Obviously, the 50,000 additional sets of armaments ordered by Chuigong Palace were most likely prepared for the Southern Liang King Zhao Yuanzuo to support the "Western Expedition Army" in Longxi.
In fact, Zhao Hongrun has always been curious. If his father really decided to support Longxi, which army from the Sixth Battalion of the Garrison would be dispatched to Longxi? After all, in Zhao Hongrun's view, the positions guarded by the Sixth Battalion of the Garrison are very critical.
It doesn't mean that you can just transfer someone away.
Now, the situation is very clear: the imperial court has probably decided to re-recruit and train an army, led by Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, to launch a western expedition to support the distant Longxi and help Longxi's Wei surname Ji, who is inherited from the Ji Zhao family.
clan.
Under this general trend, if the Smelting Bureau continues to "play temper" and refuse to help the Weapon Casting Bureau to build weapons, I am afraid that not only will it be ineffective, but it will even cause Emperor Wei to personally intervene in the matter, which will outweigh the gains and losses.
Instead of doing this, it would be better for the Smelting Bureau to take the initiative and grab some of the country's weapons orders, which the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau would not be able to absorb anyway.
This is a good opportunity to get involved in the military industry openly and steal the army's job!
Touching his chin, Zhao Hongrun already had an idea in his mind: "Wang Fu, in our Smelting Bureau, do we have craftsmen who are good at forging weapons?"
Wang Fu was stunned for a moment, and then his expression immediately turned serious: After all, the His Highness in front of him would only call him by his given name when he encountered something important.
"Could it be that His Highness... wants to build a batch of armaments on behalf of the Military Forging Bureau?"
Wang Fu was indeed not stupid, and he immediately guessed what Zhao Hongrun was thinking.
Regarding this subordinate, Zhao Hongrun did not hide anything, and said truthfully: "How much money can you make by helping to smelt iron embryos? If my Smelting Bureau can also make weapons, instead of smelting iron embryos for the Weapon Foundry Bureau, I might as well
The Smelting Bureau makes its own weapons...Does our Smelting Bureau have any craftsmen who are good at making weapons?"
To be fair, if the person in front of him was not the backstage of their Smelting Bureau, Wang Fu would probably point at the opponent's nose and yell: Are you kidding?! The specifications and styles of the weapons and armor created by the Weaponry Bureau are beyond compare.
It is based on the improvements made by the Metallurgical Bureau to weapons and armor. Do you think the Metallurgical Bureau is good at making weapons?
But the problem is that the Metallurgical Manufacturing Bureau is equivalent to a research and development and improvement organization, while the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau is the military industrial organization that is truly responsible for mass production of weapons. There is a clear division of labor between the two. It is not something that can be built just because it can be built.
"Your Highness, the Weapons and Forging Bureau's craftsmanship standards for weapons and armor follow the craftsmanship of our Smelting Bureau. Whatever they can make, we can make. On the other hand, what we can make, they may not be able to make. But the problem is
It's because... this is against the rules." Wang Fu cautiously advised after boasting quite proudly.
It’s the rules again…
Zhao Hongrun smacked his lips in amusement and said expressionlessly: "I understand what you mean, but if our Smelting Bureau is not trying to steal the Bingzhu Bureau's job, it's because the Bingzhu Bureau is not capable enough to build a
Where are the armaments?"
"Your Highness means..."
Zhao Hongrun whispered a few words into Wang Fu's ear, which made Wang Fu smile and nod repeatedly.
"But the first step is to smelt the iron embryo... to give the Weapon Casting Bureau what they want, lest they get caught."
"I understand."
Accompanied by Wang Fu, Zhao Hongrun ate some casual meals in the canteen of the Metallurgical Bureau, and then the group took a carriage directly to the furnace outside the city, which was built with fire bricks inside.
In fact, at this time, the craftsmen in the underground furnace had already begun to smelt iron embryos. They used various types of firewood to pile up a platform inside the furnace, and then poured basket after basket of iron ore on it.
Then lay another layer of firewood, then pour another layer of iron ore, and repeat this. Fill the inside of the stove.
Since there are gaps between the firewood and firewood, ventilation is not a problem.
When Zhao Hongrun and others arrived, the fire had already been lit in the furnace, and dozens of sturdy craftsmen were bare-chested. They pushed the huge bellows at the air inlet of the furnace, pouring air into the interior of the furnace again and again.
Makes the fire in the stove burn more vigorously.
It has to be said that the temperature of the floor furnace is terrifying. Even if the heat-resistant fire bricks isolate most of the heat in the furnace, the high temperature in the floor furnace seems to be directly scorching people. It is coming from everywhere.
heat wave.
The water brought in from outside turned into warm water after a while. You can imagine the temperature inside the furnace.
During the boring wait, Zhao Hongrun looked at the huge bellows outside the stove from time to time.
It is undeniable that the craftsmen who push and pull the bellows outside the stove definitely have the most difficult working environment in the world. Even if the heat-resistant fire bricks isolate most of the heat and lock it inside the stove, they are not close to the stove.
The place is still hot and scary.
Zhao Hongrun could even vaguely see that the sweaty craftsmen had looming white smoke on their bodies, which meant that a large amount of body fluids in their bodies were rapidly losing under such high temperatures and turning into water vapor.
"Go back and study it to see if we can improve this bellows."
Zhao Hongrun turned around and said something to Wang Fu, which made Wang Fu slightly stunned.
"Improvement? Bellows?" Wang Fu's eyes showed a hint of confusion.
