Of course, the problem of improving the quality of steel and glass is not easy to solve, and it cannot be overcome by a single vein.

In this era, the smelting process is very mature, but there are still many difficulties in making steel stronger and more durable.

Without Jiang Xinghuo's intervention, with the passage of time, more than a hundred years later, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the traditional Chinese steel filling method is about to reach its technological peak, that is, the pig iron covering method and the pig iron pouring method (i.e., Suzhou Iron and Steel Steel) will be invented.

However, the steel filling method has reached its peak, and it is not the last threshold for the steel industry to enter the modern industry.

Because if you want to mix and match molybdenum and other elements freely like a wizard who easily mixes various potions, you need to master the technology of refining liquid steel, and only by heating the steel to a liquid state can you freely and accurately control the ratio of carbon to other elements.

The smelting of liquid molten steel requires the emergence of converter steelmaking method.

Before the converter steelmaking method, the only way to enchant was to follow the extremely inefficient path of the Japanese.

Why is the quality of Japanese katana not uniform, although it is of high quality? This is because the forging of katana swords is basically based on the low-temperature steelmaking method unique to Japan, but not only the level of labor is different, but the raw materials are also different.

From the point of view of raw materials, the Japanese use iron sand with special ingredients such as "red eyes" and "real sand" in their mouths, but to put it bluntly, it is different associated ores in iron ore in different regions, which belongs to the probability enchantment of opening a blind box, and what quality can be obtained, it all depends on which element is associated with nickel, chromium, molybdenum, and cobalt.

"Akame", "real sand" these iron sand, because it contains more impurities, in China, a country with a large population and the pursuit of unified armament and weapon standards, is basically not used, because it is very troublesome to smelt, the efficiency is very low, the steel production rate of katana steel is very low, generally need 25-30 tons of raw materials, in order to produce 1 ton of katana steel, there is no cost performance at all.

But from the artificial level, because the Japanese only have this thing, they are not afraid of trouble, but try their best to tap its potential, not to mention, it is really dug out, that is, different materials can be used in different parts, and then fold and forge into a knife The process of folding and forging is actually a process of carbon content change, but this is not a quantifiable work in ancient times, because the craftsman sees not the final result in this process, and finally needs to quench to get the final result, so the previous steps can only rely on the experience of the craftsmanTherefore, if you want to become a qualified knife forging master in Japan, you need a long time of forging experience, and you basically can't engage in standard equipment like Daming.

But in any case, even if a special steel is made of manual soil method for the barrel of the artillery, which is used to partially replace the current copper cannon, this suspected associated molybdenum ore is also very valuable.

In Jiang Xinghuo's memory, the molybdenum ore in Huaxia seems to be mainly concentrated in southern Jiangxi and Northeast China, and there are associated mines in Tangshan in Nanjing, but it is really not impressive, but since it has attracted his attention, it is necessary to explore it carefully.

Ye then ordered the miners to dig the hole deep in order to roughly estimate the reserves and proportions of various minerals in the pit.

In the time of waiting, Jiang Xinghuo was also thinking, he didn't know why his luck suddenly got a little better, but judging from the reports that kept coming, he did pick up the treasure, and the only thing he was worried about now was whether this molybdenum ore would only be excavated in small quantities, and if so, then the mining value would not be great.

However, this problem then proved to be a cause for concern.

In fact, what Jiang Xinghuo did not know was that the genesis of molybdenite is mainly of high and medium temperature hydrothermal origin, and its deposits are related to the genesis of acidic rocks.

Why is there a hot spring in Tangshan? Naturally, there is still magma underneath the ground, and hot gas is constantly emitting, and the heat is very concentrated, and the water-bearing rock formations with gaps turn into hot water because of the heat, and it is accompanied by steam, so it forms a natural hot spring.

But in the same way, the underground hot liquid in Tangshan also promoted the production of molybdenite for a long time.

If the mine is newly excavated, then its mineral distribution cannot be completely determined by relying on a single mine hole due to uneven stratification, which is full of chance, but because it has not been dug up, it can be excavated by adjacent mine holes in parallel to determine the overall mineral distribution of this area.

After the news spread, although everyone didn't know what it was and what it was for, it made all the miners excited, because they knew that this was definitely a big job for them.

The treatment of Tangshan Mine is very good, and now there are rare ore veins, even if they are strictly guarded, they can't steal it and can't sell it, but the mine makes a lot of money, and they also have a long-term livelihood, and they want to work hard, which is enough for them to feed their family.

