"Uh..." Qin Mu was speechless for a while.

"Rebellion? Don't laugh, I'm not that material, talented, your idea is dangerous, but I'll help you keep it a secret, hehe. Qin Mu said jokingly.

"I don't need you to keep it a secret, I find that you like to make such nonsense jokes, I just know who wins and I'm on whose side."

Qin Mu gave a thumbs up, "Then you see it right, I will always be the one who wins." ”

Shangguan Wan'er had a helpless smile on her face, Qin Mu's character really had no corresponding way.

Qin Mu took out a piece of soap from his arms and pushed it in front of him, "This is the Yelan rumor, my offer to the palace is 19 taels, Zhou Xing will definitely falsely report the price and eat kickbacks, you know what to do when the time comes, right?" ”

Shangguan Wan'er picked up the soap and sniffed it with curiosity, "The queen of his own affairs, but you..." she looked at Qin Mu with her eyes in the mirror, "He is a complete profiteer, taking advantage of the panic of the people of Luoyang to make a fortune." ”

She threw the soap to Qin Mu, "It's better to keep this thing for you to sell for money, I won't be blessed to enjoy it." ”

After saying that, he grabbed the door and went out.

Qin Mu chased after him and shouted wronged, "It's none of my business!" I didn't make that plague! Besides, I never said it could cure a disease! ”

Shangguan Wan'er left the Li Mansion without looking back, leaving Qin Mu alone, full of anger.

"They buy it and want to believe it, it's my business!"

Qin Mu scratched his head, he really couldn't handle a strong woman like Shangguan Wan'er, but she was also a key part of his goal to achieve.

After Empress Wu ascended the throne, Shangguan Wan'er can be said to be the most trusted prime minister of Empress Wu, and the Tang Dynasty is the dynasty with the most prime ministers in history.

The Fengge Iris of the Empress Wu is actually the cabinet, and round after round of Tongping Zhang has been replaced one after another, only Shangguan Wan'er survived until the fall of the Empress Wu.

Qin Mu moved to the backyard, and the follow-up soap was neatly placed in the backyard.

After all these machines are put into use, they will be able to produce about 800 pieces per day, and it will not be a problem to supply the whole of Luoyang.

And then there is the all-important smelting of steel.

Qin Mu summoned all the blacksmiths and ceramic craftsmen, holding a one-man tall drawing in his hand.

"Big guy, stop for a moment, there's something important to announce here." Qin Mu shouted.

All the craftsmen stopped what they were doing and gathered around to look at the strange drawings.

"Chairman, is this a chimney?" Zhang Quan asked, pointing to the drawings.

"No, this is a blast furnace for steelmaking, and what you usually smelt is ordinary iron, which not only has many impurities, but also has insufficient hardness and flexibility, and cannot be used at all."

Everyone looked at each other and didn't quite understand what Qin Mu said.

"You don't need to know the meaning of these words, just know that our first goal is to make molten iron ore in this blast furnace."

Qin Mu then introduced: "The blast furnace is a very high iron-making furnace as the name suggests, what we need is to build a furnace that is more than ten meters high, and the space for putting iron ore in the middle is about fifteen feet wide and fifteen spaces. ”

"Fifteen feet! Chairman, this stove can't be held by three people! It's too big! Zhang Quan's face was full of shock.

"Yes."

The size of a blast furnace is usually measured by the blast furnace volume (furnace capacity), measured in cubic meters (m³). The volume of a blast furnace can range from a few tens of cubic meters for a small blast furnace to tens of thousands of cubic meters for a large blast furnace.

A furnace capacity of just five cubic meters requires a height of ten to fifteen meters.

"And the whole furnace is made of refractory bricks, which is the innermost brick you use for your kiln." Qin Mu pointed to a few holes on the stove and introduced: "These holes are the filling hole, the exhaust hole, the top hole of the furnace, the tuyere and the taphole. ”

Everyone listened carefully to Qin Mu's introduction, and for some reason they always felt that this was a great project, and it was the first time they had seen such a big iron-making furnace as iron that they had been working for all their lives.

