My life skills in Daming Liver

Su Ze and Eunuch Tao stood side by side in front of the blast furnace, and the person in charge of the blast furnace, a craftsman named Lu Tie, led them to visit.

Lu Tie is probably in his 40s, but he seems to be in his 60s. When Eunuch Tao minted the Sanxian coins in Fujian, Lv Tie helped solve the technical problems of brass alloy smelting, and was promoted by Mr. Tao as a Dajian furnace. The steward of thousands of households.

After Su Ze's uprising, he collected the latest iron smelting technology plan from craftsmen, and Lu Tie's new iron furnace plan was sent to Su Ze's desk. After seeing the design drawing, Su Ze immediately realized the skill of Lv4 [Smelting] The advanced nature of this blast furnace.

Su Ze immediately ordered Lu Tie to build a new blast furnace, and today is the day when the new blast furnace will be completed.

The temperature near the blast furnace was very high, Su Ze and Eunuch Tao were already sweating, but Lu Tie still said excitedly:

"The servant read the Great Governor's "Heavenly Creation of Things", and admired the great governor's discussion on wrought iron and steel. The great governor's understanding of steel is really close to the Tao!"

Su Ze frowned and said, "Min and Zhejiang have already abolished slavery, why come here, you are an official under the Governor's Mansion, and you can call yourself an official in the future."

Lu Tie was originally illiterate, but after being promoted by Mr. Tao, he learned to read by himself, and he was able to read "Tiangong Kaiwu" quickly.

Lu Tie hurriedly said: "Thank you, Commander-in-Chief, for reminding me, I understand!"

Tao Gong asked openly, "What is the relationship between pig iron, wrought iron, and steel?"

Lu Tie immediately said: "According to the book of the Great Governor, these three types are actually the same thing, but the difference is in the content of impurities."

"Pig iron is hard, but brittle. When you smelt molten iron from iron ore and cool it down, you get pig iron, which naturally has the most impurities."

"After repeated forging, the wrought iron that removes impurities is soft and has the least impurities."

"And steel is between pig iron and wrought iron. It is hard and plastic. It is the best material in the world!"

Lu Tie is known as the "Iron Maniac" among craftsmen because he sells iron crazily. He thinks iron is the most wonderful thing in the world.

Su Ze looked at Lu Tie in surprise. He added this paragraph in "Tiangong Kaiwu" just to explain the principle of steelmaking. Most blacksmiths would not read it at all, but he did not expect that Lu Tie could learn this by himself. the point.

Sure enough, I still underestimated the smart people in the world.

Thinking about it carefully, in fact, during the so-called industrial revolution, many engineers who promoted the development of Western technology were not highly educated, and many were illiterate. Many key technologies were far from the time when they needed advanced knowledge of mathematics and physics to improve.

Craftsmen like Lu Tie can often make inventions from their work and practice, but in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when only imperial examinations were emphasized and the status of craftsmen was extremely low, many inventions were drowned by history.

Lu Tie continued: "Actually, our ancestors have already studied how to make iron."

Lu Tie brought the two of them to a simple miniature model and said: "Using refractory bricks as a kiln, putting iron ore into the iron kiln, and then heating the molten iron with charcoal, this is a technology that existed in the Han Dynasty."

Su Ze nodded. The Han Dynasty was able to kill the Huns so much that they dare not go south. In addition to the bravery of the Han people in the Han Dynasty, the great development of smelting technology was also the key reason.

In the salt and iron official camp in the Han Dynasty, iron smelting technology has been greatly developed. The technology of using iron kilns to smelt pig iron and then forging to make hundreds of steel smelting technology appeared in the Han Dynasty. The Han army used iron weapons that far surpassed the grassland. The first golden age in the history of the Central Plains was achieved.

Lu Tie began to boast to Su Ze again: "The governor of the capital has learned from ancient times and the present, and his knowledge of iron is also the best in the world. If he hadn't read the book of the governor of the capital, I would not be able to figure out why the Han and Tang Dynasties could make high-quality iron. Ironware, in the Song Dynasty, the iron-smelting technology in the Central Plains was surpassed by the peoples on the grassland."

Eunuch Tao also became interested in this topic, and he quickly asked, "Isn't the ironware of the Song Dynasty inferior to that of the Han and Tang Dynasties?"

Lu Tie immediately went to the next exhibition room. He took out a wide-bladed knife and said, "This is an iron knife from the Song Dynasty. The blade is wide because the hardness of this knife is not up to standard, and it is easy to break when chopping. This kind of weapon It is bulky and weak, far inferior to the Mo Dao of the Tang Dynasty."

The Song Dynasty is not far from the Ming Dynasty. Mr. Tao has also seen the weapons of the Song Dynasty. It is true that what Lu Tie said, the weapons of the Song Dynasty seem to be inferior to those of the Tang Dynasty.

"Why is this?"

Lu Tie said: "I also couldn't figure it out. Later, I saw the fuel chapter of "Heavenly Craftsmanship", and then I understood the reason."

