Starting with a Wei Wu soldier

Chapter 107 Steelmaking Method

The first night after the Black Mountain Army's retreat passed slowly amidst heightened vigilance and exhaustion. The scouts dispatched by Murong Mingyue and the sentries sent by Chen Weijia, like ghosts in the night, repeatedly patrolled the ten-mile radius surrounding Xinghuo Fortress. Several small groups of Black Mountain Army soldiers attempting to approach under cover of darkness for reconnaissance or infiltration were promptly discovered and driven away. One particularly dangerous suicide squad, carrying grappling hooks and clearly harboring ill intentions, was caught red-handed by Murong Mingyue's cavalry. After a brief and fierce chase, they fled back in panic, leaving behind more than twenty corpses.

The night raid failed. Apart from the usual night watch torches, there was no unusual activity from the direction of the Black Mountain Army camp, as if they were indeed resting. However, none of the Starfire Fortress defenders on the city wall dared to relax. Behind the broken crenellations, pairs of bloodshot eyes remained fixed on the deep darkness to the north. Only when a faint glimmer of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon, confirming that the enemy had not launched an immediate attack at daybreak as they had the previous day, did their nerves, which had been taut all night, begin to relax slightly. The soldiers who were relieved of their duties dragged their heavy steps and weapons down from the city wall, their faces etched with exhaustion.

However, the pause button on the war was not pressed; it simply shifted to a different rhythm. During the day, Starfire Fortress did not regain its former vitality due to the temporary silence of the enemy forces; instead, it was shrouded in a repressive and busy atmosphere of repair.

The city walls became the busiest construction site. Under the protection of the defenders, laborers carefully dragged away some of the enemy corpses piled up below the walls, burning and burying them to prevent disease. Many more were busy repairing the damage to the walls: filling the holes blasted by stones with hastily fired mud bricks and quickly setting rammed earth; rebuilding and reinforcing the damaged crenellations with wood and stones; clearing away the remains of burned protective sheds and transporting new materials; and, most importantly, checking the main body of the walls for structural cracks caused by repeated bombardment. Zhou Dashan practically lived on the walls, leading a group of craftsmen, carefully examining each section using simple levels and hammers to listen to the sound.

Inside the fortress, Wang Jian's medical clinic was overflowing. Groans, suppressed cries of pain, and the hurried commands of healers and apprentices mingled together. The lightly wounded were bandaged and returned to their ranks, while the seriously wounded lay on makeshift straw mats, receiving the most "advanced" treatment available at the time—boiled linen bandages, sterilized rudimentary instruments, limited pain-relieving herbs, and the clumsy yet earnest procedures of the medical trainees. The stench of blood and herbs lingered. In this battle, the Starfire Fortress garrison suffered over three hundred dead and more than eight hundred wounded, many severely injured from burns by fireballs or stone projectiles; the mortality rate was alarming.

The household registration office and the craft workshops were both brightly lit. Li Shu led his men through the night to inventory the supplies of arrows, logs, stones, and kerosene, and organized the women to work harder on making arrow shafts, weaving rattan baskets, and steaming dry rations. The furnaces in the craft workshops burned even more fiercely than during the war, and the clanging of hammers never ceased day or night. They were not only repairing damaged armor and forging more arrowheads, but also accelerating the production of new defensive weapons.

Amidst this wartime-like flurry of activity, tinged with bloodshed and anxiety, Chen Xing urgently summoned Zhou Dashan from the city wall back to the heavily guarded "Master Craftsmen's Headquarters" located in the heart of the fortress. Also summoned were several veteran craftsmen, renowned for their exceptional skills in iron smelting and forging, and whose absolute loyalty had been repeatedly verified through rigorous examination.

Inside the main hall, the atmosphere was completely different from the tense restoration outside, carrying a sense of suppressed excitement and focus. On the walls hung complex diagrams and formulas drawn in charcoal, which looked like cryptic writing to outsiders. On the long table in the center, several metal samples with distinctly different colors and textures were laid out. Next to them were several scrolls of summaries of the principles and key points of the "steel-casting method" written from memory by Chen Xing, as well as data records compiled by Zhou Dashan based on previous small-scale experiments.

