Chapter 1406: Magnet

Baifeng cares about his family affairs, but as the king of a nation, he cannot only focus on his own family matters. After all, the education he received was based on a people-centered view of history. As a monarch, his thinking is vastly different from any emperor of later generations; he cares more about the survival and future of the entire nation, and as for his own family, he places it after the nation.

Fortunately, everything in Huaxia is developing steadily. Communication between Xiao Town and Huaxia City is already proceeding normally, and several batches of Saltpeter have been delivered one after another. Besides making Explosive, it is used for making ice.

It is just limited by Huaxia's low production of Iron and Bronze, and the small number of corresponding Artisans, so there is no ability to craft the so-called "Ice Mirror," which is the refrigerator of the ancients.

The Bronze smelting of the Suiren clan has basically been taken over by Huaxia. While production has increased significantly, the things used to make it have naturally changed as well; the crafting of Ritual Vessel has stopped, and Weapon are no longer being made.

All the Bronze produced is used entirely to craft various tools. Some things that could use Bronze are no longer using Iron, such as nails, and the metal connectors for some things are also changed to Bronze as much as possible. Bronze farm tools are also being launched in large quantities in Huaxia.

The Iron that became abundant because of this is naturally used to craft Weapon, as well as tools like axes and saws. This can be considered some of the conditions for Huaxia providing grain to the Suiren clan. After all, Huaxia has also upgraded the Suiren clan's smelting, mining, and every other aspect, making their production increase by more than several times.

In the Suiren clan, there was another good discovery, which was the discovery of Magnetite. At first, it was just to search for Iron Ore, but after the Iron Ore was found and they dug down a little, they discovered Magnetite with magnetic properties. Because they discovered it could adhere to their Iron tools, they hurriedly brought it back to Huaxia for Baifeng to examine.

That Magnetite Mine is relatively far away. Now that they have control over the entire Suiren clan, wanting to develop the Iron Ore there is also an almost impossible task because it is sparsely populated and the environment is too primitive. The cost of wanting to mine the Iron Ore and then transport it to a place where it can be smelted and turned into Iron is an unimaginable number.

It is just that the Magnetite with magnetic properties has become a good thing that can be mined. Magnetite has magnetism; although it is not a permanent magnet and will lose its magnetism after a long time, as long as the magnetism remains, it has extremely high utilization value.

That piece of Magnetite mined and brought back was divided into several small pieces, and Baifeng sent people to the sandy ground and mud by various river channels to run back and forth pulling it with ropes, in order to search for Iron Sand.

Many river channels have Iron Sand present, and in extremely large quantities. After all, places containing Iron in Nature are more numerous than those containing gold. As long as it is a river channel, there is a possibility of it existing; it is just a question of whether there is more or less.

If one can collect Iron Sand in the river channels through a Magnet, then this is a method of obtaining Iron material that is more convenient and faster than digging for Iron Ore.

Moreover, the Iron content of Iron Sand is far higher than that of Iron Ore, and the difficulty of obtaining it is also low. Even a child can handle it, and the difficulty of transporting Iron Sand is also far less than that of Iron Ore. If this method is verified, every city in Huaxia will have the opportunity to build an Iron smelting plant in the future.

This is the matter with the highest level of attention in Huaxia at present. The test results were also verified one after another within four days. The large and small river channels in the surrounding area were almost all tested, and the same positions on the same river were also tested. The result was, without a doubt, a success.

The most suitable place is naturally this Dahe beside them. The Iron content in the silt is the highest; after all, the water volume is larger, and it flows through further places. And in the tests of different river sections, it is naturally the convex bank at a bend.

Because of the sudden turn, centrifugal force threw the heavier silt over, and Iron is naturally contained within it. There is also no need to worry about it being mined to exhaustion; after all, this river may have existed before there were humans, and it only takes one flood for everything to be as it was.

The other several river channels also have Iron Sand, but by comparison, it is naturally more cost-effective to search along the Dahe. Even the Boat passing by every day can have some Magnet tied to them to suck up Iron from the silt at the bottom of the river.

This news made the entire ruling class of Huaxia excited, but they did not immediately announce it widely. After all, it is currently only in the planning stage. The first thing to do is to mine that Magnetite Mine, which is extremely far and remote, and send the Magnet to Huaxia first. Only if this step succeeds can future matters continue to proceed.

While everyone was still excitedly planning, Baifeng again distributed several small round discs to everyone with a bright smile.

"Everyone take a look, this is something I made using Magnet. Can you tell if there is anything special about it?"

According to the progress of the era, Baifeng felt that the Magnet might not be able to be hidden for many more years, because it is easy for everyone to discover the unique properties of Magnet. Whether one can use Magnet to search for Iron Sand is hard to say, but making a Compass is simple.

During the Battle of Zhuolu, Fenghou made the South-Pointing Chariot. Baifeng now does not know what exactly the South-Pointing Chariot is. In his imagination, he thought the South-Pointing Chariot was something like a large Compass, also using Magnet.

So now Baifeng is worried that perhaps very soon, the Magnet will be discovered by the Xuanyuan Tribe, and they will know how to use it. Now Baifeng must hurry to dig out the Magnetite Mine that has already been discovered and occupy it at all costs.

If he knew what the South-Pointing Chariot was, he would not be so nervous, because the South-Pointing Chariot is a purely wooden structure. The so-called "immortal pointing the way," on the South-Pointing Chariot, is a doll with one hand pointing toward the south.

And the way to drive it is also very complex; it is through the movement of the wheels and several gears, so that no matter which direction the wheels move, and no matter how fast the speed, that doll can still face south.

This requires determining the specific location of the south through the Big Dipper or the sun during the initial production, and then installing the machinery. Now, someone who understands mechanical principles might be able to make it after hearing the description.

But in that era, to make such a complex structure, one can imagine what a smart and capable person Fenghou was. During the Three Kingdoms period, some people also restored it, and in modern society, there are also people restoring it. The thing is not fake at all; legends are not necessarily just legends, they are just some wisdom that transcends the era.