I am the king of the dead

The cell is a masonry structure, and only the cell door is made of logs.

"I...had expected it a long time ago." Liu An recalled Zhu Qiyu's question, and bowed his head to answer.

Zhu Qiyu nodded seriously, looked at Liu An, and asked with a smile, "General Liu, how many bowls of rice do you eat a day now?"

Liu An blinked, why did he suddenly ask such a thing?He hesitated and said, "I can eat five bowls of rice a day."

"You can eat if you can. Among the nine gates, Dongzhimen lacks a guard. Yu Qian recommended you. Since you can still eat, you can rest in prison for a few days and then come out to work." Zhu Qiyu stood up and turned to leave.

"Ah?" Liu An immediately realized what was going on. He bowed his head to the ground and shouted loudly, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for not killing Long En, and I will not insult your ruler!"

Zhu Qiyu did not let Xing'an lock the door, Xing'an returned the key to the jailer, and the jailer also understood what was going on. The emperor personally visited the courtier, and the door was not closed, so naturally it meant that it would still be used.

After Zhu Qiyu returned to the tenth regiment battalion, he wrote two edicts, one was to reprimand Liu An for leaving without permission, and the words were quite fierce, and the other was to make Liu An commit crimes.

It's not Liu An who should be damned, it's Zhu Qizhen who should be damned!

Zhu Qizhen always used his own lower limit to test his loyal subjects, and finally drove his subjects to his Zhu Qiyu's command.

When the two armies were at war, Liu An could put down the hanging basket and go to the city to send money to Zhu Qizhen. Isn't this loyalty?

But Zhu Qizhen forced Liu An to go to the capital to plead guilty.

Zhu Qiyu continued to deal with the official documents. After getting up at [-]:[-] every morning, after processing some notes, he began to train with the sergeants, especially the use of fire guns.

Until after breakfast, I rest for an hour, and I am also dealing with the sparseness.

The training in the morning mainly focused on physical fitness, and after lunch, he was training on horseback, archery and various orders of the army. After a busy afternoon, when the sun went down, he began to deal with the memorials that Xing'an brought from Wenyuan Pavilion.

More than [-]% of them are all kinds of flattering greetings, and after a few times of three orders and five applications, these greetings finally disappeared.

What is it like to be a king?

A few words can decide the life and death of countless people;

If you don't send a few notes during your stay, you can make the most powerful people in Quan Daming sleepless;

All Daming is supporting him with food and clothing;

Even if he is a concubine emperor, he still feels what is called supreme power.

He noticed a few problems and asked Xing'an to write it on the memo, and he would deal with it after the Oara people were repelled.

"Your Majesty, Queen Wang sent someone to ask, is it time to go back to the manor to rest?" Xing An asked in a low voice, seeing Zhu Qiyu yawning.

"I live in the Tenth Regiment Camp today. Before the battle is over, I don't need to ask again." Zhu Qiyu stood up and walked towards the cubicle.

He came to the cubicle, which was his laboratory.

To be precise, in his previous life, he was in an era of information explosion, and there were countless useful and useless information in his mind. In those eras, the seemingly useless information was still very useful in 1449 in the Ming Dynasty.

For example, the paper-packed gunpowder before, such as the formula of sulfur, two nitrates and three charcoal in his memory, such as his current tool ruler and vernier caliper.

A measuring tool that can measure length, inner and outer diameter, and depth. When Zhu Qiyu talked about this with Yu Qian, Yu Qian immediately knew what Zhu Qiyu wanted.

Because Daming also has a vernier caliper, called the copper fish caliper. According to rumors, it was invented by Wang Mang of the new dynasty. Later, it was widely used in the production of military weapons, which can measure the length, inner and outer diameter and depth.

Zhu Qiyu added a vernier to the copper fish caliper, made a vernier caliper, and determined the operation process.

He and Yu Qian have been busy with one thing during this period of time, which is to plan Daming's weapons and equipment, and make ordnance become standard equipment.

Standard equipment, there must be a standard, the size of the ordnance, specifications, the weight of the weapon, the line and so on.

The most important thing is to determine the caliber of the main firearms such as various large and small general guns, sub-munition guns, long guns, hand guns and so on.

Only when it is determined can we do quality control and unified adaptation before mass production.

On this point, Zhu Qiyu and Yu Qian's views are very consistent.

In the process of weapon standardization, Zhu Qiyu and Yu Qian finally had to face an important problem, that is, the material of the weapon was not enough.

To be more precise, it is the lack of steel.

There are a lot of iron materials, but the carbon content is too high and it is very brittle. It is not suitable for ordnance. The production of ordnance is difficult, and the ordnance cannot be standardized. These imminent ordnance dilemmas go around, in fact, the material is too bad.

Even the fluffing device invented by Zhu Qiyu could not be installed in large quantities, and there was a shortage of steel, especially high-quality steel.

