Chapter 30 Blast Furnace
If you say this to other emperors.
Maybe those emperors had no idea. But telling it to Zhu Yuanzhang caused a strong reaction from Zhu Yuanzhang.
It reminded him of his difficult childhood and the few worn-out farm tools he had seen in countless dreams. At that time, the farm tools at home were completely worn out. My father wanted to replace the plowshare for the family many times, but he could not afford it.
What would happen if farmers all over the world could switch to steel farm tools?
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know, but he was willing to imagine that if he had better farm tools back then, he might be able to beat a few more buckets of rice, and maybe one less person in his family would starve to death.
But Zhu Yuanzhang knew very well that even if his family collected a few more buckets of rice, it would be impossible for his family to survive in this era.
Fantasy can only be fantasy, Zhu Yuanzhang will not be able to return to his eighteen years old.
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled sadly and said: "Do you know the price of iron? Even if I have the intention, I can't do anything."
He Xi said: "Then has your Majesty ever thought that one day, the price of iron would be lower than the price of wood?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "How is it possible?"
He Xi said: "How is it impossible? Your Majesty, you think this iron is useless. It is because the price of iron is too high. Once there is a large amount of cheap steel, there are too many things that can be done. You can build houses, you can build bridges, you can use It can be used to lay railways, which can be used to build ships. It can be used to build more and cheaper firecrackers. It can make the Mongolians become good at singing and dancing. The cornerstone of all this is a large amount of cheap steel."
"This is the basis for the development of productivity."
Some of what Zhu Yuanzhang said about He Xi is understandable. For example, if people all over the world have steel farm tools. What kind of changes will there be? This change is obvious. The biggest proof is the terraced fields in the south.
It was precisely because the people had more iron farm tools that there were terraced fields all over the south.
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "I'll wait and see."
He Xi said: "I will definitely live up to your majesty's trust."
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "It's getting late. If you need anything, you can go directly to the prince. Go back and rest."
"Yes." He Xi said.
Then he retreated.
After He Xi left, Zhu Yuanzhang murmured: "Productivity, I have learned a new word today." There was a kind of wisdom that could see through everything in his eyes.
Zhu Yuanzhang always knew that He Xi had something to hide, and he was even aware of what He Xi was hiding. It's just that he doesn't care.
There are different ways to use people. For unimportant people and highly replaceable people, you don’t need to worry about what they think. Whether you feel aggrieved or filled with hatred. Whether they are forced or have no choice, they must be obedient. These people are most of the courtiers and even civil servants.
For these people, Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't care at all what they think in their hearts? And want them to understand what he thinks as an emperor?
And that kind of person has special talents that are unique to his great cause and can even determine victory or defeat. But you have to keep it in mind. Be respectful to your heart. Only in this way can you maximize your talents. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang always tolerated He Xi's little thoughts and did not expose them.
He remembered that He Xi traveled through time from 2022. But when it comes to history, there is still more than a hundred years left until the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
How many tricks are there in this.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't ask, he was waiting for He Xi to tell him. Open yourself up.
It was as if Zhu Yuanzhang keenly felt that there was a big story behind the word productivity.
------
The outskirts of Nanjing. A small river meanders.
The small river should be a tributary of the Yangtze River, and the water volume is not small. A waterwheel was mounted on it. It is already turning slowly.
The water wheel and the blower were not yet connected, but the blower was fixed to the side of the blast furnace.
The blast furnace is more than ten feet high. It's not just a solitary blast furnace. It is a complex structure with a fire duct underneath, and surrounding the blast furnace, there is a large platform for feeding materials from above the blast furnace. As for the discharge port below, there is a square pit several feet deep.
Generally speaking, the molten iron coming out directly from the discharge port becomes pig iron after solidification.
The molten iron is guided into the square pit from the discharge port and stirred continuously. The final iron that cools down is wrought iron. Pig iron and wrought iron are calcined together again to produce steel.
He Xi climbed up and down, looking at all the places without getting tired of the tedious process, and even took photos and recorded them all with his mobile phone when no one was paying attention.
Although He Xi hopes for a success, failure is the mother of success, and he is not sure about this experiment. So I can only record some useful information. For future reference. And he also made some comments. For example, adding air ducts, increasing wind power, etc. A commonplace topic.
However, the craftsmen followed the instructions one by one.
After a busy day like this, the blast furnace was finally renovated.
That night, He Xi did not return to the palace at all, but found a place to rest nearby. Xu Baoer and his party were closely guarded. Anyway, He Xi just thought they were protecting him.
Early the next morning, the furnace was officially opened.
