General Qin

Facing the "eerie" gaze of the First Emperor, Zhao Tuo felt a little cold.

This look, this tone.

Could it be that he wanted to be buried with him?

However, Zhao Tuo rejected it just after thinking about it.

Since Qin Xiangong abolished the human sacrifice system, the Qin State has not used human sacrifice for more than a hundred years.

As for saying that a master with great achievements needs to die in advance, with Fusu, the eldest son, as the heir, it should not be a big problem.

Zhao Tuo calmed down and said: "I thought we could use the Lang Wei army and the guards to which the Lang Zhongling belonged as a reference to make terracotta warriors and horses. Then imitate the generals of our Great Qin Dynasty and make the general figurines to command the Lang Wei warriors. , in this way we can protect the imperial mausoleum and avoid any further trouble."

Burning figurines?

The First Emperor did not comment on this, but looked at Zhao Tuo with a profound look, which made his scalp numb.

Fortunately, the First Emperor did not tease Zhao Tuo too much, and finally agreed with Zhao Tuo's suggestion of burning terracotta warriors and horses.

The custom of burying pottery figurines with them has already appeared. This is actually what it should be. The difference is only in scale.

"My imperial mausoleum terracotta warriors and horses. It must be big and numerous. It must be unprecedented and unparalleled. It must be the best in the world."

The supreme head of state of the empire gave guidance on the firing of terracotta warriors and horses.

Then he inspected some projects of the Shaofu before driving away, leaving Zhao Tuo speechless.

If you want to bake terracotta warriors and horses, just bake them. Why did you come here to scare me? It's really annoying.

However, this order from the First Emperor changed the direction of Zhao Tuo's next work. He had to mobilize some manpower and resources to deal with the terracotta warriors and horses.

There were actually two Shaofu as they were often called in the Qin Dynasty.

A man named Jiangzuo Shaofu was in charge of civil construction projects such as palaces, ancestral temples, and mausoleums. He was a high official in the court with a rank of 2,000 kilograms. The current Lishan Mausoleum was built by Jiangzuo Shaofu.

The other Shaofu is Zhao Tuo's current position, in charge of the taxation of mountains, seas and ponds, as well as supervision of the construction of various utensils and miscellaneous matters in the palace.

The manufacture of funerary objects in the imperial mausoleum was naturally also Zhao Tuo's responsibility.

He summoned Zhang Han, the Shaofu Gongcheng who was in charge of the matter, and relayed the First Emperor's instructions.

"With His Majesty's order, the Lang Zhongling and the guards will cooperate and let the craftsmen refer to the configuration of the two armies to copy and bake them one-to-one. The chariots, horses, and battle formations will all be arranged according to the real thing."

"In addition, we sent painters to draw the generals of the Qin Dynasty to make figurines of the generals. Wang Taiwei, General Yang Duanhe, General Xin Sheng, General Xin Wu, and General Feng Wuze from the south, and those who will return to Beijing later General Li Xin and General Wang Li are also making arrangements!"

Zhao Tuo read out a long list of names. Don't even think about running away from the matter of burning the figurines and burying them together.

As for Zhao Tuo, he would naturally have to imitate a mighty general figurine.

"If someone digs out the terracotta warriors and horses thousands of years later, I wonder what it would be like to see my Zhao Tuo warriors?"

He then thought that in the original history, there were no names engraved on the terracotta warriors and horses, and even if future generations dug them up, they would have to guess and not be able to tell their identities.

"The corresponding names can be engraved on the generals' figurines."

Zhao Tuo added.

"only."

Zhang Han took note of the Shaofu's instructions and began to formally initiate the project.

The thirty years of Qin Shihuang are destined to be a busy year for the various offices of the Shaofu.

Part of the Shaofu's resources were used on the Terracotta Warriors and Horses project, and Zhao Tuo was not idle in other aspects of technology.

He first mobilized a large number of blacksmiths to focus on improving metal smelting technology.

The Warring States Period was an important period for China to transform from bronze to iron. Although various countries had begun to use iron to make weapons and armor, they were still only in small quantities.

In the Qin State, iron was mainly used to produce agricultural tools, and its casting and forging technology was extremely limited, let alone the production of steel.

The shackles of smelting technology hinder the development of society.

Zhao Tuo came from a later generation. Although he may not understand the specific methods and principles of smelting, the general idea is no problem.

For the Shaofu, which has gathered all the skilled craftsmen in Da Qin, what is missing is a navigator who can take the helm and command. As long as the direction is pointed out, there will be a group of professionals below to carry out specific research and improvement.

"The focus of smelting is to increase the temperature, so the first step is to improve the 搐 (tuó) 龠 (yuè)."

Zhao Tuo's thinking is very clear.

If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools.

The so-called 搐龠 is the air-blasting skin bag that has been used since the Spring and Autumn Period. This is something similar to a balloon made of leather. By compressing the air bag, it is blown and the temperature of the smelting is increased.

If you want to transform this thing, it is actually very simple. There are no technical problems. The main point is to see if anyone can come up with ideas.

Zhao Tuo still remembers that in the past, every rural household had a stove for cooking, with a bellows placed next to it. Every time you need to boil water in a pot for cooking, light firewood and put it into the mouth of the stove, someone has to pull the bellows with your right hand and add firewood with your left hand.

The sealed bellows made of wood is an artifact to increase the smelting temperature.

With Zhao Tuo leading the way and his skilled craftsmen doing the manufacturing, this thing was built in a few days.

Zhao Tuo manufactured a double-action piston bellows, which was probably not invented until the Tang and Song Dynasties in its original history.

It is equivalent to Zhao Tuo's single move to improve this technology for about a thousand years.

With the advanced bellows, the temperature of the furnace fire was greatly increased. Under this circumstance, the idea of ​​​​frying steel was also proposed by Zhao Tuo.

It doesn't matter that he doesn't understand the specific process. He has the best blacksmiths in Da Qin to study it. He overcomes this problem within two or three months and sums up a very efficient method of frying steel, making Qin's wrought iron and steel production more efficient. The output and quality have been greatly enhanced.

Zhao Tuo's key project this year, in addition to the terracotta warriors and horses, is to improve smelting technology. He was not satisfied with the results of the steel-frying method, and on this basis he proposed the concept of "hundred steel-making".

Steel-making is not complicated, just repeatedly temper the fried steel to make it into refined steel. Weapons made of this steel will become the sharpest weapons in the world in this era.

The improvement of iron smelting technology, in addition to improving the quality of the Qin army's weapons, is also of great benefit to the development of the productivity of the entire society.

Using such steel to make agricultural tools is strong and durable, greatly improving the efficiency of agricultural production. In addition, it can be used for mining, construction of water conservancy projects and various buildings.

Zhao Tuo also created the world's first iron pot.

When he tasted the cooking, he couldn't help but shed tears.

"It's still missing some seasoning."

Zhao Tuo was a little dissatisfied with this and could only hope that after Wang Li defeated the Yueshi and Qin merchants went to the Western Regions for trade and exchange, they could bring more good things to the Central Plains.

Burning terracotta warriors and horses, improving smelting technology and other matters occupied a lot of Zhao Tuo's time and energy.

When Zhao Tuo successfully produced Bailian Iron and Steel, it was already the early summer of Qin Shihuang's thirtieth year.

This is a very important time for the Qin royal family.

Prince Fusu's first wife, Mrs. Li, gave birth to a child.

A few days later, the eldest princess Ying Yinman also gave birth to a child.

The follow-up will speed up in terms of time and plot, and at the same time, some words will be spent describing the next generation to prepare for the ending.