On the sixth day of the entire test plan, the craftsman responsible for building the fire tank was still repairing the fire tank, and he was only halfway through it. On the seventh day, he was still repairing it, and it was not finished yet.

Finally, on the eighth day, the heating tank was finally built.

This day is the twenty-third day of the first lunar month.

Two days ago, on the 21st of the first lunar month, a food delivery team with more than a dozen carriages finally arrived at Julu City.

When the food delivery team arrived, there was a sensation throughout the army. After a long time, no matter how hard we saved food, the army's food supply was still at the bottom.

There was no food left at all, and food had to be left to feed the cattle, mules, and livestock. So a few days ago, there were only one meal left out of the two meals a day. There was no gruel, and only meatballs were left.

And even though one meatball was not enough, the meal turned into three meatballs, but it was still not enough.

There is a joke that since you can’t afford to eat, why not eat meat porridge?

This is the situation of the rebel army. They have no porridge to eat and can only eat meat. There are only three sources of meat. One is the slaughter of army animals, the other is a small amount of prey sent back by Zhang Fei from hunting, and the other is from the fishing team.

The water net searched the water for fish and brought the fish back.

According to practice, hunting cannot support too many people, and the limit is three to two thousand people. If the harvest from fishing is higher, perhaps twenty thousand people is the limit.

Seeing that he was about to run out of food, Li Mengxi discussed with Guan Yu about killing the war horses. He wanted to kill two hundred old and weak war horses, but Guan Yu refused to die.

It can be said that when hundreds of thousands of people were at the end of their rope, they saw no food. Finally, Liu Bei's support came.

The first batch of grain that arrived was only a dozen cartloads, and the carriages were half-loaded, so there was less than seven cartloads of grain.

This small amount of food is a drop in the bucket for hundreds of thousands of people.

However, this is the brilliance of Liu Bei.

A large number of grain and grass teams were behind. The cattle and mule vehicles were too slow and it would take some time to arrive. Liu Beina understood the essence of a rapid supply team, so he specially ordered a dozen carriages, half loaded with grain and grass, to speed past the giant deer at the fastest speed.

Liu Bei used this move very cleverly, fully demonstrating the magical effect of the rapid supply team.

The reason why there are more than a dozen half-loaded carriages instead of one or a number is because even though a large number of carriages rush to Julu City quickly, this can also immediately boost the morale of hundreds of thousands of people who are waiting for food, but it is only a mere number.

A large quantity of grain truck was not large enough at all. When the civilians and soldiers saw this, they were inevitably worried. They were worried that they would not be able to get food together even if they sent such a small amount of grain, so the morale of the army would not be stable.

Subtle considerations came to this point, so Liu Bei deliberately increased the size of the rapid supply team, so that more than a dozen grain trucks could be combined. Sure enough, when more than a dozen grain trucks arrived at Julu, the army was jubilant.

The rapid supply team arrived, and the food delivered was not much, but it was enough to last for a few days. After a few days, the food and fodder for the large team behind arrived, perfect.

Speaking of which, after several months of fighting against the Yellow Turbans, all the rebels have grown up in the flames of war and have made great progress.

The idea of ​​a rapid supply team originated from Li Mengxi, and was perfected by Guan and Zhang and other soldiers. Finally, Liu, Guan, and Zhang were familiar with its essence. As a result, everyone perfected the method of rapid supply together, and this piece of military knowledge was mastered by everyone.

Liu Bei's method of rapid supply was no different from what Li Mengxi used or what Guan Yu used, and both were at a very high level.

Food is finally available, and I can finally resume eating two meals a day.

According to the report of the soldiers who came to deliver food, there was a large group of food and fodder, and there was no need to worry about the food problem. Li Mengxi could finally concentrate on starting the test that had been busy for seven or eight days.

More than a thousand steel bars needed for the test have been cast by the blacksmiths who have been busy working for days. It is more than a thousand steel bars instead of exactly one thousand steel bars. This is to take into account that there may be failures during the casting or quenching process, so more steel bars are made.

Some of them may be replaced.

A thousand iron pliers are also ready.

More than 10,000 kilograms of charcoal were processed for several days. Under the processing of large stone rollers, the charcoal was ground into sufficiently fine charcoal powder.

The final step is to check all preparations.

Li Mengxi went to the earthen kilns and inspected a hundred earthen kilns. All the earthen kilns had a trough-shaped charcoal trough. The charcoal trough was very huge. This was to burn out all the oxygen in the kiln as much as possible.

The temperature in the kiln is raised as much as possible.

I went to the heating tank again. The heating tank was a full three hundred feet long. With the allowance, it would only be longer than three hundred feet.

The heating tank was built into a curved shape, twisting and turning like a dragon and a snake. When Guan Yu saw this formation, he just exclaimed that it was spectacular.

The heating tank is a key step in the entire test. The same firepower, the thickness and length of the heated steel bar, and the same heating time should be able to heat the steel bar to a very close temperature, and then stop heating at the same time and quench for the same time.

, can quench a batch of steel bars with very similar properties.

This is the only feasible method that Li Mengxi can think of.

After inspecting the heating tank, I saw that although the appearance of the earthen tank was simple, the key part of the tank was carefully made with visible workmanship, and it was smooth and smooth with no cracks or even gravel.

The craftsman responsible for building the trough took a ladle of water and poured it into the trough to show Li Mengxi the results of several days of work. The ladle of water fell down and the water flowed slowly to both sides in the trough.