Although Jiang Xinghuo is still a little bottomless in his heart, he can also understand the joy of this group of miners, after all, for them, everything they dig is digging, but if the veins are rare, then the probability of their income increasing is also higher, maybe for the dignitaries and nobles, this glimmer of hope does not matter, but for these poor people at the bottom, anyone is inevitably excited.

"Master Ye, this time the mine cave is only planned by people, I'm afraid I won't be able to understand it in a short time, what do you think we should do?"

At this time, a craftsman from the Ministry of Industry came to report, and Ye Zongxing then asked Jiang Xinghuo for instructions.

Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a moment and said: "First of all, we must determine whether we can continue to blow up, if the explosives will cause the mine to collapse, then it is still manual planing, and secondly, see if there are other entrances to this vein that are better to excavate, if there are other entrances, then how far away it is from the location of this mine, these situations need to be investigated, and you can't rush to blow up." ”

Ye Zongxing nodded, personally went down to the mine to check the situation, to see if it was suitable for directional blasting, and came out and looked at the other small mines excavated outside, and had a rough spectrum in his heart.

"National teacher." Ye Zongxing frowned and thought for a moment, "I think we should still give it a try." ”

Jiang Xinghuo looked at him: "Are you sure?" Don't risk it to show me the results today, it doesn't hurt to wait a few days for manual planing, if it costs the miners' lives, it's not worth it. ”

Ye Zongxing smiled and said: "Yes, and there is definitely no danger, as long as you are well prepared, I think it will definitely be feasible." ”

If you talk about the experience of fixed-point blasting, Ye Zongxing must be the most experienced engineer in the world, just in Jiangnan, he has blown up countless dams and riverbeds, and in Annan, he has also blown up the wall and the city wall, and he is very good at summarizing and reflecting, it can be said that the blue is better than the blue Therefore, although Ye Zongxing was taught by himself, in this matter, Jiang Xinghuo is still willing to choose to believe in his judgment instead of his own.

"National teacher, I'm going to blast with medium and deep holes."

Ye Zongxing immediately told Jiang Xinghuo about the plan he had formulated, and his plan was very concise, just like a veteran with an experienced battlefield commanding his recruits to fight.

In the process of coal mining, with the continuous extension of the mining depth, it is necessary to continue to excavate, and in the process of excavation, it is necessary to have the support of the roadway, and the blasting technology is the fastest and most effective method in the excavation process of the roadway, and here, unlike the blasting dam and the city wall, the medium and deep hole blasting technology is the best to use.

Because the medium and deep hole blasting technology has a good crushing effect on the rock in the blasting process, reducing the blasting of flying stones, and the size of the stone basically meets the requirements of the project, there are few large stones that exceed the specifications, and it is not difficult to transport, according to Ye Zongxing's plan, after each blasting, wait for a certain amount of time, if the mine does not have any signs of collapse, then fix it with a large number of wooden frames, and then withdraw the people who carry the soil and stone, and continue the blasting operation, and the security is very high, but it is a bit expensive.

Moreover, there is another advantage of medium and deep hole blasting, that is, the effect of directional propulsion, which is better than other methods, and the explosion pile is concentrated and has a certain degree of looseness, and the blasted pit is convenient for transporting ore.

Of course, this also means that the requirements for technical details are relatively high, and ordinary people can't play it.

Jiang Xinghuo was not in a hurry to go back, so after listening to it, he bowed his head slightly and said: "Yes, just do as you say, but if there is any trouble, then withdraw immediately, no matter what loss there is, it is better than losing a small life."

"Don't worry, national teacher, I won't joke with the lives of the miners, not to mention that you don't know my craftsmanship, this mountain structure can withstand continuous blasting, and our manpower is enough, enough to take turns transporting soil and rock."

Ye Zongxing turned around and left, and Jiang Xinghuo suddenly stopped him: "Zhixing." ”

"National teacher?"

"You are my disciple. Be safe yourself, too. ”

"Good!"

Ye Zongxing, who had a dark face, grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

Ye Zongxing gathered all the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry, these people were all veterans of playing gunpowder, and there was nothing to be nervous about at this time.

"It's still the old rule, first talk about the points of attention, and then divide the labor."

