In the middle of winter, the biting cold wind crossed the Yanshan Mountains and whistled from the grassland outside the Great Wall towards Yancheng. The soldiers guarding the city were shivering with cold on the city wall. From time to time, they let out a breath from their mouths to warm their cold hands. Looking north from the city wall, one or two carriages filled with iron ore were slowly approaching the city gate.
The soldiers guarding the city wall looked at the approaching motorcade and couldn't help complaining: "This damn weather is freezing everyone. Even the carriage drivers have sheepskin jackets and sheepskin trousers, but the court does not distribute winter clothes." "
Another soldier heard this and said angrily: "The imperial court? Why did those officials in the imperial court give you winter clothes? What do you think? That sheepskin coat was given by the King of Yan, not the imperial court."
"It's better to drive a carriage for the prince's palace!"
. . . . .
At the same time, in the smelting plant in the northeast corner of Yancheng, the iron furnace that has been officially put into production is burning with intense high temperature. Under the action of high temperature, the iron ore gradually melts, removes impurities, and leaves usable molten iron, which is then passed through Repeated removal of impurities ultimately improves the purity of the iron. Zhao Bin and Wang Wu were looking around in the workshop. In fact, they were mainly looking at Zhao Bin, while Wang Wu was just looking around like a curious baby.
"Your Majesty, look, this is the latest farm tool cast according to your method." A strong, dark-skinned man came to Zhao Bin holding a farm tool. This person was the first director of the smelting plant appointed by Zhao Bin. He was the first blacksmith Han Tie who followed Wei Xiang into the mountains to search for ore. Han Tie had a craftsman household registration and was exempted from military service. His ancestors had been blacksmiths for several generations. Very knowledgeable about wrought iron.
Zhao Bin took the farm tools from Han Tie, inspected them, and then asked: "How tough are these farm tools compared to before?"
"Back to my lord, the previous farm tools forged from pig iron were prone to breakage and collapse. After adjusting the ratio of raw materials according to your instructions, the toughness has been greatly improved compared to the previous ones. At present, there is definitely no problem in using them as farm tools. "
"Hmm, what if it's about making swords?" Zhao Bin continued to ask
"Swords are terrible. Farm tools rarely collide with bricks and stones. However, swords are collision weapons, and the hardness of the iron we smelt is not high enough. If you want to make weapons , it still needs to be calcined and forged many times before it can be used." Han Tie answered truthfully.
"I know that, you're talking about Bailiangang, right?"
"Yes, my lord."
"One or two weapons are fine, but if it is mass-produced, this method is too slow."
"My lord, do you want to make weapons?"
"At present, the heavy snow in the north of the Great Wall prevents the Jie people from invading south. They will definitely come back next year, so we have to guard against it," Zhao Bin replied leisurely.
"What the prince said is that if the Jie people do not have time to enter the pass to plunder every autumn, then the next spring, they will attack on a larger scale." Han Tie is a local, and he understands the plundering habits of these Jie people. "But you don't have to worry too much, my lord. These Jie people generally don't attack large cities."
"What I am worried about is not Yan City, but the people outside the city."
"The prince loves his people like his own son, I admire him."
"Hahaha, just admiration is not enough. The most important thing is to help me forge high-quality steel. Come on, I will give you an overview, and then you can study and figure it out on your own." As he said this, Zhao Bin walked towards the outside of the boiler room. He walked towards the established office, followed closely by Wang Wu and Han Tie.
The three of them came to the office. There were pens, inks, paper and inkstones on the table in the office, but it was obvious that these things had never been used. Han Tie smiled sheepishly. Of course, it's not that Han Tie doesn't know words, it's just that the words he knows are limited, and he doesn't need these things.
Zhao Bin picked up the writing brush on the table, and Han Tie also learned the ink for Zhao Bin.
I saw Zhao Bin writing on the paper while talking: "Iron ore to pig iron, which is our current smelting process, removes a large number of impurities visible to the naked eye to form molten iron and iron slurry, but there are still some of these pig irons that we use The impurity invisible to the eyes is called carbon. Because the carbon content in iron is too high, pig iron is easy to break. When the carbon content is reduced to a certain level, steel is formed.
