Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 11 I will support you

(Thanks to the engineering book friend for reminding me, please forgive Lao Wang, a liberal arts student. I studied converters and rotary kilns carefully today and found that my understanding of converters was completely wrong.)

(I spent an afternoon looking up information and downloaded books on metallurgy and cement preparation. So, there is only one update today.)

Early morning, Ministry of Industry.

"Thank you, bachelor."

"It's polite."

Xie Yan nodded in greeting and walked quickly up to the third floor.

He was already familiar with some officials from the Ministry of Industry, but people still often looked at him probingly.

There is no way, his reputation in the Ministry of Industry is too great.

Partly because of academics, partly because of the princess.

The director of the Ministry of Industry who was responsible for contacting him was called Fan Ying, a fifth-grade official. I am usually responsible for handling official documents, and occasionally manage some small and medium-sized projects.

Xie Yan came to check the information, he didn't need to keep an eye on it personally, he just wanted to take the opportunity to build a good relationship with Xie Yan.

After all, Xie Yan lived in Chen Shangshu’s house for a while!

"Bachelor Xie, have you finished reading yesterday's information? I found some more." Fan Ying's attitude was extremely enthusiastic.

Xie Yan nodded and smiled: "Thank you, Mr. Fan, for helping me find it."

In the past few days, Xie Yan was in the information room of the Ministry of Industry, mainly reading various furnace and kiln information. There are blast furnaces, converters, lime kilns, ceramic kilns, glass kilns, etc.

Fortunately, he knew nothing about metallurgy, otherwise the development of related technologies in the Ming Dynasty would have given him a magical sense of chaos in time and space.

Take blast furnaces and converters for smelting steel.

The technological level of various supporting processes, if converted to another era of time and space, can extend from the mid-Qianlong period to the Second Opium War. Some crafts still stayed in the Qianlong Dynasty, and some crafts have reached the Xianfeng Dynasty.

Hot air stoves have been developed, but they use external heating rather than regenerative hot air stoves.

The converter has also been developed for seven years, but it uses bottom-blowing air. The resulting steel is too hard and brittle, with poor toughness, durability and fatigue life.

To put it bluntly, steel contains too much nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.

The current Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant produces 4,500 tons of iron, 200 tons of wrought iron, and 1,000 tons of crude steel annually.

Don’t use later converters to replace the original converters. Taking the United States in 1892 as an example, the total annual output of 110 converters was only 4.7 million tons of steel, and the average annual output of each converter was only 42,700 tons.

The converter technology of the Ming Dynasty at this time was far inferior to that of the United States in 1892. Even the proportions of iron, carbon and other elements were not fully understood, and they were still at the stage of relying on experience for batching. The furnace is often shut down for maintenance due to malfunctions. The nitrogen removal, phosphorus removal, and sulfur removal processes are even more difficult to touch.

The annual output of the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant is already the only one in the country. Because the iron ore here is of the highest quality, the imperial court prioritizes the development of Xuzhou.

Let’s talk about various types of kilns.

The temperature of the town kiln is the highest. An air gap is set up between the inner and outer walls of the kiln to form an insulation layer to reduce heat loss.

Xie Yan plans to build a vertical cement kiln by learning from the heating and insulation methods of various kilns.

The cement rotary kiln was so high-end that he had no idea at all!

Fan Ying sat across the table, pretending to read the information, and occasionally looking at what Xie Yan was drawing.

It seems like he is drawing a blueprint.

As I kept drawing, something seemed wrong, so I changed the paper and started drawing again.

Xie Yan muttered:

"The Li family uses ordinary coal, which is difficult to burn completely, so they have to use anthracite or coking coal. The traditional method of raising the kiln temperature has reached its extreme, so other means must be used."

"The input materials can be layered. The top is the preheating layer, the middle is the sintering layer, and the bottom is the cooling layer. Air should be blown in from near the cooling layer to accelerate the cooling of the clinker and increase the temperature of the combustion air. "

"This kind of calcination and blasting, coupled with the change in the heated volume of the ball, is likely to cause excess side air, and the ventilation in the middle will be weakened, resulting in uneven heating of the materials in the kiln, and the clinker cooling time will also be extended. What the hell How to solve it? Damn it, I have to build a kiln and do experiments, I can’t think of it out of thin air.”

"There is also the height-to-diameter ratio of the entire vertical kiln, the volume ratio of each material layer, and how to achieve the optimal effect. All these can only be determined through experiments."

Xie Yan drew a rough drawing, handed it to Fan Ying and said, "This is a cement kiln and has nothing to do with smelting iron and steel."

Fan Ying said with a smile: "Since I have already reported it, as Your Excellency, Bachelor Furong, it is okay even if it is related to smelting steel."

"Thank you for taking care of me these days. I have something urgent to do so I'll leave first." Xie Yan said with his hands in hand.

Fan Ying immediately stood up to see him off.

Xie Yan sat in a carriage and hurried to the princess's house.

The disciple enthusiastically invited him in: "Your Highness has an order. If Bachelor Xie comes, he can go directly to the inner courtyard without further notification."

Xie Yan was a little embarrassed: "Before entering the inner courtyard, can you arrange for someone to lead the way? There are so many corridors here that I'm afraid I might go astray. I forgot to remember the way the last two times I came here."

Menzi made arrangements immediately.

After finally walking into the inner courtyard, Xie Yan stopped again. The inner courtyard still needs to be notified, otherwise you won't know where to find the princess, and the princess also needs to spend time dressing up.

Not long after, Qingluan came over happily: "Master, please come inside quickly."

