While Zhu Hongyu arranged for people to clean up the valley, he also ordered people to investigate the situation around the valley.
He wants to understand the surrounding terrain, water sources, minerals and other things.
Luzon has a hot and humid climate, but it is rich in natural resources and has a large amount of copper, iron, gold, silver, chromium, nickel and other metal minerals.
There are also a lot of non-metallic ores such as lime and quartz.
In terrains like river valleys, there may be gold mines or copper-iron mines nearby, even if there are no such metal minerals.
Some limestone and some clay are also good.
Limestone can be used to make cement, and clay can be used to make refractory bricks.
Cement can be used to build city defenses and ensure the safety of city defenses in river valleys.
With refractory bricks, Zhu Hongyu could make iron and steel, and then make guns and cannons.
Soon, as the soldiers of the Liberation Army explored the surrounding areas of the river valley, Zhu Hongyu's expectations came to fruition.
The soldiers of the Liberation Army were all miners, so finding and identifying ores was naturally not a problem for them.
In particular, many of the Chinese craftsmen rescued from the mines by the Liberation Army had rich experience in prospecting.
The soldiers of the Liberation Army found a large amount of limestone and some clay near the river valley, but the clay was of poor quality.
It's definitely not suitable for making porcelain, but if it's just used to make cement and refractory bricks, it's not a big problem.
In addition, the soldiers of the Liberation Army also discovered a large-scale open-pit coal mine in a mountain col not far from a nearby indigenous tribe.
Some iron ore was also found near the coal mine, but unfortunately, the purity of the iron ore is not high, which may be very troublesome if you want to refine iron and steel.
"General, I'm not bragging to you as an old man. My skill in prospecting is passed down from my ancestors."
A former craftsman in a mine demonstrated his skills confidently in front of Zhu Hongyu.
If a soldier of the Liberation Army can find coal or iron mines, he will be credited with the first contribution.
Zhu Hongyu patted Jiangtou on the shoulder and said in a very kind tone.
"Haha, I, the general, naturally trust you, Old Liu Tou!"
"You will train iron and steel and make ordnance for our Liberation Army. When I, the general, restore the Ming Dynasty, I will give you the title of Minister of the Ministry of Industry!"
Zhu Hongyu's promise made Old Liu's old face turn red with excitement, and he just nodded desperately.
He is just a craftsman. If he really becomes the minister of the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty in the future, he will not be smoking on his ancestral graves, but he will be setting off firecrackers on his ancestral graves.
…
Let Lao Liutou lead people to make refractory bricks from clay and prepare to set up a blast furnace for iron and steel making and ordnance manufacturing.
Zhu Hongyu began to personally lead the craftsmen to prepare for making cement.
Based on the current conditions, it would be impossible for him to make high-grade cement.
But soil and cement are also cement. With cement, he can build the defense system of the valley as quickly as possible.
The production process of soil cement is not difficult, Zhu Hongyu has simply learned some.
Limestone and clay are ground into flour, and then the clinker is calcined and then ground together with the slag left after ironmaking to become cement.
Therefore, making cement is really inseparable from iron-making. You must first make iron to produce slag before you can proceed to the next step.
Zhu Hongyu temporarily put aside the matter of making cement and began to prepare for iron and steel making.
In just two days, a simple small blast furnace was built on the spot.
The small blast furnace iron smelting method has many disadvantages, including high energy consumption, high pollution, and poor quality of the iron produced.
But its advantages are equally obvious, with low technical difficulty and no threshold.
At a certain time in the last century, small blast furnaces were built in every village and town of Tujia to refine steel.
How high can the technical difficulty be for a small blast furnace that even illiterate villagers can build by themselves?
Although in later generations the small blast furnace was eliminated due to its various defects and was replaced by more advanced iron and steelmaking methods.
But in this era, iron training in small blast furnaces is an absolute black technology!
Not to mention anything else, the output alone can beat all other iron-making methods in this era!
The small blast furnace is ignited, and the blast device blows a large amount of air into the small blast furnace. The coke is ignited and the furnace temperature rises rapidly.
After the furnace temperature reached a certain level, experienced craftsmen reported to Zhu Hongyu.
"General, the furnace is almost ready to add minerals!"
Zhu Hongyu nodded and said.
"Then add it!"
The craftsmen followed the order and Old Liu Tou stood beside Zhu Hongyu and couldn't help but question.
"General, this old man has never seen an iron-making furnace like this? Are you afraid that the furnace will explode when making iron like this?"
“Once the furnace explodes, the consequences will be disastrous!”
"How about we hide first?"
Old Liu Tou has been working in mines and workshops for most of his life, and he is good at practicing iron and copper.
He even contributed to the fight against the Qing Dynasty. Before coming to Nanyang, he also made weapons for Lord Long Wu in Guangdong.
It can be considered a rich life experience!
But let alone seeing it, he had never even heard of such a thing as a small blast furnace.
Liu Tou, who was very superstitious about what he had learned in the first half of his life, expressed doubts about the method of iron training in a small blast furnace, which he had never seen before!
Zhu Hongyu rolled his eyes. Old Liu Tou had been nagging in his ears for the past two days, doubting the feasibility of the small blast furnace.
I have to admit that the craftsmen of this era are really stubborn and cute!
Zhu Hongyu opened his mouth to explain.
"This iron-smelting method was taught to me by Emperor Taizu in his dream, allowing me, a descendant of the Ming Dynasty, to drive out the Tartars and restore the Ming Dynasty. Of course you have never seen it!"
"Don't worry, the furnace won't explode. I'm still standing here. Can I trick myself?"
When Old Liu Tou heard this, he stopped talking and stood beside Zhu Hongyu, quietly watching the changes in the small blast furnace.
But the expression on his face is still a bit unbelievable!
As the furnace temperature continues to rise, the iron ore gradually melts and turns into red molten iron.
Workers began to add ground limestone to the molten iron, using limestone powder to absorb impurities in the molten iron.
The purity of this batch of iron ore is not high enough. If the impurities in the molten iron are not removed, qualified steel cannot be produced.
Then the blowing device continued to blow, and several strong men shouted slogans and pushed the blowing device hard.
A large amount of air is blown into the blast furnace, which on the one hand continues to increase the furnace temperature, and on the other hand allows a chemical reaction between the oxygen in the air and the carbon in the molten iron.
To complete the decarburization of molten iron!
To put it bluntly, the difference between iron and steel lies in the carbon content.
The higher the carbon content, the more brittle the iron produced, which is called pig iron.
The carbon content is low and the iron produced is too soft, which is wrought iron.
Only when the carbon content is appropriate can the steel produced be called steel.
As time goes by, the carbon content in the molten iron becomes less and less, and it begins to transform into steel.
The experienced craftsmen were always paying attention to the state of the molten iron. After estimating that it was almost done, they reported it to Zhu Hongyu.
"General, it's time to turn on the furnace!"
Zhu Hongyu nodded, and the craftsmen took orders to do it.
The small blast furnace is opened, and the red molten steel is led out of the small blast furnace and then flows into the mold.
As a large amount of cold water was poured onto the mold to cool down, the molten steel solidified into pieces of steel ingots that were still sizzling and emitting white smoke.
…………
The author really doesn't know much about ironmaking, cement manufacturing, refractory bricks, etc. It was very difficult to write this chapter, and I spent a whole morning searching for information.
Haha, if there are any bugs, you are welcome to point them out!
Ahem, cough, cough, I still ask for support, rewards and votes.