What worries Li Fugui more than Jin Yan is that Chen County still has an iron mine that can create some value, but the other two counties are finished, and there is no other side business to engage in except farming. The key is that there is nothing in the three counties, and it is really difficult to develop people's livelihood.

"General, this is the situation, I really need the help of the general." Jin Yan complained with a bitter face.

"Bitter? Are you still complaining about it? Gu Feng was in charge of such a big, poor and white new state, and he didn't complain. It's much worse than yours, the plague hasn't been cured yet, there aren't many people, it's just a blank field. What about you? You're still a little popular here, and it's close to the tea and horse market, do you think you're not as good as Gufeng? Seeing that Jin Yan was blackened and much more capable after losing weight, Qin Forget was also very comforted in his heart, and deliberately provoked him.

Qin Wang's words really aroused the arrogance in Jin Yan's heart, "I don't lose to anyone, I know that the general values the most now is the Tea Horse City, and the most fancy is Chicheng and Ye County, there is an army of Golden Mountain in the south of Yunbei County blocking Yunbei County, I have no way, I can't say that I want to attack these two counties." Jin Yan said ruthlessly.

Seeing that Jin Yan was about to bite, Qin Forget was a little surprised, "What are you kid going to do?" ”

"What are you going to do? The people in these two counties are going to be crowded into cakes, and now that the tea horse market is about to close, there is less work over there, and there must be a lot of idle manpower, and I have to pull people back desperately. The corners of Jin Yan's mouth kept smiling evilly.

Qin Forget smiled dumbly, "You kid, a few years ago, we desperately tried our best to pull the nearby population to Chicheng, and you are good, and we have to pull it back." You are not afraid that Yin Xian, Wang Wen and Wang Ming will tear you apart. ”

"Cut, as long as the generals are not partial, I am not afraid of them." Jin Yan said indifferently.

Qin Forget couldn't help but ponder, jokes are jokes, but this matter has to be thought through, "Tell me what you think." ”

"General, what do I think?" Jin Yan also became serious, "Do you think the development of our Akagi Group is healthy?" Now almost all the young people are gathered in the two cities of Chicheng and Yexian, yes, there is indeed a quick cash to be made there. But I think relying solely on business will be very troublesome in the future. You think, so many people gather over there, you always have to eat, you always have to consume some daily necessities. To put it simply, it's just vegetables, someone has to grow them, right? I know that gradually there will be people doing these jobs, and everything will be normal, and not necessarily everyone will be directly engaged in those business activities, and the supporting work will also have to be done. But now few people are aware of this, everyone is carried away by the prosperity of the tea horse market, and I want to consciously guide this, and this is the opportunity for our three counties. ”

Qin Wei felt that it made sense while listening to Jin Yan, Jin Yan was really talented. There is really no way for people to refuse what he said, "What you said is also true."

Everything is balanced, and relying on the tea and horse market alone is inevitably a bit like walking on a road. If you want to do it, you can do it, I won't limit you, but I won't help you, it's all up to you. ”

"Yes, thank you, General." With this sentence is enough, Jin Yan thanked him with joy.

Qin Wang's trip to Yunbei was interrupted by good news, and Vasily and Mikhail assisted Jin Xu in getting out the blast furnace that Vasily had mentioned.

Qin Wang was very happy, he had heard Vasily describe the power of the blast furnace, a furnace can produce thousands or even thousands of catties of iron, the quality of the iron is also very high, a little processing and forging, can produce high-quality steel.

Qin Wangke knew that for hundreds of years, the popular and more advanced steel forging method in all countries in the world was the steel filling method. This method is to fry the pig iron first, and then heat it together with the pig iron, because the pig iron has a low melting point, it is easy to melt, and after the pig iron is melted, it will be "poured" into the wrought iron, so that the wrought iron carburizes and obtains steel. In this way, as long as the proportion of raw wrought iron is matched, the carbon content level in the steel can be controlled more accurately, and then after repeated forging, a uniform texture of steel can be obtained. This method is relatively easy to master, and the work efficiency is greatly improved, so it has become the main steelmaking method after the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The steel filling technology has been quite popular in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and this method has been gradually developed in the practice of frying steel.

