Chapter 179 The First Bronze Hammer

On the day of refining bronze, Chishao also came, along with Uncaria, Shiqiu, Nanxing, and two warriors who were responsible for assisting, to witness the birth of bronze ware of the Teng tribe.

“Clatter…”

Jiang Xuan poured half a bag of crushed charcoal into the smelting furnace, and then spread a layer of crushed malachite and azurite on top.

In this way, a layer of copper ore and a layer of charcoal were slowly stacked until the entire smelting furnace was filled.

He then repeated the process, filling another smelting furnace with charcoal and tin ore.

After doing all this, Jiang Xuan rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "Okay, light the fire!"

Jiang Xuan placed some dry firewood at the air inlet of the smelting furnace and then lit it with a torch.

After the dry firewood is burned, it easily ignites the charcoal at the bottom of the smelting furnace, and the fire burns more and more vigorously.

The two soldiers each took a fan made of palm leaves and were responsible for fanning the air inlet.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

The continuous wind force soon ignited all the charcoal in the smelting furnace, and jumping flames appeared above the smelting furnace.

Nan Xing looked at the smelting furnace with curiosity and asked Jiang Xuan, "Chief, can these broken stones really be burned into that...metal?"

The others also looked at Jiang Xuan, obviously thinking that this matter was too unbelievable.

Because in their limited knowledge, they had never heard that broken stones could be glued together to make large tools.

This goes against their common sense.

For example, when polishing stone tools, if you are not careful, you will damage the good stone and end up with a defective product.

Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Won't we know when it's finished burning?"

Everyone had no choice but to wait patiently, and from time to time they looked at the smelting furnace, but they could only see whitish flames.

Because the time was long, Chishao, Uncaria and others went to work on their own.

Time passes quickly.

With the two soldiers fanning hard, the charcoal in the two smelting furnaces burned less and less, and the ore inside was completely melted.

Half a day later, the charcoal burned into a pile of white ash, and the ore in the smelting furnace condensed into a large ball, which was red and still emitting high temperature.

It was not until the evening that Chishao and others received a notice and came to the wooden house again.

Jiang Xuan widened the bottom inlets of the two smelting furnaces, and then dug out a large lump of copper and a large lump of tin from inside.

"Chief, this is... metal?"

Nan Xing's face was full of surprise. He really couldn't connect the two large irregular, dirty clumps on the ground with the metals that Jiang Xuan said could be used to make sharp weapons and tools.

Uncaria rhynchophylla, stone loach, and the two soldiers who had been fanning it for a long time also felt that this thing did not seem to be a treasure.

Only Chishao's expression remained calm, as she knew that Jiang Xuan would give them a reasonable explanation.

Jiang Xuan fiddled with the copper that looked like slag and said, "These two pieces of stuff are indeed metal, but now they are stuck together with carbon ash and dirt, so they look ugly."

"Once I have cleaned them and have re-melted them to remove the excess impurities, you will see strong, beautiful metal."

Jiang Xuan asked the two soldiers to fetch a few jars of water in large clay pots, and then knocked off some of the dust and dirt on the surface of the copper and tin, and washed them clean with water.

Then he took out a stone axe made of high-quality stone.

Tin is relatively soft in texture, and a stone axe made of high-quality stone can easily chop it into pieces.

Jiang Xuan chopped the tin into seven or eight pieces and put them into a large double-handled pottery jar.

Then he took the amphorae with the tin in it to another house.

There is also a smelting furnace in this room, but this smelting furnace has a wider diameter than the previous one, so the double-handled pottery jar can be easily placed in it.

Jiang Xuan also poured a large amount of charcoal into the smelting furnace, then placed the two-handled pottery jar on the charcoal and then lit it.

The two soldiers squatted next to the air inlet of the smelting furnace and began to fan it desperately with fans.

Chishao and others watched Jiang Xuan's actions intently. They wanted to know whether these "metals" that looked ugly before could bring them surprises.

Soon, all the charcoal in the smelting furnace was ignited, the temperature rose sharply, and even the bottom of the pottery jar gradually turned red.

The tin in the pottery jar began to slowly melt into tin water.

When all the tin in the pottery jar was melted, Jiang Xuan took out a pottery mold with many rectangular grooves.

Then, he hooked the ears of the pottery jar with two hooked wooden sticks, quickly lifted it up, put it on the ground, and then turned the pottery jar over to let the tin water inside flow into the grooves of the pottery mold.

When he filled the three rectangular grooves, only a small amount of tin water and some impurities were left in the pottery jar.

"Just wait patiently for a while until it cools down."

After waiting for half a day, everyone was hungry. A soldier brought food and everyone started eating.

