Chapter 29: Coking
In fact, many people don't know that Su Steel in the Ming Dynasty was still in production until the Anti-Japanese War. Even many of the weapons used to fight against the Japs were made by Su Gang. In terms of steel production volume, Ming Dynasty is determined to be no weaker than Xiyi.
Moreover, He Xi looks at this era from a modern perspective. It should be noted that during the Sino-Japanese War, Japan's steel production was only a few hundred thousand tons, and now Ming Dynasty's inventory is 15,000 tons. Moreover, during the Ming Dynasty and the Hongwu period, only official steel production was relatively large. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, official steel production decreased, but private production became the main force. At that time, it was several times more than it is now. It’s just that the statistics of the Ming Dynasty were a mess.
Therefore, there is no accurate statistics in the middle and late stages. There are only some sporadic records, such as one furnace can produce six thousand kilograms of iron per day.
It is estimated that the steel production in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty was no less than that of Japan during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, but the quality was estimated to be much worse.
The production method of Suzhou Iron and Steel was before the modern steel industry was launched in the West. Neither can be considered backward. Otherwise, we would not have struggled tenaciously to the end of the Anti-Japanese War. It became history only after New China began to introduce the Soviet heavy trade unions.
Even during the large-scale steelmaking, there was a flashback. The so-called local steelmaking was these techniques.
Although Daming Steel has not yet ignited the highest technology, Su Gang's skills, its own technology accumulation is very solid.
Many problems have been solved by others, or even solved repeatedly.
The reason why steel was never refined in ancient times. It is probably due to differences in concepts. For example, modern people’s understanding of steel is different from that of ancient people. Modern people refer to iron-carbon alloys with carbon content within a certain range. But what did people think in ancient times?
It is the essence of iron. In this case, how can it be obtained without tempering?
A lot of times, that's it. The earliest steelmaking in ancient times was the Hundred Steelmaking, and many subsequent ideas were extended from the Hundred Steelmaking. This creates path dependency. Even this path defines steel and iron.
He Xi thought for a while and said, "What fuel is used in the furnace?"
Craftsman Ge said: "Charcoal, good willow charcoal."
He Xi's heart moved and she thought to herself: "Maybe this is the reason." He immediately said: "Why not use coal?"
Craftsman Ge said: "You don't know something. Iron made from coal is very brittle and cannot be used at all. To make iron, you need to use all five elements. Iron ore, soil, charcoal, wood, and there is a fire in the furnace. Gold. Using coal instead of wood means that one of the five elements is missing, so it cannot be used."
He Xi was speechless for a while.
The Five Elements are only used for fortune telling in modern times. But in this era, it is the philosophy that truly guides production and life.
He Xi was speechless for a while, and he couldn't help but ask: "Isn't there still a shortage of water?"
Craftsman Ge said: "Sir, molten iron is also water."
He Xi was speechless for a while. He knew that this was not the time to teach them. If he insisted on giving a lecture, he probably wouldn't be able to understand it, and it would affect the process. Three months sounds like a long time, but in fact, Time is short. He couldn't afford to delay.
So He Xi said seriously: "You don't know, coal belongs to wood, not to soil. Coal was created tens of millions of years ago, when mountains and rivers changed, and a large number of trees were pressed underground. I don't know how many years later, it evolved into Coal, you should have seen it, a lot of coal has the shape of trees. This is the proof."
As soon as this statement came out, these craftsmen whispered and thought it was good.
If you tell it to a group of scholar-bureaucrats, they may not understand. But these craftsmen have never left front-line labor and have personally touched what coal looks like. Naturally, he knew what He Xi said was right.
"Then why is the iron made from coal unusable?" Foreman Ge asked the question that all the craftsmen had in mind.
"Coal contains sulfur." He Xi cursed in his heart, but could not say the words. He still said seriously: "Why don't you use wood to make steel instead of charcoal?"
"Charcoal burns better than wood." I don't know which craftsman said.
He Xi smiled and said: "That's right. The coal has been in the ground for many years, and it has also added earthiness. The coal must be burned into charcoal first to remove the earthiness before we can make better steel."
He Xi was very happy that these craftsmen spoke actively.
After all, he knew very well that there were some things he couldn't do on his own. It can only be made by mobilizing the enthusiasm of these craftsmen.
He Xi said: "That's enough for today. Next, Mr. Ge will take the lead and do two things. The first thing is to refine coal into charcoal. The other is to prepare a blast furnace. Let's start the first test."
Craftsman Ge said: "The villain takes orders."
Then the other craftsmen were sent away, leaving only Foreman Ge. He Xi asked: "Mr. Ge, I don't know much about iron smelting. When will the two things I told you be completed?"
