In the courtyard behind the main hall, there were fifty or sixty strong men standing, all of whom were summoned to blacksmith.
Only eight of them are blacksmiths, and the rest were carefully selected by Li Song from more than a hundred retainers.
Regardless of the rest, there is absolutely no problem with loyalty.
At this time, these people were tightly surrounding Li Chengzhi, not even daring to express their anger.
Just because Lang Jun said just now that the molten iron is coming out soon...
Molten iron?
Can you turn iron into water?
Not to mention seeing it, I have never heard it.
I don’t know whether it was because he was too close to the stove or because he was excited, but Li Chengzhi’s face turned a little red.
He looked at the blacksmiths standing at the entrance of the furnace and shouted: "Open the furnace!"
A blacksmith carefully used an iron bar to pry open the mud seal, hung the iron hook connected to the iron chain to the iron ears of the furnace cover, gestured back, and the two strong men behind pressed the iron bar and lifted the furnace cover.
Get up.
As a red light emerged, a wave of heat hit his face, forcing Li Chengzhi to take two steps back involuntarily.
All the processes have been rehearsed in advance, and there is no need for Li Chengzhi to explain it. Several blacksmiths know how to do it.
They used special iron rings, iron tongs, iron chains and other items to lift the crucible out of the small blast furnace.
It is said to be a blast furnace, but it is actually only as tall as a person, and the inner wall is only one meter in diameter.
The crucible is even smaller, like a jar of pickles, two feet high and just one foot long at the bottom.
But just such a pot can melt at least thirty kilograms of molten iron at a time, and Li Chengzhi burned hundreds of such large crucibles.
Because there were not enough people, not so many crucible furnaces were built, only ten were built.
But even so, if all operations are started, each furnace can be smelted at least three times a day, with 30 kilograms of iron at a time. These ten furnaces can smelt 900 kilograms of iron in one day... The iron tools that have been collected temporarily can be smelted in ten days at most.
It’s over.
Two strong men used an iron rod two meters long and put on iron chains to lift the crucible down.
When you remove the pottery cover, you can clearly see the molten iron sloshing inside.
If Li Chengzhi and Li Song hadn't been standing on one side, these tribesmen would have screamed and maybe even jumped twice.
Can you really turn iron into water?
"Hiss..."
Li Song and Li Bai both took a breath of air and looked at Li Chengzhi in disbelief.
After being shocked for a while, Li Song couldn't help but ask: "I have seen blacksmiths making iron many times, but at most I only saw the iron juice that has condensed like grease. Lang Jun, what's the reason for this?
?"
What else could it be?
Sir, I use coke, a suspended grate, a windmill that can continuously and evenly supply air and oxygen, the furnace temperature can reach at least two thousand degrees, and a fully enclosed crucible, which also contains some phosphorus removal.
There is also quartz sand that can assist melting. If it fails to melt into molten iron, I will die headlong on this furnace.
It was too troublesome to explain, and Li Chengzhi was so excited that he was not in the mood to explain it to him.
"Just do it, why do you ask so many questions?"
Li Chengzhi scolded, and then pointed at the blacksmiths holding iron rulers and wrapped in thick leather robes, "Remember, you have to be fast and spread evenly. There should be no air bubbles in it... The others dispersed
...down!"
Following his words, the onlookers immediately retreated seven or eight meters away, including Li Chengzhi, Li Song and Li Bai.
A drop of it will burn a hole in the flesh.
The blacksmith tilted the crucible, and the iron juice like rice soup flowed into the pool.
It is said to be a pool, but it is actually only less than half a finger thick, only four to five millimeters. The bottom and sides are all paved with thick ceramic tiles, so it is not afraid of being burned.
The iron juice with a temperature of more than 1,000 degrees showed signs of condensation as soon as it touched the ceramic tiles. Several blacksmiths quickly scraped the edge of the pool with their iron rulers. With a teeth-searing sound, the iron juice was spread evenly.
It is one foot square and divided into cross-shaped grids in the middle.
The volume and area were calculated by Li Chengzhi in advance. He would only have more, but not less, so the pool overflowed a lot.
But it doesn’t matter, you can use it again and again.
Everyone held their breath and looked at Tao Chi without blinking.
Within a few minutes, the color of the iron juice dimmed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
When the surface of the steel plate turned slightly green, Li Chengzhi shouted again: "Get up!"
The four blacksmiths each took a shovel, smashed the pottery edges on the four sides of the pool, and shoveled the four slightly soft steel plates out of the pool.
Eight strong men, each holding a clamp and a hammer, stood beside the anvil. As soon as the steel plate was delivered, they started to work immediately.
With the sound of forging, the steel plates became thinner and darker, and the color became darker and darker. Before the temperature was completely lost, the area of each steel plate was more than doubled.
"Stop!" Li Chengzhi shouted sharply.
It can't be forged anymore, let alone two millimeters, I'm afraid it's not even 1.5 millimeters...
Looking at the steel plate that turned completely black and slowly reflected the bright light, Li Chengzhi's eyes slowly began to light up.
If there are too many impurities in it, as the blacksmith forges and the temperature cools, a layer of impurities will definitely resolve on the surface of the steel plate, just like ringworm on the human body.
But after dozens of hammerings, the steel plate didn’t peel off?
It seems to be very successful. At least the sulfur and phosphorus are completely removed. Judging from the condition of the blacksmith when forging, there is no doubt that it is steel.
He was afraid that he had made a mistake, so he took the pliers from the blacksmith's hand and tried them.
As he exerted force on his hand, the steel plate deformed slightly. When he let go, there was a crisp sound of "collapse" and the steel plate actually bounced back.
"Hahahaha..." Li Chengzhi couldn't hold it back and laughed directly.
Even though he was more than 90% sure before, when he really succeeded, he couldn't help but feel elated.
"Can it bounce back?" An old blacksmith's eyes widened suddenly, and he exclaimed as if he had seen a ghost, "This...this...is this hundred-refined steel?"
As he spoke, he actually stretched out his hand.
Hearing "Ouch", the old blacksmith suddenly retracted his hand.
Li Chengzhi looked at him like an idiot.
But I didn’t expect that there would be more than one idiot?
"Fine steel?" Li Song exclaimed and also stretched out his hand.
Come on, idiots can be infected?
Didn't you hear the blacksmith scream when he was burned?
Without thinking, he threw the clamp in his hand.
Li Song also said "ouch"...
But it wasn't burned, it was hit by clamps.
"Are you so happy?" Li Chengzhi glared and cursed.
"Lang...Lang Jun, this...is this fine steel?"
Not only did Li Song's voice tremble, but his body also started to tremble, and his eyes seemed to be electrified, and they were so bright that they were scary.
Li Chengzhi only said before that if there was enough iron, he could forge at least hundreds of armors in a month, but he never said that the forged armor would be steel?
It’s also not said that it doesn’t require repeated training by a blacksmith, and it can be formed in one go...
Li Song didn't kneel down and call out for miracles. Instead, he bit the tip of his tongue and endured it again and again, and the taste of blood began to fill his mouth.
Not looking at the blacksmiths and Li Bai, they all stared with their eyes open and their mouths open, as if they were stunned...