"Sir Ren, do you think this method will work?" Tao Jiyuan raised his doubts. Although burning a rock was like that, he still felt that this idea was a bit ridiculous.
Not only him, Gu Qiong, Teng Ji, and the others who were listening at the side all had the same thought.
"We will only know if it's feasible after trying. After all, we don't have any better ideas now, right?" Ren Baqian spread his hands.
"That's true." Tao Jiyuan nodded.
"Lord Gu, I'll have to trouble you to arrange it."
Next, Gu Qiong selected a hundred guards to escort the three hundred convicts to a faraway place to chop wood.
Three prisoners were tied together with ropes. Three hundred prisoners were exactly one hundred groups, and a hundred guards were just enough to keep watch.
Mount Damo was an anomaly. There were many other mountains in the vicinity, and every single one of them was lush and green. Only Mount Damo was barren, without a single blade of grass.
The distance needed to cut down the wood was not considered short. After all, the nearby daily cooking was almost done.
After a whole day, a total of thirty tree trunks with a diameter of more than twenty centimeters and a length of more than three meters were brought back.
The prisoners in the mine also stopped digging. They dragged the thirty logs to the platform at the foot of Mount Damo and chopped them into smaller pieces.
After working for two whole days, a total of fifty tree trunks were dragged back. The ones that were brought back on the first day had been chopped into lumber the size of an arm. Now, all that was left was to burn the mountain.
…
A group of more than a hundred people, along with over twenty carts and over seventy fork-horned cows, advanced towards Mount Damo.
The fork-horned cow was one of the most commonly used meats in Dayao. Its growth rate was very fast, at least 50% faster than the crooked cow. The crooked cow took five years to mature, but the fork-horned cow only needed three years to mature.
However, the taste of this kind of beef was very ordinary. It was relatively dry, which was what the army usually ate.
The rest of them were here to deliver supplies to the Mount Damo iron mine. Every 20 days, apart from food, they would also deliver some forged pickaxes, iron awls, and other digging tools. The Mount Damo iron mine had used up a lot of tools.
"Brigade Commander, look over there!" Someone immediately shouted when they saw thick smoke billowing in the direction of Mount Damo as they turned a corner.
In Dayao, ten people formed a team. The team leader was a Secondary class, Rank 9. The twelve squads formed a brigade with a brigade commander, who was a Secondary Class Eighth Pin. Five brigades made up a regiment, with lieutenants ranging from secondary seventh rank to primary sixth rank.
Usually, a regiment would have six hundred and fifty to seven hundred people, including logistics.
The five regiments would form an army with 3,300 to 3,800 men.
Five armies for one prefecture, about fifteen thousand people.
This was an entire brigade. When the brigade marshal heard this, he raised his head and his facial expression immediately changed. "Something has happened at Mount Damo! Two of you will go back and report. One of you will guard this place. The rest of you, put down your things and follow me with your weapons. "
Once the order was given, everyone threw aside the things they were carrying. With one hand tightly holding onto the long sword, they marched quickly towards Mount Damo.
The brigade commander frowned as he advanced. How could something happen to Mount Damo? Could it be that the prisoners were rebelling? But even if they rebelled, the three hundred guards there were enough to defeat them.
In fact, they didn't even need three hundred people. Two hundred people would be able to completely defeat them.
So what's with this thick smoke? This was clearly arson.
As he was thinking and worrying about the situation at Mount Damo, the brigade marshal and his men traveled 60 kilometers in four hours and arrived at the foot of Mount Damo in a hurry.
However, it was different from the chaos he had imagined. The guards at the foot of the mountain were still standing there quietly as if nothing had happened.
"What happened?" The brigade marshal asked hurriedly as he looked up at the thick smoke above. It was like a pillar of smoke, and the smell of burning could be smelled from here.
"Nothing happened. Everything is normal," the guard immediately answered.
The brigade marshal was relieved when he heard this. Then, he was dumbfounded. Since nothing happened, what was going on up there?
"Brigade Marshal Sheng, you will know when you go up and take a look." The guard didn't understand the details and said, "They said that they want to burn Mount Damo."
Burn Mount Damo? How could this be possible? Wasn't this nonsense? When the brigade marshal heard this, he thought about how he and the others had rushed over here because of this matter, and he couldn't help but feel angry.
"Go back and send the supplies here. In addition, get someone to chase those two back. I will go up and take a look." After saying this, Brigade Marshal Sheng wiped the sweat off his forehead and hurried up the mountain.
