At this moment, a follower quietly squeezed to Du Zhongxiao and reported in a low voice: "Official, the foreigner who compares his swords with others, is going to sell them to our iron merchants. I heard that he loves precious swords and shows off his sword on the boat, so he got into trouble."

When Du Zhongxiao heard this, he hurriedly pulled the entourage aside and asked him to tell him in detail what he had found.

Peng Xinshu, a businessman from Yingtianfu, was engaged in iron business and loved collecting treasure knives. Whenever he arrived at a place, he had to ask if there were any good knives. If they were valuable, he would buy them back. Of course, he bought them and sold them, which was equivalent to a business. However, in this era, most of the good knives were military weapons, and there were no good knives among the people, and the price was high. Du Zhongxiao, compared with Peng Xinshu, looked a bit like the weapon of the imperial guards, and the official cost was more than five cents. After being transformed into the people, it was not too outrageous to sell dozens of cents.

After listening to the follower's report, Du Zhongxiao thought that if he made a batch of good knives and sold them to Peng Xinshu, he would not know if he could get the money he needed urgently. The key to good knives is steel, which is ready-made in Blacksmith County. Du Zhongxiao had made in the factory in his previous life, but he was not familiar with other steels, so he still had a rough understanding of high-carbon tool steel. Tool steel is an excellent material for making swords, and with qualified quenching and blades, it can surpass most swords in this era. If you make batches, you don't need to compare with top swords. Military weapons that are stronger than the imperial guards are enough to sell for a good price.

Du Zhongxiao happened to know how to make high-carbon tool steel under current technical conditions.

I had a metal material course in my previous life, but unfortunately the blast furnaces, open furnaces, converters, etc. in steel metallurgy were too complicated. Du Zhongxiao had long forgotten the specific process and only remembered a name. But there is one simple method, crucible steelmaking, Du Zhongxiao still remembers it. This method is simple, just remember it and can be restored. It is small in scale, suitable for small places at the county level. In fact, this method is Du Zhongxiao's civil steelmaking method in his previous life.

The reason why steel is difficult to make is because the high carbon content in iron will reduce its melting point, and iron can only be used to make pig iron. After the pig iron is decarbonized, the carbon content is too low and it becomes cooked iron, and the carbon content of steel is located between pig iron and cooked iron. Of course, there is another reason. After the carbon content is low, the melting point of iron increases, and ordinary iron smelting furnaces cannot reach the temperature to allow it to melt completely. This is the basic principle of steel, which Du Zhongxiao still remembers.

At this time, the so-called treasure knife generally refers to a 10-steel steel knife, which is made of cooked iron after multiple carburization and forging, which takes time and is expensive. Of course, this method cannot be used in the military standard steel knife, and most of them use stir-fried steel. Because the stir-fried steel is melted by pig iron, it seeps into the semi-melted iron, and the material is uneven and its mass is not as good as a 10-steel steel knife. If the crucible is used to make steel, the material is even, it can be compared with the 10-steel steel knife.

The crucible must be made of graphite. First, it is resistant to high temperatures and can melt the steel inside. Second, the composition of graphite is carbon, and it will not lose carbon and become cooked iron during the steelmaking process. Knowing the basic principles, it can actually be roughly deduced during the steelmaking process.

While Du Zhongxiao was sitting under the tree and thinking, Chai Xin came over with excitement on his face.

After the ceremony, Chai Xin said, "The two good knives I brought were cut like mud! Three copper coins were piled up and they were broken with one knife. But the two of them cherished their precious knives and did not compare. The foreigner spent fifty knives to buy another person's knife."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "What is chopping copper coins like cutting iron like mud. If you go back and practice, you can cut a few copper coins by borrowing the sword of the Master Yao."

Seeing Chai Xin's disbelief, Du Zhongxiao didn't explain it to him, and the explanation was not clear. People in this era had no rational understanding of metal hardness and strength, so they took copper coins to test the knife.

