The storage room filled with charcoal blocks soon burst into flames.
A very thick gray smoke soared upwards, and now the people of the tribe believed that someone's house was really on fire.
Lilia held her belly up and was supported by Kawei as she struggled to escape.
"Ouch, slow down. Your son is kicking me."
"Hold it!"
Kawei roared. He showed no mercy and his methods were quite violent.
He desperately brought his wife back to the old house, spread out a leather mat and asked her to sit down.
By this time, Lilia had finally settled down. She gasped and asked with a displeased look on her face: "You are too rude. Also, what's going on with the stove?"
"What else can I do? It collapsed! I fell short."
"Ah? So many ores, all..." Lilia subconsciously covered her mouth, not knowing what to say.
In her heart, she wished that a large number of brand-new sponge irons could be mass-produced so that she could polish them and soak them before going to her husband to transport another batch of ironware back to her parents' home. Especially after learning about the existence of a special iron tool called "Chromium Steel", she became more and more hopeful that her family members would get it.
After being married to Ross for almost a year and about to give birth, Lilia never forgot the mission given to her by her biological father.
Kawei looked at his wife and gently wiped her tears: "You were shocked, but fortunately we are all fine."
Kawei pretended to be calm, but in fact his heart was racing. Those who were even more nervous were the blacksmith apprentices. Their arms were still sore and they were sitting on the ground blankly. They were very frightened at the thought of hot things flowing and turning the pressed weeds into ashes in an instant. They were also fortunate that the master's order was conveyed quickly enough and no one was injured.
"But the stove is gone."
"It doesn't matter. If the stove is gone, we can build a new one. We are not short of money."
Lilia's mother-in-law also came over to comfort her when Lilia's baby stabilized a little.
Kawei stood up and looked around, thankful that the people who should be evacuated were all here, then turned around and left.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Lilia asked urgently.
"Go look at that damn stove."
"You...don't."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." After saying that, Kawei stepped forward and met with his father to start solving the mess.
Fortunately among the misfortunes, the fire was only in the storage room, and my wooden house is currently safe.
Seeing that the hot substances stopped flowing and started to solidify, Klavason, who was left behind, could finally relax his nervous heart. When Kawei returned, he was already manipulating the long-handled shovel and digging through the material that was beginning to harden.
Kawei whispered a few words to his father and immediately joined in the cleaning work.
In order to make the cleanup work faster and to avoid further expansion of the harm, Klavasen had no choice but to use financial means again.
The escaping iron smelting employees were very frightened when they thought about the collapse of the furnace. They were the ones who were yelling about "Klavasen's furnace collapsed", and they were the first ones to run back, wanting to know about Klavason's furnace. Will he fulfill his promise to give everyone two silver coins?
The most important thing in doing business is reputation, especially for tool producers like blacksmiths. Not only did he fulfill his promise, he also promised that anyone who participated in the cleanup would receive two more silver coins.
This time, Klavasen doesn’t have to worry about the slow cleaning speed.
Some smelting employees carried buckets of water and tried to extinguish the burning storage room. However, there was still a lot of charcoal stored in it. It turned into a huge bonfire. How could a few buckets of water be used to put it out?
The thick smoke became an obvious sight, and anyone who looked up at the sky would notice a terrible anomaly.
Although there was haze today, Rurik expected it would not rain. As usual, he trained his men in fighting and archery on the hill. The entire tribe of boys and girls between the ages of six and ten became part of the training. It was entirely because Rurik's promise to take charge of the food was really implemented properly, so every family was very happy to hand over their young children to follow the future leader.
The children stopped everything they were doing, including the girl who was working the winch to wind the crossbow.
"Chief, over there!" Fisk pointed at the wooden sword and aimed it at the black smoke rising in the distance.
"Is anyone's house on fire?!"
"Maybe, it must be bad."
Rurik looked around. All the children stretched their heads and stared, whispering to each other and wondering what was going on.
"Everyone be quiet!"
Rurik's order was enough to intimidate everyone, and everyone fell silent.
"That's it for today! Someone's house may be on fire, but I hope it's not your house. If someone is unlucky, don't worry! Let's go and put out the fire!"
Before Rurik returned to the settlement, hundreds of tribesmen had gathered near Klavasen's house, pointing at the collapsed stove and the messy scene, but no one came to help clean up the mess. This is not because everyone is indifferent. As long as they see those solid black substances actually smoking, no one dares to act rashly.
Rurik and his men arrived belatedly. After all, newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. Under the leadership of Rurik, they walked directly through the crowd and broke into the scene of the incident.
