Chapter 6685 What is technology!

Chapter 6685 What is technology!

After hearing what Chen Xi said, Liu Bei felt a little relieved. Since they didn't do this, there was no need to consider moral and political issues. However, Chen Gong gave Liu Bei this whole thing, which made Liu Bei feel a little headache. Now that it was exposed, wasn't it still their own problem?

"It was done by Gongtai, but Xun Wenruo and the others knew about it and intervened in the matter." Chen Xi waved his hand and said. He also knew how high the political risks of this matter were. Once it was exposed, the first thing other forces would consider was whether Liu Bei had intervened in it.

Fortunately, it was not just Chen Gong who was responsible for this. It was now a group of civil officials under Cao Cao. So even if it was exposed, it would not be put on Liu Bei's side.

"Is this really okay?" Although Liu Bei felt a little relieved after hearing Chen Xi's words, he still couldn't help but ask a few questions. This was a bit too outrageous.

"It should be okay. Actually, I don't quite understand what Gongtai is doing." Chen Xi thought for a while and said. Originally, after the craniotomy failed, Chen Xi planned to keep Cao Cao in the hydroponic tank of the Medical College until Cao Cao died. Unexpectedly, one day Chen Gong actually used special means to make Cao Cao walk out of the culture tank.

In order to avoid trouble for himself, and in addition, if Cao Cao ran back to Kandahar and died in Kandahar, it would also reduce their political pressure, Chen Xi acquiesced in Chen Gong's behavior.

But if Chen Xi really wanted to say something, he actually didn't understand Chen Gong's logic on this matter. But no matter what, Chen Gong did help Cao Cao a lot in this matter.

"I think we should be cautious. After the battle with Ardashir in Kandahar is over, let Cao Sikong go back to Chang'an for inspection. Although this matter really has nothing to do with us, as long as it is exposed, even with our credibility, it will leave some political risks." Liu Bei said with a complicated expression. He still felt that this matter could not be handled in this way.

Xu Chu on the side had calmed down a bit at this time. When he heard the outrageous news that Cao Cao had been replaced, Xu Chu's first reaction was that Chen Xi's black sesame dumpling had been exposed.

"Okay, let's wait until the war in Kandahar is over. After that, we will notify Cao Sikong to come to Chang'an for inspection." Chen Xi sighed, and then smiled after a while, "Kong Ming should be very happy if he knows."

"Alas." Liu Bei sighed and said, the adult world is full of compromises, even Liu Bei had to compromise on some things.

"It seems that in addition to these, something else happened. What happened?" Chen Xi looked at Liu Bei and said, picking up the wine jug beside him and filling it up for Liu Bei.

"I went to Bingzhou and Yanzhou this time and met some veterans who came back from the Ganges." Liu Bei said very seriously, "This is an important reason why I promoted Yu Jin as the temporary commander of the Ganges region. The situation in the Ganges is much worse than what you told me."

"Normal. I've realized this problem before." Chen Xi said calmly. The early public disclosure of rewards did stabilize the middle-level officers. The operation of the Central Asian Han family to establish a feudal state was also worthy of learning for these people, but the root problem was not solved.

"If that doesn't work, let's divide up part of the Indochina Peninsula first." Liu Bei thought for a while and said, "It's not that we don't have places to divide up. On the contrary, we have at least two million square kilometers of territory in the Indochina Peninsula that can be divided up. Although these places have miasma and lush trees, with the abilities of our soldiers and the medicines we can provide, it is not difficult to open up the land."

Liu Bei proposed to divide the Indochina Peninsula four or five years ago, but was finally blocked by Chen Xi. Chen Xi proposed to divide the best areas of Kushan. In Chen Xi's words, the Indochina Peninsula is indeed good, but as a fiefdom, it does not have an absolute advantage over Yuan, Cao and Sun.

After all, some places in Southeast Asia are not inferior to the Indochina Peninsula, and the black soil of Eastern Europe also has its own advantages. Moreover, the distance to the Kushan core area is there. No matter how it is divided, there will be hidden dangers. It is better to let the old brothers get it and be happy.

But after learning about the current situation from the old soldiers, Liu Bei still felt somewhat shocking, so he thought it would be better to first enfeoff a part of the Indochina Peninsula. Unlike the situation with Yuan, Cao and Sun, Liu Bei actually had quite a lot of places that he could enfeoff. To be honest, he had indeed been enfeoffing people, but the scale was not as large as that of Jiangdong.

You know, every year some veterans under Liu Bei, after retiring from the front line, would exchange their titles for fiefdom orders, and then they would randomly circle an area on the territory of the Han Dynasty, make a record and go get their own fiefdom. To be honest, there are a dozen or twenty such middle-level veterans every year. To be honest, if you don't have any ambitions, this choice is actually not a bad one.

