Qiao Bao officially stepped down, and the identity of the first blacksmith of the Great Iron Prison was handed over to the silent Chu Jing.

Chu Jing is a good hand. Under his rule, the Great Iron Supervisor was finally able to produce plate armor. Under the impact of the river, the never-ending hydraulic hammer forged the iron on the cutting board again and again, and again and again, the steel began to crystallize under the constant hammering.

New armor took shape.

The other craftsmen carried this batch of half-formed armor, and in their hands, these guys would take on their true shape. They will be delivered to the army at the Xishan Ranch Barracks outside Chizhou.

After the victory of the county, most of the army was called back to Chizhou. Many musketeers and gunners were summoned to the Great Iron Prison, which had reached more than three hundred men in size.

Arquebuses as well as cannons.

Hydraulic drilling machines are being developed, but craftsmen still have to manually drill wood to obtain muskets. And the cannon was developed with new manufacturing methods. There are basically two types of guns in the current era. One is the stone-shooting siege cannons like the Great Cannons of Urban, which move so badly that they can only bombard the walls at short distances. But it's really useful; The other is a small cannon, that is, a guy that is not much bigger than an arquebus. For example, the organ cannon.

The two-pounder cannon cast by Qin Cang was a real field artillery, and their goal was to bomb the enemy into fools in the field. And on the other hand, how to protect Chizhou? How to protect the seaport of Chishu?

It is important to give up the movement of the cannon.

Most of Chu Jing's tasks are this. In the past, when people made artillery, they needed to make fan, usually clay fan. It would take months just to be a fan. Only one out of several can succeed. And the requirements for molten iron are also very large. This made it impossible to carry out the production of artillery on a large scale.

Of course, later people developed the iron fan in response to the problem of fan, that is, to make a reusable fan out of iron. In this way, the progress of the artillery was shortened by several months at the source.

Chu Jing was trying the iron fan casting cannon that Qin Cang said.

And judging by the disappointed looks of the blacksmiths around them, it was clear that they had failed. The temperature is not enough, and the molten iron is not pure enough, which also causes the quality of the cast cannon to be very poor. It could even be said that it is just a spectacle.

"Smash it." Chu Jing said, and then he looked at the blacksmiths around him, "Charcoal can't burn the temperature we want." Coal, we need coke!! Only coke can burn purer molten iron! So, stop this development for a while, and before long, coal will come. ”

At the same time, in his heart, Chu Jing began to look forward to graphite produced in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River. With a graphite crucible, that's the real horror of tapping speed and quality.

The brick kiln was moved out of the Northwest District. This is also the first big guy to be moved out of the Northwest Side. In the vicinity of the mine, ten brand new brick kilns have been prepared. Ukraine not only has a quarter of the world's black soil, but also a huge amount of kaolin. These things are the best presence of fired ceramics. Of course, the soil in Kerch is not so good.

It was true that the brick kilns did not seem to be very compatible with the city, so they began to move out. They won't be the last, because the big iron supervisor behind them is also starting to leave for the mine. After all, the guns that often blow up are too dangerous.

Qiao Bao left with thirty blacksmiths. He took the initiative to apply to Qin Cang for the task of going to Xin'anwei to establish a lime factory.

"The old man doesn't want to be around all that! It's disgusting! Qiao Bao always explained this for himself. In order to obtain saltpeter for the production of black powder, the garbage in Chizhou, mainly manure, was diligently piled up in the nitrate factory south of Chishu by the dung diggers. Here, saltpeter is an indispensable raw material, whether it is fertilizer or black powder, or simply to obtain ice.

Workers spread grass ash on the dung. Keep it ventilated and nitrate slowly appears. Scraping off these white objects with the stench makes the workers pay exorbitantly.

For now, saltpeter can't be a crazy explosive, but the cold 'crystal' it provides has become a favorite among the city's people.

Before they knew it was scraped off the feces.

Qin Cang still remembered Sophia's refreshed expression when she drank the cold drink made of saltpeter that seemed to be noble, and the pain of hearing that this thing was hanging from feces.

In short, Qin Cang was kicked out of the room by the three women unanimously that day. It is also gratifying that women's friendships are gradually climbing in this state.

However, the climate in Chizhou is actually very good. A city that is like spring all year round, even in winter, the temperature will not drop below 10 degrees. Summer doesn't go more than thirty degrees, a perfect place.

So the regret of a northerner may be that he will never see snow again.

Back to Qiao Bao.

He took thirty workers and two hundred broken men with him to the fortress of the Karaim. After a short rest in the victorious guard, Qiao Bao and the others arrived at the Karaim fortress.

It is worth mentioning that Lemar is very business-minded. Under his management, there was a black market in the fortress, a place insulated from civilian use. Of course, it is not officially recognized as a black market, but after Lemar paid taxes to Conrado and did not ask for a salary, Conrado acquiesced to the existence of the place.

As a result, the Kara'im gradually moved out of their old houses in the caves. They came to this barrier north of Kaffa, a key fortress to block the Tatars from moving south. Conrador is happy to do so. Although he lost more and more land.

But for the Genoese, the gold and goods transferred from commerce were their land.

The Karaim people gathered here, numbering more than 4,000 people. But it should be noted that the Karaim have nothing. This is a fortress, not a place where resources can be produced.

Lemar was holding a large amount of gold coins, but he could not exchange it for a mouthful of food. Conrador gave him freedom and cut off supplies.

And it was at this time that Qin Cang appeared. The relatively abundant granaries in Chizhou sold them grain, and the merchants of Deshengwei sold salt, snacks and fruits. Horse-drawn carriages carried bricks and stones for the construction of houses, and many iron tools also crossed the border to appear in the fortress of Karaim.

Conrado did something stupid. He handed over the nearby fortress to Qin Cang's vassals.

That's right, Lemar has decided to join Qin Cang's kingdom.

And the cement plant is the first stop.