Hand-made reeds are very useful, but time-consuming and labor-intensive. Before the war, even the Jinyiwei was stretched thin.

Steel, this is the biggest problem facing Zhu Qiyu.

What should I do to get a piece of steel?

Thousands of tempering, repeated annealing, and beating impurities can get a piece of steel.

Daming's method of frying steel is also very skilled, but there are still many impurities, which need to be annealed and beaten.

After some investigation, Yu Qian and Zhu Qiyu determined the reason, that is, the temperature in the furnace was too low. In order to solve this problem, Zhu Qiyu and Yu Qian racked their brains.

After several improvements, Zhu Qiyu's blast furnace finally landed.

The furnace he designed was similar to that of Daming's iron-smelting furnace, but in addition to the main furnace, his furnace also had auxiliary furnaces.

"Xing'an, is today the day when the furnace is opened?" Zhu Qiyu suddenly asked loudly as he fiddled with the glass utensils in his hands.

Xing'an walked in from outside and asked loudly, "It's tomorrow, Your Majesty."

"Oh, my memory is mixed up." Zhu Qiyu realized that he had made a mistake. He stood up and said, "Go to the Jingtai furnace and see."

Cloisonne furnace is the name given by Yu Qian. It is simple and rude. The furnace invented during the Jingtai period and the furnace invented by Emperor Jingtai are about the same as cloisonne.

Zhu Qiyu walked out of the tenth regiment battalion in the dark and rode to the Wang Gong factory.

Wang Gong Factory is the largest arsenal in Daming. It is the main production area of ​​Daming gunpowder. It produces two tons of gunpowder per day.

The Jingtai furnace is located in the corner of the arsenal.

Zhu Qiyu stood under the stove nearly two feet high and looked at the huge brick stove.

This is where the bright blueprint he built in his heart begins!

A multi-person cooperating blower box, a piston-type wooden bellows, two air inlets and one air outlet, and the air inlet is provided with a valve, which is opened and closed to achieve the purpose of blowing.

But Zhu Qiyu's multi-person collaborative blower is different from the traditional bellows in that it has an air duct.

The direction of the air duct connection is the matching furnace of the Jingtai furnace. The air is divided into three sections for preheating, and then enters the blast box through the air duct, which is blown by the blast box and enters the furnace through the air eye of the furnace.

This is done to raise the temperature in the furnace as much as possible.

Zhu Qiyu stood under the Jingtai furnace and carefully checked the application of refractory bricks and refractory soil in the furnace, especially the pre-baked and dried front bag.

After he checked it again, he saw a figure not far away, took a closer look, and laughed.

He stepped forward: "Yu Shangshu."

"Your Majesty! Please see Your Majesty, Your Majesty is holy." Yu Qian was so excited that he didn't notice Zhu Qiyu, and hurriedly returned the salute when he heard the voice.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was haunted every day, and it was frightening.

Chapter 41 Truth comes from practice

"No gift, no gift."

Zhu Qiyu asked with a smile, "Is Yu Shangshu worried?"

"That's not true. It's just that Your Majesty, the minister was just about to lie down when he remembered that he hadn't inspected the gunpowder barracks yet. A little careless storage of gunpowder could cause a catastrophe. Millions of kilograms of gunpowder were stored, and the minister came to take a look."

"It just happens that the furnace will open tomorrow, so I came over to have a look, and I met Your Majesty." Yu Qian said with a smile, then immediately thought of something, and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, I actually have something to say."

"Oh? What's wrong?" Zhu Qiyu was taken aback, looking at Yu Qian's solemn expression, and asked suspiciously.

Yu Qian hesitated to speak, so he could only whisper: "Actually, Your Majesty, the old masters of Wang Gongchang said, Your Majesty's method is effective, but it may not be able to make steel tomorrow, and what you can get is white iron. not steel."

White iron?

Yu Qian motioned to the craftsman standing next to him to bring a piece of iron and said, "That's it. Most of the burning coal comes from Xishan. Even if it is washed and selected, it is still not hot enough."

"The craftsmen mentioned a method. Some time ago, the walls were clear, and the wood in the city was piled up like mountains. If you can use wood to burn charcoal, and then use charcoal as the base material, it can be hotter."

"This piece of white iron is the white iron obtained by craftsmen using charcoal fired from wood as the base material to smelt."

Yu Qian handed the white iron in his hand to Zhu Qiyu. Zhu Qiyu took it and looked at it for a long time. The fracture was silvery white, but it was still pig iron, not wrought iron.

Wrought iron is actually another name for iron and steel.

Yu Qian sighed and said, "But there is more firewood burning in the city, so how can there be so much charcoal for Wang Gongchang to use? This method is faster, but more expensive."

The craftsmen of Wang Gong Factory are not without pioneering spirit. They have already begun to explore the use of charcoal for steelmaking in the era when there was no thermometer.

Coupled with Zhu Qiyu's bellows, it is possible to directly make steel.

