"I know."
Hilde stepped aside.
"He made a very bad weapon and broke the law."
"Can you tell me the details?"
"Mother, this is the case. All of our weapons are produced in workshops controlled by the state. All craftsmen are employed by the state, and the state provides funds, raw materials, and remuneration for them to produce. But you also know that weapons and armor are the second life of soldiers. If there are major problems with weapons and armor, it means that soldiers will die in vain on the battlefield. Therefore, I have established a law that if there are serious problems with weapons, the supervisor will be whipped ten times, and the craftsman who made the weapon will be executed. The man you saw today made a very unusable dagger."
"Not durable?"
Aspasia asked with some confusion.
"How unusable?"
"There's something wrong with the ironwork. There are too many holes on the sword, which means he was too lazy during the hammering process. Even if it was a child who hammered for half a day, there wouldn't be so many holes." Hilde sighed helplessly. "And after we discovered his crime, he actually took up arms to resist our arrest."
"..."
Hearing this, Aspasia could only shake his head.
"What do you think about this law?"
"Didn't I just say that?"
"That's not what I want to hear. I want to know what you really think. That's a life." Aspasia was a little overwhelmed. She gently held Hilde's hand and asked softly, "You weren't like this before... Why did you become so cruel?"
The second part, the fourth section: The bottom line of being a human being
"cruel?"
Hilde couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"The problems facing the Byzantine Kingdom now are beyond description. To our north are the powerful Thracians, and to our west, the Persians are ready to make a move. In this situation, if we don't become strong, we will be slaves to others. So if we want to be strong, we must first be cruel to ourselves. Without national laws, how can we become a strong country? Weapon manufacturing is related to the life and death of soldiers and the victory of war. There must not be any carelessness. I have repeatedly warned all craftsmen to know what problems they will face if they are passive and lazy, but even so, there are people who are willing to break the law. If I don't kill him, who will?"
"But……"
Hilde's remarks left Aspasia at a loss as to how to respond.
"Besides, you think the death penalty is cruel because it is aimed at a citizen of Byzantium. If a slave was executed for breaking the law, you would not object. But here comes the problem. The death penalty you oppose is only the death penalty for citizens. Does that mean that when citizens commit crimes that endanger the security of the city-state, they can be spared from death? They are human beings, but slaves are not human beings?"
"I didn't think it through."
Aspasia quickly gave up.
She knew Hilde was right to do so.
However, Hilde did not follow the traditional way, and Aspasia might find it difficult to accept it for a while, but when Hilde finished speaking, her meaning was very clear. So Aspasia looked at her daughter with a smile and said, "You have grown up now, and you have become someone that your mother is proud of. But I have another idea."
"Please tell me."
"I hope that no matter what you do, no matter how dangerous the environment you are in, please remember that you are a human being and you must stick to the bottom line of being a human being. I know that the King of Thrace has put a lot of pressure on you, but I don't want you to become a person like the King of Thrace. You are the queen of Byzantium, and I hope you can become a queen who can love your own people."
"do not worry."
Hilde gave that reassuring smile.
“I will never lose the most basic things.”
"That's good……"
Aspasia was relieved.
Afterwards, Hilde personally sent her mother back to her room and helped her to sleep. After her mother fell asleep, Hilde walked alone on the streets of the city. There was no nightlife in a city like Byzantium, and the whole city fell into a deathly silence at night.
But this is also Hield's favorite time.
At this time, when she strolled on the street, she could empty her mind and think about everything she wanted to think about. No one disturbed her, and there was no other sound except her light footsteps and the gentle wind on the street.
What Aspasia said just now.
Hilde kept it all in mind.
Don't lose your most basic bottom line.
Remember that you are a person.
These words were full of Aspasia's concerns and requests for Hilde... Aspasia, who was experienced, had probably seen many people who had power, eventually lost themselves in power. She was also worried that her daughter, who was so young, would become the queen of a foreign country, and would become the person she hated.
These are Aspasia's most sincere concerns.
Of course Hilde could understand her mother's painstaking efforts.
