Half a quarter of an hour passed, and Tian Fan was still in contemplation. Ma Jun and the others' fiery eyes had cooled down, they knew that Tian Fan was magical, but looking at the current situation, there was not much hope for Tian Fan to be magical. If you think about it, you don't blame Tian Fan for being incompetent, they have been thinking about these three problems for more than two months, but haven't they still not been solved? If Tian Fan solves this problem in a short period of time, then he is not a human being!

Ma Jundao: "My lord, if you can't think of a way, forget it, let's think about it slowly in the future." ”

Tian Fan shook his head slowly and said, "I can only solve two problems, the problem of placing arrows, I really can't think of a good way!" ”

The eyes of a few people next to him suddenly widened, and Liu Sheng asked in surprise: "My lord is saying, you have already thought of two methods?" ”

Tian Fan bowed his head slightly and said, "Well, that's good!" However, I have no good solution to the problem of placing arrows. ”

Ma Jun excitedly grabbed Tian Fan's hand and said eagerly: "My lord, hahaha, it doesn't matter, as long as you can get those two questions, the winding time of this crossbow can be shortened to one-third of the original!" Tell us about your method, we can't wait! ”

Tian Fan saw that several of them were expectant, and only then did he be sure that they were telling the truth. After a slight pause, he said: "First of all, change the force element of the crossbow machine to a steel frame structure, so that it can withstand the force of one hundred and fifty stones." Secondly, add a steel shelf to the crossbow machine, this shelf is connected with the steel stressed elements, and then drag it with the kind of box with the movable pulley set in my mind, I think, the force of thirty stones can completely open five crossbow arms at the same time! ”

After saying these two ideas, Tian Fan couldn't help but feel a little proud! Look at our brains, learn and use them to come up with such a brilliant idea in half an hour, I am proud!

But he swept his eyes and suddenly saw the dumbfounded expressions of several people.

Seeing their expressions clearly, he couldn't help but feel a little weak, and asked with a little apprehension: "What, there is something wrong with what I said?" ”

Ma Jun blushed a little, he snorted for a long time, and asked, "That...... My lord, what is steel? ”

"Uh......" Tian Fan remembered that there was no such thing as "steel" at that time, and he hurriedly said: "Oh, steel is fine iron!" ”

"Oh~~~", Ma Jun and the others suddenly realized, and Tian Fan also breathed a sigh of relief, but then, Ma Jun asked: "But my lord...... Where do we get so much iron? Besides, the hardness of fine iron is too high, how can you temper it into the shape you say? ”

Tian Fan was dumbfounded, and after a while, he smiled: "Uh...... This one...... This, that, I'll figure it out! Well, any questions? ”

Ma Jungang's face turned back to color and turned a little red, he scratched his scalp and said, "My lord, we understand that that thing has been widely used when Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall, and it can indeed save a lot of effort. However, the pulleys are all applied vertically, and our crossbow machines cannot be erected......"

"Uh......" Tian Fan swallowed and foamed, and said, "I'll figure it out!" ”

Damn, Ma Jun said this, the two methods he came up with are problematic and embarrassed...... Looking at the expressions of those people again, it is clear that they don't believe themselves!

Tian Fan couldn't help but get a little angry, he said: "Come on, come with me, go, let's go and see the crucible first!" Why do you think I have to spend so much effort and so much money to burn the cauldron? It's for steelmaking, oh, it's for refining fine iron from crucibles! Let's go and see the crucible first, refine the refined iron first, and then come back and solve the problem here! ”

When several people heard this, their minds were immediately drawn to it. Crucibles, refining refined iron? This...... That's amazing, isn't it?

However, they saw that Tian Fan's face was full of anger and ruin, but they didn't dare to ask again!

After a while, everyone came to the blacksmith quarter.

In a workshop in the blacksmith area, everyone has been cleared out, and only a few blacksmith furnaces and a few crucibles made by Li Liang remain. …,

The crucibles were large and small, the smallest one was one foot in diameter and eight inches deep, and the largest one was three feet in diameter and two feet and five inches deep. According to Tian Fan's instructions, Li Liang tried his best, but he could only make a crucible with a diameter of three feet.

Tian Fan looked at the quality of the crucible, the texture was delicate and even, and he couldn't help but nod with satisfaction.

Turning his head to Li Liang, he said, "Zhengxin, you still have to work hard!" A crucible with a diameter of three feet and a depth of two feet and five inches is only a thousand catties of refined iron at most each time, which is still a little small. A thousand catties of refined iron can only forge a dozen Mo knives or dozens of steel knives. If you want to equip the whole army, when will you have to wait? Well, my requirements are not too high, you can make a crucible with a diameter of five feet and a depth of four feet! ”

Li Liang nodded again and again, and said, "My lord, I know, I will work hard!" ”

said that he would work hard, but in fact, Li Liang did not have much confidence. The crucible seems simple, but when it comes to actual operation, it is far from easy. Not to mention anything else, how to mix clay and graphite evenly, the size of graphite particles, and the solution of these two problems took Li Hao several months. It may seem simple to make the crucible bigger, but it's actually not that easy. It's like building a dam in a stream only one foot wide and building a Three Gorges dam are two different concepts entirely!

The crucible made by Li Liang in the early days was only one foot in diameter, and the process of changing from one foot in diameter to three feet in diameter took no less effort than studying the mixing ratio of clay and graphite, or even more!

Tian Fan also knew that some strongmen were difficult, so he did not give a death order. He knew that Li Liang was a strong person, and he didn't need to say more, he would definitely work hard.

