Cheng Yue came to the coke oven, picked up a coke and observed it carefully, and then broke it to see if there was any problem in the middle. As Liu Shun said, he dared to inform Cheng Yue only after carefully confirming it according to the standards he set.

Cheng Yue nodded with satisfaction and said, "How many furnaces did you succeed?" ”

Liu Shun said with some embarrassment: "The seventh furnace has only succeeded. ”

Cheng Yue didn't reproach him, but said: "This is already rare." Don't beat yourself up. Come on, just take it and make steel, let me see what the first furnace of steel looks like. ”

Hearing that the Metropolitan Governor was coming, the craftsmen who were already excitedly watching from a distance immediately gathered around as soon as they heard Cheng Yue's order, and added coke to the blast furnace for steelmaking according to the requirements in the book. This time it was even more lively, and almost all the craftsmen gathered around, extremely excited to wait for the birth of the first furnace of steel.

Once the steelmaking blast furnace was lit, it immediately burst into flames, and everyone could not resist the high temperature, and kept leaning back. Some of the blacksmiths, their eyes wide open with excitement, kept moving forward, hoping to get a closer look at the hot flames.

Cheng Yue motioned for everyone to move back, giving up the position in front to the steel-making craftsmen.

A craftsman who had been staring at the flames cried out with joy: "The furnace is perfect! High degree of professional proficiency! This furnace steel is made! It's done! ”

A large group of craftsmen cheered excitedly, and Cheng Yue and the generals were also smiling.

A craftsman who was closer to Cheng Yue couldn't help but run to Cheng Yue's side, and he just wanted to stop him, but was stopped by Cheng Yue.

The craftsman threw himself at Cheng Yue's feet with tears in his eyes and cried: "Dadu Governor, the small iron smelting has been smelting for more than ten years, I have never seen such a fierce fire, this furnace must be a rare steel, small congratulations to Dadu Dudu!" ”

Cheng Yue helped him up and said, "You did it, what does it have to do with me?" I'm going to congratulate you guys. This furnace of steel, I give you permission to do whatever you want, and the cost is all on my head. Production starts from the next furnace of steel! Are you still satisfied? ”

The craftsmen were overjoyed. You must know that there was no shortage of iron in that era, but good steel was rare. Many of the more minor tools, such as farm tools, scissors, etc., are not of good quality, if you can use a good steel to make a good one, not to mention that you can use it comfortably, even if you sell it, you can also have a good price.

All the craftsmen applauded, and they were gearing up to find the tools and molds for striking iron, thinking about what to do.

Xie Ruji whispered in Cheng Yue's ear: "Metropolitan Governor, good steel must be prevented from being obtained by the Yuan army." ”

Cheng Yue said with a smile: "They can't get real weapon technology." And weapons-grade steel has not yet begun to be refined, this is only for civilian use. Master Li, this technology will be under your control in the future, and only military steel will be refined here. ”

Li Fu's face was full of joy, but all the generals were stunned. Even if you don't understand, you can see from the ecstatic expressions of the blacksmiths that this blast furnace can make the best steel, but this kind of good steel is actually only for civilian use! How good that weapon-grade one is.

Cheng Yue said: "I will stay here for a few days, while giving lectures to everyone, and at the same time studying weapon manufacturing with you, you can also stay here for a few days, let me give you a few good knives." For example, Zhang Xiaozhong, I will give you the best of your two knives, and I promise to make you like it as much as a gun. Wait a while you go and leave the size and requirements for the craftsman"

Liu Shun reminded Cheng Yue: "Lin'an will have news soon, right?" ”

Cheng Yue said: "It may be fast, it may be slow, we don't wait for them, we can do what we have to do." The matter here is much more important than the holy decree of Lin'an. Anyway, we don't look for the Mongols, and the Mongols won't do the handover. In my opinion, Lin'an always has to pull the skin for a few days, after all, it has lost a lot of territory, and no one can pass without talking, and it will always be noisy for a few days, scolding for a few days, discussing for a few days, and making trouble for a few days. ”

Tokh said worriedly: "Will someone frame the son as a traitor?" Will we people be a problem with the child? ”

Cheng Yue said indifferently: "There will definitely be, but most people won't." Even if they are called traitors, they have to rely on us and don't have to worry about it. We do our own thing, that is. Go your own way and let others say go. ”

When the generals heard this, they couldn't help but applaud loudly, and the generals were especially grateful and relieved.

Yin Yu said: "Governor Dadu, do the civil uses you just mentioned include farm tools?" ”

Cheng Yue said: "Of course. The main thing is the farm implements. I also invented some farm tools, and you can look at them when you go back and type them out. Coupled with the blessing of good steel, the production efficiency of agriculture can be doubled, so I must have you come this time. ”

Yin Yu was also excited, of course he knew how much change a good farm tool could bring, especially knives such as the scythe, which were made of better steel than the current saber, and the harvesting efficiency could be increased by at least three times, so that fewer people could plant more fields, and he, the director of the Department of Agriculture, would be able to produce better results.

