Just when Gao Xiu'er and the others were cheering because they had found the treasure left by the Nanchen Dynasty, Liu Ziqiu also began to make steel.

Granite furnaces lined up neatly outside the city, and coal from the north shore of Xihai Lake and iron ore near the Golmud River were transported in a steady stream and piled up like hills on both sides of the furnaces. Under the command of He Chou, the Xianbei prisoners of war hammered coal and iron ore into small pieces, and then spread them in layers on the bottom of the furnace and ignited them with wood. The fire burned for four hours and then gradually went out, and some black clumps appeared in the hearth. In this iron-making process, he has organized Xianbei prisoners of war to test dozens of times, and now he is very proficient.

He Hou pointed to these black lumps and explained: "Lord, these things are called pieces of iron, and when they are hammered while they are hot, they will become pig iron. ”

As he spoke, some Xianbei prisoners of war had fished out these black lumps and hammered them repeatedly. Soon, a black mass began to form, and many things like cinders and slag were scattered around. Liu Ziqiu nodded and said, "No wonder there is a saying called striking while the iron is hot, it turns out that it came from here." ”

He Chou's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said, "Lord, coal is much more powerful than charcoal. These blocks of iron can be used almost directly as pig iron. ”

Liu Ziqiu was very dissatisfied, shook his head, and said, "The pig iron that Liu gave to the Tuoba Department is much better than this. ”

He Chou smiled: "The lord sent it should be wrought iron." After a piece of iron is repeatedly forged and hammered several times, it becomes wrought iron. The subordinates looked at these lumpy irons, some of them were better than wrought iron, and they were even close to iron, and the firepower of coal was indeed much stronger than charcoal. ”

In modern industrial production, there are a series of mature processes such as reduction, sintering, and slag removal to extract iron from iron ore. But in ancient times, there was no blast furnace, no coke, and no blast, and ironmaking was an extremely time-consuming and laborious process, with low yield and many impurities. However, through the ironmaking incident, we can see the spirit of the ancients who were not afraid of hardships and indomitable, which is really admirable.

For half a month, He Chou ate and lived on the construction site with these Xianbei prisoners of war, personally lit the fire, personally hammered the iron, and paid how much sweat and hardship, and today finally obtained a satisfactory piece of iron, and his heart was naturally full of excitement that could not be concealed. For He Chou's performance, Liu Ziqiu is also very satisfied. Although He Chou likes to meet the horses, he is still commendable for his serious work. However, whether it is a piece of iron, pig iron and wrought iron, it is not what Liu Ziqiu wants most.

"Lord He has worked hard, Liu should make a credit for you." Liu Ziqiu encouraged He Chou twice, and then asked: "How can this thing be refined into iron?" ”

Pig iron and wrought iron are brittle and easy to break, and in Liu Ziqiu's eyes, only when it is made into steel can it really have use value, which is what this era calls iron.

He Chou was confident about this, and said with a smile: "Without him, only temper your ears." ”

But it is easier said than done, but it is not a simple thing to do. Even though the firepower of coal was much stronger than that of charcoal, and Liu Ziqiu transferred all the 1,500 sturdy Xianbei prisoners of war to He Chou, the daily output of iron was still only more than 200 catties. In He Chou's eyes, this output is already quite remarkable, and the quality of iron is far higher than before, but Liu Ziqiu is still not satisfied.

In order to obtain more high-quality iron as soon as possible, Liu Ziqiu decided to implement the plan to form a standing army in advance.

Because of the great deal of communication and preparation work done in the early stage, the process of forming a standing army was not hindered too much.

The most opposed to the formation of a standing army must be the leaders of the tribes, and Liu Ziqiu threw out a quid pro quo that they could not refuse. For every person in the tribe, Liu Ziqiu provided them with a hundred catties of pig iron. Since the Han Dynasty, iron has been an important tool for the imperial court to control the surrounding nomads. These nomadic tribes raided the Han realm, and the first thing they plundered was not gold and silver, nor slaves, but iron pots. This shows the unique position that iron has.

On the other hand, Liu Ziqiu also conducted serious research on the selection of soldiers. Those who were selected for the standing army were all young men who had not started a family at the age of seventeen or eighteen, and they could not be the only children in the family. The more siblings there are, the less one person has little impact on grazing, and at the same time, it can reduce the burden on the family and be more acceptable to the herders.

Half a month later, 5,000 standing troops from various tribes in the West Sea were assembled outside Weiding City. The first task given to them by Liu Ziqiu was not training, nor combat, but to follow He Hou to make iron. In the past month, in addition to the 1,500 Xianbei prisoners of war, Liu Ziqiu also mobilized more than 5,000 Xihai people to participate in the excavation and transportation of iron ore and coal. Liu Ziqiu set up a standing army in advance in order to concentrate manpower and solve this bottleneck problem.

……

Although Liu Ziqiu already has a clear blueprint for his future plans, he knows that speed is not enough. In the next three months, Liu Ziqiu didn't make any big moves, but just like last time, he wandered among the tribes, drinking and chatting with the tribal leaders and elders. However, unlike the last time, Liu Ziqiu went much deeper this time, not only deepening his feelings with these tribal leaders, but also sinking down and seriously understanding the living conditions of each tribe. Since he had promised to let the people of all tribes live a good life, Liu Ziqiu planned to do a real investigation.

