The first emperor of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 71 Iron Smelting
Wang Yuqing was like a studious primary school student, listening carefully to Zhao Huan's explanation.

"First, it is the black powder that I told you about. The power of black powder is more than ten times that of this silver powder. If you can successfully develop that black powder, you only need a gunpowder bullet the size of a fingernail, and the effect produced is stronger than that of silver powder. It is even stronger now, you said that by that time, will the management of Huo Tong be refined soon?" Zhao Huan said to Wang Yuqing.

Hearing what Zhao Huan said, Wang Yuqing pulled her hair vigorously and said, "Oh, Your Majesty, this is too difficult, you have to give me some more time."

Zhao Huan wanted to give Wang Yuqing some motivation, so he said: "In addition to the black powder, there is also yellow powder on it. The power of that thing is more than a hundred times that of the current silver powder. Only a small amount is needed to produce a violent explosion." explosion, that is the ultimate goal of your research.”

"Is there an explosive more powerful than black powder?" After Wang Yuqing heard this, his mouth grew in surprise, but his eyes glowed. He now has an inexplicable enthusiasm for researching this black powder. When researching something, there will be a strong sense of inner satisfaction when the research is successful.

"Well, it's unlikely to be completed in a short period of time, but you can change the angle to increase the power of this gunpowder barrel." Zhao Huan picked up the fire pipe and said to Wang Yuqing: "Since the power of the explosion cannot reach Then, add more explosives to it."

"But in that case, the gunpowder bomb will become even bigger!" Wang Yuqing said, frowning.

"Well, let's cast the fire pipe to be thicker and longer. It's not powerful enough, so let's make up the quantity!" Zhao Huan said.

"Isn't that even more inconvenient for soldiers to carry? Do several people have to carry it together? Soldiers can't use it either." Wang Yuqing shook her head and said.

"When you think about things, don't be so rigid. This thing is so heavy, why do you have to let soldiers carry it? You can put two wheels on it, so that soldiers can push it, and even use horses to push it. Let's go!" Zhao Huan said.

"Oh, that's right!" Wang Yuqing slapped herself on the forehead and shouted, "I didn't think of such a simple truth before."

Zhao Huan was happy in his heart, you didn’t expect it, you are right, my mind is filled with the wisdom of more than 1000 years after the Song Dynasty. Many things may seem very simple now, but for the Song Dynasty at that time, they were very useful. Foresight, and what Zhao Huan said is equivalent to pointing out a direction for Wang Yuqing, which can save him many detours.

Wang Yuqing admired Zhao Huan more and more, and felt that Zhao Huan knew everything.

"How many Fire Commanders like this are there now?" Zhao Huan asked.

"Since I received your Majesty's notice last time, I asked the blacksmith to hurry up and make it, and now I have prepared five thousand fire systems and tens of thousands of gunpowder bombs!" Wang Yuqing said to Zhao Huan: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I Immediately let those blacksmiths adjust according to your majesty's request!"

Zhao Huan nodded, and said, "Take away the prepared fire system and gunpowder first, I will be useful."

After communicating with Wang Yuqing, Zhao Huan suddenly realized a problem. An important reason restricting the development of firearms is the backwardness of the smelting technology. It seems that the smelting technology still needs to be innovated.

So Zhao Huan went to find Xie Huan, the craftsman's supervisor.

Although Xie Huan is not very old, he is one of the most famous craftsmen in the Song Dynasty. After the Xie family in Chenjun, the Xie family can be regarded as a family of craftsmen. The ancestors of the Xie family have been officials since the Sui Dynasty. Craftsmen, in Xie Huan's generation, are even better than blue.

"Jianzuo supervisor Xie Huan pays homage to His Majesty!" Xie Huan did not expect that Zhao Huan would suddenly come to the craftsman supervisor, and he was a little dazed. You must know that in the Song Dynasty, the status of craftsmen was very low.

"Xie Aiqing is flat, I'm here to take a look!" Zhao Huan said to Xie Huan.

"Look around casually?" Xie Huan was a little confused about Zhao Huan's intentions, and hurriedly said: "What do you want to see, Your Majesty, I will guide you."

So Zhao Huan first went to visit the iron smelting place. The iron smelting technology in the Song Dynasty was actually quite advanced. The wet smelting method was used to reduce the impurities in the iron ore through continuous beating, and then cast it into the required shape.

"Xie Huan, have you ever thought that such a smelting technology is really inefficient." Zhao Huan said to Xie Huan.

Xie Huan didn't know why Zhao Huan said that, and explained: "Your Majesty, this wet training technique is already the most advanced smelting technique I know, and the efficiency of our craftsman supervisor is not low. There are a thousand craftsmen in the craftsman supervisor. The rest of us can now make [-] arrows a day, even if it is the Fire Commander requested by His Majesty, we can make [-] arrows a day!"

Zhao Huan nodded and said, "But have you ever thought about a more advanced smelting technology, for example, we can make molds, and then mass-produce these things that need to be made!"

Xie Huan heard what Zhao Huan said, and said: "This is impossible, Your Majesty, this iron block is so hard, even if there is a mold, it is impossible to put this iron block into the mold, this is not water!"

Zhao Huan clapped his hands and said, "By the way, it's water. Iron can also be turned into molten iron. As long as iron is turned into molten iron, can't it be mass-produced through molds?"

"That's impossible. Iron is so hard, how could it turn into molten iron?" Xie Huan retorted. He was a professional craftsman and had his own arrogance as a craftsman.

"It's not impossible, but the required heat has not yet been reached!" Zhao Huan learned from later generations of physics that the melting point of iron is about [-] degrees, so he said, "Just like this water, Normally, it flows, but when the weather is cold in winter, it will turn into ice cubes, and the same is true for iron cubes. To turn it into flowing molten iron, it needs to reach enough heat!"

Xie Huan really hadn't thought about this issue before, but when he heard Zhao Huan say this, as a professional, he immediately understood that what Zhao Huan said was actually reasonable.

"Your Majesty is a great talent, I have never thought of this before!" Xie Huan said to Zhao Huan with some emotion.

"I just provided you with a direction, but you still need to explore how to do it next. The heat required to turn this iron into molten iron is extremely high. Whether you can reach this heat requires you to continue to explore, but This direction is definitely right, if you can do it, it will definitely be a great innovation like movable type printing!” said Zhao Huan.

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(End of this chapter)