"You've become a Marquis, and you don't even want to go back to Zhouqiao to show off for two days and then settle down in Huaidu?"
Liu Qiong'er got off the carriage and saw Xu Huai sitting among the craftsmen. His hair was messy and he just tied it up with a wooden hairpin at random. There were several black marks on his face. He was wearing a short coat and was covered in molten metal. There were several holes perforated, and the boots he was wearing had holes in the big toes of his feet. At first glance, he thought he was working hard in an iron workshop, but how could he look anything like Marquis Jingsheng or General Yulu?
Liu Qiong'er came over and wiped away the black marks on Xu Huai's face with a brocade handkerchief.
After Xu Huai returned to Chushan, he first went to Shibaliwu to verify that raw coal smelting was indeed effective. He also wanted to further merge pig iron smelting and refined iron frying into one place, so he stationed directly in Huaidu Town near Shibaliwu. Come down and go to the iron field every day to follow Zhuang Shouxin, Zhuang Yong, Shen Lian and others to try out new methods.
After Chushan was established as a county, Xu Huai set up an ordnance factory in the former Huaiyuan Inspection Department's military village to specialize in the manufacture of armor and weapons. Pig iron materials for smelting at the Shibaliwu Iron Works were mainly transported to the ordnance factory for subsequent use. of processing.
However, when the Shibaliwu Iron Works was in the hands of the Tang family, there were also workshops that forged common ironware, and the method used was to fry the pig iron and then forge it into shape.
Staying in Huaidu for more than ten days, Xu Huai almost understood many details of the current methods of pig iron smelting and refined iron frying.
The stir-frying method practiced in Shibaliwu is to use a half-height pot-shaped (big belly and small mouth) crucible to first put charcoal in the furnace, then hammer the pig iron into the furnace, then cover it with charcoal powder, ignite the furnace and close the furnace. When the pig iron is close to melting, open the furnace mouth and stir it quickly with an iron rod or wooden stick, which is called frying.
As the stirring progresses, the iron juice sticks into a ball, which is pinched out with iron pliers and hammered to remove impurities, and the iron becomes refined iron.
The refined iron produced by this single-furnace frying method still contains many impurities. If you want to forge a good weapon, you need to use the hundreds of refining methods and the pot refining method for further processing.
The methods of making crucible furnaces in the current era were also relatively simple. They mainly used clay to make a thick-walled adobe furnace, then put copper ore powder into it to smelt it, and finally poured out the melted copper water to get a crucible furnace.
It's just that this small-mouth crucible furnace is difficult to make too large.
In addition to the fact that the pig iron smelting furnaces used by the mainstream in the world were small and could not produce much pig iron in one furnace, the most important thing was that the iron tools produced in the world were not large, so people did not feel any inconvenience.
As the saying goes, "What you see on paper will eventually make you realize it is shallow, but you will definitely know that you have to do it in detail."
Xu Huai had some knowledge about the method of iron-making in the past, mainly from listening to the oral descriptions of Xu Wuliang, Zhuang Shouxin and others.
In addition to military affairs, he also had to take time to train his muscles and hone his martial arts skills. How could he have time to take care of too much? He didn't even have time to go to the iron yard to take a look in person.
Xu Huai stayed in Huaidu for more than ten days and went to the Shibaliwu iron yard every day. In addition to connecting some extremely fragmented memory fragments that originally seemed meaningless, Xu Huai made some knowledge that was obviously not available in this world. However, in addition to the verification of life and reality, it also seems to be an analogy, and has a deep understanding and understanding of many craftsmanship methods in the world, including smelting, especially the details.
The craftsmanship of the world is mainly still in the stage of summarizing experience, and there is still a lack of understanding of the inner operating principles.
Lack of in-depth research and thinking.
The crucible furnaces used today are in the shape of a pot with a big belly and a small mouth. This is mainly to facilitate sealing and ensure that the furnace temperature is high enough to melt the pig iron. However, if the seal is opened and stirred quickly, the molten iron will solidify quickly.
The craftsmen of the time believed that this phenomenon was caused by cooling, but they did not realize that the so-called frying was actually to further remove the carbon content in the pig iron. As the carbon content decreased, the furnace temperature requirements for the melting of the iron increased.
, and changes will occur accordingly.
Pig iron can be cast but not malleable. The main reason is that the carbon content is too high and it is brittle and easy to break. Pig iron blocks can even be broken with a hammer.
The properties of iron mainly change with the change of carbon content; when the carbon content drops to a very low level, it will have the same soft properties as gold and silver, which is wrought iron, also known as soft iron in the world.
Understanding the reason behind this and then improving the smelting process based on the current reality will definitely achieve twice the result with half the effort than trying blindly to figure out the elephant.
Pig iron smelting and frying are combined into one, and the molten iron is directly drained out, eliminating the need for re-heating. If it is clear that the subsequent goal is to reduce the carbon content, you can directly add carbon powder and stir up these with willow sticks.
Eliminate the details that may be counterproductive, thereby eliminating the complexity of many blind attempts.
After clarifying this point, the principles of brewing, leaching and other methods will become clear.
In addition to the thick wall of the crucible, the main reason is the multi-layer structure of the wall that enables it to hold high-temperature molten iron.
Understand this point, a large open crucible is simple and not complicated to prepare.
For more than ten days, Xu Huai participated in the exploration and experimentation of the new method. He led Zhuang Shouxin, his son-in-law, and dozens of craftsmen to make an open crucible that could be connected to a small furnace, and soon the first furnace was made using the new method.