A layer of iron material, a layer of coke, and various combustion accelerants fill the one-foot-high blast furnace. Following He Xi's order, the fire started.
The blower whined under the force of the water and began to chirp.
It takes several hours from ignition to the time the entire blast furnace is boiled.
He Xi was originally next to the blast furnace, but as the blast furnace was ignited, the heat wave evaporated, and the heat seemed to be real, making He Xi feel like an oven. She could only retreat step by step, and finally chose a place by the river and put it there. A bamboo chair to sit on and wait.
"Sir," Xu Baoer said, "This is just some menial work done by some servants. Why are you here, sir? Why don't you move aside and drink tea?"
He Xi glanced at Xu Baoer and looked at the craftsmen beside the blast furnace. Many craftsmen took off their clothes, leaving only calf shorts. Even so, they didn't stray too far from the blast furnace. He Xi has no experience. This is the first time he has seen this kind of scene.
Therefore, it is impossible to tell anything from some details of the blast furnace?
For example, the sound of burning in a blast furnace, the color of burning in a blast furnace, etc. So as to determine what kind of situation is in the blast furnace. But these craftsmen are different. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, all craftsmen in the south of the Yangtze River were gathered in Nanjing.
The craftsmen in Nanjing represent the highest level of Ming craftsmen. And these great craftsmen who cannot be elected do not have unique skills in their hands.
This kind of blast furnace is not a rare thing to them.
Therefore, they always pay attention to the changes in the furnace and want to see how effective the coke is. I didn't feel that I was still sweating.
But He Xi saw it and said, "That's fine. You send someone to get some herbal tea. It doesn't have to be too good. It just quenches your thirst. Or the mung bean soup can be traveled overnight and transported up in buckets. Give it to the craftsmen."
"This------" Xu Baoer was stunned and said.
The eunuchs in the palace have always promoted superiors and suppressed inferiors. They are very concerned about serving nobles. But these craftsmen are the ones they never take seriously. Now they are allowed to serve these people. Xu Baoer couldn't turn around for a while.
He Xi said: "What? Can't?"
Xu Baoer immediately came back to his senses and said, "How could it not be possible? I will do it now, I will do it now." But he secretly cursed in his heart that this Master He is really a weirdo. There is no explanation for what He Xi did.
He Xi didn't know what Xu Baoer was thinking specifically. But you can probably guess what you are thinking. Even if it can be guessed, there is no explanation.
Because during this period of time, He Xi had already realized that the six-hundred-year generation gap was simply a gap. It is very difficult for most people to understand themselves.
Communication costs money.
For some unnecessary people, such as Xu Baoer, He Xi had no desire to explain. Just be obedient and do things.
Facts have proved that Xu Baoer has a strong ability to do things.
After a while, several large buckets of herbal tea were brought up. Of course, He Xi was given good tea. There was a little eunuch who was waiting for He Xi to drink tea.
Although he didn't want to be special, He Xi found that if he was really treated the same as the craftsmen, not only would Xu Baoer be at a loss, but even these craftsmen would probably be uncomfortable. I just drank tea by myself. He thought to himself: "I guess molten iron will be available tomorrow morning. I don't know if it's steel."
While He Xi was drinking tea.
Foreman Ge also drank a large bowl of herbal tea.
But he had no idea what the herbal tea in his mouth tasted like. He listened to the sound of the flames obsessively. Under the sound of the blower and other noises, the sound of the flame burning was not clear. It's even very weak. To most people, it's just a babbling, rustling background sound.
But to Gongtou Ge's ears, it seemed like the most beautiful sound in the world.
"Really, the temperature has really risen." Foreman Ge thought to himself: "The use of coke can really raise the temperature of the furnace. This temperature is much higher than before. According to Mr. He's temperature theory, it should be More than one thousand three hundred degrees.”
The reason why Foreman Ge made this judgment. Because the craftsmen of Ming Dynasty reached the highest stability, which was about 1,300 degrees. Therefore, he knew what the symbol of 1,300 degrees was, but he did not understand what it would be like if it was above 1,300 degrees.
Therefore, he could only judge that the furnace temperature had risen to 1,300 degrees. It exceeded all their previous furnace temperatures. Exactly how many degrees it is, I don’t know.
After all, even in the industrial age, judging furnace temperature is still a big problem. So much so that physical problems arise.
However, Foreman Ge always felt that something was wrong.
This feeling is indescribable. Because everything today is new to these craftsmen, and they don’t know what is normal and what is abnormal.
But Foreman Ge still felt something was wrong.
