After making a large circle on the surface of the alloy, Ying Zheng returned to the ground.
Hu Yu quickly came over and asked, "Your Majesty, is there anything fun down there?"
Ying Zheng shook his head and said, "There's nothing interesting, just a big hole."
Hu Yu looked at the huge gap, pointed with his finger, and asked, "Is it that big hole?"
"Yes, that's the hole." Ying Zheng said, "If there is no black kerosene, the hole cannot be made."
On the way back, Ying Zheng told Hu Yu about using black kerosene to make a quenching solution.
"Where did the dissolved alloy go? Did it just disappear?" What Hu Yu is concerned about is not how to use black fire oil to refine the quenching solution, nor how to dissolve the alloy in the quenching solution. , but where the alloy goes.
They still want to use that alloy to make many magic weapons!
After hearing what Hu Yu said, Ying Zheng thought of this problem, so he looked at Li Si and asked, "Yes, sir, where are the dissolved alloys? Where did they go?"
Li Si smiled and said: "Of course it is used to forge 'my weapon', but it is not placed here. After all, the alloy here will be dissolved in the future. It will be very troublesome to move it then."
"Let's go and take a look." Ying Zheng said.
"Your Majesty, please, Madam." After saying that, Li Si led the way to the other side of the secret room.
It used to be a sloping hillside, but now it has been dug into flat land, just to the side of the military camp.
I saw familiar equipment placed here in an orderly manner, and the craftsmen of the Jingjia class were sweating enthusiastically.
Jing Fan shouted, and when the craftsmen saw King Qin coming, they all put down their work and gathered around.
An older craftsman held a piece of "my utensil" in both hands and handed it to Ying Zheng.
"Your Majesty, please look, this thing has just been made and it's still warm." said the older craftsman.
Ying Zheng took "my utensil", weighed it, knocked it with his hand, and said, "Not bad, how many have you made now?"
"Your Majesty, more than seventy have been made," Jing Fan replied.
"Okay!" Ying Zheng smiled from ear to ear, "I will take this handful directly. I will take the rest with me when I return to Xianyang. If you can take the remaining twenty or so in three days, I will take them with you." If the inside is forged, then our bet will be won!"
"Okay!" The craftsmen cheered.
"Brothers!" Jing Fan said loudly, "Let's activate our spare set of equipment. This time, no matter what, we will make the king look bad!"
"Okay!" After another round of cheers, the craftsmen set off to start the spare equipment.
Hu Yu came close to Ying Zheng and whispered: "Your Majesty, when you told my father that a barrel of black kerosene can only make two or three 'my weapons', did you deliberately say less?"
Ying Zheng: "..."
Silence is gold.
Hu Yu still looked at Ying Zheng with strange eyes.
Ying Zheng had no choice but to hand the magic weapon in his hand to Hu Yu to divert Hu Yu's attention: "Give it back to you."
That night, because Ying Zheng brought back two hundred barrels of black fire oil from Zhao, there was naturally a celebration, and the King of Qin led everyone to drink again.
The next day, Meng Yi, who was searching for information outside, heard the news that Ying Zheng was back and rushed back immediately.
"How's it going? Is there any progress on your side?" Ying Zheng asked.
"There are still some harvests." Meng Yi said, "The information collected by the sergeants is relatively scattered and is still being sorted out. However, recently I have met a few strangers who secretly mine black oil. They are related to gold mining. Some of the brothers in the class are familiar with each other, and Wei Chen is wondering if we should bring them over to help us mine black kerosene."
"This is a good suggestion." Ying Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Let them join your gold-mining class. Everyone will pay the wages. It doesn't matter whether they can find minerals or black oil within a year. The key is to gain experience. Understand ?"
After bringing back two hundred barrels of black kerosene from Zhao, Ying Zheng's confidence began to strengthen, and he was no longer as anxious as before.
"Wei Chen understands." Meng Yi nodded and said, "Since we are no longer in a hurry, please ask the king to take back the black iron snail."
vertex
Ying Zheng thought for a moment and said
He said: "Okay, then take it back. If it is necessary to use it to search for minerals, you can ask me for it again."
