Although knives made of iron-making carbon steel are relatively sharp, they still cannot reach the level of being able to "cut gold and jade, and sharpen iron like mud". Because the quality of this steel is not good enough, the amount of carbon infiltration of this steel, whether the distribution is uniform, and the degree of impurity removal are very difficult to master, and the production efficiency is extremely low.

In order to improve the quality of steel, ancient craftsmen invented a new process of "100 steelmaking" from the middle of the Western Han Dynasty. There are probably not a few craftsmen who have mastered such a skill so far, right? Liu Cong secretly speculated, talents, talents in all aspects! Jingzhou must not lose in talent!

The so-called "100 steelmaking" is to repeatedly heat, fold and forge the block iron, so that the structure of the steel is dense, the composition is uniform, and the impurities are reduced, so as to improve the quality of the steel. Swords made of 100 steels are of high quality. There are many varieties of 100 steel, which can be seen in the records: "five refining", "nine refining", "three refining", "fifty refining", "seventy-two refining" and "hundred refining".

The specific meaning of these specific numbers before the word refining is generally believed by researchers to refer to the number of times heated, that is, how much fire has been refined. Shen Kuo, a famous scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty, described the process of 100 steelmaking in Cizhou in "Mengxi Writings", which is to continuously burn and forge more than 100 times until the catties are not reduced.

Cao Cao once ordered Yousi to make five "Hundred Knives", and called them "Hundred Refining Sharp Weapons" in the "Internal Commandment". Sun Quan has three treasure swords, one of which is called "Hundred Refinements". Pu Yuan is a treasure knife made by Liu Bei, engraved with "seventy-two refinements". It can be seen that during the Three Kingdoms period, 100 steelmaking was already quite common.

The demand for 100 steels is getting bigger and bigger, because the production efficiency of its raw material block ironmaking is very low, and it must be "cooled" after smelting, so the development of 100 steels is limited. In order to break through this limitation, Liu Cong had to teach the craftsmen a new pig iron steelmaking technique—frying steel.

Frying steel is to heat the pig iron to melt or basically melt, stir it in the furnace, and use the oxygen in the air to carbonize the pig iron to obtain steel. Because iron ore is smelted into liquid, of course, it can only be molten pig iron, and it must be fried into steel or wrought iron before "Naihou Wan Forging" (in fact, wrought iron is fried steel with very low carbon content), otherwise pig iron cannot be forged, let alone "ten thousand forging".

This is a whole process of smelting iron from iron ore into molten pig iron, then frying steel, and finally forging into high-quality weapons. The invention of frying steel is a technological revolution in the history of steelmaking. In Europe, steel roasting began in England in the 18th century, more than 1,600 years later than China. Liu Cong believes that there will be craftsmen who will be able to master this internationally leading technology!

Maybe Pu Yuan is one!

In addition, in order to forge a "magic knife" that can "cut gold and jade, and sharpen iron like clay", the last process quenching is also very important. The so-called "quenching" is to first put the beaten steel knife on the furnace fire to burn red, and then immediately put it into cold water and dip it properly to let it cool down suddenly.

This is repeated several times, and the steel knife will become tough and elastic. The quenching process seems easy, but it is extremely difficult to grasp the operation just right, and the heat of the fire, the degree of cooling, and the quality of the water have a lot to do with it. If the quenching is not enough, the blade is not hard and easy to curl; If the quenching is overdone, the blade will become brittle and easy to break; Quenching is suitable for quenching, and it is necessary to have extremely rich experience.

According to historical records, Pu Yuan was very particular about this, he believed that "Shujiang is refreshing", suitable for quenching, and "Han water is dull and weak", can not be used for quenching, and Fushui is not usable. He made a knife for Zhuge Liang at the mouth of the valley, and specially sent soldiers to Chengdu to fetch river water. Due to the rugged and bumpy mountain road, more than half of the river water was overturned, and the soldiers mixed in some living water.

After the water arrived, it was immediately recognized by Pu Yuan, "so he was shocked and called wonderful." "1,700 years ago, Pu Yuan discovered that the quality of water affects the effect of quenching, which is a great achievement. In Europe, however, it was only in modern times that this question began to be studied.

If you want to be killed, you must find a craftsman who can use advanced steel smelting techniques and has a wealth of quenching experience. Pu Yuan, where are you, Pu Yuan, Liu Cong felt for the first time that Pu Yuan was even more important than Zhuge Liang! What's even worse is that people in this era are scholars, and Confucianism is very respectful, so Zhuge Liang is very famous, and he is related to Liu Cong, so there is no need to inquire about his whereabouts at all.

