In the early morning of August 17th, the mist has not yet dissipated, the dew on the grass has not yet evaporated, and the Wild Dog Ridge smelting site is already bustling with people. Today is the day when the smelting furnace is officially ignited to smelt refined steel.
Zhang Yanling arrived here from the capital in the early morning. This was obviously a big day for him. In order to ensure that everything goes smoothly, Zhang Yanling took Zhang Yin, Chen Shiyi, Zhao Yuancheng and more than a hundred Jinyi Guards cavalry with him this time. In the official
Several security checkpoints were set up on the road, and two teams were assigned to protect the intersections leading to Xishan Manor and Jiming Mountain. In fact, there was no need to mobilize such troops, but Zhang Yanling did so in order to avoid accidents.
Xu Youtang arrived at the Zhang family early in the morning. In order to prevent Xu Gao from having any doubts, Zhang Yanling asked Axiu to visit the Xu family a few days in advance and said that she wanted to ask Xu Youtang to go out for a few days. Although Xu Gao was confused, Mrs. Xu made the decision.
, talking about other people’s girls
Both his parents took his daughter out to play, and Xu Gao didn't care about his family. Could it be that he stopped his daughter from going out to play with others? Xu Gao had a very good influence on Axiu. He knew Axiu's origins and had beaten her during the rescue.
He had no objection, so he didn't object.
The sky was dimming, and the surrounding fog gradually dissipated. Beside the furnace, more than twenty furnace workers and smelters were ready. Everyone was waiting for the moment to start.
Xu Youtang took Sun Wanhou and Li Dagen and walked several times along the side of the stove, checking the status of the lotus stove in detail, and then checking the preparation status of the charcoal iron ingots, crucibles, cranes, iron troughs and all personnel, and then slowly
Walked to Zhang Yanling's side.
"How's it going? Can we start now?" Zhang Yanling asked.
"That's all right. Lord Marquis gives the order." Xu Youtang nodded. Naturally, he couldn't match his elder brother Tang'er in public, after all, the relationship was not made public.
Zhang Yanling smiled and said: "You have to give this order. You can announce it."
Xu Youtang smiled and said: "Then I will do my best."
Zhang Yanling made a gesture of invitation. Xu Youtang put away his smile, turned around and said loudly to everyone: "Everyone, from now on, every move you make must obey the instructions. You must not make decisions without authorization, and you must not be negligent. We are so busy.
For many days, I have spent so much money and manpower just to succeed today. I hope you understand this."
"Don't worry, Miss Xu, I'll understand later!"
"Don't say I'm sorry to Mr. Hou if I messed up. I'm also sorry for Miss Xu's hard work."
The craftsmen had become familiar with Xu Youtang over the past few days. They all liked this straightforward little girl and admired her ability. They all responded loudly.
"Okay! Come here, place the incense table, and come to worship the Goddess of the Furnace! Please bless the Goddess of the Furnace for everything to go well." Xu Youtang said loudly.
Sun Wanhou and Li Dagen personally led people to place the incense table and a half-person tall statue. It was a statue of an ordinary folk woman. Zhang Yanling had heard from Xu Youtang beforehand that it was a woman named Li E during the Three Kingdoms period. Her father was a smelter.
The craftsman was ordered to cast an iron man, but the result was boiling water
Due to the siltation, the completion of the project could not be completed, and she faced the fate of being beheaded for neglecting her duties. After hearing this, Li E jumped into the furnace and turned into blue smoke. The water in the furnace was then unblocked, and the iron man was cast. Later generations of smelting and casting craftsmen worshiped Li E as the goddess of the furnace. Opening the furnace and closing the furnace
Worship the furnace and pray for smooth casting and smelting.
Zhang Yanling came forward to offer incense, and Xu Youtang, Sun Wanhou, Li Dagen, and all the craftsmen and furnace workers also came forward to offer incense and worship. After all those involved had finished worshiping, the incense table statue was removed and enshrined in a separate small building in the north.
Visit at the shrine.
"Put the ingredients into the furnace!" Xu Youtang ordered in a deep voice.
Everyone loudly agreed, and more than a dozen shirtless men went into battle, carrying iron ingots and placing them in the furnace. These were green iron to be smelted. Because it was the first furnace, Xu Youtang only loaded half of the furnace with materials to observe the effect. So this
The furnace only holds five hundred kilograms of iron ingots.
The charcoal purchased from the charcoal kiln in Xishan was also sent into the lower fire chamber in bundles and stacked. Then a layer of dry firewood chips was spread as a fire starter.
"Light the fire!" Xu Youtang ordered.
The torches inserted into the three fire doors ignited the thin wood, the stove door was closed, the fire door was closed, and the air valve was opened. It was not even time for tea, and the fire was heard whistling, and the whole stove gave off a strange sound.
There was a roaring sound. At first, black smoke came out of the chimney mouth above, but it soon faded away. The charcoal fire inside had been completely ignited.
"Blow the wind!" Xu Youtang ordered.
Eight manual blow boxes began to blow air in from the air inlet below. The flames in the furnace became more fierce and hot, and the entire furnace also made a buzzing roar, like a tiger roaring and a dragon roaring. Melting iron with charcoal fire requires extremely high energy.
Temperature, later generations will naturally have various methods
However, with today's technology, it is nothing more than blowing a large amount of oxygen into it, and the furnace has an excellent heat preservation effect. Therefore, the entire smelting requires continuous air blasting and carbon addition, and continuous increase in temperature.
, in order to achieve the goal.
Once this smelting furnace starts operating, it will require more than 20 furnace workers to work almost continuously before it can operate. If you are not careful, all the materials for a furnace will be scrapped, resulting in huge losses. Therefore, this is why casting and smelting is such a
This is because it consumes a lot of financial and material resources.
After the smelting begins, it takes about three or four hours to see the final result. So far, everything is going well. The next step is to continuously add carbon, blast, observe the furnace temperature, and adjust the fire door damper. These things are cumbersome.
Complexity requires perseverance and caution.
Zhang Yanling and others no longer need to stand aside and stare, because the temperature has now reached a stage of steady heating. Moreover, the temperature next to the entire smelting furnace is already very high. The smelting furnace is a double-layer three-component earth refractory brick structure, and the temperature of the insulation is already very good.
, but under the extremely strong firepower, the heat is still burning and unbearable.
The furnace workers could tolerate such temperatures, but Zhang Yanling couldn't, so she took Chen Shi, Zhang Yin and others to sit under a pergola not far away and drink tea, waiting for the results.
It was an eye-opener for Chen Shiyi and Zhang Yin. This was their first time coming to Wild Dog Ridge. Although they had heard about the workshop being built by Mr. Hou in his own manor, after all, they were on their way to Longhu Mountain in Shanxi a few days ago.
Zhang Yanling had already told them some things and showed them his firearms. However, when they actually saw this mountainous area, they were still shocked.
"Master Hou, it's incredible. In this barren mountain and wild land, Master Hou actually built such a place. Just now I looked at the plan. If it is really built like that, this place will be a paradise." Chen
Shiki couldn't help but said.
"Brother Chen, that is not a paradise. The Marquis wants to build this place into a huge castle. A firearms factory is not a paradise. Although the plan is beautiful, it is probably not the result that the Marquis wants.
." Zhang Yin said in a deep voice.
Zhang Yanling chuckled and said: "Brother Zhang Yin is still very discerning. In my vision, this place will eventually be a fortress. After all, you know that I am building a firearms manufacturing and research and development factory, not a mountain villa. But
That planning map can also be used as a reference. This place will be livable and productive in the future. Wouldn’t it be great to have the best of both worlds?”