The Prodigal Son of the Empire

[Author's Digression]: Today is five thousand words, and the banknotes are smashed

Chapter 2 Iron Smelting by Ground Furnace

A new conspiracy started again, Wang Kang naturally didn't know about it.

After the "Mountain God" incident, the staff of all parties were more motivated, and Wang Kang was also very generous in eating.

Daily high-intensity work, it is not enough to keep up with food, so Wang Kang hired women in the city to cook at the construction site.

Xinfeng County itself is barren and lacks food, and the food brought by Wang Kang obviously cannot supply such a large demand, so what should we do?

At this time, the good relationship established between Wang Kang and the Jinyu Chamber of Commerce played a role, and a large amount of meat and vegetables were delivered.

Not only that, but the equipment and wood needed for construction on the construction site are also purchased from the Jinyu Chamber of Commerce.

And in order to facilitate transportation, the Jinyu Chamber of Commerce also funded the leveling of the Erdaogou path from Xinfeng County to Yangzhou City.

Because, Wang Kang is now the largest customer of their Jinyu Chamber of Commerce.

In the past few days, with the participation of Li Zheng and others, the first set of ground furnace equipment was finally built.

As the name suggests, the hearth is built underground. Wang Kang walked down, and it was a huge space excavated, in which two tall hearths were built.

Each hearth is nearly three meters high and nearly two meters in diameter. This scale can be said to be quite large.

There are platform stairs built on both sides of the hearth, which can go straight to the top, and there is a sealed circular passage directly connecting to the next hearth.

This is the result of several days of labor. It looks like two huge cylindrical barrels on the outside, but there is something else inside.

The inner and outer walls of the hearth are built with refractory bricks, and are sealed with high-alumina-alumina mixed clay, so that the whole hearth is completely sealed and the heat is difficult to dissipate.

There are two blowers on both sides of the hearth. It is said to be a blower, but it is actually an advanced version of the bellows, just Wang Kang called it that.

It is smaller than the bellows, and there is actually no difference from the outside, but the structure inside is very complicated. The biggest difference is that this blower is not a hand-pulled type, but a foot-operated type.

This design can save a lot of effort than hand pulling, and the efficiency can also be improved.

And its wind power and continuity are much greater than traditional bellows.

This is the biggest improvement. We must know that people in this era are still using the most primitive bellows, and the air filling technology is backward, which requires a lot of manpower to accumulate.

It takes a long time to smelt a furnace of iron, and it is particularly tiring...

When Wang Kang walked down, several craftsmen were already making preparations.

They laid charcoal in the hearth, and on top of the charcoal were neatly arranged iron ore, so that the entire hearth was filled.

Since the floor furnace designed by Wang Kang has layers of construction inside, and there are gaps between each layer, ventilation is not a problem at all.

After the preparations are completed, the ignition is about to start. This is also very simple, because there is a special ignition port under this new type of hearth.

"This design is still useful." Li Zheng, who was watching from the side, nodded in praise.

After several contacts, they also participated in the construction of the hearth furnace. Although they didn't think that Wang Kang could smelt something harder than iron, they didn't despise it as before.

Because some aspects of this furnace are indeed worth learning, especially the various structures inside the furnace, which are far more complicated than conventional furnaces.

Some places even they can't understand.

It can be seen that the fire in the furnace has been lit, and the craftsmen on both sides have started to step on the blower to pour air into the furnace one by one.

The mouth of the blower is a cylinder made of animal skin, which is directly connected to the air inlet of the hearth furnace, so as to ensure the maximum utilization of wind power.

"Master Kang, is this the new type of bellows you made? This pedal type is a good invention, and it doesn't take much effort when they use it." Master Xi asked from the side.

"Well," Wang Kang nodded in response. The inside of this bellows is complicated. The transmission part is equipped with gears, and the gears are made of wood.

When in use, there will definitely be wear and tear, and the life span is very short. After a period of use, it needs to be replaced, but this is also an unavoidable thing.

Under the current conditions, it is definitely impossible to make iron gears.

Wang Fuchen asked, "Master Kang, are you really sure you can melt iron into molten iron?"

This is a big difficulty in ironmaking. The temperature of the molten iron must reach at least [-] degrees, which is very difficult to achieve.

For example, the ironmaking bureau of the Smelting Bureau basically burns iron ore into pig iron, and then continues to smelt it, and sometimes it will appear in a liquid state.

Because pig iron only needs a temperature of 1000 to [-] degrees to dissolve.

But Wang Kang wanted to directly smelt iron ore into molten iron, which is what they didn't believe.

"Just look at it."

Wang Kang smiled and didn't explain much. There was no specific temperature data in ancient times, and everything was based on experience. I'm afraid they would find it difficult to explain.

"Then we'll just wait and see!" Li Zheng said, and then the eyes of the few people turned to the furnace.

With the infusion of wind, the charcoal in the hearth began to burn rapidly, and the firepower became more and more powerful. Of course, this is invisible.

But the temperature can be felt, even though it is in the furnace insulated by refractory bricks, most of the heat is warm.

But the high temperature in this space still makes people feel like they are going to be scorched, and the heat wave hits their faces.

"Why is the temperature so high?"

Li Zheng said in surprise, now that the outside of the stove feels like this, what about the inside?

Wang Kang smiled lightly and said nothing, because not only charcoal was used as fuel in the stove, but also coke, which was an additional harvest discovered when digging iron ore.

Coke is the main raw material in modern iron smelting and steelmaking, which is more suitable than soil charcoal and can reach higher temperatures.

Although it felt hot and uncomfortable, there was excitement in Wang Kang's eyes, because this was hosted by him, and it was a milestone progress in this era.

The progress is still going on, and the craftsmen of Gufeng have changed. They are bare-chested, all of them are generous, and they are replaced in turn.

"Master Kang, the temperature here is too high, do you want to go out and wait?" At this time, a craftsman who was promoted to be a foreman came over and asked.

"It's okay, I'll just wait here." Wang Kang said, these craftsmen are more motivated with him, and he also wants to witness the production of steel with his own eyes.

The temperature was getting higher and higher, like a big steamer, Li Zheng looked at Wang Kang in surprise.

Didn't that mean he was a rich young man?How can it withstand such an environment?

In the past few days, they also specially inquired about Wang Kang, knowing Wang Kang's reputation, he is more and more a prodigal son, no wonder the bet of [-] gold coins was agreed without blinking...

It is because of this that they are confused. Wang Kang's behavior is not like a prodigal at all.

Even the few of them took off their coats at this moment, and Wang Kang's forehead was covered with sweat, but he didn't move at all. His perseverance was amazing.