Iron Powder and Spellcasters Chapter 266

   Chapter 266 Smelting Furnace

   When the three military tribunals galloped back to the smelting field, Carlos was leading the small workers to "demolition" the iron smelting furnace, and Shaosha was also there.

   Carlos's face was covered with ashes, and he sweated again. The ashes and sweat were mixed into mud, and his face was like a small cat.

   But the dirty face couldn't hide the joy of Carlos, and the little blacksmith swept away his sullen face and rushed to Winters, dancing and asking for credit: "It's done! Your lord! It's done!"

  Carlos was so excited that he couldn't even speak.

   "Shasha!" Winters summoned the middle-aged blacksmith: "Tell me."

When    Winters and old blacksmith Boltain went to Forge Country, Saosha did not follow, but stayed to look after the forge.

   It is a day at a glance, and there is no "hot metal" flowing out from early morning to dusk. Carlos was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, and Shaosha was a little distracted.

  Because they were afraid of burning the stove, the two decided to cease fire.

  They blocked all air inlets with wet cowhide, smothered the flames in the furnace, and decided to dismantle the furnace to see what was inside.

   After inspection, the outlet was blocked by solidified iron slurry and slag, and a large lump of iron wrapped around the **** stuck in the lower part of the furnace, like a dystocia baby.

  Carlos successfully extracted iron from the ore, just as the old blacksmith Boltain said, "burn charcoal and iron ore together".

  However, the little blacksmith soon encountered the second problem: the iron is there, but it is stuck in the furnace and cannot be taken out. What should I do?

   There is only one answer: tear it down!

So there was the scene in front of Winters: six or seven small workers were wielding pickaxes and hammers, sweating profusely cutting the wall; Gap.

   Knocked open the slag, and the red-hot "iron" was exposed - but at present this big piece of iron is still stuck in the hearth and cannot move, and the hole has to be expanded.

   "It was hard to build, and it was just dismantled?" Mason asked regretfully.

   Seeing the hard-built blast furnace being demolished by brute force, the senior felt very uncomfortable.

   Winters' eyebrows twitched involuntarily: "Isn't this just a large block furnace? How do I feel... it's not as good as a block furnace?!"

   "I succeeded!" The little blacksmith couldn't hear what anyone else said at all, but kept saying, "I succeeded!"

   Winters was woken up just after falling asleep, just when he was in a bad mood.

   Seeing the madness of the little blacksmith, he finally failed to hold back his anger and kicked at the latter's ass: "How did it succeed?!"

   Winters didn't exert much effort, but at this moment Carlos was like a stake, and it fell down when pushed.

   It wasn't until he fell heavily on the ground that Carlos became sober. The pressure and emotions accumulated in his heart suddenly collapsed, and he actually fell on the ground and cried.

   "How can you kick someone?" Mason rebuked: "He's not your soldier."

   "I'm not working hard." Winters was extremely aggrieved.

   Mason sighed, squatted down and patted Carlos on the shoulder: "You are almost an adult, why are you crying?"

  Winters sighed and came to the little blacksmith: "Okay, okay, I apologize to you, I shouldn't have hit people..."

   Winters hasn't apologized for a long time, and he's still a little uncomfortable.

   The blacksmith Shaosha on the side was shocked when he saw the tribune apologise to the little blacksmith.

   Going back forty years, if the master hits you, he hits you. Apologize? Want to get another slap in the face?

  The personalities of the tribune and the little blacksmith are equal - this is unimaginable for Shaosha.

   "How can this be a master? There is no majesty and demeanor that a master should have!" A voice in Shaosha said disdainfully.

   "That's how it should be! Hasn't the lord already been driven away?" Another voice in Shaosha shouted.

  No one knows the turbulence in the inner world of the middle-aged blacksmith, this is just a small episode.

   Winters and Mason helped the little blacksmith, who was still sobbing.

   "Or else." Winters thought for a while: "You kick me too? We're even?"

   Carlos burst into laughter, blowing out a big snot bubble.

   He didn't cry because he was kicked. He really accumulated too much pressure and negative emotions, and all of them turned into tears when he couldn't control it for a while. The boots on his buttocks were just the fuse.

   After all, he was only seventeen.

   And Winters inadvertently treated him as an adult, putting too much burden on Carlos' shoulders.

  Andre sneered: "This little brat, is it made of mud? It also brought out water?"

   "It's good to laugh." Wen Tesla rested on the shoulder of the little blacksmith, and there was helplessness in his words: "You... Forget it, let's talk about it when your brother comes back."

