Due to the small land area of the Great Song Dynasty, only 30% of the later generations, but the population was hundreds of millions. There are many small people in the country, and the high military and government expenditures often give the Great Song Dynasty a headache. It also made every king of the Great Song Dynasty have a strong interest in "financial management" and "seeking wealth".

In terms of mineral development, the Great Song Dynasty was more open than any dynasty in Chinese history. The imperial court encouraged private investment. Even the minerals surveyed by the government can be jointly developed with the private sector. Except for some special places, such as temples, cemeteries, gardens, etc., which are not allowed to be developed, the rest of the places are within the scope of permitted development.

The only purpose of the Great Song court to encourage private development was that the court needed a large amount of silver for the government's use, mainly to pay for high military expenditures.

In the territory of the Great Song Dynasty, there were tens of thousands of mines, which emerged in an endless stream, and the waterway transportation was developed, which also greatly stimulated the rapid development of industry and commerce in the Song Dynasty.

In the Song Dynasty, whether it was the Northern Song Dynasty or the Southern Song Dynasty, the mines developed by the government were much less than those developed by the private sector, which shows the vitality of the private economy.

The private economy is active, and the people adopt the individual contract system for mining, and the tools and materials required are borne by the people themselves. Twenty percent of the mined minerals go to the imperial court and eighty percent to the people. In other words, after the mining of minerals, the individual who opened the mine only needs to pay 20% of the tax to the government, and the rest of the products can be sold by themselves, and the profits also belong to themselves.

This stimulated the rapid development of the private mining industry in the Song Dynasty, and mining became a safe and secure way of investment, and also achieved the prosperity of the mining industry in the Song Dynasty.

Just like the Handan area on the West Hebei Road, except for a few large mines that were controlled by the Song Dynasty, the rest were privately owned, although they also had their own iron factories, and the iron ingots smelted were either sold to the state or brought to the market, all by the private mine owners themselves.

The revered status of the scholars, the increasing number of wealthy and powerful households, coupled with the unique Qinglou culture of the Great Song Dynasty, made it possible to go up to the temple, down to the remote counties of the rivers and lakes, everywhere the warblers sang and danced, and the wine was charming, so that the folk customs were sluggish, the literary style was prosperous, and the god of martial arts was lost.

No wonder the Northern Song Dynasty fell to the country. Everyone goes to the economy, everyone goes to chase a more comfortable and comfortable life, the blood is consumed in the pursuit of profit, the iron bones are soaked in the gentle township, who else wants to protect the family and defend the country!

The Song people, who did not have strong cavalry, only relied on these infantry with low combat effectiveness, coupled with the incorruptibility and shamelessness of the scholars, and the weak soldiers, how could they resist the cruel killing and the Jurchen iron cavalry who could fight well!

Forty or fifty steps along the embankment of the river, under the tall ancient willows, a house made of rammed loess and thatched with mud walls and thatched roofs is neatly built, which is where the miners and craftsmen in the mine live.

On the endless mines, countless ant-like, black-covered miners are mining and transporting ore, and the ore slides down the slope from the mountain, each time it is all the way to smoke and dust, and the noise is endless.

The mine had been taken over by the brothers of the rebels, and when they saw Wang Song and Dong Ping coming, several people hurriedly ran over. Wang San, who killed Xiongling and broke his left hand, was also there, and he seemed to be in good spirits.

This is already the afternoon of the day of the "robbery", as Wang Song said, when everyone went out of the city gate in the morning, there was no inventory at the city gate, and everyone went out of the city. Zhang Heng pressed the money back to the cottage, while Wang Song and Dong Ping went straight to the iron factory.

"Brothers, this will be our industry from now on, and the big guys have to be optimistic!"

Wang Song nodded, and said to the brothers who came up: "Wang San, the weather is hot, you must pay attention to the wound, do not get wet, and strive to recover as soon as possible." We still have a lot to do, brothers need to do together! ”

Wang San nodded and said, "Don't worry, the villain will recover well!" Without the left hand, and the right hand, you can still fight the golden dog!"

"This is the brother of our loyal army!"

Wang Song nodded and said, "Good brother, good man!" In the future, there will be a chance to kill the gold thief!"

Seeing that everyone's faces were full of black hands and nostrils were stained, Wang Song's heart moved and he had an idea.

"I'll think about it when I go back, get some hand-guards, masks and gloves to protect my mouth and nose, and then use them for my brothers and the absentees of mining."

Wang Song and Dong Ping said goodbye and left, walked for a while, and before they arrived, a heat wave came to their faces, and it turned out that there was a huge ironmaking workshop in front of them.

It is said to be a workshop, but it is actually an iron-making workshop, and there are two iron-making furnaces next to it. Wang Song was a little surprised that the material used to make ironmaking turned out to be the rich local coal. It is estimated that the wood on the mountain is difficult to cut, so it is used to make iron with coal, otherwise, the trees on Taihang Mountain would have been cut down long ago.

Wang Song took a closer look at the two iron-making furnaces, the two furnaces were about the same size, both were about 6 meters high, about 3 meters in diameter, and the walls of the furnaces were about 40-80 centimeters thick, and they were made of ore and sandy refractory soil. Looking at the appearance of the two furnaces, it should be some years old.

"Old man, how much does our iron smelting take in a year?"

