() Many things cannot be explained by the gods, but some strange dreams can find their origin in real life. For example, a barbarian tries to smelt iron ore to get metal according to a dream, and then mixes it with charcoal powder according to other people's dreams, and forges it to get steel.

This is the old memory that remains genetically. The number is huge and the classification is complex, and most of the barbarians are incomprehensible to the current level of civilization, but after thousands of years, they still find some technology from it and use it, constantly narrowing the gap with the "ancients".

As for those parts that cannot be understood, they can only be preserved in the form of clay templates for future generations to interpret.

This is a secret that only shacers are qualified to know.

The old priest told Tianhao that Blackhorn City had stored all the mud templates of the entire Ox Clan from its inception to the present day. Compared with the same kind of objects that were still stored in the Panshi Village at that time, Tianhao faintly felt that he had found some kind of basis for the evolution of civilization in this strange era.

It turns out he didn't guess wrong.

The Great Master looked serious: "I have checked the records in the royal database, and the location you mentioned can indeed find a method for making homogeneous steel." However, compared to the recipe you gave Niu Weibang, the content on the clay template is too bad. ”

"It's an essential technical transformation." Tianhao replied calmly: "I have done experiments with clay. ”

"Dirt?" A trace of puzzlement appeared on Wu Peng's wrinkled face: "What does this have to do with homogeneous steel?" ”

Tianhao smiled.

From the moment he walked into the room until now, he finally regained the feeling of being at home.

Clapping his palms vigorously, the door was pushed open from the outside, and he strode in with broken teeth in well-made steel armor, he looked like a mountain, and it was suspicious that the fragile floor could not bear the terrible weight, and could break at any moment, and he stepped through the deep hole.

"Go get some mud, don't get too dry, get wet." Tianhao's tone was flat, and the words were correct and round, ensuring that Wu Peng could hear it clearly.

Broken Tooth soon brought a bucket of mud. He was an upright man who understood the orders of the lord of the castle thoroughly. The barrels were large and filled with dirt that had just been dug out of the ground. "Wet mud" and "frozen soil" are two concepts, and Broken Tooth led a person to dig a deep pit, and the soil in the bucket was cold but soft.

Tianhao bent down, reached out and picked up a piece of mud from the bucket, approached Wu Peng, and said respectfully: "Look, this piece of ordinary mud. ”

Wu Peng did not dispute this. When Broken Tooth came in with the bucket, he noticed that the dirt had not been tampered with. So he nodded, and made a noncommittal soft "hmm" from deep in his nasal cavity.

Tianhao held the mud in his hand and broke it with force.

The black soil section was no different from the picture in Wu Peng's memory, it was still the familiar smell, the earthy mixed with a little staleness, and you could see the small plant rhizomes, and most of the gray-white irregular pebbles, and gravel.

Wu Peng still didn't understand the relationship between the soil and the homogeneous steel. He raised his head and cast an inquiring gaze at Tianhao. He is a very patient person, but patience does not mean that he can tolerate everything, especially distracting the line of sight and prevaricating the main issue with various excuses, Wu Peng will not tolerate it, once the disguise is revealed, he will definitely rain down a thunderous rage.

"It's a loose piece of dirt." Tianhao pointed to the section of the dirt on his left hand and said seriously: "It has a lot of crevices, a lot of impurities, sand and stones, roots of plants...... If you compare it with steel, this piece of earth is equivalent to an ore that must be refined to remove impurities from it before it becomes a piece of metal. ”

Wu Peng was very shrewd, and he immediately sensed the mention and revelation in Tianhao's words: "Wait, you just talked about the gap......

"That's the crux of the matter." Tianhao smiled and threw out the hole card, smashed the mud in his hand to the ground, and then bent down to pick it up, kneading it hard: "Repeatedly forging the steel is the best way to eliminate the gaps, make the structure tight, and fundamentally make it strong." Simply carrying out this process on a piece of steel will only produce individual excellent products, and only when the surface is large-scale and systematic, and even all the craftsmen of the entire cattle clan forge the steel according to this standard, can the world's best armor be produced in batches. ”

Wu Peng's eyes suddenly lit up. Tianhao's explanation is easy to understand, as a high-ranking person who has been in charge of the Niu Clan for many years, Wu Peng's understanding of special technology far exceeds that of ordinary people.