   After crying a lot and venting violently, Carlos' mental state was much better than before.

   Wiping his tears with the back of his hands, he choked and said, "I... I can really make iron, I really succeeded."

"What kind of success is this? Don't wipe it with your hands! Be careful with your eyes!" Winters took out a handkerchief and wiped the little blacksmith's tears: "To make a furnace of iron, you need to dismantle a furnace? That is, I can smelt iron at any cost. Really. If you do business, you won't have to pay for it!"

  Shaosha came back to his senses and explained from the side: "You don't need to dismantle, just dismantle a part of it. The idea of ​​Mr. Sawyer and I is to transform this iron smelting furnace and use it to refine [the bottom iron]."

   After listening to Shaosha's explanation for a long time, Winters figured out what the two blacksmiths meant - if they were wrong, they would be wrong.

   Simply put, the "Blast Furnace Dream" of Carlos and Saosha was smashed to pieces by cruel reality. The blast furnace can't be done, at least there must be a problem with this iron smelting furnace at present.

   As for what went wrong? The two blacksmiths haven't figured it out yet.

   But the iron smelting furnace that took a lot of manpower, material resources and time to build must not be wasted, right?

   So the two decided to give up their dreams and embrace reality, and they made the mistake of transforming this "blast furnace" into a [bottom blowing furnace].

  The original block smelting furnace mostly blows from the top or the waist, and the bottom blowing furnace, as the name suggests, blows from the bottom. Because the larger the furnace body, the worse the blowing effect from the top.

  The two of them are not ready to let the "hot metal flow", it is too troublesome. Simply let the smelted iron sink in the bottom of the furnace and take it out at one time, that is, "bottom iron".

  The molten iron cannot flow out by itself, so it cannot operate continuously. So every time a furnace of iron is smelted, the furnace must be dismantled. The big step backwards also have the advantage of simplicity.

   Winters pondered and asked: "I understand what you two mean. Although the original plan was to buy a horse, you are going to bring me a donkey back."

  Carlos snorted and flattered: "Your analogy is really appropriate."

  Actually, according to Carlos' idealthough he didn't do it intentionally, it's better to bring a donkey than a horse.

   Clever was scared: If he really had to get the blast furnace right, Winters wouldn't have brought his big brother back—alas, Clever.

  Winters resisted the urge to kick the little blacksmith again and asked Shaosha: "You mean to use this iron smelting furnace as a large block furnace, right?"

   "You can't say that, my lord." Shaosha also quickly joined the flattering team. After all, he was partly responsible for the failure of the iron smelting furnace trial.

Shaosha squeezed out a flattering smile: "The bottom blowing furnace is still much stronger than the old block smelting furnace. If I insist, the bottom blowing furnace should be the father of the blast furnace. Although we can't 'lead' the blast furnace, but Barely, I brought the father of the blast furnace to you..."

  The gap in the furnace wall has been opened large enough, and a large "thing" that is still on fire has been hooked out of the furnace.

   Winters and the others came closer to take a look.

   Winters had never seen an iron smelting workshop, but the "thing" in front of him was far from the "iron" he knew.

   The edge of the thing in front of him glowed red, and the inside became more and more yellow. It looks loose and porous, with a very uneven texture. If I have to say it, it is indeed a bit like a red-hot iron.

   At least there were some black crumbs scattered on it, like sesame seeds sprinkled on bread.

   "This is iron?" Winters frowned slightly.

   Shaosha bent down to observe carefully for a long time, and slammed the palm of his hand: "Yes, it's iron! It's a bit like sponge iron, but it's not like it! Come on! Give me an axe!"

The small worker beside    hurriedly handed Shaosha an axe.

   "Several adults, please stand back." Shaosha begged: "The others stand farther away, Mr. Suoya, please stay!"

  The other people, including Winters, voluntarily retreated to four or five meters away.

  Shaosha chose a good position on the iron pile, pressed the axe blade on the iron pile, held the handle of the axe with both hands, and yelled at Carlos: "Mr. Zoya! Come!"

  Carlos also wiped away his tears and picked up a hammer neatly.

   The little blacksmith first tapped three hammers on the back of the axe. When the blade of the axe was half an inch deep into the iron lump, and when he was able to bear a little strength, Carlos stood firm, and with all his strength, he hummed, "Hey", and slammed the hammer on the back of the axe.

  Winters, who was watching from the side, saw a hint of two-handed swordsmanship in this heavy hammer.

