As for what steel is, most people in later generations know it, but in the mid-17th century, no one can still accurately understand what steel is and what its specific principles are.
The steel that people make now is purely based on empiricism, and they don't even know why they do it.
After all, contemporary Europeans are still superstitious about the four elements, and people in the East are still playing with the five elements. They have not even understood the phenomenon of combustion, let alone a series of chemical elements that reflect these things.
If people can understand the phenomenon of combustion, it means that they know oxygen, carbon, carbon dioxide and other chemical elements. If they continue to work around, various acids will come. By then, a basic chemical system will actually be established.
But now, let alone understanding the phenomenon of combustion, even the more primitive and contradictory phlogiston theory has not yet emerged.
On the contrary, most modern people including you and me know what combustion is and what oxygen and carbon are.
Therefore, don’t think that if a modern person reaches ancient times, his limbs will be weak and his body will be useless if he is not diligent.
Not really!
A modern person who has received basic education and been influenced by basic information traveled to the late Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago, and the knowledge he mastered was enough to change the world!
Even if you are not a professional science and engineering talent, even if you are just an ordinary Qidian history reader, whether it is you, me, or him.
The knowledge and even common sense mastered can set off a revolution in scientific development in ancient times.
Of course, the premise is that you don’t starve to death, die of illness, get beaten to death, etc. before your business is half-finished...
You need a relatively safe environment, and it is best to get some external help so that you can describe this knowledge and form a complete set of the most basic knowledge system, and finally produce some scientific research products.
Now, Luo Zhixue is trying to dig deep into the modern knowledge he has mastered in the initially stable safe environment of Sanshui Village, trying to make himself better and stronger.
as well as……
Change the world!
————
In Sanshui Village in Funiu Mountain, Sun Chengli stood and watched Luo Zhixue and An Yongduo and several others busy. Because of the hot weather, An Yongduo and several others were sweating profusely. Zhao Hongshu was even working shirtless.
Sun Chengli took a step forward and came to Luo Zhixue: "Brother Luo, what are you doing?"
Luo Zhixue said: "It's nothing, just build a bigger bellows and build a stove."
Sun Lili said: "I know you are working on the bellows and furnace, but why is this? Are you really prepared to repair the weapons yourself?"
When he said this, Sun Chengli still had doubts on his face.
He thought he understood Luo Zhixue relatively well. He was a standard scholar. Although he knew a lot, he knew at a glance that he was powerless and had nothing to do with the blacksmith.
Luo Zhixue said: "I am dissatisfied with the general. Zhixue has liked reading magazines since he was a child. He once saw the content about blacksmithing and steelmaking in a magazine. But now we don't have a blacksmith on hand, so I just Prepare to be a living horse doctor and try to see if you can repair your own weapons."
Hearing this, Sun Chengli couldn't help but look at Luo Zhixue a few more times. Sun Chengli originally thought that Luo Zhixue knew enough, but he didn't expect that he also knew how to forge iron and make steel.
Are all today’s scholars so good?
Sun Chengli was illiterate since he was a child, and due to the contemporary trend of respecting scholars, he still respected scholars.
Otherwise, he would not have brought Luo Zhixue back as a clerk at the beginning, and later he would gradually rely on Luo Zhixue.
However, even so, he did not expect that scholars would know so much.
"Would you like to get a few more scholars to come back later? It will be a lot easier now that Mr. Luo is here to help you. If you get a few more scholars to come back, maybe you can really do something big."
When Sun Chengli thought this, he naturally ignored that Luo Zhixue was different from other scholars...
After all, although Sun Chengli has killed some scholars before, he has never had close contact with scholars for a long time, so his impression of scholars has always been vague. Now, under the influence of Luo Zhixue, he also thinks that scholars They should all learn this from Luo Zhi.
Regardless of what Sun Chengcheng thought, Luo Zhixue was still working on the bellows and furnace with An Yongduo and others.
If you want to repair weapons, you first need to obtain a high enough temperature to melt knives, spearheads, etc. Even if you cannot obtain high temperatures to melt iron, you must at least soften it so that it can be forged.
Luo Zhixue didn't intend to become fat in one go. He never thought that with the current rudimentary equipment, he could directly melt molten iron and make steel.
His initial goal is simple, which is to initially soften the damaged weapons so that they can be forged and restored to their original state.
Repairing a large number of existing damaged weapons, especially dozens of knives with chipped and bent handles, is currently their main task.
As for steelmaking, forging new weapons, and developing guns and the like, that will all happen in the future.
The meal must be eaten one bite at a time, and the road must be walked step by step.
Otherwise, you will either die from exhaustion or lose your temper!
Luo Zhixue directed An Yongduo and the others to prepare the bellows and furnace, and then prepared the basic tools. Then he asked An Yongduo to temporarily act as a blacksmith, and cut a sword that had been completely broken into two pieces, leaving only half of the blade. The knife was thrown into the burning furnace.
