Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 191 Blast Furnace
Salt was a strategic resource in ancient times.With the development of industrial technology, it is difficult for modern people to appreciate the preciousness of salt, and it is estimated that no one will know that the two yuan a pack of salt powder, which is indispensable in our daily life, was out of the ordinary in ancient times. It is a luxurious luxury, this white as snow, without a trace of bitter taste of salt, in ancient times only princes and ministers were eligible to enjoy.The common people are sorry, they can only use the kind of sea salt that is dried by the sea. This kind of salt is easy to make, and the seawater is introduced into the salt pan to dry, and the rest is salt, which is very cheap, but this kind of salt, sand, stones and the like There are quite a lot of sundries, and it tastes astringent, and the taste is really bad (this kind of salt is still used when making pickles in rural areas, but there is no sand.).But even this kind of salt, unscrupulous salt merchants would not allow them to eat it. It was fine in peacetime, but in troubled times, the price is simply one price a day, and sometimes there is even a price but no market, and there is a lot of salt in it. The sand must be sifted before eating, otherwise the sand will be eaten together.Yang Menglong has had enough of that terrible salt, he wants to mine the salt mine by himself, make himself well-fed, and let himself eat the best salt!
Listen, what a lofty ideal!
Just trying to realize this lofty ideal is not easy at all.The burial depth of Wuyang Salt Mine is generally above 1000 meters, which is quite scary.It is not impossible for ancient salt workers to drill such deep wells, but to drill such deep salt wells requires superb technology, as well as a lot of time and money.During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, a salt well with a depth of 1000 meters was drilled in Zigong, Sichuan. It was the first deep well in China with a depth of more than [-] meters. How difficult is a salt well——this salt well has been dug deep for generations, until the Qing Dynasty. possible things.But Yang Menglong didn't believe in this evil, and he dug ten salt wells in one go, all at the same time, and he must dig out the salt mine!

He wanted to dig, so the salt workers had no choice but to dig. Anyway, he was the one who paid for it, so what are you afraid of?Every morning, after breakfast, the salt workers began to work, chanting and drilling holes in the earth, deeper and deeper, and soon the soil dug out was piled up like a mountain.Yang Menglong went to the construction site to watch them work every day, looking quite curious, but he got bored after watching them for a few days and rarely went there again.

Fortunately, there are other things for him to look at, for example, the blast furnace he has been tossing for a whole year.

That's right, the steelmaking blast furnace that he has been working on for a whole year has been completed.

"Damn, it's not easy!"

Yang Menglong sighed as he looked at this rather horrible blast furnace.

The corners of Cheng Ji's mouth twitched slightly, as if he wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.He also felt that it was not easy. The steel-making blast furnace designed by the young master himself was built several times and dismantled several times, and it collapsed once in the middle. In the end, he helped to hire several professional architects to take over the whole project, and it was considered a success. up.Looking at the huge chimney that reached to the sky like a huge tower, he also felt a little bit like a daughter-in-law who has been a wife for many years...

Yang Menglong also knew how bad he had done, rubbed his palms together and smiled, and said, "Well... although the process is tortuous, the future is bright! Look at how big this blast furnace is, and it can produce tens of thousands of blast furnaces in one furnace. Jin good iron, within a few furnaces, the people in the whole Nanyang Prefecture can use iron knives and agricultural tools, and our wallets are also bulging!"

Cheng Ji didn't speak, and the tall and thin architect beside him who was responsible for the construction of the entire blast furnace asked in surprise, "This thing can really make iron?"

Yang Menglong choked the old man half to death. He rolled his eyes and almost couldn't turn back. He jumped up like a monkey with a needle in his butt and roared at the dead old man: "This thing can really make iron? It can't. Iron smelting, why did I smash so much iron to build it! Why did I invite you to come over and build it! My balls hurt from idleness, or my lungs hurt!?"

The old man was sprayed with saliva all over his face, and he didn't argue, he just stroked his beard and looked at the blast furnace, his head tilted to the left and right, and he didn't know what he was looking at.

Yang Menglong yelled, still not relieved, decided to speak with facts, and yelled at the workers who were loading ore and coke into the blast furnace: "Have you done it yet?"

The foreman responded: "Okay, it'll be ready soon!" He poured the last few loads of ore in, then closed the furnace door, sealed it, and it was filled.

Yang Menglong waved his hand and called: "Light it up! Let them see if my blast furnace can make iron!"

The workers have been tossed for a whole year, and they must have been suffocated. They immediately responded and ignited the coke that had already been filled.The blower blows and deflates, blowing a strong airflow into the stove. It didn't take long for the fire to ignite, and a column of smoke shot straight into the sky, carrying red sparks, which could be clearly seen within ten miles.The dead old man who didn't have a good word finally nodded slightly reluctantly, and said to himself: "The fire is so hot, maybe it can really burn the ore inside and make good iron..."

