Simultaneous travel: City, infinite evolution

Chapter 265 The Rapid Development of the Great Qin Dynasty: Steel Making Method

Of the 40 laborers who worked on the Great Wall, 30 returned home to farm, leaving only 10 laborers to help.

Of the 80 laborers who worked on the imperial road network, 50 returned home to farm, leaving only 30 laborers to build the road network.

In this way, 80 laborers were able to return home to farm, and the people of the world were able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, 80 puppeteers were sent to the battlefield to replace the laborers.

This simultaneously satisfied the needs of allowing the people to recuperate and addressing the labor shortage for large-scale construction projects, thus resolving what seemed like an unsolvable deadlock.

This allowed the newly established Qin Dynasty to catch its breath, while also ensuring that large-scale infrastructure projects such as building the Great Wall and roads were not neglected.

To further improve efficiency, Chen Hong also invented cement and set up cement plants in various mining areas to produce cement.

A large amount of cement was used in the construction, which greatly improved construction efficiency.

This greatly accelerated the progress of the highway and Great Wall projects.

Wide roads are laid out, and with the help of cement, they become smooth roads that won't collapse on rainy days.

It is more durable, smoother, and faster than the old roads.

These roads and highways intertwine to form the national road network.

This greatly improves transportation efficiency and reduces transportation costs.

Even the losses during the transportation of grain and fodder have been reduced.

Chen Hong invented the pulley system, a small device with a big impact.

Using pulley systems reduces the effort required by at least half, thus speeding up the construction of the Great Wall.

It is very useful for lifting those heavy stones.

At this time, the Great Wall was mostly constructed of rammed earth, with very little use of bricks.

The advent of cement not only reduced the cost of building the Great Wall, but also made its defenses more robust and allowed for faster construction.

If the Qin Dynasty hadn't completely lacked an industrial base at that time, Chen Hong would have wanted to directly produce the excavators, cranes, and other engineering machines that would be common in later generations.

The speed of construction far surpassed the speed of human labor at that time.

The immense power of China's infrastructure boom is underpinned by an entire industrial system.

Because it spared 150 million laborers from the suffering of forced labor, allowing them to return home safely.

Chen Hong's reputation soared to the point where he was known throughout the world.

Countless scholars sang praises to Chen Hong, and countless ordinary people were grateful for his kindness.

In order to revise the "Great Qin Law", Chen Hong solicited opinions from officials at all levels and ordinary people.

They also set up mailboxes in major cities to encourage ordinary people and scholars to write letters and offer their opinions.

Then, through the postal relay system, these letters were collected and transported to Xianyang for inspection.

Chen Hong also devoured the official library of the Qin Dynasty, a collection of books that Qin had acquired after conquering the six states, containing the rich resources and knowledge of those states.

It's an enormous collection, including rare and unique books left over from the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

Chen Hong absorbed countless pieces of wisdom like a sponge.

Chen Hong left the mountain to intercept the mineral vein and forged a magnificent and enormous [Star River Library], which stood in Xianyang City.

A "Hundred Schools of Thought Hall" was also set up next to the library.

He then extended invitations to all schools of thought and families with a long collection of books.

They invited all the philosophers of the Hundred Schools of Thought to debate, and offered to have the Galaxy Library make a copy of any books they presented.

You are allowed to copy a book at the Galaxy Library.

How many books, how precious, were donated.

That's how many books you can copy, even the most precious ones.

This news caused a stir among scholars and literary families throughout the land, who flocked to Xianyang.

This is a free business opportunity; anyone who doesn't take it would be a fool.

It's just a copy; it's not like we're taking away their entire collection of books.

Moreover, it can earn an extra income, enhancing the family's foundation.

They could also debate in Xianyang, satisfying their desire for fame.

With such fame and fortune, why wouldn't one come?
Moreover, the whole world was in an uproar, hearing that an immortal had been born to assist the Qin Dynasty.

Even the most skeptical person, upon seeing that beautiful puppet, would have to admit that this so-called immortal, even if not an immortal, must be a highly accomplished and powerful being.

As a result, many people flocked to Xianyang, eager to catch a glimpse of the immortal's demeanor.

Chen Hong, on the other hand, gained access to the world's vast collection of books for free, listened to debates among various schools of thought, and even personally participated in discussions with the great sages of those schools.

This wisdom increases day by day.

The wisdom of countless pre-Qin sages is gathered in one person and fused into one.

Gradually, Chen Hongsheng's wisdom began to shine.

Within the space of his consciousness, Chen Hong's soul sat upright in the center.

A faint white light emanated from its body, and countless scriptures and classic texts transformed into tadpole-like characters, continuously evolving...

One could see golden ribbons composed of tadpole-like characters spinning continuously, intertwining with each other, forming a sphere that kept rotating, as if revealing the secrets of heaven and the wisdom of humankind.

The light of wisdom emanating from Chen Hong was like cool moonlight, refreshing and invigorating, dispelling confusion and giving rise to wisdom.

This light of wisdom grew stronger over time, as Chen Hong's understanding of ancient wisdom deepened.

Under the illumination of the light of wisdom, Chen Hong's soul became more refined and more spiritual.

His consciousness became clearer, slowly expanding the realm of the mist.

I believe that when the quantitative change leads to the qualitative change, something different will happen.

With the growth of Chen Hong's wisdom and the addition of many great sages, the compilation of the "Great Qin Law" progressed even faster.

Under Chen Hong's guidance, Ying Zheng, Li Si, and others began to reform the government system, perfecting the prefecture-county system and establishing a three-tiered management system of central government, prefectures/counties, and townships.

He also enfeoffed capable princes to vassal states on the frontier.

