Chapter 36 Han Boyan and the state of ironmaking
"Under the order of the Zhuye Supervisor Zhang Hun, I don't know the name of the high surname, what are you doing here?"
Before Zhang Hun spoke, he took out two lumps of things that had become pitch black from his nose. The pen & fun & pavilion www.biquge.info too far apart Han Jun couldn't see it clearly, but he thought it was also used for anti-poison, and Han Jun was not interested in asking, because he believed that the craftsmen would soon not need this thing.
Han Jun has never liked to pay attention to pomp and circumstance, and he has to hug him when he goes out, so he only symbolically brought two personal guards, and although Zhang Hun has a rank of 600 stones, he is still just a blacksmith in essence, so it is reasonable not to know him.
"Presumptuous!"
"In front of the lord, how dare you do this?"
Han Jun smiled and stopped the guards from continuing to be furious, waved his hand and said, "Supervisor Zhang doesn't need to be polite, I came here this time because I have something to discuss with you." ”
Zhuye Prison is heavily guarded, and there are only a few big people in Bingzhou who can walk in quietly without Zhang Hun knowing. Thinking of this, Zhang Hun still had half a doubt, and knelt on the ground and bowed his head, although he was also a court official, but in essence he was just a flat-headed commoner, where did he dare to pretend in front of Han Jun.
After Ding Yuan was killed, the post of assassin of the state was vacant for more than two years, and there was a serious shortage of officials in the state. Zhang Hun is not from Bingzhou, he fled from the Central Plains and came to Bingzhou, and later was appointed as the supervisor of the Zhuye Workshop of Bingzhou because of his superb skills, from a homeless person at the bottom of the society to a court official with a rank of 600 stones, Zhang Hun is naturally grateful to Han Jun.
Han Jun picked up Zhang Hun, who was kowtowing, and said with a smile: "Supervisor Zhang, today the workshop has a day off, let the craftsmen put out the fire, take a good rest, and find a place to take a bath and have a good meal." ”
The craftsmen left happily, and only Han Jun and Zhang Hun were left in the huge workshop.
Han Jun walked around, nodded and asked Zhang Hun, "Can your body still eat?" ”
Zhang Hun hurriedly patted his chest and replied: "Don't worry, the three generations of the little ancestors are all doing this, and this body is hard!" ”
Han Jun glanced at Zhang Hun thoughtfully, and then asked, "When graphite burns, it will emit a pungent smell, and if it is inhaled for a long time, it will cause serious damage to the body. Is Zhang Jianling afraid of this? ”
Zhang Hun smiled bitterly and said: "We are all in this business, and a cheap life is not a pity." Besides, the prince is benevolent and righteous, so that we can all fill our stomachs, what is there to be afraid of? It's better to die than to live, and you can earn it by living one more day......"
Han Jun's heart turned upside down, he would rather be a peace dog than a chaotic person, especially for a person like Zhang Hun who runs a "cheap business", nothing is more important than being able to fill his stomach and live. This is also the reason why Bingzhou can absorb hundreds of thousands of displaced people, because in the thirteen states of Dahan today, it seems that only Bingzhou is the one who can't starve to death.
Han Jun sighed slightly and ordered, "Starting tomorrow, don't directly use graphite to smelt iron." ”
Zhang Hun hesitated: "Junhou Rongbing, although the use of charcoal to smelt iron has a small taste, it is difficult to quench good iron if the temperature is not enough......
Han Jun glared at Zhang Hun, "Charcoal is naturally not feasible to smelt iron, I mean first burn graphite into coke, and then use coke to smelt iron!" ”
Zhang Hun was stunned for a moment, and his huge eyes rolled back and forth, "In this way, is it okay?" ”
Han Jun said angrily: "Do as I say!" ”
"Yes!"
Zhang Hun saw that Han Jun seemed to be angry, and he didn't dare to say anything more, so he hurriedly bowed down to receive his order.
"Where is Zhang Jianling from?"
Han Jun asked casually, but in his heart he was still hesitating to teach Zhang Hun the steel filling method, because he was still not sure if Zhang Hun was trustworthy.
Han Jun's voice softened a little, but Zhang Hun still didn't dare to raise his head in fear, and replied cautiously: "The little one was originally from Yanzhou Dongjun, and when the white wave thieves were in turmoil, he was lucky enough to pick up a life, and he was scared and didn't dare to stay in Dongjun. ”
Han Jun bowed slightly, and asked again, "How many people are in the prison order?" ”
Zhang Hun replied: "There are only four people in total, the old wife is sick, and the child is young, but fortunately, the Hun woman rewarded by the prince is strong and strong to help with the housework." ”
Han Jun continued to ask, "Have you ever studied at Bingzhou Academy?" ”
Zhang Hun nodded excitedly and said, "That's natural!" The prince's benevolence and righteousness have given us the children of the untouchables the opportunity to go to school! The prince is very kind and virtuous, and the little one is willing to be a cow and a horse for the prince for the rest of his life! ”
Han Jun glanced at Zhang Hun deeply, nodded and said, "Then I'll teach you a new steelmaking method." ”
"Huh?"
Zhang Hun was stunned on the spot, as if he couldn't figure out how Han Jun could be associated with the steelmaking method.
