Although the cave is said to be warm in winter and cool in summer, there is no such thing here, and it may not be cold in winter, but it will definitely be hot in summer. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info At this time, Wang Zhong was already sweating profusely, or rather, the sweat on his forehead had never been heard, after all, this was a place for iron smelting.

"No need to be polite," Wu Ming smiled and looked at Wang Zhong, who only had one arm.

Smelting iron and forging iron weapons is the first thing Wu Ming has to do since he became a general. There is no other reason, one is because according to the normal historical track, the next king of Zhao State, Zhao Yong, that is, King Zhao Wuling.

Hufu cavalry shooting, after some reforms, the national strength of Zhao State has been greatly improved. So much so that the State of Zhao was able to leap into a state as powerful as the State of Qin and the State of Qi.

The Qin State may be separated from the Yellow River, and the two are more peaceful. Moreover, the current Qin State is called the country of tigers and wolves by other countries, and it is not difficult to find a reason to suppress the Qin State, especially for the Wei State, which is blocking the front line of the Qin State's eastward exit, it will be easier.

However, Zhao is different, Wei and Zhao both belong to the Three Jin Dynasty, and the borders are connected to a wide range of places, and the Zhao State has become strong, and the Wei State has to be wary. Although it was somewhat impossible to form a cavalry at this time with the Wei state, it was always good to prepare some in advance.

Moreover, the Yuan Dynasty, which dominated one side in later generations, relied on cavalry. Iron Cavalry, this thing known as the great killer in the history of cold weapons, Wu Ming has no reason to give up and not use it.

In addition, iron weapons are harder than copper, and relatively speaking, they are much lighter, if the technology can, Wu Ming even wants to create armor made of iron sheets, and now the countries use leather armor, the defense ability of this thing, as far as Wu Ming is concerned, it is also useful for long-distance bows and arrows.

Anyway, judging from the initial one-on-one training of the Wei soldiers, and many soldiers were injured by mistake, the leather armor will not have much protective effect on melee combat. Of course, it is not useless. But it's definitely not as good as iron.

And the new generation of warriors, with Wu Ming's idea, wants to be equipped with iron armor, but this must take into account the weight, so now the establishment of warriors has not been included in the planning by Wu Ming.

"You have a disability, and it is inconvenient to act, so leave the heavy work to others, if you are tired, there will be no second person in this Shangfang who is good at transforming iron tools." Looking at the hammer Wang Zhong held in one hand, Wu Ming said with concern.

Regarding these concerns, Wang Zhong just smiled innocently, "With the general's words, what else can I do inconveniently." The heavy also said that they should do it, but after all, at the beginning, the general was trustworthy and loyal, and loyalty could not disappoint the general. ”

"Well, this is really important for Ben General," smiling and nodding, Wu Ming patted Wang Zhong's shoulder with his hand: "In the past few months, I have worked hard for you." ”

While speaking, Wu Ming had already slowly walked inside and began to observe. And Wang Zhong, as the main person in charge, naturally gave up other jobs and followed Wu Ming to observe together.

The huge cave, a full 2,000 soldiers and 10,000 people recruited nearby, took ten months to dig out the initial project. Those who have not participated in this will not know the hardship.

Wu Ming gave the people who were recruited according to the number of years, which can be said to be a coolie who spent money to take care of.

Of course, the physical condition is something for them to weigh themselves, if there is an accident and death, Wu Ming will also pay a pension to his family. But if you don't pay attention to overwork. Wu Ming is not responsible for this kind of thing, and he can't be responsible for it.

In this case, Wu Ming can be said to be working very hard for these poor people. But even so, the whole project will take three years.

Sometimes Wu Ming is sighing, maybe the masterpieces of the ancients were forced out. Every great project is born with the death of countless people.

Others didn't care about the life and death of these people like Wu Ming, they wouldn't give him gold and silver as labor fees, and no one would take care of their families after these people died.

They may be poorly fed and in more difficult conditions than they are here. At least the soldiers here are only responsible for safety, and they are worried about chaos and other unexpected situations.