There are different methods to remove these impurities. Forging is one of the methods commonly used by your blacksmiths. Repeated forging can continuously oxidize and separate the carbon components in the iron. Another method is to continuously inject oxygen during the smelting process, which is what we use. The blower keeps oxygen in constant contact with the molten iron, allowing the carbon inside to continuously oxidize and separate.
"My lord, what is oxidative separation? Is oxygen just air?"
"Oxidation can be simply understood as the fusion of two substances together to produce a certain change. Have you seen rust? It is a process of change. And gas has different gases. For example, some have a sour smell, and some have a sour smell. It stinks, but some have no smell. Oxygen is one of many gases. Besides oxygen, there are other gases in the air we breathe.”
"Oh! It turns out that there are so many twists and turns in this iron smelting." Han Tie exclaimed with a bewildered expression on his face.
"This is the truth. Our current equipment is rudimentary and we need to repeat it twice more to forge good steel. However, this is faster than manual forging. If you think about it carefully, if there is anything you don't know, come to the palace to find us. Wang, in addition, there is basically no problem with the smelting of iron to cast farm tools now. We must speed up the casting of farm tools. I will ask Cao Li to send you more manpower, let the workers take turns, and work without stopping, and strive to complete the manufacturing of farm tools as soon as possible. Distribute it, we have more important things to do later.”
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. Based on the current daily output, no less than 2,000 pieces of farm tools can be cast every day. Once 20,000 pieces are collected, the small one will stop one of the iron furnaces and start making steel. One month I will definitely be able to complete the casting of all farm tools within this time." Han Tie puffed out his chest and said. For Han Tie, this may be an opportunity to change his destiny. In the past, he was just a well-known blacksmith, but now he is from Prince Yan's Mansion and the factory director appointed by the prince. The prince said that the director of the factory is an official position, so He, Han Tie, became an official, and became an official of Prince Yan's Palace. This was something that he would never have dared to think about before, so now Han Tie attaches great importance to this official position. He has food and accommodation in the factory, and his wife at home has thought about it. .
After leaving the office, Zhao Bin did not go to the smelting workshop, but walked towards the gate. When Li Hua saw Zhao Bin coming out, he quickly clasped his fists and saluted: Your Majesty.
"Well, Li Hua, the smelting plant is very important to us. From now on, the security here will be left to you. Personnel entering and exiting must be carefully inspected, and outsiders are not allowed to enter at will."
"Your Majesty, don't worry. All personnel in the smelting plant have been registered, identity tokens have been issued, and everyone's portraits have been recorded."
After Li Hua and Zhou Shun returned to Yanjing, they were sent by Zhao Bin to take care of the smelter and salt refinery. Not only that, the areas around the smelter and salt refinery were also transformed into staff dormitories, and a building was built around them. The purpose of building a high wall is to protect the technology from being leaked. The technical barriers to iron smelting are relatively high, so he is not worried. The most important thing is the method of salt training. Almost any fool can learn it. As the saying goes, a big reward will come. There are bound to be "common men" in this world. As long as someone contributes money, there is no guarantee that no one will take advantage of the money. It's not that he can't believe it, but he doesn't dare to gamble. At least in the short term, protective measures must be taken. As for the future, he may have the opportunity to make this law public. In the world, to benefit the people all over the world.
The director of the salt training factory was Sun Zheng, the brother of the escort who was responsible for salt training. In addition, Cao Li also selected several civil servants from the government to assist Sun Zheng. After all, the imperial court had established a special salt industry department. In the future, It is definitely not possible to rely on Sun Zheng alone to deal with the account books.
Zhao Bin did not stay longer at the salt training factory. After giving some brief instructions, he took Wang Wu and left.
Now that the smelting plant, salt refinery, and restaurant have been put into production and operation, things are finally starting to get back on track.
