Wang Rui had nothing to hide from Li Mu. Not only did he disclose the secret of coke, he also took Li Mu to visit the iron-making furnace under construction.
It was also the first time for Li Mu to see this thing. He couldn't help but look at it a few more times. Wang Rui thought he had finally met someone Li Mu didn't understand, so he introduced it even harder: "Master Marquis, please look at this cylindrical iron-making furnace.
It is made of more than a foot thick clay mixed with salt. After adding salt, the clay can be made more resistant to burning. The outer circle of logs is used for piling and fixing to prevent toppling, and the outermost layer
The wrought iron ring is to protect the ironmaking furnace from exploding.
Wang Rui told Li Mu that even a master craftsman would need several months to build such a stove, so he should not be hasty and quick. Otherwise, once cracks appear in the salt mud, all previous efforts will be wasted and danger may arise.
The iron furnace exploded, which is no joke. The molten iron jumped out and caused casualties wherever it touched.
Such an iron-making furnace can hold more than two thousand kilograms of iron ore. Before igniting, a layer of coke is first spread in the furnace, and then a layer of mixture of ore sand and pulverized coal is spread. After the layers are covered layer by layer, the ignition is started from the bottom.
, start refining.
Next to the iron-making furnace, there is a huge blower. When iron-making, air must be continuously pumped into it. This job is not something that can be done casually. The amount of air supplied and the frequency depend on the height and frequency of the flame.
Color needs to be judged by experience.
The iron-making master told Li Mu that after the ore inside is smelted into molten iron, it will flow out from the waist hole of the iron-making furnace. This hole is plugged with mud in advance. Every hour during the day, the mud plug is opened to let
The molten iron flows out.
After the molten iron is clean, immediately use a fork to move the mud, plug the hole again, and then continue to blast and smelt. Wait for an hour before opening the hole to release the molten iron. This cycle repeats until all the ore is melted, and then the flame can be turned off and the slag can be cleaned.
Li Mu stood far away, out of reach of the blazing fire, waiting for the next opening. In less than a quarter of an hour, an iron-making furnace opened on the left. Although Li Mu was far away, he could
Feeling the scorching heat contained in the fiery red molten iron, he watched the molten iron flow into a square pond next to it along the stone diversion trough.
Wang Rui told Li Mu that the molten iron flowing out will become pig iron after cooling. If you want to use pig iron for smelting, you can directly inject the molten iron into the mold at this stage, and then it can be used directly after cooling. But the quality of this pig iron
Too bad, and very brittle, almost never used directly like this.
Iron tools used in daily life also need to turn pig iron into mature iron.
The square pond was made in the same way as the iron-making furnace, but it was only one and a half feet tall. Next to it was a slightly higher platform built with bricks. The iron-making master and apprentices stood on the platform to operate to prevent the wave of molten iron from being too big.
If there are too many, overflow will occur.
When the molten iron flows into the pond, the iron smelting master quickly sprinkles the prepared fine mud powder evenly on the surface of the molten iron.
"saute!"
After the master gave the order, several apprentices stirred vigorously with willow sticks and fried the pig iron into mature iron. Every time the willow sticks were fried, two or three inches would be burned, and a new one would have to be replaced every time they were fried.
This method is called the fried steel method, which can oxidize the silicon, manganese, and carbon in the pig iron, reducing the carbon content to the range of steel or wrought iron.
After achieving this step, it is basically ready to leave the factory. More than 90% of the places where iron was produced in the Tang Dynasty were basically 'wrought iron' products... Some were cast into various tools, weapons and armor. Some were directly carved in the pond.
After cooling, the squares are taken out and hammered into round blocks, which are then sold directly to the blacksmith shop.
This kind of iron is more than enough for making sickles and hoes, but it is not qualified for making weapons.
In the end, less than 10% of high-quality wrought iron will be used to make steel.
In this era, there is only one way to make steel. That is to wrap hay around the wrought iron during folding and forging, let the hay burn to form grass ash, and then fold and forge it to 'beat' the charcoal in the grass ash into the wrought iron.
This carburizing method is extremely inefficient, so steel is very difficult to obtain. Weapons made with this method are also extremely rare. Every warrior who owns a weapon regards his weapon as life, because
It's not easy to get one.
Once the weapon has a chip, it is basically in a scrapped state. That's why craftsmen who can repair the weapon are so popular. Chu Dali was able to get the order from the Ministry of War not entirely because of Li Mu's care. He actually has real skills.
of.