When Chairman Dong came back, Du Zhongxiao said: "Chief, we are talking in the tea shop there."

The two of them arrived at the tea shop next to the dock and saw that the grocery store was piled with mountain-like reed mats outside. Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "These business people are concerned about it and have collected a lot of reed mats. They are not afraid of having no goods to sell when they open it."

Chairman Dong said: "According to the magistrate's constitution, these are industries that make money for the county's officials. How could they not care about it?"

Du Zhongxiao shook his head and knew that what Chairman Dong was talking about was the truth. The public is much more concerned about doing things for themselves than for the yamen. This is impossible. For most public people, they are not even working for the yamen. They just work, so they will not do their best.

After drinking a bowl of tea, Du Zhongxiao said to Chairman Dong: "Chiefkeeper, I have thought of a way to make money, which can fill the holes in the payment of goods, but I just asked the chief clerk to go there. The merchant who bought the knife there just now was a rich man."

Chairman Dong said: "If I can make money, what's wrong with me breaking my legs! I just don't know what to do? What's the way to make money?"

"The merchants who sell iron there like to buy treasure swords the most. The chief clerk went to tell him, if I had a good sword here, it was much better than the one he bought just now, would he buy it? If it was fifty cents per, just sell him twenty cents and you would get it out."

After hearing this, Chairman Dong was startled: "County magistrate, that kind of good knife can be regarded as a military weapon. Is it inappropriate to sell it to the people like this?"

Du Zhongxiao waved his hand: "The court can't help but swords. What's the point of selling a few knives? Where can he buy money if he has money? Making money is important."

Seeing that Chairman Dong was still worried, Du Zhongxiao said again: "If you are determined to do evil, why use a knife? He is an iron merchant. He is a blacksmith and is not more useful than a knife. Besides, if you want to kill someone, it is like a bad knife. Good knife is just a sale to the rich."

Du Zhongxiao was able to think about this kind of thing. A knife is a knife. A good knife will not do more bad things than a bad knife. The military uses it because it involves loss and repair. Naturally, it is necessary to use a good knife. It is not that different for ordinary people with swords. Many blacksmith shops can make twenty or thirty knives. What's wrong with making some money by selling it yourself?

Chairman Dong was worried about the payment for the goods. Du Zhongxiao said so, why should he insist? He asked: "It was just for a moment that the magistrate went to find so many good knives? Even in the inspection camp, those knives were not useful in the imperial guards, and they couldn't be sold to them."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "I have my own way to make a batch of good steel. The chief clerk will let the merchants wait for a few days."

"The magistrate can still make steel?" Chairman Dong felt strange. He was a magistrate who knew all kinds of miscellaneous studies.

Du Zhongxiao didn't say much, and just asked Chairman Dong to arrange it. The most important thing in crucible steelmaking is to make graphite crucibles. Fortunately, because he wanted to make drawing pencils, the county accumulated some. Everything went well, and enough steel could be refined in three or five days. There is another point in steelmaking. The furnace temperature must be high enough. Once the temperature is not enough, a pile of scrap iron will be produced. Designing a furnace is also a difficult point. According to conventional rules, coke should be used for fuel, but now it is too late to coke, so you have to use coal and have to test it.

After discussing with Chairman Dong, he asked him to go to the merchant to negotiate. Du Zhongxiao took Chai Xin and returned to the county.

Back in the study, Du Zhongxiao sorted out what he needed to do and said to Chai Xin: "You go and find Wang Ai Shi, ask him to find a few experienced blacksmiths from the county, and go to the yamen to obey orders. Then find a skilled bricklayer from Shixiang. I will be useful here."

Chai Xin was shocked by the two treasure swords he saw today, and still remembered them all. He crossed his hands and couldn't help asking before going out: "Officials, there is really a way to make good steel and shoot out the treasure sword he saw today? If it is so easy, wouldn't the treasure sword not be valuable?"
Chapter completed!