The simplest example is to take the Northeast as an example. Everyone says that the situation there is not very good, but in fact, only the coastal areas there are selected, and the actual climate is also a temperate marine climate. Although the area there is not very large, it is still no problem to confer low-level titles at the village and town level on a few hundred people.

As for the Indochina Peninsula, even though it has been basically undeveloped, if we simply and roughly choose those alluvial plains and those river valleys, there is actually no need to develop them. There is no problem in casually enfeoffing hundreds of officers with middle-level titles. After all, the larger the territory, the more good places there will naturally be.

Even if these good places are a bit useless to the big guys, they are undoubtedly good places for the middle-level people, just like the place chosen by Bi Laoliu, which has water sources, mines, and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Why do the Cui family and the Yang family next to it just leave it alone and let Bi Laoliu occupy it? To put it bluntly, for a large force like them, there is no point in occupying that place.

But for a village-level force like Bi Laoliu, it is truly a Feng Shui treasure land.

To put it bluntly, this way of dividing up land is just like the so-called Feng Shui land used for funerals. The Feng Shui land needed by ordinary people and the Feng Shui land needed by big shots are two completely different concepts. Even if ordinary people find a Feng Shui land suitable for the burial of a big shot, they will not occupy it. It is still a question whether they can keep it under control!

And what Liu Bei means now is that in view of the fact that the brothers who returned to their hometown described to me the current situation of the Ganges, I am somewhat worried about the current situation of the Ganges. Why don’t I send a wave to the brothers first? Anyway, we also have a backup plan. Besides, when I was preparing to divide the Indochina Peninsula to the brothers, I also sent people to go there to do feng shui, and there are still many suitable locations.

"I'm afraid it won't work." Chen Xi shook his head and said, "This proposal was fine before the division of the Ganges' elite area was exposed, but now it is obviously not very attractive to the middle and lower-level officers. Even those officers who are willing to come to the Indochina Peninsula to accept the fiefdom are the real backbone of the Ganges army. If they are withdrawn..."

This is not a joke. The middle-level officers who can still rationally accept the fiefdom of Indochina are all clear-headed, understand the overall situation, and are not greedy. If these people accept the fiefdom of Indochina and leave, the Ganges Legion will have even bigger problems.

"Isn't there a good solution?" Liu Bei pressed his forehead, finding it somewhat difficult to accept the fact. There was no other way; just thinking about it was enough to give him a headache.

"The solution we are using now is the best one. At least it has brought back many middle-level officers who had evil thoughts." Chen Xi said tiredly, "But to completely solve this problem, how should I put it? I don't expect it anymore."

"Alas, I always thought you were an omnipotent person." Liu Bei said with a tone that was not sure whether it was a sigh or a teasing tone.

"I have been refutation of this." Chen Xi curled his lips and said, "Only after this battle can we determine the overall situation of the Ganges. However, Lord Xuande, if you let Wen Ze temporarily take over the command of the Ganges, you must make this matter clear to Wen Ze. I am worried that after Wen Ze has the upper hand, he will take the initiative to attack directly, which will cause big problems."

In Ganges' current situation, it is best to stay stable as much as possible. Just don't make any moves. After Chen Xi's cards are accumulated, kill Kushan in one wave. This is the best option. Otherwise, no matter how you fight, it will only accumulate morale for Kushan. After all, from being unable to win to being able to win, it will only continuously boost Kushan's morale. So it is better to be realistic and not act recklessly.

"Alas." Liu Bei said somewhat tiredly.

"I plan to posthumously confer a title." Liu Bei suddenly said before Chen Xi could open his mouth to ask. Chen Xi raised his eyebrows when he heard it. This was what he thought, but if he remembered correctly, he hadn't told Liu Bei about it yet. How come Liu Bei brought it up himself?

"This is a very good idea. We have considered this before. It can largely discourage some bad behaviors." Chen Xi did not say it too clearly, but it is indeed difficult to deal with the situation where friendly forces are in trouble and they do not move.

"Oh oh oh, you have already thought about it. This suggestion was made by me when I was chatting with the old soldiers who had returned and they were scolding some officers." Liu Bei said with a serious face.

Chen Xi couldn't help but nodded when he heard this. It should be said that when there are too many people, someone will always think of this kind of operation. As the saying goes, a wise man will make a mistake after a thousand considerations, and a fool will gain something after a thousand considerations. It is like this. It is difficult for ordinary veterans to have the same perspective as Chen Xi, but when there are too many people, there will always be someone who will come to this conclusion from other angles.