"Although the frying method is good, but the efficiency is too low, and most of the obtained iron is wrought iron, and hard hard steel can be smelted in rare cases, but the amount of labor required by this method is too large, and the cost of the ring head knife cast by 100 steels is also extremely expensive. I don't know if I'm right? ”
Zhang Hun nodded again and again as if he was stupid, and his gaze at Han Jun was also full of awe.
"Actually, the method I taught you is very simple and easy to operate, but you must keep this secret for me. Got it? ”
Han Jun's expression was extremely cold, and what he was most worried about was that the "steel filling method" would be learned by the aliens in the north, which would pose a great threat to the Han people.
Blacksmithing, naturally, is not such a noble profession, especially in the Han Dynasty, it was classified as the "lower nine streams". Han Jun has such a prominent background, but he attaches so much importance to iron-smelting technology, how can this not make Zhang Hun feel cold?
Zhang Hun knelt on the ground, knocked his head three times and said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, I would rather die than leak half a point!" ”
Han Jun took a deep breath and said slowly, "After the furnace is opened tomorrow, you try pouring the molten pig iron onto the wrought iron and see how the effect is." ”
Zhang Hun's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly stood up and said: "Don't wait until tomorrow, anyway, I have nothing to do at home, so I'll reopen the furnace and try it according to the instructions of the prince." And after the restart tomorrow, there will be a lot of people, and I'm worried about ......"
Han Jun hesitated for a moment, nodded, and did not object.
Zhang Hun is right, paper can't contain fire, if you demonstrate the wonder of the steel filling method in front of everyone, even if you strictly guard it, it will inevitably be a hundred secrets. Although Han Jun is not a stingy person, he is never willing to be taken advantage of by the enemy.
Han Jun withdrew from the workshop, leaving Zhang Hun alone to start preparing for the fire.
With a pen and paper in his hand, Han Jun looked at the vast Jinyang Lake from afar, but his brain was running rapidly, desperately recalling the appearance and characteristics of the horizontal knife in the Tang Dynasty.
The horizontal knife, in fact, is an improved version of the ring head knife, thanks to the emergence of the steel filling method, the standard Tang knife was mass-produced, replacing the ring head knife to become the main weapon of the Tang Iron Cavalry in the south and the north.
The blade of the knife is straight, with both the king of the sword and the overlord of the sword. The horizontal knife is a two-handed knife, with a narrow blade and a thick ridge, extremely sharp, and it is a dual-purpose weapon for foot and horseman, and it is definitely a magic weapon that can shake the world.
Han Jun recalled little by little, and when he remembered a little, he wrote it on paper. It took about an hour before Han Jun finally put down the brush satisfied. I think that as long as Zhang Hun is not too stupid, he will definitely be able to follow his own introduction and make the horizontal knife come out about 500 years in advance.
In the workshop, Zhang Hun, who was sweating profusely, stared at the already red-hot furnace expectantly, as if he couldn't feel the scorching heat coming to his face, and his eyes didn't blink.
The bituminous coal, which was fully burned, emitted an unbearable smell, but Zhang Hun didn't care. He survived in this environment almost every day, and his nerves were numb from smoking.
High-temperature coking, in fact, still needs to go through many steps such as drying, pyrolysis, melting, etc., but firstly, Han Jun does not remember it so clearly, and secondly, the current technical equipment cannot meet such conditions, so everything can only be simplified.
After the fire was extinguished, the red-hot coal was taken out of the furnace, and after a little cooling and drying, Zhang Hun couldn't wait to start experimenting with the "steel filling method".
For him, in fact, there is not much difference between coal and coke for iron smelting, and the smell of coal and iron smelting is not the same as before. However, the "steel filling method" is different, once the test is successful, it is destined to go down in history. People live for a lifetime, who doesn't want to leave a name after death?
According to Han Jun's instructions, Zhang Hun first smelted a two-foot square piece of wrought iron, which was not difficult for him.
With trembling hands, he put a large piece of pig iron into the furnace, and after the fire was ignited, Zhang Hun began to desperately step on the water row and began to blow the wind.
The water row was invented by Nanyang Taishou Du Shi more than 100 years ago, compared with the previous horse row, the human row, not only saves a lot of effort, but also can greatly improve the efficiency. The reason why the Bingzhou Workshop was built on the shore of Jinyang Lake is also to facilitate access to water.
Han Jun, who was waiting outside, was quite bored and played with water drifting, and small stones set off layers of ripples on the surface of the lake, which reminded him of his childhood memories again.
Thinking about it, Han Jun's eyes suddenly lit up, and he remembered another thing.
Han Jun grew up in a hilly area on the coast of the Yellow Sea, where the plot was small, cut and broken, and he was unable to use large agricultural machinery, and basically relied on manpower for both ploughing and harvesting. When Han Jun was a child, he also helped the family with farm work, and what he did the most was to plow the land with his father.
Plough the land, with a curved plow!
That's right, it's the Quyuan plow!
Han Jun roared excitedly, the terrain of Bingzhou is somewhat similar to his hometown in his previous life, and the long straight plough that is commonly popular now is very inconvenient to use, the turning is not flexible enough, and the soil is also very laborious, and the efficiency is naturally not high.
But what if the farmer uses a zigzag plow?