What's more, Tianhao didn't lie. The clay template of the royal database does record the homogeneous steel manufacturing method, the difference is that the ancient text on the clay tablet is jerky and difficult to understand, what Tianhao said is very simple, not to say Wu Peng, any Niu craftsman can understand the meaning.

"The Royal Archive is our greatest secret and the source of the strength and technology of the entire Ox Clan. Whether or not we understand this knowledge left behind by our ancestors, they can play an unexpected role. Maybe now, or sometime in the future. In fact, my understanding of homogeneous steel is very one-sided, until one day I saw ants carrying things back and forth on the sand, and I was curious, digging their nests, and seeing the loose structure, that I suddenly solved the confusion in my brain. ”

Wu Peng raised his hand and stroked his beard gently, and smiled lowly: "That's why you handed over the homogeneous steel manufacturing method to Niu Weibang?" ”

Tian Hao smiled calmly, and there was no trace of dirt in his bright eyes: "This is a secret that belongs to the entire Niu clan, I just found a little trick on the basis of my predecessors." ”

"You can keep it and exchange it for a special time." Wu Peng's sharp gaze seemed to go straight to his heart: "Many people will do this. ”

"I've already said it's not something that belongs to me alone." Tianhao's face was calm, and his attitude was extremely resolute: "Rock City is too small. 100,000 people, plus the harvest of this conquest of the Pig Clan, is only 200,000 at best, but the entire Niu Clan has several millions. It takes a lot of time to forge a deck of armor, and Rock City doesn't have that many craftsmen. It is the best thing to do to hand over the homogeneous steel formula to the king, and only when the entire Niu clan becomes strong can Rock City be safe. The tiger clan has horses, the lion clan has food, and our cattle clan must have a long-term advantage in the manufacture of weapons and equipment, which can not be done by lip service, but must integrate the technological advantages of the entire clan and give full play to the collective strength. ”

Wu Peng maintained his apparent calm, his thin fingers flicking lightly on the table, but his heart was trembling. Many thoughts that have never been there come out of the depths of the mind, stimulating the nerves of the mind that have been numb since many years ago. It is not a disease of ordinary logical concepts, but an indifference to the things themselves after experiencing too much.

His eyes flashed with dazzling light, with incomparable faith and worship, but more emotion and expectation.

After a long time, Wu Peng regained his serious expression: "What are you going to do with these pig captives?" ”

Tianhao's reaction was very quick: "Rely on the great master to decide, whatever you say, I will do it." ”

"There are so many people in Rock City that it's more than normal. I can help you arrange for a population swap with other inner clans and cities. Wu Peng's tone was flat, he glanced at Tianhao, raised his hand and pointed to the chair placed opposite: "Don't stand, sit down and say." ”

Tianhao sat down as he said and let out a hearty laugh: "Great, thank you to the great teacher." ”

That's exactly what he really thinks.

The pig tribe is a special case of the northern barbarians, and they are more monsters than humans with their special body size. In fact, within the barbarians, there have always been voices that refuse to recognize the pig people as "tribal compatriots". The reason why this opinion has not become the mainstream of consciousness is that the number of pigs is small and the size of the ethnic group is not large, compared with the total number of barbarians in the entire north exceeding tens of millions, it is almost impossible to count the hundreds of thousands of pigs.

Before annexing the Crazy Tooth Tribe, the pig people in Rock City have surpassed the aborigines of the Niu Clan. This time, the three-city alliance army wiped out the pig tribe and distributed more than 100,000 pig people to prisoners. On the whole, the pig group occupies an absolute advantage, and it is difficult to be assimilated by the cattle in a short period of time.

Wu Peng's old face smiled: "You don't need to thank me, this is actually what Your Majesty meant." ”

When Tianhao heard this, he was immediately surprised: "Your Majesty? ”

Wu Peng nodded seriously: "Do you think that such a big matter as the Three Cities Alliance can hide from Your Majesty?" Without His Majesty's permission, Niu Weibang would not have been able to raise the army of the clan to recruit the Pig Clan. Even a large part of the food sent to the front line by Thunderhorn City came from the surrounding tribes. But you have to understand that these things are complementary and not independent. ”

"The last time you helped Zongguang pass the branding ceremony in Black Corner City, His Majesty valued you very much. Helping each other has been a tradition of our cattle people from ancient times to the present day, but some people feel that time has passed, and they are more concerned about their own interests and indifferent to the difficulties of their brothers. If it weren't for this incident, Your Majesty wouldn't have paid special attention to you, at best, just an ordinary city lord. ”

