Iron Dynasty

Laizhou, Qian Dafu looked at the busy slave and took a sip.

He shouted all morning, his voice was hoarse, and he has been instructing the slaves to build various buildings in the mining area.

In order to quickly send the tungsten ore powder, some slaves are already mining tungsten ore, and some slaves are doing screening work to enrich the tungsten ore powder mixed with soil.

Second uncle, your Royal Highness is here. At this time, a young man ran over and said to Qian Dafu.

His Royal Highness? Qian Dafu almost jumped up from his chair. He said to the young man, Qian Gui, don't talk nonsense when Your Highness is down. Let me tell His Highness about letting you go to Bowen College.

Second uncle, I'll listen to you. Qian Gui couldn't help but nodded, with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

Some armored cavalrymen appeared in the mining area at this time. These cavalrymen looked very brave. Needless to say, they were also guards guarding Xiao Ming.

When Qian Dafu saw it, he immediately stepped forward. He had already seen Xiao Ming surrounded by cavalry.

His Royal Highness, this is so far away, why did you come here in person? Qian Dafu greeted him with a smile all the way.

Xiao Ming smiled when he saw Qian Dafu, and said, Come and have a look. By the way, I will bring you the slaves that Liang Dahai brought from the grasslands. Five thousand people, enough for you.

Qian Dafu glanced at the slaves guarded by the cavalry, and said with a smile: Hey, this Liang Dahai finally has some brains, and the ones bought at this time are all strong slaves, enough, enough, these five thousand people Worth the 10,000 people before.

If he doesn't have any more brains, this king will let him go home to farm. Xiao Ming dismounted as he spoke.

He looked over Qian Dafu at the slaves digging at the bottom of the mine.

Since ancient times, this mining has been extremely hard work. Without modern machinery, it can only rely on slaves, chisel, and dig, and a metal mining area often stretches for several miles.

Now these slaves have only dug about five meters of the surface layer, and the content of tungsten ore powder in this layer is very thin.

Your Highness, this mine is wolframite.

Qian Dafu showed Xiao Ming a stone that was black and white. The ore looked a bit like coal. If it wasn't for the ore showing that there were still some transparent crystals, he would definitely suspect that it was a coal mine.

Xiao Ming nodded with satisfaction. The scheelite ore is widely distributed, but it is generally a poor ore, while the wolframite has a small distribution, but it is generally a rich ore, and wolframite is associated with two metals, tungsten and manganese. Tungsten ore is equivalent to finding manganese, while scheelite is a calcareous ore.

After padding the tungsten ore, Xiao Ming felt a burst of joy in his heart. The reason why he asked Qian Dafu to find wolframite was because he needed manganese as well as tungsten.

After watching the slaves dig ore, Xiao Ming went to the place where the tungsten ore powder was screened again. He was very satisfied with Qian Dafu's work efficiency. The results have been achieved in just a few days.

However, this was also obtained at the price of the slaves sleeping in the open air, because the entire mining area now does not have a complete house, only a few tents.

You've been sleeping in a tent these days? Xiao Ming was touched, Qian Dafu can really be elected as a model worker in modern times.

No way, the cement and bricks in Qingzhou still have a few days to arrive. Now we can only pay attention. Fortunately, it is not cold now. If it is nothing, the slaves are all carrying quilts, and a large group of people live together. not cold.

Hey, it's been hard work for you. You'll be tired for a while. After a while, this king will let the government officials come to reward you. Xiao Ming smiled.

Qian Dafu laughed honestly. At this moment, he suddenly called his nephew. Seeing Qian Gui pulling out, he said to Xiao Ming, His Royal Highness, his name is Qian Gui, and he is the nephew of this old slave.

Money is expensive? Is that your nephew who was made a slave in the government?

That's right, the goddess is very kind. Not long ago, I pleaded with the emperor and forgave him his sins. He returned from Chang'an to join the old slave. Your Highness also knows that the old slave's relatives are the only one left, and the old slave is this one again. It seems that the incense of the Qian family can only be counted on him, so he thought of treating him like his own son.

At this time, Qian Gui also bowed to Xiao Ming and said, Qian Gui has seen His Highness.

Speaking of Qian Dafu, he is actually equivalent to the Huangmen in the palace. He cannot bear children in his life. Xiao Ming naturally understands the importance of this only remaining nephew to him.

In the past, Qian Dafu seldom asked him, but now he must be eager to say it.

He glanced at Qian Gui, but it was somewhat similar to Qian Dafu. Concubine Zhen deliberately pleaded with Xiao Wenxuan, which seemed to be a reward to Qian Dafu over the years.

So he said; It seems to have a loyal look with you.

His Royal Highness, our Qian family's family style is like this, it can't be wrong. Qian Dafu laughed, His Royal Highness, can you see if Qian Gui can replace the old slave to learn something at Bowen College, so that the old slave can Concentrate on operating the mining area, and he can replace the old slave to go out to search for mines, otherwise the old slave will not be able to bear it.

Well, what you said makes sense. Xiao Ming glanced at Qian Gui again and said, In that case, let him go to Bowen College to study for a while.

Thank you, Your Highness. Qian Dafu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Speaking of which, even if it wasn't for Qian Dafu, he would have to cultivate a few talents in mineral exploration. After all, Qingzhou's current talents can be counted on their fingers, and a group of young talents are urgently needed to support the future industrial development.

After inspecting the mining area, Xiao Ming returned to Qingzhou with three tons of tungsten powder that the slaves had already mined.

With the tungsten ore powder, he went directly to the equipment department.

His Royal Highness, how should this spring be produced? Song Changping sniffed. He had a cold recently.

With the research on the Suifa gun on the agenda, he naturally wanted to assemble the most powerful research team in Qingzhou, and all the talents from the equipment department were reunited.

However, instead of letting them study the flintlock gun together, Xiao Ming assigned them their respective tasks. Zhang Liu and others were responsible for the production of tungsten steel knives and barrels.

Song Changping is responsible for the production of flintlock guns and bullets and the most complicated part of the bolt. According to Xiao Ming's plan, Chen Qi will be responsible for artillery matters in the future, while Song Changping is responsible for the research and production of firearms.

Although the barrel has not yet been found, the production of small steel balls and the research on the bolt can already be carried out. These steps can be completely synchronized. After all, Xiao Ming did not start from scratch, but owns the production materials of various firearms.

How to extract tungsten from this tungsten ore powder. Zhang Liu added.

These two problems are technical difficulties. The spring needs to solve the elastic problem of steel. As for the purification of tungsten at the current level, Xiao Ming cannot guarantee the purification rate, but even if it can be purified by 20%, it is enough.

One by one, Zhang Liu, you guys will deal with the mold first, Song Changping, you stay, this king will tell you about the structure of the bolt.