After leaving the camp, the four people read several newspapers of "Baitingjian" and found it very interesting. The above is usually the first one, which is a few imperial decrees and local notices of the Iron Supervisor's Office. The latter are mostly interesting stories in production and life. In addition to indicating the author's name, there are also occupations. Most of them are written by iron supervisor workers, and some are in charge of officials. These small articles are all used in common words and are extremely simple. For these four people, there is no literary beauty at all. The success is that they are real people and have a strong sense of life. You can understand the life of the Iron Supervisor from this.

At the end, there are usually several practical articles. Some researchers can overcome technical problems, some front-line workers can improve productivity, some managers can improve working methods, and some farmers can even talk about farming, which are all kinds of things. One common feature is that it introduces the joys, sorrows and sorrows in work in large quantities. For real technical problems, it only makes people know that this is the case.

Among them, there are some product introductions. For example, various agricultural tools in the Iron Supervision Department, listing parameters, improving efficiency, and selling prices is actually advertising. In addition to agricultural tools, there are various daily necessities, and even some brand of pastries, which product of soy sauce is all-in-one. A tabloid, which covers all kinds of information, will have a general understanding of Iron Supervision Department.

As local officials, all four of them were promoted from grassroots prefectures and counties, and they could see a fresh life from newspapers. The folk culture has never been cut off from ancient times to the present. However, in words, they are mostly proverbs, simple rhymes, etc., and articles like this are rarely seen in vernacular. Obviously, this is not an educational content, and a few of them are just watching the fun.

There is nothing wrong with this. The Iron Supervisor simply printed the contents on the white walls on the streets on the newspapers, which were much more detailed. The basis for this is that the people have a high literacy rate. Generally, local and provincial learning is not popular, and even if they want to learn it, they cannot learn it.

It was still early, and Du Zhongxiao and four people entered the Iron Supervision Bureau. The factory is the biggest feature of the Iron Supervision Bureau, and this is the focus of their visit.

Following several track trucks for transporting ore, Du Zhongxiao and everyone arrived at a newly built iron smelting blast furnace factory.

As soon as I entered the gate, I saw the blast furnace extending outside the room at the top of the front. Everyone praised it. With the use of the steam engine, the blowing and transportation material resources were replaced by machines. The newly built blast furnace was much taller than the first one. This blast furnace produced more iron every day than the first one, but the manpower was used, representing the new level of productivity of the iron supervision.

It was spring, and when the willow wind was not cold, the room was hot and sweat fell down in a short while.

After a while, I saw the waterfall-like iron water coming out of the blast furnace and being transported to the steelmaking furnace next to me. Ouyang Xiu sighed: "I have seen many iron smelting furnaces. I have only received a few thousand kilograms in a day. This is the first time I have seen such iron smelting methods like rivers rushing, and it is like a continuous stream."

Song Qi on the side said, "Why, isn't iron smelting like this in other places?"

Ouyang Xiu said: "I comforted Hedong a few years ago and saw many places where iron smelting are not so spectacular!"

Yan Shu has been an official for decades. In addition to being an official in the capital, most prefectures and counties are not far from Fengfu, and are most unfamiliar with the grassroots. After hearing Ouyang Xiu's words, he hurriedly asked him how the people usually smel iron.

Ouyang Xiuluo introduced it and asked Du Zhongxiao: "Fortune judgment, how much iron can be produced in a day with such a stove?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "Day and night, I'll touch about 300,000 to 400,000 kilograms."

Ouyang Xiu was stunned when he heard this and couldn't speak for a moment.

When the rest of the people saw it, they hurriedly asked, "Uncle Yong, the general public smelting of iron can produce tens of thousands of kilograms a day?"

Ouyang Xiu smiled bitterly and said, "Ten thousand kilograms? The average smelting furnace in the folk only earns a few thousand kilograms a day. Ten or twenty thousand kilograms are already a rare large furnace."

After hearing this, the few people couldn't speak for a moment and were plotting in their minds. This stove had hundreds of thousands of kilograms of iron a day, which was equivalent to dozens of largest stoves in the country. In ten months of production a year, it was nearly 100 million kilograms, far exceeding the imperial iron class. What kind of efficiency is this? How much can it be sold if it is sold? Judging from the appearance there, the iron flows out like a constant river water, almost never stopping. No wonder Du Zhongxiao would say that if it can't be sold, it's like soil. New iron is coming out continuously, but that's not the case.

At this time, all the steel smelting used steam engine power, eliminating manpower. A steam engine, at the blast furnace, drives the transport of materials and blowers at the same time. On the other side, there is another steam engine, drives forging hammers and rolls, etc. The machine roars, and not many people are here.

