As soon as Zhuang Muxu left, Zhu Yuan returned to his position and sat down, and He Xuan brought another person over, this is a middle-aged man wearing a nine-grade green quail supplement official robe, with a medium height, looking a little thin, and his expression is still a little tired.

Entering the house, the middle-aged man meticulously saluted Zhu Yuan: "Shen Quan, the ambassador of the Cement Bureau of the Ministry of Lower Government and Industry, has seen Lord Pingzhang."

Motioning for the other party to get up, Zhu Yuan felt a little and asked, "Have you read a book?"

Shen Quan stood up, bowed down and said, "Xia Guan is not talented, he is a candidate for this year's imperial examination."

I didn't expect that I guessed correctly, and the answer was even more surprised, and then looked at the tired appearance of the other party who seemed to have a little dust on his hair, Zhu Yuan signaled, "Sit down first."

Shen Quan didn't get too close to Zhu Yuan, picked a position in the middle of the right side of the hall and sat down, also straightened his body, and waited to look.

Zhu Yuan didn't rush to mention the cement for a while, but asked, "Where are you from?"

"Xiaguan Huaidong Gaoyouren."

"How big?"

"43 years in vain."

Zhu Yuan asked again, "What are the scores for the two exams this time?"

Shen Quandao: "75 points in strategy, ...... in mathematics Xiaguan ...... I only scored 61 points."

Zhu Yuan smiled: "This is actually good, I am in the prime of life, and I have also met the standards of both subjects, how can I ask for such a drudgery as burning cement?"

Shen Quan paused briefly this time before he said, "Xiaguan, I want to do something practical."

He said this on his lips, but what he thought in his heart was ......

Drudgery?

It's really bitter.

Can......

This errand was also grabbed with great difficulty, and it was precisely because he met the standards of both subjects that a fellow Gaoyou villager in the reprocessing department helped speak...... Of course, I also gave some gifts to get this errand.

The errand personally ordered by the imperial prince Jia Pingzhang Zhu Yuan!

Those who know a little bit about the court in the past year know that if they can be sent by Lord Pingzhang, as long as they do a good job, they will be promoted quickly.

What's more, it is also rare for many candidates who can only start from Xu officials in this imperial examination to be awarded the nine grades.

New Dynasty ...... It's different.

Shen Quan is just apprehensive now.

After a month of tossing, he still didn't make the cement.

Zhu Yuan asked, and after thinking about it for a while, he probably reacted.

Except that this errand is really hard, the others are not considered to be wronged Shen Quan, after all, this time...... Or in the future, the imperial examinations of the imperial court will no longer be like those of previous dynasties, except for a very small number of top-notch candidates, it is difficult for most of the others to start directly from the flow products.

Just as he was about to say more, Shen Quan suddenly raised his sleeve to cover his mouth and coughed.

"Ahem, ahem...... cough cough cough ......"

After coughing a few times, Shen Quanqiang endured it, and hurriedly explained to the young man Pingzhang who was the head of the head: "My lord, the lower official...... Xiaguan ...... There is nothing wrong with the body, but I have been focusing on cement firing recently, and the dust in the workshop is a little bigger, and there is a lot of choking."

Zhu Yuan understood at a glance, and blurted out: "Mask."

Shen Quan repeated: "Masks?"

Zhu Yuan raised his hand and patted his forehead: "This is also my negligence, burning cement, the situation on the scene can be imagined, this state is necessary to wear a mask, otherwise, the craftsman will soon get sick...... Well, it seems to be...... Pneumoconiosis and the like, you don't have to worry about this matter, I will order it later, let people make masks, what you have to do is to supervise the craftsmen...... Whoever goes to the cement workshop, including yourself, will have to wear it."

Shen Quan nodded seriously and agreed.

I probably understand the meaning from the word "mask", think about the scene of the cement workshop, but there is no need to remind many people to cover their faces with sackcloth, and they want to follow along, but as a steward, they feel undignified, so there is no imitation.

Now that I think about it, I was too pretentious.

Zhu Yuan said: "Let's talk about the firing situation, this month, there should be some results?"

Zhu Yuan wrote this down at the "Three-Year Plan" meeting on the 19th of last month

thought, and then told Lao Zhu, and ordered to go down, today is the twenty-second day of the lunar month, and it has been more than a month.

Seeing Zhu Yuan asking about business, Shen Quan was immediately ashamed: "The lower official is ashamed...... In the past month, small furnaces and large kilns, firewood and coal, and adults have written that page of recipes...... Xiaguan tried many times, some burned for 12 hours, some burned for three days, and some burned for seven days, but it was a pity...... None of them can achieve the coagulation effect that adults say."

Shen Quan said, and solemnly took out a page from his cuff, signaled to Zhu Yuan, and carefully held it and sent it up.

Zhu Yuan took over the firing method he wrote casually at that time, and he was also surprised in his heart.

Impossible, right?

Even if you look for something to burn it, you won't try it many times, and it won't even have a coagulation effect.

Let's look at the firing method I gave.

Zhu Yuan also relaxed, not only mentioning the two main ingredients of lime and clay, but also saying that cinder, slag, iron powder, gypsum, etc., all kinds of materials can be ground fine for firing attempts.

Such a wide range of conditions cannot be met...... It's just amazing.

Looking at this page of his record again, Zhu Yuan didn't see the problem, so he turned to Shen Quan: "Is it not grinding carefully enough, I know that this step is a waste of time and manpower, but it really has to be very detailed?"

