24: Chapter 24 Zhao Fusu's Unexpected Turn of Events: He Saw a Horseshoe!

Zhao Fusu grit his teeth; although fertilizer was difficult to produce, he would definitely find a way to make it.

If TNT yellow explosives were introduced in this era, they would be a sharp weapon whether for storming fortifications or fighting large-scale battles of annihilation!

He was now in urgent need of talent in the fields of science and engineering.

Zhao Fusu planned to establish the Great Qin Empire Academy of Sciences to cultivate talent.

He intended to temporarily divide it into the Academy of Power, the Academy of Materials and Environment, and the Defense Academy.

The Academy of Power would be used to research the Steam Engine, and later could add internal combustion engines, electric motors, and more.

The Academy of Materials and Environment would research various industrial materials, such as pig iron smelting and steel smelting. Subsequently, it could expand into fields like Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Technology, Environmental Engineering, Biological Engineering, Applied Chemistry, Food Science and Engineering, and Safety Engineering.

The Defense Academy would research military weaponry.

Before that, he also had to establish a Ministry of State Security that was independent of the Congress.

Besides gathering intelligence, it would also monitor whether these science and engineering talents leaked secrets. Once they leaked secrets, they would be convicted of the crime of leaking secrets under criminal law and sentenced directly to death!

For this point, he only needed Wang Xia to handle the legislation.

As for who should manage the Ministry of State Security, this was a question Zhao Fusu needed to consider.

“Wang Li!”

After a brief moment of thought, Zhao Fusu came to a decision.

The leader of the Ministry of State Security had to be loyal to him.

Wang Li was his brother-in-law, the grandson of General Wang Jian, and the brother of Wang Xia. He belonged to the Great Wall Legion, which was the Meng Family Army, and was a top general under Meng Tian.

He had also been imprinted with the Thought Steel Seal by Zhao Fusu.

In terms of loyalty, Zhao Fusu had no worries.

Thus, Zhao Fusu dispatched someone to Shangjun to call Wang Li back.

Regarding government affairs, Zhao Fusu had handed over the administration of Qin to the two Prime Ministers, Li Si and Feng Quji.

With their abilities, Zhao Fusu wasn't worried about anything going wrong.

Before manufacturing fertilizer and high-explosive military weapons, Zhao Fusu planned to first establish a coal-steel complex.

Fertilizer could be made from coal, and steel could be used to create seamless steel pipes; with the addition of rifling, those could be used to forge the 'Equality Device'!

He hadn't told Meng Tian not to build the Great Wall because he was unaware of the threat posed by the Xiongnu.

Autumn was the time for the harvest of the Great Qin people, while the region where the Xiongnu lived was grassland, where there was no way to grow grain.

In order to obtain food, they would inevitably choose to head south to plunder grain.

Moreover, in winter, the temperature there was much colder than in Great Qin.

Many tribes on the grasslands would freeze to death in the snowstorms.

Since it was death either way, the grassland tribes wanted to head south.

This meant they would be fighting over territory with Great Qin.

There were only three months left until the war with the Xiongnu!

Zhao Fusu’s expression was solemn.

In other words, he had to produce the Equalizers within three months.

Zhao Fusu felt a sense of urgency.

“Zhang Han.”

Zhao Fusu called over Zhang Han, who was in charge of the Imperial Treasury.

“Head of State.”

Zhang Han spoke first, “The carpenters in the workshop have already finished the chairs you requested.”

“Then take me to see them.”

Zhao Fusu said happily.

“Yes.”

Zhang Han led the way, and Deputy General Pang took a group of men to escort Zhao Fusu toward the workshops run by the imperial family.

After entering the workshop specialized in producing woodenware, Zhang Han called the carpenters out.

Looking at the wooden chairs with backrests, Zhao Fusu sat down and leaned his back against one, a look of enjoyment appearing on his face.

“I want to take this chair with me.”

The days without chairs to sit on were truly uncomfortable for him.

“Yes, Head of State.”

Seeing that Zhao Fusu was satisfied, Zhang Han also let out a sigh of relief.

“The desks have also been completed.”

Zhang Han added.

“Good.”

Zhao Fusu said, “Take the desks back to Xianyang Palace as well.”