But Hilde has a scale in his heart.
In fact, Hilde has a standard in her heart about what she can and cannot do. In order to achieve her goals and protect the people she wants to protect, sometimes, she has to do things that seem dishonorable. It is better to say that it is impossible for a powerful person like Hilde to be great and glorious.
Do not use some unconventional means.
It is difficult to achieve a perfect solution to the problem.
I'm afraid Aspasia also noticed something today.
Today's broken sword was not caused by Hilde herself, but there was indeed a problem. The dagger broke directly during the training of the troops. Hilde did not lie about this. But she could sense that her mother seemed to be suspicious of all this. She might be worried that her daughter deliberately staged a farce to warn the craftsmen.
But in fact, this is really unfair.
Hilde doesn't have the time to direct such a farce.
Her character is very simple.
Three times is the limit.
Although Hilde didn't mind using some despicable means, at least she would use these methods when conventional means couldn't be used. For example, when dealing with the tyrant, the wine in the cup was not poisonous, but Hilde secretly poisoned it.
If he had just drank it.
There was no need for Hilde to kill anyone.
Chapter 2, Section 5: Changes in the ironmaking method
However, the incident of the broken sword today also served as a reminder to Hilde.
That's the technical problem.
The iron smelting technology in ancient Greece was actually quite backward. The technology used at that time was a kind of technology called block iron smelting. Block iron smelting means heating the iron ore to about one thousand degrees, at which temperature the iron ore is still solid; then, it is reduced with charcoal, so that iron with more inclusions can be obtained.
This is a method of ironmaking that is consistent with current productivity.
However, the iron produced in this way.
Its structure is a sponge-like solid.
There are many impurities, low carbon content, and soft texture. It can only be forged, not cast. Through continuous forging, the spongy solid iron becomes dense, which can improve the mechanical properties of iron. Iron weapons made in this way can play a very good role, but the problem is that even after forging, there is no way to completely improve the huge disadvantage of this block iron forging, that is, the texture is soft and the mechanical strength is insufficient.
That's why.
From ancient Greece to ancient Rome.
Almost all of the weapons used were very short daggers, not long swords.
It's not that they don't want to make it longer, but after it's longer, the rigidity of the iron forging is insufficient and it will be damaged, and the performance is not as good as bronze. And today's blacksmith is like this, he didn't forge the iron carefully, resulting in the sword still showing a spongy shape. It is inevitable that it will be damaged and broken during training.
But what if we improve iron smelting technology?
That would be a different result.
After improving the iron smelting technology, better iron weapons can be made, which will be more effective against enemies who are still using bronze or iron.
The biggest culprit that hindered humans from smelting iron and forging steel was temperature. The current charcoal can only heat a piece of iron to a maximum of 1,000 degrees, but this temperature is not enough to melt the iron into liquid. To increase the temperature, two things are necessary: a blast furnace and a blast, and neither of these two things is particularly complicated.
Hilde, come quickly.
Do it when you think of it.
Now that I have thought of this, I must do it myself.
So, early the next morning, Hilde gathered all the craftsmen in the city.
The craftsmen didn't know what happened, but yesterday a craftsman broke the law and was killed. This incident put a lot of pressure on the craftsmen. They were afraid that someone else would be punished today because of substandard craftsmanship. However, Hilde didn't come here for this matter at all. Now, Hilde has called several officials to his front and gave important instructions:
"Listen carefully. I need you to purchase a large amount of white quartz sand and clay, as well as hay and other things during this period of time. I need a lot. Oh, and lime and animal skins... prepare them all for me."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
In fact, Hilde was also a little helpless.
People here in Greece don't really like to use bricks.
In fact, it was not until the ancient Roman period that Europe began to promote the use of bricks here, and the ancient Greeks preferred to use natural marble directly to build buildings instead of bricks... Of course, the city of Byzantium was not a place of particulars, and bricks, a cheap and durable building material, were very important for the future expansion of the city.
The mysterious brick-burning begins in the sixth section of the second tune
Hilde now has two big plans.