This method is relatively advanced, but it is only relative to the backward steel frying method. With the chaos in the world, the demand for weapons and armor has increased dramatically, and this steelmaking method is far from satisfying the demand. And because this technology has been popularized for hundreds of years, no one is better than the other, and the Akagi Group has no advantage over others at all.

When I arrived at the place, I saw that what was set up in front of Qin Wang was a long and round object, more than one zhang high, as thick as a water tank, made of bluestone, wrapped in an inch thick clay outside, the top was open, and a big hole was opened below, and there was a small hole on the side of the furnace wall. Two huge baskets were installed on top of the furnace to blow air for steelmaking. There is also a huge ramp ladder, I don't know what it is for.

Qin Forget looked around this guy for a long time, "Jin Xu, are you sure this thing can make steel?" He couldn't see how it was a stove.

"Look, General, this is the steel we just made." Jin Xu knew that Qin Yu would have doubts, so he handed him an iron ingot.

Qin Forget took it, there was nothing unusual about the appearance of this iron ingot, it was a swarthy lump, and there was a lot of charcoal ash on it, which was extremely ugly. Qin Forget took out the horizontal knife and slashed it hard, and after a crisp sound of "ding", Qin Forget picked up the iron ingot and took a closer look, his eyes suddenly widened.

The horizontal knife in his hand was a hundred refined knives made by Jin Xu himself, under such a powerful chop

, the steel smelted by the general method cannot be cut in half, that is about the same. But this time only a very shallow white mark was left on the iron ingot, which means that the iron ingot in his hand was already steel when it was just baked.

It's already steel just out of the oven, what is this concept? Compared to the steel filling method, this eliminates the time-consuming process of repeated beating in the middle, which saves a lot of time.

"Duan Jiu, inform Yang Da to block the entire mining area, from now on, everyone is allowed to enter and not leave, without my permission, trespassers will be killed! Snoopers are unforgiving! Remember, it doesn't matter who it is. With such advanced technology, Qin Wang's first thought was to keep it secret, and he immediately ordered the entire mining area to be blocked.

Duan Jiu immediately went to carry out the order.

"Jin Xu, who else knows about this matter except for the two of you?" Qin Forget turned his head and asked Jin Xu again.

Seeing Qin Wang's serious expression, Jin Xu also realized the seriousness of the matter, "Don't worry, General, the people who know, including the masons who built the blast furnace, are here." ”

"Okay." Qin Forget relieved himself at this time, "Tell me how it works, and now order someone to burn a furnace for me." ”

"Yes." Jin Xu agreed, "Vasily, Mikhail, you will bring someone to burn a stove for the general to see." He spoke to the two of them again.

Vasily and Mikhail were the only ones who could understand ordinary Chinese, so they hurriedly took people to prepare.

Jin Xu took out a drawing from his arms, which was the internal structure of the blast furnace, "General, please see, this is the internal structure of the blast furnace." From top to bottom, it is divided into five parts: throat, body, waist, belly and cylinder. Iron ore, charcoal, and limestone are loaded from the top of the furnace during production, and air is blown in from the air outlet located at the bottom of the furnace along the furnace perimeter. When charcoal is burned at high temperatures along with the air that is poured in, iron ore can be smelted. The molten iron is released from the iron mouth. Impurities in iron ore and fluxes such as limestone combine to form slag, which is discharged from the slag port. Jin Xu pointed to the various parts of the blast furnace and explained to Qin Wang in detail.

"Is it that simple?" Qin Forget asked in surprise.

"Is it that simple?" Jin Xu shouted, "It's not difficult for those who know, but not for those who are difficult, this is the development and improvement of shaft furnace ironmaking over the past hundred years, and I don't know how many people's wisdom has been condensed." Hearing Qin Forget, a layman, say it simply, Jin Xu was a little unhappy.

"Fortunately, Mikhail burned the blast furnace for the master for a few days when he was an apprentice in the swordsmithing shop, and he had a vague idea, otherwise how could he have built it so quickly? This is also what the three of us have worked tireless for more than a month to build, build, dismantle, and build, I don't know how many times it has been repeated. Look at the dozen or so blast furnaces over there, they are all defective products from our tests. ”

Knowing that he had said the wrong thing and caused the dissatisfaction of Jin Xu, a madman, Qin Forget hurriedly gave him a smile.