Hao Qing's workshop is stocked with various raw materials all year round, among them, soda ash and limestone are worthless things, and Hao Qing happily brought them to Su Hao. But when taking the quartz stone, Hao Qing obviously showed some distress, which made Su Hao very disdainful.

"Brother Hao, it's just a few stones, are you so uncomfortable?" Su Hao asked.

Hao Qing said with a bitter face: "Master Su doesn't know, this kind of glazed stone, we don't produce it locally, this is still bought by my father from Nanjing at a great price, and I am going to use it when someone wants to refine the glaze." Now that I've used it, I'll have to find a way to make it up. ”

Su Hao took those stones and looked left and right, and didn't see any difference between them and ordinary quartz stones. He asked Hao Qing, "Who did you hear that we don't produce this kind of stone locally?" This is the most common stone on the mountain, and if you want, I can always help you find it. ”

"Is that true?" Hao Qing stared at Su Hao and asked.

"Don't say it's true, you help me get a carriage, and I can take your third child to the mountains and pull a cart for you." Su Hao said.

Quartz minerals are extremely common on the surface, and there are 10 kinds of discoveries so far, including low-temperature quartz, high-temperature quartz, lemosmo-quartz, cristobalite quartz, Ke quartz, Si quartz, etc., the appearance is different, but the main components are the same, nothing more than silica. Su Hao had inspected the mountainous areas in the south of Fengcheng and conducted a cursory study of the metallogenic conditions in that area. He believed that as long as he ran a little, he would definitely be able to find one or two good quartz mines, the reserves may not be enough for the industrial production of later generations, but it is more than enough to meet the needs of Hao Qing's handicraft workshop.

"I don't need a car, you can find me 100, or, 500 pounds, then I will give away these glass pieces you want." Hao Qing said.

Su Hao said: "A word is decided, you really don't worry, we will set up a note in a while, I will give you 1,000 catties of glazed stone, if you can't do it, I will pay you 100 taels of silver." ”

Hearing Su Hao say it so surely, Hao Qing also believed a little, so he smashed those precious glazed stones into fine particles and put them into the crucible. Hao Qing didn't know what the feldspar needed in the formula Su Hao said, but it was a coincidence, Su Hao turned around by chance and found that there was a stone in the corner of the yard for stepping feet, which was actually the feldspar he was looking for, so he called Hao Tong and asked him to smash a piece with a hammer, crush it the same, and throw it into the crucible.

When the raw materials were ready, Hao Qing put the crucible on the stove and began to light the fire and smelt. It is also worthy of the home of craftsmen, and they usually prepare the best coke. The simple-minded, well-developed little five children pulled the bellows vigorously, the flames were raging, and the crowd gathered around the stove immediately felt the heat wave coming to their faces.

"Master Su, you said that Fengcheng County can't find good coke, why is there it here for my eldest brother?" Hao Tong still remembered Su Hao's words to fool him.

Su Hao also knew that he was fooling before, but now, he had to continue to be stubborn, he said: "Your eldest brother is a craftsman, of course he usually has some coke, who knows where he got it." ”

"Can we borrow his coke and refine the good pig iron you said?" Hao Tong suggested in a low voice.

Su Hao looked at Hao Qing, who was serving the crucible, and really thought about it in his heart. To make glass, raw materials such as quartz sand need to be heated to about 1,600 degrees Celsius, and this temperature is slightly increased to be used in steelmaking. It seems that the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty have mastered the technology of making high-temperature crucibles from refractory materials, and if they have a little guidance, they may be able to refine some alloy steel for later generations.

Thinking of this, Su Hao stepped forward and asked Hao Qing, "Brother Hao, do you have a bigger crucible than this?" If I wanted to use a crucible to make steel, you might be able to do it? ”

Hao Qing said: "I have heard my father talk about the method of crucible steelmaking. However, the steel made from this crucible is no different from frying steel, and the cost is more, because now there is no way to use this method to make steel. ”

Su Hao said: "The key to crucible steelmaking lies in the formula, if the formula is appropriate, what we usually say about 100 steelmaking is nothing in front of the crucible steel." ”

Hao Qing asked, "Could it be that Master Fei knows this recipe?" ”

Su Hao said with a smile: "There are more than 100 formulas for crucible steelmaking, and my knowledge is limited, if we have the opportunity, we will slowly experiment and always find the best formula." ”

"Master, would you like to grant Xiao Jin this steelmaking formula?" Hao Qing asked.

Su Hao said: "This recipe is not worth a penny, the difficult thing is the ingredients in the formula, and I can't make it up for a while." If you're willing to work with me, let's experiment together when I find the materials. ”

"Xiao Jin is willing to serve the master." Hao Qing replied.

