Because the hardness of steel is proportional to the carbon content, in order to train the iron into "steel", in addition to the repeated tempering, it also needs to increase its carbon content again... The key difference between the Ming Dynasty's steelmaking industry is ahead of the world lies in this step.

For example, in Japan, when folding and forging, it wraps paper and wood ash on the outside of the iron. This carburizing method is extremely inefficient. Therefore, the Japanese regard their steel knife as life because it is too difficult to get one.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were two mature technologies: the stuffed steel method and the filling steel method, which were many times more efficient than that of Japan.

Sugang, a specialty product of Wuhu, uses the latter.

When Zhao Hao saw the steelmaker asking his apprentice to put the unforged iron sheets into the iron furnace, and there was also a worker pulling the bellows to heat it.

About two minutes later, the apprentice used large tongs tongs to pinch one end of the cast iron and placed it obliquely in the furnace mouth. At the same time, the apprentice ordered the apprentice to blow up the air so that the furnace temperature continued to rise.

Before the tea was enough, the pig iron was placed obliquely in the furnace and began to melt, and iron drips continued to fall. At this time, the steelmaker took the large iron tongs from his apprentice, clamped the pig iron at one end outside the furnace, and began to move left and right, so that the iron could evenly pour onto the cooked iron below.

Because the melting point of waxed iron is higher than that of pig iron, although it was put in first, it was just burned red and there was no sign of melting.

At the same time, the steelmaker's other hand kept turning the cooked iron sheets so that both sides could evenly be coated with iron. After soaking twice, the master clamped the cooked iron onto the anvil beside the furnace and asked his apprentice to swing a hammer forging.

After repeatedly pounding thousands of times and removing impurities, you can get the "steel" in the hearts of craftsmen.

The production of steel is so difficult, and naturally it is much more expensive than bronze, which of course severely limits sales.

So the craftsmen thought of a compromise method. For example, if they wanted to build a big knife, they would first use cooked iron to beat the blade, and then pour steel on the blade part. This is the so-called "good steel is used on the blade."

After visiting the steel workshop, Zhao Hao felt his throat was about to smoke.

Wang Yu has long been prepared for honeysuckle mint tea to clear heat and relieve heat. Although the taste is strange, the effect is indeed good.

After filling a few big cups, Zhao Hao finally suppressed the feeling of burning fire. Only then did he feel like he was in the mood to speak.

He is still very satisfied with Wang Ji Steel Floor. At least this production process... from ore washing and ore dressing, to earth-based coking, to mixed calcining of coke or sand, to stir-frying steel or stir-frying iron, to the final steel filling method to produce steel... the general direction is basically correct.

Although from Mr. Zhao's perspective, there are a lot of problems in every step of production. It also shows that there is huge room for improvement.

In this case, you only need to continuously improve the process and increase the furnace temperature to provide the group with enough steel... Of course, it is the steel defined by Mr. Zhao, not the kind in the hearts of craftsmen.

'As long as you can change the square trough into a reflector, the furnace temperature can be easily increased by hundreds of degrees, and the quality of the cooked iron can be greatly improved, and there is no need to use bronze cast guns anymore.' Mr. Zhao thought secretly.

After the New Year, Jiangnan Bank launched a set of "bronze vouchers", with face values ​​of "500", "100", "50" and "100". As an auxiliary currency for silver vouchers, expanding circulation is on the one hand; on the other hand, it is to collect enough copper for the group to meet the material needs of casting cannons and various castings.

There is no way, it is too taboo to directly collect copper in the Ming Dynasty. Copper is a circulating currency and can only be mined by the official.

Therefore, Mr. Zhao warmly looked forward to the day when high-quality ripe iron can be produced in large quantities.

At that time, not only will it be a problem to build guns, cannons and steam engines be built, but even the Zhengtai Railway promised to the old Xi'er will no longer be just a big cake.

After talking about craft improvement for a long time, the topic turned to why most of the iron furnaces have not started construction.

Wang Yu, who was originally excited, couldn't help but lower his head. He sighed and said, "Oh, the business is getting worse and worse, I feel ashamed of my father."

"Why?" Zhao Hao asked in discomfort. In fact, before departure, Secretary Ma would pick up important information about today's itinerary to report to the young master so that he could know it.

Besides, Wang Ji’s business difficulties are no longer a secret.

"Oh, it's time." Wang Yu sighed again and said, "There is no need for our own family to hide it. The reason why our Wang family quickly gained a foothold in the industry has increased Sugang's sales by thirty times in ten years. First, it is to rely on strong financial support, and second, it is to have noble people help."

As he said that, he glanced at Zhao Hao and said, "Lingzu is one of them, but the most important one is our fellow Jixi villager Hubutang."

Zhao Li was originally Hu Zongxian's former subordinate, so he naturally didn't worry that Mr. Zhao would be unhappy if he said this.

"Um."

Zhao Hao nodded and listened to him continue saying: "Hu Butang can resist the Japanese strongly. It depends on the support of the prime minister in the court, and the generous donation of our fellow Huizhou villagers. Only then did he have a steady stream of military spending to recruit soldiers and train troops. At that time, the entire Southeast military was decayed and all the military was decayed and had to be rebuilt."

"Hu Butang repaid his favor and gave Wang Ji a large number of orders. In addition, the weapons we built were indeed strong and could be used to fight against the Japanese pirates' hundreds of refining swords. This made him famous and his sales opened up." He sighed long and said, "It's a pity that Hu Butang died unjustly in prison shortly after his father passed away. In addition, after winning the anti-Japanese war, swords and guns from all over the country were put into storage, and horses were put into Nanshan. Even if there were orders, they were given to nearby households. My business gradually became deserted."

"One less today and send a master away tomorrow. Before I knew it, I became the half-dead look now." Wang Yu said gloomyly.

"The Tartars are still fighting in the north, and the Marshal Yu in the south is also trying to suppress pirates. How come there is no order?" Zhao Hao took a sip of tea and asked softly.

"The transactions in the north are monopolized by the iron yards of Shanxi merchants. Although their iron tools are not as good as ours, they are still expensive. However, the governor of the three sides only uses Shanxi iron tools, and we can't grab them at all." Wang Yu smiled bitterly and said, "As for Guangdong, the iron smelting level is already high and the price is not expensive. Who would leave it to the distance?"

"Why should Uncle Wang worry?" Zhao Hao couldn't help laughing: "How much production you have in a year, I'll cover it all."

"Oh," Wang Yu was excited at first, then waved his hand and said repeatedly: "That's a few million pounds, too much."

"Not many, there are many places where Jiangnan Group uses iron." Zhao Hao waved his hand proudly: "In addition to steel, the most urgent thing to need at present is to cook iron. I want as much as you have."

"That's great!" Wang Yu immediately glanced at the silence and said thank you without any trouble.

Although there are too many impurities for ripe iron, it is almost a good idea to use it to make weapons, but it is more than enough to make agricultural tools and tools. More than a dozen subordinate companies of Jiangnan Group have tens of thousands of workers and 60,000 farmers and workers, and the iron tools they need are in the sea.

With the rapid development of Jiangnan Group, its scale is getting bigger and bigger. Not to mention a mere Wang Ji, it is not difficult to even eat the entire Wuhu production.
Chapter completed!