Zhou Dashan's face was covered in soot and exhaustion, but his eyes shone brightly with excitement. He carefully picked up a heavy, grayish-white metal block with a fine, snowflake-like cross-section, his voice trembling slightly: "Lord! It's done! It's really done this time! Look at this 'steel-filling' sample!"

Chen Xing took the piece of steel; it was slightly warm to the touch, clearly freshly forged. He tapped it lightly with his fingers, producing a clear, resonant sound, quite different from the dull, blackish-red pieces of iron nearby. He then picked up a hardness test file specially made by the craftsmen's group and filed the edge of the steel a few times, leaving only very shallow marks, while the wrought iron block next to it was easily scraped off with many fragments.

"The hardness and toughness far surpass the previous wrought iron and 100-refined steel," Zhou Dashan excitedly introduced. "Most importantly, using the 'steel-filling' method you provided, as long as the ratio of pig iron to wrought iron, the smelting temperature, and the time are well controlled, the stability and output of the steel produced are more than ten times higher than our previous luck-based 100-refining method! This one batch of test steel yielded nearly fifty jin of high-quality steel! The purity is basically consistent!"

Several veteran blacksmiths gathered around, their calloused and scalded hands trembling as they touched the steel, their eyes shining with an almost reverential light. For blacksmiths of this era, obtaining a piece of good steel often required months or even years of repeated forging and quenching, with an extremely low success rate and pitifully small production volume. But this piece of steel, from pig iron and wrought iron into shape, took only half a day!

"Tell me the details of the process, the problems you encountered, and how you solved them," Chen Xing asked in a deep voice, suppressing his excitement. Technological breakthroughs allow no room for carelessness, especially in wartime, where any flaw could lead to disaster at a crucial moment in the future.

Zhou Dashan took a deep breath to calm himself, then pointed to the blueprints and data on the table: "We'll follow your process exactly. First, we'll use the best magnetite and charcoal to smelt high-quality pig iron in an improved blast furnace, strictly controlling the carbon content. At the same time, we'll use the wrought iron smelting method to obtain low-carbon wrought iron. Then, in a specially made 'smelting furnace,' molten pig iron will be poured onto the stacked wrought iron materials, like pouring water..."

As he spoke, he gestured with his hands to explain how to control the flow and speed of molten iron, how to judge the temperature and degree of reaction by observing the color of the flame and the reaction inside the furnace, and how to adjust the ratio of pig iron to wrought iron according to the required hardness of the steel.

"...The most difficult part was controlling the temperature. At first, either the molten iron melted all the wrought iron, or the temperature wasn't high enough, and the two couldn't fully fuse, resulting in a hybrid product. Later, following your advice, we improved the blast furnace, used a more powerful water pump, and added the 'refractory mud' coating you mentioned to the furnace wall. Finally, we were able to stabilize the temperature near that...that 'critical point.'" Zhou Dashan's eyes gleamed with pride at overcoming the technical difficulties as he spoke of them. "And then there's the control of the reaction time, which relies entirely on the experience of the master craftsmen and the subtle changes in the flame at the furnace opening. If it's even slightly off, the steel's hardness will be wrong."

An old blacksmith, his hair almost entirely gone except for a few wisps of white beard, spoke in a hoarse voice: "Master, I've been forging iron my whole life, and I've never seen steelmaking like this. In the past, obtaining steel relied entirely on hammering and refining to remove impurities and retain the essence—a time-consuming and laborious process, yielding only one in ten. This 'steel-forging' method is simply... simply turning lead into gold! It makes iron 'grow' into steel on its own! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes and done it myself, I would never have believed it!"

Chen Xing nodded. He had only provided the theoretical direction and key parameters; the actual implementation relied on the experience and wisdom accumulated by these craftsmen through countless failures. The system had provided the seeds, but for it to blossom and bear fruit, it needed the diligent gardeners on this land.

"How much steel can the largest furnace produce now? Is daily production stable?" Chen Xing asked the most practical question.