"Okay." After responding, Meng Yi went out to get the black iron snail.
Everyone was very busy during these three days.
Li Si led the sergeants to temper the alloy downwards in the alloy pit, and Jing Fan led the Jing family class to forge "my weapon" with the tempered alloy.
Ying Zheng looked east and west, and also took good care of Hu Yu. After all, her belly was getting bigger day by day.
While accompanying Hu Yu, Ying Zheng couldn't help but think of another lady in Xianyang who was even bigger than Hu Yu.
I don’t know exactly when Nansu went into labor. Last time I went back, I forgot to ask Dr. Song.
Ying Zheng thought about it in his mind, feeling even more missing.
Three days passed, and the craftsmen of Jingjia class forged another thirty "my weapons".
Ten per day, this output is really not an exaggeration. If we can make more equipment, I think there won't be much problem in equipping the entire Daqin in a few years.
It seems that Jingjiaban's smelting skills are getting better and better.
On Li Si's side, it has been tempered down to a depth of several feet. According to Li Si's previous calculations, if there is really an alloy stock of three thousand "my weapons" here, it should be close to the bottom by now.
However, another day passed, until sunset, and there was still no normal rock or land visible in the gap.
This made Ying Zheng a little anxious. He pulled Li Si aside and asked in a low voice: "Sir, is there a deviation in our estimate? The total amount of this alloy is far more than the number of three thousand 'my tools'?"
Li Si was also a little unsure, and after thinking for a while he said: "The matter has reached this point, and the route must not be changed. Wei Chen's suggestion is to start tempering on the surface while tempering downwards, no matter how thick the alloy is. , let’s not waste any time.”
"It seems that this is all we have to do." Ying Zheng sighed softly.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry. In the Yellow Emperor's time, it would have been extremely difficult to search for materials to make alloys, so the quantity would not be too much." Li Si said calmly, "As long as we are patient, we will eventually see the light of day. The day the truth comes out.”
Ying Zheng nodded and said: "Okay, why don't I go back to Xianyang tomorrow with the 'my weapon' that the craftsmen have just made, and you can continue to stay here."
"Then Wei Chen ordered the sergeants to work all night to see if they could detect the bottom of the alloy before the king went back." Li Si said.
"Then sir, you will have to worry about it." Ying Zheng said with his hands in hand.
After Li Si returned the gift, he walked out of the tent.
Ying Zheng calmed down and then went to the new kiln in Jingjia Ban to sort out the magic weapons to be brought back to Xianyang.
After everything was packed up, it was already late at night, but Ying Zheng was not sleepy, so he immediately picked up his copy of the "Book of Mountains and Seas" and started reading it by heart.
Ying Zheng's understanding of Jiuyou was very abstract at first. From what he heard from Li Si, he only felt that it should be the opposite world under his feet, and it seemed to be closer to what ordinary people call the underworld.
However, after meeting Yajuan and Xi, Yingzheng's understanding was completely subverted, and his yearning and curiosity for Jiuyou also increased day by day.
This "Book of Mountains and Seas" is the work of previous predecessors. Although the vocabulary is not gorgeous and the artistic conception is not elegant, the various strange animals, flowers and fruits recorded in it are all kinds of strange. It is easy for people to immerse themselves in it and imagine the lives of those strange beasts. The appearance, the strangeness of those flowers and fruits.
Before he knew it, it was already dawn, and Ying Zheng finally felt a little sleepy. He closed the book and prepared to take a rest.
But at this moment, I heard some commotion outside, like cheering or something.
Ying Zheng rubbed his eyes, stood up and walked out of the tent.
The sound came from the direction of the gap in the alloy. Ying Zheng suddenly lost all sleepiness, quickened his pace, and ran over.
As soon as he reached the gap, he saw Li Si rising out of the hole on a wooden frame, and was pulled to the surface of the alloy by two sergeants.
Ying Zheng also stepped forward to lend a hand, and after Li Si stood still, he helped shake off the dust.
"How are you doing, sir?" Ying Zheng asked eagerly.