But people like Pu Yuan are not valued in this era, Chinese civilization for thousands of years, most of the characters who can be verified in history are politicians and military strategists, when have you seen Zhang Heng, Bi Sheng and others have a large number of deeds handed down? However, Liu Cong has a brocade guard and an espionage department.

In the next few months, the main task of the Jinyi Guard and the Espionage Department is to search for well-known craftsmen in Jingzhou and Yizhou, of course, the focus is on Pu Yuan!

Pu Yuan came to Xiangyang City with a scolding, to be precise, he was kidnapped! Previously, he owned an iron shop in Hanzhong, making all kinds of furniture for others, and his business was booming, and he was also a well-off family. Overnight, the family disappeared, the apprentices stopped coming, and in the end, the shop was smashed in the middle of the night and set on fire! Overnight, Pu Yuan, who had a well-off standard of living, was almost reduced to a beggar.

Then someone came forward to invite him to Xiangyang, but he naturally refused, so the person who came threatened with the lives of his family and had to follow him to Xiangyang. Along the way, when he learned that the general of Zhengnan and Liu Cong of Jingzhou were the masterminds behind the scenes, he scolded and wondered at the same time, you are a feudal official, separating the princes, and the general above the three princes can't get along with me, a blacksmith?

He was even more stunned when he arrived at his home in Xiangyang, where many officials were chatting and laughing with his old father and mother, and a young high-ranking official was playing with his four-year-old son in the mud. As soon as I asked, this person was the general of Zhengnan! Pu Yuan is even more confused! Is it so idle to be a general?

When Liu Cong introduced him to other craftsmen from all over the world, and handed over to Pu Yuan some of the methods and information he had compiled about iron-making and weapon-making, Pu Yuan was shocked? Is this the general of Zhengnan? I think he's a skilled craftsman. Of course, he soon understood the purpose of Liu Cong's invitation to come, and felt the sincerity and pressure at the same time!

Liu Cong settled Pu Yuan's family in Xiangyang, bought a large mansion, and gave dozens of acres of fertile land. Pu Yuan felt that the average county order did not have such a magnificent residence, not to mention that he was an ordinary blacksmith. As a blacksmith, what he can do is to create quite excellent weapons and equipment to repay Liu Cong's kindness.

Through the efforts of Liu Ba, Huang Quan and others, half invited and half tied, and in three months, Xiangyang gathered more than 200 outstanding craftsmen from all over the world. Later, Liu Ba led 3,000 troops as Cao Peng, a soldier of the general's mansion and Sima of the iron official camp, and took these blacksmiths to Changsha County to make steel!

This appointment, which seems to be extremely ordinary to ordinary people, has given Liu Cong high hopes. In particular, Liu Ba's appointment as the Sima of the Tieguanying shows that Liu Cong attaches great importance to this matter. Liu Ba was one of the first few strategists to follow Liu Cong, and his status was even above that of the ordinary county guards.

In addition to making great efforts in weapons and equipment, the infantry battalions were also ordered to expand their troops in large quantities, among which the Gangneung infantry demanded an expansion of 15,000 troops within a year, and the Gangneung naval army also asked for an expansion of 5,000 troops. Some high-level officials in Jingzhou know this, and Liu Cong is preparing for the next step of expanding his territory.

Subsequently, in order to make Wen Ping and Zhuge Liang more focused on presiding over anti-Cao matters in the administration, Liu Cong analyzed the seventeen counties under Nanyang County's own jurisdiction, such as Zhangling County, Pingshi County, Ye County, Fancheng, Xinye, Nanxiang County, Shunyang County, Yu County, Danshui County, Wudang County, Yin County, and Zhuyang County, to establish Xinye County and govern Xinye.

Wenpin and the Taishou of Xinye County, part of the infantry and cavalry of the Fancheng battalion moved to Xiangyang, established a new military camp, Huang Zhong was promoted to commander, and at the same time promoted Deng Zhi to the Xinye Order.

Deng Zhi, who is nearly forty years old, finally has the opportunity to show his talent, and Deng Ai has a better growth environment. Don't worry about being bullied anymore.

At the same time, in this way, a barrier was formed on both sides of the Han River and the Baihe River valley to defend Xiangyang, and the Xiangyang infantry cavalry and naval army could also fight alone. Xiangyang has become the second line from the front line. This is also Liu Cong's preparation for the expedition. It was more convenient to act as a county guard than a general, and Wen Ping was able to grasp the defense forces of each county in detail, and at the same time, the troops of the Fancheng battalion were sent to each county to deploy according to the actual situation.

Just wait for the weapons and army training to be in place, and when the time is ripe, Liu Cong is going to send troops to the west! Liu Cong is making great strides on the bright road of his own Han family!