"I know, I know, but this mine is not ours."

Li Xian sighed, and Guan Fengsheng was also like a scoop of cold water poured on his head, speechless. That's right, this is Master Zhong's mine, and the principle of this "capitalist" governing them is that they just have enough to eat. When they refine steel, they will also be squeezed by Master Zhong to the point that there are not a few hairs left. Although in this era, people who know how to make steel are senior technicians, and they went to Foshan to be a stove head, and they can earn two or three hundred taels a year, but they still have a lot of debts from Master Zhong, and they can't run if they want to.

After a while, Guan Fengsheng cheered up, he couldn't make steel, he could save money for firewood, and he could take a big breath this year. With a little movement, the problem of imperial grain on Li Xi's side can be solved.

In these years, books are the golden rule, not to mention those furnace workers who don't know big characters, even Guan Fengsheng is convinced, but Tian Qing is still unwilling to stiffen his neck.

"If you want bricks, you want iron fan blades, you want labor, you have them all in the mine, and what do you want to spend! You're the leader, we'll all listen to you! ”

This mine was all pulled up by Guan Fengsheng, and with his support, things were smooth sailing.

What Li Shi had to do was very simple, add a regenerator to this furnace. In this era, the iron-smelting furnaces were open, and the thermal efficiency of the fuel was very low, and the heat-resistant materials were used as a regenerator to improve the thermal efficiency of the fuel, and the consumption was less.

The greater role of this regenerator is actually to increase the furnace temperature, which can be used in steelmaking. The furnace temperature for smelting pig iron is less than 1,200 degrees Celsius, and the molten steel is melted to obtain 1,600 degrees. It's just that there are not enough heat-resistant materials for the furnace now, and this mine is also Mr. Zhong's, so there is no need to think about steelmaking, so Li Xi just took it out to save charcoal and silver for the mine, and at the same time, for his next plan to accumulate technology.

He wants to sell his land, not only for this stove, but more importantly for the next furnace, which is his own stove.

Through the transformation of the iron-smelting furnace, Li Shi became familiar with Tantou Wu again. This man named Wu Yaluo has a very modern name, but he is so dirty that he is dirty, indeed, he is doing the work of burning soil and firewood. In addition to burning charcoal, he also worked as a brick burner.

The design drawings are actually in Li Xian's mind, and throughout the day, he is busy with the work of explaining, burning bricks, striking iron, and carpentry also rolling up his sleeves and starting to work. The mine often buys its own tools, and Li Shi's matter is only a small project, which can be solved by scraping together some scraps. The surrounding mine guards have never interfered with the work of the mine, their task is only to keep an eye on the ore and the pig iron that comes out of the furnace, and Master Zhong will not care about how the iron smelting furnace will be tossed.

At night, Li Xi tossed under the bed, dragged out several large wooden boxes, opened the boxes, and immediately drowned in a large pile of thread-bound ancient books. He was reminded by his casual nonsense during the day, what book did Daddy Li leave for his son?

Most of them are related to the Four Books and Five Classics, Li Xian was too lazy to flip through them, so he scanned the cover locally, and the bottom of the boxes was turned over, and he still didn't see any good goods.

It doesn't matter, anyway, the things in my head should be enough, and I just want to be able to block the doubts of Guan Fengsheng and others when I am looking for books.

Lazily flipped through the last box, picked up a book, and the four words on the cover stood out.

Daddy Li, are you really an ordinary reader......

Li Xian's mood is agitated, "Heavenly Creation"! Flip it carefully, it's still Chongzhen's ten-year version! The earliest version!

Song Yingxing's "Heavenly Creations" was later hailed as "the world's first comprehensive surname work on agriculture and handicraft production", and Europeans called it "the encyclopedia of Chinese crafts in the seventeenth century".

But at the moment 1712, it is not a well-known masterpiece, except for a few engraved copies in the early Qing Dynasty, there is no circulation, strictly speaking, Song Yingxing has only been dead for 50 years, and he is still a contemporary. In the Qianlong period, when the Tartar court compiled the "Siku Quanshu", not only did it not include this book, but it was also directly banned.

It wasn't until the Republic of China era that the Chinese people knew about the existence of this book from the clues, and then found the original in the book, and found that not only the book is there, but also the whole of Europe! All versions of "Tiangong Kaiwu" published in the Republic of China are derived from the "Suga Ben" of the Japanese version.

Li Xi suddenly felt that his mouth seemed to have a "great prophecy technique", and when he said it casually in the mine before, he actually turned out this treasure under his bed. With this book, the authoritative surname of iron and steel making is in the hands of hand.

After a stack of "Heavenly Creations", and then flipping down, Li Shi became more and more convinced that Daddy Li was not an ordinary person.

Fang Yizhi's "Physics Knowledge", Wang Fuzhi's "Thoughts and Questions", ......

Then flip it again, Li Xian almost spurted out a mouthful of blood, hey, Daddy Li, you are not ordinary, but you are too unusual.

"New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness"! "Actual Record of Military Training"! Qi Jiguang, Qi Marshal's military book......

Turned to the last one, but it was a manuscript, with four small letters on the cover: Reading Silk Essays.

Daddy Li's name is Li Chai, and the word is silk, and this book should be Daddy Li's notes. Look at this regular script is very Zhouzheng, although the level is not very high, but the skeleton is strong, containing an atmosphere that the Qing people do not have.