Wang Song stopped in front of the refining furnace, pointed to the refining furnace in front of him, and asked an old man next to him.

"Daguanren, the output of iron smelted in this furnace in January is about 30,000 catties, and the two furnaces are 60,000 catties. The cost of ironmaking is mainly wages. Whether it is mining coal or iron ore, in a year, sixty percent of the expenses are on this salary, two percent are the government's taxes, and the remaining two percent are ourselves. ”

Seeing the extraordinary momentum of the few people in front of him, the old man replied respectfully.

Wang Song nodded. Deforestation in the Great Song Dynasty was severe, especially in densely populated areas lacking carboniferous. The Wu'an area is full of coal mines and iron mines, and most of them are open-pit mines, so the cost of raw materials is naturally not much, and the only difference is in this artificiality.

"Big official, another trouble is that the iron smelting is too slow and the quality is too poor. The ore is dug out, and there is no way to burn it quickly, and the fire can't go up, so everyone has to wait. In addition, the iron ingots that are refined are not of the highest quality, and they cannot be sold for a good price!"

The old man has been smelting iron for several years, and his experience is naturally very rich.

Wang Song didn't care what good price he sold, he wanted it to be used in his army.

If the speed of iron smelting is too slow, it will naturally affect his plan to quickly recharge the army. Now that the weather is hot, the Jin people will not attack Taiyuan for the time being, but once it is autumn, whether it is Hedong or Hebei, they will be attacked by Fanzi's second southward attack.

As a history lover in later generations, with a bachelor's degree in chemistry with a higher education, Wang Song naturally has his own views on ironmaking.

"Master, you can't make iron like this."

Wang Song observed carefully for a while, walked around the refining building, couldn't help it anymore, and said it.

"In this way, the speed of iron smelting is too slow, and the other is that the quality of the iron is too poor. If you can't refine many things, and you don't look good, you can't sell them for a good price! I'll try to see how I can improve it!"

The old man's surname was Li, and he had been refining iron all his life, and when he heard the master say that his iron smelting method was wrong, his face immediately sank. However, the old man has passed the age of competitiveness, so he listened to the next of this great official, and saw how he could improve.

"Big ...... Official, do you know about this iron-making thing?"

Dong Ping was a little dumbfounded and stammered.

He knows the attainments of the big officials in terms of force, and he has also witnessed it with his own eyes, and his ability in gunpowder is even more unique in the world.

It's just that when it comes to this iron-making, the tricks are ingenious, and the big officials will not be omnipotent, right?

He stammered and asked, "Great Official...... Man, you really have a ...... How does the law make this pig iron better? Is there really a way to speed up this ironmaking?"

"Ji Bu Wunuo, wait for the win, brother, you can rest assured! Looks like I'm going to have to stay down the hill for a few days! In a few days, you will come back and see it, my brother is sure to surprise you!"

Wang Song said confidently.

In less than half a month, a hill-like coal mountain has been piled up on the west bank of the river, which is all coal sent by the river. It is also the dumping site for the coal, and a new kiln is located next to the dumping site. After the charcoal is washed, it is finally sent to the newly built kiln for the so-called coking process.

Along the riverside, a shack was built, and in the shed, more than a dozen cauldrons were neatly arranged, and these helpers in the mine were carrying water from the river and pouring it into the pot. The so-called coal washing procedure is carried out.

"Is this big official pregnant? We've all seen washing vegetables, washing dishes, and washing bodies, but we haven't seen washing charcoal, isn't this a blind toss?"

A potter in his fifties, standing by the river, shook his head and muttered to himself.

Li Laohan walked over, he carefully watched the coal washing and coking procedures, but he believed half in his heart. He muttered: "Master Hu, I think the idea of the big officials is good, let's wait and see, maybe this method will work."

The men poured the charcoal into the pot, stirred, washed, and repeated 3-4 times until the river was no longer muddy. The coal thus obtained is called refined coal. Refined coal cannot be used directly for ironmaking. In refined coal, it is often accompanied by a large number of impurities, and in the process of heating, the pig iron will become brittle and form white iron, which will not meet the requirements of ironmaking materials.

The men sent the washed and dried coal to the newly built kiln in a truckload to be fired in the kiln, which is coking. The new, medium-sized clay brick kiln is large enough to process the charcoal needed for the two furnaces. Wang Song instructed the men to ignite the refined coal stacked in the kiln. Refined coal burns itself to form coke.

This is also thanks to the stalk on the Internet in later generations. Wang Song didn't know if it would work, but at least it should be better than uncoched coal.

"The big officials are really crazy! Isn't it a waste of charcoal burned like this?, I don't know what the big officials think?"

Sighs and mocking words came again. Wang Song just smiled indifferently.

"Big official, do you want the villain to go over and teach these ignorant fools a lesson!"

Although he is also half-convinced, Dong Ping does not want anyone to laugh at the "idol" of half-human and half-god in his heart.

"Brother, it's just a group of ignorant men, why bother with "mediocrity"! ”

Wang Song stopped Dong Ping. As long as good iron is smelted, all rumors and ridicule are self-defeating.

Air preheating, increasing the thermal insulation measures of hot air, and the rotten stalks on the Internet in later generations that can no longer be rotten, all of which were used by Wang Song in his own ironmaking.

However, after all, I haven't verified it in person, it's just hearsay, and now it's on paper to see if it can be a blockbuster.