A craftsman lit the blast furnace and sealed it. Because the temperature of this new iron-smelting furnace will definitely rise, Liu Yan specifically asked the practical craftsmen to fill the furnace with 20% less charcoal than usual. Although Gao Yunshan and other craftsmen still had doubts about whether the modified blast furnace could truly store heat, they still fully cooperated with Liu Yan's order.
Reducing the amount of carbon material put in is also a conservative strategy adopted by Liu Yan. If the carbon material is not reduced, the new smelting iron furnace is likely to be burned down; and if the carbon material is reduced much, the furnace will The temperature will be insufficient, and qualified refined iron will not be produced by then, and the iron material in this furnace will be wasted.
At this time, Liu Yan gave an order, and a fire was already ignited in the blast furnace. Liu Yan, Gao Yunshan and other blacksmiths held their breaths and listened quietly to the crackling of charcoal in the furnace. At this time, no one could see the furnace. The situation inside can only be judged by experience. This is the first time Gao Yunshan and other craftsmen have made iron.
But after all, Gao Yunshan and others have refined thousands of furnaces of iron, and they are all skilled craftsmen. Even if they can't see the situation in the furnace like before, everyone can still control the refining time, so Gao Yunshan is not too worried.
For ironmaking in a blast furnace like this, one furnace usually only takes about an hour, so everyone gradually dispersed, leaving only Gao Yunshan and a group of people who continued to stare, and there was Liu Yan standing not far away. . Of course, Miao Shao also stayed with him and did not leave.
Watching the craftsmen turning the fans "Hey, hey, hey," Liu Yan also instructed the craftsmen from time to time to open the opening in the regenerator to let in fresh air.
Suddenly, a craftsman screamed: "Ouch!"
Not long after, a craftsman who was looking after the regenerator was injured. It turned out that the temperature of the regenerator was too high. The craftsman accidentally rubbed it and was burned.
This time he was injured, Liu Yan felt relieved. At least the heat storage of this new iron furnace was no problem.
The timing tool used in the iron yard is a special incense coil, which is specially made by the incense maker for an hour.
At this time, seeing that the coil of incense was still a quarter full, Liu Yan was already bored waiting beside him, but he heard Gao Yunshan suddenly shout: "Open the stove! Open the stove! Quickly open the stove!"
Tang Yuan, the supervisor next to him, glanced at the incense and said strangely: "Master, it's still a while, it's too early to start the furnace."
The craftsmen around him were also very surprised.
"Stop talking nonsense! If you don't turn on the furnace, this furnace will collapse!"
Gao Yunshan was so anxious that he pulled the iron hook and opened the brick opening blocking the bottom of the stove.
Seeing this, Liu Yan was also shocked and quickly signaled the craftsman who was shaking the fan to stop. Looking at this situation, could it be that the stove could not withstand the high temperature?
Just as Liu Yan felt the coolness rising in his heart, he saw a stream of blazing green sticky liquid flowing out from under the stove, flowing along the sloping brick path and into the shallow pit. There are still several lines standing vertically in the pit. These are the iron plates. Each plate weighs about 200 kilograms.
"Why so fast! Is there something wrong with Xiang?"
The craftsmen were shocked. They had never seen anything produced so quickly, and they attributed the problem to the incense.
"There's no problem with the incense, it's...the charcoal fire is strong and it naturally melts quickly."
Gao Yunshan panted heavily with lingering fear, and looked at Liu Yan who was also panting. Both of them felt excited, success!
When the molten iron was gone and the slag was dug out from the slag outlet, several craftsmen shouted again. It turned out that there was still a lot of unburned charcoal.
"This... this is more than just 30% less!"
Gao Yunshan's eyes were a little wet, and other craftsmen and blacksmiths were also stunned.
"At this rate, we can make one more furnace every day!"
The first thing Supervisor Tang Yuan thought of was this problem. There is enough iron ore in the iron yard, but there are only three furnaces, so now the iron yard can only produce up to eighteen furnaces of iron every day. Now the time for each furnace is shortened by nearly a quarter, and naturally one more furnace of iron can be produced.
Moreover, what everyone is refining now is refined iron, not the previous pig iron! This is a huge difference!
"Not good! One floor of the furnace collapsed, and we can no longer practice."
At this time, a craftsman squatted next to the blast furnace and exclaimed, obviously seeing what was going on inside.
"Collapsed? It doesn't matter if it collapses! Let's just build a new iron smelting furnace! In addition, the rest of the iron smelting furnaces must be modified according to the adults' methods."
Gao Yunshan chuckled. Of course it was a joke, but it was really necessary to spend some time to re-strengthen the new iron smelting furnace and make it thicker. But the little time wasted was nothing compared to this furnace of fine iron.
At this time, the craftsmen and craftsmen in the iron yard also laughed. Amidst the laughter, everyone's eyes looking at Liu Yan also changed. All the previous doubts were gone, replaced by the red color like a furnace fire. hot.
Liu Yan built a small brick house for them and added some gadgets to refine iron that many blacksmiths and craftsmen could not produce in their lifetime. This was enough to make everyone in the iron yard worship Liu Yan. . Originally, everyone's feeling towards Liu Yan was just fear towards Shangguan, but now, everyone's eyes looking at Liu Yan are full of admiration.
However, Liu Yan was also a little ashamed. He did not expect that with the iron smelting furnace and the regenerator, even the smelting time would be saved. If Gao Yunshan had not had enough practical experience today, this new iron smelting furnace would But it’s time.
