School of Physics, Smelting School.

This is a more bizarre place than the Hardware Academy, because there are furnaces everywhere, and various smelting tests are carried out every day. No matter when you go in, you will be sweating profusely.

Moreover, the inside is quite dirty, and the dust formed by coal and ore transport and smelting cannot be cleaned no matter how it is cleaned.

Generally speaking, Yang Cong rarely comes to such places. He is not afraid of stolen goods or heat, but it is just that there is no need.

However, he has been running here every day these days, and sometimes, he has been squatting here for a day, making himself like a coal worker, covered in black and gray.

The reason why he ran here all day was mainly because he lacked something in a steam locomotive. If this thing was gone, even if the steam locomotive was built, there would probably be a big problem.

This thing is actually very common in later generations and is no longer surprising, so Yang Cong ignored its existence. However, after experiencing a "rare" storm, Yang Cong finally remembered the importance of this thing.

This thing is glass. If the carriage does not have glass, it is impossible to imagine what the scene is inside when it rains. You can't seal the entire carriage, right? If you don't seal it, the rain will float in. So how can you sit there?

The front of the car is even more amazing. In order to have a wide view, it is impossible to block the front of the car. Once it rains, it is a trivial matter for the driver to get drenched. What if the eyes are blurred by the rain and the car is driven into a trenches?

Therefore, this glass must be available, otherwise the steam locomotive built will not be able to sit or drive when it rains.

The burning of this glass has ruined Yang Cong. At first, he thought that after washing ordinary river sand, he could burn transparent glass. As a result, the burning was like coffee milk candy. It was very beautiful when solidified, but not transparent at all.

Fortunately, some experienced craftsmen could see at a glance that they wanted to use quartz to make things.

Quartz is not very rare, and it is not difficult to find ore. Soon, Yang Cong found a pile of quartz stones and smashed them to burn them.

As a result, it was still not ideal. The burned glass was like milk candy. Although it was a little transparent, it was impossible to see what was opposite.

What's going on?

He and Wang Xuan convened a group of craftsmen to discuss for a long time before summing up. It is very likely that the temperature is not enough.

At this moment, whether it is coal fire or charcoal, the temperature that can be achieved is actually limited. Many craftsmen have to manually blow in to reach the required temperature when cooking things.

For example, if a blacksmith wants to soften a larger iron block, it is definitely not enough to just bury it into the burning coal pile. He also has to use a blower to blow the burning coal pile.

Since the reason was found, it was easy to deal with. As soon as the blower stepped on, he heated the crucible that burned the glass. Sure enough, the burned glass quickly showed a transparent color, but it was not very pure, and there were many milk-like patterns inside.

This naturally cannot be a problem for Yang Cong. He immediately designed an ultra-large automatic blower with Wang Xuan.

Generally, blowers are about two feet long, and it is difficult for a strong man to pull them up. Therefore, when people pull, there is always insufficient wind or not balanced enough.

The blower they designed was directly one person tall and was driven by two steam engines per foot. The wind was strong, long-lasting, and quite balanced.

Once the blower was designed, the fired glass finally barely met the requirements. Next, steam locomotives can be mass-produced and railways can be laid.

However, Yang Cong soon encountered another problem. After Hu Zongxian took office, he quickly asked him for trouble, because there were not enough materials!

This material is not enough, but it does not mean that there is no iron ore or wood. The main problem is that these two things need to be processed into rails and sleepers before they can be used.

After Hu Zongxian became the governor of the three provinces, he wanted to summon labor and expropriate land. The governor personally supervised it and had an imperial decree. Who dared to disobey the magistrate, the prefecture, the prefect, etc., that is, people need people, land, digging roadbeds, and filling stones quickly. Anyway, these are all physical work, and the people are used to it.

However, the roadbed was dug and the stones were filled, and the problem arose.

Hu Zongxian mobilized all the prefectures along the way to make efforts. Even if a prefecture only recruited a few thousand laborers, tens of thousands of laborers were working hard. How hard can it be to dig a roadbed and fill stones? Tens of thousands of people can get at least tens of miles of roadbed a day. What about the sleepers and rails? The sleepers and rails that cost dozens of miles are not a little bit.

One mile is calculated based on thirty rails, ten miles means three hundred and 300 rails, fifty miles means one thousand and five hundred rails. As for sleepers, at least tens of thousands of rails are required!

This guy, even if all the disciples from the School of Physics, could not make so many sleepers and rails in a day. Moreover, it would take a lot of ground to build this thing, otherwise even iron ore and logs would not be able to be placed.

In desperation, Yang Cong had to apply to Jiajing again and seize thousands of acres of land to the west of Yuyuantan, specifically used to hoard materials and manufacture rails and sleepers.

However, the next step is still the problem.

Only then did Yang Cong realize that it was really difficult to build a railway of more than 2,000 miles within two years. He was unprepared and rolled up his sleeves and went up. It seemed a bit too hasty.

It is easy to say about land acquisition. Once the emperor issued an order, no matter whether you want it or not, you have to vacate the land immediately. It is easy to say about iron ore, coal and wood. The west side of the capital is just close to Xuanfu Town. The iron ore and coal mines there are ready-made. I ordered people to dig and transport it over. As for the wood, is the Yang family still short of this little wood? Just pull it over with a boat.

The main problem is still a processing problem. You have to turn iron ore and logs into rails and sleepers to use it!

What does it mean to produce thousands of railway tracks a day? All the blacksmiths and casters around the capital are not enough to attract them!

This rail is not made by boiling the molten iron and pouring it into the mold. After casting it, you have to smooth the two sides. Moreover, it is quite difficult to prepare the abrasive tool. A one-meter-long fine casting mold can usually be made by casters in a day.

In other words, even if you recruit all the blacksmiths and casters near the capital, you can build hundreds of railway tracks a day, it will be considered as the sky.

It is even more difficult to produce tens of thousands of sleepers a day. There are only a few hundred carpenters near the capital. Pulling them all over and saw them hard is a drop in the bucket.

There are no sawing machines that specialize in sawing wood these days. There are only two people pulling big saws, one side at a time, and the two carpenters work together to exert all the effort. It would be great to be able to saw out a few sleepers a day.

In other words, even if hundreds of carpenters are recruited, they can only saw out more than a thousand sleepers a day. If there are more, it will not work. After all, manpower is limited and cannot be like a machine. Saws are constantly being cut for twelve hours a day. Tug-of-warming is a labor force. Most people have to rest for half an hour, otherwise their arms will be tired and cramped.

In short, in one sentence, there are many problems in a hurry.
Chapter completed!