Li Mu watched for a while, and then he had an idea. Tang Shi's technical level was still very limited.
"I don't want to come here in vain today," Li Mu said after visiting, showing his arm net sleeves: "I have recently researched a method, and I will teach it to you. Find a few trustworthy skilled blacksmiths and arrange for an anvil to be brought over."
Wang Rui couldn't help but be overjoyed. According to his understanding, Li Mu's products had never disappointed anyone. This was an iron factory, and anvils were everywhere. Wang Rui hurriedly ordered people to clear out one, and arranged for people to clear the surrounding area with grass.
The curtains surround the place. Even though all the children here are the family's children, there is no guarantee that there will be no cheating. What if it is leaked out?
Wang Rui hired three generations of servants who had worked for the Wang family to help Li Mu and learn his craft. He thought Li Mu would do it himself, but Li Mu didn't. He just talked. In front of outsiders, Li Mu didn't
It is possible to use system functions.
Li Mu first asked a blacksmith to put the unforged wrought iron pieces into the forging furnace. There were also workers nearby who were blowing the bellows to heat them.
About two minutes later, Li Mu ordered another blacksmith to use a large tong to clamp one end of a piece of pig iron and place it diagonally in the furnace mouth. At the same time, he ordered the workers to blow harder to keep the temperature of the furnace rising.
In less than a minute, the end of the pig iron lying sideways in the furnace began to melt, and molten iron continued to drip. At this time, Li Mu took the large iron tongs from the blacksmith's hand, clamped the end of the pig iron outside the furnace, and began to move it left and right.
, so that the molten iron can be poured evenly onto the wrought iron below to demonstrate for them.
Because the melting point of wrought iron is higher than that of pig iron, even though it was put in first, it was only burned red and showed no signs of melting.
At the same time, Li Mu kept flipping the wrought iron piece with his other hand so that both sides could be evenly poured with molten iron. After pouring it twice, he clamped the wrought iron to the anvil next to the furnace and asked the blacksmith to shake it.
Forged with a sledgehammer.
After the two blacksmiths hammered it thousands of times, they were surprised to find that the pig iron and wrought iron had merged into one and turned into steel! Although it was very tedious to do this, it was much easier than folding and forging the original plant ash.
!
Wang Rui was so excited that he was shaking all over. With this method, the speed of forging weapons in his ironworks will be ten times that of the original. What is the concept of ten times? This means that if Li Mu does not pass on this secret method to others, Jiangnan will
The steel factory will be the only place in the Tang Dynasty that can quickly mass-produce weapons, and the benefits it brings are not just money. The court and the Ministry of War will rely heavily on it, and the Jiangnan Steel Factory will become irreplaceable!
The Langya Wang family's voice will gradually increase. The family will rise in his hands!
Wang Rui is now completely convinced. He finally believes that there are people in this world who are born to know. His awe for Li Mu has reached its peak, and he does not dare to have the slightest bit of contempt anymore!
Seeing Wang Rui's excited look, Li Mu was somewhat speechless. Just like that, he got excited? This was just a method of pouring steel. When it came to building weapons, he had more than one method.
In the system, although it is not clear that there are several ways to forge weapons, these basic methods will appear in the process of creating different weapons. In addition to the steel filling method, there are also steel wrapping, steel clamping, and inlaying.
Steel and other metal composite processes. Different steel materials are integrated to produce steel materials with different metal properties.
For example, Baogang uses a relatively soft steel, such as low carbon steel or wrought iron, as the skeleton to forge the basic shape of the knife, and then wraps one side of the knife with a thin sheet of high carbon steel and forges it into a blade. This
This method is relatively simple, but it also has some limitations. First of all, it is difficult to produce a double edge, so this method is generally not used when forging swords. In addition, Baogang is hard steel wrapped in soft steel. If it is polished,
If the head is broken and the mild steel inside leaks out, the knife will be useless. The resulting weapon is relatively less wear-resistant.
The opposite process to steel-wrapping is called steel clamping. Steel clamping is made of hard high-carbon steel as the inner surface and soft steel on both sides. The advantage of this process is that it can create a double-edged sword. It does not require careful polishing and is relatively simple to produce.
.But there is another problem. The steel clamping process consumes much more steel than the steel wrapping process, so there is no advantage in cost.
