Chapter 48 Iron Smelting

"Okay. Read"

Zhao Xu and Liu Fu looked at each other and smiled.

For him, although he paid some silver, he got the land.

For the wealthy families, land is just a tool for profit.

But for him, land is a guarantee for the people of Yan County to support him.

Therefore, his wealthy families can abandon land for silver, but he can't.

"Your Highness is smart, giving up small profits for the greater good. This time, hundreds of thousands of acres of land are in hand, and more than half of the land in Yan County is in the hands of the palace." Liu Fu was excited.

As for the remaining land, it is still in the hands of the Zhang family and several wealthy families.

But this does not affect the overall situation.

Decide on this matter.

Zhao Xu asked Liu Fu to take the contract and let the wealthy families sign it one by one.

It is considered as proof of their investment in the Chamber of Commerce.

After everyone signed the agreement, Zhao Xu continued, "This time, handing over the land is really a great cause. In the future, I will not treat you unfairly. In the future, the palace will have profitable businesses, and I will give you some odd jobs when the time comes."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Everyone smiled.

This promise is fine for the Dong family, the Yang family, and the Lu family, as they have already benefited from the palace.

This time, it is their duty to support the palace.

Just now, they were the first to take the lead in signing the contract.

After all, they have no way back.

As for other wealthy families, they have long been coveting the business of several families.

The palace now sells a large number of wines, and the number of wine jars required is also huge, which is a lot of silver.

Then, he discussed with everyone about the construction of the Chamber of Commerce.

Yanjun Business was jointly established by the wealthy families of Yanjun.

Each family must contribute to the Chamber of Commerce.

This time, the wealthy families will participate in the profit sharing, so he will hand over the sale of the palace's fine wine to the Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Commerce will count the number of wines sold, so that it can be transparent.

In addition, it is the same as making ice.

The wealthy families also need to send people to sell the wine, and the palace is only responsible for production.

In addition to the original share, if each family can sell extra wine, they can also get a commission.

"Commission, this is a new word." Dong Yuan stroked his beard and smiled.

The King of Yan proposed this method, which was exactly what he wanted.

The Dong family has many people, and without land, they can let them sell wine.

The bigger the chamber of commerce, the greater their profits.

After deciding this matter, everyone looked at Zhao Xu with slightly different eyes.

At this moment, Zhao Xu was not only the King of Yan, but also their breadwinner.

They could only follow the King of Yan.

Busy until noon.

Zhao Xu asked the palace to set up a banquet and keep the wealthy families for a feast.

Unlike the past, this time it was more like a contemporary company's founding banquet.

The wealthy families did not discuss romance, but how to expand the chamber of commerce and sell more of the chamber of commerce's goods.

After drinking for an hour, most of the wealthy families left drunk.

Zhao Xu was also a little drunk.

Back in the bedroom, Luan'er was about to help him sleep.

At this time, Feng'er walked in.

"Your Highness, I'm afraid you can't sleep. Wang, the head of the Arms Department, sent someone to ask Your Highness to go over and see the iron smelting." Feng'er smiled.

Luan'er gently stroked Zhao Xu's back and pouted, "What's there to see about this iron smelting."

Zhao Xu was half sober after hearing this. He nodded Luan'er's head, "What do you know, little girl? This is the most important weapon of the country."

Jumping off the bed, he went to the Arms Department without stopping.

"Your Highness, here."

Wang Ying came out of the Arms Department when he learned that Zhao Xu was coming.

But Wang Ying didn't wear an official robe, but an ordinary shorts, and his face was also dark.

But at this time, Wang Ying was full of fanatical excitement and expectation.

Follow Wang Ying into the Arms Department.

In the backyard of the Arms Department, Zhao Xu saw two tower-like buildings more than three meters high.

This is the traditional blast furnace.

The blast furnace of the Arms Department is made of clay used for ceramics.

Because it is a natural refractory brick.

There is a lid on the top of the blast furnace, and there are two holes below, one hole is connected to the wind-heated furnace, and the other is used to flow out the molten iron.

"Your Highness, I have asked people to prepare the coke and limestone. The coke is smoldering in the kiln, and the limestone is chiseled out from Yanshan."

After getting Zhao Xu's iron smelting method, he thought about it all night and pondered all night.

The next day, he asked people to build a blast furnace and collect materials at the same time.

After everything was ready, he notified the King of Yan.

"Then let's get started." Zhao Xu was also a little excited.

In his opinion, the ancients were not stupid.

Some exquisite skills cannot even be copied in modern times.

They just lack a guide to lead them on the right path.

And there is no doubt that he is now this guide.

So, in this iron smelting, he can only give Wang Ying some instructions, and let him figure out the rest by himself.

The fact is just as he thought.

Wang Ying had done a good job of the previous preparations.

"First, light the fire of the blast furnace." Zhao Xu ordered.

He had not yet told Wang Ying the specific process of iron smelting.

This was why Wang Ying was eager to find him.

After receiving his order, the craftsmen ignited the coal cakes in the blast furnace and pulled up the bellows.

Then, Zhao Xu asked the craftsmen to put ironstone, limestone, and coke into it in proportion.

After doing this, Zhao Xu and Wang Ying stood aside and waited for the result.

"Your Highness, what is this pool below used for?" Wang Ying asked.

Zhao Xu looked at the pool in front of the blast furnace.

The molten iron from the blast furnace will flow into this pool after it flows out.

There were three craftsmen holding sticks standing next to the pool.

He said: "Iron is divided into raw iron and wrought iron. The iron just smelted is raw iron, which contains more carbon. At this time, stirring it while hot can make the impurities in the iron burn. After the molten iron cools, it becomes wrought iron. This method is called the pouring steel method."

Wang Ying understood the concept of raw iron and wrought iron.

But what he didn't understand was that the rawness and wrought iron of iron are due to the carbon in it.

He was very surprised when he heard this for the first time.

"So that's how it is." He exclaimed.

Zhao Xu nodded and continued: "Then you can get steel by melting the wrought iron in a graphite crucible."

"Graphite crucible?" Wang Ying's face was full of question marks.

He used to be proud of knowing all the skills in the world, but now Zhao Xu's few words have made him lose all his confidence.

"There is a kind of inkstone made of black stone, which is the cheapest. The black stone is graphite." Zhao Xu continued to explain.

When the wrought iron comes out, the whole set of steelmaking procedures is basically completed for him.

Then make this graphite crucible, and it will be done.

The knowledge in his mind told him that there were graphite inkstones in ancient times.

For people who read, paper, ink, brushes and inkstones are indispensable.

So it was easy for Wang Ying to understand it directly.

Wang Ying suddenly understood after hearing this.

Then Zhao Xu told Wang Ying how to make a graphite crucible.

The two chatted.

In less than an hour, the craftsman suddenly called out.

A thin line of fiery red flowed out of the blast furnace.

Wang Ying immediately went forward to check and was overjoyed.

"Really, the iron really turned into water." Wang Ying looked at a loss.

The craftsmen were also dumbfounded.

Originally, they still didn't believe it, but now they saw it with their own eyes, they were convinced.

Zhao Xu was much calmer.

The ancients couldn't refine molten iron because the temperature of the fire was not high enough.

It takes more than 1,500 degrees for iron to melt. He added coke and made a wind-heated furnace to blow hot air into it, which raised the temperature.

Amid the exclamations of the crowd, the thin line of molten iron became thicker and thicker.

It gurgled into the pool below.

The red flames made Wang Ying's face as red as iron.