Xiao Jiu looked at the furnace used to make iron in front of him, his face was a little ugly, although he had thought that the refining process was very primitive, he didn't expect the tools to be so simple.

Seeing this, the shrimp crawler who accompanied him thought that Xiao Jiu didn't know how to make iron, so he took two mountain bandits from Wild Wolf Mountain to start burning the stove, demonstrating, and constantly explaining the process of pig iron smelting on the side.

Many people have the inherent concept that since this iron is smelted from iron ore, it should be directly put into the iron-making furnace, but this is not the case, and there are many necessary steps ahead.

Before refining, the iron ore is crushed, and then the crushed iron ore and coke are mixed together in proportion.

In addition, at this time, the furnace is not entered, and the first step of the process must be carried out outside.

First of all, the crushed iron ore and coke are piled up on an earthen stove made of adobe bricks, and a fire is lit from below, and then it is allowed to burn.

In the end, the result is pieces of black and black stuff that are all semi-finished ores that have been refined in the first step.

After this step, these black semi-finished products can be put into the iron-making furnace.

When these are put into the iron-making furnace, no coke is added to the furnace, but a more common bluestone is required.

The purpose of adding this non-hard stone is to prevent the iron ore inside from turning into molten iron and getting it on to the furnace, and these stones of different sizes can play a role in separating the molten iron from the furnace.

Eventually, the molten iron flows from the outlet into a pre-prepared container, which is the refined pig iron.

Now throughout the Great Xia Dynasty, all iron ore is forbidden to be bought and sold, and only this rough-processed pig iron is circulating in the market, which is made into various utensils by blacksmiths.

At present, the simple equipment of Wild Wolf Mountain is in line with the current mainstream refining level of Great Xia, but it is limited by manpower, and it is too small after all.

Since there are natural mineral veins in Wild Wolf Mountain, if they can be effectively mined, it will be dozens of times more profitable, thinking of this, Xiao Jiu can't stop being moved.

But after all, the iron-smelting industry is monopolized by the imperial court, and if a large amount of pig iron and raw materials are circulated on the market, it will definitely usher in the encirclement and suppression of the government, just like the previous Wild Wolf Mountain, although holding such a gold mountain, it cannot be effectively used.

How to monetize these ores is a question.

Although he could continue to trade with the prince of Qingzhou, there were too many unstable factors, so Xiao Jiu planned to embark on a path of deep processing.

Through the primitive iron-smelting methods of Shrimp Crawler and others just now, Xiao Jiu knew that the iron tools that could be made now could only be forged to remove some impurities.

A good piece of iron often requires craftsmen to forge the processed pig iron continuously, and this process will take a lot of time.

"Steel?" , Xiao Jiu grabbed a piece of ore and muttered to himself.

Xiao Jiu had the memories of his previous life, and all kinds of fragments about iron smelting gradually became clear in his mind, combing out a clear vein.

Xiao Jiu would not think about the smelting method of blast furnace steelmaking in later generations, and the current industrial level is far from reaching this level.

But Xiao Jiu experienced a period of national steelmaking in his previous life, and knew a traditional way of steelmaking, frying steel.

As the name suggests, stir-frying steel is pig iron that is constantly stirred in a container like stir-frying.

The raw material of frying steel is pig iron, which is heated to a liquid or semi-liquid state, then placed in a furnace and stirred, with the help of oxygen in the air, silicon, manganese, and carbon are oxidized, and the carbon content is reduced, so as to obtain steel.

This kind of refining process, Xiao Jiu can do it now, if another steel mill is built in Hare Mountain, and the pig iron smelted in Wild Wolf Mountain is deeply processed, it can produce steel with high strength.

The finished steel smelted by the steel frying technology, and the tools forged by it will inevitably crush the iron tools on the market in Daxia.

The only thing to watch out for may be the government, which has extremely strict control over iron ores.

Xiao Jiu made up his mind in his heart and decided to leave a team of men and horses and camp them on Wild Wolf Mountain for a long time in the future.

He was ready to transform Wild Wolf Mountain into a raw material production area to provide himself with a steady stream of pig iron, and the captives of Wild Wolf Mountain were the best laborers.

As for the technology of frying steel, Xiao Jiu must be tightly held in his hands, he knows very well that once the technology is leaked, his advantages will be wiped out in an instant, and it will also attract the pursuit of the government.

Therefore, this steelmaking site must be in Hare Mountain, which he can fully control, and the people who operate it can only be selected from the group of members at the core of Hare Mountain.

After making arrangements, let Zhang Ben take more than 20 people to garrison Wild Wolf Mountain, and prepare to return to the base camp of Hare Mountain with the rest of his subordinates to plan steelmaking.

In the general direction, Xiao Jiu already has a draft in his heart, but to really implement it, every link must be considered in detail.

These more than a dozen captives of Wild Wolf Mountain, Xiao Jiu can't rest assured now, although the shrimp crawler behaved deferentially, but he can't take it lightly, and it is safe to be careful in everything.

Xiao Jiu didn't spend the night in Wild Wolf Mountain, but with a slight night, he began to set off with more than a dozen members of Hare Mountain and returned to the base camp of Hare Mountain.

During the period, Li Gui and his son were specially sent back to Lijia Town, although the two sides are equal cooperation, but Hare Mountain can have today, Li Gui is indispensable, this Xiao Jiu is still clear.

At the entrance of Lijia Town, Xiao Jiu patted the back of Li Gui's rough hand, and after a few words of greeting, he left with the people, and Li Gui looked at the figure in the distance, and his eyes were a little dazed.

He knew in his heart that there would be no more bandits in Lingshui County after today, but Xiao Jiu's ambition he never saw through.

Now that the relationship between Li Jiazhen and Xiao Jiu has been tied to death by the soju business, I don't know what the ending will be if I continue to follow Xiao Jiu forward.

"Father, go back."

The voice of Li Gui's eldest son pulled Li Gui's thoughts back to reality, looked at the figure that had long since disappeared, sighed softly, and walked towards home with his hands behind his back.

Li Gui's two sons don't understand why their father is worried, the current cooperation with Hare Mountain is very good, everyone in the village has money to make, and the wild wolf mountain bandits that are rampant in the countryside have also been wiped out by Xiao Jiu, what else can make his father worry?

Li Gui saw the doubts in the hearts of his two sons, but he didn't answer them, because he didn't have an answer in his heart.

And after Xiao Jiu and his entourage said goodbye to Li Gui's father and son from Lijia Town, it didn't take long for them to arrive at the jar village at the foot of Hare Mountain.

Xiao Jiu Lerma stopped, looked at the slightly flickering candles in a few places in the jar village, turned back to the group of subordinates and said, "Let's go, go and have a good chat with this fat man first." ”

After speaking, he waved his hand and led a group of his subordinates to the jar village.