Three Kingdoms: My father-in-law is Lu Bu

Chapter 135
"Haha, it turned out to be carbon content. I said why I couldn't remember this keyword. Carbon!"

Ye Xiao held the charcoal in his hand, feeling a little emotional, steel and carbon content are inseparable.

This carbon is not the charcoal in Ye Xiao's hand, but the carbon element contained in the iron ore.

According to the amount of carbon content, in this era, it is possible to distinguish the pros and cons of pig iron, wrought iron and steel.

"Everyone has worked hard, the blacksmiths stay, and everyone else goes back."

After Ye Xiao was excited, he said calmly.

"Mr. Zigang, I have to keep the next thing a secret. Although these bowsmiths or carpenters don't know, but today's matter can't be brought up again, can it be done?"

Zhang Hong was slightly taken aback, but seeing Ye Xiao's serious face, he immediately expressed his opinion.

"My lord, since we plan to build Guangling into a workshop industry, it is better to transfer these people's official status to military status. This way, the treatment will be better, and it will be easier to manage and can be kept secret."

Ye Xiao knew Zhang Hong's intentions. To become a military member is to be like an active soldier, and implement militarized management of Guangling's workshops, which can indeed achieve better secrecy.

"Okay, I will let the public platform publish a paper later, gather all the craftsmen in Xuzhou here, remember to protect their lives, we are not compulsive in doing things, strict requirements are okay, and better treatment should be given."

According to Ye Xiao's instructions, Zhang Hong secretly remembered that he had already begun to look forward to the scene when Guangling would be famous as a workshop in Xuzhou.

"Okay, then you have to make some improvements according to my arrangement."

Ye Xiao made the blacksmith and a dozen apprentices busy preparing for the steelmaking method in his mind.

"You take the existing wrought iron, yes, the wrought iron bars you have refined, and process them into thin iron sheets that are two fingers wide and three feet long. Get thirty strips first."

After sending three blacksmiths to carry out this fine processing, Ye Xiao asked Zhang Da.

"Do you use moulds? Adobe blocks for casting."

Zhang Da quickly brought several long strips of grooved soil embryos.

"My lord, we usually use these fire-resistant clay molds."

"Yes, that's it. According to the material, give me ten grooves with the same depth, three feet long and five inches wide."

Zhang Da hurriedly asked people to go to make it.

After preparing these, Ye Xiao brought the last ten people to the furnace.

"You usually make pig iron, do you just melt the ore directly and pour it out of the mold?"

The remaining blacksmiths all said that this is the easiest method, but the pig iron refined in this way is not very useful because of too many impurities and insufficient toughness, which is easy to break and corrode.

"It's okay. Now, as I said, is it possible to smelt a furnace of liquid pig iron that can hold the ten molds I just mentioned?"

One of the blacksmiths made an estimate and felt that the problem was not big, so he and his companions immediately started work.

Ye Xiao, who had arranged everything, quietly stood aside, watching everyone busy, and before he knew it, Zhang Hong had sent soldiers to the workshop to be on duty.

Especially on the blacksmith's side, all the idle people around were cleared away.

Because Ye Xiao was making such a big battle here, Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and Lu Qiling all quietly came nearby to observe.

"My lord, these steel bars are ready."

Ye Xiao is a still warm wrought iron bar, the length and thinness are acceptable.

"Very good, thank you for your hard work. When the mold comes later, help me put it upright on the groove at an average distance."

The blacksmith was a little flattered when he heard the words, Ye Xiao's words were too polite, and he could feel that Ye Xiao attached some unusual importance to blacksmiths like them.

"It's my lord, don't worry, we will definitely do well."

Just in time, Zhang Da was sweating profusely and came back carrying the baked fire-resistant clay model. Everyone worked together to carefully put the thin slices inside and insert them firmly.

"Is your pig iron melted?"

Seeing that everything was ready, Ye Xiao asked Zhang Da to put the refractory soil mold at the joint of the furnace.

"My lord, it's just right." The sweaty blacksmith came down from the furnace.

Ye Xiao took a deep breath, feeling a little nervous, after all, this is a tentative experiment.

"Lord, what are you doing?"

Just as Ye Xiao was taking a deep breath, Lu Bu Gao Shun and the others finally couldn't bear to show up.

"I have seen my lord."

"Husband, why did you get so dirty?"

Lu Qiling walked over and seeing Ye Xiao's face was smeared black, she couldn't help laughing, took out a cloth towel from her arms and wiped his face.

Ye Xiao took the fragrant cloth towel and wiped off his sweat.

"Why are you here? Of course I'm here to make steel!"

Lü Bu was startled, and asked anxiously, "My good son-in-law, you mean the one made of steel? The kind of steel knife that can cut through armor?"

"Yeah, but I haven't started the experiment yet. Father-in-law, is the sword that can cut and pierce armor the same as your Fang Tian painted halberd?"

Ye Xiao was a little curious about the difference between this weapon and Baisteel.

"This can't be compared, okay? My Fang Tian's painting halberd is based on hundreds of steel smelting, and it took countless painstaking efforts of craftsmen to polish it. It took three years to build it."

Ye Xiao asked in astonishment: "Da Zhang, do you think it took such a long time to make a precious sword?"

Zhang Da was a little restrained in front of the generals, and cupped his hands and said: "Returning to my lord's words, based on the craftsmanship of our seven craftsmen, it really takes three years to forge a sword that General Lu said, and any mistakes in the process will have to be repeated. , It takes a lot of hard work to achieve blown hair and broken hair."

"I see. It doesn't matter so much, father-in-law, and madam, wait until I finish the experiment."

Ye Xiao turned to the furnace, and saw that the pig iron smelted inside had become liquid, almost like magma.

"Put the soil mold in place, now slowly release the pig iron slurry and pour it in."

With a bang, the blacksmith followed Ye Xiao's request, and a small stream of iron slurry slowly flowed into the soil mold. When the high-temperature liquid pig iron and the wrought iron sheet came into contact, a chemical reaction began to occur.

Slowly the entire wrought iron sheet melted into the pig iron sheet, just when the soil mold was filled, and the blacksmith skillfully closed the joint.

"That's right, the rest of the nine clay models are all operated in this way."

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the blacksmiths finally completed all the soil models that Ye Xiao required.

Standing beside the ten clay models, Ye Xiao suddenly found that the surroundings had been lit with torches, and it was already dark.

"Zhang Da, when will the iron blocks in these clay molds cool down by themselves?"

Zhang Da also knew, and hurriedly looked to the blacksmith for help.

"My lord, the iron slurry in the soil mold will condense into iron blocks by itself after drying overnight."

"Well, that's good. Let me watch it. Let's take a look tomorrow morning. Be careful not to get caught if it rains again."

"Lord, can steel be made in this way? Zhang Liao finally asked, but he still couldn't understand after looking at it for a long time.

Not only did he not understand, but everyone present did not understand.

"Yeah, Ye Xiao seems to be refining pig iron, right?"

Lu Bu was also very puzzled. He was better than Zhang Liao and knew a little bit about forging.

"It's okay, let's try it anyway, everyone go back and rest, and we'll see the result tomorrow morning." Ye Xiao pulled Lu Qiling back, waved his hands and left the workshop quickly.

(End of this chapter)