Powerful Song Dynasty

Chapter 211 Shameful brother, tough sister
They came to a large-scale iron smelting factory. There were more than a dozen furnaces in this factory, two of which were blast furnaces with a height of more than two feet. There was an opening on each side of the blast furnace, and the other was a tuyere for a hydraulic blower. One is the taphole.Next to the blast furnace is a flat land furnace with a height of more than one meter, a low flat shape, and a fan-shaped cross section, and a grid of regenerators built with refractory bricks.

In this era, not only coal was used instead of charcoal, blowers also appeared, and even blast furnaces appeared!Blast furnace ironmaking technology has existed for decades, but what is lacking is coke selection and improvement of refractory bricks and blowers. In other words, the output is large and the cost is high, and factory owners generally still use open hearth furnaces.

This time, Wang Xiu brought Wang Qingzhu, Youqin Moyan, Lu Yao, Feng Yuan, and Qiu Yun, and Wang Qingzhu and Youqin Moyan came to investigate.

Wang Qingzhu and the others were amazed at the huge scale of Liguojian's iron smelting. They entered the iron smelting workshop and couldn't stop looking at it. The experienced workshop owner accompanied them, and an old blacksmith explained in detail.

No one saw Youqin Moyan's face. When the owner of the workshop proudly introduced the blast furnace, she heard her ask: "If the volume problem of the blast furnace can be solved, the cost will be relatively reduced. Can two blast furnaces be connected to solve the problem?" ?”

Wang Xiu glanced at Youqin Moyan in surprise. He was surprised by his wife's question, which was something he didn't pay attention to.yes!Double blast furnace is the best way to solve the problem of low iron production and high cost.Day!Why didn't he think of it, he tried his best to discover the steel knowledge in his memory, but he didn't have a clue.

The old blacksmith shook his head in embarrassment and said: "This lady, the little old man has been forging iron all his life, and the amount of steel he produced is tens of thousands of catties. It is really difficult for the lady."

Wang Xiu shook his head helplessly. Youqin Mo Yanwen’s technological accumulation beyond the times has no theoretical support, nor does he have a solid technical accumulation. No wonder the old blacksmith couldn’t answer, but he didn’t give up. Su, with the current iron and steel smelting technology, can two blast furnaces and several open hearth furnaces produce forged steel?"

"Guys, forged steel is made through continuous quenching and tempering. It is impossible to directly produce forged steel from the furnace." The old craftsman squinted his purple eyes from the smoke and gave Wang Xiu a supercilious look. It seems to be blaming Wang Xiu for her ignorance.

The workshop owner hurriedly explained with a smile, "Sir, what comes out of the furnace is molten iron. Only the best ore can directly produce molten steel. After continuous tempering, it can become forged steel."

Wang Qingzhu also rolled her eyes brother, slandering Wang Xiu is really a pig's head, she is ashamed of her, she is still Liguo's parent official!

Wang Xiu was embarrassed for a while. This mistake was too low-level. Do you think that the era of electric furnaces in later generations! Even if high-quality swords are made in later generations, the ones coming off the assembly line are still not as good as those made by hand.

The old blacksmith glanced at the owner of the workshop, and said thoughtfully: "The lady's words remind the little old man that if we can build two blast furnaces together, we should be able to increase production and reduce the embarrassment of frequent clogging of slag."

"Double blast furnace! The master is actually a master, why didn't I think of it." Wang Xiu suddenly patted his forehead, and he was still an experienced craftsman.

Although iron smelting technology cannot meet the requirements of [-] steel smelting, the combination of double furnaces can increase the output of iron production, which is definitely much higher than the current two single furnaces in terms of efficiency. If we continue to sum up experience over time, we should be able to Continuously improve the quality of steel.

The old blacksmith chuckled and said, "My lord, I'm just talking about facts. If you can connect the two blast furnaces, you can increase the output of steel, but you can't improve the quality of the steel. You want to increase the toughness of the steel." , can only be forged with a hammer."

"Oh." Wang Xiu smiled awkwardly. He had reason to believe that with the help of experienced craftsmen, he could solve the problems of low temperature in blast furnace ironmaking and frequent clogging of the regenerator by slag. As long as we continue to explore in practice, we will gradually solve these problems.

"Since the double furnace can produce pig iron on a large scale, and then use abundant river water to develop stamping hammers with water conservancy or steam, it can greatly save manpower and increase steelmaking output on a large scale."

"Water conservancy forging is also a way, but you can only choose places with large riverbed drops and fast water flow. Qizhou is good. As for steam forging." The old blacksmith said honestly.

Wang Xiu's eyes were bright, and he had great expectations, hoping that the wisdom of the people could give him a satisfactory answer.But the old blacksmith squinted his eyes and said: "My lord, the old man doesn't know what steam is, but there are quite a few waterwheels to draw water and pound rice. However, forging steel is a craft, and you must have good eyesight, hand strength, and heat."

Wang Xiu nodded, steam is of course not to be mentioned, although it is possible to realize simple steam equipment and simple production, but it is a very complicated system after all, and many problems need to be solved. He can only provide theory, and there is almost nothing he can do in practice.