Blast furnace ironmaking actually existed as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the iron products of the Tang Dynasty were actually of high quality, but the parts used to make steam engines must be made of steel to operate stably.

The difference between iron and steel is not only a matter of carbon content, but also other metal materials, such as manganese, chromium, and other alloys that improve the toughness of steel.

In modern times, the carbon content of less than 0.02% is called wrought iron, and the content greater than 2.11% to 4.3% is called pig iron, and the middle is steel.

The most difficult part of the whole steelmaking process is the method of controlling the carbon content of the molten iron after it comes out.

And the solution to this problem lies in these blacksmiths, they have more experience in iron-making than themselves, and what Qin Mu has to do is to tell them what kind of steel he needs.

The steam engine needs low-carbon steel and at the same time needs to add chromium, nickel, molybdenum and other metals as auxiliary materials for steel, so that it can withstand high temperature and flexibility, and the steam engine can run stably.

Although these metals have only been discovered in modern times, Qin Mu believes that as long as he goes to the major mines in Datang to find them, he will definitely be able to find them, but people now don't know these metal minerals.

"Whoever is from the kiln factory, I will take the refractory bricks from there." Qin Mu asked.

"Don't worry, this one is on me." An aunt answered.

"When the refractory bricks are pulled, we will start building the blast furnace!"

This step is very important, it can be said to be the first step to start industrialization, think about the beginning of the founding of the country...... That is a blind work without technical guidance, now there is technology, and there are specialized talents Qin Mu believes that he will be able to make steel soon.

Shangguan Wan'er on the other side returned to the palace, this time she went out of the palace completely without permission, and did not get too much permission, it stands to reason that she belongs to the concubines of the harem as a talented person, but the power to go out of the palace is also allowed by the queen mother, but she didn't have to go out of the palace before, and there was no one outside the palace who needed to be seen.

Seeing Qin Mu this time, she thought that she could get useful information, what she didn't expect Qin Mu to be so frivolous, and he was also a profiteer, and Guan Wan'er felt very unworthy of wasting time on him.

But she always felt that she would still be involved with Qin Mu later, this feeling was very strong, her feeling had always been very accurate, could it be that she looked away this time?

I didn't have time to think about it, Shangguan Wan'er changed her clothes and prepared to go to Lichun Hall to meet Empress Wu.

Shangguan Wan'er came to Lichun Hall and found that Xue Huaiyi was talking to Empress Wu, she was waiting outside as before, but this time Xue Huaiyi hadn't left, she was summoned by Empress Wu.

"Wan'er, you came just in time, tomorrow's affairs in Mingtang will be arranged by you, and Huaiyi is responsible for handling miscellaneous matters."

"No." Shangguan Wan'er answered softly.

"Shangguan Cairen is out of the palace today?" Xue Huaiyi asked suddenly.

Shangguan Wan'er replied unhurriedly: "Yes." ”

The Empress Wu didn't get angry but asked happily: "Wan'er, you haven't been out of the palace for a long time, are you having fun this time?" ”

"After returning to heaven, Wan'er went out to meet an acquaintance and wanted to discuss a business."

Xue Huaiyi looked at Shangguan Wan'er coldly, "Talking about business?" Talented, are you short of money? ”

"Supervisor Xue, I just went out and bought some spices." Shangguan Wan'er said expressionlessly.

Empress Wu looked at the aggressive Xue Huaiyi and said, "Huaiyi, you step down." ”

"No..."Before leaving, Xue Huaiyi glanced at her with hatred and slowly left the hall.

"Wan'er, I allowed you to go out, and I want you to help me go out and have a look, today's life is full of all kinds of things, and if you stay in the palace all the time, you will get tired of it."

"Well, Wan'er knows."

"This outside the palace is not as good as inside the palace, if you are bullied, tell me, I will make him pay." Empress Wu said dotingly.

Shangguan Wan'er nodded, and then talked about tomorrow's banquet.

She knew in her heart that Empress Wu was hinting that she should not be implicated too much outside, and at the same time hoped that she could be honest with her.