One is city construction, the other is weapons.
Ancient Greece did not know how to make solid bricks. If bricks could be popularized and red bricks could be used to build buildings instead of ordinary white marble, then the expansion of cities would be greatly improved. Because the process of mining marble and then making it into slate or natural stone bricks is time-consuming, labor-intensive and extremely costly. This is why many ordinary people's houses are actually mud-brick houses made of clay.
With solid bricks.
Not only ordinary houses can become stronger and warmer.
At the same time, city walls and fortresses can be built in a cheaper way.
In addition to bricks, concrete is also a good choice, which are relatively low-cost construction methods. Therefore, starting with bricks, it is crucial to promote this advanced construction technology that was widely spread in the ancient Roman period, promote the development of Byzantine city construction, and improve the quality of life of residents. Moreover, the most important thing is that with more buildings, the city can accommodate more residents. If the Thracians are absorbed into the Byzantine Kingdom, larger cities and villages will be needed.
Besides this, there is another purpose for building bricks.
It is to make refractory bricks.
That's why Hilde asked them to purchase white quartz sand.
Mixing white quartz sand and clay, the bricks made are refractory bricks. This kind of brick can withstand high temperatures of more than 1,400 degrees. Then, this kind of brick can be used to build blast furnaces needed for iron smelting. This also involves Hilde's second goal, which is to promote blast furnace iron smelting.
The blast furnace built with refractory bricks fully burns the charcoal inside, and uses a blower to increase the firepower. The narrow combustion channel of the blast furnace allows the heat to gather inside. At the same time, the charge is sprinkled from the top of the blast furnace, which makes the heat gather more. Finally, when the heat is enough, the iron ore will become semi-liquid molten iron. In this way, the molten iron is poured into the cast stone mold, cooled, normalized, annealed, tempered and forged, and finally quenched and polished, and a high-quality weapon is made.
But that's not enough.
Here comes the second use of refractory bricks and refractories.
That's the crucible of steelmaking.
By digging a rectangular pit, heating it, pouring the semi-molten iron into the crucible, and then adding the concentrate powder, the carbon content of the iron is reduced by blowing air, and finally the iron is turned into wrought iron or steel. At this time, the iron can be called steel. Although this method of making steel is extremely inefficient, it is already a very powerful method in this era.
This method is called the steel-frying method.
What Hilde needs to do now is to promote these three technologies.
Making bricks, smelting iron, and frying steel.
If these three technologies can be fully mastered, Hilde's army's combat effectiveness will immediately improve by leaps and bounds.
So, start from this day.
Hilde then led his men to start thinking about these things.
Three days later, under Hilde's order, a brick kiln was built in a place rich in clay and gravel about five kilometers outside the city of Byzantium. The brick kiln did not need very good conditions. After all, it was just a kiln for burning bricks, and it only needed to not collapse. The workers also completed the brick molds according to Hilde's requirements.
"Aren't these all clay?"
Aspasia looked at the scene in front of her with curiosity.
"It is now, but it won't be in the future."
"That's weird, this is the first time I've seen someone do this."
These craftsmen mixed clay and sand and gravel in proportion, and then put them aside to dry after pressing them with molds. After they were slightly formed, they were sent to the brick kiln and placed in proportion. More than one hundred people formed a close working network according to the division of labor. Some were responsible for mixing clay and sand, some were responsible for pressing bricks, and some were responsible for transportation and visiting. In the end, it took less than an afternoon to put all 5,000 bricks into the cave.
"What's next?"
"burn."
By this time, it had turned dark.
Holding a torch, Hilde came to the cave.
She bent down and lit the wood in the firebox.
Soon, the flames here will ignite the entire cave, and the flames inside will burn all the bricks into hard red bricks. However, these are all very new things to the ancient Greeks. After all, clay will become hard when it encounters fire. They know this. When they build houses, they often use clay to build houses, set a fire inside the house, and use the heat to make the clay walls particularly hard. However, they don't know how to make strong and durable bricks.
And this is what Hilde, a modern man, is good at.