At this time, Liu Yan was also very happy. Because of the addition of the heat storage chamber, the efficiency of iron-making has been greatly improved. This means that the cost of refined iron produced in the iron yard is lower and the output is greater. This is a blessing for Liu Yan. Big good news.
Then, the blacksmiths and craftsmen in the iron yard naturally grabbed Liu Yan and kept asking him why this small brick house had such miraculous effects. Liu Yan could only deal with them the same way he answered Gao Yunshan before, They are also invited to attend future “lectures”.
After hearing Liu Yan's words, everyone was excited, but Gao Yunshan lowered his voice and reminded everyone in a cold voice that they must keep the secret. Gao Yunshan is still conservative in his thinking and does not want technology such as heat storage chambers to be spread. This technology has been recognized by Gao Yunshan as an "exclusive" technology for iron stockyards.
Naturally, there was no need for Gao Yunshan to remind him of this. Everyone knew in their hearts that technology was the bread and butter of everyone these days, and many of them were considered disciples of Gao Yunshan. They all nodded solemnly at the moment.
After that, the craftsmen could not suppress their excitement and discussed it one after another, and then devoted themselves to repairing and strengthening the new iron furnace.
Liu Yan let out a sigh of relief and called Miao Shao and Gao Yunshan back to the office in the iron yard.
"Your Excellency is really a great talent. He is actually proficient in the art of iron-making. My subordinates admire him greatly!"
At this time, Gao Yunshan also changed his name and called himself a subordinate, calling for tea.
Liu Yan smiled and said: "What a great talent, I just saw more."
Then the three of them sat down, and Liu Yan got down to business: "Starting this month, the fine iron produced in the iron yard will be transported to Wangjiazhuang in batches to supply the Firearms Supervision Manufacturing Department and the Soldier Armor Supervision Manufacturing Department. The specific time will be announced by General Miao Banner. Let’s discuss it with Chief Tan and Chief Xu.”
Miao Shao accepted the order with clasped fists, saying that he would rush back to Wangjiazhuang in the next few days to discuss with Tan Xiaoda and Xu Le.
"Director Gao, some time ago, the output of the Firearms Supervision and Armor Supervision Department has dropped due to insufficient iron materials. Now that the iron stockyards are ready for production, starting from this month, we will go all out to smelt iron. The more the better, no matter the cost, understand?”
Gao Yunshan immediately took the order.
When Miao Shao saw this, he noticed that Liu Yan was a little anxious. Liu Yan seemed to be in a hurry, and there was a hint of urgency in anticipation, so he asked: "Sir, the arsenal of our Wangjiazhuang Baihu Station is already full. We have sufficient military equipment, whether it is cannons, ammunition, spears, swords and shields, they are all sufficient. Even armor is already equipped by almost 70% of the soldiers, why do we need to build military equipment regardless of the cost? "
"Now it seems that a lot of weapons and equipment have been stored, but once a war breaks out, these weapons and equipment will be consumables. God knows how long they can last."
"Now that all sentinel armies are our brothers, I naturally want to give them the best equipment and the quantity must be absolutely sufficient."
In fact, there is one thing Liu Yan hasn't said yet, that is, he has a sufficient number of troops in reserve so that he can deploy troops at any time!
Even with the current population base of Wangjiazhuang, it is very unrealistic to forcefully detonate troops. Even if new soldiers are recruited, they will only be old men or half-old children, with little combat effectiveness.
However, Liu Yan was familiar with history and knew that in less than a month, the slave-building army would march south to invade for the fourth time. Shandong would not be spared by then. Although no large enemy troops came to kill, a small group of troops would still There must be some, so Liu Yan must be fully prepared.
If luck is extremely bad and the Jiannu army, now renamed the Qing army, suddenly goes crazy and goes all the way south into Lingshan Guard and kills Wangjiazhuang, Liu Yan will have to mobilize all the people. After all, the battle It is better to die on the battlefield against the Qing army than to be taken into slavery.
Moreover, the more than a thousand Dunjun troops under Liu Yan are now treasures. It can be said that everyone is a seed, a future grassroots officer. Naturally, he is reluctant to lose a large number of soldiers, so he has to work hard on military equipment and solve it with silver and steel. Things that must not cost human lives!
But Liu Yan naturally couldn't say these words clearly, and he couldn't explain it clearly. Furthermore, Liu Yan was also worried that after the news spread, it would cause panic among the people and cause unnecessary trouble. After all, the people now treat the Qing army like Like a scourge, something will definitely happen if the news spreads.
So Liu Yan looked at Miao Shao and said, "You and Director Gao have put a lot of effort into matters here. We must ensure a stable supply of iron materials. I will go back now. There are still many things to be done in Baihu Station."
"yes."
Then Miao Shao and Gao Yunshan sent Liu Yan away together. The two stood outside the gate of the iron yard and watched Liu Yan, who was escorted by a cavalry sentry officer, gradually go away.
At this time, Miao Shao could clearly feel the anxiety in Liu Yan's heart, and even a hint of uneasiness mixed with it.
Miao Shao couldn't think of anything that could make Liu Yan feel uneasy, so he couldn't help but ponder in a low voice: "It's really strange. What are you worried about, sir?"
Gao Yunshan next to him looked at Miao Shao, who was thoughtful, and said, "Mr. Miao Qi, is it really okay for us to smelt refined iron like this?"
Miao Shao came back to his senses and said with a smile: "As long as the adults are here, nothing will happen!"
"Yes, what can happen if adults are here?"
Some people died, but not completely...