There are people on the side who are pulling the bellows hard, constantly encouraging the charcoal inside to burn violently.
Originally, Luo Zhixue wanted to get some coal as fuel, but unfortunately, there was no coal here, so he had to use charcoal.
But enough charcoal.
Luo Zhixue estimated that using a bellows, even charcoal could bring the temperature to thousands of degrees. With better luck, this bellows is more reliable, and it might even reach over a thousand degrees.
Although it still cannot reach the melting temperature of iron, Luo Zhixue does not need to melt the iron directly. He only needs to burn the iron to the point where it softens and can be forged.
Sure enough, after the half-cut waist knife was thrown in, its surface gradually turned red as it continued to be burned.
Luo Zhixue couldn't help but smile after seeing the half-cut waist knife turning red.
Then he said: "Take it out and try to forge it!"
"Be careful, this thing is hot."
After hearing Luo Zhixue's words, Anyongduo immediately took out the half-cut knife that had turned red with a long iron pliers, placed it on a large iron block, and at the same time picked up a hammer and began to beat it.
Anyongduo, who had never learned any blacksmith skills, was naturally not a qualified blacksmith, and his beating posture looked awkward, but that didn't matter.
The important thing is that as Anyongduo started forging, the fracture position of the half-cut waist knife began to bend and deform...
After forging for a while, when the hammer stopped moving as the temperature cooled, Luo Zhixue asked An Yong to throw the blade into the furnace again.
After repeating this many times, Luo Zhixue finally saw an ugly-looking knife.
This small knife is only half the length of a normal waist knife, because Anyong directly beats the half of the knife, and simply beats the broken edge of the knife into a tip shape.
The shape of the knife has initially been finalized, and the next step is quenching.
This quenching is also very primitive. Simply quenching the blade part is enough. As for the more complicated ones, Luo Zhixue has to think about it and come up with a more detailed operation process.
After An Yongduo completed many scheduled processes with sweating profusely, he finally got the knife that was only half the length.
Luo Zhixue said directly to Zhao Hongshu on the side: "Try it and see how it goes?"
Zhao Hongshu picked up the cooled knife and started chopping and stabbing the wood on the side. After some fiddling, he said: "The newly made blade is not very good, but it is still usable. At least it is better than a pure iron knife. "
Luo Zhixue said: "It's good to have this. After all, we are all laymen, and it's the first time for a big girl to get on the sedan chair. It's good to have a steel-wrapped blade."
After saying that, he glanced at An Yongduo and Zhao Hongshu again and said, "Everyone has worked hard these past two days. Let's have an extra meal of pork tonight!"
Hearing what Luo Zhixue said, An Yongduo immediately showed joy and said: "It won't be hard for me to wait, it won't be hard for me!"
Zhao Hongshu also licked his face and said: "Sir, you are worthy of being a gentleman, and you do things with dignity."
Ma Dapao on the side even said: "That's right, our brothers have been able to have enough to eat every day since we started working with my husband. Others are envious of this."
When Luo Zhixue saw them like this, he immediately laughed: "Okay, don't brag. It's getting late now. That's it for today. Pack up and get ready to go back. Brother Zhao, take a few kilograms of bacon from me." Come out, let's stew meat tonight."
On their way to Funiu Mountain, the sentinel who went out found a wild boar that fell into a trap set by a mountain man. After a lot of trouble, he brought the wild boar back.
Although it was not big, it was enough for their group to have a full meal.
On the same day, under the personal supervision of Sun Chengli, the wild boar was handed over to the cook to be cooked on the spot. Several large barrels of pork were made, and everyone had a share.
That day, everyone ate a big bowl of meat!
However, only part of the wild boar meat was cooked fresh at that time, and part of it was left behind to be made into bacon.
Luo Zhixue and other leaders also received a few extra kilograms of bacon.
Whether Sun Chengcheng or Luo Zhixue, they call each other brothers every day. If I have a meal, you will have a meal. It seems that everything is fair, but in fact it is impossible.
It would be great to bring back a wild boar so that everyone can eat it. As for the leaders, it is reasonable for the leaders to share some bacon to start a small stove or to win over their confidants.
And An Yongduo and others were Luo Zhixue's personal soldiers, so they naturally knew that Luo Zhixue still had several kilograms of bacon on hand.
Now when Luo Zhixue said he wanted to eat stew, everyone immediately smiled and packed their things very quickly, for fear that Luo Zhixue would regret it.
That night, Ma Dapao, the best cook, did the cooking himself. In addition to stewing bacon, he also cooked some green vegetables and cooked a pot of good-quality white rice that he was usually reluctant to eat. He even sprinkled it on the dishes. More refined and fine green salt.
Five grown men plus Lin Yu'er and a little girl had a rare 'big meal'.
