Neither Mengtian nor Fusu knew what the First Emperor wanted to build.
When the steel was smelted, they had already planned to use all the steel leftover from laying the railway tracks to make steel swords and equip the Great Wall Legion.
However, as soon as the First Emperor came, he said that he would transport all the steel back to Xianyang to improve armaments.
This really caught them off guard.
I saw the First Emperor coming to the steelmaking plant and looking at the towering blast furnace with billowing black smoke, I couldn't help but be surprised.
This was the first time he had seen such a high stove.
Facing the craftsmen and soldiers around him who kept saluting him, the First Emperor simply turned back to signal them to excuse themselves, then turned to Huang Zhonghou and asked: "Where is the steel that was made?"
"Return to Father"
After Fusu heard this, before Huang Zhonghou could speak, he stepped forward and introduced himself to Ying Zheng.
However, Ying Zheng stopped him with one hand and said seriously: "From now on, you are not allowed to speak without my permission. I am asking him!"
"this"
Fusu was embarrassed and stepped aside helplessly.
Huang Zhonghou didn't know why, but when he saw the First Emperor asking himself, he didn't hesitate at all. He quickly pointed to the greenhouse on the left and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, it's over there."
"good."
Ying Zheng nodded with satisfaction, then waved his hand: "Let's go and take a look."
Soon, a group of people, led by Ying Zheng, came to the greenhouse where the rails were stacked.
I saw the steel rails neatly placed on the ground by the craftsmen, with a silvery metallic luster, like dozens of steps, giving people a visual shock.
The First Emperor leaned down and touched a handful of rails. The first feeling was that it was freezing cold, and the second feeling was that it was indestructible.
As the first guard of the First Emperor, Tang Sui also had an almost obsessive study of weapons. When he saw good weapon materials, he immediately picked up an egg-sized stone from the ground and smashed it on the rails.
"clang--!"
A clear and sweet voice suddenly sounded, startling everyone who was stopping to watch, slightly surprised.
Fusu couldn't help but twitch his eyelids when he saw Tang Sui treating the rails he had made so roughly.
To be honest, they spent a lot of effort to make these rails straight and perfect.
It really hurts to be hit like this.
But now was not the time for him to speak, so he could only look elsewhere, pretending that he didn't see it.
However, he pretended not to see it, but Wang Ling could not pretend not to see it. When he saw Tang Sui hitting the stone with such a clear and sweet sound, he directly pulled out his sword and slashed at the rail, hitting his own sword. The sword is full of gaps.
You know, the swords of the Qin army generals are not ordinary bronze swords, but alloy bronze swords.
Such an alloy bronze sword has top-notch hardness and flexibility in this era.
"Your Majesty, these things called steel are all good things. Please see, Your Majesty, the general used nearly 100% of his strength to slash these rails, but there are only a few shallow marks!"
As he spoke, Wang Ling excitedly picked up the sword in his hand and handed it to Ying Zheng: "This sword is the trophy captured from the royal family of the Zhao Kingdom by the last general in his campaign. Although it is not as good as the peerless swords collected by His Majesty, But it can also be called a sword;
However, compared with these rails, it is far inferior! "
"oh?"
When Ying Zheng heard Wang Ling's words, he raised his eyebrows and immediately became interested. He walked quickly to Wang Ling and took the sword from his hand.
He saw that the sharp blade on it was completely out of shape. He stretched out his hand and touched the gaps. Each gap was more than one centimeter.
It can be seen from this that Wang Ling indeed slashed the sword with great force.
Then he leaned over and looked at the rail that Wang Ling had chopped down. A meaningful smile appeared on the corner of Ying Zheng's lips. It disappeared briefly, and then he casually asked Huang Zhonghou: "How much does this rail weigh?"
Huang Zhonghou has only seen the First Emperor twice in his life, once when the First Emperor came back from Zhao as a hostage, and once now. Therefore, he seemed extremely excited and knew everything about the First Emperor's problems. He even ignored the frequent glances from Fusu and Mengtian.
"Your Majesty, each rail weighs about five hundred pounds."
One stick weighs five hundred pounds?
Then there are more than a thousand strands here, definitely more than 500,000 jins. When did this bastard become so dishonest?
Ying Zheng thought for a moment, his face instantly darkened, and he shouted: "Li Yi!"
As soon as these words came out, a handsome-looking man quickly ran out from the crowd, ignoring the dust on the ground, and knelt on the ground with a thud.
"Your Majesty, I am guilty, please punish me severely!"
This man named Li Yi is Fusu's chief of guard and the person in charge of Black Ice Platform in Jiuyuan.
Logically speaking, he should report everything that happened in Jiuyuan to the First Emperor, but the First Emperor still didn't know about Fusu's situation or the situation in Jiuyuan.
This made the First Emperor very unhappy, so he was called out and reprimanded.
But Fusu was full of grievances. Before he slept in, there were indeed 500,000 kilograms of steel rails in the square. Who knew that Huang Zhonghou and the others would practice a lot more during a lazy sleep.
