Chapter 313: Blast Furnace Steelmaking, Military Equipment Reform Zhuge Liang was naturally very curious about the person Qin Zhen wanted him to meet in person. After all, when it comes to Qin Zhen's situation, only Old Liu and the two ladies need to use the word "greetings". Who else could Qin Zhen personally take him to meet? Therefore, subconsciously, Zhuge Liang felt that Qin Zhen had obtained some great talent. Only in this way can Qin Zhen treat you with such courtesy and respect. However, when he followed Qin Zhen to the suburbs and met the person he wanted to see, he understood Qin Zhen's intention. It turned out that the person he wanted to meet was not someone else, but his father-in-law Huang Chengyan. At this time, the old man was squatting in a steel workshop, holding a brick in each hand and looking at it constantly. As soon as they arrived, Huang Chengyan seemed to have sensed something and turned around to see everyone.

When Zhuge Liang saw this, he hurriedly bowed to greet him. Unexpectedly, Huang Chengyan didn't even look at him. He just held the brick in front of Qin Zhen and said: "Zixuan, is the refractory brick formula you gave me correct?" "Why is it that I have made it according to the rules, but there are always cracks?" Seeing this, Qin Zhen took the brick, looked at it, and said with a smile: “I wonder how many bricks Mr. Huang produced this time, and how many of them are qualified?” When Huang Chengyan heard this, he pointed to the pile of bricks behind him and said: "The batch behind me is all from this production, and less than one or two out of ten are qualified!" Qin Zhen saw this and stepped forward to check it out. Zhuge Liang took the time to salute and said: "My boy Kong Ming, I am here to meet Mr. Huang. I wonder when Mr. Huang will arrive here?" As soon as he spoke, Huang Chengyan noticed that Zhuge Liang was right beside him, and immediately asked in surprise: "You are not in Huainan, why are you here?" Upon hearing this, Zhuge Liang hurriedly explained his purpose. Huang Chengyan nodded when he heard it, and said disapprovingly: "I see. You were transferred southwards and Liu Zhengdong values ​​you." "Now that we are here, we should make the best of it and have a good time!" After saying this, he didn't say much and followed Qin Zhen towards the bricks. When Zhuge Liang saw this, he was immediately surprised, thinking that maybe Huang Chengyan was resentful because he never went to marry? Why is he so cold to me now? Who is his son-in-law? Seeing the two men studying the bricks, he asked Zhou Yu: "May I ask Brother Gongjin, what are Mr. Huang and you doing now?" Seeing him being humiliated, Zhou Yu secretly laughed and pointed to the distance and said: "Kong Ming came here, but he didn't see what was produced here." Zhuge Liang listened and looked into the distance, and saw that this place was actually a huge workshop. There were several blast furnaces standing in the distance, with hundreds of strong men with bare upper bodies, constantly pumping air bags to blow air into them. As everyone gathered their strength, flames shot up from the furnace. Even though Zhuge Liang was knowledgeable and experienced, he was stunned for a while before he raised his eyebrows and said:

"Could it be that they are smelting iron and metallurgy here?" As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yu shook his head mysteriously and smiled: "Wrong, this is not iron making, but steel making!" When Zhuge Liang heard this, he suddenly understood and showed a look of enlightenment. It turned out that they were making steel. No wonder Qin Zhen took it so seriously and even asked his father-in-law to do it himself! It must be said here that steel was not unfamiliar to the scholars in the late Han Dynasty. Because as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, my country had already mastered the technology of refining carburizing steel and quenching. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, blast furnace steelmaking and steel frying techniques gradually emerged. This process greatly reduces the carbon content in steel. However, the steel frying process is relatively complicated and requires a lot of manpower. This has resulted in steel production being in a state of low production. To obtain pure steel, it needs to be constantly tempered and hammered, which is the origin of the tempered steel knives of this era. A hundred-fold-tempered steel knife is not only rare, but also extremely valuable. So Qin Zhen began to think about improving the steelmaking process and increasing steel production. The most convenient way to increase steel production is to use converter steelmaking. Air is pumped in through the top and continuously combines with the carbon in the molten iron to form carbon dioxide, which in turn helps with rust to reduce the carbon content. But the converter method requires a lot of prerequisite technology, such as refractory bricks! Qin Zhen naturally didn't have the energy to do these things, so he wrote a letter to Huang Chengyan. Zhuge Liang's father-in-law was invited to supervise the production of these things. Huang Chengyan was a little reluctant to come at first, but he couldn't resist Qin Zhen's suggestion and read a book on structural mechanics after reading the letter. After watching it, Lao Huang was simply astonished and puzzled. In desperation, he had to go ahead and bring his family to Jiangdong. If for no other reason than to discuss these techniques with Qin Zhen. But Qin Zhen is a rude person. As soon as Old Huang came, he forced him to take up the job directly. Fortunately, Huang Chengyan was naturally fond of this. If Qin Zhen asked him to govern the people, he would be too lazy to do it. But if he is provided with materials and manpower for research like now, he will gladly agree! So, whenever he encounters a problem, Lao Huang will find Qin Zhen to find out the reason. The two of them squatted there and discussed for a while, and Qin Zhen gave the answer to the problem - the porosity was not enough. Simply put, the density of the bricks they are currently firing is too high. Fortunately, he was an engineering major and he knew the problem at a glance.

