My Backyard is the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 121: Soil blast furnace

The vigorous iron and steel smelting movement in the 21st century has become a thing of the past. Under the attack of years and wind and sand, the former soil blast furnace has become ruins, leaving only broken walls and ruins, telling the past history. In Yizhou in the Tang Dynasty, the soil The Blast Furnace appeared once again.

Cui Yingying handed over the affairs of the chamber of commerce to Cui Yingying. After getting acquainted with her for a while, this girl quickly got started. She only manages the production and sales of goods, plus the daily income and expenses of the palace. These problems are not difficult problems for her. Anyway, she has also studied for several years, and it is easier for her to accept this kind of challenging work than an illiterate one.

Withdrawing from the affairs of the chamber of commerce, Li Yin mingled with Tong Yu every day. Li Yin re-opened an open space in a dense forest more than ten miles away from the Nanhe Workshop base and erected a majestic building. , but the scale of this building is much larger than that of the warehouse. It started construction years ago. With thousands of workers working day and night, it was finally completed two days ago, and Tong Nian also brought various craftsmen to the research institute. up.

??A high wall stands around the research institute, leaving only one door for artisans to enter and exit. At the door, more than a dozen heavily armed guards stand on both sides, and there are guards constantly patrolling the yard to ensure the "safety" of the artisans.

Yang Suxin’s data collection work was completed not long after the year. According to Li Yin’s request, these materials were basically equipped with detailed explanatory drawings. Start with the most basic imitation, and learn the principles slowly.

After the establishment of the research institute or the scientific research institute, Li Yin had to participate in it. These technical materials may be a bible to them, and they can't understand them at all, but Li Yin is a person who has graduated from a university after at least 16 years of education. It can still be understood to a certain extent, but after Li Yin described the technical information of ironmaking to the blacksmith of the research institute in the way of Tang Dynasty, Li Yin completely became the object of worship of a group of pseudo-scientists in Tang Dynasty.

After putting the technical materials into the library of the research institute, Li Yin gave Tong Yu four tasks, the first was steel, the second was flintlock guns, the third was steam engines, and the fourth was cement. Today, Tong Yu and the craftsmen finally built the clay blast furnace under the guidance of Li Yin.

When Li Yin rushed to the research institute, the first furnace of molten iron had just come out. Standing in front of the clay blast furnace, Li Yin was forced back a few steps by the heat wave. Looking at the red molten iron, a stone in Li Yin's heart finally fell to the ground. Isn't the ancients lacking? Wisdom is knowledge.

The soil blast furnace in front of you is about three meters high, shaped like an upside-down beer bottle, with an opening at the top for pouring iron ore, coal, coke and other raw materials into the blast furnace, and there is an earthen staircase on one side of the blast furnace It is used for feeding materials. There are two circular holes under the blast furnace, one for air intake and the other for molten iron. A bellows is installed in front of the air inlet, and a craftsman is holding the bellows to heat the temperature of the blast furnace.

Blast furnaces can only smelt high-quality iron. It does not mean that steel is smelted directly. Steelmaking also needs decarburization, dephosphorization and other steps to minimize the carbon and phosphorus elements in iron, which requires Another follow-up facility.

?? "Good job!" Li Yin said to Tong Yu and the craftsman in charge of the steelmaking project.

The four requirements put forward by Li Yin were not carried out sequentially, but simultaneously. He divided the craftsmen into four groups according to their familiar skills, and each group was responsible for a different project. The small achievement is also due to the simple structure of the earthen blast furnace, and the fact that the ironmaking technology of the Tang Dynasty was already good. The steel pouring method has become popular in the north, but what Li Yin asked for was better quality steel, at least enough to produce steam engines.

Tong Yu is slightly proud. These days, he spends every day in the information provided by Li Yin. Whenever he doesn’t understand something, he goes to the palace to ask Li Yin. Now he also understands a lot of terms in steel refining. : "Your Highness, after the molten iron is smelted, you only need to add another steelmaking furnace on the side of the soil blast furnace, so that high-quality steel can be produced, but it is a pity that there is still a lack of limestone in the soil blast furnace raw materials, otherwise The iron smelted in this local blast furnace can be compared with the steel in Datang today."

"Don't be so greedy, take your time, now Steward Jin has led people to search for this mineral, it is estimated that there will be news soon, not only you, the main raw material for firing cement is also limestone, your best friend is probably better than you Still in a hurry!" Li Yin joked, Li Yin said that one of Tong Yu's close friends is called Du Pingzhi, who lives up to his name and has no pursuits like Tong Yu, but only likes to delve into weird things. After receiving Tong Yu's letter, this The high-ranking man dragged his family to Yizhou, and he is now the person in charge of cement and steam engines.

Originally, Li Yin asked him to be responsible for firing cement, but cement is too simple to make. As long as there are raw materials, it is not very difficult to produce. After reading the information, I discussed with Li Yin how to make cement , Du Pingzhi deeply felt that he was overqualified, and begged Li Yin to hand over the steam engine to him.

?? "Your Highness..." When Li Yin and Tong Yu were talking about steel, a scruffy-looking man slipped in and ran over with a loud shout, saying that Cao Cao would be there soon.

??Compared to Tong Nian, Li Yin thinks that Du Pingzhi looks more like a mad scientist. He dresses in a nonchalant manner, and treats people as childishly as a child. He has no hobbies other than studying materials in the room.

?? "Your Highness, when will there be news about this limestone?" Du Pingzhi almost asked this question when he saw Li Yin, and this time was no exception.

?? Tong Yu hurriedly said: "What's the rush? Your Highness is also in a hurry. You are not the only one who needs limestone. I also need steelmaking." He has always been rude to this close friend.

?? "Leave that aside, do you have any idea about the steam engine?" Li Yin turned his head and asked.

Du Pingzhi immediately became depressed, "Your Highness, limestone is needed to make cement, and steel is needed to make a steam engine. Now I don't have any of them, so I can't do experiments." After several contacts, he learned the word experiment. The biggest place of the research institute is not the library, nor the living area of ??the craftsmen, but the experimental area. The yard where Li Yin and Tong Yu are standing now is Tong Yu's testing ground, and there are indoor experiments on the north side of the testing ground. The room is for Tong Yu to do research, and Du Pingzhi also has his own craftsman and laboratory. These days, he actually looks at the drawings and materials, and his hands are already itchy.

Li Yin thought about it, and said: "Don't worry, the steam engine and the furnace for refining steel will arrive in a few days, and then you can study these things in combination with the real thing, especially Tong Yu, can you refine the steel?" Producing good steel will affect the production of many things, and your task is the heaviest, you know?"

?? Tong Yu said seriously: "Yes, Your Highness, Tong Yu has remembered."

Li Yin looked at the two of them, and frowned. The research institute was just established, and there were still many things missing, such as a lot of experimental tools, such as pliers, screwdrivers, etc. Without these things, they couldn't disassemble them at all. For modern machinery, the path he is taking now is copying and innovating. First let them copy those old technologies, make them first, and master the principles during the production.