Chapter 403 The steelmaking plant that has achieved initial results
Xu Shu spent many years studying in Jingzhou, and he was very familiar with the situation in Jingzhou.
Lu Yan and Xu Shu had an in-depth conversation about a series of issues in Jingzhou, from which Lu Yan benefited a lot.
Xu Shu is worthy of being Sima Hui's disciple, with sharp and unique opinions; but compared to Xu Shu, Lu Yan knows more information from later generations, so his views are more comprehensive and in-depth, which also makes Xu Shu's heart towards Lu Yan.
Yan is completely convinced.
The two chatted happily, and Xu Shu also stayed at the Hussar General's Mansion for three days.
But in the end, it was a pity that Xu Shu said that he wanted to go to Hebei again, so he declined Lu Yan's invitation to serve as an official on Cao Cao's behalf.
In April of the seventh year of Jian'an, Gan Ning married Zhao Yun's sister-in-law, Zhao Xue, and the wedding was a lively and sensational one.
In June of the seventh year of Jian'an, Xia Houlan married Zhen Rong, the fourth daughter of the Zhen family...
In just six months, Cao Cao and Lu Yan had several generals under his command, and the scribes chose to start families. This was also a concrete manifestation of people's stability.
After nearly half a year of difficult times, Daijun's steel plant finally began to operate normally with Tian Chou's full support.
Lu Yan came all the way to Daijun just to see the conditions of the ironworks with his own eyes so that he could feel at ease.
After seeing the steel plant, Lu Yan thought to himself: "Although the scale of the area is far less than that of later generations, it is undoubtedly the top existence in this world." He is undoubtedly satisfied with the current scale.
"The iron ore with the richest resources is located deep in the mountains, and only a small part is exposed. Most of it is buried under the soil, making it extremely difficult to mine."
"We have now organized more than 10,000 Wuhuan prisoners to mine iron ore in the mountains, and have built 21 shafts, four tunnels, and one open-pit mining pit there... Now we are basically on track."
"It's just that transportation of iron ore is a big problem... Because the mountain roads are difficult, we have to use manpower to carry it. This results in our mining volume being acceptable, but only about one thousand kilograms of ore can get out of the mountain and go into steelmaking every day.
factory."
"Also, if it rains in the mountains and forests, the roads will be extremely muddy..."
Lu Yan, accompanied by Ma Jun and several deputies, inspected the newly established steel plant. Ma Jun's assistants took turns explaining to Lu Yan their current situation and the troubles they encountered.
"There are only about a thousand kilograms of ore a day..." Lu Yan frowned, this efficiency was completely unacceptable to him.
Today, the bottleneck of steel plants lies in the transportation efficiency of iron ore. To increase the speed of iron smelting, we must find ways to improve the current transportation method that relies solely on manpower.
Transportation method...
To be honest, after all, he was a person who had experienced the information explosion of later generations. When it came to improving transportation methods, countless plans flashed through Lu Yan's mind in an instant.
After comprehensively considering environmental issues such as mountain trails, Lu Yan felt that there was only one thing that was most suitable, "a wheelbarrow!"
Lu Yan turned to look at Ma Jun's deputy and said, "Prepare paper and pen for me. I may have a way to alleviate the transportation pressure."
"Ah?! Is there a way to do this?" the deputy said to himself blankly.
"Quickly... go quickly!" Ma Jun kicked the man and said in an angry tone: "Lu... Qiao... Qiaoqi said there is, then there must be... there must be...
!”
"Yes... the little one will go right away!"
The man left quickly and returned in less than twenty breaths. He already had a large piece of snow-white paper and pen and ink in his hand.
Lu Yan picked up the brush on the table and quickly drew what he had just sketched in his mind onto the paper.
Ma Jun and his assistants tilted their heads, staring at a strange thing that appeared in Lu Yan's writing.
After Lu Yan put down his pen, a deputy asked curiously: "Lu Qiaoqi, what are you drawing? Why does the car only have one wheel?"
"Indeed, this is what I just came up with, the unicycle." Lu Yan explained to Ma Jun and others: "The frame can be directly installed on both sides of the unicycle. Only one person needs to hold the two handlebars from the back.
It’s ready for implementation.”
"This... looks feasible?"
"The wheel makes it more flexible, but I don't know if it can move forward in the mountains and forests."
"I don't know how much weight I can bear..."
Ma Jun is a master of mechanics. When he saw the wheelbarrow, he immediately knew that this thing could indeed relieve the pressure of transporting iron ore to a certain extent.
Lu Yan saw that people around him were talking about it, so he continued: "This kind of car has a single wheel, so it can be used on plain official roads and mountain trails without any obstruction. It is definitely better than human beings or carrying baskets."
"The wheelbarrow is good, but we'd better... open a way out."
"Yes, the road must be repaired...but we can do these two things at the same time. Those Wuhuan people can't keep them in vain and waste food."
"Follow... your order!" After Ma Jun accepted the order, he turned to the deputy beside him and said: "Go... find... find two people and try, first... Lu Qiao... Qiao Qi..."
Build a wheelbarrow."
The assistant picked up the drawing drawn by Lu Yan and nodded hurriedly: "We have many skilled carpenters here. I will go find them now!"
The assistant found someone to make a wheelbarrow, and Lu Yan, accompanied by Ma Jun, went to the factory to inspect a series of equipment such as the steel-making furnace.
In the past, the furnaces used for steel-making by the steel-filling method were all small furnaces about the height of a person. Although the quality of the steel produced was very good, the efficiency could not keep up with the current demand.
Arriving at the ironmaking area, Lu Yan immediately saw an unusually tall earthen blast furnace in front of him. Not far away on both sides of it, there were two blast furnaces under construction.
The principle of blast furnace smelting is actually relatively simple. It mainly involves feeding iron ore, coke and limestone into the blast furnace in batches. A blower is used to continuously send cold air under the blast furnace, and it is heated to a very high temperature by the hot blast furnace.
The blast furnace is gradually reduced and melted, and what finally flows out from the furnace mouth is molten steel. During this period, combined with some experience and operations of the steel filling method, the quality of the final steel can be better.
Lu Yan arrived just in time. Several craftsmen, covered in sweat, were preparing to pour molten steel.
Following the craftsman's shout, the valve was slowly opened.
The golden-red molten steel flows along the valve into the prepared trench, and winds its way to the prepared molds everywhere. The eyes of the craftsmen around him shine when they see this scene.
There were even two blacksmiths who couldn't wait for the molten steel in the mold to cool down, so they picked up a big hammer with their bare arms and started hammering.
"... I inform Lu Qiaoqi that with this... one furnace of molten steel, we can... produce ten thousand kilograms of steel!"
One furnace weighs ten thousand kilograms, which is really terrible!
You know, in the past, 10,000 kilograms of iron was enough for a prince to last for several years. After all, most of the soldiers under the princes only wore leather armor. That is to say, Boss Cao became rich and powerful with the support of the general.
Each soldier is equipped with high-quality weapons and armor.
However, at this moment,
Suddenly there was a noise outside the steel factory, "This is a stronghold of military aircraft, no trespassing!"