Refined refined iron.
Traditional refined iron refining is carried out in two steps and is carried out indirectly. The new method is done in one step, which can be called the "one-step method".
Although there are still many details in the "one-step method" that need to be worked out and improved, the first batch of refined iron in the trial has been successfully forged into a batch of ordinary iron tools, and all aspects of the tested properties can be said to be qualified.
When this layer of window paper was opened, Zhuang Shouxin and others, as well as the craftsmen who participated in the trial of the new method and were skilled craftsmen, were extremely excited.
They can all see how much manpower and material resources can be saved by directly smelting refined iron on a large scale using the one-step method.
Military and political matters were shared by Shi Zhen, Xu Wuqi, Xu Wujiang, Su Laochang and others. Xu Huai stayed in Huaidu for more than ten days without feeling the hardship, and even enjoyed it. However, Liu Qiong'er could not sit still in Zhouqiao.
, came to Huaidu and urged Xu Huai to return to Zhouqiao.
Zhuang Shouxin, Zhuang Yong, Shen Lian and others sat beside Xu Huai. They were familiar with Xu Huai and were not so formal. When they saw Liu Qiong'er coming, they stood up and saluted her.
"Sit down, there are so many etiquettes?" Xu Huai asked Zhuang Shou, Zhuang Yong, Shen Lian and the craftsmen who had been studying the one-step method together these days to sit down and don't ask them to be formal.
"Didn't news come out two days ago that the new method's verification effect is very good? Why are you still here?" Liu Qiong'er looked over and saw a pile of paper on the ground beside Xu Huai. He pressed it with stones and drew some random pictures.
Like a sketch of a shack.
"The new law is not perfect yet. I am thinking that it may be improved further!" Xu Huai said.
"For hundreds of years
After smelting iron like this, it can be said that Chushan has improved a lot on the original basis. What else are you dissatisfied with?" Liu Qiong'er asked coquettishly, stroking her smooth forehead with her hand.
"Let me tell you," Xu Huaila and Liu Qiong'er sat down, pulled out a sketch at the bottom, and said, "This is the new method of frying pond continuous furnace. The molten iron is introduced into the frying pond at the bottom of the self-smelting furnace, but the condensation
The speed is too fast. Even if several craftsmen stir the iron quickly, it is difficult to ensure that the refined iron is fully stirred, and it is always a little bit unsatisfactory. Mr. Zhuang thought about digging out a hollow under the square pond to build a stove to start a fire, but the iron was stirred.
The pond has to hold thousands or even two or three thousand kilograms of molten iron for frying at a time, and the bottom wall needs to be made strong and thick, which makes the effect of raising fire from the bottom extremely limited..."
"People are dissatisfied with the snake swallowing the elephant. You want to become fat in one bite, and you just let it go and don't care about other things?" Liu Qiong'er asked.
"That's right!" Xu Huai clapped his hands and stood up, and said to Zhuang Shouxin, "You don't have to stay here. There are still too many things that need to be done in the Craftsmanship Institute. I think the Shibaliwu Iron Yard will be handed over to Shen Lian for the time being. It is also up to Shen Lian to lead the craftsmen to explore whether there is room for improvement in the new law!"
Shen Lian was also born into a craftsman family in Bianliang. His family was poor since he was a child, and he married into a banker's family as his son-in-law. Xu Huai had met him several times before, and had not even spoken to him. However, after more than ten days of contact, he found that Shen Lian was not only interested in Ye He is very familiar with the methods of iron casting and forging. He has learned the skills of many masters and managed the craftsmen. He also has a good way of managing the craftsmen, and his ideas are very broad. He does not stick to the old laws and regulations.
When Xu Huai explained many of the principles contained in the new law, Zhuang Shouxin was a little hesitant to believe them, but Shen Lian understood them immediately.
Xu Huai decided to leave the Shibaliwu Iron Works and the subsequent improvement of the new method to Shen Lian, and hoped that he could bring out a team of craftsmen who did not adhere to the old rules.
Zhuang Shouxin is a well-known figure in the fields of old method casting and forging, but Chushan still needs new people and a new atmosphere.
"I've been staying here for more than ten days, and I'm tired of it, but Jieshuai refuses to listen to his advice and goes back to Zhouqiao. Miss Liu is the one who can help!" Niu Er picked up the general's robe and armor, and couldn't help but complain a few times.
"You idiot, do you think everything in the world will be fine as long as you are responsible for leading the troops in battle?" Xu Huai put on his robe and armor while Liu Qiong'er waited on him, pointed at Niu Er and cursed with a smile.
"What don't I understand? Isn't it that the money and food that Xiangyang gave to Chushan is too little? Commander Jie can definitely ask His Majesty for more money and food. There is no reason in the world to want horses to run but not to give them grass. ?" Niu Erweng said.
Xu Huai knew that Niu Er could say this because he had listened too much to others, so he just smiled and didn't say anything more to him.
When Shi Hu brought the horse, Xu Huai said goodbye to Zhuang Shouxin, Shen Lian and others, got on the horse, grabbed Liu Qiong'er who wanted to ride back, pulled her onto the horse's back, and sat down On the saddle, feeling the heart-stirring softness through the thin skirt, Liu Qiong'er refused and said: "What great things have happened these days, tell me from horseback..."
"Whatever happened, there was always a report sent to Huaidu. Didn't you even take a look at it?" Liu Qiong'er asked with beautiful eyes.
"There is no urgent matter, so why should I read those newspapers?" Xu Huai said.
