Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in hlnovel.com -> Historic -> Xiao Ge Lao

Chapter 937 Wang Ji¡¯s Dilemma

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    Because the hardness of steel is directly proportional to the carbon content, if you want to temper wrought iron into 'steel', in addition to repeated tempering, you must also increase its carbon content The key reason why Ming Dynasty's steelmaking industry leads the world  The difference lies in this step.

    For example, in Japan, when folding and forging, paper and plant ash are wrapped around wrought iron for forging. This carburizing method is extremely inefficient.  Therefore, the Japanese regard their steel swords as life, because it is not easy to get one.

    "The Ming Dynasty has two mature technologies: the boring steel method and the steel filling method, and the efficiency is many times higher than that of Japan.

    Su Steel, a specialty of Wuhu, adopts the latter.

    Zhao Hao saw that the steelmaking master asked his apprentice to put the unforged wrought iron pieces into the forging furnace, and there were also workers nearby who were pulling bellows to heat them.

    About two minutes later, the apprentice used a large tong to clamp one end of the pig iron bar and placed it diagonally in the furnace mouth. At the same time, he ordered the apprentice to blow harder to keep the temperature of the furnace rising.

    In less than a minute, the end of the pig iron tilted in the furnace began to melt, and molten iron continued to drip.  At this time, the steelmaking master took the large iron tongs from the apprentice, clamped the end of the pig iron outside the furnace, and began to move it left and right, so that the molten iron could be poured evenly onto the wrought iron below.

    Because the melting point of wrought iron is higher than that of pig iron, even though it was put in first, it was only burned red and showed no signs of melting.

    At the same time, the steelmaker's other hand kept turning the wrought iron pieces so that both sides could be evenly covered with molten iron.  After two showers, the master clamped the wrought iron to the anvil next to the furnace and asked the apprentice to forge it with a hammer.

    By repeatedly beating it thousands of times to remove impurities, you can get the ¡®steel¡¯ that craftsmen consider it to be.

    The production of steel is so difficult that it is naturally more expensive than bronze, which of course severely limits sales.

    So the craftsmen came up with a compromise. For example, if they wanted to make a big knife, they would first make the blade with wrought iron, and then only pour iron and steel on the blade part. This is the so-called 'good steel is used on the blade'.

    ??~~

    After visiting the steel mill, Zhao Hao felt like smoke was coming out of his throat.

    Wang Yu had already ordered honeysuckle and mint tea to clear away heat and relieve heat. Although it tasted weird, the effect was really good.

    After downing several large glasses of wine, he finally suppressed the burning discomfort, and Zhao Hao was finally in the mood to speak.

    He is still very satisfied with Wangji Steel Factory, at least this set of production processesfrom ore washing and beneficiation, to indigenous coking, to coke ore sand mixing and calcining, to steel frying or wrought iron frying, to the final steel pouring method  ¡­The general direction is basically correct.

    ??Although from Mr. Zhao¡¯s perspective, there are a lot of problems in every aspect of production.  But it also shows that there is huge room for improvement.

    In this case, we only need to continuously improve the process and increase the furnace temperature to provide enough steel for the group Of course, it is the steel defined by Mr. Zhao, not the kind in the minds of the craftsmen.

    ¡®As long as the square trough can be changed into a reverberatory furnace, the furnace temperature can be easily increased by several hundred degrees, and the quality of wrought iron can be greatly improved, eliminating the need to use bronze cannons.  ¡¯ Mr. Zhao secretly thought about it.

    Jiangnan Bank launched a set of "bronze coupons" later this year, with face values ??of "five hundred coins", "one hundred coins", "fifty coins" and "ten coins".  On the one hand, it is used as a auxiliary currency for silver certificates to expand circulation; on the other hand, it is to collect enough copper for the group to meet the material needs of cannons and various castings.

    There is no other way, directly mining copper in the Ming Dynasty is too taboo.  Copper is a currency in circulation and can only be mined by officials.