Ye Zongxing said calmly and concisely: "The distance between each explosive package, as well as the determination of the resistance line, depends on the hardness of the specific rock, needless to say, you are all veterans, what I want to say is, first, the drill hole of the explosive package cannot be sloppy, it must be done according to the standard, otherwise the detonation effect cannot be guaranteed; Second, when filling the explosives bag, the amount of gunpowder should be controlled, and the gunpowder distribution must be uniform; Third, all explosives packages use two detonating cords, and when detonating, different lengths of detonating cords are controlled according to different depths to ensure that in the process of simultaneous detonation, a small gap between the front and back is separated, all understand? ”

"Understood!"

The craftsmen said in unison.

Ye Zongxing narrowed his eyes: "Since we are all so confident, then next, we will implement the plan, Lao Li, the three of you are responsible for guarding the entrances and exits, as well as the follow-up transportation of earth, stone and wooden frames, Lao Liu, the five of you are responsible for blasting, Lao Sun, you and Lao Huang are responsible for monitoring the situation of the mountain, and the others will enter the mine with me to investigate the situation after the blasting waiting time is over, and figure out the specific distribution in the ore veins as soon as possible, how about it?" ”

"Okay."

"I'm okay with that!"

“.”

"Hmm." Ye Zongxing nodded with satisfaction, "Then let's start right now." ”

The crowd dispersed and began to get busy.

The first round of detonation is very smooth, and the transportation of soil and rock is also very convenient, because although the differential initiation technology used is relatively primitive, there is no remote control explosion, and it still relies on double detonation cords to carry out, but the explosive package that is detonated in front can be further broken by the stress wave superposition, providing a new free surface for the explosive package that is detonated later. As the saying goes, it is a way out, which can effectively reduce the resistance of the rock, and this method can also make the surrounding soil and stone that is blown out move horizontally, and collide with each other in the explosion process, so that the rock blocks that have produced tiny cracks are further disintegrated and broken, so the looseness of the soil and rock is better, and it is convenient to clean up and transport.

But there was still an inevitable accident that was not an accident.

- Water stains appeared in the mine.

There are hot springs near Tangshan, and water is in the rock formations deep in the mountain, which is normal, but for blasting that requires precise detonation, it is very fatal.

Because of water damage, it will greatly affect the explosion of gunpowder, and it may lead to a negative chain reaction.

"Let's go, I'll take a look."

Ye Zongxing's heart sank, but he still said calmly.

The light in the mine was not very good, and because of the continuous wind during this period, the mine was even darker and colder.

But Ye Zongxing was not afraid at all, he wore a muslin mask and gloves, carried a bag, hung tools around his waist, and held a lamp in his hand, and stepped into the dark mine road.

Ye Zongxing was not too familiar with this vein, and the situation here was changeable, and it was impossible to accurately judge it based on memory or common sense, so he had to go and see it in person.

Ye Zongxing walked deep along the mine road, until he reached a place of about a few hundred steps, the air became more and more stuffy, he felt an extremely oppressive environment, the temperature of the mine was close to the upper limit of the human body's tolerance, and instead of the cold at the beginning, it turned into damp heat.

This feeling is similar to soaking in a hot spring, beads of sweat appeared on Ye Zongxing's forehead, but his footsteps did not stop, and he was still walking forward firmly.

It was already very far from the entrance of the mine, and there was no one in the mine except for them, and he heard a faint noise from the depths of the mine, like some kind of insect chirp, which made the tail vertebrae tremble.

The width of the mine road is actually not too narrow, but the mine wall is very hard and very low, and when it comes to the last section of the road, Ye Zongxing must lean close to the wall and lean forward, otherwise it is easy to hit his head.

Everything here is fresh, surrounded by wooden frames used to stabilize the mine, the ventilation shaft has not yet been drilled, it is a little difficult to breathe, but there is still the flow of wind.

This mine road was very deep and stretched forward, and Ye Zongxing and the others trekked in it for a while before they saw the end.

At the end of the mine is an open field, the ground is covered with black ore fragments, and here the rock wall, there are indeed water stains.

"It's difficult," a craftsman's expression was a little solemn.

If there is a lot of water, even if there is no steam engine now, it can be pumped away manually, and it can be done slowly, and the most afraid is this kind of water stains, but there is no water accumulation.

"Master Ye, what should I do?"

Ye Zongxing thought about the kind of problem he had encountered in the humid area of Jiangnan before, but he was still a little unsure, so he said, "Drill first." ”

Several people braved the high temperature and humidity to drill holes in the rock wall to stuff explosives bags, Ye Zongxing tried it with his own fingers, and then tried it with the bamboo pole he carried with him tied with cotton yarn.