"It's because of the wrought iron fuel."

Su Ze was even more surprised this time. He knew the reason why the ironware in the Song Dynasty was backward, but "Tiangong Kaiwu" was only a technical book after all, and Su Ze did not discuss this issue in detail.

Unexpectedly, Lu Tie could find the answer based on other content in the book and deduce each other!

Lu Tie said: "During the Han and Tang Dynasties, the land was vast and the population was sparse. First, there were high-quality iron ore to be mined, and charcoal was mostly used for iron smelting."

"But in the Song Dynasty, with the growth of population and the emergence of a large number of cities, there was not enough charcoal to smelt iron, so Song people had to use coal."

"This is all written in the Fuel Chapter of the Great Governor's "Heavenly Creation of Things". After the officials saw it, they immediately conducted an experiment. As expected, they directly used coal to smelt iron, and the iron made was just like Song iron. fracture."

"The quality of Song iron is not as good as pig iron. According to the governor's theory of iron and steel, there are too many impurities in coal, which are mixed into molten iron during smelting, resulting in a decline in the quality of molten iron."

Eunuch Tao exclaimed: "Could it be that the reason for the weakness of the Song Dynasty is the iron artifacts?"

Su Ze nodded and said: "That's exactly the case. Because of the development of smelting technology on the grassland, the era when one Han defeated the Five Hus has passed since the Song Dynasty. The backwardness of weapons made the Song army at a disadvantage when facing the grassland people. "

"However, the problem of ironmaking in the Song Dynasty has been solved by Guochao, right?"

Lu Tie nodded quickly and said: "Yes, Song Tie's problem has been solved before our country was established."

Eunuch Tao never thought that a man with so much knowledge in iron smelting, although he presided over the minting of coins, was mainly in charge of management, and now he has also developed a strong interest in iron smelting technology.

He asked, "What method did Guochao use?"

Lu Tie said: "The iron smelting of Guochao also uses coal, but it uses dry-fired coal."

"Dry roast?"

Lu Tie nodded and said: "Dry burning can remove the impurities in the coal and get coke. The quality of our Fujian Railway is good. In addition to the good quality of the local iron and coal mines, the most important thing is that the dry burning is thorough, so Fujian Railway can Forge the barrel of the birdcage."

Wizards!

Su Ze looked at Lu Tie. Because of the craftsman household system in the Ming Dynasty, most craftsmen followed the scriptures and followed the methods and steps passed down by their ancestors.

The Ming Dynasty had indeed solved the problem of sulfur impurity in the direct iron smelting of coal, but because blacksmiths did not write down the words, the important technology of dry burning coal to make coke and then iron smelting was only passed down as a technical regulation.

Most blacksmiths know that doing this can make good iron, but few people can sum up the principle that dry burning coke can make good iron by combining practice and history like Lu Tie.

Su Ze looked at Lu Tie, and immediately said to the left and right:

"Pass on my order, promote Lu Tie to be the counselor of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, and specialize in iron smelting!"

Lu Tie was stunned, even Eunuch Tao was stunned.

Counselor of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, although not the most senior official in the Fujian-Vietnam officialdom system, is definitely the most important position.

Xu Wei's position is the Counselor of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, which is a position directly under the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, and all the officials in Fujian and Zhejiang know the importance of this position.

Su Ze actually granted such an important position to Lu Tie all at once?

Eunuch Tao looked at Su Ze in surprise, while Lu Tie knelt down excitedly.

Su Ze quickly helped him up and said, "Grand Lu's research on smelting has won a hundred thousand soldiers!"

Su Ze was more looking forward to the new blast furnace designed by Lu Tie, and he asked again: "What new technology does Guochao Iron Smelting have? What about the blast furnace improved by Lu Gong?"

Lu Tie said hastily: "The governor has beaten me, how dare the craftsman call himself a public servant!"

Su Ze said: "I am talking about the morality of the four peoples. Scholars, farmers, businessmen, and craftsmen also have their virtues. If you improve craftsmanship like Lu Gong, you are a sage among craftsmen."

"The four are equal, why can't they be called public?"

Lu Tie's heart was hot. He has been a craftsman for generations and has always been regarded as a pariah by the government.

Because of his obsession with iron smelting, he was called an "iron lunatic".

Now Su Ze, who is in charge of Minyue, actually calls him "Lu Gong". Lu Tie finally understands the meaning of "a scholar dies for his confidant" in the play!

He hastily said: "In addition to inventing the technology of dry-burning coke in Guochao ironmaking, the most important thing is the method of frying steel and the method of combining raw and wrought iron."

"The method of frying steel is to heat the molten iron and then stir it with something. I think the purpose of stirring is to remove the impurities in the molten iron. It is in the same line as Da Dudu's iron and steel impurities."

"The method of combining pig iron and wrought iron is actually the same principle. Pig iron has more impurities and wrought iron has less impurities. The mixture of the two will produce steel with no more impurities."

Eunuch Tao murmured, "It's no wonder Guochao was able to expel Yuanmeng. It turned out that Guochao developed iron smelting."