"You relied on your own strength to win the Crazy Fangs, and the Niu Clan has not had such a brilliant feat for many years. Although His Majesty is old, he is not confused. He pressed down on some of the rewards that should have been given to you. If you are too young and get too much at once, there will be many people who will be jealous and even resentful. ”

"Rumors have been circulating in Thunderhorn City about your rebellion, and someone is behind it, and now it has spread to Blackhorn City, and Your Majesty has also heard about it. Your practice of copying the homogeneous steel production method to Niu Weibang and His Majesty respectively is very timely, and with this alone, your position in His Majesty's mind has become stable. ”

"The other thing is the feats of this battle. The status of the pig king is noble, and you bring back a real king of the tribe, such a prominent and valuable trophy is rare in the entire history of the Niu clan. Bone bowls made from other people's heads can enter the Royal Treasure Hall and be left to future generations. ”

The expression of surprise froze on Tianhao's face. This is not contrived, but a true reflection of the heart.

Wu Peng was satisfied with his reaction and smiled: "Get ready!" At the latest, the day after tomorrow, the replacement civilians from other cities will be able to reach Rock City. ”

Tianhao showed a bright smile: "So fast? ”

"On the day that the body of the pig king was sent to Black Horn City, His Majesty issued a population replacement order. A total of 80,000 people. If you don't feel that the number of replacements is enough, you can increase some more. ”

Tianhao smiled: "Enough, Your Majesty helped me solve a lot of trouble." ”

His smile was genuine, at least on the surface.

……

Wu Peng did not have malicious intent.

He announced in public His Majesty the Ox King's reward to Tianhao———— promoted from the city lord to the big city lord, which is commonly known as the lord.

Only lords with a population of more than 100,000 are eligible to become lords, which means that the area of rule is not limited to a single city, but includes all the settlements around the city, large and small. According to the rules of the northern barbarians, the boundaries between the cities were agreed upon by the rulers of the neighboring regions, and if a consensus was reached, a boundary agreement would be formed in the presence of the priests and wizards of both sides, engraved on the clay stencils, and stamped with the seals of the respective lords of the agreed cities.

The location of Rock City is very special, according to the tribal family, the current city boundary is divided into two parts: inner and outer.

Inside, the only thing adjacent to Rock City is the Red Hoof City. Although Niu Tong has character flaws, he has no ill will towards Tianhao. What's more, the outskirts of Red Hoof City have not been developed for a long time, and it is quite far away from Rock City, so there should not be much contradiction between the two sides on the border issue.

Externally, there are many tribes bordering Rock City. Deer, Tiger, Lion, Eagle...... Territorial and border issues between clans are rarely resolved by negotiations, either by war or by suppression by situation. In short, the size of the territory depends on the strength of both sides, and no one will always abide by the fixed frame on the mud formwork.

The Great Lord is a rather special identity. According to the title system implemented by the Southern White Empire, Tianhao's current status is equivalent to that of a duke, and the patriarch of Lei Niu, Niu Weibang, is equivalent to a grand duke or king.

To the north of Rock City is a large area of uninhabited land in a wild form. In fact, the natural conditions here are very good, and all kinds of products are also abundant, but the Niu people are sparsely populated, and the choice of settlements first considers water sources and arable land, so these areas are not developed.

Destroy an entire clan and bring back the corpse of a noble king. Such a remarkable achievement is extremely rare in the history of the Niu clan, and His Majesty the Niu King is not hesitant to reward———— in addition to the ten existing villages before, Tianhao also got the new right to set up twenty villages, on the premise that there are no regional disputes with other cities within the Niu clan, and they are self-sufficient.

The great masters have always been very accurate in terms of timing. Two days later, the first batch of replacements arrived in Rock City. They came from the fierce bull tribe, numbering more than 20,000 people.

Tianhao attaches great importance to the replacement of prisoners of war. He had made arrangements early, and he had done an impeccable job in terms of personnel rest and food, and even the great master Wu Peng nodded secretly when he saw it.

The men of the Bull Tribe, who came from the north, gathered in the clearing outside the Rock City.

Tian Hao silently stared at these fellow clans who had come from afar, and the gaze in his eyes gradually became sharp, and soon became cold, mixed with undisguised anger.