What about other places? The soldiers must have been urging with whips. Perhaps the huge projects and the miracles of construction are the result of the desperate work of these people who are eager to return home and be free.

There was a cave that was not very long, and what caught Wu Ming's eyes were dozens of smelting furnaces of all sizes.

The raging fire turned the entire cave red. The further you go inside, the more you can feel the feeling of the hot air rushing to your face.

Next to each stove there are complete sets of forging and other utensils.

Although Wu Ming didn't know much about iron smelting, looking at the situation here, the basic things were almost ready.

Passing through the largest cave, further inside, you will see a number of passages connecting the rest of the place, and at a cursory glance, some of these caves are made up of prepared dry firewood, and most of them are thick trunks. After all, it's something that needs a lot of heat, and the dry grass or something is not enough to see.

When he saw this scene, Wu Ming began to think about when he would get some coal.

After all, coal will be used in many places in later generations, and this thing is definitely quite useful.

But the problem is that the distribution of coal in the current border of Wei is pitiful, even if there may be three hundred miles underground around this Wufeng Mountain, but according to memory, the coal here is all underground deep mines, underground coal digging operations, and other problems such as landslides have always occurred in later generations.

Thinking about it all the way and watching. Wu Ming asked coldly: "The things in here should be almost settled, and the ones who are bad at the moment should be craftsmen, right?" ”

"The initial ironsmithing is already possible, but there are still some flaws that need to be put to the last adjustments, and it is expected that it will be another month before the start of work. If the general wants to start production immediately, he can recruit manpower in half a month. ”

Listening to Wang Zhong's words, Wu Ming nodded quietly, and when he raised it again, he had already turned around thoughtfully, and said: "Ben will go back and find a way to recruit craftsmen, let people come over as soon as possible, and start production here as soon as possible, starting with the arrow, when the time comes, Ben will arrange someone to supervise the work here, and the qualified ones will stay, and the unqualified ones will go back to the furnace directly, and the proficiency of these craftsmen should be exercised." In addition, iron is not the same as bronze, our pouring model may have to be changed a lot, you can try it yourself when you have time, but be careful. ”

Hearing these words, Wang Zhong replied slowly: "We all know this, what my subordinates just said is about this model, and the experiment is still being changed, but after looking at the results for a month, we should be able to find the best way." ”

"Well, but it's better for the craftsman to get here as soon as possible. Naturally, someone will be in charge of order here, so you don't have to worry. ”

"Yes."

After continuing to look at it for a while, Wu Ming handed over several sets of horseshoes and stirrups that he had drawn with his memory to Wang Zhong.

After Wang Zhong took a rough look at the things in his hand, Wu Ming said with a smile: "If you have time for these things, you can make a sample first, of course, don't worry for the time being, we don't need it at the moment." I'm going to have time to see what these things look like when they're molded, and then you're going to do a lot of manufacturing based on what is actually available. ”

"Obey the general." Wang Zhong bowed slightly to Wu Ming again.

Then, Wu Ming explained something inconsequentially. Immediately afterwards, he rode his horse with the two soldiers who came with him and headed towards the Hedong military camp.

The distance between the two was not very far, and it would not take more than a day to ride a fast horse. But now it's afternoon, and if you rush back, you basically can't rest tonight.

When it was close to midnight, an entourage rode to the other side of Wu Ming and said: "General, it's almost late at night, why don't you stop and rest first, it's been a busy day, you can sleep for a while, and we'll keep vigil." ”

In summer, the gallop all the way, and the strong wind around you takes away the boring heat. The temperature around him dropped a lot at night, but Wu Ming didn't feel much sleepy.

Slowly reducing the speed of the horse, Wu Ming looked up at the night sky with the stars twinkling, and sighed softly: "No need, hurry back as soon as possible, look at the road like this, you should be able to sleep when you go back." ”

"General, at present, Wei is in no trouble at home and abroad, and the army has been reorganized, why should you be in such a hurry?"

