In the past, Shen Ao didn't care much about these things. All he heard and saw was how powerful Da Gan was. But this time the marriage involved him. Only then did he realize that Da Gan was not It is not as powerful as imagined. It is just a barbarian tribe with a population of only one million. Daqian actually has to consider its feelings. Living in such a country, Shen Ao's life seems to be at risk at any time, and his interests can be taken at any time. Average damage.
"It looks like something needs to be done."
In the afternoon, Shen Ao left Xianweiju and went to Guo Changlong's workshop. This time he wanted to make steel.
Iron knives are sharp when used on soft objects. Steel knives are sharper when used on hard objects. If the opponents are all in armor, then the steel knives are more effective.
It has been some years since the Bronze Age and entered the Iron Age, but steel has never appeared. What Shen Ao has to do is to equip the army with steel knives, so that if he wants to attack his target first, he must use a sharp weapon. This will increase the number of enemies. There is at least a 20% chance of winning.
Speaking of iron, it is also good and usually very sharp. However, since iron is prone to rust when exposed to humid air, it needs regular maintenance. This is also one of the major disadvantages of iron. Steel is not, and its biggest advantage is It is the fusion of other elements that results in high strength, not easy to deform, and some will not even rust. This is why many civil engineering and some manufacturing industries in later generations like it very much.
But whether you want to make iron or steel, the first step requires heating. The heating process must involve a bellows. People push the bellows to compress the air to increase the charcoal combustion efficiency and convert the mechanical energy into the internal energy of air and fuel. The internal energy is then transferred to On ironware.
Shen Ao had seen contemporary bellows, which were single-type bellows, relatively old, and not very effective. The first step he needed to do was to improve the bellows. After asking a big worker to get wooden boxes, pistons, valves, etc., A double-acting piston bellows was built.
This will be a milestone in the air box. Compared with the traditional air box, the piston air box performs useful work in both forward and reverse strokes. In each stroke, one end exhausts air and the other end absorbs the same amount of air at the same time. Therefore, it can provide continuous air flow and improve the air blast. Efficiency is a major advancement in blast technology.
In just one afternoon, this kind of double-action piston bellows without much technological content was successfully made. Then (forging) the hammer hits the iron during forging to cause it to deform, and the mechanical energy is converted into iron. Internal energy, the hot iron will transfer the internal energy to the cold hammer and iron felt. (Quenching) After the hot iron enters the water, the internal energy will be transferred to the water. The iron itself will deform due to the sudden cooling, and the thickness will be different. The regions deform at different speeds...
In comparison, these processes are a bit troublesome, and success may require dozens, hundreds or even more experiments. Fortunately, Shen Ao has plenty of time and enough money. After failure, he can sum up his experience and continue. .
In order to prevent the technology from being learned by others, mainly because he was afraid of being learned by other alien races, Shen Ao did not tell others the core secret right away, which was that the carbon content of steel is an iron-carbon alloy with a carbon content of 0.03% to 2%. An iron-carbon alloy with 2% to 4.3% is called pig iron.
Steel technology was being refined again and again in Guo Changlong's workshop. Compared to the research conducted by Shen Ao, Prince Qing was also making preparations to deal with the prince.
We originally agreed to play together, but as we were playing, you not only stopped playing, but also slapped you in the back. This is what the prince did before, and it successfully angered King Qing. He was determined to take revenge. Just as Zeng Tong feared, Prince Qing was about to take action against the prince's power.
People have weaknesses, which are nothing more than fame, profit, wealth, and sex. It depends on whether you can calm down and look for them. Coincidentally, when Fan Shitong was serving as Zuopushe, someone below found out about Guan Tai's corruption and reported it to him. .At that time, Fan Shitong did not want to have a direct fight with the prince, so he suppressed the matter. Now it is time to turn over the past.
Guan Tai belonged to the line of princes. He served as the Minister of Cangbe under the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Although he is only a fourth-rank official, he has considerable real power. The warehouse department, which manages the household department, is equivalent to the accounting department in the Ministry of Finance. It is extremely easy to move within the scope of authority.
Guan Tai has obvious shortcomings: he is greedy for money and lustful. His wife alone has one wife and four concubines, and he also bought two villas outside and a golden house to hide his beauty. If you rely on his small salary to become a rich man, These are impossible to do no matter what.
But he is also a smart man. When he takes out some good things from the warehouse, he will also put back some things that look similar but are actually of very different quality, passing them off as inferior. Unless he checks them carefully, It rarely happens.
Furthermore, every time Guan Tai handed over most of the money he got by using his power to the prince, he only got less than 10%. If something happened, naturally the prince would protect him, so he could sit back and relax.
