Li Yi carried the carriage to open a new trade route for Li Chengyang.

I don't know if this trip is happy or bad, in short, I wish them good luck.

Now that you're in the kitchen, don't be idle, there's still a lot of coarse salt you bought before, so keep grinding.

"Your Highness, Wu Li, the waiter of the Ministry of Works, asks to see you", not long after the start, the guards came to pass the word.

Wu Li? He didn't build his coal stove well, what is he doing in the East Palace now?

"Let him in."

Li Chengyang washed his hands, closed the kitchen door, and came out to greet Wu Li.

"Your Highness, it's broken, it's broken", from a long distance, Wu Li began to speak.

Li Chengyang's face was full of black lines: "Make it clear, am I bad or what's broken."

Wu Li scratched his head: "It's not Your Highness, the coal stove is all burned."

Li Chengyang frowned, can the coal stove still be burned? Can there be such a high temperature?

In my previous life, I and a group of friends were so bad at the coal stove that I didn't see anything happening, why did I do it myself, everything was different?

"Tell me what's going on? According to my expectations, it probably won't be transformed."

Wu Li organized the language in his mind for a long time, and finally heyed, pulled up Li Chengyang and left:

"I can't say it clearly, Your Highness, you should follow me to take a look."

It didn't take long for the two to arrive at the Ministry of Industry, Wu Li was like a rabbit being wolfed along the way, and the two legs were upside down, and Li Chengyang almost couldn't keep up.

When he arrived at Wu Li's courtyard, Li Chengyang knew why Wu Li was so out of shape.

After returning last night, Wu Li seemed to have built four coal stoves overnight.

The four coal stoves were laid out, but none of them were intact.

The coal furnace on the far left was probably the first to be built, and the first to burn coal, but now it is no longer visible, and only a quarter of the shell of the entire coal furnace remains, and the rest has been turned into molten iron and flowed to the ground.

The stove on the far right is probably the last to be made, and it is now also burned red and slightly deformed.

How so? Li Chengyang touched his chin and pondered.

He wondered if he had forgotten something, the temperature of the big-bellied coal stove in his previous life was much higher than the cylindrical coal stove made by Wu Li, and he didn't see him melt.

"Is it a problem with iron?" , Li Chengyang turned around and asked Wu Li.

Wu Li nodded and pointed to the stove on the far right: "I found out the problem last night, this newly made coal stove is the best and most heat-resistant material used, I didn't expect it to be able to withstand this high temperature."

Li Chengyang's brows were furrowed together, Wu Li said that it was the most heat-resistant material, so it must be the best material that Datang could find.

If this material can't withstand the high temperature of coal, then the coal stove thing really can't go on.

No wonder Wu Li is so anxious, everyone is in a hurry for this matter, Wu Li definitely can't bear a new business being so yellow.

No, Li Chengyang thought to himself.

In his previous life, there was also this kind of cylindrical coal stove, and he had seen it, but the iron sheet didn't look as good as the iron sheet used by Wu Li.

Then why is it okay in the past life, but not now?

Could it be a problem with honeycomb coal?

What is honeycomb coal made of? It seems to be dirt.

No matter what, try it first, it may be that the temperature of honeycomb coal combustion is relatively low, so ordinary coal stoves can withstand it.

"Lao Wu, you have soil there, you can do whatever you want", do it if you think of it, find some soil first.

Wu Li shook his head, but looking at Li Chengyang's thoughtful appearance, he continued:

"I'll send someone to dig outside the city, and it won't take long to get it back, how much do you need, Your Highness?"

"Let's pull a cart back first, try to make it as fine and clean as possible."

Li Chengyang commanded Wu Li while undressing.

The production of honeycomb coal is relatively simple, with soil, plus pulverized coal and water.

Someone went to find the soil, and he had to get the pulverized coal himself.

Wu Li nodded and went out, and it didn't take long to hear the sound of him greeting people, and the creak of the wheels rolling.

Li Chengyang took off his outer robe, picked up a hammer and hit a pile of coal and began to smash it.

With his strength, he worked one by one, and before long, half of a huge coal pile was gone.

Li Chengyang wiped the sweat from his face and knocked the smashed soot again.

Finally, the coal ash is piled into a mountain bag, and a pit is dug in the middle.

Well, everything is ready, just wait for Wu Li's soil to be in place.

didn't wait long, just to get a piece of soil, the creaking sound of the cart sounded, and Wu Li personally pulled the cart back.

Li Chengyang went up and looked at the soil, not bad.

Wu Li must have used a new one, and the soil selected is very delicate, and it can be used with a simple treatment.

Pulling Wu Li to crush the clod of soil again, once he picked the soil, he poured it into the ashes.

It's almost a one-to-four amount, one part of soil and four parts of coal, this is not difficult, Li Chengyang made this thing himself when he was a child.

"Pour water".

After pouring the water, Li Chengyang and Wu Li stirred together.

Wu Li was holding the iron drill and stirring it, his face was full of worry: "Your Highness, can this work?" ”。

Li Chengyang nodded, anyway, he brought everything he learned in later generations, and he couldn't do anything if he didn't do it anymore.

Wu Li can only believe in it first, there is a way that is better than being helpless.

"Don't stir it, you go and make a mold, it's just a finger long, and then the inside of the coal furnace is so round, put a few wooden sticks or something", suddenly Li Chengyang thought of something, you still need a mold to make honeycomb coal.

