiyan Mountain has iron mines and convenient waterways, the center of gravity of the kingdom's development must be Slopes towards the south coast."

After making up his mind, Shulot looked again and reported the details of mining and smelting. This part should have been written by priests and craftsmen, and it is very detailed.

"Your Majesty, iron ore and copper ore are both the essence condensed by the mother of the earth. But iron ore is baptized by the main god's lightning, and it is harder than copper ore! Miners mine iron ore much slower than copper ore. In addition , iron ore smelting is more difficult, and the iron material produced is less than the same amount of copper ore.”

Seeing this, Shulot pondered for a while. The quality of Heiyanshan iron ore is obviously low, and compared with the high-quality copper mine in Chinganbat, it immediately shows its superiority. At the same time, the Mohs hardness of iron ore is 5-6, while that of copper ore is 3.5-4.5. Based on the current level of technology, the cost of mining and smelting iron ore may be higher than that of copper ore.

"It has been two years since the Heiyanshan Iron Mine produced iron. According to His Majesty's continuous inspiration and for His Majesty's generous rewards, the priests and craftsmen have been exploring and have achieved some results."

"First of all, use kaolin and clay to build a shaft furnace with a height 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 Vulcan, the divine power of Fengshen is blown in to melt the earth mother. Essence. Molten iron comes out of the iron-making furnace and solidifies into iron material. However, the iron material at this time is very brittle and unusable. Therefore, the craftsmen followed suit and put the iron furnace again. The iron material is in the iron furnace The second melting, and then the molten iron, will be better."

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

Under his hard thinking and advanced guidance, the kingdom's ironmaking technology quickly passed the primitive stage of the block smelting method, and came to the high-temperature pig iron smelting stage of the shaft furnace. This is also the inspiration of the inheritance of the Celestial Dynasty, a technology that has emerged during the Warring States Period.

".Behind the iron furnace is a row of pottery molds. According to His Majesty's instructions, the production of farm tools is currently the main focus. As for the iron molds you pointed out, the craftsmen are still groping, but some results have been poured into the pottery molds. , solidified into different agricultural tools. But it is still slightly brittle at this time, and it needs a blacksmith to burn it red. The more times of continuous forging and forging, the better the effect, until the durable agricultural tools are produced. This is repeated tempering, introducing the power of the main god, Make the iron even harder! Of course, according to your instructions, after the forging is complete, there will be a quenching step to introduce the divine power of the Rain God! Gather the power of the gods, and thus obtain hard and tough iron!"

"Your Majesty. As for the 'extremely hard iron' you mentioned, 'mixed forging of soft iron and hard iron', what else is 'semi-melted molten iron mixed with iron powder and fried steel', 'keep the molten iron melted, and stir the mature iron for a long time in the open air '. Uh, the priests and craftsmen are working hard to explore. The Lord God blesses the kingdom! By next year, there will definitely be a breakthrough in the mining area!."

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

After many times of forging, pig iron was beaten into inferior steel, which could be used as farm tools and shorter weapons. And this is also the current situation in the Heiyanshan mining area, providing some iron farm tools for the kingdom's farmland, and further exploring the steelmaking process.

To obtain better quality steel, it is necessary to use the "steel frying method" of the Han Dynasty, or the mature "steel filling method" of the Southern and Northern Dynasties to smelt wrought iron and then mix it with pig iron to form steel. However, it will take time for these leap-forward technologies to reappear in Central America, where the foundation is weak.

If there is an urgent need for higher-quality steel, wrought iron can also be produced by block smelting, and then combined with pig iron from the shaft furnace to obtain higher-quality steel. It's just that the cost consumed and the quality of the final product are hard to describe. Generally speaking, the steelmaking method that is most likely to be realized at the moment should be the fried steel of the Han Dynasty.

"Knowledge is easier than practice, but it is hard to develop. The accumulation of smelting technology in the Kingdom is not enough. Even if you know a clear route and bypass hundreds of years of exploration, it is still difficult to achieve it overnight!"

Xiulot sighed softly, with helplessness appearing on his face. He couldn't ask for more from the priests and craftsmen in the Black Rock Mountain mining area. Facing the pious belief of the Lord God and the tempting rewards of the kingdom, the craftsmen have done their best. The rest are really limited in ability and lack of experience.

"If you can get the artisans of the Old World"

The smoke rises, like a rising desire. The young king whispered to himself. His gaze turned to the east again, thousands of miles away.