Ming Zuo

Chapter 69 Technical Reserve

Zuo Menggeng's teaching, of course, is not to cultivate scholars who have been admitted to fame.

"Whether it is originally literate or illiterate, what I teach you now is the method of teaching others to read."

Now that the pinyin has been taken out, Zuo Menggeng has no reason not to use it.

He even considered promoting simplified characters, but gave up after thinking about it.

The implementation of pinyin has taken up a lot of his time, and if he continues to use simplified characters, the huge project will seriously slow down his pace.

The novel interpretation method of text makes everyone very fresh, but the speed of learning is not slow.

Especially for those readers who are already literate, this backward learning method is not difficult for them.

On the contrary, it is the nine people who are prosperous and wealthy, enjoy forever and Zhang Yan, and it is quite hard to learn.

But these few people have excellent qualities, that is, they are obedient and can endure hardship.

Since the understanding is slow, then practice over and over again.

Good memory is not as good as bad writing. This sentence is actually a famous saying.

In addition, there are smart scholars next to them, it is convenient for them to ask for advice, and they can keep up with the learning progress.

Pinyin first, then literacy, until a few years ago, Zuo Menggeng was the only thing he could do.

In the beginning, all the courses were taught by him personally. Later, seeing the difference in everyone's progress, Zuo Menggeng gave part of the teaching work to Huang Zongxi, Zhou You and others.

He has started a new course, and that is mathematics.

The application of mathematics in the military is very important, especially in reconnaissance and surveying and mapping, and it is impossible to do without mathematics.

At this time, the advantage of him letting Liu Yiyuan serve as the head of the reconnaissance brigade was reflected.

People with this family background can learn mathematics based on Arabic numerals very quickly.

It is cold in winter, even if the method of fire smoking is adopted, the artificial brick kilns such as Yang Gui are not easy to dry.

It took a full twenty days of smoke and roasting before it could be put into use.

Zuo Menggeng kept staring at it and followed the progress of the brick kiln.

He summoned another group of people from the laborers to do a very important thing next to the smelter.

"You pay attention, all these coals must be crushed, and then washed repeatedly with water through these troughs. It is not completed until the coals are washed to this color."

The process is not difficult, and the workers get started after seeing it.

Zuo Menggeng ordered a person named Zheng Erbai to be in charge of this piece, making Zheng Erbai grateful and devoted to management.

For these refugees, it is already a great grace to have someone to eat.

Now not only have food to eat, a house to live in, but also work and earn wages, I really dare not think about it.

Therefore, the workers worked extra hard, even if the coal washing was dirty and tiring, and it was soaked with water in the winter, not to mention the taste.

But they didn't care at all, they worked happily and produced the coal Zuo Menggeng needed.

What Zuo Menggeng wanted to do was to desulfurize the coal.

There are too many impurities in the coal originating in China, so the smelted steel contains very high sulfur and phosphorus content, which makes the steel more brittle.

Guns and artillery made of this steel can easily burst and become unusable.

This is also the reason why the artillery made by the Ming Dynasty court is very heavy.

The quality of the steel is too brittle, so we have to use more iron to make up for it.

If it really doesn't work, then copper-clad it.

It can be said that China's firearm technology did not develop much during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In addition to the rulers not paying attention, the limitation of materials is also an important reason.

Of course, this method can only remove inorganic sulfur from coal.

Nor can it be used as fuel for space rockets.

For organic sulfur, with the existing technology, lime must be used to get it.

But organic desulfurization requires the construction of absorption towers, which takes time.And winter is really not a good time to start work, so Zuo Menggeng can only put it down temporarily.

If after the spring, conditions permit, he will get inorganic desulfurization.

At that time, an oxidation tower can also be built to obtain gypsum by means of desulfurization.

After coal desulfurization, the next step is coking.Otherwise, although the furnace can withstand high temperatures, there is no fuel that can burn high temperatures.

The coking technology was very mature in the Ming Dynasty, so there was no need for Zuo Menggeng to do it himself.

Originally, the best smelting fuel in this era should be wooden coke.

But over the years, there are not so many trees for charcoal.

This is why Zuo Menggeng had to desulfurize the coal and then coke it.

"Master, this charcoal... is amazing!"

Yang Gui held the coke made from desulfurized coal in his hands, his eyes glowing.

The craftsmen gathered together and checked the coke piece by piece.After watching one piece for a long time, I still feel unsatisfied with another piece.

