Aztec Eternals

"What! Witness the Lord God! Xi Feng, are you saying that you found a big iron mountain?!"

"Ah? That... Chief Priest Mickey, there is indeed a big mountain full of this kind of ore in the mountains to the east! As for whether this is iron ore... I can't tell..."

In front of the tribal fire pit in the port camp, a basket of light brass-colored ore is reflecting the golden light. The two priests of the kingdom looked at each other. Mikey, the knowledgeable one, had an extremely serious expression, but the West Bee priest lowered his head with some guilt.

At the beginning, he was excited and presented these ores as if they were offering treasures. He was full of longing for a great contribution that would be recorded in the kingdom! However, when Chief Priest Mickey asked him seriously and asked him to vouch for the discovered ores, he was a little timid and hesitant, not daring to take responsibility.

"Huh? You still need more experience! ... If you can't shoulder the responsibility, how can you be the leader of a settlement? As time goes by, the person who really controls the kingdom's ports will probably be..."

Mickey, the Knowledgeable One, moved his eyes and glanced at Tulan, the head-headed woman of Viyot, and then at the Western Bee Priest who lowered his head. He pondered for a moment, looked at the golden ore in front of the fire pit, and suddenly gave instructions to the accompanying warrior captain Shi Jian.

"Shi Jian, go and invite the man who is called... um, 'Dagu' and the tribe's blacksmith! Let him take a good look..."

"Yes! Chief Priest!..."

Shi Jian strode away and hurried back with the Heguo blacksmith. Blacksmith Otani Kengang lowered his head, and there was still yellow residue from corn tortillas around his mouth, which looked very similar to the slag on the ground. He glanced at the two priests in front of the fire pit with some confusion, and then suddenly knelt down, just like kneeling down to worship the great priests in a shrine.

"The Lord God bless me! Young Otani Kengang has met two priests! Praise the Lord God!..."

"Praise the Lord God! Well, Ogu, get up and take a good look. What are the ores in these straw baskets?..."

Blacksmith Ogu just stood up and knelt down by the firepit again. The moment he saw the straw basket, a dazzling golden light shone in his eyes, making his heart skip a beat.

"Huh? It's gold again! So much!...Huh? Wait?!..."

Da Gu looked at it for a while and suddenly frowned. He took out a piece of brass-colored ore in his hand and felt the heavy weight, but it was not as heavy as gold. Then, he picked up another piece of flint and scratched it, looking at the very shallow marks on the ore. Finally, he carefully identified the messy crystal textures on the surface of the ore.

"Huh? It's lighter, harder, and messier than gold mine...could it be?..."

Otani's eyes lit up. He raised his head and asked carefully.

"God bless you! Lord Mi Priest...this shouldn't be gold, it's probably...well...can I put this piece of ore in the fire and burn it?..."

"Can!…"

Soon, the gold-copper colored ore was heated in the campfire. A faint volcanic smell lingered in everyone's noses. As the burning time increases, the golden ore gradually changes color, and reddish-brown traces appear...

"Oh! Its color is like gold, its fire is like blood, and its smell is pungent...Yes! Yes! This is yellow iron!..."

Otani sniffed his nose vigorously, and then looked at the color change of the ore. Then, he stood up respectfully, knelt down in front of Mickey, and replied confidently.

"Master Priest! This is iron ore! This is pyrite!..."

"Witness the Lord God! Are you sure that this is iron ore that can be used to make iron tools?!"

Mikey, the knowledgeable man, suppressed the excitement in his heart and stared at Otani's face with fiery eyes. Otani nodded affirmatively, made a praying gesture, and kowtowed respectfully.

"Witness the Lord God! This must be yellow iron! You see, it has burned into a rusty red color, almost like red iron ore. As long as you build an earthen furnace and simply smelt it, you will definitely be able to produce molten iron..."

"…!"

Mickey the Knowledgeable stood up suddenly and strode to the campfire. He stared intently at the ore that had completely turned into reddish brown in the flames, with some disbelief on his face.

"Lord God! Is this really an iron mine? Could it be that... there is really a big iron mountain to the east of Huwan Port?!..."

"Ah! Let me tell you, this is indeed an iron ore!...Haha! Chief Priest Mickey, it's me, it's me! I, the West Bee, found a big iron mountain for the kingdom! This should be something that can be reported directly to Your Majesty’s great contribution, right?…”

"Well! Xi Feng, if this is really an iron mine that is more important than a gold mine...then I will definitely report your credit to His Majesty truthfully! Not to mention being promoted to the second level priest, it is also possible to be rewarded by the third level chief priest. !...However, we have to smelt the iron first before we can really be sure..."

Facing the ecstatic Western Bee Priest, Mickey the Knowledgeable patiently comforted him for a few words before asking seriously.

"Guide from the Lord God! Xi Feng, how much of this kind of ore do you have people bring back?"

"Guide from the Lord God! Chief Priest Mickey, there are still three baskets, which must be three to four hundred kilograms!..."

"Okay! Let everyone bring it over..."

"yes!"

Then, Mikey, the knowledgeable man, looked at the kneeling blacksmith Otani and asked solemnly.

"Otani! Can you burn iron ore?..."

