Du Zhongxiao stood under the big willow tree, watching Tao Shiqi bring people to the coke stove in front of him. The weather was hot, and the people who were working were sweating profusely. The cicadas on the tree behind him kept screaming, without stopping at all.

After loading, Tao Shiqi commanded the two of them to push a single-wheeled cart, load a cart of coke, and arrived in front of Du Zhongxiao.

Putting down the cart, Tao Shiqi said: "Officiale, the coke in the previous furnace has been cold. Can you see how the effect is?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "You ask the people who are installing the stove there to take a break. There is mung bean soup in the big bucket next to it, so that each of them can drink a bowl to get rid of the heat. In this hot weather, when doing things by the stove, you are most afraid of heatstroke."

Tao Shiqi Yingnui and said, "Don't be careful, it won't be hot for a few days. Look at it and it's autumn. It's cold now sooner or later."

He went to instruct the workers to rest, and Tao Shiqi came back and watched the newly burned coke together.

After trying so many times, the quality of the coke can meet the needs of iron smelting. It forms large pieces, hard as stone, loose and porous, lighter, and shiny. Only when it is hard can it support the ore.

Tao Shiqi said: "Officials, this charcoal is already pretty good. We have tried it. Not only is it far better than charcoal, but the iron refined is also much better than that refined with coal. It has no dregs, and it is hard and not brittle."

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's not just about how the iron is refined, but the most important thing is about how the steel is fried. Only when the steel is fried can it be considered good charcoal. If it's just about how to smelting iron, why bother so much?"

Su Song on the side said: "Didn't you try to fry the steel a few days ago? It looks pure."

Tao Shiqi said: "It's much purer than before. But what about it? I still have to make iron tools to try it."

Du Zhongxiao actually doesn't know what kind of coke is good or what kind of bad, so he can only determine it according to the effect of use. Nowadays, Tao Shiqi is actually better than himself in his understanding of coke. Practice has made true knowledge, and Tao Shiqi has always done things. He has a flexible mind and has mastered a lot of iron smelting knowledge from practice. He also has the habit of nurturing Du Zhongxiao for many years, and is good at summarizing experience in practice.

After seeing the coke, Du Zhongxiao said: "Since the charcoal that has been refined can be used, I have started to prepare for the construction of an iron smelting furnace these days. It is not easy to transport coal from a hundred miles away, so you need to use it as much as possible. The iron smelting furnace and the stir-frying steel furnace are built together, and the iron is released and the steel is directly fried, saving a lot of coal."

Tao Shiqi bowed: "What the official said is that I am choosing a location these days. There is another piece of coke that is burnt now, although it is easy to use iron smelting, it is not easy to come out. It is bonded together and difficult to push and pull. Moreover, the block is too big, and if you want to be evenly and consistent, you have to smash it and re-select it again. These days, I am using several types of coals with the craftsman to see if I can make a better one."

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "This is the best. Remember, every time you burn it, you must record it in detail. What kinds of coal you use, not only do you need to record the appearance, but also leave samples and compare them with the actual objects. You must remember clearly how to install the furnace, how high the heat, and how long it takes to burn it."

In this era, there is no way to measure the temperature of the flame, but only look at the color of the flame, that is, the temperature. Different temperatures, the color of the flame is slightly different, and experienced people can observe it with the naked eye. If you cannot measure the temperature, it is meaningless to record it with the temperature. It is better to use the color of the flame.

Tao Shiqi promised and wrote down one by one. These experiences are valuable wealth, and they are even more meaningful in words. Letting the craftsmen who operate directly master certain cultural knowledge and record them in detail every time is much better than writing articles by literati who listen to people.

After looking at the coke, Du Zhongxiao said: "There is another thing, that is, the gas produced during coking needs to be classified and distilled out different things. What you distilled out now is still too thick and is useless. For the distillation tower, you need to use your brain more to separate the things like that."