  The loose and porous iron lump was split into a large gap, and the hotter and dazzling core was exposed.

   Carlos kept his hands and continued to smash. His hammer was stable and landed on the back of the axe accurately every time.

  The sparks splashed and the molten **** flew. Shaosha ignored it and held on to the axe steadily.

   At this moment, Carlos is no longer a crying child, and Shaosha is no longer a potbellied, flattering and sleek city councilor.

  The two have only one identity now, that is, a blacksmith.

  The percussion of the hammer and the axe is very rhythmic and beautiful, as if they are hitting the beat. Winters couldn't even help but want to applaud along.

  The middle-aged blacksmith and the young blacksmith worked closely together, and soon the big iron lump that was still burning was divided into eight small iron lumps.

"It's alright." Shaosha wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked up to Winters with a smile: "Sponge iron is easier to do when it's just out of the oven, but it will harden when it gets cold. It's been too long since I started working on it myself. , to make a few tribunes laugh."

  Shaosha's cotton clothes have been burnt with small holes by the splashing iron slag, but his smile is very cheerful.

   Winters didn't realize until now: Shaosha was a blacksmith who could hammer and bend metal. Before that, he actually put Saosha in the same category as the old Priskin businessmen.

   "Good job," Winters approved, before asking, "In small pieces? Why?"

   Shaosha replied: "It's a big lump of iron, it's not easy to handle. It's easier to forge it by dividing it into small pieces."

   "Forging? Forging next?" Winters continued to ask.

   Asking for advice when he doesn't understand is one of Winters' good habits. He doesn't care about face.

"There is **** in the iron, and the **** can be cleaned up during the forging process." Shaosha patiently explained to the young tribune: "It is first forged into a thin plate, and the **** will naturally peel off. Then fold it and then forge it into a thin sheet. ...that's what it means to be tempered."

   "Forging?" Winters immediately thought of the hydraulic forging hammer, half-jokingly: "Does it have to be handed over to the workshops in Forge Township to 'forge'?"

   "That's right." Shaosha replied as a matter of course: "There is water forging in Forge Township, so this is the most suitable job. Just relying on people to forge, I don't know what year and month this big piece of iron will be forged.

  Although steel bar iron has been used in recent years, wrought iron craftsmanship is the basic skill of blacksmiths, and it should not be thrown away so quickly. No matter how bad it is, I can ask my father-in-law's old brothers to come out and give guidance..."

  Andre and Mason curiously fiddled with the iron lump, and the little blacksmith proudly explained to the two officers.

   Only Winters and Shaosha were standing in the cold autumn wind, discussing the matter of "forging" seriously.

   "Forging...isn't free?" Winters narrowed his eyes.

"Of course it's not free." Saosha introduced Winters to the rules inside the blacksmith: "The easiest way - hand over all the iron materials to the workshop owner in Forge Township, and you don't have to worry about anything else. Just exchange wrought iron with them. , it can be exchanged for about half the weight of wrought iron."

   "Half?" Winters was inexplicably surprised: "We worked so hard to make iron, and they took half of it as soon as they passed it? This is too **** dark!"

Shaosha looked helpless, he whispered: "If you can take half of it, it's still for your face. What you have produced is not iron, but iron material. There is a lot of poisonous **** in it. legal."

  Winters laughed angrily: "Then I might as well build a few hydraulic forging hammers and do it myself! What a **** steel forging hammer, I can make another one at a glance, and make a hundred!"

"That's fine." Shaosha nodded: "But think about it carefully—except for Mr. Sawyer, you don't have any other blacksmiths. Even if I came to help, Mr. Sawyer and I alone would be too busy. You'd better hand over the iron materials to the workshops in Forge Township and concentrate on smelting iron."

   Winters was the first to discover that Shaosha's eloquence was amazing.

   "The accounting school has been established, and I'll start another blacksmith school!" Winters pointed to the little laborers who were cleaning the hearth: "I trained them all to be blacksmiths!"

   Shaosha's expression became serious, he slowly asked: "What did you say?"

   "I said, I'm going to train them all to be blacksmiths."

   "I'm afraid not. Those small workers are peasants who are idle in winter, and their families have land. Even if you let them work in the blacksmith's workshop, they will not agree. And there is no money to be earned during the apprenticeship."

   "I will train anyone who is willing to come. There is no money for the apprenticeship? Then I will pay the apprentice as well!"

Shaosha's face became more and more solemn, and he solemnly told the tribune: "If you do this, I can assure you that the blacksmiths in Tiefeng County will rebel immediately! Even if they do not rebel, they will never stand in the future. here."