Turning the book, Li Xi frowned, only a small half of white paper remained, with confetti in the binding, and the part with words in front was naturally torn off.

"I guess there was something taboo that destroyed it."

Li Shi didn't think about it carefully, this matter is too common in this era, and the case of Dai Mingshi's "Nanshan Collection" was only last year.

"Could it be...... This is really providential, you still think about it, don't let your son be a peace dog? ”

Looking at these books, Li Xian's heart stirred, and the word "rebellion" lingered in his mind again.

"Fourth brother! Yesterday you said you wanted to teach us how to read and write! ”

The immature voice sounded, but there was more than one footstep, it was Second Sister Guan who came with Jia Gouzi and Wu Shishi. Li Xian's mind calmed down, for him now, rebellion is a castle in the air, and what he has to do now is to lay a good foundation and build steps.

Catching up with the little girl and her two partners, Li Xian smiled slightly: "If you don't learn words today, I'll teach you to recognize the stars." ”

Second Sister Guan looked at the night sky in a daze: "Stars? If you look closely, it's denser than rice porridge, how can you recognize it? ”

Looking at the little girl who seemed to have all the stars in her eyes, Li Xian's heart was full of warmth.

Under the same starry sky, Guan Fengsheng and his wife were lying on the bed, and they were also mentioning Second Sister Guan.

"My brother is embarrassed to speak, but look at Tian Qing and the eldest daughter......"

Guan Tian wanted to speak and stopped, but Guan Fengsheng snorted coldly.

"I know what you're thinking, but Yun Niang was pointed out by me in front of Brother Li!"

Guan Tian gritted his teeth, still unwilling.

"Look at the fourth brother's thoughts, it doesn't seem to be on Yun Niang, but I like the second sister more."

Guan Fengsheng did not hesitate at all.

"It's good to marry the fourth brother together."

"You!"

Guan Tian was so angry that he couldn't speak, and turned his head to ignore his husband.

The next day, Guan Fengsheng looked at Li Shi's expression, which made Li Shi very puzzled, but Guan Fengsheng looked at Tian Qing again and sighed, but he didn't say anything.

Then both of them focused on the renovation of the stove.

The project is not complicated, and even the bricks do not have to be burned anymore, Wu Tantou dismantled a charcoal kiln that had been abandoned before, and added the furnace that had collapsed, and it was enough for Li Shi to ask for refractory bricks.

Just dig another pit directly on the top of the pit next to the iron-smelting furnace and build a small brick house, which is a honeycomb-like refractory brick structure. Then dig a passage to the blast outlet of the furnace, which is also made of bricks. On the top of the brick house, a passage is also built with bricks, close to the top of the furnace, a chimney is built in the middle of the passage, and a convex pipe structure is set up, and a fan made of iron sheets is installed behind the convex pipe, and it is shaken by manpower, so that heavy smoke and dust can go out from the chimney, and the light hot air can be pumped to the regenerator by the fan.

The rest of the work is the work of carpenters and blacksmiths. The air vent was renovated and went straight to the regenerator, and the air inlet was placed on the side of the regenerator, and Carpenter He followed Guan Fengsheng, who was already a blacksmith, to solve it after a few times.

The trouble is the top of the furnace, the most ideal regenerator, of course, is to close the top of the furnace, but at the moment, because it is only a transformation, so we have to consider the top of the furnace feeding, Li Shi's plan can only be to use iron sheets as a big horn, which can cover the top of the furnace after feeding. Above the bell is a curved iron pipe, the other end of which can be inserted into a brick passage.

In short, this design is very simple, but everyone is still shocked by one of the details.

"Fourth brother, why does this fan spin so fast when people shake it gently?"

In the amazed crowd, Carpenter He from the mine couldn't help but ask, because he had a share of the credit for this thing, Li Xi asked him to use a variable speed gear made of wood to drive the hand-cranked fan.

"You have to learn a lot to understand this."

Li Xi is not perfunctory, this principle is the same as a bicycle chain, I think it is very simple to know, but if I don't know, I have to understand a lot of things to understand.

Carpenter He sighed in disappointment, but his face was natural, in this era, the craftsmen are guarding their own unique skills, people don't say it, of course he can't ask.

"After a while, I will find time to give lectures, and if you want to learn, you have to come to listen to the lectures, remember to bring your apprentices."

Then Li Xian's words made Carpenter He widen his eyes, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses, nodding his head, why don't you learn?

"Fourth brother, it's really not an ordinary person."

He Carpenter was full of emotion.

The regenerator was completed, and then the results had to be accepted, and Li Xian was also apprehensive in his heart, after all, he had not practiced. Although Tian Qing was shocked by this series of movements, like many people, he still didn't believe that this strange thing could save charcoal.

"This stove has a big extra lump, beware of more charcoal......"

Tian Qing pinched his throat and said, but was slapped by Tian Dayou next to him, and when he heard this, he also ran over to see the excitement. Although he taught his son a lesson, his eyebrows were also wrinkled, and he didn't seem to be optimistic about it.

Dozens of people surrounded the stove, and the look of surprise came and went, and more people in the distance slowed down, looking at the strange transformation of the stove.

"Fire!"

Guan Fengsheng had a lot of confidence in Li Xi and resolutely gave an order.