Sun Chengping looked around curiously, and asked Tao Seventeen beside him in a low voice: "The furnace for frying steel must be built along the mountain and buried in the ground, so that the fire temperature in the furnace can be maintained." The terrain is flat and not suitable, how did you get here? ”

Tao 17 said: "The steel furnace to be built in the prison is different from your furnace, which is built directly on flat ground. Don't worry, I built it when I was in Bozhou, and the shape is clear, you just need to do what you are told. ”

Sun Chengping shook his head again and again: "Since you know how to build a furnace, why do you bother to come to us?" ”

Tao Qiqi patted him on the shoulder: "The official said that the geography is different, and the materials used to build the furnace are different. For example, what kind of soil to use to paint the walls of the furnace, and what bricks to use to build the hearth, which of you locals can say clearly? ”

Sun Chengping nodded: "That's right." The materials used to build the furnace are not right, and you can't fry good steel. ”

Yesterday, when I went to the blacksmith furnace to find a big man to fry steel, the Chen family and the Niu family were reluctant in every possible way, and used various excuses to prevaricate, and finally Du Zhongxiao was troublesome, so he gave up. Fortunately, not far from there, Sun Chengping's family also has a steel furnace, but because the business is not good, the furnace has not yet been opened. Du Zhongxiao just wanted to find an experienced person to choose the right building materials, so he hired Sun Chengping.

Sun Chengping and his three sons had nothing to do at home, and for the sake of the day's consistent money, they came happily.

Du Zhongxiao confirmed the terrain and said to Chang Dutou, who was working with the Xiang army: "This is it." The terrain here is quite flat, and the deep course of a small river over there is the most suitable. Two days ago, I made a diagram and wrote the locations of each place, and you gather the masons and join the army under your command, and here begins. The twenty people who make the stove over there, after you assign it, listen to Tao Seventeen's command. ”

Chang Du forked his head and sang a promise, took Du Zhongxiao's picture, and went to arrange people.

Datong Jian used to be Xiazhou, and there were many mines and metallurgies under his rule, and many soldiers were stationed. Although it is deserted now, most of the army is still there, and there is no shortage of manpower. It's just that there is no money in the prison, and these soldiers have been running out of money and food recently, and their morale is not high. For the people who work, Du Zhongxiao has always been generous, first gave them the money and food they owed, and then recruited the people under Chang Dutou to come to do things.

After giving orders to Chang Dutou, Du Zhongxiao came to Tao Qiqi and Sun Chengping's side, and several people hurriedly saluted.

Du Zhongxiao said: "I transferred twenty people from the Xiang Army to help you build a stove." Everything here is in charge of Tao Seventeen, with Sun Yuanwai assisting from the side. The shape of the furnace can be slightly larger, as it was in Yongcheng County. There is a lot of iron stored here, and three can be built. ”

Tao Seventeen forks sang a promise.

Du Zhongxiao looked around, all kinds of tools were ready, so he gave a few instructions, went to the river not far away, and sat on the chair to bask in the sun.

Chase was chosen in this place because it was next to the river, so it was convenient to use water, and iron could be transported by water. It's just that the river is too small, and only small boats and bamboo rafts can be walked, but not large boats.

Du Zhongxiao built the frying steel furnace here because he took a fancy to this river. With the experience of previous lives, we know that we must make full use of water resources before the steam engine can be used. From the Chase prison upwards, the river is no longer navigable, and the river is so deep that it is used to build dams and build hydraulic hammers. At that time, the steel from the frying furnace can be forged in time to save fuel when it is hot. In fact, not only forging can be fried steel continuously, iron smelting can also be used with fried steel, making full use of heat and saving fuel.

The construction of dams on rivers and the installation of water-powered mills used to be very popular. However, the terrain in the Central Plains is flat, and once the dam is built, it will affect the water supply downstream. Regardless of the flood disaster, the local large households that build the dam will aggravate the disaster for their own benefit. It is precisely because of this that dams are not allowed in most parts of the Central Plains, and around Kaifeng, there are only a few government-run water mills.

This is deep in the mountains, Du Zhongxiao has no resistance to build a dam, and you can use Datong Jian to build an iron-smelting center. To deal with the problem of iron accumulation in Datong Prison, Du Zhongxiao thought about it and increased his processing capacity to process pig iron into high-quality steel.

Over there, Tao Seventeen piled a simple model of a frying steel furnace on the ground and carefully explained it to Sun Chengping. Sun Chengping was very curious, he had never seen this kind of stove before, and he listened very carefully.

The reverberatory furnace is an indirect heating method, which not only increases the furnace temperature, but also has no direct contact with the iron, so coal can be used without causing a bad effect on the quality of the steel. In the end, it is a person who has fried steel all his life, Tao Qiqi talked about the structure roughly, and Sun Chengping understood the principle of this furnace, and secretly rejoiced in his heart. Fortunately, I agreed to come and help build a steel furnace, and after learning this, I can build one myself when I go back. This kind of stove not only can use coal, which saves fuel costs, but also produces more iron and better quality.

Sun Dalang, who was squatting on the side, saw that his father was listening carefully, and whispered to his younger brother beside him: "But I didn't expect that this kind of furnace would be built in the prison, but it is much stronger than our previous small furnace." When we go back to school, we can make a lot of money from this stove. Over there, Chen Yuanwai and Ma Yuanwai were afraid of delaying their business, so they refused to come in every possible way. When our furnace is built, I don't know how much I will regret it! ”

Sun Erlang pursed his lips and said, "The two of them stand on a good terrain, and the money they have earned over the years is enough." ”

Sun Dalang nodded again and again, smiling. Because of this accident, it was my family's turn to make a fortune. The cost of frying steel is huge, not affordable for ordinary households, and the Sun family can only barely maintain a small frying steel furnace, basically not employing people, and not making much money a year. On the contrary, Chen Niu has two families, with strong financial resources, and they don't know how much money they make in a year, which makes the people of the Sun family envious.

In the distance, Chang Dutou and a few masons commanded the Xiang army to dig a ditch and carry the soil, and near was Tao Seventeen and Sun Chengping, discussing the materials used in various parts of the furnace and taking the Xiang army to dig it. All the people were busy, and they were in full swing.

The spring sun is warm, sprinkled on the body, and makes people lazy. Du Zhongxiao sat on the chair, didn't want to move, and enjoyed this rare peaceful time. Since arriving in the state, he has been busy, and the interpersonal relationship in the state is complicated, so it is very tiring to do things.

Datong Prison is located deep in the mountains, away from those disturbances, so that Du Zhongxiao can finally calm down. The judge is either the chief official, or he does things for Zhizhou, and this position is actually not suitable for him. Du Zhongxiao is more suitable to be a landlord, who can make his own decisions, plan the development of the local area by himself, and make rational use of human and financial resources. The problem is his current position, and he has no choice at all. Xia La values herself and is a signatory, and the opportunity cannot be missed. Knowing that being busy is Xia Lai's merit, he still can't stop for a moment.

The grass next to it has sprouted, and the willows by the river are showing goose yellow, and spring is coming unconsciously.

Du Zhongxiao looked at the surrounding mountains, most of them were bare and a little ugly. As a result of years of iron smelting and burning charcoal, the trees on the mountain have long been cut down. That is, the use of coal to smelt iron is now prevalent, and some small trees have grown.

Looking at the busy crowd over there, Du Zhongxiao thought in his heart that when the steel furnace was built, he could try coking again. If iron can be made from coke, charcoal can be removed from the bottom, and the quality of iron can be improved. There's so much to do in this place.