In fact, Shen Bing discovered many problems just by walking around the iron smelting workshop.
This is not to say that Shen Bing is very powerful, but that he knows some modern iron-smelting knowledge.
Modern iron smelting knowledge is the result of thousands of years of development and various rigorous demonstrations. Each practice has its own inherent scientific principles and reasons.
Now Shen Bing only needs to compare the blast furnaces of this period with those of modern times...anything that is different will cause problems.
For example, this blast furnace should not be a regular cylindrical shape.
The reason is that the regular cylindrical shape makes it difficult for the blown wind to blow into the furnace core...the long radius and high air pressure in the furnace make the furnace core often in an oxygen-deficient state and difficult to complete combustion.
The solution to this problem is actually very simple, just change the cylindrical blast furnace into an elliptical cylinder.
The elliptical cylinder is flat. As long as the air inlets are opened on both sides of the flat, the blast radius will be much smaller.
Another example is the use of human power to blast the skin... Shen Bing knew from Qian that they called this skin "tuó".
This is particularly interesting.
Two people stand on the left and right in front of the basket, and two people stand on the left and right behind the basket, and then push and pull to press the air into the blast furnace.
Such blast equipment is provided on both the left and right sides of each blast furnace, so eight people are required to operate it.
This is not only extremely labor-intensive but also inefficient.
The reason why it is said to be extremely labor-intensive is because it takes several hours at least to smelt a furnace of iron, and these hours require continuous blasting. When one group of people is tired, another group will be replaced. Sometimes when a large fire is needed, There are still a few more people to add.
It is said to be inefficient because manpower is limited and uncontrollable. Sometimes the wind is small and sometimes it is strong, it will have an impact.
The above two reasons will lead to insufficient blast furnace temperature and insufficient oxygen, so the carbon cannot be fully oxidized and discharged... The temperature should be around 1200 degrees, and the carbon reacts with oxygen in the air to form carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide is discharged.
During the Warring States Period, iron was brittle and easily broken due to its high carbon content. By the Han Dynasty, these problems were solved and iron tools became popular.
The last problem is charcoal as fuel.
There is no problem in making iron with charcoal.
In fact, charcoal has the advantage of having less impurities, and the iron produced is purer.
The problem is that in this era of severely backward productivity, the cost of using charcoal to make iron is too high...
The trees need to be cut down, then burned into charcoal, and then piled into the blast furnace.
Among them, felling trees, burning charcoal, and then mining iron ore are not labor-saving tasks, and they are all included in the cost of iron.
This is also one of the reasons why iron production was not high during this period, which was essentially restricted by fuel.
If it is a small batch production of agricultural tools, then it is barely okay. If it is to replace bronzes and be used as military equipment...such as iron swords, iron armors, guns, shields, etc., then the demand will be huge.
When the time comes to use charcoal as fuel, how many people will need to be organized to cut down trees and burn charcoal?
Therefore, the ideal raw material should be coal, which can be burned when dug out of the ground and the cost is very low.
But even if Shen Bing knew this, he was not in a hurry.
He was influenced by the previous paper-making incident.
What about making paper?
The result was that it threatened the ruler's status, and although he received some benefits, he almost caused death.
If the emergence of paper has such a big impact, then the emergence of iron or even steel that can be used in all military equipment... then it will not only threaten the status of the ruler, it will directly become the king!
Just imagine, mastering advanced iron-making technology will be able to build an army equipped with iron tools.
Sending such an iron army to the battlefield to fight against the enemy's bronze weapons... what would happen?
How can Ying Zheng tolerate the existence of people like Shen Bing?
At that time, Ying Zheng may have only two choices in order to prevent the technology from leaking:
1. Put Shen Bing under house arrest for life or within his reach.
Second, directly kill Shen Bing a hundred times.
Shen Bing still wants to live longer, and at the same time, he doesn't want to be kept in a cage like a canary, so of course he is not stupid enough to bother with this at this time.
What's more, there is absolutely no need to turn the equipment into iron at this time... Shen Bing's purpose is to assist the Qin State and make it last as long as possible.
Now that the Qin State has gained the upper hand, it can even be said that the overall situation has been decided. As long as this situation remains unchanged, the goal can be achieved. Improved iron smelting technology will only increase many variables.
However, some appropriate improvements are still necessary.
The reason is that it is already February and the winter wheat harvest will be here in two months.
It is foreseeable that there will be a period of busy farming.
However, the countries in the Central Plains have experienced a sharp reduction in their labor force due to successive years of war, coupled with low productivity, resulting in a serious shortage of food production...
In just over half a year, Qin's territory suddenly expanded to include the cultivated land of Zhao, Wei, and Chu... How to take care of it and cultivate it?
There are already few iron farm tools. If the quality is not good enough, won't people starve to death?
So, among the three aspects of blast furnace, blast and fuel, which one should be improved?
Shen Bing didn't think much and chose Gufeng immediately.
The impact of changes in the shape of the blast furnace is too great. Once the quality of the iron is improved, it will increase exponentially.
Fuel will cause the production cost and cycle of iron to decrease exponentially, and it will not be far from equipping the army in batches.
If the blast is improved, it will save more manpower... If a cylindrical blast furnace is used, the wind will still not be able to blow to the heart of the furnace, so there will still be a lack of oxygen in the furnace, the temperature will still not rise too much, and the carbon content will not level up. The number decreases.
Seeing Shen Bing staring at the blast furnace without saying a word, Ben felt a little scared in his heart.
He stepped forward cautiously and hesitated for a while before asking:
"Lieutenant General, I wonder if there is anything wrong with my subordinate's iron smelting method?"
After Ben asked this question, Shen Bing came out of his thoughts. He said "oh" and replied:
"There's nothing wrong with it, I'm just thinking about this..."
Shen Bing suddenly forgot what the leather bag used for blowing the wind was called.
Fortunately, he was not smart enough to remind him quietly at the right time:
"sack".
Shen Bing nodded and said:
"Yes, it's this trolley... it's pushing and pulling back and forth like this, why don't we use a waterwheel to do it for us?"
Ben couldn't help but be stunned when he heard:
"Lieutenant...are you talking about the waterwheel used to draw water?"
By this time, the waterwheel had already spread from the State of Zhao to the State of Chu.
Shen Bing replied:
"Exactly."
Ben was still confused:
"But the waterwheel can only draw water, so how can it blow wind?"
In fact, not only did Ben not understand, but Ou all the way from the artillery division was also confused.
In addition to drawing water, this waterwheel can also blow wind?
This is something new.
Shen Bing wanted to explain, but gave up when he saw their unfamiliar faces.
Of course they couldn't imagine what it would be like, having never used water power before, so it was all in vain.