Water power is different. If the water power can be fully utilized to drive the hammer to forge steel, even if it cannot produce [-]% steel, it can still produce better quality iron blocks while saving a lot of manpower, greatly increasing production efficiency.

"If, if the iron hammer can be moved by water power, the semi-hard pig iron that comes out of the furnace can be forged once, well, if it is possible, we can create the effect of the river bed drop." Wang Xiu was not sure.

"What the officials said makes sense, but it's a pity that the water flow here is gentle, otherwise the proprietor would have forged iron with a waterwheel."

Wang Xiu blushed a little, and secretly sighed that he had underestimated the wisdom of the contemporary people without knowing it. Since he saw that rice could be pounded with a water wheel, how could no one think of anything else.Who knows that later archaeologists opened the Dayunshan Han Tomb and found glass products.

Wang Qingzhu doesn't care about water conservancy, she has already seen the huge benefits, if the Wang family can enter the Li country and occupy a place, the huge wealth will not roll in!Her beautiful eyes shone with a fiery light.

"Old Su, I have something to ask." Wang Xiu's attitude was very respectful. After all, these talents who have been working in the profession for a lifetime deserve people's respect.

"My lord, please tell me, the old man can't bear it." The old blacksmith twisted his beard and squinted his eyes, and he didn't dare to make a fool of himself in front of the supervisor.

Wang Xiu squatted on the ground and drew a simple picture of a steam engine on the ground with a small iron rod, saying: "Steam equipment uses water vapor to convert heat into mechanical force using levers, gears, and cylinders. First, there must be a boiler." chamber, heat the water, when the water is heated and vaporized, it becomes water vapor, and at the same time the volume expands, and the piston is pushed by the huge air pressure, which generates mechanical force to push the hammer to strike. The difficulty is to solve the sealing and friction of the piston part, to avoid Steam is wasted, reducing thrust."

Wang Xiu talked for a quarter of an hour, the old blacksmith was also squatting on the ground, squinting his eyes and listening, while Wang Qingzhu and Youqin Moyan were in the fog.

A young man came by and knelt on one knee to listen to Wang Xiu's explanation.

"I've never heard of what your lord said." The old blacksmith shook his head.

"It's easy to seal, just use paraffin wax and blue bricks." The boy said suddenly.

Wang Xiu was stunned, and looked up at the young man in amazement, feeling a surge of turmoil in his heart.

The old blacksmith looked at the young man solemnly, and said seriously: "Zheng Da, why did you think of using paraffin?".

The young man smiled honestly, pointed to the picture on the ground, and said: "Master, I think the master drew a big warehouse, and it is not easy to seal it. It is built with exquisite green bricks, then melted paraffin and poured on it to polish it smooth. You can just paint it with lard."

Wang Xiu was speechless for a while. He was puzzled about the problem of sealing to prevent heat loss, but he was solved by a few words by the unattractive young man in front of him. How embarrassing!
The old blacksmith pondered for a while, and said to Wang Xiu: "Officer, this method will work."

"Although it looks simple, it is very difficult to do. I think the officials want to use hot air to drive the hammer to hammer the pig iron. How much strength is required!"

Wang Xiu was excited. The young blacksmith not only solved the problem of sealing in theory, but also considered the problem of finished products in practice.If it can become a reality, it will definitely create the era of steam, and what will follow will make him feel excited, talent!
He couldn't help worrying for a while, and asked in a trembling tone: "If you build a wrought iron room, how does the little master think it will be solved?"

"Don't dare to do it." The young blacksmith pondered for a while, looked at the ground and said: "The way to boil water, pipes, levers, and gears are all easy to talk about. The Li Guojian is not lacking in these things. They are all ready-made. However, how to do it?" Let the hot air move the trap, pull the hammer, this is hard to say!"

Reminded by the young blacksmith, Wang Xiucai remembered that the Liguo Supervisor was a steel supervisor, and some ordnance was made here. Back then, Di Qing led the entire army to build armored battles. There was no shortage of fine parts on those equipment. Even if there are many small gears, it can be applied to simple steam equipment to a large extent.

He swallowed, as greedy as a hungry wolf discovering a lamb, planning how to poach the boy away.

Wang Qingzhu and Youqin Moyan saw Wang Xiu's eyes and understood what he was thinking, but Wang Qingzhu said with a smile: "Little brother is a talent, I want to pay fifteen pennies per month, will you follow my family Wang?" Remember the department store."

The corners of the workshop owner's mouth twitched. This lady completely ignored his existence and was poaching people in his workshop. The young blacksmith was an apprentice, but he was also a member of his workshop. Little, can you face me!

Lu Yao was also speechless for a while, looking at Wang Qingzhu pitifully, the second proprietor is really pungent!It's not at all polite to poach people in person.

Wang Xiu glanced at the owner of the workshop, and felt that Wang Qingzhu was going too far, so you couldn't bear it, and asked the young man to promise a lot of money in private, and you had to say it in front of the workshop owner.

Wang Qingzhu doesn't see it that way, no one can resist the benefit, who thinks the money is too little!Sometimes hypocrisy can only make opportunities lost.

Fifteen!The corner of the boy's mouth twitched for a while, his eyes were burning hot.

(End of this chapter)