The leader of the craftsmen in charge of ironmaking in the eldest grandson's family is a thin old man, surnamed Zeng, known as Zeng Tieshi, for no other reason, that is, because Duan Lian produced two divine weapons, two sword-picking and breakable, one is called 'Pei Yuan', which is now stored in His Majesty's arsenal, and the other is called 'Zhan Xiao', which is now the sword admired by General Wei Chi.

The greatest wish of an iron caster in his life is to cast a peerless divine weapon that has been handed down in the world, this is when Xu Yang asked Han Yanxuan about his sword, Han Yanxuan told Xu Yang, the origin of his sword is very legendary, it seems to be cast by the descendants of Ou Yezi, called 'Royal Dragon'. Xu Yang saw that he was always wiping his sword, so he wanted to touch it to see what kind of divine blade it was, but Han Yanxuan seemed to treat his sword as a daughter-in-law, and he was not allowed to touch it.

The eldest grandson, Wuji, called Zeng Tieshi over and asked him to discuss the matter of ironmaking with Xu Yang.

"I've seen the Marquis." The old man saluted, and many workers in the iron-making room also bowed.

"Sir, ladies and gentlemen, no need to be polite." Xu Yang also returned the salute politely. "I wonder what problems Mr. Zeng encountered in ironmaking here?" Xu Yang pointed to the tools for burning iron slurry, intending to ask what the problems of this iron smelting were first, and then prescribe the right medicine.

"The old man has been making iron for many years, and he always feels that the method of forging iron is too complicated, and there are too many impurities when making iron. The old man asked modestly.

The blower blows cool breeze, firewood is used for fire, and the iron-carbon ratio is unknown, which is strange if it can burn good iron.

"Mr. Zeng, kid here's a drawing, you can take a look." Xu Yang felt that the ironmaking of the Tang Dynasty was backward in many aspects, so he took out the printed blueprints of blast furnace ironmaking.

Zeng Tieshi took the drawing, the expression on his face instantly became solemn, he has been dealing with iron all his life, this drawing can be seen at a glance is used for iron smelting, but many places are different from Datang's, and what does the iron-carbon ratio written below mean?

"I don't know what the blast furnace ironmaking is said in this drawing, the old man looks at this drawing, although he has been making iron for thirty years, he has never heard of it."

"This drawing is about a furnace, and you see, it says that the furnace is made of steel plates and lined with refractory bricks. The blast furnace body is divided into five parts: throat, body, waist, belly and cylinder. Iron ore, coke and limestone are loaded from the top of the furnace and preheated air is blown from the air vent located at the lower part of the furnace along the furnace perimeter. The carbon in the coke at high temperature is combined with the carbon monoxide produced by the combustion of oxygen in the air, and the oxygen, sulfur and phosphorus in the iron ore are removed during the rising process in the furnace to obtain iron. The molten iron is released from the iron mouth. Xu Yang said a lot according to the drawings in one breath.

Zeng Tieshi was already shocked, and asked tremblingly: "The old man thought that he had been making iron for many years, and he had reached the point where he was the first in the iron world, but he didn't expect to discuss ironmaking with Hou Ye today, and there were a bunch of people who couldn't really hear it, what is carbon monoxide?" What are oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus? The old man only felt that he had lived hard all his life, and now he found that he was smiling and generous. After that, tears gleamed in the corners of his eyes.

"Sir, don't be presumptuous!" Xu Yang saw that an old man was about to cry, and immediately comforted: "These are all secret techniques practiced by my Guigu swordsmith, except for the descendants of Guigu in this world, you are the first to know, these carbon monoxide, oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus are all professional terms in my Guigu, and it is normal to not understand them." ”

As soon as the old man heard this, he immediately changed from a sad look to a radiant look, "Is Master Hou the heir of the Guigu who is rumored in Chang'an!?" ”

"Exactly down there."

"Ahh The old man seemed to be unable to hold back his emotions, regardless of the eldest grandson Wuji standing beside him, he bowed his head and cried while holding Xu Yang's pants: "Thank you for your great grace!" The old man has lived for fifty-one years, and he has never made a breakthrough in ironmaking, but he didn't expect to be able to encounter the secret method of ironmaking in the Ghost Valley today, and the old man has nothing to repay for the grace of regeneration. ”

Bowing his head and worshipping this should have been what a brave man should do, but now that he is replaced by an old man, Xu Yang feels that his domineering spirit is not something wrong, or an old man who pulls the hem of his pants and keeps wiping his nose, this is not beautiful.

Hurriedly pulled the old man to get him up, but the eldest grandson Wuji coughed, and sure enough, the head of the family's domineering spirit was correct, and the old man who was originally kneeling on the ground immediately stood up, with tears in the corners of his eyes, and bowed to the eldest grandson Wuji and said: "The head of the family, the little old man is abrupt, ask the head of the family to punish him." ”

Xu Yang was a little dumbfounded watching from the sidelines.

"It's okay, first learn the iron-making method of Guigu before confessing your guilt." The eldest grandson Wuji said lightly.

"No." When the old man heard this, he rejoiced.

In just one afternoon, a small blast furnace was made, although it was small, there were two people to high, and the eldest grandson and his family as well as Xu Yang and the craftsmen were standing in front of this blast furnace erected in the courtyard.

The eldest grandson Wuji was trying to see if he could make good iron, and Xu Yang was thinking about the division of this iron tool after it was made on a large scale.

Blast furnace ironmaking, although the method is very simple, but it is definitely an epoch-making invention, is an important embodiment of the progress of agricultural civilization, in ancient times, the country's comprehensive national strength is mainly reflected in the output of iron, Tibetan, Turkic, they are not mastered iron people, so they are destined to plunder, and agricultural civilization in order to protect their property, to make better iron tools, sharper swords.

The predecessor of blast furnace ironmaking was the shaft furnace ironmaking of the Song Dynasty in China, since the emergence of this method, although it has been continuously improved in later generations, but the main method has not changed, and its iron production accounts for 90% of the world's iron production, which is enough to see how powerful it is.

The iron smelting of the Tang Dynasty was very backward, but it was still able to produce the Minguang Treasure Armor of 30,000 Xuanjia troops, and Xu Yang didn't dare to imagine how strong the Tang Dynasty's army would be if iron products were flooded.

"Xu Gong, this is the blast furnace built according to your drawings, what should I do next?" The eldest grandson Wuji stood in front of the blast furnace and asked, and the two juniors of the eldest grandson family also stared at Xu Yang intently, as if waiting for him to cast a spell.

"Just follow the steps written on my drawings."

"Okay, Zeng Tieshi, let's get started." The eldest grandson Wuji ordered.

"No." Zeng Tieshi began to give orders according to what was written on Xu Yang's drawings, "The first step is to burn firewood." Zeng Tieshi just shouted, but was stopped by Xu Yang.

"What is the matter with Gong Xu?" Zeng Tieshi wondered.

"You can't burn wood anymore, you have to burn charcoal." Xu Yang almost forgot about the fuel problem.

"This charcoal is very expensive, and it is a bit wasteful to use it to make iron." Zeng Tieshi said regretfully.

However, the eldest grandson Wuji didn't care about his wealth, and ordered someone to take dozens of catties of charcoal, and when he planned to burn it, Xu Yang smiled slyly and said: "Don't regret it, this charcoal will not be worth much in the future." ”

(Thank God 45 for the tip, thank you!) ）