The steel-embedded technology is a technology that combines the advantages of both. It uses mild steel as the skeleton, then grooves are made where the blade is needed, and then high-carbon steel is embedded in it. Compared with Baogang, the blade performance is the same.
In this case, the steel inserting time is shorter, more suitable for mass production, and double blades can be forged at will, and there is no worry about polishing. Compared with clamping steel, it consumes less high-carbon steel and saves more material.
.
However, this kind of technology is complex and cannot be accomplished by just any blacksmith. Li Mu has not yet planned to put Jiangnan Iron and Steel Works on the throne of the Tang Dynasty, so he did not reveal the technology of pressing the bottom of the box at all.
The steel filling method is sufficient to cope with the situation.
Because the melting point of wrought iron is higher than that of pig iron, even though it was put in first, it was only burned red and showed no signs of melting.
At the same time, Li Mu kept flipping the wrought iron piece with his other hand so that both sides could be evenly poured with molten iron. After pouring it twice, he clamped the wrought iron to the anvil next to the furnace and asked the blacksmith to shake it.
Forged with a sledgehammer.
After the two blacksmiths hammered it thousands of times, they were surprised to find that the pig iron and wrought iron had merged into one and turned into steel! Although it was very tedious to do this, it was much easier than folding and forging the original plant ash.
!
Wang Rui was so excited that he was shaking all over. With this method, the speed of forging weapons in his ironworks will be ten times that of the original. What is the concept of ten times? This means that if Li Mu does not pass on this secret method to others, Jiangnan will
The steel factory will be the only place in the Tang Dynasty that can quickly mass-produce weapons, and the benefits it brings are not just money. The court and the Ministry of War will rely heavily on it, and the Jiangnan Steel Factory will become irreplaceable!
The Langya Wang family's voice will gradually increase. The family will rise in his hands!
Wang Rui is now completely convinced. He finally believes that there are people in this world who are born to know. His awe for Li Mu has reached its peak, and he does not dare to have the slightest bit of contempt anymore!
Seeing Wang Rui's excited look, Li Mu was somewhat speechless. Just like that, he got excited? This was just a method of pouring steel. When it came to building weapons, he had more than one method.
In the system, although it is not clear that there are several ways to forge weapons, these basic methods will appear in the process of creating different weapons. In addition to the steel filling method, there are also steel wrapping, steel clamping, and inlaying.
Steel and other metal composite processes. Different steel materials are integrated to produce steel materials with different metal properties.
For example, Baogang uses a relatively soft steel, such as low carbon steel or wrought iron, as the skeleton to forge the basic shape of the knife, and then wraps one side of the knife with a thin sheet of high carbon steel and forges it into a blade. This
This method is relatively simple, but it also has some limitations. First of all, it is difficult to produce a double edge, so this method is generally not used when forging swords. In addition, Baogang is hard steel wrapped in soft steel. If it is polished,
If the head is broken and the mild steel inside leaks out, the knife will be useless. The resulting weapon is relatively less wear-resistant.
The opposite process to steel-wrapping is called steel clamping. Steel clamping is made of hard high-carbon steel as the inner surface and soft steel on both sides. The advantage of this process is that it can create a double-edged sword. It does not require careful polishing and is relatively simple to produce.
.But there is another problem. The steel clamping process consumes much more steel than the steel wrapping process, so there is no advantage in cost.
The steel-embedded technology is a technology that combines the advantages of both. It uses mild steel as the skeleton, then grooves are made where the blade is needed, and then high-carbon steel is embedded in it. Compared with Baogang, the blade performance is the same.
In this case, the steel inserting time is shorter, more suitable for mass production, and double blades can be forged at will, and there is no worry about polishing. Compared with clamping steel, it consumes less high-carbon steel and saves more material.
.
However, this kind of technology is complex and cannot be accomplished by just any blacksmith. Li Mu has not yet planned to put Jiangnan Iron and Steel Works on the throne of the Tang Dynasty, so he did not reveal the technology of pressing the bottom of the box at all.
The steel filling method is enough to cope with the situation. Because the melting point of wrought iron is higher than that of pig iron, even though it was put in first, it only burned red and showed no signs of melting.
At the same time, Li Mu kept flipping the wrought iron piece with his other hand so that both sides could be evenly poured with molten iron. After pouring it twice, he clamped the wrought iron to the anvil next to the furnace and asked the blacksmith to shake it.