Europa Universalis 1867: Start by inheriting an armory

Siemens then took out another mineral from the mahogany box.

Corundum has a hardness of nine.

It was also the rough stone of a ruby. Siemens pressed the corundum onto the surface of the steel ingot, his fingers trembling with the force. Instantly, the corundum left sharp, visible scratches on the surface of the steel ingot.

Richard looked at the scratch, but he wasn't disappointed.

This is not the final product. What they made in Landor was high-carbon chromium-nickel pig iron, which is normal for its hardness to be less than nine. There are very few metals in the world with a hardness of nine.

Siemens put the corundum back into the box and removed a pale yellow mineral from the clasp, which looked like a small piece of sun-dried honey.

That's topaz, with a hardness of eight.

Siemens gripped it, turned and glanced at Richard: "You might want to cover your ears."

Richard nodded, stretched out his hands and pressed them against his ears, leaving no gaps. The world instantly became quiet, with only the vibration of the fan transmitted into his ears through his bones.

Siemens pressed topaz onto the surface of the steel ingot.

He took a breath and pushed outwards from the direction of his body, using the strength of his entire arm.

A piercing, high-frequency shriek exploded instantly.

squeak! ! !

Even in the roaring workshop, amidst the low growls of the blowers and the hissing of the furnace, the sound was so clear that it made one want to crouch down.

Siemens' eyebrows furrowed, and his lips were pressed into a thin line.

The topaz slid from one end of the steel ingot to the other, and the shriek lasted for about two seconds before stopping.

Richard lowered his hand; the sound did not cause much damage to his eardrums.

Siemens replaced the topaz in his hand with a magnifying glass and examined the scratch closely.

He tilted his head slightly to the left, repeatedly adjusting the angle of the magnifying glass under the gaslight.

Richard waited patiently, but Siemens remained silent, and even the workers by the material handling station leaned on their shovels, motionless.

Their eyes were all on Siemens's hand and the steel ingot.

"How is it?" Richard finally couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Siemens, is it done?"

Siemens moved the magnifying glass away from his eyes and said, "Go and get the gas lamp."

Richard paused for a moment, then turned and ran to the other end of the workshop.

Soon, he ran back carrying a gas lamp, placed it on the worktable, and turned the lampshade towards Siemens.

The firelight immediately illuminated the steel ingot, revealing the patterns that were almost invisible to the naked eye in minute detail.

Siemens adjusted the magnifying glass again, and finally, the light refracted at the edge of the scratch, and a bright band of light appeared on the uneven surface of the steel ingot.

He removed the magnifying glass and straightened up.

"Congratulations," he said. "Its hardness matches your estimate."

Richard let out a long breath, exhaling the tension and unease that had been accumulating in his lungs.

He braced himself against the worktable with his hand to steady himself.

The hardness meets the standard.

This proves that their ingredients are controlled quite accurately, with the ratio of chromium to nickel within a suitable range.

However, it is only half complete now. These high-carbon chromium-nickel pig irons, although extremely hard, are weak inside and very brittle. They can be easily broken with a sledgehammer, let alone withstand the baptism of artillery fire.

They also need to be combined with the low-carbon steel that Monmouth is producing. Only by putting these two together and decarburizing and removing impurities in the refining furnace, in a ratio of five to one, can chromium and nickel be evenly distributed between the ferrite grains, so that it will neither become brittle nor disappear and become ineffective.

Only then can they truly obtain that superalloy that is both hard and tough, and can be forged into gun barrels.

The workers grinned as they saw Richard finally relax. Some punched their chests, while others turned around to look at the furnace opening, as if to confirm that the molten steel was still there.

Richard took out his pocket watch from his pocket, flicked open the cover, and it was not yet four o'clock.

Suddenly he remembered that today was Christmas Eve.

Although it took two years for the law to officially designate Christmas as a statutory Sabbath, on this day, the vast majority of factories and workshops would tacitly agree to take a holiday.

However, Christmas Eve is not a holiday, and workers usually have to finish a whole day's work before they have time to buy goose or pudding for dinner.

He closed his pocket watch, put it back in his pocket, and looked at Siemens.

Siemens was holding the topaz up, repeatedly checking it under the light to see if it had chipped during the previous test.

"I think," Richard said, "that we've done most of the work for today, don't you think?"

Siemens stopped what he was doing. He understood what Richard meant, so he put the jade back into the mahogany box and turned to face the workers.

"That's enough for today," Siemens raised his voice. "Once you've finished up the remaining work, you can leave."

"Also," he said, "your pay is double today. Go home and be with your families!"

The workers looked up in surprise, as if they had misheard.

Then cheers erupted.

People took off their hats, waved them above their heads, and then quickly lowered their heads, their hand movements becoming lighter.

Siemens walked over to Richard, and the two stood side by side.

A young worker ran past the material platform, nearly tripped over a shovel on the ground, stumbled, turned back with an embarrassed smile, and continued running.

Siemens smiled and shook his head.

"Did we succeed?" Siemens asked.

"It'll be soon." Richard looked at the sample. "As soon as the low-carbon steel from Swansea arrives, our new alloy will shake the world."

Siemens smiled slightly, took out the small notebook from his pocket, and flipped through the pages. It was filled with notes on the furnace temperature, air volume, ball ratio, and tapping time that he had observed over the past few hours.

"You deserve a lot of credit for this too." Siemens closed the notebook, put it back in his pocket, and said, "You gave me a lot of inspiration, and I won't forget it."

"You flatter me. Without your stove, all of this would be just wishful thinking," Richard replied humbly.

Simon stroked his chin and looked at Richard, as if he was thinking about something.

"Would you like to run a steel mill with me?" Siemens suddenly asked. "Let's be partners."

"If... you'd be willing to teach me." Richard was somewhat surprised.

His knowledge of chemistry and metallurgy came from books, but he didn't understand the structure of the regenerator or the function of each valve—things that only top engineers like those at Siemens could comprehend.

Siemens smiled and extended his hand: "I should learn from you, Mr. Brian."

Richard quickly took his hand.

They shook each other solemnly twice, then let go of each other.

"That's all for now." Richard put his hands back in his pockets. "I need to go home and take a good bath; I'm drenched in sweat."

"Of course, I also have to go back to my family." Siemens chuckled, tucking the mahogany box under his arm. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Brian."

Merry Christmas, Mr. Siemens.