Europa Universalis 1867: Start by inheriting an armory

Swansea in December is very similar to London. It is the copper capital of England, where sulfur emitted from smelting combines with the cold sea air, and just one breath is enough to burn your throat.

Richard got off the train, flagged down a carriage, and said to the driver, "Excuse me, to the Landor Smelter."

The coachman nodded, cracked his whip, and the carriage slowly started moving.

The Landor Smelter is located on the edge of Swansea, not far from the docks. It is an old building that has been smelting copper and zinc since the early Victorian period. It was later bought by Charles William Siemens and converted into a base for experimental open-hearth steelmaking.

Richard stood at the factory gate, looking up at the smoking chimney. He couldn't quite remember what this place would look like more than a century later, but he knew that Siemens' regenerators were commercialized and promoted here.

Richard entered the factory, but was surprised because, in theory, the workshop should have been very hot, but he did not feel any heat radiation at all.

He walked a few more steps and then he learned the reason.

The stove stopped.

It wasn't routine maintenance; it collapsed.

Under the combined effects of prolonged high temperatures and alkaline slag, the silica bricks on the furnace roof cracked from the inside and broke into several pieces, which then collapsed into the furnace chamber.

The workers stood on the scaffolding, using shovels and hammers to pry off the broken bricks one by one, sweat streaming down their backs.

Those above shouted, "Hurry up!" and those below responded, "If you can do it, then you do it!" Their faces were devoid of smiles; laughter seemed out of place in the face of this silent furnace.

Siemens was standing not far from the furnace, wearing a long black suit made of solid fabric with a silk bow at the collar.

He had a thick beard on both sides of his face, with a layer of very fine mineral powder on the edges, like it had been sprinkled with icing sugar.

When he raised his arm to point out the crack in the furnace roof to the workers, Richard noticed a small hole in his cuff, caused by sparks, resembling a burn mark from a cigarette butt.

The foreman climbed down from the scaffolding, walked up to Siemens, and dusted the ash off his hat brim: "Mr. William, I'm afraid this batch of bricks won't last more than a month. If we keep firing them, the furnace roof will collapse again."

Siemens sighed, staring at the pile of broken bricks that had fallen into the furnace.

Richard walked up quietly, stood beside him, and looked at the still-warm stove side by side.

"Mr. Siemens," Richard called to him.

Siemens turned to look at Richard, his gaze shifting from worry to confusion, and a slight downward smirk appeared on his lips: "Who are you?"

"Brian, Richard Brian," Richard extended his hand, "I wrote to you before and arranged to meet today."

Siemens grasped his hand and weighed it in his hand.

"A letter?" His eyes darted around. "Oh, a letter. I haven't had time to look at it. I've been living here for a while now. This damn furnace is producing nothing but expensive scrap iron. I finally managed to get one batch that turned out okay, but then the furnace roof collapsed. If this keeps up, we'll have to close down sooner or later."

Siemens squatted down, picked up a broken brick from the ground, and examined it from all angles in his palm.

The brick's cross-section is dark brown, with a layer of shimmering slag on the surface, resembling a wafer biscuit broken in half.

He rubbed his thumb against the brick surface, but the glassy hard shell didn't budge.

Richard put his hands in his pockets and casually remarked, "You can't add lime to acidic furnace linings like silica bricks to remove phosphorus. Too much phosphorus will make the steel as brittle as a biscuit."

Siemens raised his head.

Richard continued, "If you want to produce good steel, you can only buy low-phosphate ore from Switzerland, which naturally increases the cost. The more you burn, the more you lose, and the more you lose, the more you burn."

"The problem is, there's no such thing as alkaline bricks," Siemens shook his head and muttered to himself.

"I've heard that Wells has some good dolomite. After calcination, it becomes a refractory material rich in calcium oxide and magnesium oxide. What do you think of that?"

Siemens stopped, placed the broken brick on the ground, and looked at Richard in disbelief.

"You know chemistry?" he asked.

"I know a little bit," Richard said modestly with a smile.

Siemens clapped his hands, and Richard knew he was making plans.

"Bricks made from calcined dolomite are only suitable for building houses; they are not strong enough for furnace linings," he said.

"You can add a binder," Richard explained. "The tar can increase its strength and water resistance, and the fired bricks can not only be used as furnace linings, but perhaps also as furnace roofs."

Siemens fell silent. His tired, sunken eyes blinked rapidly, as if something was coalescing into a form, the question that was about to be asked.

"Which university did you graduate from?" He raised an eyebrow. "Gisein? Munich?"

Richard pursed his lips. In this era, the best universities for chemistry were mostly in Prussia.

The University of Giessen has Liebig, the University of Munich has von Bayer, and the Universities of Heidelberg, Bonn, and even Berlin each hold an unshakeable position in European chemistry.

Chemistry at Oxford and Cambridge in the UK is still just a small branch of natural philosophy, and the laboratory equipment is not even up to the level of the University of Giessen ten years ago.

It is extremely rare for a British businessman to be knowledgeable in chemistry and metallurgy.

Richard took his hand out of his pocket and changed the subject.

"I know you're having cash flow problems," Richard lowered his voice, "and your competitors aren't optimistic about your thermal generators; they're just waiting to see you go bankrupt."

He looked Siemens in the eye: "But I'm willing to invest in your factory and buy your first batch of qualified steel."

Siemens paused for a moment, then chuckled, amused by the unlikely suggestion.

"You weren't sent by that old bastard Bessem to mess with me?" he asked self-deprecatingly.

Richard pulled a money order from the inside pocket of his coat; the edges of the paper were warm from his body heat.

He unfolded the draft and handed it over.

Siemens took the draft, his gaze shifting back and forth between the paper and Richard's face, repeatedly confirming that the young man before him was not joking.

He ran his fingers along the edge of the bill, folded it neatly, and stuffed it into his inner pocket.

"What are you going to do with this batch of steel?" he asked.

"Build cannons." Richard made no attempt to hide his intentions, stating his purpose directly, because for a top scientist like Siemens, lying was futile.

"Armstrong's cannons are no longer usable?" Siemens asked, somewhat surprised.

"It's usable, but it's not quite there yet." Richard smiled. "It's just missing this batch of steel. Haven't you always wanted to prove that you are the backbone of British industry? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Siemens scratched his chin, turned to face the extinguished furnace and the workers prying up bricks, and clenched his fists.

"Stop!" he said.

The foreman peered out from the scaffolding, thinking he'd misheard: "What?"

"Stop." Siemens' voice was a little louder. "We're not going to fix it anymore. Get rid of all the old bricks. We're going to replace them."

The foreman paused for a moment, then nodded, waved to the workers, and the sounds of shovels and hammers stopped.

Siemens turned around and extended his hand to Richard: "I don't usually get involved in the military industry, but your suggestion... is very professional, and I'm willing to trust you."

Richard grasped his hand and shook it forcefully.

"Don't worry," he said, "your thermal regenerator is absolutely on the right track for the times."