Craftsman Ge said: "There are many charcoal fields outside the city, which only need to be modified slightly. There are also ready-made blast furnaces outside the city. It can be ready in about a day and a night. This is the time to make charcoal."
He Xi never expected it to be so soon and said: "Then the day after tomorrow. I will go out to the city to see it the day after tomorrow. Is that okay?"
Craftsman Ge said: "It should be possible. But do you need any other changes this time?"
He Xi said: "No, it was the same as before. It will be the same this time, but just replace the charcoal with coking coal."
Craftsman Ge hesitated to speak, and finally lowered his head and said: "Yes."
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By the time He Xi returned to the palace, it was already evening.
He Xi only felt that her legs were extremely sore.
Those who can ride horses in the palace are all dignitaries. Even Xu Da remained humble and would not ride a horse in the palace. So He Xi couldn't ride a horse either. When we arrived at the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry, it was not easy to ride a horse. Over the course of the day, he estimates he walked tens of thousands of steps.
I just don’t know if there is no satellite positioning anymore, and the step count on his phone is no longer displayed.
All in all, very tired.
"It would be great to move out of the palace." He Xi thought while soaking her feet.
Perhaps for some people, being close to Tianyan in the palace can be said to be a rare opportunity. But for He Xi, the palace was too unfree. Many things are inconvenient.
He Xi was enjoying a moment of comfort. Xu Zheng has arrived. Eunuch Xu said: "Your Majesty invites you."
He Xi looked at the sky and saw that it was already filled with stars.
He Xi secretly thought: "It's really unpleasant to have a workaholic boss. Even if you work overtime, you still ask me to work overtime." But what can He Xi do? Not to mention, there is no labor law in this era. It is impossible for Zhu Yuanzhang to be restrained by law.
No matter what He Xi thought, he could only obey the order and go to see Zhu Yuanzhang.
He originally thought that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to ask about ordnance. But after arriving, He Xi discovered that this was not what Zhu Yuanzhang was asking.
Among He Xi's manuscripts on the history of the Ming Dynasty. It’s so dense that I don’t know how many small words were written. It seems that it is because the characters written by He Xi with a gold pen are originally small, or because Zhu Yuanzhang does not like small regular script. Zhu Yuanzhang switched to gold pen and red ink for annotation.
There are many problems in it, from the early to the late Ming Dynasty. Especially the battles between emperors and ministers in the later period, the subtle relationship between Jiajing and the chief ministers, Wanli's absence from court for many years, and the three major cases, the Donglin Party, the rise of the Jurchens, etc.
Question after question.
And the questions are tricky.
Many of them are from the emperor's perspective and ask strange questions.
He Xi couldn't answer these questions. For example, the relationship between Emperor Longqing, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, Wanli, and Empress Dowager Li.
Sorry, He Xi didn't know that there were many subtle relationships between them. He simply knows the answer given by history. He didn't know anything about the process.
He Xi felt that some of Zhu Yuanzhang's questions would only be answered by those who specialize in Ming history. I can't answer it.
At the same time, He Xi had to admit that Zhu Yuanzhang was different from ordinary people. He had a strong thirst for knowledge and a strong learning ability. Even a man in his fifties was first-class in his concentration on learning.
It just made He Xi a little difficult.
Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his eyes. Although he lit a dozen candles, the visibility was still not high for a long time. My eyes still feel uncomfortable.
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "How did you do today's affairs?"
He Xi breathed a sigh of relief and reported today's events to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment and said, "Are you sure about doing this?"
He Xi said: "I can only say that the direction is right. Whether it can succeed? It depends on the specific progress."
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "I still don't understand something. Is steel so important? Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, mining and metallurgy have been abolished every few years. After several years of mining, the treasury is sufficient. I don't want to be burdened by this. People. Secondly, so much iron is of no use. Even if there is more steel, what is the use?"
He Xi didn't know what to say for a moment.
Because this is a completely different way of governing the country.
In later generations, steel output is the fundamental data to measure a country's strength. But for Zhu Yuanzhang, the quantity of steel is meaningless. Even redundant.
He Xi put herself into the role of Zhu Yuanzhang and also discovered it. The purpose of iron in the Ming Dynasty was to make weapons. There are not many other uses, and 15,000 tons of iron is definitely enough. There is no other use. If it really had so many uses, it wouldn't store so much iron.
He Xi said: "Your Majesty is from a farmer's family. You should know that in fact, not all people in the world use iron farm tools. Many people cannot afford iron farm tools. Only some wealthy places can use iron farm tools. If everyone in the world uses iron farm tools, Iron farm tools, or even better steel farm tools. What will it be like for ordinary people to farm?"
"What will it look like?" Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment.
This was He Xi's obvious change in Zhu Yuanzhang's expression.