By the time they had eaten and drunk their fill, the tin in the ceramic mold had solidified from molten tin into tin blocks.

Jiang Xuan turned the ceramic mold upside down and poured the rectangular block of tin onto the ground.

Jiang Xuan put down the ceramic mold, picked up the still warm tin block, and knocked it in his hand.

“Ding ding ding…”

The tin ore collided, making a crisp metallic collision sound.

"Come, everyone, take a look. This is a kind of metal, tin."

Jiang Xuan handed a piece of tin to Chishao, another piece to Uncaria rhynchophylla, and another piece to Nanxing.

The tin block is silvery white. After being re-refined and impurities removed, it becomes very beautiful and sparkles in the light of the fire.

"This... this is metal!"

Nanxing took the tin block and looked at it over and over again, feeling the unique charm of the metal, and all the doubts in his heart disappeared.

Others were also shocked because this thing was originally a broken stone, and then turned into a large dirty mass, but now it has a smooth surface and a silvery metallic luster, which is very beautiful.

The two warriors in charge of fanning the air were even more excited because they participated in the metal smelting process and witnessed the transformation of the metal with their own eyes.

This is an honor for them.

Chishao showed great interest in this miraculous change and she wanted to find out what was going on.

As a witch, I have a strong desire for knowledge.

However, Jiang Xuan was unable to explain it clearly to her, because he himself only knew the facts but not the reasons behind them.

Uncaria held a piece of tin and asked, "Chief, you said before that metal can be used to make sharp weapons and work. Can this...tin be made into a spearhead?"

Jiang Xuan shook his head and said, "No, because the tin is too soft, you see..."

Jiang Xuan picked up a piece of tin and exerted force with both hands, and the rectangular piece of tin suddenly became bent.

Uncaria was a little disappointed, and pointed at the bumpy copper on the ground and said, "Can this be used as a spearhead?"

"No, copper is a little harder than tin, but it's still too soft to be used for weapons. It's not as good as ordinary stone."

Several people were immediately disappointed. Since copper and tin could not be made into weapons, what was the point of spending so much effort to smelt them? Seeing the disappointed expressions of the people, Jiang Xuan decided not to keep them in suspense.

"Pure copper and pure tin are both relatively soft and indeed not suitable for making weapons."

"However, if they are fused together, they can be turned into bronze, which is very hard. Bronze can be made into weapons and various tools. It is much sharper and stronger than the stone tools we use now."

After hearing Jiang Xuan's words, everyone's eyes lit up and they were looking forward to Bronze's appearance.

"You have to eat meat one bite at a time and do things one by one. Let's stop here for today. Tomorrow, we will try to forge a bronze hammer."

At this time, the sky was completely dark and the moon had risen.

Jiang Xuan and others left the wooden house, crossed the river by boat holding torches, and then returned to their own houses to sleep.

Due to the lack of entertainment activities and the fact that they can only rely on firelight for lighting at night, the tribesmen are accustomed to going to bed early.

The next morning, Jiang Xuan simply washed up, had breakfast, then took a boat across the river to the other side, came to the wooden house outside the cave, and began to re-refine the copper.

He also broke the copper into smaller pieces, put them into another pottery jar, and then put them into the smelting furnace for re-refining.

The melting point of copper is much higher than that of tin, so the smelting time is longer.

Today, Chishao and others did not come over because they each had a lot of things to do and just needed to wait for the final product.

The two soldiers had been waiting here since early morning. Jiang Xuan planned to let them learn this set of operating procedures and be responsible for smelting metals in the future.

After all, as the leader, he has too much to do and it is impossible for him to work here every day.

After a few hours, the entire pottery jar was burned red and the copper blocks inside turned into molten copper.

Jiang Xuan used a wooden stick with a hook to lift the pottery jar, just like before.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

However, because the temperature was too high, the hook of the wooden stick caught fire as soon as it was put into the ear of the pottery pot.

"No, no, if it burns, all the molten copper will be spilled."

Jiang Xuan could only cut two fresh, strong, forked branches, and then take out the pottery jar from the smelting furnace.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak…”

White smoke was coming out of the fresh branches, and the moisture was evaporated quickly.

Jiang Xuan knew that fresh branches would not last long, so he had to act quickly, otherwise, when the fresh branches were burned off by the high temperature, the molten copper would still spill out.

He quickly placed the pottery jar on the ground and poured the molten copper into the grooved pottery mold.

When pouring the molten copper, Jiang Xuan discovered that the molten copper would solidify quickly after leaving the smelting furnace. It felt like pouring jelly rather than water.

Fortunately, the molten copper was successfully poured into the ceramic mold.

When the molten copper cooled, Jiang Xuan obtained three thick, rectangular purple-red copper bars.

