Song Dynasty Iron Armored Army

Chapter 180 Pig Iron Casting

After leaving the pickle workshop, Chai Lin came to the ironware workshop.

In Chaijiazhuang Ironware Workshop, where other places drop water into ice, most of the blacksmiths here wear thin clothes, and even so, they are still sweating profusely.

In the front yard are twenty blacksmithing furnaces, small workers pull bellows, big workers forge iron, are making agricultural hoes and plowshares and other commonly used things in rural areas.

Jingle, jingle, the noise went on and on.For ordinary farm implements and ordinary tools, Chailin intends to develop them by himself, and only use metal factories when craftsmen can't make them.

There are relatively few people in the backyard. Two earth kiln iron-making furnaces with a height of [-] to [-] centimeters and a diameter of [-] to [-] centimeters each are equipped with cowhide press-type air bags, and the fuel is coke transported from Yanzhou Prefecture.

When making iron, mix the crushed iron ore and coke evenly, burn them in the furnace, press the air bag vigorously to increase the furnace temperature, and the hot pig iron will flow out in about two hours. This small furnace can hold a lot of ore. At least one furnace can produce about [-] catties of molten iron.

When Chai Lin came just in time to tap the molten iron, Wang Tiehan was busy directing.The hot molten iron enters the small crucible, which can only hold about ten catties of molten iron.

Craftsmen pour molten iron into smooth steel moulds.This is a medium-sized iron pot mold with a diameter of 65 cm, which is then die-cast to make a cast iron pot with a thickness of two and a half millimeters.

This kind of earthen ironmaking method has many impurities, and it is very brittle pig iron. If it is touched hard, it will be broken, but fortunately it is thick, so it will not be particularly fragile.

Although this kind of iron pot is so ordinary, but the most important thing in a rural family, a medium-sized ordinary iron pot weighs seven or eight catties, holds seven or eighty catties of water, and is worth more than three hundred yuan.You can’t use it immediately after you buy it. You need to heat it slowly, and then rub it with lard several times to make the bright white iron pan black.In addition to cooking and cooking porridge, they are also responsible for cooking pig food, drinking cattle and horses with warm water, and so on.

"When did the owner come? I was too busy and didn't pay attention." Wang Tiehan came over and said.

Chai Lin said: "I just passed by, so I stopped by to have a look, how is it, how do you feel?"

Wang Tiehan said with embarrassment: "To be honest, it is very difficult. Iron smelting is much more difficult than imagined. If it is not for the owner's guidance, we would not be able to succeed. It took three days of experimentation to succeed. This small blast furnace combined with a cowhide wind bag is still It is very powerful and heats up quickly. One furnace can produce about [-] catties of pig iron, cast twelve medium-sized iron pots, and two small blast furnaces can produce about one hundred iron pots a day. Now we are starting to cultivate furnaces with special tube furnaces Master craftsmen, master smelters who deal with smelting, masters who deal with casting, and masters who specialize in making molds with sand."

The pig iron casting technology in the Northern Song Dynasty is actually very perfect, and there are many skilled craftsmen. Unfortunately, Chailin is a village. There are not so many skilled craftsmen, so we can only cultivate ourselves. Industry is a very complicated process, and we must have a solid foundation. A castle in the air.

Chai Lin said: "I think this cast iron pot is very good, and it is no different from the ones sold on the market, but I don't know how durable it is?"

"It shouldn't be bad. The thickness is two and a half millimeters, and the heating speed is fast. It screams when cooking. It can be used normally for more than ten years, but it is afraid of knocking and collision. After all, it is made of pig iron and is easy to break." Wang Tiehan said.

The wholesale price of a hundred pots a day is only 25 taels of silver. Except for coke, ore, labor, and molds, the net profit is only about ten taels of profit. There is no easy business in the world.

Wang Tiehan said: "If there are [-] small blast furnaces, there will be [-] iron pots a day, and [-] iron pots a month. The output is so large, I am afraid it will not be sold out."

"Iron man doesn't need to worry about sales. Casting iron in the village is too dusty and noisy. It will be transferred to the iron mine in the spring of next year. Only a small number of craftsmen will be kept in the village to repair farm tools. We will not only cast iron pots, but also cast carriage parts. , Farm tools, if it doesn’t work, they can be made into five catties of pig iron, there are countless blacksmith shops in the Song Dynasty, and they have to buy pig iron to make all kinds of things.” Chailin said.