"With such coke, there is no problem with smelting, right?"

Yang Gui laughed.

"It's not a problem! With such charcoal, as long as the refractory bricks can withstand it, we can make high-quality steel."

"Then let's go, let's go get refractory bricks."

Graphite powder, Zuo Menggeng has brought over.

When he arrived at the brick kiln, Zuo Menggeng ordered the expulsion of irrelevant people, and he personally guarded the prosperity and wealth, and Yongxiang from generation to generation.

Whoever dares to break in, kill without mercy!

"Okay, if you want to make refractory bricks that can withstand high temperatures, you must use this."

Zuo Menggeng showed the graphite to the craftsmen, but it turned out that several people didn't know it.

Chen Erzhu stuck it up a little, put down his nose and sniffed, and said suspiciously, "Isn't this a woman's eyebrow drawing?"

Zuo Menggeng's voice was cold and he warned: "This is the top secret here. Even your apprentices are not allowed to tell them. If anyone dares to leak it, they will all be executed."

Several craftsmen were all terrified, not expecting the punishment to be so severe.

But they are old blacksmiths for many years. They naturally know what refractory bricks that can directly make steel mean.

Yang Gui didn't dare to be a good man, his eyes were full of murderous intent, and he looked around at all his subordinates.

"From now on, pay attention to your mouth. Even if you sleep, you have to cover your mouth. Whoever dares to show it, I will kill his whole family before the young master kills me."

It can be seen that the craftsmen are in awe of him.Of course, Zuo Menggeng's threat was also very effective.

Graphite is added to the reconciled mud. After fully stirring, except for the color is slightly different, it is impossible to see what the ingredients are.

Unless someone here says it, who would have guessed that a woman's thrush would be so useful.

How to make refractory bricks, Yang Gui and others are experienced, and they don't even need to do it themselves.

After the graphite was stirred, the brick-makers were replaced by their apprentices.

The finished refractory bricks are sent to the brick kiln, and after being sealed, they are ignited and dried, and then they can be used to build a smelting furnace.

On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the military camp was initially built, and the first batch of soldiers entered the camp from the dock, about [-] people.

Zuo Menggeng organized most of them into the first infantry brigade, and the rest into the general rear brigade.

Zuo Rong became the first brigade officer with soldiers under his command.

In view of this, Zuo Menggeng asked the rest of the officers to serve in the two brigades to get acquainted with military affairs first.

After giving the soldiers two days to reunite with their families, the training officially began.

In any era, the training of recruits begins with the queue.

The queue seems simple, but it has a great effect on the application of military tactics and should not be ignored.

Zuo Menggeng knew this, so he formulated a detailed code of practice.

Most of them are based on the essence of our army, supplemented by the merits of various countries in history.

Fortunately, there was only one infantry brigade with more than [-] people, so the training was not very difficult.

In addition, Liu Yiyuan, Zhou You, Huang Zongxi, Zuo Rong and others had been in contact with Cao Dian earlier. While studying, they also assisted Zuo Menggeng very well.

Seeing the large group of soldiers in tattered clothes walking clumsily in line on the school grounds, and being reprimanded and scolded by the instructors from time to time, Zuo Menggeng was really in high spirits.

Don't look at the performance of these soldiers now, they are messy like beggars, and they seem to be vulnerable.

But they are all young and middle-aged. After these days of labor and recuperation, their bodies have recovered very well, and the high-spirited breath on their faces is even more vigorous.

Such soldiers, as long as they are well trained, will definitely become a strong army.

In this messy world, there is chaos everywhere.

Who would have thought that in this small place, a force to change the world is thriving?
Zuo Menggeng was full of confidence, as if he had seen the scene of his invincible army sweeping across all directions.

"I think when Lao Tzu's team opened, there were only a dozen people with seven or eight guns..."

In a good mood, he couldn't help humming a little song.

The strange tune made Zuo Yong beside him confused.I really want to ask the young master, what kind of army is this "Imperial Army"?

However, the situation in the corner of the school field caught his attention.

"Qianza, there seems to be a commotion over there."

Zuo Menggeng woke up from the intoxication and looked closely, only to find that a training session in the distance had stopped, and they were forming a noisy group, and the rest of the training could not concentrate.

Knowing that there will be demon moths in the recruit training, Zuo Menggeng was mentally prepared and walked over with his feet raised.

(End of this chapter)