The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty
Chapter 238 Steel!
A month passed by in a flash.
During this period, Wang Wenbo and other family heads also returned to their families.
Accordingly, they paid a financial and human cost.
Thirty-six noble families, each with fifty thousand taels, made Marquis Zhongshan an instant millionaire.
Moreover, the millionaires of the Ming Dynasty were comparable to the billionaires of later generations. After all, the purchasing power of silver is too great.
Even the little emperor wanted to beat the autumn wind after learning the news. He asked Zuo Yidao to tentatively ask Tang Hao if he could give half of it back to fill his internal funds. Then, as expected, Tang Hao scolded him back.
Well, although this money was "brought by the strong wind", with the establishment of a fleet coming soon, there would be many places to spend money, so Tang Hao naturally could not allow anyone to touch this money.
During this period, Wang Xianwen also brought back graphite.
In fact, Qingdao, Shandong Province is the birthplace of China’s graphite industry and is known as the “Hometown of Graphite in China”.
Therefore, they have a clear goal and direction, and it is difficult for these guys to find it. Tang Hao just gives them a reason and excuse to escape guilt.
Immediately afterwards, cartloads of graphite were sent to the iron factory, and then, under the processing of the blacksmith, they were turned into high-temperature-resistant molds.
After a month of work stoppage, although the blacksmiths could no longer make iron, the wages promised by Tang Hao were paid on time, and even paid on a daily basis, so the blacksmiths stopped making trouble, and instead admired Tang Hao. After all, in this era There are not many good officials who can keep their word.
Having wages and getting wages is what the craftsmen really care about, so they obeyed Tang Hao's orders. After the carts of graphite were sent to the iron factory, they immediately became excellent high-temperature resistant materials. The materials have become the inner wall building materials of blast furnaces.
Within a month, all the previous twenty iron-making furnaces were knocked down and replaced by blast furnaces that were raised up one after another, reaching a height of seven feet, reaching into the sky.
Tang Hao, accompanied by Liu Dahu and other craftsmen, began to inspect these blast furnaces.
These blast furnaces are generally seven feet and five feet high, with a blast furnace volume of about twenty cubic meters—larger than any iron-making furnace in this era. They are well-deserved blast furnaces!
Because it is next to the "Hometown of Graphite", graphite is not a rare thing, but people in this era still don't understand its use. This thing is definitely the best refractory material, at least Tang Hao can only use it now This one use.
In fact, if you just build a small blast furnace for iron-making, it will not be a big problem to build it directly with clay or use red bricks. The key is that Tang Hao hopes to extend its service life, so he uses modern smelting materials in the blast furnace lining. Graphite, a high-grade refractory material used only in steel furnaces, is widely used in the hope that the life of these blast furnaces can be longer.
In addition to the blast furnace, within this month, Tang Hao also directed a group of craftsmen to build large bellows to provide sufficient oxygen to assist combustion and enable the furnace temperature to reach a predetermined value.
Then there is the crucible steelmaking, which is a more advanced steelmaking method than the fried steel method. Unfortunately, high-temperature resistant materials are rare. Fortunately, Tang Hao successfully found graphite.
The graphite is crushed and then molded into a shape by craftsmen, and then placed in a kiln to be fired at high temperature for more than ten hours. This is the graphite crucible.
The steel-making process from ancient times to the present is divided into three types: steel frying, steel making and steel pouring.
Frying steel is actually frying iron, which can be produced in a stir-frying furnace, but what is fried is mainly wrought iron, and a small amount of medium and low carbon steel. The quality is very unstable, cold and brittle.
Nowadays, the standard firearms in the Ming Dynasty's army are basically all made of these wrought irons. It is of course not surprising that the chambers will explode after being used a few times.
Steelmaking uses fried steel as raw material, which is heated and then repeatedly folded and forged, or it is obtained by repeatedly forging several raw materials with different compositions. The process is complex and costly, and it is only suitable for making swords and swords, such as those commonly seen in romance novels. "Hundred Refined Sword" means it is a precious sword.
The method of pouring steel is recorded in "Mengxi Bi Tan": "The so-called steel in the world is made of soft iron, but pig iron is trapped in it and sealed with mud to refine it. The forging order is mixed together, which is called group steel, and it is also called steel. Fill steel.”
These three processes are not suitable for large-scale industrial production.
What Tang Hao wants now is crucible steelmaking, large-scale industrial-grade steelmaking!
