In the iron house, the blast furnaces are blazing, and the molten pig iron smelted from the iron-making furnace flows into the iron-frying furnace, and some people are stirring with willow sticks to oxidize the carbon in the molten pig iron and mature the iron. The fiery red wrought iron juice flowed down the outlet of the blast furnace and quickly filled the mold.

Cao Bianjiao stood in front of the iron furnace, and beside him, the shirtless craftsmen were busy, the sound of clanging bells was endless, and young and strong people were helping on the side, or pulling bellows, or preparing quenching liquid, and the huge arsenal was busy.

A middle-aged man carries a heavy sledgehammer, which moves rhythmically with the movement of his arm. The muscles on his body, with every movement he made, produced all kinds of tremors, revealing a majestic masculine beauty. The flames were blazing and on the iron stove, and a seedling knife gradually took shape.

In front of Cao Bianjiao, Wang Yinglong was introducing the affairs of the arsenal to Cao Bianjiao, Wang Yinglong, and the skin of the people. Good at making bows, Chongzhen followed Zhang Xianzhong in the early years, illiterate and industrious, simple, honest and upright, Zhang Xianzhong loved his talent very much, after Cao Bianjiao incorporated the Great Western Army, he also brought him back to Nanjing, let him take charge of the affairs of the Nanjing Arsenal.

During the Ming Dynasty, the steel smelting process had reached the point of large-scale, mass production, and continuous production of raw wrought iron. What the Ming Dynasty had was the most advanced steel smelting technology in the world today - the steel frying method.

"Water quenching, the fastest speed, higher hardness; Oil quenching, which is slower and has a lower hardness: while air quenching, which has the slowest speed and lowest hardness. The key is to see what kind of weapon you need to craft, and then make your choice. When the knife tire is red, if it is not fully immersed in the water, there is only a partial immersion...... "An old craftsman carefully picks up the knife tire and slowly puts it into the water, he is teaching his disciples how to make a Miao knife.

Many young craftsmen surrounded him, many of them nodding, and some of them shook their heads to indicate that they were not quite clear.

The old craftsman gave the hammer to a disciple and told him to learn how to forge it.

Cao Bianjiao took a wet towel from Wang Yinglong's hand, wiped the sweat on his face, it was snowy outside, it was in full swing, it was really a different scenery, and said to the people present with a smile: "It doesn't matter if you don't understand, try a few more times, and you will understand the truth." You are still young, this craft is the accumulation of years, your master is the master of this workshop, naturally not you can compare, as long as you are attentive, you can also do this, or even better! But there is one thing, the technology of forging weapons is a national secret, and you should not tell anyone, not even your friends, relatives, or even your wives and children. If I know who can't control that mouth... That... At one's own risk! Of course, everyone works well, and the court will not treat you badly, and I have already reported to the court that a reward system will be implemented in the workshop. As long as the requirements can be met, you can get additional subsidies every month, more work, no cap, and the specific implementation measures will probably be announced after the year. Therefore, please be more attentive, get started early, and stay until next year, after you get started, you can not only get a fixed salary, but also get subsidies. I believe that in the near future, everyone's life will be better and better. This year's Chinese New Year, the imperial court will reward everyone, I, Cao Bianjiao, took out three thousand silver dollars from after Yulu, as your reward for a year, the front-line soldiers kill the enemy, your weapons are excellent, they will also reduce losses, you have worked hard! ”

"Thank you, General!" Hundreds of craftsmen shouted at the same time, very happy.

Cao Bianjiao continued to walk in the arsenal, inspecting every process, and when he encountered something he didn't understand, Cao Bianjiao would ask Wang Yinglong, and Wang Yinglong also answered Cao Bianjiao one by one.

"My Ming firearms, the most important thing is artillery, but I heard that there are often cases where they will explode if they are used for too long, and more than a dozen of our army's artillery men have been killed, you can improve the furnace to make the iron juice more refined, and the weapons made are sharper, so what can you do to improve this move, why will the Westerners' artillery not appear like this?" Cao Bianjiao also asked.

"Back to the general, the method, Xia Guan did not have it for a while, but the reason is known, when he was in Sichuan, Xia Guan was fortunate to get acquainted with a few Westerners, he once said privately, why my Ming artillery is difficult to compare with the West, not because our technology is not good, but the raw materials are not good, just because the content of iron ore and coal magazines stored in my Ming land is relatively high, so the cast iron smelted is fragile, and the raw materials for artillery are often poor, or it is easier to blow up, Either it had to be compensated for by a thicker wall thickness and a greater weight, no better than their guns......"

"I see!" Cao Bianjiao also suddenly realized at this time, he always thought it was the reason for technology, but he didn't expect it to be a defect in raw materials, where would Cao Bianjiao know this in advance, the science and technology of the Ming Dynasty, especially military science and technology, compared with the Westerners, is basically much worse, they are more aggressive, and the Chinese nation has always been conservative, complacent and complacent, since ancient times, it is not in the Ming Dynasty, boasting of the Celestial Empire, seeing foreign culture and technology, especially during the reign of the Manchu Dynasty, advocating force on horseback, and for the others are scoffing.

"I can solve the matter of raw materials, if my Daming iron ore is not good, then we will go to other places to transport, I don't believe that the same is true in other places, is it that the iron ore in the West is strong, it is impossible!" Cao Bianjiao wants to go out is not a day or two, taking Taiwan is the first step, and now it is time to take the second step, to make the colonial journey of the Ming Empire, to get a piece of the pie in this great ocean era, now he has four water divisions, nearly 200,000 water soldiers and horses, enough to open up overseas bases.

"And the use of charcoal is far stronger than the use of coal to make iron, but the consumption is amazing, the wood consumption is too large, the mountains and rocks are unstable, it will form a disaster, when the officials were in Shaanxi, they saw it, the mountains and forests were destroyed, the mountains and rocks poured down due to heavy rain, and half ......of the village was gone" Speaking of this, Wang Yinglong also shook his head again and again, very afraid, when people faced the revenge of nature, it was like this.

"I see, I'll control that! I try to give you the best, and at the same time I want to make sure that I don't do all the things that go out of my way! ”

The protection of water and soil resources, Cao Bianjiao is also very clear, but he has not cared, because this era, far from the future generations of the era of industrialization can be compared, water and soil resources are still well protected, especially in the south, lush forests, beautiful mountains and rivers, unlike later generations, find a puddle to wash your feet are afraid of poisoning to death, at this time, the water can be directly picked up from the river and poured into the mouth.

If you want to fish without exhaustion, then you can only have controlled mining, cut down one, you have to plant two, so that the energy is continuous, and every time you have to control the quantity and quality, you can't cut down at will, this Cao Bianjiao can be regulated by express decree, Wang Yinglong said, but also let Cao Bianjiao think of the matter of soil and water protection, this along the river and river, can not be infinitely open pits to destroy trees and vegetation, need to be protected, otherwise once the flood comes, the drought comes, it is millions of losses, It is also a loss that is difficult to recover.

After walking around the arsenal, Cao Bianjiao also had a meal with the craftsmen and checked their food before leaving.