Wang Tiehan said: "It's still thoughtful of the proprietor. The direct sale of pig iron is huge, not to mention the profit is high. Most big and small blacksmith shops like to buy pig iron, which is convenient for processing and making things."

"I'll tell you two things now, you arrange casting."

Chai Lin talked about the small iron egg of the Crouching Tiger Cannon, the 48mm solid iron egg, and the 98mm solid iron egg of the General Cannon from Dianzhengnan.The solid iron egg is slightly smaller than the caliber of the artillery, so that it can be shot out smoothly, and it will not get stuck in the barrel of the cannon and cause an explosion.

"You are not required to cast it as smooth as this sample, but it must be the same size, without burrs, and almost smooth. The more iron eggs of this kind, the better, and there is no problem if you have thousands or tens of thousands of them in stock." Chailin said.

Wang Tiehan took the two iron eggs, which were quite heavy, and he didn't know what they were used for. Some things involved military secrets, so you don't need to ask, just do it, and said: "Okay, I will arrange craftsmen to build sand molds and start casting. It should not be a big problem, if there are burrs in the casting, arrange to clean them up, and use a steel file to smooth the burrs."

"In addition, you can build a small blast furnace and try to smelt refined iron. After all, pig iron is the lowest grade product, and its biggest use is iron pots and agricultural tools. Pig iron cannot be used for knives, axes, and hammers that are slightly more demanding. Don't be afraid of failure, don't use it. I am afraid of wasting materials, but we must pay attention to safety, every craftsman is wealth." Chailin said.

Wang Tiehan said: "No problem, there is no one who understands this technology, so we can only explore slowly."

"Okay, get busy first. When you move to the big iron mine in spring, it's time for you to show your talents. By then, our iron products will be all over the world. It will be a very happy thing to think about." Chailin said.

Wang Tiehan is full of energy. He is a blacksmith in the village. If Chai Lin didn't value him, he would just beat farm tools when he died of old age. Now that he is in charge of the ironworks, he can finally make a career. Man, who wouldn't do it business.

Chai Lin returned to the camp with his own soldiers, and recently the donkeys for the second batch of recruits have also been distributed. The enthusiasm of the soldiers for training has never been higher. The performance is still ok.

Chai Lin assigned a new position to the newcomer Xie Zhen, and created a new team called the Jungle Special Forces, with only 30 members, all of whom are experienced hunters, equipped with horizontal knives, crossbows, engineering shovels, etc. Chailin trained himself.

Since then, the training of the Cangzhou Regiment has been considered full. Counting the size of 2000 heavy soldiers and female soldiers, the number of battalions is uneven, and the female battalion is the least, with a total of 20 people.In addition, there are only a dozen people working in the intelligence department, and dozens of people in the logistics.There are not many jungle special forces, only 30 people.There are only 80 people in the reconnaissance battalion, and 100 people in the heavy cavalry battalion.The other battalions have about 210 people, some more, some less, the difference is not big.

In the evening of this day, the day's training was over, and everyone except the heavy cavalry battalion on duty returned to the camp to rest.

In the big tent in the camp, Chai Lin and the generals ate meat and drank tea. They stewed a large pot of mutton and drank strong tea.

Lu Da obviously had an opinion, and said, "Brother, the Sa family only heard of eating meat in big mouthfuls and drinking in big bowls, but never heard of eating meat in big mouthfuls and drinking tea in small cups."

"The mutton is too oily. If you eat too much meat and drink some tea, you won't gain too much fat. As for drinking, it's time to celebrate the New Year. Let Brother Luda rest for a few days, and you can drink as much as you like during the holidays." Chai Lin said.

Pang Wanchun said: "Commander Lu, don't blame your brother for not allowing you to drink. After all, we are military officers. If you often get dizzy from drinking too much, what should you do? Besides, you are so big that ordinary people can't help you."

Li Nianzi, the deputy general, said, "It's okay, I'm strong enough to move."

Lu Da said: "Sajia just said casually, if an officer can't set an example, why should he order the soldiers."

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(End of this chapter)