Zhou Dashan calculated: "Reporting to the Fortress Master, the largest experimental furnace currently can process about 300 jin of pig iron and wrought iron in one batch, with a steel yield of about 30% to 40%, or about 100 jin. If materials are sufficient and the craftsmen are skilled, working day and night, producing 400 to 500 jin of good steel per day should be feasible! And this is just the current furnace; if larger blast furnaces and steelmaking furnaces can be built, the output can double!"

A daily output of four to five hundred kilograms! This figure made everyone present's hearts race. This meant that Starfire Fortress would possess an almost luxurious steel supply capacity for this era! Not only for forging weapons and armor, but also for manufacturing more sophisticated tools, stronger defensive structures, and even... more complex machinery!

"Good!" Chen Xing finally smiled. "Zhou Dashan, you deserve the greatest credit! All the senior masters involved will be richly rewarded! According to the 'Meritorious Service Order,' this is a special-class merit!"

"Thank you, Lord Fortress Master!" The crowd bowed in gratitude.

"However," Chen Xing's tone turned serious, "this method is a top secret of our Starfire Fortress! All personnel involved must maintain strict confidentiality. The process must be broken down, with the core procedures handled by the most reliable individuals. The Craftsmanship Headquarters here will immediately be designated a top-secret area, with guards doubled. Entry is permitted, but exit is prohibited. All supplies will be delivered by designated personnel. Any leaks, whether intentional or unintentional, will result in immediate execution, along with the execution of the individual's entire family!"

"Yes, sir!" The crowd's hearts tightened, and they quickly agreed. They knew full well what this method meant; in chaotic times, this was a powerful national instrument capable of altering the balance of power!

"Immediately begin two tasks," Chen Xing ordered. "First, under the premise of absolute secrecy, expand the scale of the steelmaking furnace, establish a stable production line, and produce steel at full capacity. Second, using the newly produced steel as raw material, prioritize the development of two things."

He walked to a pre-prepared weapon structure diagram on the wall: "First, improve the ring-pommel sword. The blade will be longer and thicker, made of new steel, and the cutting edge will use a new 'laminated steel' or 'wrapped steel' technique to make it more tough and sharp, capable of easily breaking through existing leather armor and even inferior iron armor. Make five hundred swords first to equip Chen Wei's personal guard and elite troops."

"Secondly," Chen Xing tapped his finger on another blueprint depicting the complex crossbow mechanism, "we must focus all our efforts on perfecting the core components of the 'Divine Arm Crossbow'—the crossbow arm and bowstring hook. The crossbow's range and power depend entirely on the strength of the crossbow arm and the precision of the mechanism. We must use new steel to forge these key components and resolutely solve the problems of the crossbow arm's tendency to crack and the mechanism's insufficient strength that were encountered in previous tests. I want to see a usable prototype before the next major war and begin small-batch trial production!"

Looking at the unprecedented crossbow blueprints and listening to the fortress lord's requirements, Zhou Dashan and the craftsmen felt both immense pressure and boundless excitement. With a continuous supply of high-quality steel, many ideas that were previously impossible due to material limitations became possible!

"Rest assured, Lord! We will do our utmost!" Zhou Dashan pounded his chest with a resounding thud.

Stepping out of the Craftsmanship Headquarters, the sounds of workers repairing the city walls and the faint groans from the medical office still lingered. But Chen Xing's feelings were completely different from when he entered. The bloodstains on the city walls were still wet, and the sorrow of the victims still echoed in his ears, but the cold piece of steel in his hand allowed him to see a more distant future and feel a more solid strength.

Technology is more than just better swords. It is efficiency, productivity, and the cornerstone for breaking the old balance and shaping a new order. The Black Mountain army pounded the city walls with flesh and blood and rudimentary equipment, while Starfire Fortress was already forging the capital for the next round of confrontation with wisdom and steel.

The steelmaking process is like replacing the core of Starfire Fortress's war machine with a stronger and more durable heart. The pulse that beats from now on will be even more powerful and deadly.