In fact, Su Hao didn't know any steelmaking formula, what he could know was that there were all kinds of alloy steels in later generations, all of which were made by adding various elements to the steel. He is in charge of prospecting, and he is very familiar with which elements can be used to smelt alloy steel, but he is not clear about which elements to add and how much. Gu Jin also knew some methods of smelting alloy steel, but Bi Jing did not have a theoretical basis like Su Hao, and in addition, the minerals needed to smelt alloy steel could only be recognized by Su Hao.

As he spoke, the raw materials in the crucible had begun to melt, Hao Qing carefully observed the state of the molten glass, and when he felt that the various ingredients in the liquid had been completely mixed and there were no bubbles in the liquid, he held the crucible with tongs, poured the molten glass into the mold prepared in advance, and then waited for the condensation of the molten glass.

"And that worked?" Watching pieces of transparent glass being poured out of the mold, Hao Qing couldn't believe that this was real. He tried to pick up a piece of glass and knocked on it, and then broke it with his hand, and couldn't help but say in ecstasy: "It's done, master, this glass is really done!" ”

After saying this, without waiting for Su Hao to answer anything, Hao Qing took the glass in his hand and ran to the side of the room. After a while, an old man with gray hair and a sturdy figure held the glass in his hand, and accompanied by Hao Qing, walked out of the wing room and slowly came to the front of Su Hao and the others.

"This is my uncle, who is known by name." Hao Tong whispered to Su Hao on the side.

It turned out that this old man named Hao Yizong had been hiding in the wing room and observing the movements outside. When Su Hao proposed to burn the glass, he didn't come forward, but just let his son Hao Qing deal with Su Hao. Now according to Su Hao's recipe, the glass was really burned, and seeing the glass sample sent by Hao Qing, Hao Yizong finally couldn't sit still.

"Hello Uncle Hao, the junior Su Hao is polite here." Su Hao took a step forward and saluted Hao Yizong.

Hao Yizong hurriedly replied: "How dare you, Master Su is here, the little old man has never been far away, and I ask Master for forgiveness." ”

Hao Qing also hurriedly said: "My father's legs and feet are inconvenient, and he couldn't come out to greet Master Su, please forgive me." ”

"Where, where is it, the younger generation doesn't know that the uncle is at home, otherwise you have to go to ask for peace first, and ask the uncle to forgive the younger generation for the sin of ignorance." Su Hao also said haha, anyway, kind words are not worth much.

Su Hao knew in his heart that Old Man Hao had been hiding in the wing room and didn't come out, obviously because he didn't want to deal with himself, and the so-called inconvenience of his legs and feet was just an excuse. Now that he saw that he actually knew the formula of glass, and obviously this formula was more clever than the old man's formula, the old man showed up. Speaking of which, this is not due to his prestige as a master of the workshop, but the power of knowledge.

"Master Su, just listen to the dog, the master has never used saltpeter and sheep's horn as a guide, and he has refined the glass, can you explain one or two to the old decay?" Hao Yizong asked Su Hao.

"What are the horns?" Su Hao asked rhetorically. Previously, Hao Qing only admitted that saltpeter was used when burning glass, but did not mention what kind of horn it was. Now that Old Man Hao has leaked the bottom with one mouth, he obviously thinks that their secret formula is no longer valuable, so it doesn't matter if Su Hao knows. But what does this horn mean? Could it be the common name for a mineral?

"Horn...... It is the horns of the sheep. Hao Qing sneeredly explained, he couldn't understand why there was still a sheep horn in this world, this Xiucai, hadn't Jingran seen a sheep?

"You mean, the kind of live sheep...... Long horns on the head? Su Hao asked in surprise, and at the same time gestured with his hand on his head, imitating the appearance of a pleasant goat.

"Yes, yes." Hao Qing dragged a sentence.

"I sell cake ......" Su Hao sighed, it turned out that he really used sheep's horn as a raw material for burning glass, which cow invented the recipe o! The main ingredient of sheep's horn is calcium oxide, and it is obvious that Furui used sheep's horn as a source of calcium in glass. To infiltrate calcium in glass, it is enough to throw two pieces of limestone, so why use such a strange material? To burn a piece of glass, you have to use up several pairs of horns, no wonder the production of this glass can't go up.

"Uncle Hao, this sheep's horn ...... In fact, it is really useless, the use of sheep's horn is the same as the limestone used by the little nephew. As for saltpeter, its usefulness is the same as alkaline earth, which is much cheaper than saltpeter and easier to find. Su Hao explained simply.

"I see, ......I see," Hao Yizong muttered to himself, he looked at the glass in his hand repeatedly for a long time, and then asked hesitantly: "Master Su, are you willing to pass on the recipe for making glass to the old decay?" ”

"Uncle, didn't Master Su already tell the formula just now? And the eldest brother has also done it himself, what else do you want him to pass on? Hao Tong said with a big grin on the side.

"Tong'er is respectful!" Hao Yizong shouted, "Master Su's recipe is priceless. Master Su just trusted us and didn't hide it from us. It's rare for us to be able to see the magic of this formula, how can we keep this formula for ourselves without Master Su's permission? We will be condemned for doing so. ”