“Produce both the chairs and the desks in large quantities,” Zhao Fusu instructed.

“Yes.”

Zhang Han said, “The conference table has not been finished yet due to the high difficulty of its construction.”

“Mhm.”

Zhao Fusu said, “Once it's finished, send it to the main hall of Xianyang Palace.”

“Place the conference table right at the front of the hall, and arrange the desks and chairs below it. The desks should be neatly lined up in two rows, covered with long red cloths. Assign seats according to the ranks of the civil and military officials, and place three-dimensional wooden nameplates on the desks.”

“Yes!”

Zhang Han nodded in response.

“Take me to the workshop for smelting pig iron and bronze.”

“Yes.”

Although Zhang Han didn't understand why Zhao Fusu wanted to go to the Forging Workshop, he still led him to Great Qin's Forging Workshop.

“Clang, clang, clang, clang-clang...”

While still a long distance away, Zhao Fusu heard the sound of iron being struck.

Great Qin's Forging Workshop covered a vast area and employed an immense number of people, reaching twenty to thirty thousand.

The top smelting craftsmen in all of Great Qin were gathered here.

The armaments for Great Qin's army of over a million were all forged by them.

After Zhao Fusu entered the Forging Workshop, he clearly felt the temperature rising.

The interior of the Forging Workshop was guarded by soldiers, and there were patrols on duty; without a transit permit, ordinary people were not allowed inside.

Zhao Fusu looked around and saw that most of the areas were for forging bronze implements.

He stood to one side and watched how the master smiths forged bronze.

It looked very stress-relieving; Zhao Fusu watched for the entire morning.

Bronze is an alloy of copper, tin, lead, and other metals.

The master smiths used the pyrometallurgical method for refining copper.

They used malachite and charcoal as raw materials.

Malachite decomposes under high temperatures to produce copper oxide, which is then reduced to elemental copper through the action of carbon or carbon monoxide.

The steps for forging bronze implements were divided into modeling, mold-making, assembly, casting, polishing, and finishing.

Every step had specialized workers, forming an assembly-line operation.

Modeling involved using clay to shape the basic form of the bronze vessel. The outlines of the bronze patterns were drawn on the prepared clay model; recessed parts were carved directly into the clay model, while raised parts were prepared separately and then attached to the surface of the clay model.

Mold-making involved pressing finely textured clay, which had been mixed evenly beforehand, tightly against the surface of the clay model. After patting, the shape and patterns of the clay model were imprinted onto the clay sheets.

Assembly involved cutting the imprinted clay sheets into several pieces, removing them, and firing them into ceramic. These molds were hard and not easily deformed, known as ceramic molds. After the outer molds were made, a thin layer was evenly shaved off the clay model used for mold-making to create the inner surface of the vessel, known as the inner mold; the bronze inscriptions were carved into the inner mold. The inner and outer molds were then integrated into one unit, and the gap between them was where the molten copper would be held; the distance between the two was the thickness of the bronze vessel.

Casting involved holding the fired molten copper in a crucible, which the casting master would then pour into the ceramic mold. Once the copper liquid solidified, the inner and outer ceramic molds were broken to retrieve the cast bronze vessel. A set of ceramic molds could only cast one bronze vessel, so it was impossible for two identical bronze vessels to exist.

The final steps, polishing and finishing, were for the newly cast bronze vessels, whose surfaces were rough and patterns unclear. They required polishing and finishing to become exquisite bronze pieces.

The area for forging iron implements was quite a bit smaller.

Many bare-chested men with sturdy, muscular builds were striking iron.

One could see that the workshop's iron-smelting technology was very primitive, relying primarily on human power and simple tools.

They relied on furnaces to heat the iron blocks and then used iron hammers to beat them into shape.

If the bronze forging side was for making weapons and tripods, then the iron-working side was mainly for making iron agricultural tools, such as all-iron plowshares.

This was because the iron-smelting technology of the Qin Dynasty was too primitive; the iron produced had high carbon and impurity content, making it very brittle and easy to break.

What surprised Zhao Fusu was that he actually saw Horseshoes over here in the iron-smelting Industrial Zone.

This caused him to step forward unconsciously to investigate.