Shen Quandao: "All kinds of raw materials are sifted out with a basket that sifs through fine noodles, and the lower officials study the adult's formula, and guess whether it is not fine enough, and now they have been sieved twice, if it is still not enough, the lower officials don't know what to do."

Sifting the basket of flour, Zhu Yuan has an impression.

That kind of fine hole sieved out, Zhu Yuan felt that it should indeed be enough.

Could it be the temperature?

Then he asked, "Have you tried it with coke?"

At this stage, the only way to get the highest furnace temperature is coke.

Shen Quandao: "I tried."

That......

Or, not enough firing time?

"How long is the longest firing?"

"The longest time it has been completed, it is seven days," Shen Quan said, "Xiaguan is currently asking the craftsmen to try firing on the 15th, and there are still three days before the kiln can be opened."

Zhu Yuan still felt that there was a problem.

If the cement had to be burned for more than 15 days, it would be impossible for this kind of thing to be used on a large scale.

It's too energy-intensive.

After a little consideration, Zhu Yuan simply stopped asking without a clue, and gestured, "Tell me specifically, how did you burn it?"

If you still can't ask, you can only go to the scene to see.

I wasn't in a hurry before, thinking that even if I tossed it out in a year or two, it didn't matter, but now it's ...... After seeing the ceiling of the laboratory of the Medical University collapse in the morning, Zhu Yuan felt that it was very necessary, and it was better to make it quickly.

Shen Quandao: "According to the adult's formula, Xia Guan and the craftsmen carefully selected various raw materials, quicklime, clay, slag, etc., or roasted, or unsealed, crushed on the stone, and then ground with a stone mill, repeatedly sieved out the fine powder with a basket, and then entered the kiln, with different fuels, different heats, different times to try to fire, after the oven mixed and stirred, to check the solidification effect."

Zhu Yuan felt that something was wrong when he heard half of it, and when he heard the end, he was instantly stunned.

Instead, he picked up his own page again.

Well......

Blame yourself.

Blame yourself!

At that time, I wrote it casually, and I thought that some things were taken for granted, and then, the process of stirring and mixing, it was ...... Write a little later.

The question is...... Mix it first!

Habitually looking for the root cause, Zhu Yuan feels that when the raw materials are mixed and then fired, it should be at high temperatures, and different raw materials will have a certain chemical reaction.

In comparison, the raw materials are placed separately, such as quicklime, no matter how finely ground it is, it is calcium oxide, and then tossed at high temperature, without reacting with other materials, calcium oxide can only be calcium oxide.

Unless it can reach a high temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees, there will be a fusion or something.

This is obviously impossible.

Thinking like this, Zhu Yuan couldn't help grinning, and raised his hand to Shen Quan

"I was mistaken, I was wrong...... It's a wrong step."

Shen Quan was confused: "My lord?"

Zhu Yuan rubbed his face and said, "That's the case, all kinds of raw materials must be mixed first, and then fired, so that different raw materials can have a chemical reaction at high temperature, and you must have burned them separately, right?"

Shen Quan nodded subconsciously, he didn't quite understand what "chemical reaction" meant, but he was also a little surprised: "My lord, this ...... is also a lower official...... Xia Guan is also wrong, in the past few days, some craftsmen have asked whether to mix it and then enter the kiln to fire, Xia Guan ...... Xia Guan is also too careful, carefully study the adult's formula, and then see that the raw materials are ground and screened is really not easy, for fear of wasting, so he doesn't dare to try it indiscriminately. Xiaguan ...... Also wrong. The sage said: A gentleman is not a weapon. The cultivation of the lower officials is still not enough, too ...... Stick in the mud. Xiaguan ...... Cough...... cough cough cough ......"

In the end, obviously excited, Shen Quan covered his mouth and coughed again.

Zhu Yuan saw that Shen Quan had coughed and was about to speak again, so he hurriedly interrupted: "Okay, we have all reviewed it, we can change our mistakes, and we are very good, this is also what the sage said."

Shen Quan paused, but still weakly corrected: "My lord, this statement should be from "Zuo Chuan": Who is without fault? After that, it can be changed, and it is very good."

Zhu Yuan: "......"

It's embarrassing again.

But he still said quickly: "It's good that you do this, if you find that Shangguan is wrong, you have to point it out in order to avoid a bigger mistake, eh...... It still depends on the person, I'm the kind of person who is better at talking, if you make a mistake, you can point it out casually, and you have to be careful about the rest, and I'm not responsible for making things."

[In view of the general environment,

Zhu Yuan said something interesting, and Shen Quan smiled a little.

Zhu Yuan said, "That's it, go back and try again...... By the way, you didn't throw away the raw materials that were finely ground and burned, did you?"

"Any good thing, time-consuming and laborious, how can the lower officials be reluctant," Shen Quan said, "Except for some to try out the effect, the others ...... are carefully stored, a total of more than 6,000 catties, the lower official also listened to the advice of the craftsman below, thinking that he would wait for the boss to report to the boss and ...... in the future Those are good raw materials for burning bricks and tiles."

"It's too wasteful to burn bricks and tiles," Zhu Yuan said, "Go back, according to the new idea I said, mix first, then fire, and the time ...... I don't think it will take 7 days at all, let alone 15 days, three days at most, otherwise, this thing will cost too much, and there will be no point in large-scale application. Well...... Now in the experimental stage, you don't have to be so strict, you can also try what you can burn in 15 days. By the way, if it's still burning for 15 days, stop it quickly, it's a waste."