However, fortunately, the steel rails in the underground warehouse were not discovered, otherwise his father might have run away on the spot.
After Ying Zheng scolded Li Yi, he glared at Fu Su fiercely, then withdrew his gaze, looked at Huang Zhonghou nonchalantly, and said with a smile: "How many kilograms of steel can your blast furnace make in a day?"
His tone was extremely gentle, completely different from the attitude in which he had scolded Li Yi just now.
The officials around him, including Fusu and Meng Tian, looked confused.
I heartily say that His Majesty is worthy of being the First Emperor, and his acting skills are at the level of a movie actor.
Huang Zhonghou saw that something was wrong in the atmosphere, and he couldn't help but start to feel frightened. He had never heard of the First Emperor being so talkative, so he looked at Fusu carefully. Seeing Fusu's expressionless face, he was full of doubts.
In the end, he followed his own heart and confessed to Ying Zheng: "Your Majesty, when the blast furnace was first built, I didn't think it was more efficient than ordinary furnaces. However, since the production of steel, it has never been less than one hour per day. A yield of 10,000 kilograms!”
Ten thousand catties? !
Hearing this number, not only did the First Emperor's pupils shrink, but even the ministers behind the First Emperor couldn't help but take a breath.
Even Li Si, who was quick and calm, couldn't help but his heart was beating wildly, as if these ten thousand kilograms of steel were pressing down on him.
This is not 10,000 kilograms of pig iron, but 10,000 kilograms of steel.
Although steel is still a new material in this era, it is still a good output when converted into 10,000 kilograms of high-quality bronze.
But there are only a few dozen furnaces here, and they can produce 10,000 kilograms a day.
You know, Xianyang's central military building has thousands of furnaces, and its output is less than 100,000 jin.
To put it into perspective, these blast furnaces can be described as smelting artifacts.
This brat finally opened my eyes!
He couldn't help but feel ecstatic in his heart. The First Emperor looked at Fusu no longer with murderous intent, but with eyes filled with relief.
"Lead the way, I want to see how this blast furnace makes steel!"
Ying Zheng waved his sleeves and walked forward with great interest.
Huang Zhonghou immediately ran to Ying Zheng's side, bowing like a dog-legger and saying: "Your Majesty, please come this way."
"hehe."
Ying Zheng was in a good mood and walked in front.
Fusu looked at his back, subconsciously wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned to look at Meng Tian, and said, "General Meng, look at this."
"It's okay, His Majesty just has his plans, we can just act accordingly."
Meng Tian smiled and patted Fusu's shoulder, then turned to look at Meng Yi beside him, frowning and said, "Is your Majesty's condition getting better?"
Hearing this, Meng Yi subconsciously looked ahead and whispered: "The condition was under control before departure. After several months of training, it is much better. It's just Zhao Gao."
"What's wrong with Zhao Gao?"
"Zhao Gao has won over many women for His Majesty."
"How is it possible? What about my father?"
Fusu looked surprised, and Meng Tian immediately raised his hand to signal: "Elder Master, be careful what you say!"
"But."
Fusu was still a little confused.
In his heart, his father has always been the majestic First Emperor.
It is absolutely impossible to covet women.
But as a close friend and confidant of the First Emperor, Meng Tian naturally knew the true character of the First Emperor.
So he raised his hand to signal to Fusu again, and changed the subject: "We all know Zhao Gao's character, but His Majesty thinks very highly of him. Even though I have secretly reminded His Majesty, His Majesty still has double trust in him."
After saying that, he turned to look at Meng Yi and said solemnly: "Meng Yi, you are accompanying His Majesty. Remember not to leave His Majesty easily. Do you understand?"
"Brother, don't worry, I know this."
Meng Yi cupped his hands and replied.
"Okay, that's good to know."
Meng Tian nodded, then looked ahead and said, "Let's go over there, so that His Majesty won't be impatient."
"this"
Fusu and Meng Yi looked at each other, and then followed Meng Tian to the First Emperor without saying a word.
The First Emperor looked at the blast furnace carefully, and then asked Li Si: "Li Tingwei, what does this thing look like to you?"
Li Si glanced at the blast furnace for a few times, thought for a moment, and then said, "Your Majesty, I look like a gourd."
gourd?
Fusu and Meng Tian looked at each other, then looked up at the blast furnace, and found that Li Si was actually quite knowledgeable. The blast furnace did indeed look like a gourd.
I haven't noticed it usually, but now I look more and more like it.
After hearing this, Ying Zheng couldn't help but smile and nod: "Li Tingwei still has a good eye. I didn't expect that this gourd-like furnace can actually produce steel!"
As he spoke, he looked around at the ministers: "Tell me, why haven't we thought of such a simple stove before?"
"Your Majesty, you don't know. The simpler something is, the easier it is to be ignored. Fortunately, the eldest son is wise and discovered this artifact that is not easy to be discovered!"
