Since it was Chen Peng who wanted to come forward to find King Yanping to get the silver, this was simply a sleepy pillow for Wang Yu, who had long been eager to try. It's just that Wang Xinyu didn't know that Chen Peng actually wanted to hand over the methods of making gunpowder to others, and then take the craftsmen who had learned these methods to defect to the Qing army and make more credit for himself.

After bidding farewell to Chen Peng, Wang Yu returned to the nest and painted a new furnace for steelmaking overnight, preparing to persuade Chen Shuijie tomorrow.

Early the next morning, Chen Peng took several of his own soldiers on a warship to Gulangyu Island to meet the king of Yanping.

Wang Yu also went out early in the morning, but today he didn't go to practice martial arts, but took the drawings he had drawn all night and went to the town to find Chen Shuijie.

Still far away, Chen Shuijie saw Wang Yu coming over and shouted at him: "Master Jun, you're here again!" ”

When Wang Yu approached, Chen Shuijie asked, "What weapon do you want me to fight for you today?" ”

Wang Yu smiled mysteriously, stepped forward and pulled Chen Shuijie aside: "Craftsman Chen, you hit so much iron, you didn't think about making steel?" ”

"Steel?" Blacksmith Chen was stunned, "I have played a steel sword, and the small one has given General Feng Chengshi a sword, but it takes too much pig iron to build that thing!" As the saying goes, 100 catties of pig iron can only be beaten into 1 catty of wrought iron, and 100 catties of wrought iron may not be able to make a catty of steel! A good sword and a good sword can be said to be priceless! ”

Feng Chengshi, who was said by Blacksmith Chen, is Feng Xifan's father and a famous general of the Zheng family. His son Feng Xifan was strong in martial arts, and was later favored by Zheng Jing to become a personal guard. In real history, when the Qing army broke through Jinxia, Feng Chengshi was betrayed by his subordinates and martyred. However, his son Feng Xifan later surrendered to the Manchus and became a lackey of the Qing court, brutally killing the remaining anti-Qing and Ming restoration figures.

In fact, the principle is to beat wrought iron again and again, knock out the impurities inside, and then put it into a hot furnace, so that the carbon in the iron reacts with oxygen at high temperature and becomes carbon dioxide. Since the furnace temperature at that time was not enough, it was necessary to remove the carbon from the iron by repeated hammering. The method of making steel is time-consuming, and the success rate of obtaining steel is very low, because the furnace temperature is not enough. The ancients did not know the principles of steelmaking, so they could only use primitive methods to build them.

"Haven't Craftsman Chen seen the Heavenly Creations?" Wang Yu asked.

Chen Shuijie smiled: "Master Wang, don't laugh at the little ones, the little ones don't even know a few words, how can they understand the book?" ”

Wang Yushen said mysteriously: "Craftsman Chen, I have seen Tiangong Kaiwu and know that there is one fastest way, and you can use the cheapest way to obtain wrought iron and steel!" ”

"What's the solution?" As soon as he heard that wrought iron and steel could be obtained, Chen Shuijie suddenly became excited, and his eyes flashed brightly.

"It's okay if I tell you this, but you have to promise me one condition."

"On what terms?"

"I'm going to open a blacksmith workshop in Takasaki, and you can be the head craftsman for me."

"Hahaha!" Chen Shuijie smiled, "Be a craftsman? What's in it for you to be a craftsman? ”

"We need to make guns and cannons, and we will give the blacksmith a full amount of money for the weapons we make, and you are the head of the craftsman, not only will you be paid the highest wages, but your blacksmith shop here will also be opened, and you can teach your sons and apprentices the way I taught you, so that they can stay here and continue to make money. As long as good iron and steel are smelted, even if they can't be sold here, they can be loaded onto the ship of Prince Yeonpei, transported to the Satsuma Domain in the east, and sold to the Shimazu family, where they can be exchanged for a lot of silver. Wang Yu said the conditions that made Chen Shuijie's heart move.

At this time, the eastern island countries were in a period of domestic strife, and iron could be sold at a high price in them. And the island nation is rich in silver, which can be exchanged for silver with iron. In fact, King Yanping's trade with Japan also transported a lot of iron tools every year and earned a lot of silver.

Wang Yu's conditions sound good, but can Wang Yu's method make steel?

Chen Shuijie said again: "But what do you want to make me believe you? If your solution can only be to waste iron in vain, then I am not deceived by you to become a craftsman in vain, and I will not make any money! ”

Wang Yu took out his design drawing of the new stove: "Craftsman Chen, I came today to test this new stove." ”

Chen Shuijie glanced at the drawings, although he didn't understand it very well, he could still see that this kind of stove could save charcoal, and the furnace temperature could be higher. As for the method that according to Wang Yu said that it can melt pig iron to obtain molten iron, and wrought iron and stainless steel can be obtained by stirring, although Chen Shuijie does not believe it very much, he thinks that he can still try it.