   Shaosha's words seemed to threaten Winters, and Winters thought so for the first time.

   But he soon realized that no, Shaosha was admonishing him. In a sense, it was because Shaosha already considered himself a member of his faction that he warned him face-to-face with blunt and threatening words.

   "Why?" Winters asked earnestly.

"Those who can strike iron are not blacksmiths." Shaosha also answered honestly: "Only those who are recognized as blacksmiths by the Blacksmiths Guild are blacksmiths. The Blacksmiths Guild has a complete set of rules for apprentice promotion, and this set of rules is the cornerstone of the guild. .You're breaking the roots of the guild by running a blacksmith school."

   guild! Winters rubbed his jaw. Having lived in Plato for so long, he kind of forgets what city life is like in a city dominated by guilds.

   Hailan has hundreds of guilds in the same industry, guilds in the same industry are gradually merged into guilds, and there are guild general meetings above the guild.

  Before the Sovereign War—there was no Veneta Republic at that time, and the [Honorable Ocean Blue Republic] forces were limited to Ocean Blue City and its surroundings—the office of Ocean Blue's president was held by the consul.

   To be precise, it should be: the chairman of the Ocean Blue Association is automatically elected as the consul.

After the    Sovereign War, the large and small commercial city-states of Veneta and the inland noble territories merged into [the Venerable Republic of Veneta], and the chairman of the Ocean Blue Association is still held by the Grand Consul of the Republic. The lofty status of the guild is evident from this.

   It is not the city that breeds the guild, but the guild that builds the city. The city does not belong to the citizens, the city belongs to the guild.

  I didn't expect that the impoverished and isolated Tiefeng County on the fringes of the Republican Union would actually engage in this kind of guild?

Winters shook his head, turned to a smile, and asked the middle-aged blacksmith: "Will you also come to be my advisor? Mr. Shaosha. Anonymous, even if I lose the battle, I won't hold you accountable. I There are so many things I want to ask you."

   Shaosha was a little flattered, he nodded heavily: "It's an honor."

   Shaosha suggested again: "The blacksmith's guild... You'd better talk to my father-in-law. The blacksmith's guild in Tiefeng County was founded by him."

   "Okay." Winters laughed dumbly.

   Over there, Mason happily pulled Carlos over.

   "If you put more effort into it, I think it's no problem to make a cast iron gun." The senior looked forward with great pride: "The blacksmith of the fake emperor doesn't have more eyes or hands than us!"

  Carlos was stunned.

   "How much did you expect?" Saosha asked Carlos.

"The furnace temperature is not enough. I think what comes out should be wrought iron, not pig iron. According to the estimates, there can be about 400 kilograms of wrought iron." Carlos hurriedly added: "It's not too good, even if it is 250 kilograms. Ten kilograms are enough. The specific weight needs to be weighed.”

   "How much charcoal was used?" Shaosha asked again.

   "Primary ore and charcoal, three to one." Carlos did some mental calculations and replied.

   "What does three-on-one mean?" Winters asked, entering again into areas he didn't understand.

"It's three parts of charcoal, one part of ore - volume." Shaosha explained, he smiled and said, "That's really good! My father-in-law said that when they smelt iron, they need six or seven parts of charcoal to smelt one part. ore."

   "When can we start the furnace again?" Winters is concerned about capacity. After all, for him, charcoal is free of money.

"The furnace wall needs to be repaired, and I want to remodel the furnace with Mr. Shaosha." Carlos snapped his fingers: "The furnace should be able to be reopened the day after tomorrow. But at that time, more people will be required to mine, smelt, and More people are needed to burn charcoal."

"It's okay, I'll let Samukin prepare it for you." Winters patted Carlos on the shoulder: "Don't be idle during this time. Although you failed this time, maybe you can succeed next time? "

   Hearing Winters' words, Carlos widened his eyes in horror.

"Senior, you don't choose a good location for the smelter." Winters looked at Senior Mason: "Look at the blacksmith workshops in Forge Township, all of them rely on the river! If they don't rely on the river, where will the water power come from? ?"

   Mason was taken aback: "Huh? Is there such a thing as this? Does the iron smelter need water power?"

"Hydraulic blasting! I only discovered this after a trip to Forge Township." Winters laughed proudly: "The workshops in Forge Township are all blasted with water power. Here, cows are used to pull the bellows. Cow It's a farming animal, and it's already tense. If you continue to expand the scale, where can you find cattle? You have to rely on the river.”