In fact, the crucible steelmaking method appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period, and reached its peak in the Han Dynasty. It supported the Han Dynasty's heroic soldiers and created a brilliant and powerful man. It is a pity that the crucible steelmaking method was lost in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. On the contrary, it has made great progress in India. Developed and produced the famous Damascus knife!
Blast furnace ironmaking, large bellows, crucible steelmaking... these new and strange things are all things that craftsmen like Liu Dahu have never seen in their lives. Their ancestors have never seen such ironmaking.
But they wanted to do it this way, and the wages they should pay were a penny, so no matter how much the blacksmiths looked down on Tang Hao in their hearts, they were still respectful on the surface.
What kind of dog official is this? He is clearly the God of Wealth!
As long as you are willing to give money, let alone pushing the iron-making furnace, even if you destroy the Laiwu Iron Works, everyone will dare to follow you!
Tang Hao looked at everything in front of him, his eyes flashing.
"Get ready to fire up the furnace!"
"Follow the steps you did before, don't panic!"
This iron-making and steel-making is not a child's play. If there is any accident, it will be thousands of degrees of high temperature, and people will be killed directly.
Liu Dahu has been a blacksmith all his life. He doesn't understand these principles, so all the people he arranges are experienced blacksmiths. Even if he senses that something is wrong, he will choose to evacuate as soon as possible.
Today is the first time that the furnace has been fully opened, and it is also an important day for whether Laiwu Iron Works can restart the furnace and start producing steel.
So not only Tang Hao and a group of blacksmiths, but also Wang Wenbo and other thirty-six family heads came over.
They came here not to see anything else, but to see if the Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty could do anything good.
After all, they spent a really big price!
Each family has 50,000 taels of silver, and the thirty-six families alone have 1.8 million taels of silver. This damn family is almost half of the Ming Dynasty’s annual tax revenue!
Would Zhongshan Hou really throw all the 1.8 million taels of silver into the Laiwu Iron Works in front of him?
Do not make jokes!
We are not fools!
Counting the wages of the blacksmith and the young laborers, if he could spend a hundred thousand taels of silver, that would be considered a kindness on his part.
That means that this thief Zhongshan Hou has embezzled at least half of the money!
But the problem is that the thief Zhongshan Hou will get out, but they won't!
These thirty-six gentry families are still counting on the Laiwu Iron Works in front of them to continue to make profits!
Money has been given to you and people have been given to you. Even if you just want to "spend money and listen to the sound", you still have to tinker with something new, right?
What's more, you also pushed away all the twenty iron-making furnaces that blacksmiths depended on for their survival, and replaced them with these towering iron-making furnaces. If iron cannot be made in this damn place, then what about the Marquis of Zhongshan? They pat their butts and leave, but how are these blacksmiths and gentry supposed to live?
Therefore, no one cares about their own interests.
They all looked eagerly at Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao, hoping that this thief could leave a way for everyone to survive.
Just make money, don't cut off everyone's livelihood.
Otherwise, the Laiwu Iron Works will be completely scrapped by then, and you, the Marquis of Zhongshan, will have no good fruits to eat!
Tang Hao met everyone's questioning eyes, and then decisively issued the order.
"Light the fire, turn on the stove!"
Following the order from Marquis Zhongshan, Liu Dahu spoke excitedly for some unknown reason.
"Boys, light the fire!"
All the craftsmen stretched their necks and shouted in agreement: "Light the fire!"
The two blacksmiths picked up torches and threw them into the blast furnace from the bottom tap hole.
When the green smoke in the furnace rolled out from the opening, a blacksmith squinted his eyes and looked inside, shouting: "This fire... is really strong!!!"
Hearing this, the blacksmiths all trembled.
The furnace fires are strong, which means that at least these blast furnaces can be used to make iron.
The things they relied on for a living were saved.
"Blow the wind!"
Liu Dahu did not hesitate and immediately ordered.
Then two burly men pulled the bellows, and behind them stood ten men of similar stature.
At this point, we have to rely purely on manpower, because there is no time to use water power here, and Tang Hao does not have this ability.
In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, the most indispensable thing was manpower!
As the bellows provide a steady stream of oxygen, the fire in the blast furnace becomes more and more fierce, and you can even see a large flame rushing straight out of the furnace mouth, showing its teeth and claws wantonly!
Seeing this scene, all the craftsmen were surprised.
