After the iron juice has been boiled for a period of time, black slag will float on top. Li Mengxi doesn't know whether this is a normal reaction in steelmaking or a special feature of the steel filling method.

He brought a basin of iron to the blacksmiths and asked him about Zha Ze.

The blacksmiths replied that when iron is smelted, a lot of slag floats, which means there is a lot of dirt in the iron. The cleaner the slag is, the better.

It turns out that this is a normal reaction in ironmaking, not a special feature of the steel filling method.

Li Mengxi asked again what the quality of this ball of steel, which was made using a special method, looked like.

At this time, the iron in the pottery basin had cooled into a lump.

The blacksmiths came over to take a look one after another. They took various tools and knocked on the iron in the basin. When the iron balls were struck, the iron made a clear metallic sound.

"How is it? Is this Tie Ruolai sword good for use?" Li Mengxi asked expectantly.

The craftsmen answered in unison with smiles on their faces, "It sounds like the iron is good, and it should be able to make sharp blades."

At the same time, the craftsmen also said that if they wanted to make weapons, they might have to wait for a day and a half. Things like the fire cabinet and quenching cylinder for making weapons had not yet been purchased.

Although I didn't understand what the fire cabinet was, it just so happened that I was exhausted after staying up all night, so I just went back to sleep for half a day, and then came back to watch the sword forging.

When he turned to leave, other craftsmen came out with iron tools and asked, "Military advisor, we made two plows last night. Do you think they are suitable for use?"

Li Mengxi cheered up and stepped forward to accept it. The two plow heads made by the blacksmiths were one-third larger than a bicycle. The shape of the plow head looked like a shovel, and when viewed from the side, it looked like a wedge. For a farm tool, it was forged.

It is very neat and beautiful, and is full of marks made by hammers.

The problem lies in the forging. This is a farm tool, and it is used to plow the ground and push out the soil. It does not require high strength. It was only forged two in one night, so the cost was not too high.

Most of the plow heads of the Han Dynasty were made of pig iron, so why not also use iron for the curved shaft plow?

It just seems that the steel pouring method has been adopted. If the plow head is directly cast from steel that is much better than cast iron, wouldn't it be possible to achieve both quality and efficiency?

The results of the blacksmiths' busy night were clearly visible, and Li Mengxi couldn't criticize. He first praised the quality of the plow head, and then casually said, "There are many plow heads, and more than ten thousand are needed."

, if it is hammer forging, it is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and ordinary plows are mostly cast, so the curved shaft plow also uses the casting method."

After holding the plow head and weighing it for a few times, feeling its heavy weight, Li Mengxi looked up at the craftsmen and said, "Stop building the plow head for now and listen to my instructions later."

"Also, how many kilograms of iron is needed for this plow head, including the plow head and the plow share?"

The craftsman replied that after weighing it, the total weight was more than four kilograms.

A set of plows consumes more than four kilograms of iron.

Li Mengxi remained silent. The scrap weapons he collected only amounted to more than 1,500 handles. As a weapon weighed three kilograms, it only amounted to 4,500 kilograms of iron. It could only make over a thousand sets of plows.

"...It takes too much effort." Li Mengxi sighed helplessly.

Seeing that Li Mengxi disliked scrap iron, one of the blacksmiths couldn't help but said, "Military advisor, you don't actually need to use iron for plowing. You can just make the edges of the plow and then cover them with hardwood. Half wood and half iron is enough for plowing."

The use of fields."

Li Mengxi was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes lit up, "Hey? Can a plow still do this?"

The blacksmiths nodded confidently, "Yes, my family can't afford iron, so we made a plowshare as big as a tile, and then asked a carpenter to install it, and then it can be used."

It turns out that iron-clad wood plows do exist and are very common.

Li Mengxi smiled happily. He took out a pen from the pen holder on the left side of his waist, took out a piece of five-color silk from the right side of his waist, and then wrote down twenty kilograms of food stamps and handed it to the person who made the suggestion. He smiled.