At this moment, Ren Baqian and the others stood in front of the wooden house and looked at the fire in the distance. A large amount of wood was burning there, and the soaring flames made it difficult for people to approach.
"General Sheng Kaishan pays his respects to all of you." Sheng Kaishan's eyes narrowed when he saw them. What surprised him the most wasn't the rank of Ren Baqian and Tao Jiyuan, but the fact that he actually saw the winged cavalry here.
One had to know that the winged cavalry were the empress's personal guards and wouldn't be easily mobilized. Who were the people who came this time?
"This is Imperial Deputy Prefect Ren, Sir Tao from the Ordnance Department, and Sir Teng Ji from Lan City. Kaishan, you should have arrived by now. Why are you here alone? Where are the things? "Teng Ji stretched his neck and looked into the distance. Other than Kaishan, there was no one behind him.
Kaishan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Sir Gu, I saw the smoke pillar from afar and thought that something had happened. I rushed here and left the things behind. They are now back with the convoy. "
Gu Qiong burst into laughter upon hearing this.
After a while, Kaishan carefully asked, "Sir, what are they doing?"
"That Deputy Prefect Ren said that they were going to heat it up and pour some water on it to see if it would crack." Gu Qiong stroked his beard and turned his head.
"This iron mountain is full of iron. Isn't this quenching?" Sheng Kaishan was puzzled. Even if he didn't know how to forge iron, he had more or less heard of quenching.
Wasn't it just putting the forged iron into water? What was the difference between this and quenching?
"That's right." Gu Qiong slapped his thigh. "Why didn't I think of this?"
"Sir Ren, Sir Ren, isn't this quenching?" Gu Qiong turned his head and shouted.
Ren Baqian nodded after hearing what he said. "Quenching has a special process and requirements. Usually, the carbon and other substances in the iron have already been expelled by hammering to become steel. Even so, if something goes wrong, it will crack, let alone iron. You don't have to worry about this."
After hearing what Ren Baqian said, everyone was puzzled. In any case, it sounded like Sir Ren was stronger than them.
"I didn't expect Sir Ren to know how to forge," Tao Jiyuan casually said.
"I know a little. Let's keep the fire burning until the afternoon. Don't add more firewood after noon. I will go back to my room to rest. "Ren Baqian bade farewell to them and returned to his room.
When it was three or four o 'clock in the afternoon, Ren Baqian estimated that it was about time. He walked out of the wooden hut and asked someone to call Tao Jiyuan, Gu Qiong, and the rest out.
After the fire started to die down, Ren Baqian instructed, "Get some water and pour it directly on Mount Damo."
Everyone immediately got into action after hearing this. The rest of them also perked up.
This time, they only burned an area that was ten meters long. As they poured buckets of water onto the mountain wall, sizzling sounds could be heard. Every bucket of water that was poured onto the mountain wall created a cloud of white steam. Soon, the people nearby could no longer stand.
Seeing this, Ren Baqian retreated a little further.
After an hour, Ren Baqian waved his hand to stop everyone and said, "It's about time. Let's go and take a look after the steam dissipates."
They waited until the sky turned dark. Then, they raised their torches and approached the mountain.
"Can it really split open?" Those who knew the whole story did not have much confidence. One by one, they looked at Ren Baqian.
"We will know soon," Ren Baqian said. He was a little nervous. What he knew was only theory. If it did not succeed, it would be embarrassing. Moreover, a large number of concave mirrors could not be produced in a short period of time. He was afraid that he would be helpless in this place.
As the torches shone on the mountain wall, everyone saw that it was still the same as before. Immediately, their hearts skipped a beat. Could it be that it did not succeed?
Ren Baqian did not say a word. He walked until he was one meter away from the mountain wall and stopped. He carefully examined the mountain wall. Finally, a look of relief appeared on his face.
"Cracks, it actually split open!" Gu Qiong walked to Ren Baqian's side and carefully examined the mountain wall. Immediately, he shouted in surprise.
Under the light of the torches, the mountain wall of Mount Damo was covered with small cracks.
Although the cracks were not very big, the speed of mining along the cracks would be at least two times faster.
"Sir Ren, this method actually worked. I really admire you. Sir Ren has contributed greatly this time." Tao Jiyuan stepped forward and saw the cracks on the mountain wall. At first, he was surprised. Then, he revealed a look of congratulations.
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