NOVPUB"Yes, Your Majesty. The Chief Divine commands infinite strength, dominating light and fire! Ever since I devotedly believed in the Chief Divine, I have been filled with strength even when smelting bronze..."
"Excellent! The Chief Divine blesses us. His radiance does not discriminate among races, descending upon everyone!"
Upon hearing this, Xiulote smiled and nodded lightly. After becoming the chief, Jatili had fully utilized his influence, recommending many names to him, among which Chalape was one. They were among the first group of Prepetcha people who actively aligned with the Alliance and joined the governance of the Fief.
"Tilipi, I heard that the King Su’angua has a set of bronze armor, highly durable, impenetrable by arrows... Hmm, was it forged by you?"
Tilipi, to his right, pursed his lips, a bit younger. He was a pure master craftsman, possessing the kingdom’s most outstanding bronze casting techniques, yet he lacked experience in dealing with the nobility. At this moment, faced with the king’s inquiry, he appeared much more restrained, and his face also showed clear nervousness.
"Your... Majesty, the bronze armor was forged by me years ago... At that time, my skills were not yet mature... The armor’s parts were not well connected, it was not as highly durable as said... Most importantly, it was too heavy..."
"Forgive me, Your Majesty! Tilipi was ignorant temporarily, serving the false king Su’angua... Now he has devotedly converted to the Chief Divine, willing to dedicate his life to you!..."
Chalape raised his head, looking at the king’s expression, cautiously interjected a word. Meanwhile, he stretched out his hand, quietly pulling at his clan brother’s short robe.
Xiulote glanced indifferently at Chalape, who immediately bowed his head in awe. He then looked at Tilipi, the master craftsman who now had his mouth shut tight, staring stiffly at the king. The workshop fell silent for a moment, everyone sweating from their foreheads.
"Ha ha! Right, devout belief leads to a bright future."
The king spoke out with a laugh, immediately easing the atmosphere in the room.
"Chalape, you are skilled in smelting bronze, come, tell me about the process of refining bronze!"
Chalape nodded repeatedly. He stood up and led Xiulote to the front of the vertical copper furnace inside.
"Your Majesty, this is the vertical furnace for refining bronze! It is built using the Earth Mother Goddess’s clay and possesses the power bestowed by the Chief Divine, capable of divinely reinforcing copper... The entire furnace can roughly be divided into three parts: the furnace base at the bottom, the furnace belly that holds the mineral materials, and the outer furnace body..."
Xiulote stretched out his arm, measuring the specific dimensions of the vertical furnace. The entire furnace was about one person tall, half a person wide, resembling a giant clay jar buried in the soil. From the bottom of the furnace belly to the top of the furnace, it was slightly over 1.2 meters, the material column was just over 1 meter, and the thickness of the furnace walls was between 30-40 centimeters. With a quick estimate, he figured out that the furnace belly’s capacity was about one-third of a cubic meter, which was also the maximum volume of bronze that could be smelted in a single operation,
"Your Majesty, the furnace base is below the furnace belly, it has a wind groove connected to the Wind God’s power, and there is also a narrow wind vent above the furnace belly. At the lower part of the front wall of the furnace, there is a gold gate for discharging material and a slag hole..."
Xiulote looked at the wind groove and the wind vent, knowing these were channels for oxygen to flow in, yet he saw no dedicated bellows equipment.
"Your Majesty, every time the furnace is built, three or four thousand kilograms of copper material and several hundred to a thousand kilograms of tin material can be loaded inside. Both the copper and tin materials need to be melted once first, passed through a small furnace to remove the slag inside."
Saying that, Chalape pointed with his hand towards the other side, where there was a long-term melting furnace built with green bricks, only half the size of the vertical furnace. Then, he pointed again at the large furnace in front of them.
"Chief Divine bless! Thousands of kilograms of copper and tin materials in the large furnace will be smelted into bronze. Preparing the copper and tin takes a day, building the furnace takes about a day. The furnace needs to heat up until the copper and tin melt, which takes a whole day. Thorough mixing also takes a day. Waiting for it to cool down and extinguishing the fire, then pushing the furnace down and retrieving the bronze, again takes a day..."
At this point, Chalape looked at the king, his face brimming with pride.
"Chief Divine bless! Your Majesty, in total, about five days, each furnace can produce an astonishing over four thousand kilograms of bronze!"
