Chapter 224 The Magic Furnace

Outside the east gate of Jinxia City, next to the salt fields.

A huge brick oven looms on the sand.

It is about nine feet high, with an inner diameter of more than fifteen feet. The outer circle is made of bricks in three layers, and the cracks between each layer of bricks are filled with fine sand to prevent heat from escaping and strengthen the furnace wall. pressure capacity.

Beside the stove, the soldiers were going back and forth to add raw materials, and the person in charge of them was Mo Yun, the person in charge of the Machine Building Bureau.

"Attention, the iron ingots must be placed in the correct order, and remember to read the labels on them when picking up the raw materials!"

"One bar is up, two bars are down, and the iron ingots are staggered in pairs, leaving a gap!"

"If you find a problem, you can't force it. You must report it to me. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Is this the new test product you mentioned?" Following the familiar voice, Ning Wanjun threw off the escort and walked quickly to Xia Fan's side, "Did you hear the inconceivable whisper again?"

"I've met Your Highness!" Seeing the princess appearing, the busy crowd bowed their heads together.

"You keep busy with your own work, don't make trouble for me!" The princess waved her hand.

"Here!"

Xia Fan sighed helplessly. Since she pointed out that Luo Qingqing was the listener, now he justifiably regards himself as one of the listeners. Although he has never heard any whispers, when the other party meets He always asks "considerately" if he has lost his mind, which makes him dumbfounded.

"It is indeed a new experimental project, but it has nothing to do with Whispering." Xia Fan curled his lips, "Speaking of which, why don't you ask Miss Luo if she is still rational?"

"She is more serious than you at first glance, so why ask?" Ning Wanjun asked without thinking, "I never worry that she will have any problems."

"Thank you for your trust." Luo who was on the side nodded slightly.

Well, let's make up one by one. Xia Fan rolled his eyes silently, "Actually, I only started this project, and the real planner and implementer is Miss Mo Yun."

"Oh? Let's hear it?"

"It starts with Miss Luo's ability..."

Xia Fan's thoughts that day were not just in his head, but he ran into trouble when he tried to figure out a production flow chart at night-he didn't know the level of smelting technology in this era, and he didn't have a special Having understood the modern steelmaking process, it is just like theory is theory, but it has become a difficult thing to transfer to actual operation.

So he approached Mo Yun with the idea of ​​trying.

And the latter actually has a lot of accumulation in this area.

After all, the Ministry of Industry manages the production and construction of the entire Qiguo, and iron smelting and forging steel are naturally included. For one of the directors of the Machine Building Bureau, even if he has never operated it himself, the technology and craftsmanship in this area are by no means unfamiliar. .

After a night of intense exchanges between him and the other party, an experimental plan that conforms to the level of the times and surpasses the times was born.

Xia Fan learned from Mo Yun's dictation that Qi State's smelting technology was not far behind, or in the Yongguo period, some people had realized that steel was an excellent material for casting swords because it was between pig iron and wrought iron. It's just that iron is more difficult to melt than copper, and large metal utensils are still dominated by bronze.

After a century of research, the popularity of tower kilns and human blowers has led to a steady increase in iron production, and the Ministry of Industry naturally turned its attention to steel with higher strength. The method they advocate now is to burn pig iron into molten iron and pour it on wrought iron sheets, and mix the two to form steel. In layman's terms, it is to fuse iron with high carbon content and iron with low carbon content to obtain iron with moderate carbon content, which is the so-called steel.

Although the Ministry of Industry does not know that carbon is the element that determines the performance of steel, it still produces qualified smelted products based on experience, which is quite amazing. However, this method is limited by the temperature of molten iron, and each batch of mixed steel ingots is only a few ingots, which are generally used by the Ministry of Industry to make the most elite weapons, or the core components of mechanical equipment. Even with sparing use, steel is still in short supply.

It can be said that as long as the furnace temperature cannot be raised, the scene of large-scale smelting will be difficult to realize after all.

Xia Fan's plan is to directly surround a furnace, place pig iron and wrought iron in layers, and start melting from the upper layer. In the process of flowing down, the molten iron will increase the chance of contact with the air and further reduce the carbon content—this is also considering that the wrought iron smelting process at this time is mainly stirring, and the carbon content may be generally high, so to make this arrangement.

Once getting rid of the constraints of the heat source, the whole process becomes simple and easy.

Hearing that Ning Wanjun's eyes had lost focus, he was obviously confused by a lot of nouns, "Uh... I understand the principle. According to what you mean, once this method is successful, my soldiers will not be able to Are you short of steel knives and armor?"

"You can think so," Xia Fan smiled, "but its ultimate purpose is to make soldiers no longer need steel knives and armor."

Improving the performance of weapons is only an incidental use after a breakthrough in material technology. Its greatest significance is to go back and improve the quality of the original device, thereby further expanding production capacity.

There is only one Luoqing, and it would be difficult for others to rely on her ability to reach the position in one step, but the method of heating is not limited to dragon scales. With a good steel forge, the arc from the Shockwave can do the same. Compared with the indescribable listener's technique, at least the magic weapon engraved with the amplifying circuit talisman has the hope of being copied in batches.

The key is where this initial melting pot comes from.

The answer is now at hand.

"My lord, all the raw materials are in place." The soldier reported.

Mo Yun ordered in a deep voice, "Check the ignition mechanism."

"Report—the ignition mechanism is normal!"

"Close the bottom furnace door."

"Report—the furnace door is closed!"

"Everyone evacuate."

"Yes, all the staff withdraw from the smelting furnace area!"

When everything was ready, she walked up to the three of them, nodded slightly to Luo, and said, "It's up to you next."

Luo lightly stretched out his single palm and pointed it at the brick oven, "I will do my best."

Under the gaze of everyone, a sword blade with a faint golden light quietly emerged above the stove top.

Then, it descended slowly and entered the furnace through the hole at the top.

Obstructed by the wall, the vision is invalid here, Luo Qingqing can only rely on the experience and feelings accumulated in the previous simulation drills - after she put the blade flat, she tried to retract it in the direction where she was.

At this moment, the "ignition device" was triggered.

It is essentially a falling platform, and the iron ingot on it is pulled by the rope. When the dragon scale as thin as a cicada's wing cuts the hemp rope, the iron ingot hits the blade of the sword.

Luo felt the change lightly.

The outer layer of the dragon scales disappeared temporarily, and the power flowing in the blade suddenly rushed to the iron ingot. The heat spread quickly and quickly ignited the entire upper level of the furnace.

"boom--"

Everyone saw that a flame several feet high spewed out from the top of the brick furnace!