"Ah? Burning iron ore?... Oh! You mean smelting iron? Of course you can do it... But if you don't have a good brick kiln, you can only build an earth furnace to burn it... This, building a furnace is very troublesome, It’s a very time-consuming thing. Well, I don’t have the tools at my disposal... The fired iron may be brittle, and it needs to be slowly forged with charcoal before it can be used..."

"Witness the Lord God! Da Gu, I will give you thirty young men to help you! If you can smelt iron, the kingdom will give you a big reward! If you can't smelt it, the kingdom will also punish you!..."

"Ah? Yes! Yes! Lord Priest, leave it all to me, and I will make iron for you! Thirty people are enough, enough!..."

With skilled technology and sufficient manpower, it is not difficult to build a furnace to smelt iron. Under the command of blacksmith Otani Gangjian, in just two or three days, an iron smelting furnace made of stone and mud was built on the east side of the Huwan Port camp.

This iron-smelting kiln is about as tall as a person. At first glance, it looks like a bamboo that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, rounded at the top and covered with dense soil on the inside and outside. During the process of building the kiln, blacksmith Otani directed the tribe's men to add soil layer by layer, beat each layer with a stone hammer, add soil and mud, and then beat and compact it harder. Repeated many times before it was slow. The slow ramparts are built to a height of two meters.

"God bless you! Hammer it down and tighten it! This iron-smelting furnace must be so solid that a needle cannot be inserted into it! If it is loosened, the iron will become useless..."

Blacksmith Otani babbled, carefully groping for the iron-smelting kiln, just like groping for a newlywed wife. This is the first time that he can direct so many young men to work. If he were placed in Ezo, he would at least be a group leader or village leader!

"Well, this is because the priest respects me! I must do a good job! As long as I smelt good iron, the reward will be huge!..."

Blacksmith Ogu worked diligently and stuck his head from the tap hole into the bottom of the kiln. While he was chattering and reciting the formulas passed down by his ancestors, he carefully checked the two air inlets of the kiln.

"The God of Fire, Kagutsuchi, is above! The main god is above!... There are two air inlets, one at half arm height, and one at the whole arm height... A little higher from the air inlet, the square bottom turns into a dome. ...There is a bellows connected to the air inlet, and the air duct is surrounded by thick paste...These are all points passed down from ancestors!...Hey! Dad, it's a pity that you died early and didn't pass on the secrets of Yugang to me...I should have known better. Today, I will be just like the second child, learning blacksmithing from you and not becoming a samurai anymore!…"

The air inlet of the iron smelting kiln is connected with a simple animal skin blast box. This blowing box is like a big leather bag, with one end connected to the air outlet and the other connected to a long wooden pole for easy blowing. On the top of the iron-smelting kiln, there is a hole of just the right size for filling charcoal and iron ore.

Blacksmith Otani lay down at the bottom of the kiln to inspect, while Mikey, the knowledgeable man, stood aside and sighed in admiration.

"Tsk tsk! This blacksmith Otani seems to be really capable! I think, with his iron-smelting skills, he can be promoted to the kingdom's master craftsman!..."

Although this kind of kiln design, which has been refined over time, looks very simple, it is an iron-smelting inheritance that has been explored by East Asian blacksmiths for thousands of years. Without these inherited experiences, it would be extremely difficult for the kingdom to explore on its own! In fact, the Kingdom's Black Rock Mountain Iron Smelting Works has been struggling, and it relies on great strength to produce miracles: using the best ore, the best charcoal, and the kiln that burns for the longest time, the best iron can be produced! Then use the most manpower to forge...

"Fire God Kagutsuchi...Oh no, the Lord God bless you!...Priest! The furnace has been built. I have touched it carefully every inch to make sure there are no mistakes...Now you can heat the furnace!"

"Okay! Very good!...Um...what did you say? What is a hot stove?..."

"Ah? Ah this? ...Hot furnace? Lord Priest, you are a noble person and have never seen iron smelting... Before smelting iron and burning ore, you have to burn it for a while to make the furnace hot, and then you can add iron ore. Stone smelting. These pyrites are more troublesome than red iron ores. It is estimated that we need to add more charcoal, burn them for more time, and use more force to blast... Uh, Lord Priest? Lord Priest?..."

"Well...the Lord God is witness! Then let's heat up the furnace!..."

Mickey the Knowledgeable touched his nose and secretly kept these points in mind. He had actually seen the iron smelting at the Kingdom's Black Rock Mountain Iron Smelting Works, but it was obvious that there was no hot furnace involved. To be honest, the kingdom's iron smelting works have no inheritance at all, and they all rely on craftsmen to explore blindly...

"Yes! Fire God Won! Let's light the stove!..."

With a ceremonial roll call, the warrior captain Shi Jian personally lit the charcoal in the kiln. Soon, blazing yellow flames rose from the top of the two-meter-high kiln. After two full hours of burning, blacksmith Otani carefully approached the furnace and felt the temperature rushing up and down the furnace wall. Then, sweating profusely, he sang loudly with all his strength.

"Kagami Kagami! Heat up the stove and add iron!..."

"Wow! Wow!..."

Under the busy work of the tribe's young men, brass-colored iron ore was thrown into the top of the high iron-smelting furnace. The red flames immediately changed color, and pungent smoke came out. The first furnace of iron on the North American continent was actually smelted in the iron smelting shaft furnace inherited from East Asia!