Red Mansion: I relied on the AFK system to create a dynasty

In fact, there is a relatively complete blast furnace ironmaking method in this era. However, due to limitations of materials, this "blast furnace" is not high enough, causing the temperature to not rise, the oxidation-reduction reaction is not sufficient, the carbon content is too high, and the produced Still pig iron rather than wrought iron.

Now with cement and cement bricks it is different.

After the emperor's father's approval, an iron-making blast furnace was built next to Cen Mingche's village.

This blast furnace is like a pagoda - no, it is taller than an ordinary tower.

Cen Mingche comforted the anxious craftsmen.

"It doesn't matter. The cost of cement and cement bricks is very low. Let's just try and don't be afraid of making mistakes! If there is any problem, I will take care of it!"

Due to production and material limitations, blast furnaces cannot be as tall as modern blast furnaces, but in this era they are already second to none.

Moreover, due to technical limitations, current blast furnaces cannot feed materials from the top and can only open a new feeding port.

This attempt lasted for more than a month, and the cement-built blast furnace was demolished and rebuilt.

Finally, one day a month later, orange-red molten iron flowed out of the discharge port.

"The secret is out! The secret is out!"

"Quick! Put it into the mold and let it cool down! Check the quality of the material!"

Iron ore cannot be directly sent to the blast furnace for refining. Instead, it must be sorted, crushed together with coal and limestone, mixed together in proportion, and then preliminarily fired.This step is called "sintering".

Only the sintered iron ore can be put into the blast furnace for smelting.

However, in order to avoid "furnace refining", that is, to prevent the melted molten iron from sticking to the furnace, dolomite must be added in proportion.

Dolomite is also a kind of mineral, usually bluish white, hidden in the mountains. Wherever there are iron ores, there must be dolomite mines.

When the melting is complete, the molten iron will flow in from the water outlet and into each mold.

According to modern standards, finished iron of this quality is still too brittle and requires further oxygen blowing for separation.

But according to ancient standards, such iron is already refined iron, and as long as it is heated and forged, it can be cast into weapons.

Again, productivity is limited, and production technology is also limited.

After all, there is only one person, Cen Mingche, and there is no way to directly advance the world's technology by 500 years and reach the Industrial Revolution.

All he can do is optimize and improve under existing conditions to achieve optimal results within limitations.

"It's done! It's done! It's really done!"

"The quality of this iron tire is so good! It's silver and white! It's not black iron! It's white iron!"

"Using this method, we can actually refine white iron directly! That's great!"

"It will definitely be sharper after quenching and forging! This, this can be directly used to cast weapons!"

"Yes! It's a pity that such good iron is used for civilian use!"

Cen Mingche smiled and waved his hand.

"Don't worry, first for military use, then for civilian use, it will always be your turn. Look, how much higher is the output of this blast furnace than the original furnace? How much manpower and material resources can be saved? The ratio of iron tapping is also higher than before, right?"

"Your Highness is right! It's really unexpected! Although we thought it would be better than the original one, we didn't expect it to be so much better!"

"Get ready to write a book. When the time comes, we will replace the original iron-making furnaces with the current blast furnaces, and our weapons and equipment will be improved to a higher level!"

"Your Highness is wise!"

Everyone's faces were filled with happy smiles.

Cen Mingche called Changsui in a low voice.

"The blast furnace has been smelted today. Go back and tell your princess to buy some chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep. I have to reward the craftsmen and officials here."

Chang Sui responded and left silently.

His [Butler] runs all the villages in the palace, which are basically integrated with planting and breeding.But several villages in the north were more suitable for grazing, so Cen Mingche let her raise cattle, sheep and horses in all of them.

Two days ago, Zhuangzi in the north had just delivered a batch of cattle and sheep. Hundreds of cattle and sheep were being temporarily raised in another Zhuangzi on the outskirts of Beijing. It was a good time to process them and send them over.

As expected of a [Butler], he has a way of running a family business.

There are large pots on the makeshift stoves, boiling broth.

There is still some meat on the big bones of beef and sheep, cut them into large pieces, blanch them in water to remove the smell and blood, then add onions, ginger and garlic to the pot, bring to a boil over high heat, and simmer over low heat.

The soup has been boiled into a thick milky white color with a thick layer of oil floating on top.

The blood that flowed out was stuffed into blood sausage, blood tofu, and cut into pieces for stew.

The whole cattle and sheep were cut into two pieces, hooked with finger-thick iron hooks, and hung on a rough wooden shelf. The meat was dry, the fat was white, and the meat was bright red.

The craftsmen and petty officials couldn't help themselves. They kept glancing at him and swallowing secretly.

Even officials don't make much money. If everyone in the family can eat one egg a day, they are considered to be living a good life.How many families can only afford to buy a piece of meat every month to stew for the whole family?

They are all short of oil and water. How can they not be greedy looking at this meat?

"Prince Yi is so grand!"

"Isn't that true? I heard that we people are still rewarded with silver coins! At least one coin per person!"

"Huh? There's actually a silver reward?"

"We'll be treated to some meat and we'll get a reward?"

"How can I say that Prince Yi is grand! I heard from people that those who studied cement before received 100 taels of silver each!"

"100 taels of snowflake silver! It's enough to buy a small village and become a landlord!"

"Isn't that right? Buying more land will be enough for the family to live for a lifetime!"

"It would be great if we could still work with Prince Yi next time!"

"Who wouldn't want to? It's delicious to eat and drink, and you'll get a silver reward when you finish it. How beautiful!"

While everyone was laughing and laughing, Cen Mingche was thinking silently.

Ironmaking in the blast furnace was successful, but making yellow gunpowder was more difficult than he thought.

I got stuck on the first step.

Concentrated ammonia and concentrated nitric acid can only be prepared with saltpeter. Although it is a bit expensive to use saltpeter, it is generally okay.

However, saltpeter is also divided into fire saltpeter and thenardite. Only fire saltpeter contains nitrogen and can be used to make concentrated ammonia and concentrated nitric acid.

This is troublesome enough, but even more troublesome is fermentation to produce methanol.

First of all, fermentation takes time, and secondly, the fermented liquid is impure and contains a large amount of ethanol in addition to methanol.There was even a worker who couldn't help but take a few sips after smelling the smell, and his eyes were blinded by the poison.

Such a mixed liquid cannot be used to make methenamine. Methanol and ethanol must be separated by fractional distillation.

The boiling point of methanol is 65 degrees Celsius, and the boiling point of ethanol is 78 degrees Celsius, so methanol is evaporated first during distillation.

...So Cen Mingche had to get a mercury thermometer first.

And, it’s time to improve the technique of glass blowing.

The current technology can only make colored glaze, not glass, let alone heat-resistant glass, and it cannot make fractionation instruments!

Now they all make do with ceramic ones!