Li Fu said: "In addition to scissors and kitchen knives, there don't seem to be many places to use steel. ”

Cheng Yue said: "That's why I brought Master Li here." The place where steel is used the most is the steel bar. ”

Li Fuqi said: "Steel bar? What is that? ”

Cheng Yue said: "Master Li's cement has been made, what if steel bars are added to the cement?" ”

Li Fu thought deeply, and suddenly realized: "So you can build a very tall building?" ”

Cheng Yue clapped his hands and said, "That's right! The addition of steel bars to cement will greatly improve the compressive resistance and ductility of the material, making large spaces and high-rise buildings possible. However, it should be noted that steel bars and cement have different expansion ratios, and the thickness of steel bars and the proportion of cement must be studied by Master Li. Construction is a century-old project and cannot be started lightly. Also, Lord Li, I remember promising that Lord Li could know Jiankang, but I didn't have Huaiyin at that time. So if I now say that I want Lord Li to go to Huaiyin to be the mayor of Huaiyin and the director of the Department of Industry, can Lord Li agree? ”

Li Fu nodded without hesitation: "Yes." ”

Seeing that Li Fu agreed so happily, Cheng Yue was a little surprised, and said, "Lord Li, do you want to hear the reason?" ”

Li Fu smiled: "There must be something important over there, what is more convenient to produce, what am I right?" ”

Cheng Yue smiled: "Master Li is really thorough. I have a few important things to hand over to Master Li. One is dye, Huaiyin has brine, and I have drawn the approximate place. You go and dig a well to take it out, and then try to make soda ash and dyes step by step according to the method I wrote. When this dye is made, the dyed things will not fade, and the clothes made at that time can have various colors, and there is no need to be so afraid of washing. Another point is that it can be made into chemical fertilizer, which is complicated, and I will train a group of people for Master Li to do it. Fertilizers, if made, will greatly improve the fertility of the land and will have a huge impact on promoting food production. There is another thing in Huaiyin, almost more important, and that is oil. ”

Li Fu was stunned: "Oil? What is oil? ”

Cheng Yue said with a smile: "It's the fire oil used when guarding the city, and Huaiyin has it." This thing has a wider range of uses, we have to make more use of it little by little, let's use it for lighting first, use the distillation method to refine it to make kerosene, the brightness and convenience of lighting can be increased several times, and adults can not read books in such a dark wax light at night. There is also lubricating oil to prepare the next step in the production of machinery. Paraffin wax can be used to make candles, and the last remaining asphalt can be used to pave the road. Master Li, I have to find a group of top people to study this, which is very complex and has high security requirements. Once these things are made, our world will go through a sea change. ”

Li Fu said: "I don't know how long it will take to make it?" ”

Cheng Yue said: "The simple refining is very fast, as long as the kerosene is combined with the glass I asked Qian'er to make, plus the flintlock device made by Liu Shun, oh no, this can't be used for civilian use immediately, then use a match to light it, you can make a kerosene lamp, and the brightness can almost be compared to my flashlight." What do you think? ”

The crowd was overjoyed. Cheng Yue's flashlight, they have been thinking about it.

Although Li Fu has not seen it, but seeing the appearance of the great joy of the generals, his heart is also itching, and he can't wait to produce it immediately, take a good look at this kind of thing.

Cheng Yue said: "Oil wells are not in a hurry, they must be studied first." Master Li went to make alkali and dyes first, these two things are already very important, and they are not simple. Master Li, have you finished reading the chemistry book I asked you to print? ”

Li Fu said: "Of course, after reading it, it's really an eye-opener." I also did a few experiments with my own hands, and the results were exactly what was written in the book, otherwise I would have thought it was a book from heaven. Speaking of which, I have a few questions for you. ”

Cheng Yue was caught by him, so he had to patiently answer his questions one by one. And all the generals also gathered around to listen to Cheng Yue talk about what kind of chemical thing it is.

From time to time, the generals let out a burst of exclamations: "What? Water is actually made of air? ”

"Do we breathe in oxygen, exhale carbon dioxide?"

"It turns out that the charcoal poisoning in winter poisons people because the charcoal burns inadequately?"

"Most of the human body is water?"

All the generals listened to Cheng Yue's talk about chemistry like a book from heaven, and felt that they had entered another world. It's so interesting, is this chemistry?

Unconsciously, more than two hours later, a craftsman ran over and said excitedly: "Dadu, it's about to be baked." ”

Only then did Cheng Yue break free from the encirclement of the generals and take them to see the furnace.

The craftsmen were all waiting for Cheng Yue and them excitedly, seeing that they were coming, the leading craftsman made a gesture. I saw a craftsman turn the torsion bar, and the hot molten steel shone brightly, and was slowly poured out, gurgling along the trench.

"Ahh Molten steel! It's a furnace! It's a furnace! Many ecstatic blacksmiths rushed up and poured molten steel into various molds, and for a moment the "snort" of watering was heard incessantly, and then the craftsmen began to clink happily one by one.

The generals have not been in the army for a short time, of course, they have seen the process of forging knives, and they know how difficult it is to refine molten steel, but as long as they are refined, they will definitely be able to make a good knife. Seeing that Cheng Yue really refined a large amount of molten steel, he was shocked, and he was full of expectations for the military steel knives in the future.