Li Si smiled happily and said: "Your Majesty, the ministers are covered with dust. Of course they have been opened."
"Really?" Ying Zheng was surprised and delighted, his eyebrows beaming with joy, "Hurry up and take me to see it."
"We have to wait a little longer," Li Si said. "Now only a small area has been opened. However, Wei Chen has ordered people to dig out some of the soil and it will be up soon."
While he was talking, he saw the wooden frame at the back slowly rising out of the ground, and what was inside was indeed a bucket of soil.
A sergeant lifted the barrel up, placed it on the ground, and opened the lid. The soil inside was dark and shiny, as if it had been coated with black oil.
"This shouldn't be ordinary soil." Li Si grabbed a handful and rubbed it with his fingers. "It's probably used to nourish the alloy."
"Is it to prevent the alloy from being corroded by other things?" Ying Zheng asked.
"That may be the case." Li Siluo said with some confusion, "But it's strange, if that's the case, why isn't this large piece of alloy surrounded by such soil to nourish it?"
"That's right." Ying Zheng thought for a while and then asked, "Sir, do you think it's possible that this soil is just a sandwich layer, and there is a large piece of alloy hidden underneath?"
Li Si thought for a while and said: "This possibility is very unlikely. If there is still a piece of alloy, it is best to put it tightly together from top to bottom without putting any loose soil in the middle."
"Whether there is or not, keep digging downwards. Anyway, you have to dig downwards to dig a passage when digging the royal tomb." Ying Zheng said.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Si raised his hand and said, "When all the alloy at the bottom is tempered, we will continue to dig deeper. Your Majesty, please wait for a moment, and I will go down and take a look."
"Okay." Ying Zheng nodded and said, "Be careful."
Li Si responded, and then led two more people to re-enter the gap in the alloy.
Half an hour passed. Seeing that it was almost time to leave for the cave, Ying Zheng could no longer suppress the urgency in his heart. He sat on the wooden frame and ordered the sergeants to put him down.
The wooden frame carried Ying Zheng and slowly lowered downwards.
I don't know how far below, I can see several torches fixed on the well wall, and several people are also working.
The surrounding walls of the well are not very smooth. It seems that during the tempering process, holes were left intentionally. I don't know if it is to insert torches or to facilitate climbing.
Finally reaching the bottom, Ying Zheng jumped off the wooden frame.
I saw Li Si tempering the last small piece of alloy. Beside him, two sergeants were digging downwards, already digging to a height of a little more than one person.
"How's it going, sir?" Ying Zheng asked.
When Ying Zheng first entered the well, Li Si knew who had come down, and without looking back, he said, "It's almost over, Your Majesty."
Ying Zheng knew that tempering this alloy required extremely detailed operations, so he stopped disturbing him and turned to look at the two sergeants digging the soil.
But at this moment, there was a "click" sound, and the shovel of the sergeant who was digging seemed to have hit something hard.
Ying Zheng's heart skipped a beat and he suddenly became nervous.
You won't let yourself get it right. Is this soil really a mezzanine?
Li Si also heard the noise, but still did not turn around and whispered: "Don't be anxious, dig out all the soil and see what's inside.
The two sergeants responded and started digging around.
Ying Zheng swallowed his saliva and stared down nervously.
After a while, almost all the soil below was excavated to the top, and several sergeants nearby transported the soil to the top.
The hard object that was touched finally appeared, but it didn't seem to be a large piece of alloy, but more like a box made of alloy that was about the same size as the unfolded book slip.
The sergeant gently wiped the dirt on the alloy box and lifted it out.
At this time, Li Si finally completed the last step, sorted out the alloy solution, and handed it to the sergeant next to him.
"Sir, what is this?" Ying Zheng asked.
"It seems to be a box made of alloy." Li Si looked at the object in front of him and said.
"It's actually buried here, could it be..." Ying Zheng has been thinking about who would hide this box in such a hard-to-find place.
Li Si and Ying Zheng looked at each other, already having a name in mind.
——Huang Di.
It can only be Huangdi.
