"Back to Your Majesty, Zichen has taken the position of soldier Cao Peng, responsible for the manufacture of weapons, and now I already have some understanding, and there is an important matter that is indeed a little difficult at present!" Mo Cheng's face was ashamed, and he was a little unconfident.

As soon as he took the position of soldier Cao Peng, he encountered difficulties and complained to His Majesty, and Mo Cheng himself felt a little embarrassed.

Although he hasn't known each other for a long time and doesn't know much, Liu Chan does know that Mo Cheng is by no means the kind of character who likes to ask for people, if it wasn't really difficult, he would never open his mouth to himself, so he asked: "What's the trouble, you don't have to say it's okay!" ”

Sighing lightly, Mo Cheng said slowly: "Your Majesty, it is by no means a minister who shirks his responsibility, it is really the battle of Yiling where our army suffered heavy losses, and all the ordnance materials were lost, although with the support of the prime minister, the ordnance materials recovered quickly, but it is still far from the former level, and now, it is reported that there are not many existing mineral deposits in Shuzhong, and no new mines have been discovered, and they are already in the realm of refining without iron. ”

"And what do you think?"

Liu Chan crossed over, and what he learned more was only military conquests, as well as some celebrities, and it was impossible to understand everything, and some things still needed to be asked, after all, appointing people for use was what a generation of kings needed to do.

Mo Cheng thought for a while, and then said: "Your Majesty, the Central Plains mineral deposits are the most suitable for refining soldiers in Fujian mines, and the iron smelters are hard in texture, and they are first-class good iron, but Fujian minerals are located in Dongwu, and it is always a little inconvenient to buy them in large quantities." ”

"In addition, we need to find new mineral deposits, otherwise we will use Fujian ore to make iron, and once our relationship with Soochow is tense, mineral resources will become a problem."

"Min Mine ......"

From ancient times to the present, weapons are always a crucial condition for all conquests, and the weapons of the Three Kingdoms have not been refined because of time after all, but they are still so simple and heavy.

One of the most obvious phenomena is that the heavier the weapon, the more powerful it is, especially the generals, because of their high physical fitness, they like heavier weapons, and the weight is enough, and the wielding is more powerful.

And this is the key that Liu Chan thought of, it doesn't matter if the general's weapon sinks a little, but does it need the soldier's weapon to be so heavy? Of course, there is no need, after all, with the development of history, the weight of cold weapons used by soldiers is developing towards lighter, and it does not affect the overall situation, because while becoming lighter, it brings thinner thickness, and the sharpness is getting higher and higher.

"Now it is rare for the north to settle down, but our army is also suffering serious losses, and we must recruit new troops to quell the rebellion in the south and central China."

Yonghong, Zhu Bao's rebellion has not yet been settled, if according to history, it will take a year, and during this time, Zhuge Liang recruited and trained 30,000 new troops, and these 30,000 new troops are the main force in Pingnan, as for the wild history, the 100,000 army in the middle is pure nonsense, Liu Chan thought, where did so many people come from.

At that time, the supply of ordnance must be guaranteed, and the smelting cannot be stopped, and at the same time, Mo Cheng's words also reminded him that since the Fujian mine is so good, it is necessary to talk to Dongwu.

Speaking of Eastern Wu, at the beginning, he had the intention to send troops to Fuling to respond to the call of Cao Pi of Wei, if it wasn't for Deng Zhi's mouth, the loss of Shu would be much higher than now, and he also said at the beginning that once Shu can pass this crisis, they will send envoys to visit, form an imperial alliance, and fight against Cao Wei.

Since there is the possibility of forming an alliance, it may not be impossible to solve the matter of mineral deposits, and use them for Fujian mines.

Of course, Liu Chan will never hand everything over to others, Shuzhong also needs to strengthen exploration, be sure to find new sources of minerals as soon as possible, this is the end of the Han Dynasty, there is no shortage of mineral deposits, there are still many, only need to increase the intensity of exploration.

"I will implement relevant measures as soon as possible after consulting with the prime minister, and more importantly, we need to discover new mineral deposits, and pass on my order to increase the exploration of mineral deposits, and there must be new mineral sources within half a month."

Subsequently, Liu Chan added again: "In addition, the production of the iron-smelting industry cannot be stopped, but the production of ordnance can be suspended, and Fujian ore can be used as much as possible, after all, the quality is there." That's right! What kind of process is our current iron smelting? ”

Liu Chan only knew that due to the implementation of the official economic policy of salt and iron of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the rapid development of iron-smelting technology was promoted, and even the softening treatment technology of cast iron and steel-making technology were also born.

In the iron-smelting and forging technology, Liu Chan attaches great importance to the quenching technique.

Seeing that Liu Chan pondered for a long time, Mo Cheng waited on the side at first, but after a long time, he couldn't stay, probably because he had something to say.

"Your Majesty, Weichen has the courage to ask Your Majesty to take a look!"

It's winter, and the weather in Shuzhong is generally a little cold, probably because the environment is good and has not caused global warming.

Liu Chan and his entourage came to a smelter on the side of Chengdu, accompanied by Mo Cheng and some attendants in the palace, as well as a new face.

This person's name is Zhang Yi, and he is now serving as the general of Si Jin Zhonglang, mainly responsible for the field of iron smelting, and has the largest connection with Mo Cheng, after all, one makes iron and the other uses iron.

As for his origin, he was originally under the command of Liu Zhang of Shu, defeated by Zhang Fei, and later served as a representative of Liu Zhang's peace talks with Liu Bei, and after getting Liu Bei's promise to treat him politely, he persuaded Liu Zhang to open the city and surrender.

He also made great contributions to Liu Bei's entry into Shu, and later Liu Bei thanked him for his merits, and once appointed him as the Taishou of Bajun, and later Liu Bei succeeded to the throne as the emperor, and implemented the Han salt and iron official camp policy in Shu, Zhang Yi was recalled, and has been responsible for the smelting of iron products, and also supervised the manufacture of agricultural tools and weapons.

At this time, Zhang Yi was explaining the iron-smelting process, but halfway through it, Liu Chan had a question: "You mean that the current smelting is mainly based on coal?" ”

Interrupted by Liu Chan, Zhang Yi heard Liu Chan's inquiry, and couldn't help but wonder: "Your Majesty, it's always been like this, is there anything wrong?" ”

"Starting today, try to make iron with charcoal!"

Zhang Yi asked, "Can charcoal smelt pig iron?" ”

"You can experiment with everything, if it is feasible, it will be so, if it doesn't work, forget it!" In fact, this is also what Liu Chan saw by chance in his previous life, he once said that charcoal makes iron, and the hardness of iron will be higher, as for the reason, Liu Chan has long been unable to remember, and because of this, he let him experiment before making a decision.

In addition, there was steelmaking technology, and the Han Dynasty prevailed in the "frying steel" and "hundred steelmaking" to produce pig iron with low carbon content and steel with high carbon content.