1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 110 Steel ([-])

A week after the first furnace of molten iron came out, another furnace of molten steel was also released.Looking at each steel bar, Qi Tian shook his head.

Judging from the product appearance, it belongs to inferior steel. If you do another cold brittleness and bending test, it will definitely not meet the production needs.

Sure enough, a craftsman hit the iron block violently with a steel rod, and within thirty blows, the steel rod snapped.And some steel bars have been bent for a long time, and they can't restore their original toughness.

"Go back to the furnace and refine again!" Qi Tian said with a sigh.

Steel has high cold brittleness and poor toughness, which means that the carbon content in it is high, which does not meet the requirement that the carbon content of steel is less than 0.05%.

All the craftsmen went to clean the blast furnace in frustration, prepared coke, and returned this batch of unqualified scrap steel to the furnace for refining again.

"Fourth Uncle, the coke in the castle is running low..." Qi Yuanshan said beside him.

"Huh?" Qi Tian looked at him suspiciously.

"Another carbon kiln needs to be built. The two blast furnaces use a lot of carbon. The carbon kiln over there can't supply it."

"Oh." Qi Tian understood. Originally, according to the normal production process, the molten iron should be introduced into the steelmaking blast furnace immediately after the ironmaking blast furnace is discharged, and then the flame should be increased, and hot air should be blown in to separate the carbon in the molten iron.

But now, because it is impossible to know the carbon content of molten steel in steelmaking blast furnaces, every time steelmaking is made, small batches of iron are put in, ignited coke, and the iron is turned into molten iron again, and the carbon in it is separated at high temperature.In this way, the consumption of coke must be higher.

Look at our initial industry, high pollution, high energy consumption, and low output, a typical example of backward production capacity.

"Then build a charcoal kiln. . . . just build a charcoal kiln next to the coal mine, where the coke is refined and brought back by horse-drawn cart." Qi Tian said.

"Will it be unsafe to build a carbon kiln over the coal mine? ... There is no shelter, what should I do if thieves come?"

"Haha..., if the thieves come, let them snatch them away!" Qi Tian couldn't help but laugh.

"...That's right!" Qi Yuanshan also laughed.When the thieves come, they won't come to snatch coal and coke, right? Take them back and set them on fire?The cost of robbery is too high.

"Oh, by the way, brother Huzi came at noon, and he said that in the past few days, six or seven indigenous people have disappeared for no reason."

"Disappeared somehow?" Qi Tian was very surprised, "Did they... run away?"

"It doesn't seem like it." Qi Yuanshan said: "They all disappeared one after another, and after work was over in the evening.... According to the Black Valley Tribe, they have not seen them come back."

"Wouldn't it be those thieves who disappeared ten days ago?"

"Brother Huzi thinks so too. He has now asked those aborigines to gather together when they return to the tribal camp. ... However, he feels that he still needs to find time to clean up the nearby forest. Otherwise, it will always be a hidden danger! "

"Clean up the nearby forests?... How can we have so many people! There are forests, meadows, valleys and valleys with a radius of tens of miles, and people can hide everywhere." Qi Tian also felt that there were two or three thieves hiding in the nearby mountains and fields. is a security risk.But with their mere 600 people, how can they catch a few thieves.

It seems that the only way to strengthen the awareness of self-prevention is to maintain vigilance at all times, and try to fortify the walls and clear the wilderness as much as possible, so that those thieves who slip through the net cannot get the necessary food.Perhaps, they can catch birds and animals in the forest to satisfy their hunger, but you have to add salt.As long as you dare to show your head, you must kill it.

It has been more than ten days, and seven or eight thieves came to the Jianye City camp to surrender.But now he still wants to hide in the mountains and forests, trying to survive by attacking the aborigines.It is conceivable how stubborn these thieves are.

In the next few days, several batches of steel products were produced from the small steelmaking blast furnace, and the performance gradually improved, but the distance was close to that of ordinary construction steel products in later generations, and further improvement was needed.Qitian asked Qi Yuanshan and the craftsmen to record all the refining process, continuously optimize and improve the performance of molten steel, minimize its cold brittleness and improve its bendability.He knew that the industry in Hanzhou Continent was about to speed up.With more steel, there will be a large number of industrial primary products and more and more production tools.

"Uncle Kun, how about this knife?" Yu Fukun led more than a dozen guards and escorted more than forty pirates captured last time to Black Mountain Fort.

Qi Tian handed over two steel knives, asking him to taste the steel-polished knives.