Zhao Hongrun did not explain this in detail. After all, if you want to improve the bellows, it will inevitably involve precision parts such as gears, bearings, and shaft rods. This is no small project.
After all, the quality of wood is not reliable after all, but if it is cast with iron, the Smelting Bureau's craftsmanship is not yet up to par.
While Zhao Hongrun was thinking about the furnace air filling system, the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau were still using almost the most primitive bellows to squeeze the air into the furnace, so that there would be enough oxygen inside the furnace for full combustion.
To be honest, since this was the first time that iron ore was melted and burned in this way, the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau had little experience with it.
They cannot tell whether the iron ore in the furnace has been successfully smelted.
They could only wait for all the wood in the stove to burn out and the temperature in the stove to gradually cool down before opening the stove and taking out the iron embryos from the stove.
This furnace of iron ore burned for several hours. Due to the backward air filling technology, the craftsmen who were responsible for using bellows to fill the inside of the furnace with air filled the furnace again and again, and each one was so tired that even his hands were broken.
Can't lift it up.
To be honest, letting these experienced craftsmen do this kind of work is inevitably a bit overkill.
After all, it stands to reason that craftsmen are not needed to do things like pouring wind. They have their own craftsmen and handymen do the work for them. However, today is the first time that the Smelting Bureau has used this method to smelt iron. In order to accumulate experience, but also for
Reduce the occurrence of unpredictable accidents. Therefore, the ones selected today are all experienced craftsmen in the Smelting Bureau.
Late at night, the temperature inside the furnace gradually dropped, and the craftsmen tried to open the furnace door.
When the furnace door was opened, it was clear that the fire in the furnace had long been extinguished, but a scorching heat wave still inevitably surged out of the furnace, causing the temperature in the furnace to rise rapidly again.
But this is a good thing, it means that the heat resistance, heat insulation and heat preservation performance of this batch of newly fired fire bricks are indeed good.
"Work has started, work has started!"
A craftsman who was promoted to foreman clapped his hands and called out the craftsmen who were resting in the furnace.
I have to say that the endless filling of air inside the furnace just now has really exhausted these craftsmen.
But after all the hard work, the mood of these craftsmen is very high. No wonder, after all, now is the time to accept the results.
No, two craftsmen had already braved the scorching heat and rushed into the stove. They used sticks to dig through the ashes and pulled out pieces of black objects from the ashes.
These black lumps are exactly wrought iron (wrought iron) formed after high-temperature calcination, which is also the iron embryo for casting ironware.
These iron blanks are very soft and can be reshaped after quenching, so they are suitable for use as iron blanks for forging qualified weapons.
However, it is inevitable that some special iron pieces will be mixed in.
"Huh?"
No. A craftsman picked up a piece of iron embryo, wrapped it in cloth and padded it in his hand. Years of experience in blacksmithing made him question the piece of iron embryo.
In order to verify his guess, he walked to a fire cauldron used for lighting. He placed the iron embryo on an iron shelf and struck the iron embryo several times with a hammer.
"What's wrong?"
Hearing this movement, Zhao Hongrun and Wang Fu walked over at the same time, only to find that the craftsman was looking at the iron embryo in his hand in surprise.
"What's going on?" Wang Fu asked with a frown.
The craftsman had a look of surprise on his face, and said strangely: "Director, this piece of iron embryo... is as hard as our 20-grade wrought iron."
"What?"
Wang Fu opened his eyes in surprise when he heard this.
You know. In the past, the Smelting Bureau had to repeatedly hit forged iron with a hammer to obtain high-hardness forged iron. But now this craftsman said that they obtained high-hardness forged iron directly by calcining iron ore. This simply subverted Wang Fu's understanding.
.
However, Zhao Hongrun was not surprised, because he knew that when iron ore was calcined in such a furnace with excellent thermal insulation properties, some fully burned iron embryos would indeed cross the category of pig iron and directly form high-hardness wrought iron.
In fact, this high-hardness wrought iron is actually an alloy, a metal produced by the fusion of iron in iron ore and other metals.
This alloy is not suitable for re-forging. It has probably lost the ability to be reshaped and has little effect on the current smelting industry. However, it is an excellent material for steelmaking.
Unfortunately, the craftsmen did not know this. Although they were surprised by the hardness of those alloys, they had classified them as "defective" in their hearts. After all, this kind of wrought iron cannot be reshaped, even if the hardness reaches
The request has no effect on their Smelting Bureau.
Fortunately, there is Zhao Hongrun in the Smelting Bureau.
"These are not failures." Seeing some craftsmen showing disappointment after carefully inspecting the alloy, Zhao Hongrun said to them with a smile: "Separate these high-hardness wrought irons and keep them properly. In the future, we
They'll come in handy."
Hearing this, the surrounding craftsmen looked at each other in confusion, wondering what His Highness King Su wanted to do with these iron blocks that could not be reshaped.
Zhao Hongrun did not explain this in detail.
Although the appearance of these alloys is a bit unexpected, it is also expected. After all, as long as the temperature in the furnace reaches a certain level and the ores are mixed with other metals, it is possible to directly calcine alloys with poor quality.
In fact, in Zhao Hongrun's eyes, these things are more precious than those iron embryos (wrought iron), because they can be used to make steel.
Steel... is such a distant word.
Touching the piece of rough alloy in his hand, Zhao Hongrun sighed slightly.
However, at least the first step has been taken.
He could only comfort himself in this way. (To be continued.)