Chapter 141 Steel Blast Furnace

The sky above Hsinchu is filled with the sweet aroma of sugar, the strong aroma of rice, and the aroma of various smoked foods, rice wine, and sugarcane wine.

If there are gods in the past, they will certainly be attracted by these aromas and stop.

Many people who grew up in Hsinchu, when recalling their childhood, will mention a fruit in unison.

Sugarcane!

Sugarcane, a semi-annual herbaceous new plant, is mostly used for food and sugar pressing, and has certain medical effects.

At the same time, sugarcane is also one of the three major supporting industries in Hsinchu. Together with the salt industry and the textile industry, it is known as the three major gold nuggets in Hsinchu, the most profitable gold nuggets.

In May and June in summer, the air in Hsinchu will be filled with waves of sweet sugarcane.

That's because the mill industrial area located next to the canal has started a crushing season. A large number of sugarcanes from Hsinchu and sugarcanes sent from Ryukyu were crushed to pieces by the steel press, draining the last bit of juice from the body.

The children who were on summer vacation in the school followed the sweet smell and came quietly, lying outside the high wall, greedily breathing in the free sweet fragrance.

If there are parents working inside, when the process is idle, they will send two or three fresh Ryukyu sugarcanes to these little guys to taste.

See if the sugarcane produced in Ryukyu is really good.

The children who have tasted it said that this sugarcane is crisper and more juicy than before, with less slag.

This is no wonder. Hsinchu has sent more than a dozen masters to teach the sugarcane planting in Ryukyu this summer. In addition, Ryukyu is located at the junction of the temperate zone and the subtropical zone, with high temperature and high rainfall, and is the best production base for sugarcane.

If Ryukyu's sugarcane can't compete with Hsinchu, Qin Hao will definitely hang the Ryukyu King and his son on the city wall.

Don't doubt it, Qin Hao definitely has such strength.

Before leaving Ryukyu, he left three teams of 60 people. Later, he thought it was still unsafe, so he transferred a battalion of soldiers from Keelung, more than 1,000 people, to garrison.

It can be said that Qin Hao is the de facto King of Ryukyu, while Shangren and Shangyi are just puppets in public.

Compared with the greed and fun of children, the older children may have seen more and more, which makes them more enthusiastic about the soldiers' training.

After school, fifty or sixty little adults gathered sparsely beside a parade ground in Hsinchu to watch the training of the new recruits who had just joined the army.

They learned in a very good manner, and some of them held bamboo sticks of different lengths in their hands, imitating the movements of the recruits on the parade ground, and occasionally laughed at the slow reaction and clumsy and wrong movements of the new recruits.

The soldiers on the parade ground and the shooting range did not notice these little rascals who dared to laugh at the new recruits of Shuntian Camp. Now their attention was focused on the training in front of them by the ruthless instructors.

As new recruits of Shuntian Camp, each of them is the most vigorous young man in each village. With the determination to make achievements and bring honor to their ancestors, they are expressing their own momentum in the sound of killing and shouting.

In the distance, in the mountainous area near the Bazidou coalfield, the flames are soaring into the sky, day and night, and the smoke and dust mixed in the flames are enough to make the gods cough and cry, and stop at the sight.

"My lord, this is our test blast furnace!"

After several months of construction, testing, and re-construction, Li Chun and hundreds of craftsmen have worked day and night, and the test blast furnace has been running smoothly.

Today, Qin Hao was specially invited to come and ask him to review the results.

"Will the operation of the blast furnace affect Hsinchu?" Qin Hao, who had just come out of the beautiful and quiet environment of Hsinchu, was afraid that the blast furnace area not far away would destroy that beauty.

Such things are not uncommon in later generations. Steel plants are built in residential areas, sewage treatment plants are built next to schools, and people are angry. Qin Hao does not want the people of Hsinchu to suffer like this.

"My Lord, don't worry. Bazidou is 50 kilometers away from Hsinchu and is downwind. The exhaust gas emissions from the blast furnace will not drift there. Moreover, we have designed the coking pool together with the blast furnace. In this way, the heat generated by coking can also be used to warm the furnace, and waste can be utilized. It kills two birds with one stone and reduces the output of waste, wastewater, and waste residue."

