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After being busy for more than half a month, Zhan Xingchang spread Xiao Ming's thoughts to the four vassal kings, and King Zhao, King Yan, King Liang, and King Ju of Wei all sent envoys to Qingzhou to discuss the matter.

At the same time, after three failures, the steel mill produced the first alkaline converter, and the news came that Xiao Ming was excited.

Negotiations are imminent, and now the success of the alkaline converter has given him more confidence to negotiate, and the mass production of steel will allow him to realize the innovation of the army's equipment as soon as possible.

As he had planned, all he wanted was some time.

"Your Highness, this is the alkaline converter."

In the hot steel workshop, Meng Kuo took Xiao Ming to a converter with a height of two meters and a diameter of one meter and a half.

Xiao Ming looked at the converter with satisfaction, the converter made by Meng Kuo was composed of a round table cap, a cylindrical furnace body and a ball missing furnace bottom, which generally looked like a spinning top.

Trunnions that allow the converter to rotate are cast in the furnace to meet the processes of charging, tapping, and slag dumping, and there is an upward sloping cavity under the side of the converter, which is the air vent.

Now the converter steelmaking method adopted by the iron and steel workshop belongs to the side-blowing alkaline steelmaking method, which is the earliest method that appeared in the converter steelmaking period, and the later bottom blowing and top blowing technical requirements are very high, and he cannot achieve it.

But even so, this is enough to meet his current needs, and the molten steel produced by this batch of converters is definitely much higher than the steel produced by crucibles.

It can be said that with the current intensity of gunpowder, he is no longer afraid of exploding.

In addition to the air outlet under the side, there is also a small pipe on the top of the converter, which is the molten steel port.

"Well, yes, yes." Xiao Ming was very satisfied after inspecting the converter up and down.

In addition to the converters, the steel workshop was completely renovated, in which the converters were not placed on the ground, but on a bracket with the lower part of the bracket poured into the concrete and the metal part above.

The suspended converter can be rotated by dragging the attached chains by the craftsman, while on one side of the bracket there are two facilities, one for pouring raw material into the converter and one for tapping.

Overall, the equipment in the steel iron workshop is still somewhat primitive, after all, it will be a long time before the equipment is automated.

Meng Kuo was quite satisfied with his results, this time of busyness was not in vain, and now he was ready to build the second converter production line, "Your Highness, we have already tried steelmaking, and the quality of the steel that comes out is much stronger than before, and the problem of phosphorus and sulfur in the previous crucible steelmaking has finally been solved." ”

"Really? You're fast enough. Xiao Ming smiled at the corner of his mouth.

Meng Kuo said: "Your Highness, this trouble is just the lining of the furnace, and the other equipment is the simplest, so it is faster." ”

"That being said, it would not have been possible without your efforts day and night, but this is only the beginning, and you must continue to work hard, and this king can count on you to bring down the cost of steel." Xiao Ming said.

"Your Highness, with the converter steelmaking method, if the lower officials can't greatly increase the output, Your Highness will throw the lower officials into this furnace and refine them together." Meng Kuo assured that he would not lose his humor.

With a hint of a smile, Xiao Ming said: "If this is the case, what is the difference between this king and a tyrant, but if you don't do it well, this king will be replaced." ”

"Yes, Your Highness." Meng Kuo said with a smile.

After wandering around the steel workshop for a while, Zhan Xingchang sent someone to look for him.

Originally, Xiao Ming was going to talk to the envoys of the Quartet and sign a contract today, but because he was happy, he put this matter aside and came here on purpose.

As soon as Zhan Xingchang looked for someone, he found that Xiao Ming was no longer in the palace, so he sent someone to find Xiao Ming.

After a few more words of Meng Kuo, Xiao Ming slowly walked towards the Qingzhou Mansion, and when he arrived, he found that Zhan Xingchang was arguing with the four envoys.

"What's going on? When did the government become a downtown area? Xiao Ming said as he walked in.

Zhan Xingchang saw Xiao Ming coming, and said, "Your Highness, we were discussing the matter of this contract just now. ”

Xiao Ming nodded, and then he looked at the other four people, the envoy of King Wei was none other than Xiao Qi, and he also knew the envoy sent by King Zhao, it turned out to be Wang Xi who served Empress Zhao.

As for the envoy of King Yan and the envoy of King Liang, he didn't know him.

Noticing Xiao Ming's expression, the envoy of King Yan sent out and said, "See His Royal Highness Cui Zhang, the second son of King Yan. ”

"It turned out to be the son of the world, please sit, please sit." Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Cui Zhang sat down in response, originally he didn't have to come in person this time, but because the skill of the arquebus was too important, King Yan had to send his second son to Qingzhou.

The envoy of King Liang always had a cold look on his face, and after the envoy of King Yan introduced himself, he said lightly: "I have met His Royal Highness King Qi in Xia Zheng Hao. ”

After Zheng Hao, Xiao Qi and Wang Xi exchanged pleasantries with Xiao Ming respectively.

On the surface, the etiquette was over, and at this time it was the main topic, and this time the most resentful was Xiao Qi, who ran around hard, but when he turned around, King Yan and King Zhao both put forward conditions that would humiliate Wei Di.

At this time, he had to change his opinion of Xiao Ming.

The real conditions have actually been issued at the negotiation table, Cui Zhang and Wang Xi didn't want to waste time, and after a while of silence, Cui Zhang first said: "Your Highness, the purpose of our coming here today is to get Your Highness to stop the annexation of Weidi, since Your Highness has now agreed to this matter, we will write it down in black and white, and use the contract as evidence." ”

"That's right, you all understand people, and now it's better not to waste any more time." Wang Xi also said.

Xiao Qi naturally knew that King Yan and King Zhao had achieved an ulterior purpose with Xiao Ming, and he said: "Two envoys, what you promised Your Highness has nothing to do with us, since Your Highness is now going to a truce, it is better to hand over Pengzhou and Tongzhou to talk about this matter." ”

Zheng Hao also said: "What the envoy Xiao said is very true, His Highness has captured the two cities of Weidi, how can there be a reason for a truce if he does not hand them over, isn't this a cheap for His Highness to take advantage of." ”

Xiao Ming said lightly: "So the two of you came here this time to disagree with the ideas of King Yan, King Zhao and this king?" ”

"Exactly, only if His Highness hands over Pengzhou City and Tongzhou City, we will have a truce." Xiao Qi's tone was firm.

Xiao Ming looked at Xiao Qi unexpectedly, and suddenly showed a playful smile, and then he looked at Cui Zhang and Wang Xi, "Two, you have also seen it, this is King Wei is aggressive, it seems that this truce contract cannot be signed." ”

Cui Zhang and Wang Xi were suddenly a little annoyed, weakening the King of Wei, and at the same time letting it be their goal to bind Xiao Ming's hands and feet, they didn't want to ruin their good deeds because of the two cities of the King of Wei.