He recruited nobles from the six kingdoms to help the prince fight against the barbarians, expand his territory, and use barbarians to control barbarians.

They also reformed the land grant system based on the twenty-rank military merit titles, and, following the methods Chen Hong had previously described, revitalized this most terrifying war machine of the Qin Dynasty.

It opened up promotion channels for lower-ranking soldiers.

He also reformed the imperial supervision system, establishing the "Imperial Censorate," the "Performance Evaluation Office," and the "Black Ice Platform," so that corrupt officials had nowhere to hide and that officials were encouraged to do good things for the people, which would be counted in their performance evaluation.

The civil and military examinations were established, in conjunction with the recommendation system, to select talents for the court and provide several upward mobility channels for those at the bottom of society.

Qin Shi Huang made up his mind to establish Fusu as the crown prince, set up the Eastern Palace, and assist the crown prince in learning how to govern.

With the crown prince in place, the people's hearts were united, and the foundation of the country became much more stable.

With a clear successor to the nation, the people are drawn to the country, and many schemes, plots, and power struggles become pointless.

The foundation of the Qin Dynasty was immediately made more solid.

In short, just as Chen Hong and the First Emperor had said, the reforms involved all aspects and were implemented in a grand and sweeping manner.

The stagnant court was suddenly revitalized, as if it had returned to the days when the Qin state was reforming and striving for strength.

They vigorously promoted reforms everywhere, implementing Chen Hong's design step by step.

Li Si and his colleagues were quite capable; they were able to implement Chen Hong's design suggestions.

It will also make flexible adjustments based on the actual situation of the Qin Dynasty.

When the policy is implemented at the county and prefecture levels, appropriate adjustments will be made based on the different local conditions.

At this time, the Qin bureaucratic system still had countless capable officials and retained a style of being efficient and pragmatic.

There are plenty of people with strong execution, high efficiency, and good abilities.

Therefore, under the guidance of ministers such as Li Si, the reform did not go wrong, but was carried out step by step.

When problems arise, the highly efficient administrative system handles them promptly.

It fully demonstrates the terrifying execution, cohesion, and ruling power of a young, unified dynasty.

In order to support the Qin Dynasty in resisting foreign tribes and expanding its territory, as well as the various vassal states in conquering barbarians and expanding their territories.

Needing to create better equipment, Chen Hong decided to phase out bronzeware and evolve the Bronze Age into the Iron Age.

To address this, Chen Hong invented the "steel-frying method," which is relatively easy to implement.

To achieve the process of frying steel and smelting ironware, a furnace temperature higher than that required for bronze production was needed.

At this point, the furnace temperature does not reach the 1000+ degrees Celsius that are common.

Therefore, Chen Hong must first produce coke in order to meet the needs of steelmaking.

Ultimately, Chen Hong drew upon the techniques from the Ming Dynasty's "Tiangong Kaiwu" (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature).

For the coal mining site, Chen Hong chose the Yima mining area in Yiyang County, Henan Province.

There are records of open-pit coal mining here as early as the Western Han Dynasty. The Records of the Grand Historian states that Dou Guangguo "went into the mountains to make charcoal" in Yiyang, with more than a hundred people mining on a large scale.

Therefore, choosing this location, with the technology available at the time, makes mining relatively easy.

After selecting a suitable location, Chen Hong established a large-scale coal-fired kiln near the Yima mining area in Yiyang County, Henan Province.

The first step is to build a kiln.

Dig a pit 10m long × 3m wide × 1.2m deep in the ground, and make the kiln wall 1m thick.

The second step is loading coal.

The bituminous coal is stacked in layers, each layer being 30cm thick. After compaction, wood ash is sprinkled to isolate oxygen.

The third step is firing.

An ignition hole is left on the top of the kiln, and eight air inlets are opened at the bottom.

After ignition, the air intake vent is sealed after combustion is complete, and the temperature is controlled at 900-1000℃ throughout the process.

After 8-11 days, the water is turned off and the coke is removed, with a char yield of about 60%.

The resulting coke has a calorific value 40% higher than that of charcoal and a low sulfur content (<0.6%), reducing steel embrittlement.

One ton of coke can be smelted into 0.5 tons of steel, which is three times more efficient than charcoal.

Under Chen Hong's technical guidance, Da Qin began digging kilns here to refine coal.

Truckloads of coke were produced and transported to Daye, Hubei for steelmaking.

Having resolved the coke issue, Chen Hong began working on steelmaking.

The chosen site is a silka-type magnetite-associated copper mine in Daye, Hubei.

This iron ore mine is known as the "Mother of Chinese Iron Ore," containing 50% to 60% iron and 0.5% to 2% copper.

Copper mining here began as early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, using a combination of open-pit and underground mining methods, with surface outcrops that can be directly excavated.

Moreover, the iron ore reserves are high, reaching 1.6 million tons, which is more than enough to supply the Qin Dynasty at that time.

The iron ore here can be fed into the furnace after simple crushing, resulting in high decarburization efficiency in steelmaking.

Symbiotic copper can also be used to smelt bronze artifacts and everyday utensils.

Although bronze is relatively brittle and has low toughness, it is not as good as iron.

However, bronze is naturally corrosion-resistant, unlike iron which is prone to rusting, making it more durable and easier to cast and process.

Bronze is quite good for making daily utensils and ritual objects.

After selecting the location, Chen Hong built a large-scale steel plant here.

A series of jar-shaped furnaces were unearthed underground. The furnace chamber was shaped like a jar bottom (small opening and large belly), about 0.5-1 meter deep, and the inner wall was coated with refractory mud.

This underground structure has strong insulation properties, concentrates heat, and prevents it from escaping into the air, reducing fuel consumption by 30%.

(End of this chapter)