Steel Dynasty - Chapter 560

[Chapter 560 Steel Production Line]

The molten steel flows in the crucible mixed with heat waves. In the hot summer, the steel workshop is as hot as a furnace.

After leaving the palace, Xiao Ming went directly to the steel workshop. Within a short time, his clothes were soaked with sweat.

“Your Highness, it’s too hot here. It’s better to discuss this matter outside.” Chen Wenlong advised. Ordinary people would find it unbearable after staying in this steel workshop for a while. He was worried that Xiao Ming would not be suitable here.

Looking at the shirtless slave craftsman who was working hard, Xiao Ming said: “No need, I am not so squeamish. By the way, I heard that the steel workshop has changed to a supervisor. Where is he?”

Chen Wenlong pointed out Looking at the young man who was rushing here not far away, he said: “Your Highness, this is the one in front of me. He is a student of Bowen College. He studies steel production. He just took office a month ago. Just like what Your Highness said, he also mentioned The matter of steelmaking in a converter was later just mentioned as there was no material, so the matter was not mentioned again. “

“Oh?” Xiao Ming showed an interested look. After three years of training, more and more students have joined. In various workshops in Qingzhou, they have mastered many things just because of restrictions on conditions, but they suffer from lack of conditions to realize them.

But there is nothing that can be done about it. In the contemporary era, his country was once poor and had nothing. At that time, overseas scientists returned to the country and started from scratch.

But there is one thing he cannot compare with. At that time, the whole country was focused on production, and now the environment he is in is still in war, so he can only achieve it in the same way.

“Meng Kuo, your highness.”

The young man who called himself Meng Kuo had a formal look and looked like a scholar, but just like the craftsmen in the workshop, the young man also had bare arms at this time, and his body was covered with black iron filings.

After looking Meng Kuo up and down, Xiao Ming said: “Chen Wenlong said that you came from Bowen College. In that case, I will test you, which converter furnace produces acidic steel or alkaline steel, which produces higher quality iron.” “

Back to Your Highness, yes .

Alkaline.” Meng Kuo said, “Acidic furnace lining cannot remove sulfur and phosphorus from iron, but alkaline furnace lining can

remove sulfur and phosphorus .”

“For steelmaking, phosphorus is harmful. The presence of sulfur increases the hardness and brittleness of iron. High-quality pig iron should contain less phosphorus, while sulfur promotes the combination of iron and carbon, making the iron hard and brittle. It also combines with iron to form low-melting iron sulfide, which makes the pig iron thermally brittle and reduces the temperature of the molten iron. The fluidity of the pig iron with high sulfur content is not suitable for casting fine parts.”

Meng Kuo said, Chen Wenlong looked very happy. Xiao Ming couldn’t help but asked: “I asked Meng Kuo, what are you happy about? “

Your Highness, this Meng Kuo was selected by Xianguan from Bowen College. His response is fluent now, which proves that Xianguan’s vision is correct,” Chen Wenlong said with a smile.

Xiao Ming was also very satisfied with Meng Kuo’s answer. No matter whether there were conditions or not, at least he had mastered the knowledge. He asked again: “What is the oxidant in converter steelmaking? What is the slag-making material?”

“The only oxidant is iron. Ore and oxygen, and lime for slag making.” Meng Kuo was calm and composed.

Xiao Ming nodded and asked some more in-depth questions. Meng Kuo answered them simply, which made him even more satisfied.

After a pause, he said, “With you here, I can safely hand over the converter steelmaking production line to you.”

“Converter steelmaking?” Meng Kuo exclaimed when he heard this.

“Yes, I have found the alkaline lining material for the converter. Now the alkaline converter steelmaking method can be realized. Next, you have to lead the craftsmen in the steel workshop to produce the converter, and at the same time build a production line to improve the steel production. Yield.” Xiao Ming said as he handed the drawing to Meng Kuo.

Meng Kuo took the drawing and opened it eagerly. Just as Xiao Ming said, the equipment needed for a whole production line was marked on it, and there was also a structural diagram of the specific equipment on the drawing.

“Don’t be afraid of failure. If you don’t get it right the first time, you can try a few more times.” Xiao Ming said to Meng Kuo. Any technological innovation will encounter various problems in the early stages. In Xiao Ming’s opinion, this converter steelmaking will also have to fail several times. Only then can you learn the tricks from practice.

But now that the conditions are in place for this technology, its implementation is not far away.

Once Qingzhou can obtain a large amount of cheap steel, it will be possible to build railway tracks that require a large amount of steel, and steam locomotives running in Great Chongqing will no longer be a luxury.

At the same time, a large increase in steel production will also improve war capabilities and make weapons production easier. Most of the troops will not be stuck in the cold weapon age like now.

Meng Kuo read the drawings carefully and said to Xiao Ming: “Your Highness, I have been waiting for this technology to be realized. Your Highness, don’t worry, Meng Kuo will build the production line even if he doesn’t eat or drink.”

Xiao Ming clicked. Nodding, the technical difficulty of converter steelmaking is the converter and oxygen blowing. Now the problems have been solved. As for other problems such as loading and shaping of molten steel, they are the same and do not need to be studied separately.

In the next few days, Xiao Ming and Meng Kuo had been discussing the establishment of the production line. Some of the facilities were also handed over to the craftsmen for production. On the fifth day, the mine delivered the first batch of magnesite ore.

This batch of ore was ordered by Xiao Ming to be mined first for experiments. After being calcined, ground, and cast, the lining of the converter was formed.

After completing this step, the rest will fall into place, and Xiao Ming does not want to continue to participate. After all, he does not want to discourage Meng Kuo’s enthusiasm.

Because in his opinion, a leader should be moderately lazy, otherwise his subordinates will develop laziness if they do everything by themselves.

Withdrawing from the converter steelmaking business, Xiao Ming continued to turn his focus to the current chaos.

At this time, Wang Xuan brought a piece of news that made him break out in a cold sweat.

“The King of Wei sent envoys to form an alliance with King Yan, King Zhao and King Liang?” Xiao Ming asked anxiously.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Wang Xuan’s expression was solemn, “And the envoy has already arrived at King Yan. It is the news sent back by our spies in Bozhou.”

“This time, King Wei seems to have really jumped over the wall.” Xiao Ming’s face was heavy. This was a danger to his country.

If the four kings attack him at the same time, he will definitely be unable to resist it. After all, in this era, the advantages of firearms cannot completely offset the human sea tactics of cold weapon troops.

In fact, the real weapon to end the cold weapon war is the machine gun, but for him, he can’t come up with this thing yet.

“Your Highness, if King Wei’s plot succeeds, it will be a disaster for us. I think we should immediately assassinate King Wei’s envoy to delay the alliance.” Wang Xuan said.

“This can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. If one messenger dies, there will inevitably be a second messenger. Now what we should be thinking about is how to destroy this alliance.” Xiao Ming said bitterly.

(End of chapter)