"Yes, we are going to officially announce it at the court meeting." Chen Xi nodded. In addition to food and drink expenses, various infrastructure construction, and increasing the employment rate of the people, the most important thing in the third five-year plan is to destroy the Kushan Empire. The Kushan Empire has existed for too long. In the 13th year of Yuanfeng, the Kushan Empire must be structurally destroyed and the war must be ended.

According to Chen Xi's calculations, if the Kushan Empire had not been eliminated at this point, too much time and energy would be wasted in the subsequent elimination. Moreover, Chen Xi was able to maintain the domestic economy while fighting external wars without affecting people's livelihood. A large part of the reason was that the domestic economy was very weak earlier and there was a lot of room for improvement.

Next, the economic operation and improvement of the Han Dynasty has entered a new stage. The share that Chen Xi can easily get and the part that can be easily completed have all been completed in these ten years. The remaining part is not so easy to complete.

In other words, if Chen Xi wants to continue to maintain rapid economic development in the country, he must shift his focus to the domestic market and increase resource investment. In this way, the investment in military force will naturally decrease.

In this situation, continuing to fight the Kushans and winning the battle would be too difficult even for the Han Dynasty. Chen Xi is very strong, but he is not a god. He also has to abide by the logic of social operation. Things like society and economy will not continue to improve just because you work hard.

Therefore, in order to prevent the domestic environment of the Han Dynasty from backlashing against itself, Chen Xi must deal with the Kushan as soon as possible, and then devote himself to the construction of the local area, and completely open up the economic network of the country and the major families, and then enter the next stage.

These are extremely serious matters, so they must not be delayed.

Therefore, under this premise, posthumous honoring is indeed a practical policy to stabilize people's hearts.

"Well, speaking of this, I need to show you this thing. This was brought back to me by an old soldier who passed through Rome and the Yuan family." Liu Bei took out a magic mirror from his arms. "He said that when he passed by, he thought this thing must be very important, so he specially recorded it. After I took a look, I think it is indeed the case."

Chen Xi was confused when he heard that, and then he opened the secret mirror. It was a steel plant, and it was smelting steel in a blast furnace. Chen Xi's face remained unchanged at this. The Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty had a very good relationship. When the Han Dynasty first developed a blast furnace for iron smelting, although the Han Dynasty did not tell the Roman Empire how to build the blast furnace, it also allowed the Roman Empire to enter the Han Dynasty's blast furnace iron smelting plant. Now that the Roman Empire has developed it, it is considered normal.

"In fact, it's not just Rome that has made it, the Kushans have made it, too." Liu Bei took out another secret mirror, "This was brought back by Zheng Ke. He said he found it when he went to investigate in the Kushans, and it actually produced molten steel."

Chen Xi nodded when he heard it, but he was not panicked. He had expected this situation. Just like the Kushans were not surprised when the Han Dynasty copied the secret techniques of the Kushans, the Han Dynasty did not feel too deeply when the Kushans copied the Han Dynasty's technology. After all, after such a long time, if the Kushan Empire and the Roman Empire still had no progress and did not get some technology from the Han Dynasty, that would be weird.

"The Kushan Empire seems very powerful. This steel furnace, I think, is about five or even six square meters. It seems to be a great technological advancement. It is much larger than the Roman one." Chen Xi looked at the Kushan Empire's steel furnace and said with some admiration. The Roman one could be put aside for now. Anyway, it was impossible for the Roman Empire to conflict with the Han Dynasty in a short time, so having a steel furnace would not have much impact.

On the contrary, the Kushan steel furnace will greatly affect the strength of the Kushan Empire in the future. After all, whether or not there are steel weapons and equipment is very important for soldiers in the cold weapon era. In the past, the Kushan Empire's cannon fodder soldiers were directly wooden guns. Now that there is a steel furnace, they can change the steel gun head. Wouldn't the lethality be increased? This is the simplest solution to improve combat effectiveness.

"My insider in the Kushan Empire said that Kushan already has three steel mills, which are now continuously producing weapons and equipment." Liu Bei said with a serious expression. If the three large steel mills continue to operate like this, it won't be long before Kushan can replace the equipment for its soldiers.

Unlike the situation in the Han Dynasty, there were also many high-grade open-pit iron mines within the territory of the Kushan Empire. The consumption of the steel mills was not a problem at all for the Kushan's iron ore output.

Therefore, Liu Bei was somewhat worried that the Kushan Empire would send hundreds of thousands of fully armored main forces to the Han Dynasty in the next stage. That would make it quite difficult to defeat the Han Dynasty. Even if they could not withstand the 3 million main shield guards of the Han Dynasty, the damage caused to the Han Dynasty during this period would seriously exceed current estimates.