Yang Menglong curled his lips, who has the patience to smelt iron?I want to make steel, the best steel!Of course, you can’t say this to that dead old man. Steel is very valuable in this era, and high-grade steel such as manganese steel and high-carbon steel are even more expensive and have no market. It's going to be big trouble!He leaned up to observe the changes in the blast furnace through the observation hole. Well, the quality of the coke was good, and the fire was very fierce. Under the calcination of the fierce fire, the ore began to melt a little bit.The foreman kept instructing the workers to add coke, blow the wind hard, and even ran over to push Yang Menglong away, occupying the observation hole, observing every subtle change in it, and it can be seen that this man is quite dedicated.Seeing the ore melting, he grinned and laughed, and shouted: "Fire more intense! Blow the wind, and work harder. The fire cannot be weakened at this time. If it is weakened, this furnace of molten iron will be over!"

The workers responded loudly, chanted, and poured coke into the furnace as if they didn't need money, which made Yang Menglong feel a little distressed... This is not burning a fire, it is clearly burning money, and it is still burning him money!
The money-burning operation lasted for a day and a night. The ore in the blast furnace had already turned into a furnace of boiling molten iron. Everyone excitedly came together to see what was new. Seeing so much molten iron, everyone was extremely excited.Cheng Ji was a little surprised: "My God, there are so many! Just this one furnace has already equaled the output of a blacksmith for a year!"

The dead old man who questioned Yang Menglong's authority was even more surprised: "Really... really can make iron!?"

Yang Menglong snorted, his nostrils turned to the sky, and he was very arrogant: "Now do you know how sincere I am? I never talk big things. I said that this furnace can make iron, and it can make iron!"

Cheng Ji couldn't see how he looked like a villain, so he stabbed him with a smile: "Yes, although this furnace has not been completed after a year of construction, it has collapsed several times..."

Yang Menglong's face fell, and he muttered: "Which pot is hard to boil?" He waved his big hand: "Put out the molten iron!"

Someone immediately opened the gate, and the fiery red molten iron poured out of it like a torrent, flowing rapidly along the cooling tank. Red stars were flying around, and purple smoke was lingering. It was a spectacular sight... But the temperature was quite touching, rising straight up. , The heat wave around the cooling tank is rolling, and it is impossible to stand up.Every pore in the workers' bodies was sweating out like a spring. They were leading the molten iron into the casting trough under high temperatures and casting them into iron blocks. They were so busy that they were in full swing!Finally, all the molten iron was turned into iron blocks and cooled down. Yang Menglong took Cheng Ji, who was hiding far away, to see the fruits of his labor, and asked the worker to lift an iron ingot and beat it again and again. He was overjoyed.Cheng Ji himself didn't know how to make iron, but there were people around him who did. An old man who had been dealing with iron all his life had to jingle the iron ingots one by one with a hammer, listen to the sound, and observe the color. It took a long time. He raised his head and his voice was so excited that he said: "Master, good iron is rare and good iron! I have been dealing with iron all my life, and I have never seen one furnace that can produce so much good iron!"

Cheng Ji also tapped with an iron hammer, and the jingling sound was quite crisp.He was happy: "It's true that tens of thousands of catties of good iron can be produced in one furnace!"

Yang Menglong said: "This is just for training. Only a quarter of the ore is put in. If it is full, one furnace can produce [-] to [-] catties!"

The old man who helped build the blast furnace but questioned whether the blast furnace could make iron felt his hand twitch like a cramp, and even pulled out several of his beards.Cheng Ji was also taken aback: "One furnace... [-] catties of iron!?"

Yang Menglong took it for granted, "The design output of this blast furnace is [-] jin. Even if it can't reach it, it won't be much worse."

Cheng Ji's eyes widened: "So much iron, how much is it worth..."

Yang Menglong glanced at him: "Why don't I sell half of it to you, and then you can sell it to other places, so we can all get rich together?"

Cheng Ji agreed straight away: "It's a deal!"

Yang Menglong squinted his eyes: "You promised so simply, aren't you afraid of being tricked?"

Cheng Ji gritted his teeth: "This is simply sending money into my pocket, what can I do if my hands and feet are not fast!"

Yang Menglong slapped him on the shoulder: "Okay, you are decisive enough and have a future! But I can't sell you this furnace of iron yet. Come, someone. Bring the iron ingots back to the barracks and hand them over to the craftsman camp!" He didn't tell Cheng Ji, he also built several open hearth furnaces in the barracks. After these iron ingots were transported back to the barracks, they had to be pushed into the open hearth furnaces for remelting, adding some other ore powder to make ideal steel.Manganese ore can be added to produce his favorite manganese steel, which is invincible; if carbon powder is added, depending on the proportion of carbon powder, low-carbon steel, medium-carbon steel and high-carbon steel can be produced. Steel, low-carbon steel is soft and easy to process. It can be used to make bolts and even water pipes. Medium-carbon steel can be used to make various machine parts. High-carbon steel can be used to cast weapons... By the way, tinning the iron sheet It becomes tinplate. This thing can be used to make cans. It’s so useful!In a word, there are so many ways to play!

(End of this chapter)