Xie Yan took out a pair of earrings: "I forgot to bring a gift last time. It's not a rare item. I bought it for a few bucks and gave it to my young lady to show my love."

Qingluan smiled even more happily, and quickly put it away while no one was around: "The princess is about to have a meal, has Liu Lang had lunch?"

"Just in time to have a meal." Xie Yan said.

The two came to the dining room, and Zhu Tangxi sat at the table and waited.

Most of the tableware has been changed to porcelain, but the gold cups and ivory chopsticks have been retained, both of which Xie Yan once jokingly said he liked.

After greeting each other, Zhu Tangxi asked Xie Yan to sit down and asked a maid to bring some food.

Xie Yan was really hungry. He had been using his brain all morning and wolfed down his rice bowl.

Zhu Tangxi didn't eat much himself. He just watched Xie Yan eat, chatted for a few words and said: "A decree will be issued soon. You can do business, but I still can't."

"Is there such a thing?" Xie Yan asked in surprise.

Zhu Tangxi elaborated: "After the new decree is promulgated, royal relatives with titles, clans with titles, and officials at all levels themselves are still not allowed to do business. But their close relatives have been relaxed."

Xie Yan commented: "Changing the soup does not change the medicine."

Zhu Tangxi smiled.

The reformists who are now in power will definitely take the opportunity to get involved in industry and commerce by using the excuse of reforming industrial and commercial taxes. If the law remains unchanged, they will use distant relatives or slaves as white gloves. If the law is changed, close relatives will be punished directly.

In fact, they are all the same, the essence has not changed.

The reason why Deng Gongwu agreed was that the essence of the matter had not changed, and it could not be stopped regardless of whether the ban was changed or not. After it is put on the table, at least it will be easier to investigate and deal with in the future - if anyone dares to investigate.

What should we do to increase industrial and commercial taxes, enrich central and local finances, and then allow local governments to abolish exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes? This method is only useful in prefectures and counties with developed industry and commerce, but is sheer nonsense for the majority of backward areas.

The geographical development of the Ming Dynasty is extremely uneven, and the burden on farmers in backward areas will become increasingly heavy. The only solution is to inventory the acres and reform taxes. Whether it is dividing the land into acres or a whipping method, it is essentially the same thing.

But no one dares to take action against agriculture.

Despite Deng Gongwu's tough attitude, he actually had a guilty conscience and had no confidence in reforming agriculture.

The reason why Wang Anshi and Zhang Juzheng dared to take action was because the financial difficulties could not be corrected. The embarrassment of national finances has given birth to a group of reformist officials who are determined to reform and strengthen themselves.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty's finances, after not having a war for many years, had become affluent, and could even be said to have a considerable surplus.

Since they were not forced into that situation, there were naturally very few officials who supported the reform of agriculture. Deng Gongwu couldn't find enough like-minded people, so no matter how passionate he was, it would be in vain.

After chatting for a while about the reform, Zhu Tangxi asked: "Does Liulang have any clues about improving cement?"

Xie Yan put down his chopsticks and said, "That's why I came here. I need to build a cement kiln for experiments, and not just one or two. It's very expensive, but I don't have enough money."

"How many are needed?" Zhu Tangxi asked.

Xie Yan said: "It's not clear yet, but one thousand guan is definitely more than enough. I borrowed the land for the kiln from the Li family, and they also have the materials for the experimental cement. I also asked the Li family to help purchase other raw materials. After the completion of the matter, I will pay for it for free. Let them use the patent for ten years.”

Zhu Tangxi asked: "How long will the experiment last?"

Xie Yan shook his head: "I can't say for sure. It may be a month, it may be half a year, it may even be a year. I only have a general idea now, and more specific details must be adjusted through experiments."

"Then you don't want to go to Taipei University to study?" Zhu Tangxi asked again.

Xie Yan said: "Just ask for leave. If it takes too long, just make up for it."

Zhu Tangxi didn't say anything else, just chatting with Xie Yan over dinner.

After lunch, Zhu Tangxi took Xie Yan to a room, took out the treasure banknotes he had prepared long ago and said, "Here are fifteen hundred coins. Come and get them when you are done with them."

"You don't need that much. One thousand guan is more than enough. Let's keep the remaining money to set up a factory together." Xie Yanzhen didn't regard himself as an outsider, so he counted the 1,000 guan and accepted it directly.

Zhu Tangxi smiled and took back the extra money without writing an IOU or anything.

Firstly, talking about money hurts feelings, but secondly, I am not afraid that Xie Yan will default on his debt.

The consequences of defaulting on your account are serious!

Xie Yan said: "When our cement factory's business is booming, I will support my sister without spending money from the royal family and the court."

"Who wants you to raise him?" Zhu Tangxi spat, but he was looking forward to it in his heart.

After getting drunk that day, we had too intimate behavior. In this day and age, we have to get married.

The relationship between the two has basically been determined.

Xie Yan no longer wants to have three wives and four concubines. He has a princess as a base and a beautiful maid Qingluan. This kind of life could only be dreamed about in the past, but now it can become a reality. Maybe the princess will even acquiesce to the idea of ​​raising two more maidens.

Hehe, Xie Yan has been secretly having fun for a long time. He doesn't have any big pursuits.

Zhu Tangxi suddenly asked: "Has Liulang read this issue of "Da Ming Xun Bao"?"

"I didn't care. What's wrong?" Xie Yan asked.

Zhu Tangxi turned around to lock the box and took the opportunity to hide the smile on his face: "The cultural and educational section of the "Da Ming Xun Bao" published the academic conference of the past few days."

The article about "Qingsi Zhenhao" was also published, and Xie Yan's parents in Huangzhou Prefecture could also see it.