Li Mengxi repeatedly explained that it was not a tripod, but a pot. The craftsmen said they understood, but in their minds they still thought it was just a tripod without legs.

The craftsmen began to be busy.

Because there were too many blacksmiths to keep everyone busy, it took a while for the blacksmiths to give way before deciding who would be the one to forge.

As required, the blacksmiths divided the work and took out the molten iron slurry from the iron pool, then placed it on the anvil and started hammering.

Li Mengxi, who was quite puzzled, came over and asked, "Why not use casting method? Can't it be cast directly with molten iron?"

The blacksmith who had just struck two hammers might as well ask Li Mengxi to come over. He was afraid that the iron stars would splash onto Li Mengxi, so the blacksmith quickly stopped hammering.

The blacksmith explained, "No, it can't be cast."

"Why?" Li Mengxi was puzzled. He looked up at the blacksmith, "Didn't the iron turn into water? Just make a mold and pour the molten iron into it, and it will be done?"

The blacksmith scratched his head when asked by Li Mengxi and didn't know how to explain it. The blacksmith simply picked up the pliers and clamped the iron.

"Look at it, military advisor, this iron is like mud, it won't flow. It gets cold faster, and it won't flow even more when it gets cold.

If the thing is small, it can still be cast. If the pot is as big as the pot and the iron is poured into it, it will become cold and hard after a while, and it will stop flowing and cannot flow to the bottom. It cannot be cast."

Li Mengxi looked at the soft jelly-like piece of iron held in the pliers in the blacksmith's hand. At this time, Li Mengxi finally understood a question that he had been unable to figure out.

Li Mengxi has always wondered why iron pots did not become popular until the Song Dynasty, and why iron pots were extremely unpopular in the dynasties before the Song Dynasty. Why is this?

Now I understand that the key lies in iron smelting technology.

If iron pots are to be popularized, the cost must be extremely low. There are roughly two methods of making iron pots. One is forging, which involves knocking the whole piece of iron into the shape of the pot. The other is casting with molten iron using molds and directly pouring the molten iron into the pot.

Pour it into the mold, wait for it to cool, and it will become an iron pot.

With these two methods, it is obvious that the cost of casting is much lower than that of forging.

Iron pots must first be easy to cast, and then they will have a basis for widespread use.

But the difficulty lies here, casting. To cast an iron pot, you must first melt the iron into molten iron.

Just melting the iron is not enough, because if the temperature is not enough, the iron will not be in liquid form, but in a semi-solid molten form like jelly.

As the blacksmith said, iron is like mud and cannot flow. Small things can still be cast. Large objects, such as iron pots, are as big as a pot. The fluidity of molten iron is extremely poor. It is difficult to remove them from the mold mouth.

Pour the iron in, and the jelly-like molten iron will slowly flow for a while before the iron cools down and becomes blocked halfway. Large pieces of iron cannot be cast with molten iron.

An important change between iron smelting in the Song Dynasty and iron smelting in the Han Dynasty is that a large amount of coal was used in the Song Dynasty. The temperature of coal was a bit higher than that of charcoal. Precisely because of the large amount of coal used, it was easy to turn iron into molten iron during iron smelting in the Song Dynasty.

With molten iron, casting iron pots is extremely simple.

The mining and use of coal in the Han Dynasty was not yet widespread. That is to say, the furnace temperature was not enough. When iron was smelted, in most cases, it was not molten iron, but jelly-like molten iron. The molten iron had poor fluidity and hardened rapidly as the temperature dropped.

, lost liquidity.

How to fill the entire mold when the iron doesn't flow anymore?

Therefore, in the Han Dynasty when it was difficult to smelt liquid iron, there was no way to mass-produce cast iron pots.

It turns out that it has something to do with coal.

After thinking about this, Li Mengxi thought again that he originally wanted to popularize iron pots in the military. Iron pots are stronger and more convenient than pottery urns. Iron has strong heat transfer properties, can heat food quickly, and saves firewood.

