Molten steel mixed with heat flowed through the crucibles, and the steelworks were as hot as a furnace in the hot summer months. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Coming out of the palace, Xiao Ming went directly to the steel workshop, and in just a while, the clothes on his body were soaked with sweat.

"Your Highness, it's too hot here, let's go outside and discuss this matter." Chen Wenlong persuaded that ordinary people would feel unbearable after staying in this steel workshop for a while, and he was worried that this place would make Xiao Ming unsuitable.

Looking at the slave craftsmen who were working hard shirtless, Xiao Ming said: "No need, this king is not so squeamish, by the way, I heard that the steel workshop has changed a supervisor, where is he?" ”

Chen Wenlong pointed to the young man who was rushing here not far away and said: "Your Highness, the one in front is, he is a student of Bowen College, studying steel production, he just took office a month ago, and as His Highness said, he also mentioned the matter of converter steelmaking, and then he just said that there was no material, so he did not mention this matter again." ”

"Oh?" Xiao Ming showed an interested look, after three years of training, now more and more students have entered various workshops in Qingzhou, just because of the restrictions, they have mastered many things, but they have no conditions to achieve them.

But there is no way to do it, in contemporary times, his country was once poor and nothing, and at that time, overseas scientists returned from scratch.

But there is one thing that he can't compare to, when the whole country is focused on production, and now the environment in which he is still in the midst of war, so he can only achieve it in the same way.

"Meng Kuo, see His Highness."

The young man who called himself Meng Kuo looked like a scholar, but he was just like the craftsman in the workshop, and at this time the young man was also barearmed, and his body was covered with jet-black iron filings.

Glancing at Meng Kuo up and down, Xiao Ming said: "Chen Wenlong said that you are from Bowen College, since this is the case, this king will test you, this converter steelmaking acidity and alkalinity are of high quality iron production." ”

"Back to Your Highness, it's alkaline." Meng Kuo said, "Acidic linings can't get out of the sulfur and phosphorus in iron, while alkaline linings can. ”

"Why go out for sulfur and phosphorus?"

"For steelmaking, phosphorus is a harmful substance, the presence of phosphorus makes iron increase hard brittleness, excellent pig iron phosphorus content should be less, and sulfur promotes the combination of iron and carbon, makes iron hard and brittle, and with iron to synthesize low melting point iron sulfide, so that pig iron produces hot brittleness and reduces the fluidity of molten iron, Gu high sulfur pig iron is not suitable for casting fine parts."

Meng Kuo said, Chen Wenlong looked like his eyebrows were flying, Xiao Ming couldn't help but ask, "This king asked Meng Kuo, what are you happy about?" ”

"Your Highness, this Meng Kuo was selected by the lower official from the Bowen Academy, and he is now answering like a stream, which proves that the lower official's vision is correct." Chen Wenlong said with a smile.

Xiao Ming was also very satisfied with Meng Kuo's answer in his heart, whether there were conditions or not, at least he had mastered the knowledge, and he asked again: "What is the oxidant in converter steelmaking?" What is the slag material? ”

"The oxidizer is only iron ore and oxygen, and the slag has lime." Meng Kuo's calmness is at ease.

Xiao Ming nodded and asked some deeper questions, and Meng Kuo answered very simply, which made him more and more satisfied.

After a pause, he said: "With you here, this king can also hand over the converter steelmaking production line to you with peace of mind." ”

"Converter steelmaking?" Meng Kuo exclaimed in surprise when he heard this.

"That's right, Ben Wang has found the alkaline lining material for the converter, and now that the alkaline converter steelmaking method has been realized, you will lead the craftsmen of the steel workshop to produce the converter, and at the same time build a production line to increase steel production." Xiao Ming said as he handed the drawings to Meng Kuo.

After taking the drawing, Meng Kuo couldn't wait to open it, just as Xiao Ming said, it marked the equipment needed for a whole production line, and there was a structural diagram of specific equipment on the drawing.

"Don't be afraid of failure, if you can't do it the first time, you can try it a few more times." Xiao Ming said to Meng Kuo that any technological innovation will encounter various problems in the early stage, and in Xiao Ming's view, this converter steelmaking will have to fail several times before it can sum up the trick from practice.

However, now that the conditions for this technology are already in place, the realization is not far off.

Once Qingzhou has access to a large amount of cheap steel, it will be possible to build railroad tracks that require a lot of steel, and steam locomotives will no longer be a luxury to run in Dayu.

At the same time, a large increase in steel production will also improve the ability to fight and make the production of weapons easier, and most troops will not remain in the era of cold weapons as they are now.

Meng Kuo carefully read the drawings and said to Xiao Ming: "Your Highness, Xia Guan Ke has been waiting for such a technology to be realized, Your Highness can rest assured, Meng Kuo will build a production line even if he doesn't eat or drink." ”

Xiao Ming nodded, the technical difficulty of converter steelmaking is converter and oxygen blowing, now the problem has been solved, as for other feeding, molten steel shaping and other problems are the same, there is no need to study separately.

In the following days, Xiao Ming and Meng Kuo were discussing the establishment of the production line, and some of the facilities were also handed over to the craftsmen for production, and on the fifth day, the mine delivered the first batch of magnesite ore.

This batch of ore was ordered by Xiao Ming to be mined for experiments, and after calcination, grinding, and casting, the inner lining of the converter was formed.

After completing this step, the rest of the matter was a matter of course, and Xiao Ming didn't want to continue to participate, after all, he didn't want to discourage Meng Kuo's enthusiasm.

Because in his opinion, a leader should be moderately lazy, otherwise his subordinates will develop the problem of laziness by doing everything himself.

Withdrawing from the affairs of converter steelmaking, Xiao Ming continued to turn his focus to the current chaos.

At this time, a piece of news brought by Wang Xuan made him break out in a cold sweat.

"The King of Wei sent an envoy to form an alliance with the King of Yan, the King of Zhao and the King of Liang?" Xiao Ming asked urgently.

"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Xuan's expression was solemn, "And at present, the envoy has arrived at King Yan, which is the news sent back by our secret agent in Bozhou." ”

"This time, King Wei seems to be really jumping off the wall in a hurry." Xiao Ming's face was heavy, this was a danger to him.

If the four kings attacked him at the same time, he would definitely not be able to resist it, after all, in this era, the advantage of firearms could not completely offset the crowd tactics of the cold weapons troops.

In fact, the real weapon to end the cold weapon war is the machine gun, and for him, he can't make this thing yet.

"Your Highness, if the King of Wei's treacherous plan succeeds, it will be a catastrophe for us, and the lower officials think that we should immediately assassinate the envoy of the King of Wei to delay the alliance." Wang Xuan said.

"This can only cure the symptoms but not the root cause, if one messenger dies, there will inevitably be a second messenger, now we should think about how to destroy this alliance." Xiao Ming said hatefully.