Daqin Engineers

In fact, Shen Bing only found many problems in a circle around the iron workshop.

This is not to say how good Shen Bing is, but that he knows some modern iron smelting knowledge.

The modern iron smelting knowledge is the result of various rigorous demonstrations after thousands of years of development. Each practice has its own internal scientific principles and reasons.

Now Shen Bing only needs to compare the blast furnaces of this period with the modern ones...anything that is different will have problems.

For example, this blast furnace should not be a regular cylindrical shape.

The reason is that the regular cylindrical shape will make it difficult for the blowing air to blow into the furnace core... The air pressure in the furnace with a long radius is high, so the furnace core is often in an oxygen-deficient state and is difficult to completely burn.

The solution to this problem is actually very simple, just change the cylindrical blast furnace to an elliptical column.

The elliptical cylinder is flat, as long as the air inlet is opened on both sides of the flat, the blast radius is much smaller.

Another example is the human blast of the skin...Shen Bing never knew it, they called this skin "tuó" (tuó).

This is especially interesting.

There are two people standing on the left and the other right in front of you, and two people standing on the left and right after you, and then push and pull the air into the blast furnace.

Such a blast equipment is one on the left and right sides of each blast furnace, so eight people are required to operate it.

This is not only extremely labor intensive but also inefficient.

The reason why it is extremely labor-intensive is because it takes a few hours to make a furnace of iron, and these few hours require uninterrupted blasting. When this group of people gets tired, they change another group, sometimes when there is a big fire. A few more people will be added.

It is inefficient because manpower is limited and uncontrollable after all. Sometimes the wind is small and sometimes the wind is high, which will have an impact.

The above two reasons will lead to insufficient blast furnace temperature and insufficient oxygen, so carbon cannot be fully oxidized and discharged... The temperature should be about 1200 degrees, carbon and oxygen in the air react to form carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

In the Warring States period, iron was brittle and easy to break because of its excessive carbon content. In the Han Dynasty, these problems were solved and ironware became popular.

The last issue is charcoal for fuel.

Iron making with charcoal is no problem from the iron making itself.

In fact, charcoal has the advantage of less impurities, and the iron produced is more pure.

The problem is that the cost of using charcoal to make iron in this age of severely lagging productivity...

Trees need to be cut, and then they are burned into charcoal, and then piles of piles are filled into the blast furnace.

Among them, felling trees, burning charcoal, and then mining iron ore, these are not labor-saving activities, and they are all included in the cost of iron.

This is also one of the reasons why iron production was not high during this period, and its essence was restricted by fuel.

If it is to produce farm tools in small batches, then it is okay. If it is to replace bronze as the equipment of the army...such as iron swords, iron armor, guns, shields, etc., the demand will be great.

When charcoal is used as fuel, how many people should be organized to cut trees and burn charcoal?

Therefore, the most ideal raw material should be coal, which can be burnt when dug out from the ground, and the cost is very low.

But even if Shen Bing knew this, he was not in a hurry.

He has learned from the previous paper-making incident.

What about making paper?

The result is a threat to the status of the ruler, although some benefits have been obtained, but it almost provokes death.

If the emergence of paper has such a big impact, then the emergence of iron and even steel that can be applied to the equipment of the entire army... then it will not only threaten the status of the ruler, it will directly rule the king!

Just imagine, mastering advanced iron-making technology is capable of building an army equipped with iron weapons.

The bronze weapon that sent such an iron army to the battlefield against the enemy... what would it be like?

How can Yingzheng tolerate the existence of people like Shen Bing?

At that time, Yingzheng might have only two options in order to prevent technology leakage:

One, put Shen Bing under house arrest for life or put him within a stone's throw.

Second, directly killed Shen Bing a hundred.

Shen Bing still wanted to live longer, and at the same time he didn't want to be kept in a cage like a canary, so of course he wouldn't be so stupid to toss about it at this time.

What's more, there is no need to iron the equipment at this time... Shen Bing's purpose is to assist the Qin State and make it last as long as possible.

Now that the Qin State has gained the upper hand, it can even be said that the overall situation has been determined. As long as this situation remains unchanged, the goal can be achieved. On the contrary, the improvement of iron smelting technology will bring many more variables.

However, a little bit of proper improvement is still necessary.

The reason is that it has entered February at this time, and the winter wheat harvest will be reached in two months.

At that time, it is foreseeable that there will be a busy period of farming.

However, the Central Plains countries have experienced a sharp decline in their labor force due to years of warfare, coupled with low productivity, so there is a serious shortage of food production...

The territory of the Qin Kingdom has gained more arable land in the three kingdoms of Zhao, Wei, and Chu in just over half a year... How to manage and cultivate?

Iron farm tools are already scarce. If the quality is not good enough, wouldn’t people starve to death by then?

So, what should we improve on the three points of blast furnace, blast, and fuel?

Shen Bing didn't think much about it, and chose to blast for the first time.

The effect of the change of the shape of the blast furnace is too great, and the quality of the iron will increase in stages as soon as it is improved.

Fuel will cause the production cost of iron and the number of cycles to drop, and it will not be far from the batch equipment army.

If the blast is improved, it will save more manpower... If a cylindrical blast furnace is used, the wind cannot blow to the furnace core, so the furnace is still deficient in oxygen, the temperature still cannot rise too much, and the carbon content will not be graded. The number is reduced.

Seeing Shen Bing staring at the blast furnace without speaking, Bian felt a little hairy.

He tremblingly stepped forward and hesitated for a while before asking:

"Vice general, I wonder if there is something wrong with the iron smelting method under your subordinates?"

Shen Bing walked out of meditation after being asked so much. He said "Oh" and replied:

"Nothing wrong, I'm just thinking about this..."

Shen Bing suddenly forgot the name of this blasting bag.

Fortunately, he was not clever, he reminded him quietly next to him at the right time:

"sack".

Shen Bing nodded and said:

"Yes, it's this... you push and pull back and forth like this, why don't I wait for the waterwheel to do it?"

Bian couldn't help being stunned:

"The lieutenant... is talking about the waterwheel used to draw water?"

At this time, the waterwheel had already been passed from Zhao to Chu.

Shen Bing replied:

"Exactly."

Bian still looked confused:

"However, the waterwheel can only draw water, how can it blow the wind?"

In fact, it was not only that Ben didn't understand, but the owe from the artillery all the way was also confused.

Can this waterwheel blow wind besides drawing water?

This is new.

Shen Bing wanted to explain, but he gave up when he saw that they had never seen the world before.

Of course, they, who have never used hydraulic power before, can't imagine what it is like, and they are just saying nothing.