"Father, this is the newly produced steel from our Tiangongfang." Xiang Nan presented the best steel from Tiangongfang to Li Hao like a treasure.
Li Hao was stunned, took it, observed it carefully, and kept nodding.
With such luster, such material, such weight, and such sound, it is undoubtedly good steel.
"Is this really steel produced by Tiangongfang?" Li Hao asked doubtfully.
"That's right." Xiang Nan nodded, "Moreover, the output of one furnace can reach a thousand kilograms, and six furnaces can be produced in a day."
"Six thousand kilograms of steel a day?" Li Hao almost stared out of his eyes when he heard this.
Before that, due to backward technology, Toyochao's steel output was extremely low, only 10,000 to 20,000 kilograms a year at most. Now Xiangnan's Tiangongfang can produce six thousand kilograms a day.
The output in two days is comparable to the output in a previous year. This is simply outrageous!
And as an emperor who had fought on the battlefield, he naturally knew how valuable weapons made of good steel were.
It is no exaggeration to say that those weapons made of pig iron will break if they are cut by a steel knife. There is an idiom like "cutting iron like clay".
If the weapons of Toyoto's soldiers were all replaced by steel, then when the time came to fight those foreigners, their weapons would be broken and they would be left with bare hands.
By then, even if they have an army of 100,000, they will be nothing more than 100,000 lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
"Is there really such a high output?" Li Hao couldn't believe it.
"It's true." Xiang Nan nodded, "If my father is interested, you can go to the workshop and have a look in person."
"Okay, okay, okay." Li Zuo nodded, and then ordered Cao Ji to drive.
…
Soon, Li Hao came to Tiangongfang.
This is his first time here since the establishment of Tiangongfang.
I originally thought that this was just Xiang Nan not doing his job properly and just being playful.
After arriving, he was surprised to find that Xiang Nan's Tiangongfang was so big.
It covers an area of 10,000 acres, with numerous houses, people flowing around, and a lot of noise.
"Father, please look, this is the coke workshop, this is the glass workshop, this is the lime workshop, this is the spirits workshop, this is the frosting workshop..." Xiang Nan introduced one by one, "In front is the refinery. It’s a steel mill.”
"Coke?!" Li Hao was puzzled.
"Father, steelmaking requires extremely high temperatures. Firewood is not hot enough and charcoal is too expensive, so I use coke." Xiang Nan introduced, "After the coal is processed, it will turn into coke, which can Provides extremely high temperatures for steelmaking.”
Li Hao nodded, "What does the glass shop do?"
In ancient times, glass was called medicinal jade, water jade, guan jade, poli, etc. The name glass did not become popular until the Song Dynasty.
Xiang Nan smiled and ordered someone to fetch a piece of glass.
Li Hao took it and took a look, but was slightly startled, "Isn't this crystal?"
You can see that the piece of glass is crystal clear and slightly cool to the touch. Whether you look at it or touch it, it is undoubtedly crystal.
"Father, glass is man-made, crystal is natural." Xiang Nan smiled and said, "Come and take a look."
Li Hao entered the workshop and saw that the molten glass flowed out of the furnace. After cooling, it turned into large pieces of glass, which made him exclaim that it was a miracle.
Moreover, crystals were quite valuable and rare items in ancient times. In folklore, the palace where the Dragon King of the East China Sea lives is called the Crystal Palace. Building a palace with crystal is extremely rich and noble.
Now Xiang Nan is able to produce crystals. To describe it as making money every day, it's not enough. It's like sitting on a gold mine.
…
Just when Li Hao was amazed, he heard an earth-shattering cry, which made Li Hao jump out of his skin.
"Father, the steel is coming out, let's go see it quickly." Xiang Nan said with a smile.
When Li Hao heard this, he immediately followed.
When he arrived at the steelmaking workshop, he was hit by a heat wave that almost caused Li Hao to fall over.
Then he saw billows of molten iron pouring out from under the blast furnace and pouring into the mold. After cooling, they turned into ingots.
Li Hao looked at these fresh steel ingots, which were the same as those Xiang Nan had just presented, and finally believed that such good steel was made by his son.
"What a gift from heaven!" Li Hao couldn't help but admire, "With such good steel in our country, why should we be afraid of those barbarians!"
"Yes, Father." Xiang Nan nodded.
The industrial levels of the countries surrounding Toyoto vary from high to low, but none of them surpass Toyoto. In particular, steelmaking technology was even more high-tech in ancient times, and those countries basically did not master it.
Even the Turks, who started out as iron smelters, begged for three thousand farm tools and tens of thousands of kilograms of iron after surrendering to the Tang Dynasty. It can be seen that their iron output and smelting technology are still far behind those of the Tang Dynasty.
The toughness, strength, durability and corrosion resistance of steel are much better than iron. Therefore, if a war breaks out, Toyocho soldiers armed with steel weapons can beat the foreigners armed with iron weapons to a pulp.
"Yin'er, you did a good job." Li Hao praised again.
He originally thought that his son was doing this workshop because he was not doing his job properly and was just messing around. Only now do I know that what he did was the real business.
"Thank you, Father." Xiang Nan bowed and said, "It is the duty of a son to solve problems for Father."
"Well said." Li Hao laughed.
It is really not easy for the Tian family father and son to achieve this level.
…
Time flies, half a year has passed.
Qu Xiaofeng and Zhao Sese became pregnant one after another.
This also made Emperor Li Hao and Queen Zhang Meiniang very happy.
Heirs are very important to the royal family. Only when people are prosperous and have many children can the dynasty be blessed.
In the past six months, Xiang Nan's Tiangongfang has become more and more prosperous.
In addition to producing steel, it also produces glass products, such as glass mirrors, glass statues, glass tea sets, etc. There are also spirits, lime, soap, white sugar, high-end porcelain, etc., each of which has become very popular after its launch.
Especially the glass mirrors and glass statues became all the rage in Beijing after they were launched.
Bronze mirrors were commonly used in ancient China. Although a bronze mirror can also illuminate people, compared with a glass mirror, it is much blurry and hazy, which is why it is said that "mirror flowers, water moon".
Therefore, as soon as the more translucent and more realistic glass mirror came out, it was quickly sought after by the princes and nobles. Almost everyone was proud to own a glass mirror.
As for the glass statue, it’s even more fun.
Those glass statues are all blown out of molds, and the process is very simple.
But outsiders didn't know that the glass was man-made, and thought the statues were carved from crystal, so they were naturally willing to spend a lot of money to buy them.
A glass Buddha statue costs only a hundred and ten cents, but its selling price can reach a thousand taels of silver, which is a profit of tens of thousands of times. Even so, the supply still exceeds the demand, which is like digging a gold mine.
With products such as glass, soap, frosting, and porcelain, Tiangongfang has made a lot of money, which further supports subsequent research and development. Such as steam engines, hydraulic lathes, smoothbore guns, rifled guns, smokeless gunpowder, etc.
(End of chapter)