Li Chun, the head of metallurgy, always tends to enter a state of selflessness when talking about things in his industry.

This seems to be a common problem among technicians, but Qin Hao is not surprised by it. Sometimes, he quickly enters this state and engages in fierce arguments or even quarrels with these people.

"This experimental blast furnace can now produce 530 tons of iron per furnace, which is hundreds of times stronger than the previous small furnace. However, a big-bellied man eats a lot." As if talking about his own son, Li Chun described the unlicensed small blast furnace in front of him with a doting expression and tone, which is an absolute target for crackdown and abolition in the 21st century.

"We have done experimental calculations. Basically, for every ton of steel produced, one ton of coke is consumed. If the amount of coal consumed in coking is taken into account, almost two tons of coal are consumed for every ton of steel produced. However, even so, it is still cheaper than the previous small furnace ironmaking.

But it is not without disadvantages. First, the amount of coal consumed every day is huge, and the number of mining personnel must increase several times. Second, the number of craftsmen and technicians on each furnace must be increased to prevent accidents. Calculated by this furnace alone, the steel produced each time is enough for our military and civilians to consume."

"But what I don't understand is that since the previous light steel manufacturing can already meet various needs from casting artillery, armor and swords in military camps to civilian kitchen knives, why do we have to go to such great lengths to make steel?"

In front of many craftsmen, Li Chun still spoke frankly.

A science and engineering man is a science and engineering man.

Indeed, the quantity of light steel used to be enough to control half a million households, and could even be exported.

But, here's the problem.

"Li Chun, you don't know that our army will soon fight the Japanese shogunate, and we need a huge number of swords, guns, swords and halberds.

Also, we sent a lot of equipment to Zheng Zhilong and the Saga family in Kyushu. If we don't develop some new skills, they will be able to imitate them in a short time. Over time, our strengths have turned into weaknesses. This is So what? "

This is technical reserve, a common trick used by the old and the United States today. They sell backward equipment to those in need and let them pay for the research of new equipment. This forms a closed loop and is always three or two steps ahead of others.

"If my lord must open a blast furnace area, the amount of coal will inevitably increase, and the manpower consumption will be huge!" Li Chun still looked at the problem from his own point of view, which is also the worry of many craftsmen in the Bazidou Coalfield.

At present, the entire island of Taiwan has just over 500,000 households and more than 2 million people. If we increase mining, we will inevitably have to use labor force, which is not worth it.

"Hahaha, Li Chun, you only know one but not the other." Qin Hao argued with a smile. "Now, I only hope that you can use more coal and produce more steel to make artillery, swords and guns."

"Can you please help me clarify my doubts?" Li Chun asked.

"The reason is very simple. Since you are prolific in weapons here, shouldn't I be able to capture more prisoners for you on the battlefield in Japan?" Qin Hao prompted, "Japanese prisoners are very hard-working. When the war begins, Whatever you want, I’ll give you double.”

Hearing this, Li Chun suddenly realized and looked at Qin Hao with admiration, as if he had met a peerless master.

"Master Li Chun, this is the first one, as for the second one" Gu Cheng, who was in charge of land reclamation matters, looked at Qin Hao with a smile.

Knowing that Gu Cheng wanted to show his face, Qin Hao didn't stop him. In fact, he didn't want any other benefits from iron-making.

After receiving the favor, Gu Cheng started to talk about the second point: "Li Gong, do you know what the price of rice is this year? How is the price of oil? What about the price of wine, meat, and vegetables derived from this second price?" ?”

"These things are taken care of by the housekeeper at home and the general affairs in the factory, but a certain family doesn't know about it." Li Chun answered Gu Cheng's question honestly.

"Don't make fun of Gong Li, he is a kind man."

"Gong Li, colleagues, after the coal is coked, the coke and iron ore are burned together. In addition to steel, what is obtained is residues such as coal ash.

What bothers Li Gong is my treasure.

After fly ash is mixed with pure alkaline, the result is the most fertile land, especially when used in barren land.

After the advent of precious fertilizer, we made a rough calculation and found that more than 5 million acres of newly opened wasteland were reached.

Not to mention the original land and such sharp tools, how could the rice, oil, meat, and vegetables not be cheap?