"The weight is light, the blade is very thin, and the edge is considered sharp. It doesn't last long, why do you feel like it will break if you chop it twice!" Yu Fukun waved the steel knife a few times, and said casually.

"You try to fold the blade?"

According to Yu Fukun's words, he folded the steel knife with both hands. With great force, the blade was almost bent to more than 90 degrees, but the blade was full of toughness.Once you put your hands down, the blade returns to normal.

"Hey, this is a steel knife!" Yu Fukun was surprised and delighted.

"Yes, steel knife!" Qi Tian said with a smile.

"It hasn't been long since iron was smelted!... Now it's steel?"

"Small batches!" Qi Tian said: "When the performance of the steel is stable, it can be produced in large quantities!"

"How much can you pay in a day?"

"If the supply of iron ore is sufficient, about [-] to [-] kilograms can be produced a day."

"..."

Seeing that Yu Fukun was a little confused, he knew that he was a little unfamiliar with the weight unit of "kilogram".

"About six to eight stone or so."

"Not bad, not bad!" Yu Fukun was very satisfied, "Then we can smelt steel by ourselves in the future, so we won't be short of iron, let alone weapons!"

Qi Tian smiled and nodded.With steel, in addition to configuring high-quality swords, shouldn't it be better to make guns and cannons!
Among all the craftsmen, only Marciolo had some experience in gunsmithing.But his experience is only that he helped the Spanish military camp repair muskets in Naples, and it was an arquebus.As for whether he can make a musket, he himself is not sure.

Qi Tian was not discouraged, and asked someone to take three flintlock guns for him and a few craftsmen to disassemble and study, trying to make a fake one.If they have no experience in making guns, let them explore and practice more.

As for the artillery, it was of course handed over to the Swiss cannon-caster Stephen Grichdin from Batavia.

"Can this steel be used to cast cannons?" Qi Tian asked.

"Theoretically, there is no problem. Steel can withstand greater chamber pressure than cast iron. With the same power, the cannon body can be made lighter." Stephen Grishding, a cannon maker, was a little surprised that the small blast furnace could make Out of steel.If this kind of technology is spread to Europe, he believes that there will be many kings vying to invite craftsmen with such technology, and maybe they will be knighted, not necessarily.A beautiful vision was conceived in his mind, but he did not hesitate to answer this question.

"Then try it. Make a few more guns, first build a small cannon, just a 4-pound field gun, and test it a lot. The weight can be made lighter, and it is best that a few people can lift or push it." Qi Tian Said, "Don't be afraid of failure, and don't worry about the low yield. If it cracks and explodes, it will be a big deal and we will go back to the furnace!"

"Okay, sir!" Stephen Grechdin nodded and said, "I will do my best to build you a powerful artillery. I promise, in the name of God!"

Qi Tian smiled, he couldn't make a qualified cannon, besides not cashing you 500 taels of silver, could I still go to trouble with your guarantor—God?

After arranging the work of Heishan Fort, Qi Tian followed Yu Fukun back to Jianye City to discuss and plan to build a ship repair station.In the past, Cao Xiong's fleet made two trips to and from Batavia and Hanzhou, both of which were ship repairs and maintenance in Batavia.

Now, with a little bit of conditions, it is natural to use the personnel and equipment that were previously moved from the small town of San Fernando in Luzon.

Moreover, now Jianye City has captured two more boats, especially with fishing nets and other fishing tools on board.In the future, it will be necessary to maintain and clean the bottom of the ship.

"This road is still not very good. The lunch we ate will be knocked out!" Qi Tian sat behind the wagon carrying the goods, his ass hurt from being bumped by the potholes, and he couldn't help complaining about the first road in the Hanzhou mainland. .

"It's not bad!" Yu Fukun felt that the road was well built. "At least in rainy days, there are gravel and bricks, so pedestrians can walk on it. It's not like before, when it rains, you can't go anywhere!"

"We still have too few people. Otherwise, we can build more cement kilns and lime kilns. At that time, the road will be covered with a layer of cement, and we can also take a horse-drawn carriage when it rains!"

"Then wait for Master Cao and the others to bring us more people from Daming. By then..."

Before he could finish speaking, the carriage stopped abruptly and the horse neighed.Qi Tian, ​​Yu Fukun and several teenagers almost rolled to the front of the car.

"what's the situation?"

"There are three savages... wanting to rob!" Niu Jinmin, who was driving the carriage, said, pulled out a long knife from under the seat, and jumped off the carriage.

(End of this chapter)