After watching for a while, Yan Shu asked, "Yun Judgment, how many stoves are there in the iron prison now? How much iron can be smelt in a year?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "The furnaces vary in size. This is the largest one. There are twelve furnaces in total, with more than 600 million jin of iron smelting every year. Now there are too many furnaces in the Iron Supervision. When the hottest summer is in the summer, a few will be stripped off, leaving only five large furnaces."

Song Qi smiled and said, "Iron is very useful, so why do you think there are too many things? For the court, the more the better."

Du Zhongxiao shook his head and sighed, "My husband, that's what he said, but it's not the case. For the Iron Supervisor, hundreds of millions of jin of iron a year can't be sold at all, and it is impossible to transport it to the capital. Even if the railway is built now, it can be transported by water, but it cannot be sold. The iron furnace is built and the new iron cannot be stopped for a moment, and new iron is constantly refined. Isn't it better to sell it as much as the jin of iron? For the Iron Supervisor, it is best to sell it as many jin as it can be used. There is no benefit to refine it more."

The imperial iron course was ten kilograms and two kilograms. Even if some small furnaces could not collect iron courses, the world produced only 300 million to 400 million kilograms in the past. Baitingjian expanded its production capacity by more than twice, and it was mainly steel, which had eaten up the world's production capacity. Before the new uses were promoted, the industry had not developed initially, and the iron supervision's production capacity was already overcapacity. The reason why so many furnaces were built was mainly to test new furnace models. In a few days, the small blast furnaces built in the early stage would be stripped off, leaving only a few large blast furnaces.

After hearing Du Zhongxiao's words, the four of them knew that this was the truth, but they still felt a pity. After being an official in the local area, they knew that iron is a good thing. With enough iron tools, the production efficiency of many industries will rise to a higher level. In the past, there was a shortage of iron everywhere, but I didn't expect that Baitingjian was worried that the iron would be smelted and could not be sold.

After sighing for a while, everyone looked at the small steelmaking furnace next to them.

The molten iron entered the steel furnace, and the blower driven by the steam engine sent a large amount of air in. Soon a furnace of steel came out. After a period of exploration, the preheated wind blowing into the furnace is now shorter than the steelmaking time at the beginning. In a short while, red molten steel was poured out.

It seems that molten steel is no different from molten iron, both red, like river water flowing slowly. The backward part is cast into steel ingots, and part is forged into various profiles. The final product is far away from the other side of the factory and cannot be seen at all.

Liu Zhi looked at the steel water coming out and said to Du Zhongxiao: "Yunjudgment, is the steel coming out there?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "Yes. The reason why iron is iron is because there is carbon inside. Blow in the iron, burn the carbon and then make steel. This is the same as stir-frying steel. As for cooked iron, it is because the carbon is burned too much and there is no carbon inside, so it will become soft."

After hearing this, Yan Shu and others looked at each other. This was the first time they heard this statement. Nowadays, the common view is that steel and iron are two different things. Only by removing the residue can we obtain pure steel. This is for the sake of hardening. If Du Zhongxiao had not built such a large iron supervisor, there would have been iron and steel coming out in front of him, they would have to discuss it with Du Zhongxiao.

Facts are better than heroic judgment. No matter how you say it, the steel here is made in this way, and you have to accept it.

It was too hot in front of the blast furnace. After a while, the few people looked at it and knew how the steel was made, so they walked back along the forged machine.

Seeing the red steel ingots changing shapes under the forging hammer, constantly changing their shapes, and finally becoming square sticks of varying thicknesses, everyone felt that it was amazing. Blacksmiths had seen irons, but they had never seen such a scene. Wrought iron was so easy.

In the end, there were large steel plates, piled up in piles. On the other side, there were various profiles.

Looking at the pile of steel plates, Ouyang Xiu said: "Fortune judgment, I can understand how to make steel into steel strips, which makes it easy to create swords and plantable objects. Why is it made into steel plates? What is the use of this thing?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's very useful. Just like the enamel made a few days ago, many of them are made of steel plates, otherwise how can they be so light and thin? Many other objects can be cut into steel plates, and the cast pig iron is much lighter than that."

Song Qi said: "Yunjue is right. I also thought of a use. These steel plates are used to make iron armor, which is easy to think."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "My husband said it well. It is the most convenient way to make iron armor for military weapons. A few days ago, I tried to make a few pairs of iron armor, but I was not yet skillful and couldn't help but modify it. Another thing is that the iron armor is heavy and it is impossible for a strong man to wear."

After saying that, he said to Shisanlang who was following behind: "Shisanlang, you can wear the iron armor made a few days ago, and take a look at it for your husbands."

Shisanlang responded with his hands and walked to the house next to him.

Several people looked at Shisanlang's leaving figure and praised: "What a big man! If you are not such a person, you can't wear heavy armor!"
Chapter completed!