Chapter 178: Smelting Bronze

Southern Wilderness, Teng Tribe.

"Finally I have finished carving the herbs I used before."

Inside the bamboo house, the old witch put down his stone chisel and hammer, stood up from a large round stone, and patted his old waist.

The big stone is oval in shape, like a round egg, and its surface is polished very smoothly and stands upright.

On the right side of the big rock, there are several ancient witch characters carved: Map of the Hundred Herbs in the Wilderness.

Then, there were rows and rows of witch texts in smaller fonts, neatly arranged.

Some of these witch characters look like strange-shaped grasses, some look like flowers, some look like birds, and some look like parts of animals...

These are witch characters. To ordinary people, these witch characters are disorganized and it is difficult to understand what they mean.

But in the eyes of a witch with magical powers, every witch text contains a lot of information.

There are two types of Wu language. One is the common Wu language, which can be understood by anyone who has studied it specially.

For example, in tribes that have lost their totem gods, although their shamans have no magical powers, they still inherit some witchcraft and can use witchcraft and pictures to record major events that have occurred in the tribe.

The other type is the witch text carved by old witches. This kind of witch text is more mysterious, and people without witch power will definitely not be able to understand it.

Because it is not just as simple as connecting words into sentences. Every mysterious witch text contains a lot of information. You need to use witch power to activate these witch texts in order to see what the writer really wants to express.

There are so many herbs that need to be recorded in the Great Wilderness Herb Map. If I want to record them all using ordinary witch script, I don’t know how many animal skins I will need and how many stones I will have to carve.

Moreover, because there are too many recording media, it is inevitable that there will be losses due to various reasons during the inheritance process.

But it is different when using mysterious witch characters. Each witch character can record a kind of herb, which can save a lot of materials and is also conducive to complete inheritance.

The old witch walked around the egg-shaped boulder twice, observing the witch characters and was quite satisfied with the carved portion of the Great Wilderness Hundred Herbs Map.

The old witch said to herself, "I have carved all the herbs I used before, and it's time to look for new ones."

The reason why the old witch named it "Great Wilderness Hundred Herbs Map" instead of "Eastern Wilderness Hundred Herbs Map" is because he wanted to record as many different herbs on this continent as possible.

He knew more about the herbs in the East Wilderness, but the old witch knew less about the herbs in the three major wildernesses: the South Wilderness, the West Wilderness, and the North Wilderness.

Because of this, the old witch plans to continue riding the giant eagle to various places to find more herbs, understand their effects and growth habits, and then record them in the Great Wilderness Herb Map.

This is bound to be a difficult and time-consuming job.

The old witch rested for a while, ate something, then walked out of the bamboo house and came to the bamboo forest under the stone mountain. She found Red Peony Root and explained to her that she wanted to continue traveling and looking for herbs.

Chishao couldn't help but said, "Old witch, why don't you stay here? I'll ask the warriors of the Teng tribe to keep an eye out for various herbs when they go out and bring them back for you."

The old witch knew that Chishao was worried about his safety, and a smile appeared on his old face.

"Although I am old, I am still old enough to walk. I want to ride the giant eagle to more places and find more herbs."

"For every herb, I want to see with my own eyes what it looks like, where it grows, what effects it has, and then record it."

"The Great Wilderness Hundred Herbs Map is what I will pursue for the rest of my life. I hope I can complete it myself."

The old witch paused, and then said: "If something unexpected happens to me outside, I believe you will help me complete it in the future."

Chishao nodded and said, "Don't worry, old witch, I will do my best."

The old witch smiled and nodded. He believed that Chishao was a trustworthy person and a witch with outstanding talent. Even if he died outside, Chishao would be able to complete the Great Wilderness Hundred Herbs Map.

The old witch asked again: "Where is Xuan? Why haven't I seen him these days?"

Chishao said, "He went out with the hunting team and didn't say when he would be back."

"Then I won't wait for him. I will leave on the giant eagle tomorrow. If everything goes well and I find enough new herbs, I will come back."

After the old witch finished speaking, he left Chishao's yard. He needed to make some preparations for this trip.

The next day, the old witch packed his luggage, closed the door of the bamboo house, and left the Vine Tribe on a giant eagle.

"Cry..."

The giant eagle circled in circles and rose into the air, then flew away into the distance and gradually disappeared.

In the courtyard of the bamboo forest, Chishao looked at the direction where the giant eagle flew away and prayed silently that the old witch would return safely.

…

On the barren mountain northwest of the Teng tribe, Jiang Xuan led a hunting team to dig for two days and dug out a large amount of copper ore and tin ore.