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of acres of dry land are used by merchants to grow sugar cane. Because rice is cheap, some people want to plant sugar cane and other things to make more money. It is thanks to this thing that we can have such a low-cost Mijia! "

"How much should be sown per acre of land?" Li Chun asked curiously.

"To make base fertilizer, you need at least thirty kilograms per mu of land. If you want good results, you need fifty kilograms to one hundred kilograms. If it exceeds one hundred kilograms, the seedlings will be burned. According to the current number of acres, five kilograms are needed. Ten thousand kilograms of coal ash is just enough. So, no matter how much coke you consume here, it won’t be enough.”

Gu Cheng straightened his clothes and bowed deeply to Li Chun, "Gu Cheng would like to represent hundreds of thousands of settlers and millions of people. Thank you very much, Li Gong!"

"I don't dare to accept this courtesy. It's all thanks to the Lord." Li Chun hurriedly returned the courtesy to Gu Cheng, and then bowed to Qin Hao.

"It's all thanks to the lord!" The surrounding craftsmen and miners also started a chain reaction with Li Chun, prostrating together and shouting in unison.

"Okay, let's all get up. Say what you need to say and don't be so pretentious." Although he was scolding, his work on his hands did not stop at all. He helped Li Chun, Gu Cheng and others up and nodded. .

Although he was said to be obsessed with technology, Li Chun was not a hard-headed person. He suddenly remembered something, "My lord, in the past, when we made coke, except for the coke, what we got was tar. If there was no grass ash falling into it, it would be stained. I don't know how to send it." Where can I use it?"

The raw material of Hsinchu dye is a kind of dye used for textile dyeing, mostly plant extracts such as plant fruits and tree sap.

But the tar Li Chun mentioned can actually achieve the effect of dyeing cloth, and most of it is extracted from natural chemicals.

Tar textile dyes have good coloring properties, are not easy to fade, and are not easy to fade when washed.

After the textile is colored, the feel will not change much and will not harden.

However, the color is less bright and saturated than natural dyes.

"This item is sent to the Hsinchu Textile Workshop and can be used to print and dye cloth." Qin Hao explained.

"Sir, I heard that Zheng Zhilong of Xiamen transported a thousand Sanhe horses? It is said that this horse is very powerful and good at pulling carts?" Knowing that the matter of coal manpower has taken shape, Li Chun began to care about the transportation capacity issue again.

"Yes, there are a thousand horses, three hundred horses, and seven hundred horses. However, you guys, don't make any decisions about these horses for the time being! I want the faction to use them."

"Lord! I don't want more! Give me a hundred horses, and I can save thousands of people!" Li Chun was still a little unwilling to give up.

One hundred horses?

You are really a lion with a big mouth!

"The heat is up!" someone shouted in front of the furnace, obviously the molten steel was about to come out of the furnace.

As it happened, Qin Hao didn't bother to refuse, so he took a few people to observe the molten iron.

"My lord and ladies, please put on your glasses to prevent damage to your eyesight!" Several servants in the metallurgical workshop held a wooden tray in their hands, which contained a pair of black goggles.

Historically, kiln burning, forging, metallurgy, etc., in addition to physical damage, also caused damage to the eyes. In order to protect their eyes, kiln workers in many places specially worshiped the Tearful Empress and prayed to her to protect the eyesight of believers from or Less damage.

In fact, science has proven that shedding tears can really prevent blindness, and they were not wrong.

In future generations, when the construction site starts, it is not necessary to congratulate and offer sacrifices. This is the blood and blood passed down in the culture and is indelible.

When metallurgical, ceramics, glass and other workshops were first established, the directors forwarded the kiln workers' request to build temples for worship.

As a person who has accepted modern industrial production, Qin Hao himself naturally does not believe in any category of empress. However, Qin Hao has reservations about these cultural sacrifices to gods and gods. He neither approves nor bans them. As long as nothing happens, he will let them go. go.

At the beginning of glass production, in addition to the decolorization and transparency of glass, another requirement of Qin Hao was how to produce black glass.

Firing and decolorizing glass is not difficult. Under Qin Hao's prompts, Li Chun led the craftsmen to add potassium nitrate, the crystal that precipitated after boiling plant ash and saltpeter and cooling, as a decolorizing agent for the glass.