Because they all know very well that the scene before them means that the temperature in the furnace is definitely enough, and there is even hope of melting the molten iron directly!
Of course, stirring is indispensable at this time.
Iron-frying stoves became popular in the Ming Dynasty. All were stirred manually. There were always one or two big men by the stove, stirring the iron rods back and forth. But they had to admit that this method was very dangerous. At least before, they only had to endure those... There was black smoke, but now it was flames with snarling teeth and claws.
Tang Hao saw this scene in his eyes and thought about how to improve it.
But at this moment, everyone was staring blankly at the blast furnace, watching this spectacle that they had never seen before.
After all, their previous iron-smelting furnace was just blowing out black smoke. Where could there be such a blazing flame?
The stronger the flame, the higher the furnace temperature, and the furnace temperature is the key factor that determines the quality of a furnace of iron!
All blacksmiths understand that such a hot furnace temperature is unprecedented, and I am afraid that a furnace of good iron can really be smelted!
Even Wang Wenbo and others were a little dazed at the moment.
Is it possible that he really did it?
Did Marquis Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty still know how to smelt iron?
For a moment, everyone looked at each other and could only wait patiently for the result.
I don’t know how long it took, at least an hour or two. When Wang Wenbo and others became impatient, waves of exclamations came.
"Oh my God!"
"How can this be?"
"There's actually molten iron coming out!"
Accompanied by bursts of exclamations, everyone's eyes turned to him.
I saw Liu Dahu standing at the observation port from the side of the blast furnace, and he could clearly see the molten iron gathering at the bottom of the furnace, showing a charming orange-red color.
Even this old blacksmith who has been working hard all his life has to admit at this moment that this is a real miracle!
"Turn on the furnace!"
"Take out the iron!"
Liu Dahu ordered boldly, his whole face turned red with excitement!
Hearing his words, everyone froze on the spot.
How could it be... so fast?
Even gentry family heads like Wang Wenbo often come to the Laiwu Iron Factory to hang out. Even they know that ordinary iron-making cannot produce molten iron without a day and a night.
No, let alone molten iron. If you can melt the iron ore in a day and a night, that's pretty good. It basically takes two days and a night to open the furnace and tap the iron!
But what now?
How long has it been since the ignition?
It can only take three or four hours at most, right?
But Liu Dahu was the oldest and most experienced blacksmith in the entire Laiwu Iron Factory, so no one dared to question his decision.
Wang Xianwen immediately trembled and shouted: "What are you still doing? Turn on the furnace!"
Hearing his words, all the blacksmiths woke up from a dream, immediately came to their senses, arranged the graphite crucibles in order, and were ready to open the furnace.
The two blacksmiths, holding long-handled iron pliers, violently opened the tap door at the lower part of the blast furnace, and orange-red molten iron happily flowed out.
Orange-red molten iron flows out of the pig iron trench, and the slag floating above is blocked by the baffle on the trench. A graphite mold has been placed on the trench floor for a long time. The molten iron with large pieces of slag removed flows into the mold from the trench. Cast into pig iron ingots.
After a while, more than a hundred pig iron ingots were filled, and orange molten iron continued to flow out. The blacksmiths hurriedly used other graphite grinding tools.
Wang Wenbo and others were completely stunned at this moment. The pig iron spindles on the ground alone weighed nearly 10,000 kilograms!
What is this concept?
Ten thousand kilograms of pig iron, even if it were the largest iron smelting factory in the Ming Dynasty, the Zunhua Iron Factory with 25 iron smelting furnaces and nearly 3,000 craftsmen, it would take a full ten days and a half to make it possible. So much output!
But what about now?
Right here at Laiwu Iron Factory!
Right in front of them all!
It only took about half a day to smelt more than 10,000 kilograms of pig iron in a blast furnace!
Oh my God!
This is about to be posted!
Wang Wenbo felt his eyes go dark and almost fainted.
But after all, he was the head of the Langya Wang family, and he could be considered to have seen the world, so he forced himself to stand firm.
But this miraculous scene made everyone breathe quickly and even their blood ran wild!
Liu Dahu looked at the scene in front of him with tears streaming down his face, and even wanted to slap himself twice.
How dare you question Mr. Hou?
"Who is that? Don't cry in a hurry!"
Tang Hao's voice came, "Enough pig iron, close the furnace door to produce wrought iron!"
