"My son said this iron is available!" Wang Shao didn't sit in the house and drink tea, he was very curious about the honeycomb charcoal workshop at the other end of the yard, sitting in front of the window with a teacup and staring intently, and immediately got up to go out when he heard his son's report.

"It will take a few more hours for the child to see that there is an iron work here, so let the horse forge the iron in the furnace into an arrowhead, and the child will know when he tries it."

Wang Hou hurriedly stopped his father, the blast furnace can make iron, it does not mean that the iron smelted is easy to use, and the performance can only be known after forging, there are too many impurities, no matter how it is forged, it cannot become good steel.

At this time, Hong Tao didn't care about the house, nor was he next to the blast furnace, he ran to the lake and squatted on the ground with Wu Si and a few young juniors to play with the sand.

This pile of sand is not ordinary sand, its cost is higher than grain, and it is sea sand specially pulled from Jianzhou by tanker. This is not the end, but also through soaking, cleaning, sieving and other processes, to distinguish the sand and gravel of different thicknesses, before it is preliminarily qualified.

What is the use of such precious sand? There is no other use than casting. This is the lowest grade of foundry sand, and then add fine clay and coal ash according to the proportion, which is the molding sand that can be used for casting.

The earth blast furnace that uses coke as fuel is generally pig iron, which has a high carbon content, is hard and brittle, and cannot be forged but cast. For example, cast iron stoves are made of cast iron, and cast iron pots are used.

If you want to decarbonize pig iron, in addition to continuing to separate and heat it with an open-hearth furnace, there is also a stupid way to keep heating and forging to strip the carbon, phosphorus and sulfur impurities in the pig iron, and what you get is 100 steel. If it is forged again, the carbon content of the steel block will be lower, and it will eventually be wrought iron, which the ancients called soft iron.

Now the open hearth can't be used, and Hong Tao must prove that Wang Shao and his son can see that their iron-making furnace is really useful, and it is not impossible for the Wu family to use a sledgehammer to forge, but it is too low-end, which consumes manpower and does not show the magic of the horse.

So Hong Tao planned to get a relatively small forging hammer out, which reflected the advantage of the next step when he usually had nothing to do. With the gear set speed change system that has been continuously tested and has relatively mature technology, there is basically no technical difficulty in using a waterwheel to make a cam forging hammer, as long as the hammer body can be cast.

"It's noisy here, my lord, please go to the Great Olympics with the lower officials." After arranging the casting of sand molds, Hong Tao came over to greet Wang Shao and his son.

At this time, it was already noon, and those who were accustomed to eating three meals must be hungry, whether the father and son were happy or not, this lunch meal must be eaten. But you can't eat with the craftsmen in the workshop, that would be rude, so you should just change to a slightly more elaborate place.

"The captain doesn't have to take care of the old man, Hou'er has been fighting with me since he was a child, and it is a little stronger than the military tent here." Wang Shao didn't want to leave, his interest was also hooked, and he was still waiting to see the molten iron, he didn't feel hungry at all, and he didn't feel that this place was shabby.

"There are also sharp weapons in the army on top of the big Olympics, and the boss doesn't want to see it?" If he is not hungry, he is still hungry, since he can't persuade him to leave, he will leave.

"Oh! In this case, it is better to be respectful than to obey fate. Hou'er, you are here to wait, for your father to see the sharp weapon of Lord Du. Sure enough, as soon as he heard that there were still good things, Wang Shao couldn't sit still, but he didn't give up the iron-making furnace and left his son behind.

Da Ori does have good things, at this time is erected in the window, the arm is thick, two feet long, one big and one small is divided into three sections, the whole body is made of white copper, and the two ends are also inlaid with red copper cloud water patterns, at a glance it is Wang Dalang's craftsmanship.

This person and Peng Da are hopeless, let the horse scold so many times and still die without repentance, and you have to show your skills to do anything.

"Look out from the small head, twist the big head left and right to adjust it clearly. Look slowly, I'll come when I go......" The telescope has been built for a while, and no one knows except the crown.

Its overall structure is not complicated, but grinding the lenses is labor-intensive. The reason why it is so large is also due to the focal length of the lens. Hong Tao didn't dare to take it out and show it around, but hid it in the big Olympics as a prototype.