"Almost done, let's bury the mineral vein first."

Jiang Xuan felt that enough ore had been dug out, and any more would slow down the soldiers' speed, so he ordered some of the soil to be backfilled.

The purpose of backfilling soil is to cover up the mineral veins to prevent them from being excavated.

After all, even if people from other tribes don’t know how to smelt metals, they still like beautiful stones like malachite and are likely to dig them when they see them.

The soldiers of the hunting team grunted and filled in some soil, then pulled some dead branches from nearby and covered them with weeds to make some simple camouflage.

After everything was done, Gou Teng said to Jiang Xuan: "Leader, it's done."

"Okay, take all the stones and return to the tribe!"

Jiang Xuan thought for a moment, and then said, "After returning to the tribe, no one is allowed to reveal our whereabouts and gains to others, otherwise we will be expelled from the tribe!"

Jiang Xuan's words made everyone in the hunting team feel a chill in their hearts. Being expelled from the tribe was the most severe punishment for them.

Everyone secretly warned themselves to keep their mouths shut.

Uncaria asked, "Chief, what if someone asks about this?"

Jiang Xuan said: "Just say we found some good stones and dug them up to make stone tools."

Uncaria nodded, then shouted to the hunting team, "Did everyone hear clearly? If anyone asks, just say we went to dig for stone."

The hunting team warriors nodded one after another.

In fact, Jiang Xuan did not tell them what these minerals were or what their uses were.

The hunting team warriors felt that there was nothing wrong with the idea of ​​digging stones and it was not a lie.

"Okay, go back!"

Jiang Xuan tied two large bags of ore together, put them on Yueya's back, and sat on it himself.

The Black Wind Rhinoceros is extremely strong and can handle carrying two large bags of heavy ore with another person sitting on it.

The warriors of the hunting team also placed large and small bags of ore on the backs of their mounts, and then followed Jiang Xuan back to the tribe.

A day later, they successfully returned to the Teng Tribe with all the ores.

In order to keep it secret, all the ores were placed in a cave in the mountain on the other side of the Feiyu River, and that area was designated as a restricted area, with soldiers taking turns to guard it every day.

In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that the divine vine didn’t like fire, Jiang Xuan would have wanted to place these minerals at the foot of the stone mountain. That was the safest place in the entire tribe, and no one dared to trespass there.

Next, it’s time to consider how to smelt these copper and tin ores into bronze.

Jiang Xuan's knowledge of bronze is limited to knowing that it is a copper-tin alloy. As for the ratio of copper to tin, he is not very clear and needs to try it bit by bit.

However, he did have some impression of how copper ore was smelted into copper.

The first step is to burn charcoal.

Whether smelting copper or iron, charcoal or coal is an essential fuel.

If conditions permit, it is best to use coke because coke has stronger fire power and burns longer.

The Teng tribe has not yet obtained coal and can only use more primitive charcoal.

If you want to get charcoal with stronger fire power and longer burning time, you can't take the easy way out and just pick up the defective products from the fire pit.

Jiang Xuan planned to build an earth kiln and burn several kilns of high-quality charcoal.

He first found a member of the Teng tribe who was good at construction, dug a large pit on the hillside, and built an earthen kiln.

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The earthen kiln is oval in shape and about two meters high. Half of it is built on the mountainside and the other half is made of mixed mud. There is a wide air inlet at the bottom and a smoke exhaust duct at the top.

In fact, the earthen kiln is equivalent to a large stove, except that the upper part does not need to hold the pot and is directly closed.

After the earthen kiln was built, Jiang Xuan personally led people to use stone axes to cut many thick branches, cut them into wooden sections of similar lengths, and then piled them neatly into the earthen kiln through the air inlet.

When the kiln is filled with charcoal, it can be lit.

Jiang Xuan found some dry firewood and piled it in the spacious air inlet. Then he used a torch to borrow fire from a nearby fire pit and lit the firewood.

The dry firewood quickly burned and the temperature in the earthen kiln rose rapidly.

After the air in the earthen kiln expands due to the heat, it will be quickly discharged from the flue at the top of the kiln. Then, more air will be replenished from the air inlet and will be quickly discharged from the flue after being heated, forming a circulating airflow and fueling the fire.

“Crackle, crackle…”

Soon, the thick wood in the earthen kiln was also ignited, and a large amount of thick smoke rose from the chimney on the top of the kiln.

After a while, all the wood in the kiln was ignited, the inside of the kiln was red, and a fire tail more than half a meter high appeared on the chimney, which was very spectacular.

"We can seal the crater now."