    Therefore, Mr. Zhao is eagerly looking forward to the day when high-quality wrought iron can be mass-produced.

    By then, not only will it be no problem to make guns, cannons, and steam engines, but even the Zhengtai-Taiwan Railway promised to the old Westerners will no longer be just a piece of pie.

    After chatting about process improvements for a long time, the topic turned to why most of the iron-making furnaces were not in operation.

    Wang Yu, who was originally excited, couldn't help but become depressed.  He let out a long sigh and said, "Oh, business is in decline. I'm ashamed of my father."

    "Why?" Zhao Hao asked pretending to be puzzled.  In fact, before departure, Secretary Ma would give the young master important information about today's itinerary so that he would be well aware of it.

    ¡°Furthermore, Wang Ji¡¯s business difficulties are no longer a secret.

    "Well, time is also destiny." Wang Yu sighed again and said: "We, our family, don't need to be secretive. The reason why my Wang family can quickly establish a foothold in the industry has increased Su Steel's sales by thirty times in ten years. One  The first is to rely on strong financial support, and the second is to have the help of noble people.¡±

    ¡°As he spoke, he glanced at Zhao Hao and said, ¡°Ling Zu is one of them, but the most important one is our Jixi fellow Hu Butang.¡±

    ?Zhao Liben was Hu Zongxian's former subordinate. Naturally, he was not worried that Mr. Zhao would be unhappy when he said this.

    "Um."

    Zhao Hao nodded and listened to him continue: "Hu Butang was able to resist the Japanese with great strength. He relied on the support of the prime ministers of the DPRK and China, and the generosity of our fellow Huizhou fellows. He had a steady stream of military expenses to recruit and train troops. At that time,  The entire southeast is in disrepair, and all ordnance is in decay and must be rebuilt.¡±

    "Hu Butang reciprocated the favor and gave a large number of orders to Wang Ji. In addition, the weapons we built were indeed very strong and could compete with the Japanese pirates' Hundred Refined Swords. Now they became famous and the sales opened up immediately," he said.  He let out a long sigh and said: "It's a pity that shortly after my father passed away, Hu Butang also died unjustly in prison. In addition, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, swords and guns from all over the country were warehoused and horses were released in Nanshan. Even if there were orders, they were all given to nearby relations.  Household, my business has gradually become deserted."

    "If I open one less furnace today and send away a master tomorrow, I will end up in this half-dead state without even realizing it." Wang Yu said gloomily.

    "The Tatars are still being fought in the north, and Marshal Yu is also trying to suppress pirates in the south. How come there are no orders?" Zhao Hao asked softly as he took a sip of tea.

    "The business in the north is monopolized by the Shanxi merchants' iron workshops. Although the quality of their ironware is not as good as ours, it is still more expensive. However, the governors of the three sides only use Shanxi ironware, and we can't get it at all." Wang Yu said with a bitter smile: "  As for Guangdong, the level of iron-making is already high and the price is not expensive, so who would choose the far side over the near side?"

    "Uncle Wang, why do you need to worry?" Zhao Hao couldn't help laughing and said, "How much output you can produce in a year, I'll take care of it all."

    "Oh," Wang Yu was excited at first, then waved his hands and said repeatedly: "That's a few million kilograms, too much, too much."

    "Not much, Jiangnan Group has a lot of iron needs." Zhao Hao waved his hand proudly and said: "Besides steel, the most urgent thing at the moment is wrought iron. I want as much as you have."

    "That's great!" Wang Yu immediately lost his tiredness and thanked him without any words.

    Although there are too many impurities in wrought iron at present, it is almost useless to make weapons, but it is more than enough to make agricultural tools and tools.  There are tens of thousands of workers in more than a dozen affiliated companies of the Jiangnan Group and 60,000 households of farmers and workers. The iron tools they need are gone.

    With the rapid development of Jiangnan Group, its scale is getting bigger and bigger. It is not difficult to absorb the output of the entire Wuhu, let alone just one Wangji.

    ps. The first update of three consecutive updates, please vote for me!  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report