At this point in the test, important results have been obtained.

With this powerful charcoal, the pulp decolorization effect can be further enhanced.

Guan Yu discussed boiling another pot of wood pulp to make paper, but Li Mengxi knew that the test was only half completed at best. All the tests used in this round were wood, all parts of the plant trunk.

A plant, a plant, has a trunk, branches and leaves, bark, roots, flowers, and fruits. Even the fruits are divided into peel, pulp, and core. The test is far from over.

The second half of the test is several times more complicated.

Just willow, there are willow roots, willow bark, willow branches, etc.

Furthermore, considering that making charcoal in a kiln consumes too much time and takes a long time, it is obviously not suitable for testing.

Li Mengxi thought of what he had thought of yesterday, a convenient method of making charcoal. Put the wood in a pottery bowl, then layer the bowl with mud, and then put the bowl directly on the fire to burn. This way, you don't need a kiln and can quickly bake a small amount for testing.

of charcoal.

Considering that the sealing effect between the pottery bowl and the clay is not good, the mud seal is easy to crack, and the heat transfer effect of the clay is not good, the best option is to use the pressure cooker technology and use the pressure cooker as the carrier of the smoldering charcoal.

Thinking of this, Li Mengxi set off for the blacksmith camp.

In the past two days, because the papermaking process was temporarily suspended, the blast furnace was also stopped to save firewood. The blacksmiths were doing nothing in the camp and were cleaning everywhere on their own initiative.

Li Mengxi went directly to the leader of the craftsmen, and he issued two blacksmithing tasks.

The first one is to make another pressure cooker, all the technical requirements are the same as the previous one.

Second, he commissioned the blacksmiths to make some small iron boxes. The shape of the iron box was a flat rectangular parallelepiped, with a box and a lid. The size of the iron box was enough.

To be more specific, the iron box Li Mengxi asked for was actually similar to a lunch box.

Li Mengxi needs a large number of iron boxes, at least fifty. These iron boxes are used for making charcoal. When other materials are tested in the future, the roots, stems, leaves and other tissues of dozens of plants can be placed in the iron boxes at one time.

, and then dozens of types of charcoal can be made at one time.

It takes time to start the blast furnace, it takes time to smelt the iron, and it also takes time for the craftsmen to make the molten iron into the required objects. It is estimated that one day is not enough to make the required iron tools, especially the dozens of iron boxes required.

In this case, you have to use a hammer to knock the iron out of the box shape, which is a very heavy workload.

Based on Li Mengxi's understanding of current forging technology, he speculated that it would take two full days to barely produce fifty boxes. In other words, the blast furnace would have to be kept burning for two days.

Li Mengxi was thinking that in the forging process, apart from manpower, the highest cost seemed to be the cost of fuel. When forging iron, the furnace must be kept burning to keep the iron in a molten state. Once the furnace is stopped,

, you have to reheat the furnace, and the preheating time is very long.

It is said that once the production line of the modern steel industry is started, it cannot be stopped for several years. Once the production line is stopped, the furnaces on the production line must be heated to a sufficient level before production can begin.

The same seems to be true for glass production lines.

This involves energy consumption and profit issues, that is, a considerable part of the energy of the iron-making furnace is lost in the preheating stage. If you want to improve the dye utilization rate, you can continue production and avoid endless furnace extinguishing and burning as much as possible.

But when it comes to production, there are currently insufficient supplies in the military, and Li Mengxi has no plans for large-scale production. The purpose of upgrading the iron-making furnace is just to use the long winter time to conduct technical research.

So, if we keep researching without producing in order to improve heat utilization efficiency, what can we research?

Li Mengxi thought of blacksmithing, forging iron, iron pots, cold forged armor pieces, steel filling methods, and various weapons, there were too many!

Therefore, the blast furnace can keep burning, and the blacksmiths can take turns working 24 hours a day.

The first ironware Li Mengxi wanted was an iron pot.

Compared with cast iron pots, forged iron pots require a lot of work and a very long construction period. The blacksmith has to hammer a piece of iron thousands of times to hammer it into the shape of the pot.

A forged iron pot takes a blacksmith several days or even ten days to forge, and the cost is extremely high.

It doesn't matter, cost is not a problem, and iron pots are so easy to use. With iron pots, you can cook more delicious food.

Li Mengxi called the captain of the blacksmith, and he told him to divide the blacksmiths into several teams. They would not stop working when the furnace was burning, and they would work alternately day and night.

The leader of the craftsmen hesitated for a moment, "Well, strategist, how many rounds will it take? How long will it take to replace people?"

How often does it take for people to be replaced? How often does it take a group of people to change shifts? This is a good question. It must not be done at the same time. Only animals can be allowed to work at the same time.

Li Mengxi originally wanted to say, eight hours, that is, one cycle of four hours, but then he thought about it, blacksmithing is not an ordinary job, and it is different from ordinary office work. It is okay to work in an office for eight hours all the time.

