Chapter 39: Improved Smelting

"Your Highness, have tea. Reading"

In the Military Equipment Department, Zhao Xu and Wang Ying were talking enthusiastically.

He asked Wang Ying about many folk skills of Dasong, and Wang Ying answered them fluently.

The two of them talked more and more, almost forgetting others.

Liu Fu was sour that he was bubbling. The King of Yan had never been so excited about him.

With a little sadness in his heart, he offered tea to show his presence.

"Liu Fu, you did a good job this time. I will reward you when I go back." Holding up the teacup, Zhao Xu gave Liu Fu an appreciative look.

For him, professional things are best done by professionals.

In ancient times, the literacy rate was very low, and people who were literate and could engage in technology were almost rare.

Although Wang Ying was not a scientist, he at least did not reject technology and attached great importance to it.

And this was enough for him to be the head of the Military Equipment Department.

Liu Fu's feeling of being out of favor immediately flew away.

He said with a smile: "Your Highness's urgency is my subordinate's urgency. I am honored that Wang Ying can please Your Highness."

Wang Ying looked at Liu Fu with gratitude in his eyes.

If it weren't for him, he would probably still be wandering in the market, how could he meet the King of Yan who shared the same interests as him at the age of forty.

Zhao Xu nodded, drank tea and went to the Armory Department for a walk.

Wang Ying and Liu Fu introduced the situation.

The Yan County Armory Department occupies a block.

This block is a standard area in the city of Dasong.

If the city is like a chessboard, then this block is the square on the chessboard.

The squares may be residential houses, businesses, government offices, and the Armory Department.

"At present, there are a total of 500 craftsmen in the Armory Department, including blacksmiths, carpenters, and masons. Whatever Your Highness needs, we can make it now..." Wang Ying revealed the family background of the Armory Department like a treasure.

Zhao Xu was overjoyed.

The purpose of taking over the Armory Department was to get the craftsmen in it.

With them, the technical advantages in his mind can be brought into play.

Once he has the technical advantages, he will make up for the current unfavorable situation and sit on the Diaoyutai.

"From today on, the craftsmen of the Armory Department are not allowed to go out. From now on, every technology that the king teaches you will be extremely important." After inspecting the Armory Department, everyone returned to the Armory Department Office.

Zhao Xu ordered Liu Fu and others to wait outside, and ordered Wang Ying.

"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Ying's heart sank.

From Zhao Xu's serious expression, he could feel the seriousness of the King of Yan.

Zhao Xu picked up the pen on the desk at this time and said to Wang Ying: "The current iron smelting skills of Dasong are very backward. The king will teach you a method, and you will implement it immediately."

From what he understands.

Dasong's current iron and steel smelting skills are not good.

Iron smelting is basically hard burning, and what is burned out is a ball of red iron lumps.

Then these iron lumps are repeatedly hammered, either wrought iron or steel.

Of course, weapons made in this way are also possible.

But the problem is inefficiency.

Moreover, this kind of weapons and armor made of steel are usually exclusive to generals.

Ordinary soldiers still use inferior steel.

This is what he learned from Chang Wei.

Therefore, if he wants to arm his own army, it is imperative to improve the level of steel smelting.

Only when the quality and quantity of steel are improved, he can do more things in the next step.

Including gradually realizing the budding of industry in Yan County, and then gradually developing.

After all, it is not impossible to win at the same level as Beidi Xiliang.

But the cost of winning is too high.

Since he has the technical advantage, why can't he use technology to reduce the cost?

"Blast furnace?"

While Zhao Xu was writing and drawing, Wang Ying kept looking up.

At this time, there were two tower-shaped buildings on the white paper.

In the buildings, Zhao Xu used different patterns to mark different materials.

After a quarter of an hour, Zhao Xu put down his pen and asked, "Is there anything you don't understand?"

"This is the method of iron smelting, but what is this coke? What is lime?" Wang Ying looked puzzled.

At present, Dasong mainly uses charcoal for iron smelting, so he was very puzzled.

"Do you know about coal cakes?" Zhao Xu asked like a teacher.

He knew that the iron smelting concept he brought out was too advanced, so Wang Ying naturally didn't understand.

"This official knows it."

Zhao Xu continued: "Do you see this kiln on the paper? Put the coal cakes in it and tamp them, then smolder, and the coal cakes must be smelly."

"Smelly?" Wang Ying didn't find it difficult to understand smoldering, because charcoal is made by smoldering, he understood, but he didn't understand why the coal cakes had to be smelly.

Zhao Xu smiled, "This smelly carbon is different from other carbons, and it can only be burned into coke."

The most suitable coal for coking is bituminous coal, which was also called smelly carbon in ancient times.

Jinzhou, adjacent to Yanzhou, is the contemporary Shanxi, and it can be said that there is coal everywhere.

So there is no shortage of coal cakes in Yan County.

Wang Ying nodded, "What about the lime?"

"It was hammered out of the deep mountains, burned by fire. I am not afraid of being crushed to pieces, I want to leave a clear name in the world." Zhao Xu recited a poem.

This is a poem from the contemporary Ming Dynasty, which describes the process of mining lime from the mountains and burning it.

His Yan County is located in the north of Yanshan Mountain, and there are abundant limestone mines in this area.

So he described the appearance of limestone to Wang Ying to see if he had seen it.

"Gray stone? There seems to be a lot in the mountains. I will send someone to find some in the mountains to try burning it later." Wang Ying said, there is a ready-made kiln in the Arms Department.

The material problem was solved.

Zhao Xu talked to Wang Ying about the construction of the blast furnace and asked him to use ceramic materials for the furnace body.

Because ceramic materials are refractory materials.

"What is this furnace connected to a pipe next to it?" Wang Ying pointed to the tower-shaped building next to the blast furnace.

"This is used to store heat and blow air." Zhao Xu explained.

The iron burned by the ancients was solid.

The reason is that the temperature is not enough.

To increase the temperature, one is to use coke and the other is to blow air.

With these two things, the iron flowing out of the blast furnace is liquid, which is very easy to shape and will save a lot of hammering time.

After an explanation, Wang Ying roughly understood it.

"I will send someone to do it now." Wang Ying looked at Zhao Xu deeply.

Before meeting Zhao Xu, he was still a little conceited.

He thought that he was unique in Dasong and no one could compare.

But this thing Zhao Xu casually took out made him scratch his head.

"If you don't understand, just come to the palace to ask." Zhao Xu stood up.

The tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop, so he had to get some hard stuff to deal with his enemies.

Patting Wang Ying on the shoulder, Zhao Xu left the Armory.

Wang Ying, who was still studying the blueprint, didn't come back to his senses until Zhao Xu left.

When he left the office, he could only see Zhao Xu's back.

"The wise are the teachers, the wise are the teachers." Wang Ying muttered a few words and ran to the workshop in the Armory without caring about his image.

He mobilized the craftsmen and started to prepare materials for construction without stopping.

He wanted to see if everything the King of Yan said was true.

Flowing molten iron? This is simply unheard of.