Such discussions are going on from time to time in Yanchang County, all thanks to a sentence that Zhang Chu learned in later classes: "Theory is linked to practice". The food problem has always made Zhang Chu's head bigger, and where the food comes from is inseparable from the farmers, and trying to break the head in the house can't solve the problem. Zhang Chu ruthlessly took the people of the security army to walk from village to village, drill from ravine to ravine, conduct field investigations, and humbly ask old farmers from all over the country for advice. It really made him see what the problem was. Yanchang County is located in the lower reaches of the Yanhe River in the eastern part of Yan'an Prefecture, which is one of the areas with the most serious soil erosion and the most fragile ecological environment in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River, and is also the area with the most sediment and coarse sand flowing into the Yellow River. The land is thin and arid, the weather is dependent on food, people and animals lack drinking water, the ecology is deteriorating, and the people live in poverty.

Summing up the experience of the predecessors, if we want to change all this, we can use the method of building silt dams, which can increase the ditch and dam land in large quantities and form farmland with high yield and stable yield, and store water through the construction of dams, and in the process of water storage, the high sediment content flood will be precipitated, and part of it will seep into the ground to become a water conservation source, and a part of it will be naturally purified into clear water, which can be used for irrigation, and can also provide people with water for people to store water in the river basin, so that the limited water resources can be rationally utilized.

Zhang Chu was ruthless, and invested the money and grain collected from the wealthy households in the city into the water conservancy construction of Yanchang County, and introduced measures to invest in the construction of dams and divide the fields. He thought that even if he was forced to withdraw by the attack of the official army in the future, he would have to leave something for the people of Yanchang County.

In order to fight the drought, Zhang Chu still has one more thing on his mind, that is, the water lifting efficiency of the "miner's friend" is too low. In modern terms, it is high energy consumption and high pollution. It is also not economical to consume large quantities of coal to water the fields. He decided to go to Deng Qingnian's workshop to see if there was any progress in the new steam pump they were experimenting, and to see if the steam engine, the god of power that changed the world, would come to the land of China during the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Chu finally found time to go to Qiaojiagou's workshop to take a look at it in his busy work, and Qiaojiagou was a prosperous scene. The initial investment has finally borne fruit, and the craftsmen in various workshops are busy nervously. Deng Qingnian took Zhang Chu to visit one workshop after another, and he couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart, and his happy expression was overflowing. The craftsmen who work in the workshops are now very different from before, their status is much higher than before, and they are respected by everyone in the security forces, whose victories are inseparable from the weapons provided by the craftsmen. The craftsmen also received more wages than the average person, and lived a richer life than others. To improve a person's social status is actually very simple, there is no need to set up any festivals, what anniversaries, as long as they are given more income than the average person, let them live better than others, they will naturally live a self-confident life, and others will naturally respect them.

Zhang Chu suddenly remembered the silver ingot he called Deng Qingnian to cast for reward, so he asked, "Did that silver ingot send out?" ”

"It's been sent out several times, and you'll lose a lot of money if you go on like this." Deng Qingnian was in a good mood and joked with Zhang Chu.

"I'm not afraid of this, I'm afraid that the silver won't be able to be sent. The more it is sent, the more new technologies and new processes it means, the greater my profits, and this is a sure-fire deal. I have a new idea, now that the life of the craftsman is better, there is no need to spend the silver he earns, such a silver nugget is not beautiful at all, let's change the way. I'll draw you a pattern in a moment, and I'll make the silver into a cup. In the future, whoever is rewarded will have their name engraved on it to show their glory, and this cup can also be passed down so that future generations can also know the glory of their predecessors. The miser Zhang Chu began to calculate the bonuses of the workers, he knew that in the future, the craftsmen would have more inventions and creations, if the money could only be more and more, not only the incentive effect was not good, but he also did have a pain, so he sacrificed the spiritual Dafa, and many craftsmen of the security army fought for a lifetime The silver cup award was born.

"This is good, the glory must be seen, the glory must be passed on, I will definitely strive to get a trophy engraved with my name engraved on it, let everyone see, and pass it on to my children and grandchildren, so that they know that our craftsmen are also worthy of respect." Now Deng Qingnian, who no longer worries about eating, has a higher spiritual pursuit. "By the way, come with me, I have successfully built the new iron-frying furnace you designed last time, let's see if I can get such a trophy" After speaking, he pulled Zhang Chu towards the blast furnace of iron-making.

Next to the iron-making blast furnace, a reflex iron-frying furnace has been built, which is much smaller than the blast furnace. This is a nondescript product of Zhang Chu's combination of the previous iron-frying process and the design of the steelmaking furnace of later generations. The reflex iron oven looks like a large teacup upside down on a small teacup, the large teacup is suspended in the air, the molten iron is contained in the small teacup, and the coke burns at the bottom of the small teacup. The flame through the arched large teacup, the heat is reflected into the small teacup to heat the molten iron, and Zhang Chu added two ventilators made of refractory materials in the cup, constantly blowing preheated air into the molten iron, the smoke in the furnace is extracted from the chimney, the chimney just leaves a section of the furnace, it is buried under the trench where the molten iron flows, and plays the role of preheating the molten iron, the fuel of the iron furnace is separated from the molten iron, and the harmful substances such as sulfur and phosphorus in the fuel will not be mixed into the molten iron. The carbon in the molten iron and the oxygen in the preheated air react violently at high temperatures, releasing a large amount of heat and constantly raising the temperature of the molten iron. When the carbon in the molten iron is combined with oxygen, the carbon content in the molten iron gradually decreases, and its melting point gradually increases, so the molten iron in the iron-frying furnace becomes thick, and a whole piece of viscous steel is smelted.

Zhang Chu and Deng Qingnian watched the entire refining process, and Deng Qingnian's expression was full of pride.

"Dashuai, your design is really a masterpiece, I dare to say that no one in Daming has such a simple way to refine steel now, and the quality of the steel we refine is the best in Daming." As he spoke, he ordered the craftsman to clamp the viscous steel block with long pliers, put it under the hydraulic forging hammer next to it, and hammer it continuously. This forging was just to remove impurities, and after a while, a steel bar with few impurities appeared in front of everyone.

"With this steel, our swords are sharper, our armor is stronger, and we can also use this freshly wrought iron to make new tools, like this steel bar, which is a sharp sword with a simple processing, which is a good thing of great value." Deng Qingnian continued to introduce.

"Is it possible to make a steam engine from this steel?" Zhang Chu is still thinking about his pumping career.