"Next is the most important step."

Extracting copper and tin from ore is only the first step. Only by fusing them together can they become bronze.

However, there is a more fatal problem here, that is, Jiang Xuan does not know the ratio of copper to tin in bronze.

Only those who have specialized in related industries or have studied this knowledge will understand this kind of thing.

"For copper-tin alloy, copper is in the front, so the proportion of copper must be larger, and the proportion of tin must be smaller."

Jiang Xuan pondered for a while, and finally found a new two-handled pottery jar, put two copper blocks and a tin block into it, and planned to try to make a utensil first to see the effect.

The flames in the smelting furnace rose again. With the two soldiers fanning the air, the tin block in the pottery jar melted first. After a long time, the copper block also gradually melted.

Jiang Xuan learned from the previous lesson that the temperature in the smelting furnace was too high, making it difficult to take out the pottery jar, and that the molten copper solidified quickly after being taken out.

He simply chiseled open a part of the smelting furnace, and then placed the ceramic mold used to make the bronze hammer next to the smelting furnace. In this way, he only needed to lift one side of the ceramic jar and the bronze liquid would flow out smoothly.

In order to allow the ceramic mold to accurately catch the molten bronze, he raised the ceramic mold to a level slightly lower than the angle of the pottery jar after it was tilted.

Then, he used a thicker, fresh branch with a hook to lift one side of the pottery jar, tilted the jar, and aligned it with the injection port of the bronze hammer pottery mold.

“Drip, drip…”

Jiang Xuan controlled the pottery jar very carefully, and the bronze liquid slowly flowed into the pottery mold until it was full.

When the ceramic mold was filled, the fresh branches could not withstand it and were burned directly. Jiang Xuan took it out and put it into the water.

"Next, we just have to wait patiently for it to cool down."

With excitement, Jiang Xuan watched the bronze hammer and ceramic mold, watching the bronze liquid inside solidify quickly and cool down slowly.

It was evening again, and Chishao and others gathered in the wooden house again.

Jiang Xuan nervously looked at the ceramic mold that had basically cooled down, picked up a stone and smashed it directly.

“Pah pah pah…”

As the ceramic mold was smashed bit by bit, a golden bronze hammer gradually appeared, which was very dazzling.

That’s right, when bronze ware is just cast, it is actually dazzling gold in color. Only after a long period of time will the bronze ware turn into a bluish-gray color, which is actually rust.

"The first bronze artifact of the Teng tribe is finally born!"

Jiang Xuan picked up the bronze hammer, looked at it repeatedly, and then raised it above his head excitedly.

Everyone in the room was staring at the golden bronze hammer. When they saw the totem pattern of the vine tribe on the side of the bronze hammer, they cheered.

"Chief, can you let me see it?" Chishao couldn't help but ask.

"sure."

Jiang Xuan handed the bronze hammer to Chi Shao.

The bronze hammer feels heavy to the touch, and because it has not been polished yet, some parts of the surface are rough.

However, Chishao still felt extremely surprised, because the hammer and handle of this bronze hammer were integrated, and unlike the stone hammer, the wooden handle would not often fall off.

The totem pattern on the bronze hammer also surprised Chishao, it was so beautiful.

"Wu, I want to see it too."

Nanxing also came over, and Chishao handed him the bronze hammer.

Nanxing tried swinging it twice, and then was eager to see the effect of the golden hammer.

He asked Jiang Xuan: "Chief, since it is a hammer, can you find something to smash it with?"

"Okay, a hammer that can't hit things is not a good hammer."

Jiang Xuan searched the room and picked up a piece of stone.

“Just smash this.”

"Okay!"

Nan Xing was not polite either. He raised the hammer and tried to hit the stone twice. He looked at the place where the bronze hammer touched the stone and found that it was intact. He immediately felt relieved.

“Bang!”

Nanxing hit the stone with the hammer and it broke into pieces, but the bronze hammer remained intact.

"Good stuff, really good stuff!"

Nanxing couldn't help but be delighted. This bronze hammer was countless times better than the best stone hammer he had ever used.

Others also tried it one by one, and they were all very satisfied with the hardness and beautiful color of the bronze hammer.

After everyone tried it, Jiang Xuan said with a serious face: "Everyone remember, bronze is the biggest secret of our Teng tribe. It must not be leaked, even to the people around you. Do you understand?"

"Understood."

Everyone nodded. They were not stupid. If bronze, such a good thing, were to be leaked out, it would likely attract snatching from many tribes, which would then cause big trouble.

Thanks to the book friend "Unwilling to Doubt" for the reward.

Thanks to “book friend 20190129215952965” for the reward.

(End of this chapter)