But Eunuch Tao soon thought of another question: "If this is the case, why is it so difficult to train the barrel of the bird's gun?"

Lu Tie said: "Because whether it is the method of frying steel or the method of combining raw and wrought iron, it is too uncontrollable."

"How to get more and less impurities depends entirely on the experience of the craftsman. When I was young, I opened a furnace, and ten furnaces can be made into steel. It still needs to be forged and quenched for crude steel."

"Even at this age, ten furnaces can only make steel three furnaces at most. Whether it can be made into steel depends entirely on luck. Some blacksmiths even offer sacrifices and pray when the molten iron is tapped."

Eunuch Tao asked curiously, "What method did you use for Lu Gong's new furnace?"

Lu Tie said proudly: "Temperature!"

"I summed up my experience in making steel, and found that molten iron is ruddy and easy to tap."

"When I followed Tao Gong to mint coins, I heard Tao Gong say that the temperature of copper water can be judged by the brightness of copper water. The brighter the copper water, the higher the temperature, and the better it can be stirred and melted."

"So I thought, if you want to make steel, do you need redder and hotter molten iron?"

[Visit the iron smelter and gain a lot of "metallurgy" skill experience! 】

[Metallurgy skill experience +200, Lv4, 200/400]

The system's prompt made Su Ze confirm that Lu Tie had really found the direction of iron smelting.

Lu Tie continued: "As for how to increase the temperature of the iron stove, I got the inspiration from watching my old wife cook."

Eunuch Tao said impatiently, "Cooking?"

Lu Tie said: "If you want a fire to prosper, one is to blow the wind, and the other is to add a cover."

Su Ze couldn't help but said, "Mr. Lu is really talented!"

At this time, the two finally saw the blast furnace in the distance.

A huge cover was added to the top of the blast furnace, and there were more than a dozen large blowers in the combustion chamber below. Driven by craftsmen and livestock, they continuously blasted air into the blast furnace.

The fiery temperature swept across the entire iron factory, and Su Ze felt that he was facing a volcano that might erupt at any time.

"The iron is out!"

Hearing a young man's shout, the craftsmen immediately opened the mechanism for releasing the molten iron, and saw the red molten iron flowing out of the hole.

Immediately there were shirtless craftsmen, using tools to fish out the residue above the molten iron.

The craftsmen quickly got to work, introducing molten iron into the predetermined mold to cool.

When Su Ze and his party came down, a young craftsman took a half-cooled iron block and dedicated it to Su Ze.

Su Ze skillfully clamped the iron block with iron tongs, forged it with a hammer, and immediately said: "Good steel!"

Su Ze immediately said: "All craftsmen of the iron furnace will be rewarded with two silver coins this month!"

Many craftsmen cheered.

Lu Tie called the young craftsman to his side and said to Su Ze: "Commander, this is my son Lu Gang, and he designed the blower for this iron furnace."

Su Ze looked at the complicated blower, and immediately took Lu Gang's hand and said, "A few days ago, I was going to reopen the Tiangong Academy in Fuzhou, and I invited Master Lu and his son to give lectures at the academy, how about it?"

Lu Tie and Lu Gang looked at each other, and went to lecture by themselves?

Su Ze immediately said: "The merits of the two of you can be recorded in the annals of history! What is a mere lecture!"

Lu Tie and Lu Gang didn't expect Su Ze to have such a high opinion of them, and immediately became terrified.

Su Ze said, "Can your father and son read?"

Lu Tie said: "The little old man can only read, but my son can write and read."

Su Ze said immediately: "Then please master Lu to write down the whole set of iron smelting process, including the history of iron smelting in China mentioned by Lu Gong just now, into a book. This will be the textbook for the smelting department of Tiangong Academy in the future."

Su Ze said to Eunuch Tao again: "I promote the morality of the four peoples. If scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen can be like Lu's father and son, the world will be stable!"

"A craftsman has the virtue of a craftsman. According to the order of the Governor's Mansion, if anyone in the two mansions of Zhejiang, Fujian and Susong can improve the craftsmanship and double the efficiency like Lu's father and son, he will be awarded the title of 'Master Craftsman', and the master will be given the same treatment as the Seventh Rank." , reward another hundred silver coins!"

Su Ze looked at Lu's father and son, he pulled Lu Gang and said, "Your father is called 'Iron Crazy', what do others call you?"

Lu Gang lowered his head and said: "When I go back to the governor, everyone in the iron factory will call me a 'steel lunatic'."

Everyone laughed in good faith, and Eunuch Tao asked, "What's the difference between an iron lunatic and a steel lunatic?"

Lu Gang raised his head and said, "My father is obsessed with making iron, so he is called an iron lunatic."

"And I think steel is everything!"

"I believe that the basic necessities of life in the future cannot be separated from steel! In the future, steel can be used to make chairs! Steel can be used to make beds! Steel can also be used to make houses, boats and cars!"

"The future is steel, and steel is the future!"