"By the way, there is another question. Can these coals be washed before being used for coking?"
"Washing coal?" Xue Da and Na Fukang both looked at Gao Zhang in confusion. He took another look at the coal piled nearby like a hill.
Is this coal good? No matter how it is washed, can it still be washed white?
Seeing the expressions of the two of them, Gao Zhang didn't explain much. He just said that it was to wash away coal dust and debris.
Anyway, let you give it a try. What’s the point of wasting some water?
Seeing Gao Zhang's serious look, Xue Da thought about it and decided to be honest.
When the new coke came out of the kiln, both Fukang and Xue Da naturally saw the difference between this coke and the previous fist-sized coke.
Although the coking time is much shorter, the coke produced feels better than the previous fist coke quality.
"I didn't expect that Xiao Gao, the champion, is so powerful that he even knows how to make coke?"
Fukang laughed happily, looking at the coke of the finished product with a matter-of-fact expression.
"My young master is born with precocious intelligence and can understand many things by analogy. Otherwise, how could he have won the first prize at the age of eleven."
#####
In order to verify the effect, but also to prove to his father why this new type of fuel coke was so praised by Gao Zhang.
Simply refining coke is naturally not enough, then use this coke to smelt iron ore together with coal.
As an industry of the Taiwei Mansion of the Song Dynasty, how could it be developed bit by bit and slowly?
Therefore, during the coking period, an iron smelting and manufacturing workshop was built next to this glass workshop covering an area of dozens of acres.
More than a dozen skilled old craftsmen and their apprentices began to smelt steel here.
Moreover, in order to verify the effectiveness of coke, coal and charcoal in steel smelting.
It is specially divided into three fuel groups, and each group is divided into two teams: steel frying and steel filling.
The reason for doing this may be that some people will argue about the advantages and disadvantages of frying steel and pouring steel, or whoever invented it later will represent the advanced one.
For Gao Zhang, it doesn't matter whether you are frying steel or pouring steel. As long as your master has both hands and can make good steel, that's a good idea.
As for whether the steel produced is good or not, it's simple, just make weapons and tools and use them to fight.
As the saying goes, true knowledge comes from practice. No matter how beautiful it looks, it is useless. Just like the texture of the five-thousand-guan sword that Lu Qian, the unlucky man, likes, is not as tough as a kitchen knife.
These old masters had never used coke, but when they started using it, they realized the difference between coke and coal and charcoal.
The first is that coke has no smoke and is almost the same as the best charcoal.
Those coals will emit green smoke to a greater or lesser extent. As for the bituminous coal, it is not to mention thick.
The second is the strong firepower and high temperature, which is far more than that of charcoal and also far higher than coal.
The important thing is that there are no impurities after burning and it is used to smelt steel. The resulting steel has very little impurity content.
It's like a more powerful version of charcoal.
These days, Gao Zhang, who walks here every day, looks at the smelted steel and listens to the statements of the old masters.
He expressed that he was quite satisfied, but when the master proudly took out a newly beaten steel knife for Gao Zhang to admire.
Gao Zhang was immediately shocked. He raised his fingers and pointed at the short and cute steel knife that the old master held in his hands.
"This, this...how is this different from the knife I saw?"
Gao Zhang raised his hand and pointed behind him. At Lu Qian's waist, there was a Tang Dao similar to that of Tang Dynasty.
It was a waist knife with a very beautiful shape and blade. Gao Zhang still remembered that the knife that Lu Qian was fooled into buying was also of the same standard.
"Little Gao Zhuangyuan, you don't know, this is called a hand knife, and it is the standard knife of our Imperial Army of the Song Dynasty..."
The old master saw Gao Zhang's shocked expression and quickly explained in a flattering manner.
"As for the sword on your waist, it is also called the Xia Guodao. It must be from Xixia."
"Brother Lu, are you from Xixia?"
Gao Zhang turned to look at Lu Qian. Lu Qian faced Xiao Gao Zhuangyuan's eyes and quickly took off the knife from his waist, including the scabbard, and handed it over.
"Exactly, the sword in the hands of the official is the Xia Guodao. It is said that this object was forged with iron from the Western Regions. It is very sharp for blowing and cutting hair..."
After hearing Lu Qian's advertisement for Xixia weapons and products, the old craftsman suddenly became unhappy.
"I don't know what Lu Guanren wants to do. It's not that we, the Great Song Dynasty, can't forge such sharp blades, but the court is not happy with it."
Gao Zhang was looking carefully at this Xia Guodao with beautiful patterns on it. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that it was very similar to the Tang Dynasty sword. Hearing the words of the old craftsman, Gao Zhang couldn't help but be startled.
"What does the old man mean by this? Is it possible that the Song Dynasty is not happy for its soldiers to hold sharp swords?"
If it had been someone else, the old technician might have said a few words, but he was facing a child prodigy who had become the number one pick at the age of eleven.
As for Wen Quxing, he only knows about Wen but not about Wu. This is normal. After all, he is still a child, probably a few years younger than his eldest grandson.
#####
So the old craftsman patiently explained to Gao Zhang.
"The Number One Scholar Mingjian, our Song Dynasty has a very large army, so the demand for ordnance is very huge."
Here, we have to mention two serious issues. The first is that the Song Dynasty had a serious redundant army.
A large number of Xiang army troops have little combat effectiveness. Even if you give each of them a Tang sword, do you dare to let them go to the battlefield?
However, as for the hand knife, in the words of the old master, I and three apprentices can shoot five or six of these in a day without breathing.
Because the requirements for hand knives are very low, or the court's requirements for such short weapons are very low, it can be made without much effort at all, so the price difference is low and the quantity is preferable.
This kind of good thing that is not beautiful but very cheap can easily equip the millions of "bear" soldiers of the Song Dynasty court.
Another important reason is that during the Tang Dynasty, charcoal was mostly used for smelting and forging. Charcoal contained less impurities and was less likely to affect steel.
However, by the time of the Song Dynasty, coal had entered thousands of households and became an absolutely mainstream fuel.
Similarly, it was precisely because of the high output of coal that the efficiency of the metallurgical industry in the Song Dynasty was greatly improved. The steel output of the Song Dynasty can almost be said to be far ahead, accounting for the peak of this era.
But there is another fatal problem here. Coal contains sulfur, it just contains more or less sulfur.
The sulfur element is an extremely unfriendly impurity for steel. After penetrating into the steel, it will increase the brittleness of the steel.
This is painful, but the problem is that in this era, everyone does not know, or even know what sulfur is.
(End of chapter)