"Klavason! I didn't expect it was really your home. Oops! Stove?! Where's the stove?"
Hearing Rurik's voice, Klavasen, who was immersed in cleaning up, raised his head in shame and pointed at a piece of black material on the ground and the huge broken "potsherds."
"As you can see, the stove is right here."
"Really collapsed? There is still smoke and dust, it's actually..."
"It's nothing. The furnace collapsed and we have to build a new one. First we have to clean up these damn slags." Klavasen said, with a regretful expression on his face that made Rurik look extremely uncomfortable.
"You all go back! Go to the cafeteria and wait for your meal." Rurik turned around and ordered.
"Chief, do you want to stay?" Fisk asked weakly.
"I'd better stay."
"You want to help the blacksmith? Maybe we can help."
"No, you go to eat! All members will be dismissed today, you go quickly!"
Fisk didn't understand why his little leader was so impatient. Perhaps he was mainly sad to see the blacksmith's failure? Fisk didn't think much about it, and so did everyone else. Although everyone was curious, since Rurik ordered him to leave quickly, he shouldn't stay too long.
In fact, it wasn't just his own men, Rurik also opened his arms and waved them, asking the onlookers to leave. Seeing that he was single and weak, he quickly mobilized a group of his mercenaries, and used these warriors who were armed with swords and axes all day long to invite away all the onlookers who did not know the truth.
The tribesmen walked away angrily, and the mercenaries left behind had new tasks.
Jevlo and his men picked up long-handled shovels, or simply plows, and began to clean up the slag.
"Hurry up! We have to build a new furnace after we clean it up!"
Rurik's words shocked the Klavassins. Who would have thought that Rurik was particularly interested in the huge furnace?
With a powerful draft ax, Jevro felt that he could chop the still-hot slag into pieces just like chopping stones, and then shovel them away more easily.
However, after this blow, although the slag was broken into pieces, it also revealed an incredible metallic color.
Seeing the silver-gray rough section, Rurik's head buzzed, and almost all of his golden ponytail stood up due to the fried hair.
What is this? slag? No.
Rurik walked quickly, pushed Yevro aside and squatted down, subconsciously touching it with his fingers.
"Danger!"
Yevluo was eager to protect the Lord. He threw the manuscript axe, grabbed Rurik's waist with both hands, and hugged him directly to the side.
"Ouch, what's wrong with you?"
"My lord, it's too hot."
"Oh, then I really want to thank you." Rurik patted his forehead hard and looked at his little hands again. What beautiful little white hands, even though they are a little calloused. If I had touched it stupidly just now, I am afraid my hands would be numb.
But that silver-gray notch section is so strange!
Is it possible that the stuff here is not slag at all? But pig iron? Or after the furnace collapsed, the pig iron and slag were mixed together again?
Rurik continued to stare at Jevro's masterpiece, and saw that the cross section was indeed silver-grey. This was a color that slag would never have, and was a color that only metal materials could have.
"Jevlo!"
"exist!"
"Keep chiseling for me. After you carve out a piece, bring it to me. Water it to cool it down. I want to take a good look at it."
"Okay." Jevro shrugged. He didn't understand what the master meant. Since he had been told, he would do it.
For safety's sake, Jevro knocked out a piece that was a little larger than an adult man's hand. After the cold water cooled down, he personally handed it to the owner Rurik.
"Master, please take a look."
Rurik held the heavy thing in his hands, stared at the metallic luster section, and couldn't help but think about it.
This thing should be pig iron!
wrong! Clavassen's furnace is not a blast furnace, so how can it possibly smelt molten iron?
But wait, since his furnace smelts chromite into sponge iron, the furnace temperature should be very high. Ores in general are less resistant to high temperatures than chromite, could it be possible that they have...
Rurik tried hard to recall the definition of a blast furnace, so that he could understand that as long as the so-called blast furnace can smelt ore into molten pig iron, it is a blast furnace by definition, and it does not even need to be very large.
Every pore of Rurik was screaming, his hands were sweating, his arms couldn't help but loosen, and the things in his hands fell to the sandy ground.
"Master, are you okay?" Jevluo asked with concern.
"It's okay! Jevro, take out your ax and give it to me."
"All right."
Jevlo didn't think much. He pulled out his chrome steel hand ax and handed it to Rurik. Then he saw the boy squatting on tiptoes, holding the ax in both hands at a very tilted angle, and hitting the broken pieces with the blade.
In front of the sharp and strong chrome steel hand axe, the softness of the broken pieces is fully revealed. It was a small but flat section with an intoxicating metallic luster.
These cases are finally solved!
Rurik threw the hand axe, stood up with a smile on his face, and clapped his hands vigorously.
