Chapter 118: How Steel Is Made (1)

If coal is only used as fuel for fire, it is absolutely a tyrannical thing.

The high-level East and West Zhong will never get it, but he still knows the principle of coking.

The scientific explanation is that bituminous coal is heated to 950-1050 °C under the condition of isolating air, and finally made into coke after drying, pyrolysis, melting, bonding, solidification, shrinkage and other stages, which is called high-temperature coking.

It sounds complicated, but it's actually similar to how to burn charcoal, except that the raw materials have changed.

But the problem is that Fang Zhong will never burn charcoal, and the forbidden army is not Doraemon's pocket, anyone can take it out.

In desperation, he found a local charcoal burner surnamed Kang.

I don't know how this Master Kong understands, first carefully told his eldest son a few secret recipes, and then instructed his Hun family to "find a good family to marry", so he came to see Fang Zhongyong with a posture of being sluggish and cold.

Needless to say, it must be the bastard of the boss who scares people, saying that the handsome man has taken a fancy to someone's daughter, uh no, he has taken a fancy to the secret recipe of burning charcoal, and intends to let the family give it out for free, otherwise it will be a knife and two paragraphs.

In order to avoid being scolded, Fang Zhongyong decided to say something straightforward: "Do you know how to coke?" ”

"What?"

"When the bituminous coal is put into the earthen kiln and burned about a third of the way, the mouth of the kiln is sealed. When the temperature goes down, you can get coke. ”

Only then did Master Kong put his heart in his stomach: "It turns out that you know how to burn charcoal!"

"It's not charcoal, it's charcoal. Rest assured, no one wants to plot your worthless scheme. ”

"But the little one hasn't burned it, the charcoal!"

"It doesn't matter! Just experiment boldly. If it's burned out, I don't want you to pay for it; It's burned, and there's a reward. It's much better than selling instant noodles in the future. ”

"What?"

"The official is saying that it's okay if it's burned out, and there's a reward for burning it."

"Not this one, the next."

"It's much better than selling instant noodles in the future."

"What is instant noodles? Is it convenient to use for cleansing after that? ”

Too much tease, too lazy to pay attention to him. As for this Master Kong's failure to burn coke, whether he is going to sell instant noodles or clean noodles after convenience, let him be!

To be on the safe side, it is essential to start small-scale trial production.

Dig an earthen kiln and get three or five thousand catties of bituminous coal. In order to give Master Kong a sense of security, Fang Zhongyong ordered the group to stay away, we can't peep, right?

The less the volume, the shorter the time.

When the kiln is opened, most of the bituminous coal condenses into lumps, shimmering with a metallic luster, and the coke is considered to be refined.

The illiterate old man stomped a few feet hard, did not move, and complained: "Dashuai, this thing is useless!" It's better to make a briquette! ”

"Ignorant thing, this is charcoal made from coal, you actually say it's not as good as a briquette? Then you say, is it better to chop wood or charcoal? ”

"Naturally, charcoal is good. The charcoal produced by the trumpet is genuine and durable...... "Master Kong took the opportunity to advertise.

Being with people with low IQ for a long time makes it easy to reduce their mental agility. In contrast, it is still Gongsun Ce, a polite scholar, who looks pleasing to the eye, everyone is a Sven person!

"Hongxuan, you go and find the blacksmith and try the firepower of this coke? I'm going to keep these idiots speechless. ”

The blacksmith came, and took wood as a basefire, and added charcoal to it, and raised the stove. The second hammer stirred up the bellows, and soon the dark blue flames rose.

The boss pouted: "This fire is not too big?" Isn't it a deliberate deception by the surname Kang, which ruined the good deeds of the handsome? ”

Fang Zhongyong scolded: "Don't scare Master Kang. This charcoal burns well, and the fire is very fierce! ”

The blacksmith also said: "I didn't expect the adults to understand the small one's superficial craftsmanship. The bluer the flame, the more poisonous the fire. If it's ordinary firewood, it's just yellow. The charcoal is only a little blue at the edges, and the heart of the fire is still yellow. It seems that the flame is very large, but it is actually a silver-like pewter gun head, which is useless. ”

Fang Zhongyong asked, "Can steel be made?" ”

"Can you? Absolutely! It's a pity that such a good fire is not used to burn 100 steels! As if he had seen a peerless beauty, the blacksmith had the audacity to drive Fang Zhongyong and his party away.

Fang Zhongyong didn't think about it, a craftsman who didn't have the spirit of being stunned was not a good craftsman. It's just that I don't know if this blacksmith has the determination to do Mo Ye and not hesitate to throw himself into the furnace and refine a peerless blade?

Okay, that's too bloody, we're not the self-willing King of Chu, we're Sven!

Besides, what is the effect of one or two magic weapons on a war? Do you think it's like in the romance, two rough men each holding weapons and ping pong against each other? Who is impatient to fight alone with you, a rain of arrows, and is guaranteed to die thoroughly.

Li Yuanhao of Western Xia has wolf ambitions, and sooner or later there will be a battle.

The sixteen states of Yanyun controlled by Northern Liao were even more determined to be won by the Great Song Dynasty.

Although Taizong and Zhenzong did not get it, in order to save the Great Song Dynasty from the difficulty of Jingkang a hundred years later, Yan Yun had to take it down. Even without the grievances of the Land of Yanyun, it would be difficult for the two neighboring powers to get along harmoniously.

A mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, unless there is a male and a female.

Obviously, Yeluzong is really not a tigress, and Zhao Zhen has no will to accept Huan's crotch, so he has to fight sooner or later.