The water in the trough flows surprisingly slowly.

Li Mengxi understood clearly that if one point is higher and the other is lower, the water will flow to one side. A slow flow like this can only be achieved when it is close to a horizontal state.

The effect was so good that Li Mengxi was surprised. He couldn't help but look at the city builders with high regard. There were such experts in the army.

Li Mengxi felt that among the hundreds of thousands of people, this man was the most powerful craftsman.

After inspection, no matter the samples, materials, or site, everything is in order.

After that, Li Mengxi took a rag and wiped the water that the craftsman had just sprinkled into the heating tank bit by bit, and everything was complete.

——

When the test begins, the first step is to take a ruler and start measuring along the long heating tank. Measure the distance of four feet, then make a long mark, and then draw a short mark in the middle of the four feet. At the same time, there is a mark on this side of the tank, and another mark on the other side of the tank.

There are also marks on one side of the stool.

During the measurement, Li Mengxi deliberately avoided the front and rear and corners because he didn't know whether the temperature at the front, end or corners would be different from the middle.

After the long trough has been measured and more than a thousand workstation marks have been left, a wooden bucket or large vat filled with cold water is placed next to each workstation.

The military already had urine or grease quenching technology, but the reason why Li Mengxi didn't use it was because, first, there wasn't enough grease to quench a thousand people, and urine was dirty, difficult to collect, and the concentration was difficult to control.

Therefore, to simplify, only water is used for quenching.

After the water was put away, Li Mengxi mobilized all the craftsmen and added a large number of soldiers. After giving each of these people a steel bar and an iron pliers, the auxiliary personnel found a well-measured work station one by one.

Stand still.

Everything is ready. In the last step, the person responsible for spreading charcoal carries a basket full of toner, holds a ladle, and evenly spreads the charcoal powder along the long trough.

This step is not just about spreading the toner casually. Li Mengxi's requirements are very high. After the person in front spreads the toner, the person behind takes the brush used to clean the pot and carefully smoothes the toner.

There are three rounds of smoothing out the team like this.

In fact, it is a bit hasty. Although the toner is easy to evenly distribute, there will still be slight differences in thickness when placed. If you want to be more precise, you can actually break the charcoal and use force to press the charcoal into a uniform size.

Just use standard charcoal blocks and lay a layer on the bottom of the tank. This will ensure even firepower.

To achieve this step, we need to figure out the machine-made charcoal process.

The charcoal powder is evenly spread in the long trough, with a thickness of half a finger. The charcoal powder is fine enough, and it is all poplar charcoal, or poplar charcoal fired in the same kiln. The charcoal is fired at the same temperature.

After this, the messengers rushed around to deliver orders and explain the details.

More than a thousand people are responsible for quenching, and their requirements are:

First, everyone places the steel bar on the short mark in front of them, with the length aligned.

Second, after the fire is lit, the steel bars are not allowed to be tampered with, and no one is allowed to move around at will.

Third, when the gong sounds, it is time to quench. Immediately use pliers to clamp the iron bar in and put in cold water to quench. When the second gong sounds, it is time to stop. Clip the knife bar out immediately and wait for someone to collect it.

.

After many orders were issued, the centurions went down to question them individually.

But those who could not describe the order would be scolded by the centurions on the spot.

Li Mengxi witnessed all this from a distance. His mood was ups and downs. Finally, he has been busy for so long. Whether it is success or failure, he just has to give it a try.

At this time, the swordsmith who was following Li Mengxi came up and said with a smile, "Military advisor, before you open fire, you can offer sacrifices to the founder of Lu Ban."

On the side, Guan Yu also laughed and said that this huge battle was the best to be sacrificed.

Following the two people's wishes, Li Mengxi solemnly set up an altar and a memorial tablet for the founder of Lu Ban in front of one hundred earthen kilns. Li Mengxi led a group of craftsmen to solemnly pay homage.

After prostrating many times, Li Mengxi looked at the tablet and said in his heart, (Master Lu Ban, please bless the younger generation and may your wishes come true.)

After chanting, Li Mengxi kowtowed again.

After the sacrifice was over, the craftsmen returned to their workstations, and the centurions inspected them one after another. The inspections were extremely strict, so strict that the steel bars must be aligned with the painted marks, and even if they were a little crooked, it would not work.

After making sure that all the steel bars were in the correct position, Li Mengxi turned to look at the people holding braziers and said, "Start, start the fire!"

The soldiers who had been well prepared carried the red-hot charcoal brazier pots and scattered them everywhere. Then they took iron or wooden spoons to scoop up a spoonful of the finely chopped charcoal in the brazier and spread it evenly into the fire tank.

.

Li Mengxi looked at the knife forger, and then at the soldiers holding more than a dozen steel bars. He said to the two of them, "Let's go down too."

——

There were more than a dozen vacancies at the reserved position of the heating tank. Li Mengxi and the knifemaker came here, placed the steel bars on the fire tank one by one, and then waited for the charcoal fire to heat up.

In the long heating tank, half a finger's thickness of carbon powder was spread. After some finely divided charcoal was sprinkled on it, the charcoal fire slowly began to ignite the carbon powder and the charcoal fire began to spread.

Li Mengxi stood on tiptoe beside the fire trough and looked at the fire inside. He saw that the charcoal fire was burning slowly, and it took a long time before it spread to an area as big as a palm. Li Mengxi frowned immediately.

This ignition method is not good.

It's best to light the fire at once.
To be continued...