Iron can also supplement the iron needed by the human body. In short, iron pots have many benefits.

But now we understand that in order to mass-produce iron pots, we must have a large amount of coal. But where can we find coal?

Coal should have been used to make iron long ago in the Han Dynasty. There were only a few places where coal could be used to make iron, and coal mining was also in the minority.

Where can I find coal mines in Dahan? If there is a coal mine, how far is it from Julu?

If the coal mine is too far away, how much does it cost to buy and transport coal thousands of miles away?

Li Mengxi deeply felt that a technical and energy obstacle lay in front of him.

Iron pots are excellent. The emergence of iron pots can be called an epoch-making revolution in cooking utensils. With iron pots, you can cook, and many delicious foods can be born.

However, if you want an iron pot, you need coal. Without coal, you can't do anything.

Li Mengxi fell into confusion because he didn't know anything about the distribution of coal and iron in the Han Dynasty's terroir areas.

Up to this moment, the sound of the blacksmiths clanking and clanging iron could not be heard. Li Mengxi was thinking that he needed to find a talent, someone who was familiar with the geography of the Han Dynasty.

At the time of coal, it was difficult to solve the problem for a while.

The craftsmen were working enthusiastically on the iron. It was obvious that they had returned to their old trade and their enthusiasm for work was very high.

This may be because the farmers finally touched the sickle again after being displaced, and the blacksmith was finally able to forge iron after being exiled. Labor at this time brought a sense of stability and prosperity.

The blacksmiths are going to break out several pieces of iron sheets and then assemble them into a pot.

I heard that bronze wares are made in separate parts, but iron wares are also made in separate parts.

Li Mengxi thought about it again and realized that if it were a spherical iron pot, he could use a piece of iron to forge it bit by bit to look like a pot.

However, the pressure cooker is a cylindrical shape with a complex shape and is difficult to forge. The craftsmen choose to forge it separately, which is fine.

The rebel army now has 150,000 people. The entire army went through the process of collecting these craftsmen. Less than a hundred blacksmiths were selected among the 150,000 people. Each of these dozens of blacksmiths is not just an ordinary blacksmith, each of them is enough.

He is called a master craftsman, a person who is skilled in craftsmanship and can lead several apprentices.

The craftsmen were banging on the iron, and Li Mengxi was watching from the side. He watched the big hammer and the small hammer fall one after another. The red iron block gradually deformed, was gradually thinned, and gradually became curved.

During the forging process, the iron is getting colder and harder, making it difficult to hammer again. Since there is no furnace, the craftsmen can only carry the iron to the blast furnace and heat it for a while. When the iron is hot, they can come back and hammer it again.

Seeing this, Li Mengxi suddenly realized that iron smelting is iron smelting and forging is forging. Forging also requires a heating system. There must also be a furnace during forging to heat and soften the iron parts.

The blacksmiths were very efficient. When it got dark, the fastest group of craftsmen finished beating the iron pieces and showed them to Li Mengxi.

By the light of the torch, Li Mengxi saw the work completed by the blacksmith. It was a piece of iron sheet the size of an open book. The iron sheet was curved and arc-shaped.

It is said to be an iron sheet, but the whole piece of iron sheet is more like an iron plate. It is as thick as a finger, which is too thick.

When he saw the curvature of the iron sheet, Li Mengxi suddenly felt that the whole piece of iron had a curvature. Huh? If the curvature was a little larger and an iron shell was forged to fit the shape of the body, wouldn't it be a simple plate armor?

Li Mengxi thought thoughtfully. As long as he could hammer out a pot, he could hammer out plate armor. At least a simple breastplate and a simple helmet would not be difficult to make.

Especially helmets, what’s the big difference between the shape of the helmet and the iron pot?

Li Mengxi had an idea and decided to find someone to try hammering a plate armor when he had time.

In the dim light, Li Mengxi looked over and over at the curved iron plate. He even held the iron plate against his chest. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that if the iron plate was further processed, it would look like a simple plate armor, but it was too thick.

, too heavy.
Chapter completed!