"Okay, it can be cleaned."

Ye Zongxing pondered for a moment, his voice passed through the mask, and he said in a humming voice: "Clean the inside with a cotton yarn pole, and then split the explosive package, the amount of medicine remains the same, but drill a deep hole, split it into two bags, and plug it with fine sand between the two bags." ”

The blockage section is blocked with fine sand, which is similar to the principle of the homemade water filtration device in the field, because this thing can play the role of a simple water filter, which can squeeze out the water in the blockage section and increase the density of the plugging section.

"Immediately carry out the drilling and charging, stuffing work."

Subsequently, the second round of detonation was successfully completed, and so on, after four rounds of detonation, it was finally determined that Tangshan Coal Mine did contain a large number of associated molybdenum ore, rather than occasional small-scale mines.

When the pyroxenite was blasted and excavated, everyone else was far away, only Jiang Xinghuo squatted not far from the edge of the pit, holding a magnifying glass and carefully looking at the piles of minerals that had been transported.

In the industrial revolution, the heavy industry sector, the most important are the coal and iron departments, and now they are under his own hands, and they have begun to move forward in a new direction.

"It's really a molybdenum mine dug up, it's really an unexpected joy."

Although Jiang Xinghuo doesn't know how many tons there are, he roughly estimates that the number must be enough when it enters the period of initial industrialization.

In fact, these were discovered in later generations, but due to the different times, in the past it was still a scarce resource, with an annual output of more than ten tons or dozens of tons of molybdenum ore, the invaders would vigorously plunder, but when they were discovered in later generations, there were already other larger-scale mines to replace, so this small associated mine is not known.

Of course, now these belong to Jiang Xinghuo.

Improving the performance of steel also requires a series of supporting technologies, but molybdenite, which is not only used to cast steel, but also to improve the quality of glass manufacturing, can be used now.

Moreover, in Jiang Xinghuo's view, if it is not used in glass manufacturing, molybdenite can also be regarded as a scarce metal resource, which will be specially used for the upgrading and transformation of weapons materials in the future, and then form a technological generation gap that cannot be replicated in other countries.

Because the melting point of molybdenum is very high, ranking sixth in nature, it is called a refractory metal, and at the metallurgical level of all countries in the world, it can only be used indirectly through the forging method in Japan.

In later generations, molybdenum is known as "the first gold in steel", molybdenum in the application of the steel industry has always occupied the most important position, this thing is too strong, molybdenum as an alloying element of steel, can improve the strength of steel, especially high temperature strength and toughness, improve the corrosion resistance of steel in acid and alkali solution and liquid metal, improve the wear resistance of steel and improve hardenability, welding and heat resistance, in the field of metallurgy, its importance is far better than other metals, it can be said to be the best choice for making steel.

It can only be said that if the Ming Dynasty can fully utilize the metals of nickel, chromium, molybdenum, and cobalt, it will be enough to beat other countries as primitives, because for other countries, it is still at the technical level of not being able to melt steel, and the Ming Dynasty can integrate other high-melting point elements into steel and make weapons of war, that is simply it. Tianwai Technology.

——————

Tangshan and his party, Jiang Xinghuo gained a lot.

Immediately after that, he continued to inspect the iron-smelting yard under the Ministry of Industry and the artillery foundry opened by the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of Industry.

With the growth of the scale of the light industry sector and the realization of large-scale export of products in the industrial revolution, Jiang Xinghuo has begun to pay more attention to the improvement of the heavy industry sector.

And the four words "salt and iron franchise" are not called in vain.

In fact, although the scale of the iron smelting industry is not as large as the salt industry, the management model is basically the same, according to Lao Zhu's rules, this is a national monopoly, there are special people as blacksmiths to undertake the corresponding production tasks, and the descendants are hereditary.

So iron is a state monopoly, will the people not be able to appear like salt, and the government-run iron smelting industry will not be able to meet the normal needs of the people?

The answer may be more unexpected, no, and much more abundant.

The government-run iron smelting field in the Ming Dynasty, now the annual iron output is converted into tons, about eight or nine thousand tons of production level, even if it is the highest year, it does not exceed the threshold of 10,000 tons, but it is so, it is not used up, in the middle and late Hongwu period, the annual iron output will be backlogged, and the backlog is about 20,000 tons at most, that is, the national iron production surplus for more than two years. In order to use up the surplus iron production, Lao Zhu ordered the official iron smelting yard to stop smelting iron for eight years, and then began smelting again, and as a result, in just two years, there was a small backlog of 20,000 tons.