Guan Tai thought he was very cautious, but he didn't know that he had been targeted by King Qing. On the way home from the Yamen, when the sedan was passing by an alley, several big men suddenly rushed out. They were civil servants and had spent many years. Guan Tai, who had an empty body, was not his opponent and was knocked unconscious.
It was the officials from the same government office who sent people to Guan Tai after not seeing him for three days. Only then did they find out that Guan Tai had not returned home for three days. His family thought Guan Tai had gone to another courtyard, but he was not there. I didn't care until I saw that the government sent someone to find him, and then I was so anxious that I started to report the matter to the official, and the matter was reported to Dali Temple.
The fourth-rank official in the court disappeared like this, and even the bearer of the sedan chair disappeared with him. This was a major case. Kang'an, the minister of Dali Temple, immediately sent people to conduct a city-wide search. I don't know if it was because Dali Temple was too capable, or because By coincidence, Guan Tai was actually found in a brothel. But at this time, Guan Tai was tied up tightly. There was a self-written confession beside him, which stated that he was serving as the Minister of Household Affairs. time, corruption, and the gift of money to the East Palace.
If it was Guan Tai who was found in the yard of a private home, perhaps we could do some tricks to suppress the matter. But in a place like a brothel, there are many people and there is a lot of commotion when they found him. , it is already impossible not to let people know about these things. What’s more, Kang’an, the minister of Dali Temple, is still a member of King Xiang. This was originally a play performed by King Xiang and King Qing.
King Qing sent people to capture the person, and King Xiang's people were responsible for making it public. In this way, it was impossible not to let anyone know about the matter.
As Xia Youran became the head of the officials and became Zuopushe, Prince Xiang suddenly felt great pressure.
Among the top three officials, two servants, and one internal minister, none of them were his. This originally made King Xiang sleepless. Fortunately, there was no one from the prince. But it was different now. Now, Xia Youran has become the head of the officials. This is the prince's teacher. He can tell who he will turn to with his toes.
Prince Xiang felt the pressure, so he thought about getting Xia Youran down, and it would be best to maintain the original situation. But she had just risen, and after dormant for a few years, she became extremely cautious in her actions, and it was really hard to get a handle on her. It was too difficult. It was at this time that King Qing sent someone to contact him.
When I really felt sleepy, someone brought me a pillow.
Although Guan Tai was only a fourth-rank official, his position was very important and he was very rich. If he were to be taken down, there would be a financial crisis in the East Palace. How could King Xiang not agree to such an opportunity? So he hit it off with King Qing. They worked together to do this.
Guan Tai's affairs were deliberately controlled and soon everyone knew about it. Emperor Qianwen in the palace naturally also knew about it.
With the Emperor's Guard in hand, Emperor Wen had known about Guan Tai's affairs for a long time. However, considering that most of the money he embezzled was given to the prince, he chose to open one eye and close one. Anyway, it was all his own. Son, just go in with your left hand and go out with your right hand.
If the incident didn't happen, he could pretend he didn't see it. If it happened, Emperor Qianwen couldn't tolerate it any longer. Just as Xia Youran was reused, the power of the prince's family was indeed too great, and Emperor Qianwen also wanted to kill someone. In order to kill him, he took advantage of this incident to call the prince to the Yangxin Hall, where he cursed him for a while and finally asked him to go back and wake up.
As for Guan Tai, naturally he did not have such good luck. He embezzled so much money, had his property confiscated, and made people into slaves. He was completely abolished.
Guantai was taken down, and taking this opportunity, Emperor Qianwen arranged for someone who listened to his words to take the throne. Prince Qing and Prince Xiang were naturally happy, but the prince was extremely angry after returning to the East Palace, and he didn't know how many things he smashed.
Smashing things might relieve your anger for a while, but the rest of the day would have to go by, and the prince looked sad.
First, Black Coal was blocked, which cut off an income. Now that Guan Tai was arrested, another large amount of income was lost. The finances of the East Palace suddenly became stretched.
Although the prince has accumulated some wealth over the years, he knows the truth of having nothing but nothing. The reason why so many officials below are willing to support him, and even serve him as their leader, is not because it is profitable to follow him. ? If there is no benefit, who will follow you?
The prince, who was eager to get out of financial difficulties, once again set his sights on Guo Changlong.
What is different from the past is that this time the prince is not going to play any tricks. After all, King Qing and King Xiang are watching. If he uses his power to suppress others, who knows what will happen? Don't make yourself disgraced. Oh no.
The prince's decision is to become a member of Guochanglong or the highest supreme member.
Doesn't it mean that after becoming a supreme member, you will have the opportunity to share Guochanglong's profits? Just like Su Xun, after becoming the only supreme member, Shen's rice paper and the new Shen-style clothes produced by Guochanglong will be available. His shares are now waiting to be paid.