, but when you hit the iron with a hammer, even if you hit the iron for eight hours, the person who is beating the iron will not be able to bear it.

Li Mengxi considered it based on himself. He felt that if he was allowed to strike iron by himself, he would lose strength after swinging the hammer for three minutes. The blacksmiths are all adults, and adults are strong. They can swing it for ten minutes, but if they swing it for ten minutes,

You will also lose your strength.

From this, Li Mengxi carefully came up with a working schedule that he thought was more suitable for blacksmiths.

The specific work arrangement is that a blacksmith should be busy for four hours a day. Then, during these four hours of work, he can work for one quarter, which is fifteen minutes, and he can rest for five minutes.

That is to say, every moment, you can rest for five minutes to regain your strength.

When Li Mengxi told the captain of the blacksmith about the system he had conceived, the captain, a middle-aged blacksmith with a vicissitudes of life, looked at Li Mengxi with a complicated expression.

Li Mengxi asked, "How about this arrangement? If you think the time is too long, you can reduce it further. Anyway, we have nothing important to do now..."

"Not long, not long!" the blacksmith captain said quickly, "This is good enough, good enough!"

In the long blacksmithing career of the captain, he has never been treated so highly.

You are only busy for four hours a day, and you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day. And during these four busy hours, you can take a long break every other moment. It has never been so pleasant.

The captain of the blacksmith went over and told all the blacksmiths about their work arrangements. The good news is that it is finally time to start working seriously. If you can work, you will be able to get rewards from time to time according to the rules of the army. When there is better news, you can go back to work.

The work is not tiring at all. I only work for four hours a day, and I can still work for a while and rest for half a day.

When the blacksmiths heard about this incredible working system, they all felt grateful to Li Mengxi, and at the same time, they also admired Li Mengxi.

In the hearts of the blacksmiths, they believe that their own little strategist is the master who knows how to forge, and this is right. It is only right to work for a while, rest for a while, and then regain the strength to continue forging.

Li Mengxi took the work arrangements of the blacksmiths for granted. He took a five-minute break every time he worked. This was certainly the best frequency for physical recovery. However, in actual work, it was far from being able to finish one iron piece in one moment. Combined with the hand-forged

The characteristic is generally that once you start forging, you will hit the iron with a clanging sound and then stop. This involves a hand feel issue. To strike iron, you have to turn the hammer and hit it with a clanging sound. The more you hit, the smoother it becomes, and the more you strike, the more you feel.

And if you stop after just a quarter of an hour, you will indeed feel less tired and comfortable, but it will definitely prolong the construction period.

The construction period has become longer, charcoal consumption has increased, work that could have been done in one day has been delayed to two days, and labor costs have also become higher.

From a capital perspective, high charcoal consumption and high labor costs are serious shortcomings.

However, from the blacksmiths' own point of view, stopping for a moment is the least tiring method. After swinging the hammer for a moment, just when the strength is exhausted and about to fail, a short rest can restore the strength and start again.

Blacksmithing.

The order came from Li Mengxi, and the labor system was very beneficial to the blacksmiths themselves.

A large group of blacksmiths began to discuss this work system, which was very unfamiliar to them and did not involve any harshness.

The blacksmiths verbally agreed on the order of rotation, almost in a clumsy and familiar way. Who would work in the morning, who would work in the afternoon, and who would work at night? All were agreed verbally, without any records or management. The blacksmith captain did not manage either.

consciousness.

After all, the blacksmith camp was established very late. It is not as well organized as the carpenter camp. If Li Mengxi were to arrange the work in the carpenter camp, then it would be a chore or a big job. How many people would be needed and how many days would they be busy?

How many people are here to work, how much the wages and rewards are, Lu Li, the adjutant of the craftsman camp, can figure it out clearly.

This is the carpenter's camp.

The Blacksmith Camp is far from being like this. The Blacksmith Camp doesn't even have a leader, and it has almost no rules and regulations.

When Li Mengxi explained the labor system, he also told the blacksmith captain about the small iron pot he wanted.

The captain of the craftsman was deeply aware of Li Mengxi's care for the craftsmen, and was extremely grateful. He said to a group of fellow blacksmiths who may or may not be very familiar with him, "Brothers, let me say something. Our military advisor understands us, and we must work hard.

Don't play tricks anymore. When you do it, do it hard and put in some effort! When you don't do it, you can take a break!"

What the captain blacksmith said is also the common sentiment among blacksmiths.

As the saying goes, Li Mengxi gave the blacksmiths a loose and incredible working system. The blacksmiths deeply felt this meaning and secretly made up their minds to work hard.

As a report to the military advisor, the blacksmiths decided to work overtime to knock out the small iron pot that Li Mengxi wanted.

The iron pot is not a magic weapon, you can just hit it casually, Li Mengxi has no requirements on quality.

However, the blacksmiths spontaneously selected the craftsmen who were recognized as having the best skills, and several of the best craftsmen were allowed to make the iron pots.
Chapter completed!