The effect, in the words of the crown, is most suitable for use at sea. It is better than any experienced lookout for dozens of miles, providing navigation information for ships and preventing unscrupulous ships from approaching in advance.

This point does not need to be talked about by the crown Hong Tao also understands, in fact, the effect of telescopes on land is not small, especially when used in combat. The discovery of the enemy itself is the initiative, and if the Song army with short legs can see farther, it will undoubtedly be a big help.

Wang Shao, as a veteran with rich practical experience, must be able to think of this layer, Hong Tao ran to the next door and just ate two pieces of dim sum, and heard his shouting. Helplessly, I had to put down the food and take a look, lest this old man be too excited and burst the heart and cerebrovascular.

"This thing is great, good! If a certain family had this artifact in their hands back then, they would not be afraid of it in Xiqiang, Uighur or Tibet! ”

I have to say that Wang Shao's hands-on ability is still quite strong, and without anyone's guidance, it only took a cup of tea to figure out the use and function of the telescope. After seeing the horse, he didn't even care about the necessary etiquette, so he almost pressed Hong Tao's head to the eyepiece.

"If the boss thinks it's useful, it's not in vain that I made it. In my hands, it can only be a plaything, but in the hands of the boss, it is a sharp weapon to retreat from the enemy. It's just that the old man is sick and weak, otherwise I don't know how to use this telescope to expand the geometry for me. ”

Hong Tao reluctantly leaned over to take a look, fooled the old man and let go, and then began to preach the next step. The old man's life can only be regarded as half saved, the physical illness is easy to treat, but the mental illness is difficult to treat.

If you want to fully recover your state, you must give him some stimulation and arouse the instinct to survive. Politicians like power, literati are good at poetry and painting, and generals, so naturally they are at war. Without war, they would not be able to display their best skills, and they would have been depressed.

“…… Don't call the boss again, Shao's life was saved by the horse, and he is not grateful. In the future, regardless of the person before or after, just call your real name. It's just that I don't know why the horse takes care of my dying person in every way, isn't it the king's intention? ”

As soon as he heard that Wang Shao's face was fighting with the army, the blood on his face immediately weakened a little, he was already completely discouraged about this matter, and a large part of the people in the court felt that the land of Hehuang was a chicken rib, and it would take a lot of money and food to maintain it if it could not collect much tax.

Even if the emperor wants to continue to expand the border, he can't just go his own way. The old party even proposed to return the land that had been spent, which had cost a lot of money and food, and tens of millions of lives to the Tibetan people, and whoever loved it wanted it, anyway, the court was unwilling to throw money into it for nothing.

Wang Anshi is no longer the high-spirited pioneer of reform at the beginning, but now he is bent on the new deal, and he will stimulate the old party as little as possible. In this case, no matter how sure you are, you can't go against the tide.

"No, no...... I overheard others mention the matter of the boss expanding the border, and I felt that such a person should not be depressed, so I came to visit in the name of the king, and the treatment was also a mistake. Since the old man looks up to me as a waste colt, I'll say a few more words. The root of the old man's illness is not in the poisonous sores, but in the heart. The ancients could not win their ambitions, and the boss was depressed and could not be solved, and sooner or later he would get sick. I have a way to get the old man back to the border, but I need time to plan. In addition, I am a captain of the horse, and there are some things that I should not be involved in, so some things cannot be said clearly, and whether I believe it or not depends only on the old man's thoughts. ”

Although he didn't have much time to contact, Hong Tao felt that this old man didn't look like a politician, although he was born as a literati, but his personality was more like a martial artist, daring to say and do, and not caring too much about personal gains and losses. If you can associate with this person further, it will be very helpful for you, and it will be worth taking some risks.

"I never thought that there would be such a responsible colt in my dynasty, a hundred times stronger than the person who talks about righteousness all day long. I don't want to inquire about the plans of the captain, I just need to explain what is needed, and Shao will deal with it at his discretion. ”

Wang Shao understood what he said, his reaction was indeed different from ordinary people, he neither asked nor evaded, it was equivalent to agreeing to everything, but in the end, he might not help anything.