Fortunately, he is in the Ministry of Works, so he doesn't need to worry about it.

Briefly compared to Wu Li, Wu Li nodded understandingly, turned around and went to fire and strike iron.

After mixing the coal and soil, Li Chengyang put the tools aside, ready to study the coal stove, what went wrong.

After thinking about it, it was not until he saw the iron-making furnace on the side that he slapped his thigh.

Yes, the stove can't withstand the heat, so it would be nice to insulate him.

Didn't the coal stove in the previous life have these things, why did they forget it now?

Is this brain good or not, why do you feel like you don't have enough energy to do anything now?

Isn't the hourglass on the iron-making furnace a good insulating material, although there is no kaolin now, but ordinary clay is probably not much worse.

He brought back a pile of dirt, poured some water and began to revive the mud.

I don't know how thick the lining of the coal stove is, so it can be as thick as it is, and if he is a finger wide, he doesn't believe that this is not enough.

The mud lining on Li Chengyang's side was completed, and the mold on Wu Li's side was also finished.

The two finished the work at hand almost at the same time, and Wu Li glanced at Li Chengyang, who was living in the mud, and his eyes were full of puzzlement.

"You go and use the newly made mold to make some honeycomb coal, print it up, and then put it on the ground", Li Chengyang did not forget to command.

Wu Li followed what Li Chengyang said, lifted the mold and poked it into the reconciled coal pile, and then came to the open space and pushed it with the prepared small mechanism.

A piece of honeycomb coal, which is not much different from the previous life, comes into view.

Li Chengyang nodded, he did a good job, he deserves to be a general, he didn't say anything about this skill.

The clay mold in my hand is almost finished, this thing looks simple, I didn't think it was so difficult to make.

The main thing is that this thing is not easy to do at all, it has to be very rounded.

Put the clay mold directly on Wu Li's forging furnace to dry, and it depends on whether it is successful or not.

Li Chengyang was holding a crumpled mud mold full of cracks, and Wu Li was holding the honeycomb coal mold he had made, looking at the honeycomb coal in one place.

"Your Highness, are we just waiting? When will this be done?"

Wu Li's tone was full of anxiety.

Li Chengyang also sighed, he was also anxious, but what can be done, this honeycomb coal is still wet.

"Or? Let's also think of this tandoor stove, first roast this coal or coal? ”。

Wu Li couldn't bear it anymore and proposed a solution.

"Are you stupid, the coal is on fire, and if you do it, it will be burned out", Li Chengyang gave Wu Li a roll of his eyes.

How does this man's brain grow, and he has some crooked ideas.

"Then we can't wait like this, who knows when this coal will dry, looking at the weather, it may rain tomorrow, if this rain rushes, there will be nothing left", Wu Li looked up at the sky, full of sorrow.

Li Chengyang also raised his head and looked, but he didn't see anything.

However, Wu Li said that there is a high probability that it will definitely rain tomorrow.

"Tick", a drop of water fell on Li Chengyang's face.

Come on, don't wait for tomorrow, it's time to get down now.

"Or? Shall we separate it with an iron plate? In a hurry, Li Chengyang came up with a solution.

It's much better than just waiting, and if it rains, don't think about anything left.

Wu Li's eyes lit up, and he turned his head and took an iron box from the house and put it on the stove.

Li Chengyang put down the pitiful inner lining in his hand, picked up a few pieces of honeycomb coal from the ground and put them in the iron plate.

"Pull the bellows, pull it bigger", Wu Li looked at the coal, and Li Chengyang was desperately blowing the wind next to him.

It's not much, but fortunately, he doesn't need much, seven or eight dollars is enough.

This pull took half an hour, and finally dried these coals, but the situation was a bit unexpected by Li Chengyang.

Dry is dry, but coal is no longer coal.

When the latte opened the box, the coal inside had turned into a black pile of unidentified objects.

"Your Highness, what is this?" , Wu Li kept poking at the pile of unknown objects while holding the iron drill, and asked like Li Chengyang.

Li Chengyang scratched his head, he didn't know what the two of them had made?

Suddenly, a term popped into his head, and ecstasy ensued.

"It's coke!" , something that can be made from coal, Li Chengyang also knows a thing called coke.

The rest told him he didn't understand either.

Wu Li scratched his head: "What is coke?" ”。

"Coke is coke", Li Chengyang excitedly grabbed Wu Li's collar, picked him up with a force, and turned in circles with Wu Li.

This is coke, which can be directly used to make iron, knowing this method, then Datang's iron output will not know how many times it will increase in the future.

That's a lot faster than charcoal ironmaking.

In the past, coal could not be used to make iron because it contained a lot of magazines.

But there's no coke in it, it's basically pure carbon, and the temperature is still high.

And it is said to be used to make steel, and there are a series of chemical formulas.

Li Chengyang had returned all the formulas to his original chemistry teacher, but this did not affect his excitement.

As long as you have the materials, you can try them one by one, isn't it just a matter of time, Li Chengyang can afford to wait.

As iron production goes up, maybe some people will start to figure out how to make steel.

What if the blind cat touches a dead mouse, and if someone throws something into the furnace when they are making iron?

Nothing in history is like this, quantitative changes cause qualitative changes, and sooner or later there will be a method of steelmaking.