This time, Lao Zhu had no choice, so he directly ordered the official iron smelting yards to stop smelting iron, and if there was a demand from the people, they would smelt it themselves, but the state would levy a 15% iron smelting tax.

The reason for this situation is that there is no demand for iron among the people, and they are basically playing farm tools, kitchen knives, iron pots, etc., these things do not need to use good iron at all, they only need to use white iron to fool around.

At present, the main steel needs of the Ming government-run iron smelting yard are actually provided by the military, including knives and guns, armor, arrowheads, and firearms.

In the iron smelting yard of the Ministry of Industry.

The huge iron-making furnace had been lit, the temperature was very high, and dozens of men were busy walking around the furnace shirtless.

"It's coming!"

"Just hold on a little longer, you see! It's almost a success! ”

With all kinds of cheers, black-red impurities began to appear on the inside of the stove.

This is the waste residue that is refined.

Jiang Xinghuo and the others came in quietly and did not interrupt these craftsmen.

He observed for a while, and about saw the doorway, this should be a variant of the crucible steelmaking method, but the problem is that the smelting temperature of steel is more than 1500 degrees, pig iron is more than 1200 degrees, and the small crucible is refractory, but the output is not good, at least it must reach 1600 degrees, and the steel can be melted into molten steel, which cannot be done with this kind of large furnace.

"This is a square furnace, and it is made of molten iron."

The accompanying official of the Ministry of Industry next to him explained.

Sure enough, it was molten iron, not molten steel, indicating that the temperature did not reach 1600 degrees.

This kind of open iron-making furnace, although there are manpower and animal power to blow the air, but just by looking at the eyes, you can know that the thermal efficiency is not high, and there is no way to effectively gather heat and retain heat.

The reason why the converter steelmaking method is needed is because the key to liquid steel (molten steel) is that the furnace temperature should be high, in fact, in ancient times in the East and the West, there was no liquid steelmaking, to make steel, it can only be obtained through the stupid method of wrought iron carburizing, until the middle of the 19th century, with the invention of the open-hearth furnace liquid steelmaking, can begin to quickly and efficiently manufacture steel on a large scale.

Therefore, these people are smelting wrought iron.

Don't look at wrought iron as "iron" rather than "steel" to underestimate this technology, in fact, the melting point of wrought iron is not only far higher than pig iron, but even higher than steel, so in ancient times, both the East and the West were like liquid steel could not be obtained, and wrought iron could not be directly obtained through liquid smelting.

Now these craftsmen want to obtain wrought iron, in addition to the sponge iron that is initially reduced from iron ore and repeatedly forged, a bit similar to the extremely low production efficiency method of steel knives made in Japan, that is, pig iron is obtained by smelting in this square furnace, and then decarburized by heat treatment to become malleable cast iron, and further slag decarburization is carried out on the forging of malleable cast iron to obtain wrought iron.

With wrought iron, there is steel.

Because wrought iron is transformed into steel, only carburizing is required.

It's just that when these impurities are burned away, a strong and pungent smell of burnt smell wafts out.

"Scrapped? Failed? ”

"How so? How so? ”

The onlookers wailed, and many people beat their chests and feet, frustrated.

There is a price to be paid for the new attempt, and the cost of this batch of pig iron, which is worth a lot of money, has now become waste residue, and this loss is difficult for them to accept.

"Hahahaha! This is scrap copper and rotten iron! Scrap copper and rotten iron! Are the people of Annam all fools? ”

There was a sudden sound of disdain and ridicule from the side, Jiang Xinghuo followed and looked out, and found that there was an old master wearing a shabby cotton jacket and a felt hat, with a dirty body and a sallow face, standing in the distance, looking at them with contempt.

And the green-robed petty official of the Ministry of Industry who was by the square furnace of iron smelting also turned his head with a calm face, it was none other than Hu Yuancheng, the former Zuo Xiangguo of Annan and the king of Wei, who was thrown here to work.

I have to say that although Xiaohu is not young, he really loves one line of work.

Let him take charge of the iron-smelting field, he did not sit in the duty room and drink tea, but personally studied and improved the iron-smelting technology.

(End of chapter)