The so-called steel, if used in the science of later generations, is an iron-carbon compound with a carbon content of 0.03 to 2 percent. The plasticity and hardness of steel are just enough to be suitable for the construction of most equipment, so the use of steel is the most. As for pig iron, because its carbon content is too high, it causes poor plasticity, and it can even be said that there is almost no plasticity at all. Therefore, pig iron is generally difficult to use as a crafting item, and the weapons cast by pig iron are mainly heavy weapons, such as hammers, or heavy weapons such as axes. Pig iron is used to make light weapons, which is a bit difficult. If you insist on using pig iron to make light weapons, I am afraid it will also be very brittle and easy to damage.

As for the other type of wrought iron, it is because the carbon content is too low, and as a result, the iron is too soft. In fact, pure iron is very soft and must be hardened by adding a certain amount of carbon. However, wrought iron is too soft to be used as a weapon. Steel is somewhere in between, and the vast majority of weapons can be made from steel. Therefore, the weapons that are made of steel are generally the best that can be fought in ancient times. And the artillery is also better to use steel, because pig iron is too brittle and has no ductility, so once it is blown up, it is very scary. However, wrought iron is too soft, which is also a problem. Therefore, steel is the best thing to make zuò artillery at present, and it will be helpful for the early artillery.

Whether it is pig iron or wrought iron, it has been able to be smelted in relatively large quantities as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. However, it is steel, which has a moderate carbon content, and it cannot be made in large quantities. For now, if you want to smelt steel, you have to forge pig iron slowly before you can get steel. This method is time-consuming and labor-intensive, resulting in a high cost of steel.

Therefore, Jingwen also adopted this crucible steelmaking method. The principle of crucible steelmaking is to make a crucible by mixing clay with graphite, and then put wrought iron into the crucible to smelt. Graphite, on the other hand, is a substance composed of pure carbon, and wrought iron is smelted in a crucible containing graphite. The wrought iron will also absorb the carbon in the graphite in the crucible at high temperatures, and then enter the wrought iron, that is, the wrought iron will be turned into steel.

As for the high temperature of 1,500 degrees required for crucible steelmaking, this is not a big problem. During the Tang Dynasty, the temperature of firing celadon has reached more than 1,300 degrees, and this time Jingwen also used coal, a very high heat fuel, so 1,500 degrees is not a problem at all, so this crucible can be used to make steel. It is precisely because of the use of coal that steelmaking technology has been greatly improved. After all, instead of using coal, charcoal is used to make steel. If Jingwen's memory is not wrong. In fact, coal was not really popularized until the Song Dynasty, and it was not used much during the Tang Dynasty.

"My lord, now a furnace of steel can come out hundreds of catties at once, and I am afraid that it will not be long before all soldiers can use weapons made of steel." The officials of the ordnance prison said excitedly, obviously wanting to jump.

And Jingwen was speechless, a furnace of steel is only a hundred catties, are you so happy? This crucible steelmaking method has long been eliminated in later generations. This crucible has a low steelmaking output and high energy consumption, which is simply something that pollutes the environment.

However, Jingwen did not expect that in later generations, the annual steel output was calculated in tens of millions of tons. And this ancient production of pure steel. It will definitely not be very high, especially in the Tang Dynasty. The annual steel output in the Tang Dynasty was only a few hundred tons, so it was unimaginable to be able to obtain hundreds of catties of steel at a time. If you build a few more crucibles. That would allow the soldiers of the whole country to use pure steel weapons. This is a great progress, and it cannot be overemphasized by the people of the Tang Dynasty.

Although this crucible technology was backward and energy-consuming for later generations, it was still very advanced for the Tang Dynasty. This crucible was invented. That is tantamount to a great improvement in the strength of national defense, and this will be of great help to the improvement of the combat effectiveness of the armed forces.

"Molten steel!" "Molten steel!"

The molten steel soon came out and now flowed down the drainage groove to a mold made of pig iron. The heat radiation of the red molten steel continued to spread to the surrounding people, but instead of feeling the heat, everyone felt a sense of comfort in their hearts.

"It won't be a problem this time, will it?" Jingwen asked.

"My lord, there is absolutely no problem. I've tried this several times and it won't be a problem. If there is a problem, then let Lord Jingwen deal with it! Said the official of the Ordnance Supervisor.

After a long time, the molten steel finally cooled down and gradually turned into a large steel ingot. These ingots are steel waiting to be disposed of, which can be melted if needed and then crafted into a real weapon. And the officer of the armory, in order to prove that it was all steel, immediately asked a blacksmith to come.

"My lord, I'll show you later!"

The blacksmith took out a smaller ingot, put it in the blacksmith's furnace, softened it, and put it on top of the blacksmith to make it. Immediately after that, it began to gradually become a knife, and this knife seemed cold.

"Next wipe!" The blacksmith put the knife in cold water and cooled it quickly.

And the blacksmith brought over two knives, which looked similar to the steel knife just now, but Jingwen didn't see any problems.

"Smack!" "Kala!"

The blacksmith slashed the steel knife at the same time as another knife, and the other knife was broken in an instant.

"Lord Jingwen, at present, the two knives are not open, in fact, they are purely using their own materials to compete now, and it has nothing to do with the sharp Cheng Dù. And you see, this knife made of wrought iron was quickly cut off, so the hardness of the steel is definitely much harder than that of wrought iron. As for knives made of pig iron, we don't have to compare, because pig iron is difficult to forge, and its hardness is also very large, and I am afraid that even steel is not his opponent. However, pig iron is almost impossible to manufacture with precision, and can only be used as a heavy weapon, so there is no comparison between sharp weapons such as swords and blunt weapons. ”

Jingwen touched the steel knife and smiled. This steel knife has already shown that steelmaking has been successful, and the next step is to make zuò cannons. After all, Jingwen steelmaking is also to be able to make cannons, and the development potential of cannons is far greater than that of cold weapons. (To be continued......)