Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 686 Premise

  In late autumn in the Northland, one can already experience the power of the coming severe cold, and the exhaled breath forms a string of white mist in the air.

On the banks of the Xinshui River, a, well, strictly speaking, three large-scale camps were built along the river bank. The camps are not far from each other, about a hundred steps away. The wooden and soil structure was used, but now it is basically replaced by red bricks, and it will gradually become the shape of a dock.

In the middle of the camp, apart from workshops, there are also workshops. The wood on Luliang Mountain was felled, and then dragged down the mountain, bundled together, woven into rafts, and carried some mined ore along the way down the river to arrive here. The wood was piled up on the river bank to wait to dry in the shade, and the ore was basically put into the towering furnace in the camp, where it was refined into various raw materials.

  Thick black smoke from the blast furnace was spewing out day and night, and water and land transportation basically did not stop. Most of the original small-scale workshops on Beiqu's side have been moved here, and ordinary gun heads, arrows, and iron armor are all produced here, while what is left in Beiqu is further refined processing and smelting, such as three The battle sword of ten training and the Mo knife of fifty training are both from Beiqu.

Coal has become the main fuel. Fortunately, even in later generations, there are still a lot of open-pit coal seams in Shanxi. For Feiqian now, even if the three camps are fully started, they may not be used up in three to five years. That layer on the surface.

   However, the quality of iron refined from coal is naturally inferior, but it also brings additional interesting side effects...

  Fei Qian held two iron spear heads, looked at them, handed them to Xu Shu, and said with a smile, "Yuan Zhi, what is the difference in quality between these two spear heads?"

  Xu Shu took the two gun heads, weighed them habitually, and tested the hardness of the gun heads on the soil, and then said: "Zhonglang, this... I can't tell, it seems that the difference is not big..."

   Feiqian smiled, and then motioned to the craftsman on the side to demonstrate.

  The craftsman picked up the two gun heads, and then led Fei Qian and others to a stove, and then held the two gun heads with iron tongs and heated them in the raging fire.

   Not long after, the tip of the gun was licked red by the flames. The craftsman skillfully clamped the two gun heads, placed them on the anvil, grabbed the hammer beside them and struck them quickly.

  The tip of the gun is quickly and gradually flattened, and then the difference is made. One of the tip of the gun suddenly cracked under the percussion, as if a block of ice fell to the ground, it shattered into several pieces of different sizes, while the other tip of the gun was under continuous percussion. It became a piece of iron in the shape of a round pie, and it did not crack...

   "This..." Xu Shu's eyes widened.

The material of the iron ore on Luliang Mountain is average. If it is not screened and some lime is not added for desulfurization, then the molten iron produced after smelting and frying steel will contain high sulfur elements. When there is more sulfur, the steel will generate heat. crisp effect.

  But let alone in the Han Dynasty, even in later generations, how many people can understand the hot brittle effect of steel? At room temperature, or when it is completely melted into molten iron, this kind of hot brittleness is basically not manifested, but it is particularly obvious when it is thermally processed at about 1000 degrees. At this time, steel with high sulfur content is like It's like paper, and it breaks when you smash it.

   Simply put, it is difficult for ordinary steel without desulfurization to undergo simple secondary thermal processing...

   Fei Qian nodded to the craftsman, and then moved away from some extremely hot blast furnaces. After a while, Fei Qian was already sweating a little.

   "These are gun heads destined for the east..." Fei Qian whispered to Xu Shu.

  Gold in troubled times, antiques in prosperous times. But in troubled times, there are things more precious than gold, one is food and grass, and the other is weapons.

  Xu Shu suddenly realized, and then showed a tacit smile.

Marching and fighting, weapons and so on are naturally worn out, but on the battlefield, it is impossible to set up a blast furnace to melt all of them and then pour them. It can only be maintained by superficial thermal processing, and the guns sent by Feiqian head at this moment...

Besides, Fei Qian also said that the land in Bingzhou is barren, and the quality of gun heads is lower, so of course the price is lower. In the eyes of people like Yuan Shao, soldiers are a kind of consumables. , basically don't understand, let alone ask too much.

As for the craftsmen in Yuan Shaojun who encountered such problems, most of them would directly treat these problematic irons as waste products and discard them. Unless someone pays special attention, they will naturally not take the initiative to report them, so the result is The attrition rate of ordnance has been greatly improved.

  Basically speaking, the caravans going east now are transporting these relatively high-sulphur gunpoints and arrows, in exchange for grain, grass, cloth and other materials.

  Xu Shu suddenly thought of something, and then said: "So, is there something wrong with the relationship between Yuan Cheqi and the Hebei Zhen family?"

  Jizhou also has iron mines, but they are basically controlled by the Zhen family. Yuan Che traveled thousands of miles to find Fei Qian to buy these gun heads. One is that the price on Fei Qian's side is lower, and the other is that there are also psychological factors that he does not want to be restricted by the Zhen family.

  In the current Han Dynasty, the dependence on the gentry is too strong.

  No one, looking for a family.

   No money or food, looking for an aristocratic family.

  No salt and iron tea, no daily necessities, etc., you need to find a family...

  In order to take back the salt and iron from the emperor, for a long time after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the aristocratic family did everything they could to get this piece of fat back.

  The aristocratic family is a malignant tumor that only attaches to the Han Dynasty. After dragging down the Han Dynasty in the future, it will also fall into decline.

Yuan Shao was in Jizhou, although he was in the hands of the state herdsman, he could not do without the Hebei gentry in forming an army and producing supplies for life. Therefore, only people like Tian Feng and high-ranking cadres could hold high positions. People fight in court.

   Feiqian shook his head and said: "There may not be any conflicts, I'm afraid it's just that the conditions between the two parties have not been agreed." Afterwards, Yuan Shao united with the Zhen family by marriage, which is probably a kind of mutual recognition transaction.

  But as long as Yuan Shao is unwilling to be completely controlled by the local Zhen family, he will inevitably choose Feiqian for transactions, just like suppliers in later generations always have to prepare more.

  Fei Qian looked towards the east and said: "What's more, Yuan Cheqi needs a lot of ordnance recently. He buys it everywhere, and Hebei alone can't supply it for a while... So this kind of business should last for a while..."

   "The meaning of Zhonglang, Yuan Cheqi is ready to attack?" Xu Shu said, "If you want to go south, you must first settle in the north..."

   Feiqian nodded, and said: "Recently, the proportion of grain and grass exchanged in the east... Well, the quantity is declining, while the quantity of other supplies such as salt, tea, cloth, etc. is increasing... These people in the east are also hoarding grain and grass..."

  This winter may be the last window of time to hoard food and grass, and then there will be wars everywhere, and food and grass will be even more precious than gold...

   I didn't eat breakfast, I really can't eat it...

   I felt like throwing up after the first bite...

   MMP…

   The ancients said that being pregnant is like being pregnant, it really makes sense...

  (end of this chapter)