"Looking at it from the three of us, it seems that my shaft furnace does not have a slag removal port. In fact, this iron pipe and this big tank are the artifacts for removing slag.

The most important thing in ironmaking is to ensure that the temperature in the furnace keeps up so that iron can be tapped faster.

There are four bellows below my big tank. When making iron, the four bellows work together to send gas into the furnace to increase the burning of charcoal. At the same time, the air pressure in the furnace is increased, and all the ash in the slag layer is brought to this pipe.

In addition to a baffle three feet away from the furnace, there is a pit under the baffle for air carrying ash, and part of the ash will fall into the pit.

Then the flue gas passes through the iron pipe for the second and third slag removal. A circulating impeller is added here to send these high-temperature flue gases into the furnace again.

We put an iron pick in the pit, and when the pit is full of ash and slag, we stop blowing and quickly remove all the ash and slag in the pit, so that the blast furnace can always maintain a high temperature and the iron tapping efficiency will be very high." Liu

Xin said a lot in one breath, but saw three people looking at him with wide eyes.

"Is there anything you don't understand? Or is there something you can't do?" Liu Xin asked.

"Sir, according to what you said, how big does this blast furnace need to be? Our county won't say whether this slag removal method is good or not. If there is no air inlet and we rely on this gas tank, it may not be strong enough to blow into the furnace..." the craftsman said bluntly.

.

"This is easy to do. When making the bellows, I will personally find a carpenter to make a check valve, so that the air can only go in but not out. I have calculated that the pressure of four bellows should be enough. For the first blast furnace, I only plan to build a three-foot-high blast furnace.

"Yes." Liu Xin said.

"Sir, even if these problems are solved, such a large furnace still cannot be built. Ironmaking requires a large amount of charcoal, and the charcoal burning time is only so long. Even if we keep adding charcoal to the shaft furnace, it will not be enough for such a large furnace.

If you add too much charcoal, the ash in the furnace will become larger. Generally, a shaft furnace built one foot high is enough," the craftsman said.

Liu Xin frowned. He had forgotten that people in this era didn't use coal very much. Coal burns at high temperatures, takes a long time, and has little ash. Why don't they use it?

"Have you ever tried using stone coal?" Liu Xin asked.

"Sir, the entire shaft furnace will explode when making iron from stone coal, and there will be no way to get out the slag." A young craftsman said to Liu Xin.

Liu Xin suddenly remembered that the coal contained a large amount of sulfur dioxide, which would easily coke and block the discharge hole, making it useless.

If coal cannot be used, Liu Xin's blast furnace design is meaningless. It is not difficult for him to turn the coal into iron-making, but it is more dangerous.

"What if I can prevent this stone coal from clumping in the furnace? Can you build this furnace?" Liu Xin asked.

"If adults can solve the problem of stone coal not clumping, the wind from the bellows only flows into the pot, and the air volume in the furnace is sufficient, these three pits can solve the four problems of slag discharge, and this large shaft furnace can be built, and the villain can

It can also ensure that this shaft furnace can support ten ordinary furnaces." The older craftsman said.

"Ten times is not enough, at least I need a hundred times. Zhongde, you go to the iron ore land and build a castle that can accommodate at least 3,000 people. You three, follow my instructions and prepare to build the shaft furnace first, no later than two days

Months I need the shaft furnace to be built.

By the way, Zhongde, you choose ten iron-making craftsmen and pay them according to the monthly schedule of the steward. The minimum monthly salary for all craftsmen is 2 guan. Send a capable person to our [Iron Castle]. The iron must be made within three months at the latest.

The fort was built." Liu Xin said.

Rome was not built in a day. This year's 30 castle plan may be shelved, and the river digging work may be postponed. The most critical thing for Liu Xin now is to establish Pingzihe City and [Iron Castle], the focus of Xiandu County

It's about to start moving south.

Liu Xin asked Zhou Tai to lead 1,500 Xianbei elite cavalry and 2,000 elite infantry. The regular soldiers would defend Pingzihe City. The regular soldiers would have to be used as the main force during battle. In this way, even if the Wuhuan cavalry came with more than 30,000 cavalry, Liu Xin would not be afraid.

Fang Yue led 1,000 elite infantry to guard the [Iron Castle] alone to ensure the safety and project progress of the [Iron Castle]. At the same time, Liu Xin also sent 1,000 Xianbei prisoners as miners to collect iron ore near the [Iron Castle].

On March 3rd, the cold winter was over, and the spring plowing in Xiandu County had not yet begun. Fang Yue had already led 3,000 people to the [Iron Castle]. He not only wanted to build the castle, but also mine and transport stone and coal. It happened that Zhangwu

The county was a place where stone coal was produced, so Liu Xin didn't have to spend much money to let the prisoners dig it, and it could be loaded on a ship and shipped over in a few days.

Qilin Villa has sent back the news that a large number of rebels from Zhuo County have gone north. The enemy has never harassed Luyin Township. In mid-February this year, the county magistrate Yuan Gang came back. All the rebels in Zhuo County surrendered to Yuan Gang.

Zhuo County has begun to return to normal.

It's just that the large county that used to have more than 70,000 people now has a population of less than 10,000, and they are still old, weak, sick and disabled. Many people from aristocratic families in Luyin Township want to return to the county. Liu Xin told Wang Hui not to stop them.

.

The money, land deeds, and house deeds in the hands of these wealthy families have almost been squeezed out by Qilin Villa. If they want to leave, just leave! Many people who are accustomed to the life in Luyin Township are definitely not willing to leave. Now Zhuoxian City is so poor that even the prefect Liu

They are all missing.

Zhang Jia has already led eight large ships to set off with more than 20,000 victims and two large ships of coal and coal. These victims will become the main force in the construction of Pingzihe City.

On March 14, spring plowing was still in progress. Liu Xin saw that the spring plowing tasks in the villages outside the city were arranged in an orderly manner by Cheng Yu. He guessed that Fang Yue was approaching the iron ore area, so Liu Xin took him with him.

Huang Xu and his bodyguards rode southward.

Huang Xu's strength has now reached 37 points, making it difficult for him to meet an opponent among his peers. However, Liu Xin has to inject the [Short-Light Sun-Seizing Kung Fu] Qi once a month, and Liu Xin usually takes Huang Xu with him when he goes out.

After two days of riding, Liu Xin rode 600 miles to his destination. He came to a dark red open area. There were no weeds here. Generally, even wolves would not come to such a desolate place.

When Liu Xin found Fang Yue, he saw that they were digging wells. Without wells, let alone building a castle, people would not be able to live here.

Thousands of tents have been set up on this barren land. Fang Yue sent out his elite cavalry team to stand guard. All the infantry began to build camp defense facilities. The workers began to carry out their own work according to the plan, building city walls and houses.

, blast furnace, etc. are carried out at the same time.

The next day after Fang Yue led everyone here, everyone was already busy. Liu Xin took Huang Xu to explore the surrounding woods to build an [Iron Castle] and complete a series of Liu Xin's tasks in the [Iron Castle].
Chapter completed!