Xiamen Island has no iron ore itself, and relies on pig iron brought in from outside, and matures iron here. If pig iron can be saved, it can create higher profits.

It is not enough to have drawings, the refractory brick is the core technology, a kind of high-tech.

Ordinary clay refractory bricks can only work at a temperature of about 1400 degrees, while silicon-containing refractory bricks, although they can withstand higher temperatures, are easily damaged when working under a "low-temperature" flame. And other refractory bricks, what contains glass, aluminum, magnesium, or graphite refractory bricks and the like, those things are currently unable to be produced by Wang Yu, because there are no raw materials at all, to obtain those raw materials, the smelting industry needs to develop to a certain extent, at least aluminum and magnesium must be smelted to make it.

Wang Yu chose the most common clay refractory bricks, and with his skills, he first instructed Chen's blacksmith's apprentices to fire bricks.

It takes time to burn bricks, and Wang Yu was not idle during this time, first using Blacksmith Chen's own original bricks to build the bottom of the furnace and the ventilation channel. At the same time, Wang Yu also asked Chen Blacksmith to find a carpenter and make the planks used to make bellows according to his design. Blacksmith Chen's wife was not idle, and rushed to weave a thick cloth to make bellows.

Soon, a bellows made of wooden planks, thick cloth, iron frames, and tin cylinders was ready.

This new bellows was completely different from the old wooden bellows used in the blacksmith's shop, which used a blower similar to that of the accordion of later generations: a bracket of a large and a small iron frame, covered with three layers of thick cloth, and then sealed with wooden boards on both sides. On the board facing the person, a handle is installed that can be used to pull the bellows.

After the new bellows were ready, Blacksmith Chen first used this bellows to try his old furnace, and found that the effect was very good, much less effort than the original old bellows, and the wind was greater. Because the original old-fashioned bellows used iron rods to push wooden planks and supply air in wooden boxes. Needless to say, there is a lot of friction between wood and wood, and the airtightness is not good, so a lot of useless work has been done in vain. The new bellows is directly pulled to the blower equipment similar to the hinged structure in the middle of the hinged bus for air supply, plus the wind valve made by Wang Yu himself, it can be said that it is twice the result with half the effort.

"Haha! I can't believe you really have two hits! Looking at this bellows, Chen Shuijie was very happy.

It was not so fast to build a new stove, and Wang Yu had to go back to the barracks in the afternoon to see if Chen Peng had asked for a craftsman from Zheng Chenggong.

Besides, Chen Peng went to Gulangyu Island, saying that he found that the Qing warships opposite Gaoqi had retreated, and there were only many Qing army boats in the small bay in the northwest direction, so he judged that the main attack direction of the Qing army would definitely not be in Gaoqi, and the main force of the naval division warships of the Zheng Jiajun did not need to be arranged near Gaoqi.

Zheng Chenggong's own boat had also been reconnoitred, and the situation found was exactly the same as what Chen Peng said. Moreover, Zheng Jun even went to Quanzhou with a more daring reconnaissance boat, and found that the main forces of the Qing army were assembled in Quanzhou.

So Zheng Chenggong also decided to withdraw the main fleet in the Gaoqi area, leaving only Chen Peng's own eight warships and his more than 1,000 soldiers on land.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to adjust the deployment, Chen Peng also proposed that his own strength was too weak, and in case a large number of small boats of the Qing army attacked, it would be difficult to sink all the Qing warships with only eight warships in his hand, unless there were flowering shells, and now there are people in his army who claim to be able to make flowering shells, but they need silver, raw materials for making gunpowder, and craftsmen.

Zheng Chenggong originally wanted to meet the master who could make flower cannonballs, and wanted to call this person to his side. But in order to deal with the invading Qing army, Zheng Chenggong was busy with official business during this time, and he really couldn't get away, so he gave up this idea.

In the afternoon, shortly after Wang Yu returned to the barracks, Chen Peng also returned.

Hearing that Lord Chen was back, Wang Yu couldn't wait to rush out of the gate to greet him.

I saw that on the avenue not far away, there were several pro-soldiers in front of the road, two people in the team on horseback, and a few pro-soldiers on the side and behind. Needless to say, one of the people riding the horse was Chen Peng, while the other person, Wang Yu, didn't know him. Looking at Chen Peng behind him, followed by a long queue, some people in the team were carrying boxes, and some were pushing carts, it seemed that Chen Peng was indeed fully loaded.

When the team approached, Wang Yu found that the other person on horseback was a young man dressed as a scholar in a green shirt, who looked about twenty-five or sixteen years old, with a tall and thin figure, long eyebrows and clear eyes, and a sword at his waist, looking personable.

"Master Chen is here!" Shouts were heard inside the barracks.