"It's impossible for the steel plant to be kept secret forever. It's already very difficult for us to keep it secret for seven or eight years. It's too late for the Kushans to develop it now." Chen Xi spoke to comfort them. It was inevitable that this thing would be discovered by the Kushans. The Kushans were not blind. The main force of the Han Empire were shield guards. What level of steel output was this?

If you think about it a little, you will know that the Han Empire must have made breakthrough progress in the crucible method and steel-frying method, and then came up with other weird things, which greatly increased steel production. In this case, as long as the Kushans had a normal mind, they would definitely find a way to get their hands on the new technology of the Han Dynasty.

At a time when the Kushans possessed so many strange and secret methods, the fact that the Han Dynasty's blast furnace iron-making technology had been blocked for seven or eight years from being obtained by the Kushans was already considered to be extremely well hidden. To be honest, Chen Xi did not feel anything special about it being discovered by the Kushans at this time.

"Zichuan, aren't you worried? This is the foundation of our Han army's strength. Now the Kushan Empire also has it, and the Kushan Empire is desperately building steel mills. If this continues, not to mention ironclad ships, warships with outsourced steel and internal steel structures will eventually be built." Liu Bei said with an unusually solemn expression, "And the place where we are stronger than the Kushan is actually the powerful defense brought by the universal shield guard. The Kushan Empire is now fully engaged in the production of steel plates, and soon they will have this kind of thing."

Chen Xi nodded when he heard this, but he was not too worried. It would take some time for Kushan to crack the adaptive talent, but with enough steel, even if he couldn't come up with an adaptive talent, he could get some elite talents and strengthen the defense. As long as he could deal with the shield guard, it would be fine.

After all, no matter how weak the Kushan Empire was, it was still an empire. Moreover, if there were any technical problems, the Kushan Empire could also ask the Roman Empire. As long as the funds were in place, the Roman Empire could still help crack some things. It was impossible for the Roman Empire to do it personally, but there was no problem in cracking some things.

"You really don't feel the danger?" Liu Bei said with a somewhat grim expression. In his opinion, after receiving such a serious matter, Chen Xi should have quickly become cautious, but he could not see any panic on Chen Xi's face. After so many years, Liu Bei had long realized that Chen Xi was not a person who would not show his emotions on his face, and now he was not panicked at all.

"There is no danger. Blast furnace steelmaking is still difficult for Rome and Kushan. Of course, they can now make steel furnaces, but how to make steel is a big problem." Chen Xi waved his hand and said. The blast furnace itself is a big problem. Producing molten steel and producing the molten steel you want is an even bigger problem. You must know that from the appearance of the first blast furnace to now, the core part of the blast furnace has not actually changed, but the quality of the molten steel has become more and more abnormal. This is the significance of the metallographic structure of iron-carbon alloys.

Although Chen Xi didn't learn these things well, he really memorized a few phase diagrams, one is the phase diagram of water, and the other is the phase diagram of iron-carbon alloy. Chen Xi remembered these two things very clearly. The former was because of the supercritical point and triple point, that is, the special point where gas, liquid and solid coexist and have all the properties of gas, liquid and solid; the other was an important alloy that humans have been studying since more than two thousand years BC and are still using today.

So Chen Xi really remembered these two things very clearly, and even knew the temperature, proportion, and time.

So even though they are all blast furnaces, the final products are very different.

To put it bluntly, Rome and Kushan copying the blast furnace was only the first step; the rest was the real deadly thing.

To put it simply, what kind of steel is the one that Chen Xi made in the blast furnace? At 0.77% carbon, the temperature is lowered from 1500 degrees to 900 degrees, while maintaining normal atmospheric pressure, and then gradually lowered to around 730 degrees, and maintained for several hours, to directly produce austenite. Then, it is heated again, and carbon is added to no more than 2.11%. The temperature continues to rise but does not exceed 1150 degrees, and is maintained for several hours to form austenite + secondary cementite. Then, this temperature is maintained, and the carbon content is slightly increased to no more than 4.3%, to form a strange thing called austenite + secondary cementite + ledeburite.

Why do we need this thing? Because austenite has good plasticity and low strength, in other words, it has good toughness, while ledeburite is a hard and brittle cementite, so it has high hardness and poor plasticity.

As for the precipitation of secondary cementite in the middle, it usually occurs during the cooling process of iron-carbon alloys, especially before or during the transformation of austenite to other phases. This precipitation mode makes the secondary cementite often distributed along the grain boundaries to form a network structure. This structure has a significant impact on the strength and toughness of the material. It is usually necessary to optimize its distribution and morphology through appropriate heat treatment processes to obtain better material properties.

What is science, what is technology? Humans only became aware of these temperature, time, and pressure in the 21th century, and it was not until the st century that they were able to accurately measure degrees and seconds. Chen Xi could not figure it out accurately, but at least he knew it.

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