Compared with burning ore, firing clay does not require extreme high temperatures. It only requires charcoal and firewood to be mixed and burned to achieve a low-temperature smoldering environment of 700 degrees. It only takes four hours to complete the firing of low-temperature ceramics. This kind of low-temperature smoldering pottery is the craft of the potters of the Ross tribe, and it is also the process of annealing glassware. After all, the main ingredient in glass and pottery is silica.
A brand new bonfire quickly sprang up, and it was brighter than the other bonfires.
Because what is being roasted in the core of the flame is a brand new stove, which is changing from wet soil to a hard clay stove.
This furnace can be built higher, with more refractory ores piled in the interior, the clay furnace wall made thicker, the hole for the bladder blower to be inserted, and a hole specially drilled to receive the molten iron.
In this way, a small blast furnace of pre-Qin level is completed. It looks simple, but its performance is indeed excellent. That kind of blast furnace can already smelt molten pig iron.
Of course, the new furnace owned by Kawei is more primitive. It is not a blast furnace at all. No matter what kind of air is supplied, it cannot create a stable high-temperature environment of 1200°C. It reaches the limit of 1100°C, and this temperature cannot melt pig iron, and can only produce molten tin bronze.
Rurik was very tired. Although the construction of the wooden ridge had been completed, he just couldn't stand the strong smell of fresh pine trees. He rested in the longboat until the smell dissipated, as did most of the other children.
Compared to people who are fastidious, a large group of Ross warriors are not so particular about their accommodation environment. They made their bedding beside the campfire and fell asleep comfortably. Before they went to bed, many people ran to the river and used river water to scrub their sweat-stained bodies. Of course, this scrubbing was done with soap, and they gave themselves Perfect cleaning.
Some people who brought a change of clothes even gave their dirty clothes to the women in Covin and asked them to wash them for them. Here, the women of the Iron Squirrel tribe, although they are weak, are now actually responsible for the entire logistical work of the builders.
They are the ones who cook and carve up fish, they are the ones who collect firewood, and they are the ones who wash clothes. This division of labor actually supports the construction of settlements, but these tribal women are not so willing. They were more than willing to wash the clothes of their own people, but the thought of washing the clothes of Rus warriors was a constant aversion. They can say that Rurik is a person worthy of respect and trust, but that of other Russians is questionable.
Rurik fell asleep hiding on the boat, and few people in the entire construction site were awake.
There are some people who are wandering around. They just get up to go to the toilet.
It was entirely because of the strong expectations in his heart that Kawei kept his spirit high and kept staring at the burning bonfire. He felt that the smell of the burned earth was a strange fragrance.
Invisible to the naked eye, dramatic chemical changes are taking place in the furnace.
In the inner chamber, a high-temperature environment has formed. It certainly cannot melt iron, much less the chromium it contains. But the 31% silicate content in the ore has melted and begun to penetrate into the clay, and finally merged with the pottery clay to become a high-temperature substance.
After all, he couldn't resist the exhaustion, and Kawei fell asleep in a daze.
The sky was getting blue, and some women who got up early had the task of cooking. Their noise suddenly woke up Kawei.
The young and promising blacksmith climbed up and saw with joy that his furnace was completed!
Even though it had been smoked to a dark black color, after violently wiping off some of the carbonized ash on the surface with a linen cloth, Kawei saw exactly the color he expected.
In fact, these clays have been burned into "green bricks", which seem to have a light bluish gray color. There are already a large number of glass crystals inside, and the whole thing is integrated into one.
The stove was still hot. Through the touch of the long iron tongs, Kawei was delighted to notice that the ore in the interior had completed its transformation into refractory bricks.
This also proves another extremely important thing: local ores can be processed by traditional methods.
Kawei was completely confident, but seeing Rurik's cautious attitude, he was also a little worried. By now, his worries were gone.
A young man was yelling excitedly, and his continuous roars woke up many people.
Rurik was also awakened.
"Damn it! You don't want to let anyone have a rest so early in the morning?!"
He held his little head with his left hand, took Saipolava's arm off his neck, and then pulled out the right arm held by Carlotta.
Rurik sat up straight and poked his little head out of the colorfully decorated shield mounted on the side of the ship. He saw a shaggy-headed guy jumping excitedly around the dark stove, like a shaman. Full of wizards dancing.
"Oh, it's you! Kawei! You succeeded?!" Rurik staggered and quickly jumped off the long ship that was deliberately stranded.
He quickly came up with the answer, the answer he longed for most.