"Bricks crack because they don't have enough space inside them." "When heated, it expands, squeezing the contents inside, causing cracks." When Huang Chengyan heard this, he looked thoughtful and said: "If that's the case, how about asking someone to stir the ingredients for a little longer before I take them out?" "Half a moment is not enough, at least a moment, this brick needs to bear the weight, otherwise it will be difficult to use!" Qin Zhen took a brick and knocked it hard on the ground. The brick broke with a sound: "The flexural strength is pretty good. If we burn a few more batches, maybe we can produce it!" Seeing that he judged that a few more batches of tests were needed, Huang Chengyan smiled and said: "If that's the case, there's no need for me to be here to look after you!" After saying that, he asked people to clean up the bricks and followed Qin Zhen to Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang was watching the steel making at this time. Qin Zhen saw his serious look and smiled. "Why, Kong Ming also likes to watch this method of making steel?" Upon hearing this, Zhuge Liang nodded subconsciously and said: “I’ve never seen this before, but it’s quite interesting to watch now.” As he spoke, he reacted, and seeing that the two had finished their discussion, he saluted again and said: "I see this thing is tall and rotates day and night. I wonder how much it produces?" Qin Zhen introduced it nonchalantly, pointing to the blast furnaces and said: "This workshop alone can produce 2,100 catties of rice in three days, or 20,000 to 30,000 catties of rice a month!" Zhuge Liang was surprised when he heard this. "This workshop is not that big, but it can produce 20,000 to 30,000 kilograms a month?" It should be noted that a long sword weighs about three to four pounds, which means that this workshop alone can produce at least five to six thousand swords a month. This workshop alone can supply the steel needs of tens of thousands of troops. But as soon as he finished speaking, Huang Chengyan stroked his beard and smiled: "This place is quite small. I guess Kong Ming has never been to Stone City!" "The King of Qin has set up seven steel mills here, which can produce more than two catties of steel per day and more than 500,000 catties of steel per month." "Compared to this, this place is only used as an experiment and is not very large in scale!" When Zhuge Liang heard this, he was even more shocked. With a monthly output of 500,000 catties, how many weapons could be forged? How many troops could be supported? While thinking, he remembered the converter steelmaking that Zhou Yu had just mentioned to him, and said hurriedly: "Then how much can be produced if we use the new steelmaking method that you are developing now?" Qin Zhen directly gave him a number, expecting production to increase tenfold. In fact, he could naturally understand why Zhuge Liang was surprised. After all, during the Han Dynasty, steel production was only around 10,000 to 20,000 tons a year. If the workshop he has set up now can increase production tenfold, the annual output will be 60 million kilograms.