"Inside and out? Hmph," At this moment, Wu Ming laughed, "It will not be clear what happens to the DPRK and China, but how can the countries have real stability, although my Wei State has recovered some fundamentals, but this is far from enough." And there are things scheduled for tomorrow. I must rush back tonight—"

The moment the voice completely blurted out, Wu Ming had already whipped his horse and urged the horse to speed up. This scene undoubtedly made the two entourages behind him a little stunned, such a desperate general is really rare.

In Wu Ming's heart. Now that the cave and the rest of the things are ready, the matter of the craftsman should not be delayed any longer, after all, the current Wei State is still very fragile.

Wu Ming was just exposing his fangs as much as possible, only hoping that this would temporarily shock the Quartet. But for true safety, what is happening now is not enough.

After half a year of development, Wu Ming discovered that no matter what time it is, people can't become fat in one bite. Even if you can in the future, it is definitely not something you can do alone, and in the end, the fat man is no longer fat.

This seems to be a cycle in human history, the inevitable result of all progress spurred on by human desires. Despite his own insights thousands of years later, the end result is still the same. It takes time to get something done.

Under Wu Ming's cranky thoughts, this team of three finally rushed to the Hedong military camp before dawn.

But by this time the sky had begun to brighten. After arranging for the two entourage soldiers to rest, Wu Ming returned to the main camp tent by himself.

Taking advantage of the fact that it was still early at this time, Wu Ming wanted to plan where to recruit the people. In addition, the military's finances are already in a hurry. Although there are five hundred gold sent by King Wei Hui, the expenses in the army in the past six months are too great, although the remuneration given by Wu Ming is not high, it can be said that it is only enough for those people to eat one meal a day.

But history is like this, and money is still not enough. However, on the other hand, just giving those people who are recruited a meal can save a lot of trouble on their side, so that they don't have to worry about them being lazy or panicking.

But there is no revenue in the army, and the treasury has no excess reserves at all, so if the people are recruited again, should they be given that meal?

In this era, it is not illegal to forcibly solicit it, but the problem is that Wu Ming does not want his newly built Shangfang to be filled with a lazy atmosphere of reluctance and complaint.

What he wants is a Shangfang where once he needs it, the people in it can spontaneously give full play to their maximum potential to produce.

And to accomplish this, suppression is often not enough, after all, those people work very hard, and Wu Ming is not so ruthless to the people he protects.

Moreover, after more than ten years of continuous conquest, the current Wei State has consumed too much national strength, and history is not that labor can be collected.

If it is forcibly collected, once it causes panic, it must be suppressed by sending troops, so that the king has no care in the hearts of the people, only remorse and fear.

And once suppressed, it will inevitably face casualties, if the casualties are too large, then there will be a lot of labor shortage, and then how will their own Shangfang operate?

This question was constantly spinning in Wu Ming's mind.

Thinking like this, Wu Ming unconsciously fell asleep with his hands on his forehead.

An hour later, the sky was completely bright.

In a camp tent not far from Wu Ming's main tent, Zhang Meng and Jin Yan walked out with their armor straightened out. At this moment, the horn of assembly has also been sounded. Whining began to fill the air above the barracks.

"General, the Great General will be back at dawn." Seeing Zhang Meng come out, a soldier trotted in front of Zhang Meng and saluted.

"Huh? Coming back so soon? Zhang Meng, who heard that, immediately came to his senses, "Ben will know, you go down." ”

"It's not like you're reporting something to the general, is it?" After the soldier left, Zhang Meng rubbed his eyes, turned to Jin Yan beside him and asked.

"The general asked! What can the last general report to the general, the general is always so busy, isn't it useless to report to him in a hurry about some things, it must be solved one by one. Jin Yan looked at Zhang Meng helplessly.

After saying that, he took a step forward slightly, and said to himself with the same doubts: "But the general came back in time." Everyone is back, do you want to go and talk to him, I'm afraid it's not good if this matter drags on for a long time. ”

"Hmm," Maybe after washing his face before coming out, the water marks on his beard had just dried, and Zhang Meng's beard looked a lot fluffier at this time. The thoughtful look on his face at this moment seemed to make people feel like they wanted to laugh, "That's it, you are in charge of this morning's practice, and I'll go to the general to report those things." This morning's training is a little bit harder. ”