The excited Kawei no longer cared about Rurik's dignity. He put his excited hands on the boy's shoulders and shook them wildly while saying: "The furnace is successful! We can smelt now! We will win a big victory!"
Kawei's excited look was actually a little scary. Rurik hurriedly broke away and responded with an excited smile: "Calm down. Since you succeeded, you can smelt it for me. I want to see the sponge iron as soon as possible." There are iron ingots! It would be great if you could forge me an axe."
"Okay!" Kawei said no more. As a man of action, he took action immediately.
A great smelting began, but at first it was not noticed.
After all, it is iron smelting, which is the job of the blacksmith. Ordinary Russian warriors do not care about this matter. What they are most passionate about is to fight and plunder the enemy's wealth to enrich themselves. By then, what kind of iron tools will not be readily available?
People who are good at plundering cannot feel the hardship of blacksmithing, nor can they feel the joy of smelting.
Kawei was really fascinated by the sense of accomplishment when he saw the ordinary ore turned into a tool in his hand.
It's like seeing your own child born.
Kawei first put red-hot charcoal in the furnace, and then threw in a large number of branches.
This is the first step in smelting, which is "warming the furnace."
Out of experience, he wanted to preheat the furnace to a relatively high temperature environment. He quickly brought the leather bag blower he was carrying and aimed the blower at the air inlet at the lower end of the stove. As he began to work hard to control it, a very raging flame burst out from the top of the stove, just like a roaring fire dragon!
Rurik and his young men watched with great interest. Everyone stopped to watch and thought about giving the blacksmith some help.
Perhaps the current situation shows people's worship of flames from the depths of their souls!
A powerful force in the dark is encouraging Rurik to add more firewood to the already burning furnace.
The clay stove has become a fiery existence. It has been baked by Kawei for a long time. Its hard clay shell is hot enough to cook wheat cakes easily. Put a piece of fresh meat on it and it will be cooked quickly.
Even in his own blacksmith shop, Kawei didn't dare to touch the stove with his bare hands. It was really hot for him. Just a touch, and the skin on his fingers was instantly burnt to white, which is called cooked.
Based on this reason, Kawei prepared some fresh fish for experiment.
He stood on a bracket around the stove that was improvised from readily available wood. He picked up the fish with wooden sticks and observed the process of blanching the fish to determine whether the stove was qualified.
His skills are obviously weaker than those of his father Klavason. If the old blacksmith were standing here, he would just stand next to the furnace and feel the heat, look at the flames emitting from the top of the furnace, and immediately estimate the temperature.
Kawei felt that the time was ripe, and then a large amount of ore was thrown in.
The ore hit the burning charcoal, and for a moment it was like a flaming dragon. Rurik knew that he could not provide effective help to Kawei now. He and the guys were spectators, admiring the process of throwing the ore that was like adding fuel to the fire.
The only ones who can really help are the young blacksmith Kamne and the ten other blacksmith apprentices.
At this point, smelting has reached its most critical moment.
Kawei and Klavason have long realized in their daily work that only by making the furnace hotter can they complete smelting better. These were just their experiences, until Rurik came up with his magical "atomic theory".
With strong arm muscles developed from long hours of blacksmithing and rowing, Kawei can control his skin blower very well. A large number of charcoal blocks were kept being thrown into the furnace by his blacksmith apprentices, and he was inflating desperately. Every time he blew fiercely, the furnace also spewed out a large amount of red flames.
What a long process! Rurik tried his best to keep watching with interest, but he had to say that the whole process of smelting was becoming a bit boring.
Until Rurik noticed that the flames sprayed out were no longer red, but bright yellow!
"The real high-temperature flame should be blue! They use the current technical equipment to achieve blue flame, and at most they can only achieve white flame. He created a special yellow flame that is close to white flame, doesn't it mean that the furnace temperature is already very high? !”
Rurik is no longer just a spectator.
He walked into Kawei, stood very close to the stove, and saw Kamne who was smiling at him reluctantly, and Kawei who had thrown away his linen shirt, and his bare arms were full of tendons and covered with hot sweat.
Kawei seemed to be in a deserted state. He was doing his work with his head down, as if he was tireless.
Rurik coughed twice to attract his attention.
"The flames are almost white! Kawei."
"Really?" Kawei raised his head slightly and glanced at the flames spurting out, "It's yellow. Rurik, I don't know what kind of white flames there are."
"No! Only when the highest temperature is reached, the real white flame will be born. When the white flame is reached, most of the iron ore will be completely melted, and you can cast iron objects just like smelting and casting bronze."
Rurik's words were understood by Kawei as a very kind outlook.
