Li Shimin looked at the workers and asked,""Did Fang Yang tell you the principle behind this?”
Cheng Yaojin: " It's not just the principle of making steel. He even told me the principle of turning iron into steel. Unfortunately, I don't quite understand."”
"Oh?" Li Shimin raised his eyebrows. What did he say?"
" He told me that the reason why iron became steel was because it wasn't pure iron, but a mixture of iron and carbon.”
"It's called…yes, iron-carbon alloy!”
"He said that if the carbon content in iron exceeds 2%, it is cast iron.”Iron casting was the pig iron of the future.
"If the iron content is less than 0.002%, it is wrought iron.”
"Between two ten-thousandths and two percent is steel.”
Li Shi Min frowned." Interesting. Does that mean that iron doesn't get better the more it's refined? If it's refined too much, it will become the kind of wrought iron we often see?"”
"That's what he said."
Li Shimin: " That's strange. Logically speaking, the process of forging is the process of removing the dross.”
"Since the carbon content of wrought iron is so low, shouldn't it be easy to make steel? Why was it so difficult for the Ministry of Works and the supervisor to make steel?”
"In the past dynasties, there were not many steel weapons.”
Cheng Yaojin: " This…Fang Yang said that there are too many impurities in the things we refine. Even if the carbon content is controlled well, there are too many slags and so on. There's also something about the fermentation reaction that I don't understand…"
"In short, he said that what we practiced is not called iron, but scrap metal.”
Li Shimin was speechless.
"This blast furnace can completely exclude the slag from the refining process?”
Cheng Yaojin shook his head." Even if we exclude them, we won't eliminate all of them. The molten iron is still very mixed."”
"Doesn't that mean we still have to beat him?" "Then what's the use of this method?"”
Cheng Yaojin: " According to Fang Yang, if we use this method to make steel, the molten steel will be completely burned out, and the impurities will directly float to the surface of the molten steel after the molten steel is formed.”
"So, it's pure steel down there?" Li Shiming raised his eyebrows. Was it similar to those great craftsmen in history who had spent their entire lives forging hundreds and thousands of steel?”
"It should be." "We'll know when it's out of the oven."”
A small soldier who was supervising the manufacturing ran over."General, the crucible is about to produce molten steel.”
"Oh?" "Your Majesty, let's take a closer look."”
When the soldier heard Cheng Yaojin call Li Shimin His Majesty, he immediately widened his eyes and knelt down on one knee.
Li Shimin: " Stand up. You don't have to be so polite to wear armor. Besides, you have an important position. You don't have to worry about me."”
"Your Majesty, I don't have any important position. My main job is to protect the safety of the workers here…"
"Let's watch the molten steel then." Li Shiming waved his hand with a smile.”
On the other side of the crucible, the mechanism was opened.
A raging fire instantly ignited on it.
The crucible could be used to make steel because it was sealed inside.
Moreover, under high temperatures, the iron would be reduced by the oxygen reaction, which would change the properties of the iron.
The moment the crucible was opened, the impurities on the surface of the molten steel immediately burned under the intense high temperature.
One could see with the naked eye that the surface layer of the molten steel was much darker than the one below.
"Hurry up and follow the instructions in the secret manual. Remove the impurities on the surface and then cast the steel block!" Cheng Yaojin shouted.”
Many workers got busy.
Everyone used long poles to push the crucible over.
The molten steel in the crucible instantly flowed into the stone trough.
At the end of the stone trough, small molds were waiting for the molten steel to flow out.
One by one, a standardized cast steel body with a fixed appearance was formed.
In the air, the scorching heat waves churned and distorted the air.
One by one, the molds were caught by the big clamp and lifted away.
Everyone waited for the steel body to condense.
A sharp-eyed worker saw that the first steel ingot was no longer burning red.
Then, it turned black and bright.
"General! Success! Steel was steel! Black and bright, it must be steel!"
Li Shi Min couldn't care less and went forward,"I'll take a look."
"Be careful, Your Majesty."”
When everyone heard this, they immediately cupped their hands and bowed.
Those soldiers all knelt down on one knee.
Li Shimin: " Everyone, stand up. You guys do what you need to do.”
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Everyone was shocked. Why would the emperor suddenly come to our newly opened ironworks?
Li Shi Min looked at the steel ingot and couldn't help but click his tongue,"It should be steel.”
"Men, take a hammer and smash this steel ingot to see if it's hard.”
The workers hurriedly pushed the mold down and let the steel ingot fall out.
"Your Majesty, don't touch it. Although this steel ingot is no longer fiery red, it's still hotter than a pot of oil.”
One of the workers knew how to quench." The temperature is so low. It won't produce a quenching effect even if you put it into water. You can use water to lower the temperature.”
Everyone took some water and poured it down.
After two or three buckets of water were poured down, the temperature was no longer high.
One of the stronger ones used all his strength to pick up the steel ingot and put it on a huge rock.
"Hammer, come here!"
"I'll do it!" Pei Xingjian said.
"Commander Pei, you must examine it carefully."”
Pei Xingjian mustered all his strength.”
"Bang!"
The hammer fell.
The hammer exploded.
A rock bounced off the boulder.
The hammerhead was slightly deformed and even cracked.
Cast iron was different from real pig iron.
Especially since this was not a weapon-grade cast iron. It had not been forged for a long time to remove the impurities, so it cracked directly.
As for the steel ingot, there was no change at all. Only a white mark was left on the surface.
"Good steel!" It was so hard. If it was made into a weapon, it would definitely be powerful!”
"My Great Tang!" Li Shi Min laughed. Invincible!"
"Long live Your Majesty!" they shouted.”
Li Shimin: Fang Yang is really amazing!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。