In other words, the annual output of the workshop he set up in Stone City alone could reach the level of the entire Han Dynasty. But even so, Qin Zhen felt that the output was too little and not enough! After all, steel is the foundation of industry, and without steel it is difficult to increase productivity. An annual output of more than 20,000 tons may seem like a lot, but in reality, it is just a drizzle when it is sprinkled. Apart from anything else, ocean-going ships alone are huge consumers of iron. He did not ask for a large growth, only for it to reach millions of tons. In this way, after obtaining rubber from Southeast Asia, you can take advantage of the opportunity to power up steam technology. In that case, the progress of the times will be like a torrent, unstoppable. In contrast, reforming military equipment is just a byproduct! But seeing that Zhuge Liang was so interested, he took Zhuge Liang to the blacksmith shop not far from the steel workshop. As soon as we arrived here, we could hear the sound of bells ringing incessantly, indicating that there was a lot of activity going on inside. The strong men were coming and going in it. Although it was almost autumn, it was still very hot. I saw craftsmen constantly heating molten iron and then pouring it into molds. With a sizzling sound and a burst of steam rising, the blacksmith began to hammer continuously. As a scholar, Zhuge Liang rarely saw such scenes before. When he entered the square and saw the terrain, he was surprised: "Sir, you are making steel in the ironworks, and you brought me here. I wonder what your intention is?" He knew that Qin Zhen would never do anything without a purpose, since he had brought him to the steel workshop. Then this foundry obviously has some innovations worth seeing. While he was asking questions, he saw a middle-aged man come forward to greet him. Qin Zhen saw this and heard what Zhuge Liang said, then he smiled at the middle-aged man and said: "Do you have a newly repaired horizontal sword? Can you take one and have a look at it?" When the middle-aged man heard this, he hurriedly went to the workshop and got a long and thin knife. I saw that this sword was different from the Han Dynasty ring-handled sword. Compared with the sword, this sword was narrower and more slender. At this time, the workshop was brightly lit, and under the light, the blade appeared to be shining. "What a nice sword!" Zhuge Liang blurted out subconsciously when he saw it. But when he looked closely at the blade, he frowned and said: "Although this knife is sharp, its blade is narrow. I'm afraid it won't last long!" As soon as he said this, Qin Zhen pointed to a wooden stake in the distance and said with a smile: "Try it out with this pile to see if it's durable or not!" As he said this, he handed the sword to Zhuge Liang and motioned him to try it out.

Although Zhuge Liang has the image of a scholar, he actually learned some swordsmanship. Although it is difficult to kill the enemy in battle, it is still easy to chop down a wooden stake. He took the blade, held the handle with both hands, stared at the wooden stake in front of him, and took a big step forward. The next second, with a click, the long knife was embedded in the wooden stake. Seeing this, Zhuge Liang's eyes suddenly lit up and he instantly realized the advantages of this knife. You have to know that the wooden stake in front of him is not thin. If he uses a ring-handled knife to chop it, it will be difficult to penetrate the wood. At most, it can penetrate one inch into the wood. But this knife can penetrate directly into wood as much as three or four inches, and it is extremely sharp. The fact that it can cut so deep without breaking shows its toughness. If it happened on the battlefield, this knife would be able to cut off a long weapon directly. Even if you encounter elite soldiers wearing armor, it is enough to break their armor! Once this weapon is equipped to elite soldiers, it will be invincible. While thinking, he quickly drew out his knife and looked at it as if it were a treasure: "This knife may seem easy to break, but it is quite tough. I wonder how you improved it?" When Qin Zhen saw this, he explained the changes to Zhuge Liang. In fact, the so-called horizontal sword he took out now was the Tang sword of later generations. This involves three new processes, namely steel clamping, steel wrapping and steel pasting. The reason why Tang Dao is the pinnacle of ancient knife-making technology is because it uses technology that is ahead of its time. It absorbed the sharp characteristics of the Han Dynasty's ring-headed sword, and used the steel-cladding process to make the Tang sword more slender and durable. Compared to the ring-handled swords of this era, which would easily break after chopping a dozen people, the Tang sword was a great improvement. After listening to this explanation, Zhuge Liang nodded repeatedly and said: "Sir, you have endless wonderful ideas. I really admire you!" In fact, in the original story, Kong Ming liked to do these things. Because Shu was too weak, his only solution was to use equipment. As a result, the Shu army was equipped with wooden oxen and flowing horses, Zhuge crossbows and other equipment that were ahead of their time. Now that Liu Bei's army is so powerful, he naturally no longer has these thoughts. Seeing Qin Zhen's innovative weapon, he was full of admiration. But Qin Zhen saw this, but waved his hand and shook his head: "Not only that, there are other things, follow me!" When Zhuge Liang heard that there was more, he was suddenly surprised. How much did Qin Zhen accomplish in just half a year of occupying Jiangdong? (End of this chapter)