People can't imagine things they haven't seen before. Kawei has never seen the so-called "real white flame", let alone what it means.
"Just like this, can the ore inside be turned into sponge iron?" Rurik asked again.
"It's definitely possible, it just takes time. You know..." Kawei shook his head vigorously, and a lot of sweat from his hair was thrown directly onto Rurik's face.
Rurik even reached out to dip his hand and licked it again, feeling the strong umami taste. Looking at this man fighting hard, he was happy to have such a doer under his command, but regretted that there were too few doers.
"How much longer do you need?!"
What a sharp question, Kawei ignored his fatigue: "I think that when the sun reaches the sky, the work will come to an end. You know, my lord, there are unique substances in these ores."
"Okay, please continue."
What else is being done? Rurik could only sit aside and wait.
It seems to be just a one-man show by Kawei, a strong man. Could it be that a smelting exercise is going to tire him out?
No! You are not alone in the battle! Not alone!
Rurik sat up suddenly, and after a while, he called over a dozen mercenaries he could find who were working hard to cut down trees.
Kawei, who was already showing signs of fatigue, initially did not want mercenaries who did not understand and probably did not disdain iron smelting to participate in his great work, but the pain of weakening his arms finally affected his mind.
More than a dozen mercenaries began to show their power. They manipulated the blower frantically, and the skin bulged and deflated, and the gushing flames surged to the extreme, as if the furnace was a dragon egg, and a young fire dragon was about to fly into the blue sky.
Kawei was able to take a breather. He drank directly from the clean river water and washed his hair with the river water.
He sat on the wood next to Rurik, with his hands on his knees, and the look of his violent breathing was really heart-wrenching.
"You know what? Rurik, I feel like my chest is going to explode."
"Your lungs are in pain." Rurik replied calmly, seemingly not caring about Kawei.
"Yes, it's really painful. Maybe I put too much ore in, and my ambition was too great. I just wanted to smelt more in one go. I almost risked my life for this."
"Your work will pay off. Now tell you, what do you think of your stove?!"
"It's so good." Kawei became happy and his pain eased a lot.
Rurik's face still changed color and he stared at the stove: "What I just said was not just a wishful thinking. Kawei, I think we should build a bigger and taller stove! We need to use brand-new leather bag blowers and install at least eight of them. , let a group of strong men control it. In this way, the temperature reached by the furnace can completely melt the ore. "
Kawei could never forget this idea the first time he heard it. "You...forget it. I don't question it anymore. I just want to ask if we can build it. Rurik, you must have been blessed by Thor. If you think it is possible, we should build a bigger furnace. .”
A bigger stove? Rurik chuckled: "That's called a blast furnace. The furnace will need a lot of modifications by then. Let me tell you! By then the charcoal will be mixed with sponge iron and become something like liquid bronze. You can cast them, but There is too much carbon in it. You already know my elemental table, and you should understand that it is precisely because there is too much carbon that the iron ore can be completely melted. Objects cast in this way are definitely not suitable for weapons, but they can be used as tools. .”
Kawei heard almost fantasy, but then he touched on the "Table of Elements" and a brand-new theory to explain the world. Since many theories were completely consistent with the reality, he trusted this theory more and more, so he He chose to believe Rurik's explanation.
The idea is that as long as a larger furnace is built, has a better structure to lock the temperature, and more air is injected, the iron ore can be melted in the form of alloy substances.
Rurik actually noticed that based on the existing materials, he could make a blast furnace, because Kawei's towering furnace already looked a bit like a blast furnace.
All he really lacked was a high-efficiency blower to pump oxygen, and as for the blower, he had something in mind.
A pair of blue eyes couldn't help but see the river nearby, which had become turbulent due to summer floods caused by melting ice.
The electric blower is also a fan! As long as it can drive a bearing to rotate wildly, its driving force can be an electric motor or, of course, a waterwheel!
Water wheel? ! that is not……
When I think about the end of the 14th century, the Milanese began to use water power on a large scale for moving and forging, thus quickly creating a group of "iron can" warriors. Thinking of this, Rurik felt that he needed to recreate it. In the final analysis, waterwheel technology is not complicated. It is just a mechanical transmission mechanism with several wooden shafts and wooden gears. Because it does not require high mechanical strength, it does not even require an advanced bearing system, and it has a very high tolerance for mechanical structure tolerances. . Now, Rurik has developed the idea of building a water tanker to alleviate the labor shortage dilemma of Elon-Olava Fort, and quietly regards it as an urgent project in the development plan.