Tao Shiqi looked at Su Song on one side and couldn't help but smile bitterly. This work was difficult for him. The smoke coming out of the stove was invisible or touched, and he could only smell it. Who knew what the hell was inside? Du Zhongxiao remembered the concept of fractionation and took a lot of thought to build a fractionation tower. This name sounded high-end, but in fact it was like a flue with many layers of layers, collecting condensed liquid every second. Du Zhongxiao was very proud of himself building a fractionation tower based on the concept of fractionation, and was very concerned about the actual effect. He had no time, so he pressed the matter on Tao Shiqi and asked from time to time. Tao Shiqi didn't know what Du Zhongxiao wanted, and he was confused and very immature.

These by-products of coking are important chemical raw materials. Du Zhongxiao remembers that there are coal tar, crude benzene, and coal gas. He can't remember what these things look like and what their uses. Anyway, the more detailed the by-products are, the more beneficial it is. This is certain. Moreover, by fractionating the coking gas, you can still accumulate experience, and maybe you can also fractionate the oil in the future.

Su Song was not very interested in these things, and he was more concerned about coke and iron smelting later.

Seeing that Tao Shiqi was so responsive, Du Zhongxiao said, "Don't underestimate this matter. If you do it well, it will be of great use in the future. And you also know that the smoke that comes out can be ignited. You must find a way to use the smoke, whether it is iron smelting or charcoal, you can use less coal? It's not cheap to transport coal a hundred miles away."

Tao Shiqi agreed, but felt that his head was as big as a bucket. When the official was in the Volcano Army, he took advantage of the business of the cabinet shop and made hundreds of thousands of pounds easily and was used to spending a lot of money. Now he was not well-off, so he cared about the cost. Such a large iron prison could not make a hundred million pounds a year, which would not work anyway. Without sufficient capital, how could the 100,000 brigade troops that came one after another? How to place them in Qingtai Town again? Like in Qingtai Town this year, everything would be settled, but Du Zhongxiao was not satisfied.

But the problem is that the Tianxia Iron Class is only more than 70 million kilograms, and at 20 cents a kilogram of iron, it is only worth more than one million jin. How much money can you make if you want to make a lot of money? If you want to make a lot of money, you must make most of the iron into steel and then make various iron tools, which will be a lot of work.

Now that the railway supervision has not started construction, there are only projects and no investment, Du Zhongxiao's requirements for his subordinates are becoming increasingly strict. The fifty taels agreed by the court have not been distributed, so how much money can the land management work be made? When a large number of boatmen come later, Du Zhongxiao will have no money to invest.

The money was transported from Jiangxi Road, and went upstream along the Yangtze River. After arriving at the Hanyang Army, he entered the Han River and then to Xiangzhou and Baihe. God knows when he would arrive in Tangzhou. What Du Zhongxiao wanted was cash, but it was not something that the bank had as soon as it was allocated.

The coal mine is more than 100 miles away from the Iron Supervision. It looks not far away. It can maintain hundreds of carts of people eating and chewing horses, which is not a small number. The grain and grass in the post station horse shop are borrowed by Du Zhongxiao and Ruzhou and Tangzhou, waiting for the Yingtianwu to be collected in the autumn and then repay it. However, the Yingtianwu now looks like it is not like it can produce a lot of grain and grass, so Du Zhongxiao has to hurry.

Just when Tao Shiqi was feeling a headache, Liu Wei came in from outside, holding a piece of railway: "Yunjudgment, the private furnace outside has already come out. I specially asked someone to buy some to see how they made it. This is a good piece, what do you think?"

Tao Shiqi took a look and said disdainfully: "This iron is not good in color, there are lots of slags inside and pores, which are really rough. If this kind of rotten iron can be sold for twenty cents per pound, the one we refined can be fifty cents!"

Du Zhongxiao said: "How can a place where iron is produced be sold at a price of 20 cents? We produce good iron, and it is enough to sell for 20 cents. As for these small smelting furnaces in the country, we will be proud of it for a few days. When we produce a large amount of iron, we will see them!"
Chapter completed!