Before the use of oil, coal was the main fuel for humans, and before the advent of coal, wood was the main fuel for humans. Now all the nations use wood for bronze smelting. The use of coal in China was in the Western Han Dynasty hundreds of years later, and the so-called "Shi Ni" in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is the inference of coal - as the compiler of the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", Yu Guanzi showed Xiong Jing that the stone Ni mentioned in the book is not coal at all, it is a kind of transparent thing similar to rock sugar, which is actually alum, but he does not know it.

This is the case with the literature on coal, and the same is true for sulfur. Even though Xiong Jing detailed the color, smell, and origin of sulfur (craters, geothermal sites), the scholars and shamans who compiled the Classic of Mountains and Seas still could not find original records of sulfur. To be precise, the shortest piece of wood for gunpowder is not saltpeter, but sulfur, after the emergence of sulfur purification technology in the Tang Dynasty, gunpowder was really used in actual combat, before it was only an occasional explosion of Dan furnace.

The earliest document that records sulfur is not the "Fan Zi Jiran" quoted in the Song Dynasty's "Taiping Yulan": "saltpeter out of Longdao", "stone sulfur out of Hanzhong" - although "Fan Zi Jiran" describes the remarks of helping Gou Jian to destroy Wu Fan Li in the Spring and Autumn Period, but this is similar to the way of using soldiers through the mouth of Jiang Ziya, Taigong of Zhou, in the military book "Liutao". The earliest and more reliable document to record sulfur should be the "Shennong Materia Medica", but that is already the Eastern Han Dynasty. The reason why it is so late is inseparable from the fact that there are not many natural sulfur mines in the Central Plains.

Xiong Jing naturally doesn't know the real history, he only knows that the current ancient and modern place names are different, he can't find the city he is looking for, the names of ancient and modern items are different, and there is no search engine, and it is difficult to find some literature. Fortunately, the cheap master is able to mobilize some people, such as looking for coal now, and directly ask local officials.

Coal is the food of modern industry, and burning cement is only one of the small uses, but the function is universal, and the coal with a temperature higher than charcoal is used for ironmaking, and the impact is ten times and a hundred times that of cement. Faced with the question of the crown, Xiong Jing thought for a while before saying: "To make iron with charcoal, the fire temperature cannot turn the iron into molten iron, and to make iron with black stone, that is, coal, the fire temperature and high iron water will appear." It's just that there are many impurities in black stone, and it needs to be coking before refining, and iron is smelted with coke, supplemented by ......"

It is difficult to express the smelting technology that Xiong Jing knows, and he recalls it: "Iron can be smelted with coke, and refined steel can be produced." ”

This apprentice of his own, who knows almost everything about utensils, is not strange to see the crown of the jaw: "Although iron is gold, it is brittle and easy to break, so it is called evil gold, which can only be used as agricultural tools, and is difficult to be a weapon." What is Zijing's so-called steel? ”

There was no steel word in ancient times, so Xiong Jing had no choice but to say: "Steel, Juye." Refined iron is obtained by a hundred tempers, casting swords, and can blow hair and break hair. ”

Ju's original meaning was Da Gang, and as soon as he said Ju Guanzi, he understood, and he asked: "Zijing knows how to practice Ju's technique?" ”

After thinking about the knowledge of ironmaking again, Xiong Jing nodded and said, "I understand a little." After speaking, he was a little uneasy, and asked rhetorically: "Isn't there a craftsman who smelts iron in my Chu country?" The iron I know is probably not much different from what they know. ”

"The art of iron-refining in the world is based on the goodness of my Chu State and Yan State, and the so-called 'Wan Ju Iron Spear, miserable as a bee', is talking about the Ju Iron of my Chu State, but the Ju Iron comes out of Wan, and Wan Di has been annexed by Qin. In the first battle of the old Ying, many craftsmen died, and there were no three out of ten. Today's mansion is mostly a caster," said the crown with deep regret in his tone, he had witnessed the two powerful countries being crippled by the Qin people.

"What is a forger?" Xiong Jing was puzzled.

"The caster is a foreign craftsman, greedy for gold and silver, so he entered my mansion." Crowns explained. "All countries value hundreds of work, and the craftsmen who enter Chu are only third-class craftsmen from other countries, but third-class craftsmen can also be smelters of Chu." Perhaps to deepen Xiong Jing's impression, Yu Guanzi pointed to the smokers on several cases and said: "There should be a smoker in Zijing's bedroom, which is cast by the old Ying, and this furnace is given by the king, how is it different from the furnace in your bedroom?" ”

The smoker on several cases is not noticed, but if you look closely, you can see that this smoker is thick and rough, and there is no exquisite and elegant beauty of the smoker in your bedroom.

Thinking of the need to use a lot of iron components on the sailboat, as well as the copper skin at the bottom of the boat, Xiong Jing sighed: "My country's craftsmen have withered so much. ”

"The sin of this war." The crown nodded. "There is iron ore where copper is produced in my Chu country, if Zijing can smelt huge iron, use it to build a house, or it can be repaired."

Xiong Jing said that the crown was contemplative. Generally speaking, shipyards have steel-making plants, for example, Xiong Jing is familiar with the modern Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and there are steel-making plants in it, but it is steelmaking, and most of the pig iron used is purchased from Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and other places. Before the great development of iron smelting technology, the ore determines the quality of steel, China's iron ore is not excellent, Daye iron ore should not be mentioned, and the steel smelted by Zhang Zhidong can only be made into rails; The best place for iron ore is Benxi, where the iron ore contains sulfur and phosphorus in the polar regions, smelted with charcoal, and pure pig iron can be smelted better than Swedish iron.

