If you talk about some artifacts that determine the direction of history, many friends may decisively say that they are the four major inventions.
But
Small bellows
But he expressed disbelief:
It is I, it is me who drives the Iron Revolution!
Some people say: Just your whistling and hoo-hooing, but also change history?
Don't really say,
The role of the small bellows is far beyond imagination!
In this matter, we have to make up for it first: from the perspective of the materials used, our most original is
Stone Age
, after that
Bronze civilization
And beyond
Iron Age
……
The problem is, from bronze to black iron, it is not a clang, falling from the sky.
That's called
"Material Revolution"
！
Material Revolution
On the earth scale,
Bronze was once the bearer of the material world
。 From Western Europe to East Asia, when slashing people with knives, they basically slashed each other with bronze swords.
The sword of the hook
But bronze this thing, it has two disadvantages:
First, copper ore is relatively rare
, just like the baby knot, it is more expensive, which makes this thing impossible to use on a large scale.
Second, the toughness of bronze is insufficient
, that is, overwhelmed. For example: if a large slab of brick is smashed down, if it is steel, then smash a curved surface, quickly recover back, but if it is bronze - then it is most likely to be broken! Which black iron and bronze are strong, it is clear at a glance.
In such a comparison, we instantly feel that iron replaces bronze, which is a matter of course. But not at that time, the main reason was that the furnace temperature required for ironmaking was relatively high (more than 1000 degrees),
Under natural conditions, fan wind boys are desperate to fan fans, small charcoal can be burned vigorously, and it can only reach 900 degrees.
Bellows debuts
On a problem with a high melting point, how can you solve it?
Our ancestors came into contact with the earliest iron lump is the extraterrestrial meteoric iron, this treasure looks at it, the flash is cold, thick and heavy, but you just can't open it!
siderite
Famous gan generals, Mo evil legends
, everyone remembers it? In that story, Mo Evil sacrificed his body to the furnace, only to dissolve the essence of gold and iron, and to achieve the famous swords of sadness, "Gan General" and "Mo Evil".
The temperature of human body oil and fat may increase the temperature of the smelting furnace, can open the iron block, and if you want to mass-produce, how many mo evil must be burned?
So, in the late spring and autumn, the small bellows grandly appeared!
At that time, the technology was to make a blower coat out of cowhide, compressed air, and blow a lot of air, which suddenly raised the furnace temperature to about 1200 degrees, and at this pleasant temperature, the small pieces of pig iron melted happily (pig iron with a carbon content of 4.3% melting point of 1140 degrees).
Since it has melted, there will be no essential difference between steel and bronze from now on! Our old ancestors even forged a heavy weapon such as Zhao Jianzi Tieding.
A friend asked, what about the iron sword?
Even ding has been built, are these gadgets such as swords, guns and swords still talking? Therefore, the 1-meter-long bronze sword was immediately upgraded to a 1.4-meter-long iron sword, and the gap of 40cm asked you if you were afraid or not?
Iron farm tools
In the Bronze Age, metal was so precious, did the farmer uncle still want metal farm tools? Save it!
In the black iron age, iron ore is everywhere in comparison!
Again, the iron dings are built, and the iron farm tools shine!
Someone asked: How long does it take to forge a hoe?
The answer is very fast, everyone thinks that they can turn molten iron, who still forges ah? Hit a mold, pour molten iron into it, and don't you take shape? And it's batched!
Hoping for the stars and the moon, the peasant friends finally have a farming tool. Congratulations to the farmer friends, the era of intensive cultivation assisted by iron farming tools has finally arrived! At this time, it is our Warring States period!
Another person asked: How much is intensive farming worth?
The answer is:
2.7 times more production!
That means feeding several times more people!
This change is definitely an agricultural revolution!
Since then, the agricultural civilization in the Central Plains has risen rapidly.
Later, the ancestors of the Warring States developed the method of frying steel like an open hanging, and created a hundred battles of steel knives. In the smelting world, it has led the way for two thousand years.
And all this thanks to - bellows!
East-West comparison
When we in the East are carrying out the agricultural revolution, what is the West doing?
In fact, Western civilization mastered ironmaking technology earlier, but without bellows, Westerners are stunned that they can't get molten iron!
Ancient iron swords
There are simple iron knives and iron swords with simple structures, so when they go to the battlefield to cut people, the iron weapons that are dangling are still quite intimidating.
But the complicated structure of the plough, hoe, wedge, sorry, then there is no - a mouthful is too strenuous.
European farmers could only use wooden plows, and they did so until the 13th century!
It is said that ancient China was the peak of feudal dynasties, while the West was a dark century that lasted for thousands of years.
What is the difference between the two civilizations?
Maybe that little bellows!
It was this small bellows that allowed us Chinese to use steel a thousand years before the Europeans, triggering the first agricultural revolution.
Thus, the material wealth of the Central Plains civilization has always been far ahead of the nomadic peoples, and has become the main civilization of the East Asian continent.
For more than two thousand years, this advanced civilization could only be integrated, not conquered.
But Europe is tragic, the agricultural civilization did not form an absolute advantage, then it has never been able to completely defeat the nomadic civilization.
Greek civilization and Roman civilization were interrupted successively
It was not until the Renaissance that it was known from the records of the Arabs that the ancestors were so cattle. However, the glory of the past has long since ceased to exist, leaving a sigh in vain.
Later, Europeans finally learned to use bellows, and some people added a water drain to the bellows, so there was
steam engine
The era of industrial civilization has finally arrived.
The little bellows lying in the antique shop are definitely worth admiring!