Since war is inevitable, it is necessary to prepare for a rainy day.

War is about will, physique, and equipment.

When it comes to the will to fight, it seems unrealistic to expect pampered veteran soldiers to fight with their lives.

In terms of physique, can fat pigs compete with hungry wolves and speed with wolf dogs?

That is, the equipment can be spelled. Although the Great Song Dynasty doesn't have many war horses, it has money!

Building more cities, wearing more armor, and wearing down enemies with strong protection also seems to be a good choice.

Unfortunately, iron swords can kill, as can bronze knives and bone arrows. What's more, there are many people with lofty ideals who chase small money, and do everything possible to sell all kinds of iron tools to the enemy.

Don't say that they are traitors, in their hearts, the people of the whole world are one family, and it is absolutely correct to communicate with each other.

With the help of these people, Li Yuanhao even formed a heavy cavalry like the Iron Harrier.

If one day, Emperor Yuan Hao rules the world, he will inevitably sing affectionately to these people, "Military merit medal, there is half of you".

There are beautiful women in the north, and it doesn't seem good to be left alone and without armor. The dreamers sent warmth to the Northern Liao, and the Northern Liao also formed a similar hoplite cavalry, the Leather Room Army.

In this way, the enemy's protection was improved, and the situation of the Song army was embarrassing.

You can't fight in the field, and you can't kill the enemy in defense. Fortunately, the nomads are not good at attacking cities, otherwise they don't have to wait for Jingkang, but I am afraid that Zhao Zhen would have settled in the beautiful steppe long ago.

What Fang Zhongyong thought was, since you all have iron weapons, do you have steel weapons?

Let's play a weapon generation with you!

The news that the blacksmith wanted to forge a hundred steels spread far and wide, attracting a large number of people who ate melons.

The weapons of the ordinary sergeant are nothing more than ordinary cast iron forging, which can leave a gap if you are not careful. If you push harder, you might break it. The equipment of the forbidden army is a little better, but it is only a little better, and all the steels need to be above the head to be distributed.

Di Qing is a capital head, and he also has a knife made of 100 steels. The baby is terrible on weekdays, for fear of bumping into it!

The boss was greedy, but the level was too low to get anything good. For this reason, he complained to Fang Zhongyong several times.

Seeing that the blacksmith wants to refine a furnace of elixir, uh no, a hundred steels. The boss was like a vicious dog seeing what happened, and he stayed by the fire and didn't leave. As soon as someone approached, they began to bare their teeth.

The coke is hot, and it doesn't take long to burn a piece of pig iron and soften it.

A small hammer leads the way, a sledgehammer strikes, and iron filings are scattered.

As soon as the iron block was unfolded, the blacksmith placed it in an unknown liquid. As a white smoke rose, a foul smell spread.

Is this preparing to poison and smoke the dead?

Fang Zhongyong and the others hurriedly retreated, only the boss was like drinking elixir, took a deep breath, and praised: "This is the taste!"

The master blacksmith is dismissive of a bunch of ordinary people and miscellaneous people, and only cares about repeating his own actions.

How else to say that labor creates beauty?

As it is burned and forged over and over again, the pattern like fish scales gradually appears.

Boss Zhe was anxious and asked, "Can you make a blade?"

Seeing that the master was too lazy to pay attention to him, the little apprentice with a sledgehammer said: "What is a hundred steel, can it be achieved without repeated forging a hundred times?" It's early! ”

Finally, after seven seven hundred and one processes, a short knife made of 100 steels was freshly baked.

Holding the seemingly inconspicuous, even blackened short knife, the boss was as excited as a child.

Find a wooden stick, one knife and two sections.

Looking for a stone, I was not willing to test.

Summoning up the courage to find a rusty spear head, it was also cut off in response.

"Haha, we also have a treasure knife that sharpens iron like clay! Hahahaha! ”

A veteran of a hundred battles would be unable to help himself because he had a steel weapon, I really don't know if I should be happy for him.

Fang Zhongyong asked the blacksmith: "With such firepower, how long will it take to get 100 catties of steel?"

"With just a small master and apprentice, it will take about a month."

It's too slow! With the help of coke, it takes a month to make a warrior's equipment. The million-strong army of the Great Song Dynasty has to wait until the Year of the Monkey and the Horse Moon?

It's not advisable to turn 100 into steel!

waved and shouted to the Xinzhou envoy: "Is there an iron mine in the local area?"

The envoy replied, "What did you say?" Xinzhou is a treasure of nature, outstanding people, in addition to coal, gold, silver, copper and iron have everything, it is really a treasure! ”

Fang Zhongyong didn't bother to pay attention to this guy who was running the train with his mouth, the people of the treasure land were like this, wouldn't the people who were not treasure land have to starve to death?

"Gold, silver and copper are all official, not to mention those that are useless. I only ask you, is this metro mine pyrite or hematite? ”

"Pyrite is the majority."

"That's a fart, can pyrite make steel?"

The envoy was puzzled: "Why not?"

"Because pyrite contains too much sulfur, it can only be used to make sulfuric acid. Just because it is bright and yellow like gold, it is often mistaken for gold by fools and fools, and it is also called 'fool's gold'. There are even charlatans who smear it with toner and falsely claim that alchemy is cheating. Only the dark red hematite is a good raw material for making steel. ”

The envoy probably didn't understand: "The lord is really pedantic, extraordinary and extraordinary, and the officials admire it." I heard that there is a lot of output in Wutai Mountain, and there is only one place that is convenient for mining in the local area. ”

"Don't lead the way yet! It's noisy here. ”