The crucible is ready-made, the raw materials are also ready-made, and the rest, is steelmaking!

Tian Fan knows the principle of crucible steelmaking quite clearly, when he read novels in his previous life, he mentioned this method many times, although most of them are not recorded in detail, you can check the information on the Internet, and everything will be understood.

This kind of operation has a certain danger, even if Tian Fan wants to participate, everyone will not allow it. Therefore, Tian Fan just watched from a distance, and the specific operation was completed by Pu Yuan and Zhao Sheng, as well as several of their henchmen.

I have to say that Pu Yuan is a top craftsman. In the past, the steelmaking method he used was the frying method, but at this time, when he listened to Tian Fan's explanation, he immediately felt that there was a door!

In many places where Tian Fan was vague, he had a rough answer after touching the analogy. Finally, when the sun was setting, the first furnace of steel was successfully manufactured.

The crucible has three noses, a mouth, two of which are about three-quarters of the way to the middle and upper part of the crucible, symmetrically distributed. The two noses were chained to bear the weight of the crucible and hung from a wooden frame above the stove so that the crucible was two inches away from the burning coals.

After the molten steel is successfully fired, the impurities floating on the molten steel should be removed. Then pull the rope connected to the iron chain, let the crucible slide along the upper shelf to a safe position on the side, several people use an iron fork against the other nose of the crucible, and at the same time use an iron hook to hook the bottom of the crucible, so that the crucible is tilted, and the molten steel flows down the mouth of the crucible, and flows into and diverts into the mold that has been prepared long ago.

The shape of the mold can be freely manufactured according to the instrument to be made. The molten steel in the mold, after cooling to form a solid, becomes the blank of the instrument to be built. When the blank is still red, it is clamped out with iron pliers, placed on the iron felt, and then tempered into the final form. Finally, after quenching, a final product is successfully produced.

The biggest advantage of this steelmaking method is that the operation process is simple, except for taking care of the refining progress of the molten steel in the crucible, which requires a relatively high level and rich experience, and does not require the craftsman to have a high level. In addition, the quality of the weapons it produces is also very good. However, the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, the production is too low and the cost is high! …,

In any case, however, this method is much more advanced than the previous one and can meet the needs of today.

When the first steel knife was forged under Pu Yuan's skillful hands, everyone's hearts couldn't help but raise their throats!

It's a matter of success or failure! Zhou Ting, the crossbow lieutenant who had already rushed over, hurriedly took the steel knife with residual warmth, and watched it carefully. The crowd gathered around him and watched carefully. Looking at this, others didn't have such a strong feeling, but Pu Yuan and Zhao Sheng's hearts suddenly cooled by half!

Tian Fan said that the texture of the weapon made of the steel refined from the crucible will definitely be better than the fifty refining treasure sword, and even better than the hundred refining steel! However, when Pu Yuan and Zhao Sheng, the two blacksmith leaders, saw it, they suddenly lost the slightest confidence!

Why?

In the past, in the process of refining, the sword needed to be folded and built repeatedly, and whenever it was about to be formed, some materials were added again, folded and tempered again, and so on. The purpose of repeated folding and tempering is to make the carbon content in the weapon, as well as the content of many trace elements, evenly distributed, so that the texture of the weapon is uniform. Each time it is folded, the material is added once, which is called a refinement, and each refinement requires hundreds of hammers! Therefore, in ancient times, there was a saying that the treasure knife was tempered thousands of times.

It is precisely because of this multiple folding and the addition of materials rich in trace elements such as manganese, silicon, tungsten, chromium and so on that the tool will form a natural, uniform and beautiful texture after molding. Therefore, among the ancient sword and sword identification methods, one of them is very intuitive, that is, to see whether the lines on the weapon are uniform and fine. The more uniform it is, the better the craftsmanship of the craftsman, and the denser the texture, the more times the weapon is tempered.

And the knife in Zhou Ting's hand didn't even have a single line!

Tian Fan was not discouraged, he said: "Lao Pu, Zhao Lao, you take a fifty refining knife and a hundred refining knife, let's give it a try!" ”

The two were unwilling to hit Tian Fan's self-confidence, and after nodding reluctantly, they asked the apprentice to fetch the knife.

It didn't take long for two knives to be taken.

Tian Fan looked at the two knives and said to Zhou Ting: "Old Zhou, you come to try the knife!" ”

Zhou Ting nodded excitedly, held the knife with one arm, and danced a few times, only then did he come to the two iron felts.

Between the two iron felts, fifty refining knives used for experiments are placed horizontally, with the edge of the knife pointing upward.

Everyone's eyes didn't blink, looking at the fifty refining knives on the iron felt! Tian Fan's heart has already mentioned his throat. Success or failure is here to try!

Zhou Ting roared, and the single knife in his hand slashed down on the fifty refining knife!

Hearing a loud "bang", everyone's ears immediately itched.

There are no itchy ears, and everyone's eyes are focused on the knife on the iron felt! I saw that on the fifty refining knife, a gap about half an inch wide and about eight minutes deep appeared in the eyes of everyone!

And the knife in Zhou Ting's hand also had a gap, about three points deep and about one point wide!

Compared with the two, it is obvious that the knives made of steel made of crucibles are dominant!

There was a brief silence, followed by an earth-shattering shout. Everyone was so excited that they couldn't help themselves, Pu Yuan and Zhao Sheng's faces were red, and the two of them shook each other's hands together. With the crucible, they are bound to produce more and better weapons, how can they not be excited?