When Feng Quji heard this, he stroked his beard and smiled.
Some of the ministers behind him who supported Fusu quickly echoed: "The eldest son is wise!"
"hehe."
Fusu chuckled and was about to explain when he suddenly remembered Ying Zheng's previous instructions that he was not allowed to speak without his order, so he shut his mouth abruptly.
At this time, Ying Zheng asked in a nonchalant manner: "What is the difference between this steel-making blast furnace and the bronze-making furnace?"
In Ying Zheng's understanding, iron stone can be smelted into pig iron, and if you want refined iron, you have to go through thousands of refinements, but refining bronze is not that troublesome. You can still smelt good bronze with an ordinary furnace.
Only this steel can't help but be refined in a strange way, and its output is quite high.
"Your Majesty clearly knows that according to what the eldest son said, the temperature for refining bronze is very different from the temperature for refining steel. If you want to directly refine iron stone into steel, you need extremely high temperatures to refine the impurities in the iron stone. And The furnace used to refine bronze cannot reach the temperature needed to refine steel, so it cannot successfully refine steel."
Huang Zhonghou reported to Ying Zheng truthfully.
Ying Zheng frowned, turned to look at Fusu, and said calmly: "Is what he said true?"
"Back to my father, what Huang Zhonghou said is true. High temperature is indeed easy to remove impurities. This is Brother Hao."
"Okay, don't mention it to me. Have you finished refining this furnace? I want to see it with my own eyes!"
Ying Zheng didn't want to mention Zhao Hao in front of all the ministers, because this credit was very important to Fusu, and he wanted Fusu to take charge of it himself.
But Fusu has always been a selfless character.
Especially for Zhao Hao.
This made Ying Zheng very unhappy.
It's not that he doesn't want his son to live in harmony, but if his brother takes too much care of his younger brother, he will make his younger brother more and more lazy.
And Zhao Hao was already very lazy, and Ying Zheng didn't want Fu Su to "help the evildoer".
However, Fusu didn't know much about refining steel.
After all, he only provides technology.
So, when Ying Zheng asked him, he subconsciously looked at Huang Zhonghou.
But Huang Zhonghou said again: "Your Majesty, this furnace steel will be finished in half an hour."
"OK."
Ying Zheng nodded and said casually: "Then I will wait here for half an hour!"
How is this possible?
Fusu still knew how dangerous it was to make molten steel, and how dare he put his father in danger.
If there was something wrong with his father, he would simply not live anymore.
"Father, when the molten steel comes out later, it will be very dangerous here. Let's stand a little further away and find a higher place to watch. It will be clear as well!"
Fusu quickly handed over to Ying Zheng.
Huang Zhonghou also helped: "Yes, Your Majesty, when the molten steel comes out later, the heat wave is rolling here, and you will be burned even through several layers of clothes. Even craftsmen like the old minister, who have been dealing with molten iron and molten copper all year round, can't stand this." The heat is too high, Your Majesty has a body of thousands of gold, it’s better to stay away.”
"Your Majesty, you must not stay here for long!"
Meng Tian saw Fusu and Huang Zhonghou starting to dissuade Ying Zheng. As a close general of Ying Zheng, as the last resort, he naturally had to dissuade him.
Sure enough, as soon as Meng Tian opened his mouth, Ying Zheng's somewhat stubborn character immediately disappeared. He reluctantly nodded and said, "Then let's find a high place to watch!"
"Here."
The three of them agreed in unison and breathed a sigh of relief.
Soon, Fusu asked Li Yi to find an imperial chair, move it to a high platform about fifty meters away from the blast furnace, and invite Ying Zheng to take a seat.
Although Ying Zheng had reprimanded him mercilessly just now, Li Yi was the second son of Longxi Marquis Li Xin and grew up with Fusu. In addition, Ying Zheng held Li Xin in high regard, so naturally he would not really punish him.
Seeing Li Yi respectfully arranging a seat for him, Ying Zheng suddenly smiled: "I haven't seen you for many years, and I am starting to look more and more like your father."
"Your Majesty clearly knows that he cannot remember his father very much."
Li Yi bowed humbly, then suddenly remembered something and reminded: "Your Majesty, when you look at the molten steel coming out of the blast furnace later, don't look directly at it for too long, otherwise it will be harmful to your eyes!"
"Um."
When Ying Zheng heard this, he nodded slightly.
The next moment, I saw the snacks on the table out of the corner of my eye, and couldn't help but say: "This thing is golden in color, how come I have never seen it before?"
"Your Majesty, this is a potato cake for the eldest son."
"Turn on the stove-"
Before Li Yi could finish what he said, a craftsman shouted from a distance.
Ying Zheng suddenly became energetic and suddenly turned his head to look as if he hadn't heard anything.
Li Yi closed his mouth wisely and quietly stepped aside.
Please ask for monthly tickets, recommended tickets, follow-up subscriptions, and full subscriptions.
(End of chapter)
