Survival skills maxed out, I feed my wife and daughter by catching fish and shrimp

Five days passed in a flash.

During these five days, the horse bandits in Qingshan County seemed to have made an agreement together and none of them dared to show their heads.

The bandit gangs from the surrounding hills also came to visit Xiaofengshan, and brought some gifts.

It is said to be a gift, but in fact it is a disguised form of protection money.

These are protection fees paid voluntarily by the bandits. There is no reason for Chen Changfan not to accept them.

It’s not that the bandits have a problem with their brains, but the tragic plight of the Viper Gang is so vivid in their minds that they have no choice but to give up.

If you are reluctant to part with these gold and silver, I am afraid that Xiao Fengshan might come to your door one day, and then not only will you lose your money, but you will also lose your life.

Of course, the bandits who were willing to bow to Xiao Fengshan were all small bandits with similar strength to the Viper Gang. The leaders of the eighteen big mountain strongholds were too lazy to even look at Xiao Fengshan.

Chen Changfan was very happy about this.

Now Xiaofengshan is in a state of disrepair, and he can take advantage of this period to rapidly develop infrastructure and expand manpower.

In just five days, ten houses were built. In addition to the wooden walls, earthen walls had also formed a siege, covering an area of ​​nearly 800 square meters.

There is an arrow tower at every certain distance, with a total of twenty arrow towers guarding each other and able to provide surveillance hundreds of meters away. This completely eliminates the situation where people are not discovered until they have reached the top of the mountain.

At the core of the villa stands a gigantic furnace that is two or three meters high. Billowing black smoke billows out of the furnace mouth, generating astonishing heat.

The two strong men took turns pulling the bellows to keep the furnace at a high temperature. Anyone who got close could feel the scorching heat.

This blast furnace is made of refractory tiles and refractory bricks, with two bellows on both sides to provide a large amount of oxygen to ensure the most complete combustion in the furnace.

The design of this blast furnace is basically the limit of what current construction technology can achieve.

During this period, Chen Changfan also personally led Hu the bricklayer and others to build the blast furnace.

His superb craftsmanship made these arrogant craftsmen completely submissive and obey Chen Changfan's orders.

After several days of verification, the blast furnace officially started production today. Everyone was waiting by the blast furnace, waiting for the first batch of pig iron to come out.

Everyone, including Hu the bricklayer, was a little nervous, but Chen Changfan looked calm.

He knew that the quality of the blast furnace was good.

Although there was no thermometer, Chen Changfan estimated that the temperature inside the furnace could reach at least 1300 degrees, which was enough for iron smelting.

This blast furnace is different from the previous small clay furnace. The refined molten iron can flow out from the bottom without destroying the blast furnace.

Of course, the slag also needs to be cleaned in time, otherwise it will cause congestion and the blast furnace will be ruined.

"The time has come, open the furnace!"

Following an order, a young man opened the furnace mouth, and a hint of red immediately appeared, emitting gushing hot steam.

Immediately afterwards, the red molten iron flowed down from the furnace mouth and fell into the stone trough that had been prepared long ago, and soon filled the entire trough.

The furnace mouth is closed, the temperature is raised, and materials are added. Another round of smelting begins according to the already predetermined process.

Blacksmith Han and others quickly skimmed off the impurities from the molten iron, scooped it out and poured it into the mold prepared in advance. After it cooled, Blacksmith Han held a palm-sized pig iron ingot and presented it to Chen Changfan.

Chen Changfan held the iron ingot in his hand, which still had some warmth on it. It felt warm in his hand.

This iron ingot is lighter than expected, and the surface is black and ugly. There must be a lot of impurities. However, after the blacksmiths further forge and remove the impurities, it should be possible to make ironware of good quality.

Chen Changfan nodded with satisfaction and handed the iron ingot to Hu the bricklayer. The latter looked at it excitedly for a long time, as if what he was holding in his hand was not a piece of raw iron, but a small goldfish.

In fact, having the ability to continuously smelt pig iron is basically equivalent to owning a gold mine.

After all, the ancient iron-smelting technology was backward, and Chen Changfan's blast furnace had already crushed most of the iron-smelting clay furnaces.

"Next, you must strictly control the ironmaking production rhythm, ensure a balanced supply of coal and ore powder, and have workers work two or even three shifts to continuously smelt iron, striving to achieve a daily output of 200 kilograms!"

Bricklayer Hu was shocked by the number, but the boss said if it was okay, then it would definitely work.

But when the young and strong men heard this, their faces fell. Iron smelting is hard work, and they were a little unhappy when they heard that they had to work in three shifts.

"All personnel involved in iron smelting can receive one kan of cash per month, and those working in heavy physical labor such as coal mining, mining, and ironwork will receive additional subsidies."

At the command, the young men immediately smiled happily, and even many of them who had not participated in iron smelting before began to get excited.

One guan of money a month is already a high salary.

Of course, some people would say that the bandit suppression team can receive money every month, but that is earned by risking their lives, so they can't say anything even if they are envious.

For a time, iron smelting workers became popular in the village, and Chen Changfan was happy about it.

Industry is the foundation of all development. The top priority is to appropriately improve the status of workers and ensure the continuous production of pig iron.

Chen Changfan returned the iron ingot to Han the blacksmith and asked with a smile, "If we produce 200 kilograms of pig iron a day and use it all to forge ring-handled swords, how many swords can you make in a day with so many people?"

Blacksmith Han gritted his teeth and said, "Ten!"

Ten a day, not bad.

Chen Changfan nodded. According to this progress, in a few days, each member of the village protection team and the bandit suppression team will have a ring-handled sword, and their combat effectiveness will be greatly improved.

Nowadays, the manpower of the village protection team and the bandit suppression team has expanded to a hundred people, but weapons are in urgent need.

You know, there are no bandits to suppress, which means they have no source of weapons, but their manpower is constantly expanding and they are in urgent need of replenishing weapons.

About 140% of one pound of pig iron is lost when forged into wrought iron, which means that about pounds of wrought iron can be obtained in a day.

It is estimated that ten ring-handled swords only need 40 kilograms of wrought iron. By this calculation, there will be kilograms of wrought iron left every day.

Of course, these wrought irons are not just piled up like this. Chen Changfan still has many uses for them.

"Mr. Hu, look at these molds. Can you make them?"

Chen Changfan handed a stack of drawings to Hu the bricklayer. Hu the bricklayer looked at them for a while and was a little confused.

"Boss, forgive my ignorance, I can see that these small molds are used to make various iron tools, but what is this largest mold used for? And what are these long round tubes for?"

"This owner wants to build a heating system, simply put, heating, because this winter will be particularly cold."

Bricklayer Hu was confused again.

Chen Changfan didn't explain any further, but looked up at the sky.

The heavy snow in the next twenty days will continue intermittently for a month.

In ancient times when there was no heating, most people would probably have frozen to death.

And he was going to start central heating.