Since he really wanted to do something practical, the effect of traveling around Xihai County this time was much better than the last time, and more than a dozen small tribes were willing to merge into the Xihai Clan. There was still a lot of free pasture on the shore of Xihai Lake, but it gradually became lively, and the scenery of wind blowing grass and seeing cattle and sheep no longer only exists in poetry and paintings, but can be seen everywhere. With the growing strength of the Xihai tribe, the Dangxiang and Tiele tribes also became nervous, and they took the initiative to befriend Liu Ziqiu.

Today, Liu Ziqiu came to the appointment at the invitation of Tuoba Mumi. This is the fourth time he has come to the stockade of the Tuoba Department, and he has long been familiar with the road. At the mouth of the stockade, two colorful "big cats" roared and rushed over. The golden leopard cub grows fast, more than a meter long in half a year, standing there majestic, imposing.

Tuoba Qianyu chased after him, and said with surprise on his face: "Brother, you are here, no wonder these two little guys were originally good, but they suddenly became restless." ”

The two little leopards had already run in front of Liu Ziqiu, and their fluffy round heads kept rubbing against Liu Ziqiu. Although it will take a long time to see each other, these two little leopards can clearly remember Liu Ziqiu's scent, which is quite aura, and Liu Ziqiu is also quite surprised.

"Qianyu, the prince invited me here, I don't know what the important thing is?" Liu Ziqiu gently patted the heads of the two little leopards and walked towards Tuoba Qianyu. The two little leopards shook their heads and tails and followed closely behind him.

Tuoba Qianyu didn't answer, but pursed his lips and said, "These two little guys, people have worked hard to raise them for so long, and I haven't seen them so affectionate." ”

In fact, in the village, these two little leopards only listen to Tuoba Qianyu's words, and they will not eat the beef and mutton fed by others. But as long as Liu Ziqiu comes, these two little leopards will definitely circle around Liu Ziqiu, but they are also amazing.

"What are you angry with the two beasts?" Liu Ziqiu laughed, pinched the bridge of Tuoba Qianyu's upturned nose, and said, "Say it quickly, what's the matter?" ”

The two leopards were obviously dissatisfied with Liu Ziqiu's contempt and roared in a low voice.

Seeing this, Tuoba Qianyu couldn't stop laughing, and only after a while did he say: "Father invited you to come, mainly to discuss our marriage. ”

Rao is party daughter is enthusiastic and generous, when it comes to her life's events, Tuoba Qianyu's face is also hot, she lowered her head, and said: "My father also wants to organize a party alliance, and I want you to preside over it." ”

Liu Ziqiu knew very well that it was Tuoba Mumi's lifelong wish to unify the eight departments of the party, and it was true that he invited himself to discuss the marriage, and it was true that he wanted to gain his support.

Although the fine seal department, which was once evenly matched with the Tuoba Ministry, has been greatly damaged, Liu Ziqiu's influence in the eight party departments is increasing day by day, and without Liu Ziqiu's support, Tuoba Mumi's wish to unify the party will not be realized. Tuoba Mumi is a smart man, and he feels this keenly. Because of this, his attitude took a 180-degree turn, and he no longer stopped his daughter from interacting with Liu Ziqiu, and even wished that they would get married now.

Although Liu Ziqiu saw through Tuoba Mumi's thoughts, he still smiled and said, "No problem, I will definitely come when the time comes." I will try to convince the chiefs to support your father. ”

"Brother, you're so nice." Tuoba Qianyu was originally worried that Liu Ziqiu would find an excuse to shirk, but now Liu Ziqiu couldn't help but agree to preside over the party alliance, and also offered to persuade the leaders of the various departments, a stone in her heart finally fell to the ground, couldn't help tiptoeing, kissed Liu Ziqiu on the face, and then quickly ran into the village.

Liu Ziqiu smiled and walked towards the stockade. His words have been made very clear, that is, he supports Tuoba Mumi's unification of the party, and Tuoba Qianyu can naturally hear it, and he is in a hurry to report the good news to Tuoba Mumi. The reason why Liu Ziqiu changed his mind is, of course, because of Tuoba Qianyu, and more importantly, his horizons are much broader now than they were at the beginning. Even if the eight departments of the party are unified, their strength cannot compete with the Xihai clan, and here, the Xihai clan is still the well-deserved boss. What's more, Liu Ziqiu's ambition is in the world, not limited to the West Sea Wasteland, whether the party is unified or not, it is not so important.

In any case, with Liu Ziqiu's verbal promise, Tuoba Mumi's wish to unify the eight departments of the party was at least half realized, and he was naturally in a good mood, and he drank heartily at the banquet, but he was drunk. Liu Ziqiu had the experience of being drunk last time, and this time he was much more careful, and secretly used his internal strength to offset most of the alcoholic strength. Tuoba Yuanju was full of seven or eight points of wine, put his arm on Liu Ziqiu's shoulder, and said: "When it comes to heroes in the world, Lord Liu is one." I'm not far behind! ”