  Senior Mason nodded thoughtfully.

Wentes led the little blacksmith to the edge of the mountain and pointed to the St. George River down the mountain: "I'll find you a good place. See? It's there! Go and build me another iron furnace! Not this time. Just next time, next time if it doesn't work, next time, make sure to make the blast furnace impossible!”

Winters laughed and patted the little blacksmith on the shoulder: "I didn't actually expect you to be able to smelt iron. According to my idea, if you don't succeed, then I will re-use the iron smelting of old Mr. Boltain's time. Furnace. It doesn't matter if the cost is high, in short, you have to smelt iron. But since you have succeeded, you can continue to work hard!"

  Carlos was dumbfounded, wanting to cry without tears.

   "Sir, is this iron smelting furnace going to be demolished now?" Shaosha asked coldly.

   "Why dismantle it?" Winters asked inexplicably: "What we want now is quantity, not quality. Isn't this furnace usable? Isn't it okay to make do with it?"

"I'm afraid... there will be a problem." Shaosha explained with difficulty: "The number of forges in Tiefeng County is limited by the blacksmith's guild. It can be less, but not more, each forge has its owner. If you want to open the furnace again. , you'll have to go buy another forge."

   Winters' eyebrows twitched involuntarily: "Then what's going on with this iron smelting furnace?"

Only then did Shaosha reveal the truth: "Mr. Suoya's iron smelting furnace was built after my father-in-law dismantled his forge. It was used for my and my father-in-law's forge quota. So there is no problem. My family's workshop There, there is no forge now."

   Winters was speechless, he raised his hand to salute Shaosha: "Thank you."

   "I don't dare to be... I don't dare to be." Shaosha hurriedly bowed in return.

   "This is an iron smelting furnace, and yours is a forging furnace." Winters pondered and asked: "Can't you play a little word game?"

"No." Shaosha smiled bitterly: "The rules of the trade rules are very fixed, all [the furnaces, forges, and smelters that use fuel and flames to process iron and iron ore] are classified in the 'forge', and are subject to the number of Restrictions. Each forge slot now has a master. One forge slot alone is worth a lot of money.

   Only blacksmiths recognized by the Blacksmiths Guild are blacksmiths; only forge owners registered with the Blacksmiths Guild can open workshops. "

   "Oh, it's quite strict." Winters was angry and funny: "Who made the rules?"

   Shaosha's smile became more bitter and helpless: "My father-in-law - Mr. Boltain."

  Andre, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spat in disdain, pulled out his saber, and handed it to Shaosha.

   He asked blankly, "Do you recognize what this is?"

   Shaosha shivered with fright and nodded desperately.

  Andre sneered fiercely: "Then we want to open a few iron smelting furnaces, let's open a few iron smelting furnaces!"

   "Put the knife back, Mr. Chausha is a friend. Why are you threatening him?" Winters stabbed Andre with his elbow.

  Andre sneered, but still obediently put the knife into the sheath.

   "It seems." Winters sighed and told Shaosha with a smile: "You still have to talk to your father-in-law."

   [I'm late today too, sorry]

   [Limiting the number of forges, this is basically the reserved program of each blacksmith's guild. Forge masters, blacksmiths, and apprentices are three distinct classes. In sixteenth-century Italy, if a blacksmith borrowed from other workshops, it was customary to pay "one-third" of his income to the master of the forge]

   [The history of metallurgy is a big pit. The information on the history of metallurgy is vast. After reading "History of Metallurgy" (Terry Cotter 1976), "History of Technology", "Metal Technology in Ancient China" and "History of Metal Smelting and Processing Engineering in Ancient China", the author decided to give up treatment]

   [Because of the uneven development of metallurgical technology, it is impossible to point out a metallurgical technology and say "this is the way the blacksmiths of that era made iron". Because there must be more backward existences in the same era, and there must be more developed technologies]

   [So what the author can do is just "not out of touch with the times". That is to say, the iron smelting technology that appears in this book is indeed the technology that the blacksmiths of that era really applied to production.

   But it won't dig too deeply and sort out the principles so much that this story is written as "Metallurgy Handbook". After all, this is just a novel story (covering face)]

   [The ratio of ore to fuel is 1:3, which is slightly lower than the normal level of the local blowing furnace. Because blacksmiths of that era used volume rather than weight, this book also uses volume]

   [For the age of lack of platform scales, it is relatively simple to calculate by volume, just count one car and one car]

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, rewards and comments, thank you all]

   (end of this chapter)

Chapter end