, "Thank you for reminding me, otherwise, I would have delayed knowing the iron secret law of this province, and my spring plowing plan would have been delayed!"

The blacksmith took the military ticket and took a look at it, scratching his head and laughing. The blacksmith didn't expect that with just a casual word, he would be lucky enough to get a lot of food. The blacksmith looked at him enviously.

It is just a casual remark to a blacksmith, but it is a wise method of saving materials, which means making as many tools as possible with as little iron as possible.

For Li Mengxi, who did not fully understand the technical details of the late Han Dynasty, if he had not inadvertently learned that plows could be made into iron-clad wood, then he would have made all the plow heads into pure iron. There must not have been enough iron.

There will definitely be a lot of gaps. Fortunately, the problem is easily solved.

To use iron inlaid wood, a plow has an iron edge the width of a finger on the front, and the iron used is no more than half a catty. The blacksmiths also say that the plowshare does not need iron, but can be made of wood.

This is a good idea. An improvement. The iron material that was originally only enough to make a thousand plows is now enough to make seven or eight thousand, maybe even more.

As for the remaining small gaps, just find some swords and guns to melt them.

Simply brilliant.

Changing the plow to an iron-clad wood style can not only save a lot of iron materials, but also greatly help improve the quality of the plow.

Why does the quality of ironware increase when less iron is used?

Let's take armor as an example. It is extremely difficult to process large pieces of metal. Therefore, when the technical level is low, making small armor pieces is easy to hammer and process, and has better performance than large plate armor which is not easy to hammer and process.

In other words, a small piece of armor can be finished easily, but a large piece of iron plate cannot.

For the production of plow heads, if it is a large weight of cast iron, it is not easy to process. But if it is only a thin iron bar, the iron bar is easy to process. It does not take much time to forge it thousands of times with a hammer, so it is all

The iron pig iron plow head is not forged delicately and will be brittle, while the iron-clad wood plow head can be forged and tempered and is much stronger and more durable.

Therefore, materials are saved and quality is improved.

Also, because less iron is used, the production efficiency has increased several times. If cast, a small iron edge can be easily cast with molten iron. However, the pure iron plow head has poor fluidity and is difficult to cast.

Putting it on pig iron is already a difference. If the steel filling method is used later, the steel filling will be much thicker than the pig iron after melting. It is only in a semi-molten state. The smaller the parts, the better the natural casting of semi-molten iron.

From here, steel-filled plows are more suitable for iron-clad wood plows.

If we also consider the safety impact, because we save several times the amount of casting iron, we don’t have to melt down more weapons, which also reduces a lot of risks. From this point of view, reward the craftsman who made the suggestion with twenty kilograms of grain.

Not too much, but too little.

Major problems will be solved, and when spring comes, all the iron plows will be available.

Li Mengxi, who was in a good mood, did some mental calculations. If there were still thirty days left before the spring thaw and tens of thousands of plows were needed, it would take three hundred plow heads to be cast in one day.

After calling the leader of the craftsmen, Li Mengxi said solemnly, "In a day or two, we will be able to make four hundred plows a day. If you are short of iron-making furnace molds and other items, tell me and I will prepare them for you.

Just ask, four hundred plows a day, is it possible or not?"

Li Mengxi underestimated the production speed of the casting method. The leader of the craftsmen smiled and said, "If there are enough furnace molds, it is not difficult to make eight hundred per day."

This is the advantage of the casting method. One person can cast dozens of iron parts with a pot of molten iron.

As for the iron-clad plow, it has a narrow iron edge and is easy to cast.

The iron-making furnace is made of yellow mud lake, which is barely enough. The mold is also made of mud lake and sprinkled with some plant ash.

Yellow mud is everywhere, how difficult is it to make a simple mold?

Four hundred molds are indeed not many.
Chapter completed!