"Jevlo, do you know what this is?"
"It's slag, the waste from their iron smelting. I know this."
"No! You don't know anything." Rurik shook his head and said excitedly: "This is iron! It's called..."
Rurik was stunned for a moment. He really didn't know how to describe pig iron in one word.
He thought for a while and simply made up a word "smeltiron", which is a combination of "smelting" and "iron".
Of course, Rurik remembered that modern English and even Western and Northern European countries have a proper term for "pig iron", the so-called "pig iron". Because the German blacksmiths who were the first in Western Europe to know how to smelt pig iron knew that pig iron tools were sufficient for large-scale agricultural production, in order to maximize profits, they required more finished products in one casting.
The blacksmith uses the basic principles of sand casting to create the main mold, main feed port and numerous branch feed ports in the molding sand.
The relationship between those branch lines and the main line is like the suckling relationship between a piglet and a sow.
I am afraid that it was the German blacksmith who was very passionate about pork sausages who named his castings "pig iron" due to the association of processing techniques.
Rurik felt that what he saw was already a kind of white iron. The fact that it could be cut off by Jevro showed that it was brittle. And I really feel that it has a soft texture. Pig iron is such a complex object. It is actually an ore in a certain sense, but the iron content has been enriched to 96%.
Rurik picked up the things on the ground and hurriedly approached Klavasen who was working hard: "Stop being busy, I want to show you something."
"What good can there be, my little master." Klavasen paused his work and threw the shovel directly on the ground. He looked at Rurik's bright eyes, his own expression full of guilt.
"This is it."
"A boring piece of slag?! Are you making fun of me?"
"You..." Rurik asked deliberately without being angry: "By the way, even if the stove collapses, the flying slag will set your house on fire. Where is the sponge iron? At least those things can still be used after being picked up."
This time, Klavasen shrugged helplessly: "Are you kidding me? Sponge iron? It's gone, it's all gone. It must be a punishment from God that destroyed my stove."
Upon hearing this, Rurik couldn't help but think that this old guy was quite pious.
Wait! How can this guy be pious? He and Kawei have always been pragmatic. For example, in order to allow his daughter-in-law to give birth safely, Klavasen carved a wooden sculpture and worshiped it, claiming to be dedicated to the goddess Freya who is in charge of fertility. In order to ask her to give Lilia the care to avoid the misfortune of difficult childbirth.
Rurik saw through it but didn't tell it. He really didn't understand why the Viking goddess Freya wanted to take care of a Slavic woman's fertility.
"Do you think God is punishing you?" Rurik asked deliberately.
"if not?"
"Forget it." Rurik wiped the things in his hands with both hands: "You think this is slag? You are so stupid! The sponge iron did not disappear, it became this."
Klavasen hurriedly called Kawei over because he saw the unique shiny luster of metal.
"What is this?" Kawei asked anxiously.
"This is what you are cleaning up now."
"Huh? Those trash."
"Bah!" Rurik said displeased; "This is a smeltiron. And how are you sure that the collapse of the furnace is not a good thing? Let me tell you, Thor did not punish you, he did destroy your furnace, just because the furnace did not Appropriate! What you have clearly received is Thor's blessing! Under the high temperature, the ore has melted! The iron and charcoal have been excessively fused, causing the iron to simply melt."
"You...you know everything? Are you sure?"
"Of course, I understand. Who do you think I am?" Rurik said firmly.
In an instant, the Clavarsons suddenly understood.
"Ah! It's like I added tin ore and lead to the copper ore? Turning it into a pot of molten material and casting it into an oil lamp holder?"
"That's right!" Rurik stamped his feet, "My friend, think about things better. Our mountainous areas are full of iron ore. Let's build a suitable furnace so that we can directly smelt molten iron and cast many usable tools. .Klavasen, you have witnessed a miracle in your lifetime! You and Kawei are the first people in the entire alliance to be able to smelt molten iron!"
Being praised by Rurik, Klavasen's depressed mood suddenly became brighter.
He already understood what Rurik was implying, and specifically ordered the working iron smelting employees: "You guys, collect all the residues, don't waste any of them."
After speaking, Klavasen turned his head and said, "Dear, when will we build a new stove?"
What happened was completely beyond Rurik's expectation. He didn't expect that the Klavasen family could magically reach the extreme high temperature of pig iron melting. Is there really no technical obstacle to his plan to build a blast furnace? Maybe so.
Rurik composed himself: "I have decided. After you put out the fire and clean up the ruins, we will sit down and discuss how to make the best big furnace. Oh, it should be called a blast furnace!"