When the glass is fired into a semi-liquid state, stir continuously to remove the bubbles, then add the decolorizing agent potassium permanganate to complete the decolorization process through oxidation. (Although the optical glass produced using this technology is not as good as the products of the 21st century, it was still an amazing technology in the 17th century!

After the glass was fired into a liquid state, through the gravity of the glass itself, the concave and convex lenses made quietly became clairvoyance in the hands of officers at all levels, and also became the lenses of microscopes.

By the way, the famous Dutch scientist Leeuwenhoek used gravity lenses to deceive the world into saying that he obtained them through grinding. Such a simple method actually deceived the world for hundreds of years!

This is so weird!

Finally, the craftsmen carefully added various pigments such as patina and black paint one by one, and the glass began to show different colors, which were basically consistent with the added pigments.

Soon the first black goggles were produced.

As for the use of goggles, the bosses of these various workshops have naturally heard about it, but they don't quite understand the mystery. They only know that the Lord is considerate of his subordinates and ordered people to make this thing with great effort. Moreover, the goggles are registered and numbered by the craftsmen one by one, and stored in their personal lockers with great care. If anyone loses them, they will inevitably be scolded by the foreman.

This is what my lord made with so much painstaking effort. You kid is damned and unlucky.

Qin Hao didn't know whether it was okay or not.

"Get ready to start the furnace!" Accompanied by a hoarse shout, everyone hurriedly put on their goggles and stared at the blast furnace in the distance without blinking.

A few strong men used iron hooks to open the furnace door, and waves of heat rushed towards them. Even though everyone was ten meters away, they were suddenly sweating profusely and extremely hot.

As the furnace door opened, sparks of steel suddenly dazzled and sparks flew everywhere. Everyone did not care to marvel, but just stared at what they had never dared to think about in their dreams before.

Pieces of still smoking steel ingots were carried in front of everyone, "Lord, gentlemen, this is this furnace of steel!"

"Everyone, what do you think of blast furnace steelmaking?" At the banquet celebrating the success of the metallurgical workshop, Qin Hao held a wine glass and looked at the people around him with a smile.

"My lord is so smart! I can't wait to catch him!" Everyone raised their glasses together and laughed endlessly.

"Hey! Don't brag, I'm covered in steel ingots, how many nails can I drive? It's all thanks to you guys!"

"Sir, I have a piece of advice that I would like to share with all my colleagues." Ge Yihan, who was in charge of shipbuilding, stood up and raised his wine glass to toast Qin Hao.

"That is, what the lord says, those who understand it must be implemented, and those who do not understand must implement it. In the process of implementation, you will understand it!" Ge Yihan drank the wine glass in one gulp, turned it over and took a look at the glass to everyone.

"That day, my lord ordered me to lay a layer of brass below the waterline of the Wansheng. To be honest, I am quite dissatisfied! I feel that my lord is a waste of nature! Use good brass to cover the bottom of the ship!

However, the navy's ships have been undergoing maintenance recently. Basically, there are no shellfish attached to the bottom of the lord's ship, let alone aquatic plants growing!

Such a ship's speed does not slow down in the water!

As for the other ships, to be honest, they cost me my life. I want to take the big guys and clean up those nasty guys attached to the bottom of the ship bit by bit!

All in all, the money and food cost is no less than covering the bottom of the ship with copper! And it needs to be cleaned every year! "

"Old Ge, you've been chatting there for a long time. Do you want the lord to give you money and food so that you can cover all the naval gunboats with copper?"

"Of course!" Ge Yihan drank a drink happily. He looked at Qin Hao in the main seat with bright eyes. Not only was he watching, but the naval officers present were also looking forward to it.

"As long as it can be solved with money and food, it is not a problem!" Qin Hao's words made the naval generals present burst into cheers.

Yes! Everyone knows that what Keelung lacks now is money and food.

"Everyone, listen to me, don't say I'm smart, I just dare to think and do more than you.

So, you can also be smart people, as long as you dare to think! Dare to experiment, I think you are all smart people!"

"Yes!"

Qin Hao's words made the whole banquet happy.

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