Xiulote’s expression was unchanging as he slowly nodded. However, his heart felt somewhat disappointed, as each furnace’s daily yield was not even a thousand kilograms, and building and dismantling took two days. Thinking of this, the king furrowed his brow.
"Chalape, this clay furnace of yours, is it a one-time use?"
"Indeed, Your Majesty!"
Chalape nodded affirmatively.
"The furnace must be tightly sealed for the fire to reach sufficient heat. After burning, to retrieve the bronze, the furnace must be dismantled. If there is enough manpower, building and dismantling furnaces is not troublesome. Actually, what’s truly lacking here in the workshop is the supply of copper!"
"Not enough fire... low temperature... oxygen supply through bellows..."
Xiulote fell into deep thought. He tried to recall the bellows from the countryside in later generations, but his memory was somewhat unclear. He thought about the principle for a moment and stretched out his hand. The Head Warrior, prepared as always, timely handed over paper and pen. The young King then personally drew a simplified bellows in front of Chalape.
"Chalape, to increase the fire, we need bellows. You should make a batch of large clay pots, bind the mouth with a piece of semi-folded deerhide, and create a functioning inlet valve on the deerhide. Leave a hole in the pot wall, then attach a clay air tube, seal the joint with mud, and lead it into the furnace... this way, when you pull up the deerhide, the folded valve will open to inhale. When you press down the deerhide, the valve on it will close, pushing the air in the pot into the furnace... pulling and pressing, the whole process is like beating a drum. The speed of bellows depends on how fast you pull and press the deerhide!"
Observing His Majesty’s drawing and explanation, Chalape showed a look of astonishment. He was just constructing the scenario in his mind when a soft exclamation came from beside him, followed by the voice of his clan brother Tilipi.
"Open the inlet, close it to press air... Hmm, Your Majesty, you are truly ingenious!"
Upon hearing this, Chalape’s face darkened. He cautiously looked towards the King but saw that the King was unconcerned, even smiled a bit.
"Chalape, the charcoal kilns and clay brick kilns outside the city are being built. In addition to the bellows, from now on, a batch of high-quality charcoal will be provided to you every month as a priority. You must build a series of vertical furnaces made of green bricks, to prepare for large-scale bronze refining!"
"As for the sources of copper and tin, I will resolve that myself!"
"At Your Majesty’s command!"
Upon hearing Xiulote’s decree, Chalape quickly pulled his clan brother, and together they bowed to the King. Then, he stood up and continued to guide the King to a row of bronze weapons. Bertade’s expression became solemn, and he patted Black Wolf’s shoulder. Two Great Generals then stepped forward, hands on their weapons, tightly guarding His Highness on either side.
"With the protection of the Chief Divine, according to the Kingdom’s experience over decades, the best copper to tin ratio is..."
Chalape paused, cautiously looking at the King before him.
"Your Majesty, this is a state secret. Your trusted aides behind you..."
"Chalape, speak freely! They are all my trusted aides, there’s no need to avoid them. Moreover, I will assign some of them to join you in the production of bronze."
Xiulote shook his head, the current scale of bronze smelting and casting was still too small; production needed to be rapidly expanded. Once production was expanded, more people had to be involved. Spaniards would arrive in America in less than ten years, and these so-called secrets were actually meaningless.
"Ah... Your Majesty... at your command..."
Under the vigilant eyes of the Head Warrior, Chalape reached out his hand towards the bronze weapons in front of him and respectfully said.
"Casting durable bronze articles should use five parts copper to one part tin; casting broad-edged bronze axes, four parts copper to one part tin; casting sharp bronze spearheads, three parts copper to one part tin... generally speaking, the more tin added, the harder the bronze weapons get, but they also become more brittle and prone to breaking..."
"Good! Chalape, you have summarized well!"
Upon hearing this, Xiulote nodded in admiration. His mind was filled with a line of familiar words.
"Five parts of its metal with one part tin, called the equal of axes and mauls; four parts of its metal with one part tin, called the equal of halberds and spears; three parts of its metal with one part tin, called the equal of broad blades... Bronze axes, bronze spears, and bronze swords..."
Thinking of this, the King’s expression became solemn as he turned to another Master beside him.
"Tilipi, where is the bronze sword I had you forge?"
