Steel Dynasty - Chapter 44

[Chapter 44 Steel and Cement]

“Of course, go and prepare your horse.” Xiao Ming shouted loudly when he came to his senses.

The graphite mine has been found, and the limestone mine has also been found. Although the mine has not yet been established to form a systematic production, it is still possible to mine some in advance.

However, only a part of it was mined, and Xiao Ming also spent a lot of money. The people who mined and transported it back and forth needed to pay money.

That’s why Xiao Ming is so eager to cooperate with Liang Dahai this time. As long as there are a large number of slaves, the mines and workshops can have enough manpower. Then he will select some young adults among the slaves to transfer various technologies and gradually build Qingzhou’s industrial base.

One master and one servant, the two of them left Prince Qi’s Mansion and headed for the Equipment Department. Now, in addition to going to the Governor’s Mansion to supervise the implementation of various government orders, Xiao Ming’s most frequent trip was to the Equipment Department.

In the Equipment Department, Chen Qi is correcting the production of the crucible steelmaking assembly line. The technology is available, but deviations will still occur in the specific production practice.

During this period, Xiao Ming focused on training Chen Qi, and Chen Qi gained the most from the technology transmission in the technology crystal.

Other craftsmen often master a specific technical step but cannot fully grasp the entire process. The reason why Xiao Ming does this is very simple, which is to prevent the craftsmen’s technology from being leaked.

It is safer for ten people to master ten parts of a set of technology than for ten people to master all the technical processes.

Moreover, the Equipment Department has also formulated strict technical confidentiality measures. If one person leaks secrets, all the craftsmen on the production line will be punished.

In Dayu, craftsmen were of low status and had a very low status. In order to prevent craftsmen from making weapons privately, the household registrations of these craftsmen were separately made into craftsmen’s registration registers, which were supervised by the government.

It is a very simple matter to control the movement of these people in and out of Qingzhou.

“Your Highness, these are the limestones.” There is a pile of gray-white stones piled in the backyard of the Equipment Department. These are the limestones.

In contemporary times, limestone is not only a necessity for the production of cement, but also a necessary solvent in blast furnace ironmaking. Limestone can effectively remove sulfur and silicon impurities, improve the quality of iron, and prevent subsequent smelting of steel from becoming brittle.

Xiao Ming went over and took a look. The limestone was piled into a hill two meters high. The limestone was relatively large and of good quality.

The two blast furnaces were working at the same time. Four workers took turns using blowers to blow up the blast furnaces. Some craftsmen poured iron ore, coke, and limestone blocks into the blast furnaces.

The red molten iron flows from one blast furnace to another, and finally the wrought iron flows into each crucible on a one-meter-high shelf. When one crucible is full, the other crucible will be replaced by another crucible.

This efficiency is still far behind modern times, but compared with the previous steel filling method, this is already mass production.

When high-quality molten steel is formed, it will be used by different craftsmen to make farming tools, machine tool parts, briquette stoves and other things.

Chen Qi was currently instructing the workers to collect the slag, which Xiao Ming taught him.

Seeing Xiao Ming observing the steelmaking process, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: “Your Highness, you said you would collect the slag after adding the limestone. There is a lot of slag now, but what is its use? “

“This slag is a good thing, it can be used to produce a very powerful material,” Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Xiao Ming hadn’t told Chen Qi about this knowledge yet. Chen Qi said curiously: “Your Highness, the slag has come out. Just tell me, otherwise I won’t be able to sleep again at night.”

Xiao Ming chuckled twice, ” In fact, in addition to making iron, this limestone can also be calcined into a material – cement! Because the slag contains a large amount of cement components, these slags can also be used to calcine cement. You should collect them so that they are not wasted, otherwise the slag will be discarded. It’s a pity.”

“Cement.” Chen Qi and Qian Dafu looked at each other.

Now they were accustomed to the strange words that came out of Xiao Ming’s mouth, and they didn’t know where the prince learned all these strange things.

Xiao Ming stood aside with the two of them, and the knowledge contained in the technological crystal was instilled in their minds. After explaining it once, the two of them understood what cement was and what it did.

“Your Highness, if this cement is used to build city walls and pave roads, wouldn’t it be invulnerable?” Chen Qi said in surprise.

“No, cement is only the most basic thing. Things made of concrete are truly invulnerable.” Then Xiao Ming told Chen Qi the concept of concrete.

“…” Chen Qi could no longer describe his shock in words. He said: “Your Highness, if all the city walls of Dayu were made of concrete, then the barbarians would have no choice but to fight outside the city walls.”

Xiao .

Ming smiled and said: “Now you are thinking too much. Although this concrete and cement are magical, with our current production speed, it will be good for our own use.” After

being excited for a while, Chen Qi suddenly became a little decadent. Said: “Your Highness, you have taught me too much now, but look at this equipment department, there are too few craftsmen, but this work is already too busy, and there is probably no manpower for calcining cement.” During

this period of time .

The Equipment Department recruited some more craftsmen, and the number of craftsmen in the Equipment Department reached fifty, but it was obviously not enough. He couldn’t help but feel helpless, “I’ll figure this out, take your time, and produce as many things as you can.” Something.”

Chen Qi nodded helplessly.

This time Xiao Ming came over, one to check the application of limestone and graphite in ironmaking, and the other to let Chen Qi learn about cement and prepare for subsequent production.

As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, you must first build roads. Smooth traffic can greatly promote production. However, because of the characteristics of people living in cities in this era, building roads does not need to be like modern times, which often span hundreds of miles.

The application of crucible iron-making has matured, but now the graphite ore and limestone ore are only in the hands of Xiao Ming, which means that he has a monopoly on the crucible steel-making technology.

However, the lack of labor force is still his shortcoming, and the current equipment department is generally a small business.

Thinking of this, he could only increase his investment in Liang Dahai. Every year, the Chongqing Kingdom would be robbed of many people by the barbarians. These people became the goods traded between the barbarians and the Dayu Kingdom. Many smugglers were active in the Dayu Kingdom and the Chongqing Kingdom. The barbarians were engaged in the slave trade.

For slaves, his first choice was naturally people from the Chongqing country. As for slaves outside the territory, they could basically only do some hard work. After all, language communication was also difficult.

After staying in the Equipment Department for a while and instructing the craftsmen on the details of steelmaking, Xiao Ming and Qian Dafu went back.

Halfway through the journey, a man on horseback suddenly came out of an alley and stood in front of him. It was Wang Shijie.

(End of chapter)