All the officers and soldiers ran out of the gate and greeted Lord Chen at the gate.

When he arrived at the gate of the barracks, Chen Peng, who was riding behind Lord Chen, jumped off his horse first, walked quickly to Lord Chen's horse, and bent down to make a gesture of please: "Affectionate Lord Chen!" ”

Wang Yu didn't know who the green-shirted man was, so he asked Chen Python softly: "Who is this military advisor Lord Chen?" He is so young, why is it that we guards are so humble in front of him? ”

Chen Python was very surprised: "You don't know Lord Chen?" His name is Chen Yonghua, and he is our prince's military advisor! He's the queen of loyalty! Lord Chen's father was loyal to the country, and Lord Chen was appreciated by Lord Wang, the squire of the military department, so he came to us. The prince has won several battles, and it is said that Lord Chen gave advice! ”

Hearing Chen Yonghua's three words, Wang Yu couldn't hear what Chen Python said later.

Wang Yu didn't know, because Zheng Chenggong still didn't feel at ease to hand over so much silver and craftsmen to Chen Peng, so he sent Chen Yonghua over to see if the situation was true.

Chen Yonghua is the famous Chen Jinnan! It is the big man in Jin Daxia's pen who has world-class martial arts and created the Heaven and Earth Society. Tiandihui is the ancestor of all later Chinese gangsters, and Chen Jinnan can be said to be the ancestor of all Chinese gangsters in later generations.

This is the first big boss-level character that Wang Yu has seen in this world!

Wang Yu was immersed in happiness, and he didn't know what was going on next. Until someone shouted, "Bold! Seeing that Chen Junshi dared to be so rude! ”

At this time, I realized that Chen Yonghua didn't know when he was already standing in front of him.

Seeing that Wang Yu actually dared to be rude to Chen Junshi, Chen Peng was very embarrassed: "Lord Chen, it's all because the general has no way to teach, and his subordinates will punish this guy!" ”

"No need!" Chen Yonghua turned his head and waved his hand to stop Chen Peng.

Chen Yonghua turned his head to look at Wang Yu again: "You are the stranger that Mr. Chen Qian said can make flowering cannonballs?" ”

Wang Yu hurriedly saluted: "Lord Hui, my subordinates are not strangers, but I have seen a little heavenly creation, and I have also learned some strange skills with the Taixi people." But now that the mountains and rivers are broken, he is dedicated to serving the country, and he just wants to help the prince of Yanping kill more Tartars! ”

On the way here, Chen Yonghua heard Chen Peng talk about Wang Yu's improvement of gunpowder, and now when he sees that this Wang Yu is only ten years old, he can't help but praise: "Not bad!" What a hero! The king of Yanping can have a young hero like you to help, it is really a blessing for my Ming Dynasty! But you've got to get something out and show me! ”

"Lord Qing Chen, don't worry! The subordinates will definitely not disappoint Lord Chen and the prince! Wang Yu straightened his chest and replied confidently.

Next, Chen Yonghua asked people to build a workshop. However, he did not let Wang Yu idle, but let Wang Yu supervise the production of the first batch of gunpowder in the open field.

The materials have already been brought, and as long as Wang Yu commands the craftsmen, the construction can start.

Wang Yu commanded the craftsmen to carry out five groups, one group was responsible for the pot to purify the saltpeter and finally dried the gunpowder, one group was responsible for mixing the raw materials and screening the gunpowder particles later, one group was responsible for cutting wood to make wood pulp, one group was responsible for rolling the wet gunpowder into long strips, and the last group was responsible for sieving out the impurities in the sulfur and finally processing the long strips of gunpowder into granules.

The water was boiled in the pot, and the craftsmen poured saltpeter into the pot and poured the ashes of plants and trees for purification according to Wang Yu's requirements.

On the other hand, the craftsmen in charge of handling the sulfur first gently crush the sulfur with wooden sticks to make the sulfur thinner, so that the soft sulfur becomes a fine powder, but the hard impurities such as sand grains inside cannot be crushed, and then the sulfur powder is sifted into the clay pot with a sieve, and the impurities are left on the sieve.

Seeing Wang Yu commanding the craftsmen to work, Chen Yonghua was very satisfied.

"Lord Chen!" Wang Yu clasped his fists and saluted Chen Yonghua, "But this saltpeter can't be used immediately after purification, and it has to be left to dry, which will take about two or three days." ”

Chen Yonghua smiled and said, "It's okay, it's okay if I stay here for a few more days!" ”

After three days, the saltpeter, the sulfur that has been cleared of impurities, and the charcoal that has been ground into powder are placed in a clay jar, into which the viscous wood pulp water is poured and then stirred with wooden sticks.

After the mixing is completed, several craftsmen take out a semi-finished gunpowder, squeeze it like kneading dough, gradually knead the water, then knead it into long strips, cut it into pellets, and finally leave it to dry.