Jiang Xuan and two members of the Teng tribe piled large chunks of mud at the air inlet of the earthen kiln, eventually blocking the entire air inlet.

After the air inlet was blocked, because there was no new air coming in, the fire tail on the exhaust duct quickly turned into smoke, and it was not as thick as before.

Jiang Xuan waited patiently for a while, then sealed the smoke exhaust duct above the earthen kiln with branches and soil, completely isolating fresh air from entering the earthen kiln.

In the earthen kiln, the wood was still burning, but the burning had changed from open flame to dark fire smoldering.

The high temperature in the kiln lasts for a long time, converting all the wood into charcoal.

Next, it’s just a matter of waiting patiently.

A day later, the earthen kiln slowly cooled down, and Jiang Xuan once again led people to open the air inlet and flue of the earthen kiln.

Because a large amount of carbon monoxide had gathered in the earthen kiln at this time, in order to avoid poisoning, Jiang Xuan immediately took them to stand far away after opening the air inlet and flue.

Half an hour later, the carbon monoxide in the earthen kiln was discharged and replaced by fresh air. Jiang Xuan then took them to check the situation inside the earthen kiln.

Inside the earthen kiln, all the wood had turned into black charcoal. Jiang Xuan picked up a thicker piece of charcoal and gently broke it. The charcoal broke with a sound, indicating that all the charcoal had been burned through.

“Ding ding ding…”

Jiang Xuan knocked two pieces of charcoal a few times, and the sound was very crisp.

Jiang Xuan nodded with satisfaction and said, "Not bad, all good charcoal."

Afterwards, Jiang Xuan and his men moved all the charcoal out of the earth kiln and packed it all into bark woven bags.

Next, the second step of smelting bronze is to build two smelting furnaces, one for smelting copper ore and one for smelting tin ore.

Due to limited conditions, Jiang Xuan planned to build the simplest vertical smelting furnace.

The vertical smelting furnace actually looks like a large chimney, with an air inlet at the bottom and an open top. It is very simple to build.

Building a smelting furnace directly in a cave is a very stupid behavior. Not to mention the problem of light, the smoke and various toxic gases produced by smelting alone can choke a person to death.

So Jiang Xuan ordered people to build two tall wooden houses next to the cave, and then built a smelting furnace inside the wooden houses.

In this way, even if someone flew over on a flying mount, they would only see smoke coming out of the house and would not be able to see what was going on inside the house.

The smoke coming out of the house was too common in primitive tribes. Which tribe's fire pit didn't burn day and night? Jiang Xuan first dug a half-meter-long trench in the wooden house to serve as the air inlet for the smelting furnace.

Then, he used the kneaded clay to start building a vertical smelting furnace on the ditch. Two loyal and skilled tribesmen assisted him.

Time passed quickly, and half a day later, two vertical smelting furnaces more than one meter high appeared in the wooden house.

The smelting furnace that had just been built needed to be dried for some time, and Jiang Xuan used this time to make some ceramic molds.

A ceramic mold is a ceramic model used to cast bronze ware.

After copper and tin melt, they will become high-temperature liquid bronze, which is then poured into a ceramic model. When the bronze cools down and the ceramic mold is broken, a bronze ware of a specific shape can be obtained.

The Teng tribe had wax and experience in making pottery, so Jiang Xuan planned to use the lost wax method to make pottery molds.

He first took two pieces of insect wax and soaked them in hot water.

The melting point of insect wax is very low, and it becomes soft quickly after being put into hot water.

Jiang Xuan took the opportunity to pick up the insect wax and quickly molded it into the shape of a hammer with a handle, like molding a clay figure.

When the insect wax cooled and solidified, Jiang Xuan got a hard insect wax hammer.

Then, he used a small stone knife to carve the totem pattern of the Vine Tribe on the side of the insect wax hammer, and modified the edges and corners of the hammer to make it look better.

Then, he used the clay to make a lump and wrapped the insect wax hammer little by little. In order to facilitate placement, the clay was finally turned into a cone-shaped object, and the top of the cone was the end of the hammer handle.

After leaving the clay to dry in the shade, its texture has become harder.

Jiang Xuan put the cone-shaped clay mold into the fire pit to bake. As the temperature rose, the insect wax inside melted quickly.

Finally, pour out the melted insect wax, and the ceramic mold for a bronze hammer is ready.

Then, Jiang Xuan used the same method to make a ceramic mold for a bronze axe, a ceramic mold for a bronze knife, and a ceramic mold for a bronze saw.

After making these ceramic molds, the smelting furnace was almost dry, and the work of smelting bronze officially began.

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(End of this chapter)