"Then burn a stove with charcoal tomorrow." Zhu Qiyu affirmed Qian's statement. He asked Xing'an to pack him a bag of washed coal and prepare to go back to study.

Yu Qian bowed in front of the Jingtai furnace to say goodbye.

Zhu Qiyu looked at Yu Qian's back.

Similar to Zhuge Liang, Yu Qian was ordered to be in danger when the army was defeated.

When Zhuge Liang was ordered by Liu Bei's army to defeat Yiling and the guest died in Baidi City, the Shu Han at that time was in turmoil.

At this time, Yu Qian was ordered to be in the predicament of the new mourning of the Sixth Division and the capture of the Daming Emperor. Daming was also plagued by disasters, the southeast uprising, the southwest rebellion, and the tile razor.

However, Yu Qian was also looking at Zhu Qiyu's back in the dark. At this time, he came to have a look. It was really a blessing for Daming, and it was the right time for Mingjun.

In the afternoon of the next day, Zhu Qiyu looked at the iron blocks with great annoyance. They were still all white iron. They were a little bit closer to steel, but they were still pig iron, which was not suitable for weapons.

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty ingeniously got along with the idea of ​​hot blasting to further increase the furnace temperature. When the molten iron splashed out from the front bag, the bright yellow that was as hot as the sun made people couldn't help cheering.

When everyone thought that Daming finally had a way to make steel directly, the craftsmen were so enthusiastic, they turned on the furnace and poured cast iron ingots, regardless of the hot molten iron, they were disappointed to find out.

The oven temperature is adequate, but not quite enough.

All iron ingots, without exception, are white iron, of course it is infinitely close to steel, but it is not steel.

They surrounded the iron ingot and looked at Zhu Qiyu blankly. Zhu Qiyu held an iron ingot with residual warmth in his hand.

For white iron, Zhu Qiyu, ignoring the heat, squatted on the ground and checked all the iron ingots, all of which were white iron.

These white irons are better than all the white irons of Wang Gong factory, with very few impurities.

However, changing from iron to steel still requires extremely cumbersome steps, such as thousands of tempering, or re-melting and frying steel. These two methods undoubtedly increase a great deal of cost and time.

where is the problem?

Zhu Qiyu stood up and looked around at the bewildered craftsmen for a week.

For more than ten days, Zhu Qiyu has been studying the matter of steelmaking, and he has put forward a lot of practical opinions. He also has great expectations for this steelmaking. With the amount of information, steelmaking is still not an easy task?

But the reality told him that there was still no steel.

Yu Qian tentatively comforted: "Your Majesty, this white iron is extremely wear-resistant and can be used on farm implements for ploughshares."

"What can we make now? We can make tables, chairs, stools, teapots and bowls, and simple farm tools to grow food. What else can we do?" Zhu Qiyu took a deep breath and asked back.

This is the status quo of Ming Dynasty.

Yu Qian is well-meaning, but Zhu Qiyu is not so indifferent, he is just angry with himself.

White iron is extremely wear-resistant and used on farm tools, and it is indeed a good hand, but it is not the steel he wants.

For a country, steel is its backbone.

"Is the furnace for frying steel on? I'm going to have a look!" Zhu Qiyu refused to do so, he flicked his sleeves, walked into the private house of Wang Gongchang, took off his Yishan crown, and untied the jade bundle. He took off the five-dragon gold woven robe, put on a thick linen shirt worn by the craftsmen in Wang Gong's factory, and walked out the door.

"Let's go and see, I'm going to fry the steel myself today!" Zhu Qiyu firmly believes that the truth can be practiced.

Since you have failed, you must find the reason from the failure, go to the workshop of frying steel to see it, and do it yourself.

When Zhu Qiyu brought Jinyiwei to the Fried Steel Workshop, he shocked the craftsmen who lived there. They knew that this was the emperor. After all, Zhu Qiyu had been running here every day for more than ten days.

But this is the first time they have seen the dress of this burlap shirt.

"See Your Majesty, Your Majesty Wanfu Jinan!" Several craftsmen took the lead to kneel, but Zhu Qiyu stopped them and said, "Continue to fry steel, I want to observe."

The stove was not much different from the one used by Zhu Qiyu. The molten iron flowed out of a square pond made of refractory bricks five feet away. A group of craftsmen threw the mud in the bag into the molten iron and picked up the stick next to it. Stir.

"What is this?" Zhu Qiyu picked up a handful of mud and asked in confusion.

"Dirty tide mud is the powder of iron powder and quartz stone." A craftsman replied stutteringly.

Zhu Qiyu picked up a willow stick, stood on the edge of the bricks in Fangtang, and began to learn how to stir as a craftsman.

The molten iron was very hot, and after standing on the Fangtang for a while, Zhu Qiyu was sweating, and the willow stick in his hand burned away after a while. He picked up another one and continued to stir.

Hot, Zhu Qiyu quickly understood how hot the idiom of sweating is.