This time, without Liu Dahu opening his mouth, the blacksmith closed the trench used for casting and opened the trench leading to the iron furnace. The furnace was nestled below the horizon, and the molten iron flowed into the furnace that had been burning for half an hour. iron furnace.
Once the molten pig iron produced in the blast furnace is stirred, carbon and oxygen in the air react violently at high temperatures to produce carbon dioxide. The melting point of pig iron is lower than that of pure iron. When carbon combines with oxygen, the carbon content in the molten pig iron gradually decreases, and its melting point gradually increases. improve.
In steel products, the lower the carbon content, the softer it is, and the higher it is, the brittle and hard it is. The level of carbon content determines the softness and hardness of steel, and also determines their final use.
There is no doubt that agricultural tools such as hoes are generally made of pig iron or low-carbon steel. However, if you want to make high-end ordnance such as weapons and armor, you will undoubtedly need high-carbon steel with high toughness and strength.
So, after this series of processes, can high carbon steel really be made?
There is no need to doubt, because Liu Dahu has already given the answer.
He used long-nose pliers to pick up a red iron ball from the iron furnace, placed it under the forging hammer and pounded it continuously, and then patiently listened carefully to the sound of the pounding. This scene aroused everyone's curiosity.
When the other blacksmiths saw that Liu Dahu had been hammering repeatedly, knocking off the iron filings one by one on the surface, sparks flew everywhere with every strike of the forging hammer, but no traces were left. This piece of iron was tough and tough. It's hard, it's the best!
Clearly, this is a fine piece of steel!
The kind that is enough to forge swords and armor!
"Oh my God!"
"Did you see it? Did you see it!"
"This first furnace actually produced fine steel!"
What a miracle is this!
Regardless of the greatly reduced firing time, the first furnace alone can produce fine steel, which simply subverts all blacksmiths' perceptions!
They have been working hard all their lives, and they have never seen such incredible things as today!
"Let's see now what the probability is of making a comeback!"
Tang Hao ordered expressionlessly: "One knife, make a record!"
"As long as you are proficient in this production process and know the specific time for steel production, it will not be difficult to produce as much steel as you want!"
For a moment, when all the craftsmen heard this, their eyes turned red.
Because, in view of the needs of the Ming Dynasty's armaments, refined steel and pig iron have completely different values, and there is no comparison at all!
"This is a good piece of steel too!"
"Same here!"
A famous craftsman exclaimed, his face full of excitement and excitement.
Smelting a piece of iron and frying a piece of steel are completely different things.
What is the difference in value between a hoe and a sword?
These two are almost the same.
Wang Wenbo walked up to Tang Hao with a dull expression and bowed to him sincerely.
"Master Hou, I'm really convinced!"
"This is truly a miracle!"
The other family heads couldn't sit still anymore and rushed over to flatter him.
Upon seeing this, Tang Hao waved his hand with a smile, and then looked at Wang Wenbo and others.
"Both things, listen carefully."
"First, improve the treatment of these craftsmen."
"You also know how to make a fortune silently. Do not report this matter to the court or publicize it to the outside world without my order. It is best to block the news. Then you must comfort these craftsmen. You should discuss how much wages you should pay them, otherwise you will only have to watch if they go to other ironworks. "
Wang Wenbo was stunned when he heard this, and then nodded.
Although he didn't understand why Zhongshan Hou did this, it had nothing to do with him.
He just wants to make a fortune in silence, and the life and death of other people is none of his business.
Besides, these craftsmen have mastered the mature iron smelting technology, which is a cash cow. It is reasonable to increase the salary. Anyway, they are some unskilled things and they don't cost much.
"Secondly, all the fine steel produced by Laiwu Iron Works in the future will be sent to Qinghe Shipyard. If one ingot is missing, I will slaughter thirty-six of your families. Do you understand me?"
Tang Hao spoke with a smile, making everyone tremble in fright.
Cold sweat broke out on Wang Wenbo's forehead, but he still had to ask: "Master Marquis, over there at the court..."
"This is your Majesty's wish. Of course, you can just give the steel that should be given to the imperial court. I only want this kind of fine steel, and you can use the rest for delivery. But remember one sentence, send as much fine steel as you can, Jinyiwei I will come here from time to time to check, I don’t want to kill anyone anymore, do you understand?”
"Understood!" Wang Wenbo immediately accepted the order, "Don't worry, Lord Marquis!"
"You are a smart man, don't do stupid things!"
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