If you don't go to Benxi, there are Ma'anshan and Huoqiu in the Chu country, Huoqiu is better than Ma'anshan, but Huoqiu is inconvenient, and there is another place is Liguoyi, when Zhang Zhidong ran Daye, Li Hongzhang persuaded him to run it in Liguo, where there was coal and lime.

"Zijing, Zijing......" Someone called Xiong Jing again.

The steel mill is easy to do, and the production can be intermittent, but the iron mill is not easy to do, it must be close to the raw materials, and the advantages and disadvantages of the raw materials themselves must also be considered; And then there is iron-smelting - SC is the military arena, Area 3 is the model area, Area 63 is the overhead area, Xiong Jing will also go there to see, iron-making and steel-making can be regarded as knowing some doorways......

"Sir, the disciple is rude." Xiong Jing was distracted and shouted at him for several words before he came back to his senses.

"It's okay." Iron smelting is a more advanced skill than copper smelting, Xiong Jing was born to know, but there is still a big distance between him and the line, and he feels that his expectations for Xiong Jing are too high.

"Senior brother," it wasn't Yu Guanzi shouting Xiong Jing, it was Xiong Jing's senior brother Mu Ling shouting Xiong Jing. "Black earth and rocks are ordinary."

"Alexandria?" An unfamiliar name. Mu Ling handed over a bamboo slip. "This mountain is forty miles east of Yingdu. Quyang City Yin replied to the order, saying that every time there is a heavy rain in the mountains, there will be black torrents in the mountains......"

"Black torrents?" Xiong Jing's eyes lit up, and he asked urgently, "Do you have a sample?" ”

After discovering that there was black soil and stone, Cheng Yin wanted to send samples to the Lantai School Palace, so Xiong Jing asked. Mu Ling said: "No, this is the word of mouth of the common people, and Cheng Yin thought it was a strange thing, so he told it." ”

Xiong Jing was already looking at the map of Chu at this time, Quyang was in the south of Huaishui, not far from Shouying, and the most important thing was that it was not far from the shipyard, and the coal dug up could be transported by water.

"Sir, Quyang is only forty miles, please send someone to investigate carefully." Xiong Jing looked at Yu Guanzi, he was a person with status and status in the Chu State, and it was better for him to come forward than to come forward by himself.

"Ziling, this matter will be handed over to you." There are about a dozen disciples of the crown of the people, and these people are generally not young, most of them are officials and generals in Zhao and Chu, and there are only a few people around Mu Ling. The surname Mu comes from the Song State, the Song State is the fief of the Duke of Zhou to the prince of Yin Shang and the brother of the King of Zhou, Wei Ziqi, in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Song Mu Gong generously passed the throne to his younger brother Song Gong, so the name is Mu, and his descendants have since taken Mu as the surname, they first moved to the Zheng State, and then entered the Chu State.

Among the noble sons of Yingdu, compared to the noble blood, no one can compare to Mu Ling, who inherited Yin Shang; Compared with the suave and poetic talents, Mu Ling claims to be the second, and no one dares to call the first. It's just that he has no intention of career, and often compares himself to Zhuang Zhou, the only difference is that Zhuang Zhou likes to roll mud, he is a mixed flower, a dancer in the Yingdu City, no one dares to say that he doesn't recognize Mu Gongzi.

Hearing that the master asked him to go to Lishan to find the black earth and stone, Mu Ling didn't mind, he smiled and said, "The disciple obeys his fate." Can Zijing have a request? ”

Looking for ore is not a fun thing, seeing that Yu Guanzi instructed Senior Brother Pian Pian to find coal, Xiong Jing immediately said, "Thank you, Senior Brother." The black earth and stone are coal, black in color, and combustible, but they should be molded by water and wood. This thing is very useful, it can be used to smelt iron, it can be burned mirage, and it is very much, so it is necessary to consider transportation and collection when opening a mine......"

If there is a mine, it must be dug, and the choice of mine site must of course consider transportation. Mu Ling understood this truth, and he smiled: "Zijing, don't worry, if there is, you will choose its best place and pick it." Quyang Chengyin and I were once drunk in the song market, and he will definitely do his best to help. ”

Mu Ling, who had a beard, laughed a little sunny, and he said goodbye and prepared to go. Ku Guanzi also smiled at this time: "Yingdu is set in Shouyi, in addition to the dangers of mountains and rivers, water and land transportation, there are also concerns about abundant forests. Coal is combustible, it can save forests, and if it can really become a huge iron, the king will be very happy.

Zijing, strong crossbows, waterwheels, sweet potatoes, dragon horses, and giant iron, four of the five, my Chu country should be invincible. ”

After a long time, even if he didn't knock on the side, he also felt that Xiong Jing was not optimistic about the prospects of Chu State, and the art of war could not be achieved overnight, and he mostly enhanced Xiong Jing's confidence at the strategic level. But Xiong Jing heard that King Qin would be crowned this month, and when he looked at the little man under his crotch when he peed, he actually remembered the Chang Yu who could push the cart with the root of his life - Chang Yu was executed before the rebellion was completed, and Lü Buwei committed suicide immediately, and Zhao Guo was finished in a few years, and suddenly felt that the situation was tense.

"Sir, the crown of King Qin is imminent, and I, Chu, Zhao, Han, and Wei, are not only weak but also unified. Qi thought that it could share the world equally with Qin, but instead of resisting Qin, it contained us and Zhao; The same is true for the Yan State, every time the Zhao State fights with Qin, there is a sense of containment from behind. Now it is not as usual, in the past, Zhao Wei and Chu bordered, and it was possible to save Zhao by means of Wei, and now Qin has Dong County, across Zhao Wei, and it is difficult to save Zhao. In Mr.'s words, if Zhao dies, Han Wei will be destroyed, as soon as Han Wei goes, the northern cave will be opened, Qi will not help me, what will I do with Chu Guo? ”