After Spring and Autumn

Chapter 42 Black Stone
Iron smelting has always been Meng Di's top concern. After arranging the chores, he took Han Qu and others to go.

The valley where the Li clan was ambushed in the past is where the iron is now being smelted, and after Qian Qian came, everything will be arranged by him.

Ganjiang divided the indigenous labor force into two parts, one half was here, and the other half was brought by Ganying to smelt bronze not far away.

Before Mengdi entered the valley, he felt the heat wave. The lush vegetation in the valley had long since disappeared, and the whole valley was bare.

There was a lot of noise in the valley. Some young and strong natives were drumming charcoal, and some were repeatedly beating sword embryos. All of them were naked to the waist and sweating profusely.

The general was already waiting at the entrance of the valley. He picked up an iron sword lying on the ground and handed it to Meng Di, and then took a bronze sword. The two swords struck each other hard. With a sound of "ding", the bronze sword broke into two pieces. .Examining the iron sword carefully, the blade was not damaged.

"Good sword!" Meng Di was overjoyed.

"My lord, the cast iron sword is stronger and sharper than ordinary copper swords!" the general said proudly.

"Congratulations, Brother Gan Jiang, for forging a sword." Han Qu and the others congratulated each other.

The general's momentum changed, and he said resentfully: "This sword can only fool you and others, but it may not be able to enter the Lord's eyes."

"Oh? Why is this?" Meng Diqi asked.

"This sword can only break ordinary copper swords, and every time it is used, there will be very small gaps. It will still break after a long time. If it is used against Zhanlu and other swords, it will be even more vulnerable." The general is sad.

A peerless sharp blade like Zhanlu would only be kept in the princes' palaces or used for showing off, so how could it appear on the battlefield?Meng Di danced a sword flower casually, and felt that it was suitable for both weight and weight, and was extremely satisfied.

"How much can this sword be made in a month?" Meng Di was more concerned about the output.

"This..." The general's voice became softer, and he raised his palm in embarrassment.

"Five handles?" Meng Di also frowned.

In fact, five handles are really not a small number. It takes at least several months for an ordinary craftsman to cast a good sword.

A general is a proud person. He can forge swords according to his own wishes here. Iron, stone, and charcoal are inexhaustible, and there are hundreds of young and strong people who can use them. He believes that he will be able to forge a peerless sword.

Unexpectedly, after working hard, the iron swords cast are still only at a medium level, and the output is low, so it is difficult to explain to Meng Di.With the same cost, it can make more than ten times the ordinary copper sword.

Meng Di didn't think so much, bronze was not in his consideration at all.

Seeing that Meng Di was silent, the general regarded it as dissatisfied, and said bravely, "My lord, there is another way, maybe we can cast more iron swords."

Meng Di was shocked when he heard the words, "What method?"

"I heard that there are black stones in the north, which can support combustion. If the fire can be increased, the iron and stone can be easily melted. At that time, not to mention ten times, even a hundred times the amount can be obtained."

"Is there such a good thing?" Meng Di thought hard, but in his previous life he was just a warrior and knew nothing about sword making.

Everyone shook their heads one after another, even the generals only heard about it, so how would people like themselves know.

Anyway, Meng Di was very happy, patted Gan on the shoulder vigorously, and said sincerely: "As we agreed, you can use whatever you need for smelting and casting. As for the black stone, I will find a way."

"My lord!" The general gave a solemn salute. Although his temper was a little perverse, he valued friendship, especially this kind of trusting words, which made him want to die.

The "lord" general seemed to have remembered something, and took out a few things from the valley, "This is a hoe, a shovel, and a sickle. Farm tools that Wu has seen before."

farm tools!Han Qu, who was devoted to farming, hastily reached out to take it, looking at it over and over again.After researching for a long time, I still got nothing, so I had to ask.

In fact, the go-getters have never used them. When they were in the state of Wu, they were ordered to make a batch of bronzes to replace stone knives and clam sickles.But bronze is precious and easy to wear and tear, so it is rarely used.

The iron smelted now is very suitable, with wood as the heart and iron blades outsourcing, it is convenient and durable to make.

Good thing, although I haven't figured it out yet, but I feel that it will be greatly beneficial to farming. Han Qu is impatient, holding up the farm tools to apologize to Meng Di, and rushing to Hangu to ask an experienced old farmer.

Seeing him unable to hold back, everyone burst into laughter.

Meng Di went to the place where the bronze was smelted again. The location of the copper mine was not far away, and Ganying was smelting on the side.

According to Ganying, the copper mines found are extremely high-quality, better than those seen in Chu State.

"My lord, I've got a thousand jin of copper." Qianying's eyes lit up.

The only pity is that according to Meng Di's request, all of them were melted into copper ingots instead of being cast into bronze tripods or bronze swords.

Meng Di nodded in praise, seeing that Han Zhan seemed to have something to say, he asked, "How about Zuo Qu's training?"

"My lord, Zuo Qu trained according to the requirements of the two adults, Little Five and Little Six. Everything is fine. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"There's not enough food, and I can't get enough to eat." Han Zhan smiled wryly.

Yes, before the Hangu rice was ripe, the consumption of more than a thousand native young men and five hundred soldiers was indeed unaffordable.

Bronze was exchanged for grain, and Meng Di immediately made a decision. The Han area basically did not use bronze, and it happened to be used to exchange the urgently needed grain with the Yue State.

The aborigines of the Li tribe feel very at ease here, and they can eat half full every day, which is already the dream of many people.

So no one thought of fleeing. In fact, even if they fled, they would have nowhere to go. The territory of the Li clan had long been occupied by other tribes.

Meng Di decided to temporarily stop bronze smelting, and returned to Gumi City with five hundred natives and Han Zhan's Zuo Qu.

Gan Ying was extremely disappointed, so she had to take a few natives who were quite talented in craftsmen to help Gan Jiang.

Back in the city, Ling Hanqu, who was busy testing agricultural tools in the field, immediately took the copper ingots to Kuaiji. The Yue Kingdom was going to war, and this batch of bronze must be urgently needed.

Let Han Zhan and Xiao Wu select suitable soldiers from the aborigines for training, and the rest rush to farm.

The quality of the aborigines is very good, more than [-] people were selected, and more than [-] people were recruited from the Han area. In this way, the left and right songs, which were originally only half songs, have been expanded to full compilation.

"Within one month, let them all become combatable soldiers." This is the military order issued by Meng Di.

Then, Meng Di sent someone to invite Ji Chao.

"The black stone? There is one in Chu." After Ji Chao went into exile in Chu, all he had to do in his free time was to read the classics of the Zhou family that he carried with him.

"Black stones are combustible, and people in the countryside often use them to keep warm. There are many trees in Han, and there is no shortage of fuel, so it is useless." Ji Chao didn't know his intentions, but advised Meng Di that there was no need to work hard. After all, it cost a lot of money to transport it from Chu. . "

Meng Di had a plan in mind, so he asked Ji Chao when he would move people from the four clans here.

Ji Chao was very satisfied with the Han land, and said that he could do it at any time, but this matter was so important that he had to go there in person.

"Okay, then it will be a month later, and I will send someone to escort me all the way."

(End of this chapter)