Song Chu: Dad, if you don't work hard, how can I just lie down and relax?

Chapter 64 Revolutionary Technologies

Kitchen knives, iron pots, plowshares, hoes, sickles, shovels, scissors, and nails—these are the basic items that have been made so far. There aren't many workers in the forging workshop, and despite the clanging and hammering, they haven't actually forged much, but a pile of iron bars and blocks has been created.

Clearly, the factory is currently producing iron ingots much faster and in greater quantities than it is producing finished products. These iron ingots can be sold back to the imperial court to produce armor and weapons, or they can be shipped to other blacksmith shops across the country as raw materials.

"The blade of this sickle is quite good." Li Shoujie picked up a sickle and touched it. It wasn't sharpened, but as a veteran soldier, he could tell from the touch that it was of excellent quality. He said:

"The steel is really good. It's good enough to make armor. You rarely see agricultural products this good on the market. Can all the products produced in your workshop reach this quality? Where do you get such good iron ore?"

During the Five Dynasties period, there were still significant restrictions on private iron smelting. They could basically only use the leftovers from government-run ironworks. Their role was to supplement government-run workshops, and any good steel or materials available would naturally be prioritized for the production of weapons and armor.

Zhao Guangmei couldn't quite tell the difference between these ironwares. She instinctively felt they were good, but didn't know exactly how good they were. Knowing Li Shoujie's identity, she simply followed him around and listened to his explanations.

"We use scrap materials left over from the state-run ironworks, so the cost is quite low, and the quantity is not small. Once this workshop is completed, just collecting the scraps from the state-run workshops should be enough to support the supply of raw materials. Compared to iron materials, the shortage of fuel is actually greater."

"Made from waste materials?"

Everyone exclaimed in surprise and carefully picked up the iron tools and blocks to examine them.

Zhao Guangmei: "How is this possible? If this iron were made into weapons, it would be no worse than those used in the army. It's all top-quality iron. How could it be made from scrap? Did the official workshops of our Great Song Dynasty just throw away such good materials?"

Li Shoujie pondered for a moment and said, "Young Master once told me that this ironworks can use coal to smelt iron. Could it be that you mean this kind of iron when you say 'coal smelting'? No, that can't be right. It's smelted with coal, coal plus waste?"

Wang Lu nodded upon hearing this: "It is indeed waste material from coal refining."

Li Shoujie's legs went weak, and he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

You should know that in those days, iron smelting used charcoal, not coal. In places like Kaifeng, coal was much cheaper than wood because water transport was very developed. Coal from the east bank of the river could be transported by boat, so the cost was not high.

Timber is different; there are no trees left around Kaifeng, they've all been cut down.

However, it was not feasible to do without wood, because the sulfur in coal would make the iron extremely brittle and unusable. The quality of ironware declined sharply in the mid-to-late Northern Song Dynasty. Among the Song, Liao, and Jin dynasties, the armor of the Song people was the worst, which was also related to the fact that there was indeed no wood available in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Li Shoujie was astonished. If coal could burn even waste materials so well, wouldn't it burn even better with regular iron ore? There's plenty of coal in Hedong!

"How did you do that?"

"The principle is very simple: after crushing the coal, it is heated by smoldering in the absence of outside air, thus burning out the waste gas inside first."

Then, using burnt coke to smelt iron results in a much higher furnace temperature than using wood, leading to more complete combustion. Therefore, even scrap can be used to produce iron, and the iron is very clean and of high quality.

Zhao Guangmei: "Isolate it from the air, burn the coal once? You can do that? Coal can actually be burned twice? But this must be a secret recipe, right? Is it okay for you to just say it out loud like this? Don't you need to keep it a secret?"

Wang Lu: "Brother, this is iron smelting. My son and I are also involved in iron smelting, so we have to get you involved too. Is this a secret recipe in the folk? As for government-run workshops, how can I not tell them the secret recipe?"

Besides, this thing sounds simple, but it's actually extremely difficult to make. We've been trying out that coking furnace for over a month, and we're only barely managing to get it working. The finished product is small, but there's a lot of waste.

Since the Song Dynasty did not have modern industrial coking technology, the phrase "isolated air high-temperature dry distillation" sounds easy, but it is extremely difficult to do. It is equivalent to Wang Jun only knowing the principle and then designing a new kiln almost from scratch.

He's currently busy with the affairs of the Palace Guard every day, and only has some free time after his official duties end. So, he mainly provides design ideas, designs, and improved drawings.

In reality, it was Han Ling'er who truly pondered, got hands-on with, and carried out research and application work.

This stepmother actually has quite a bit of scientific research talent; she's meticulous and patient. Wang Lu can also see that Wang Jun is growing to like her more and more.

Bah! What does Wang Jun's growing fondness for her have to do with her scientific research talent? It's like a pear blossom overshadowing a crabapple, making him feel depressed.

"This iron pot, it should be good for stir-frying, right? It's so thin, really beautiful, probably even better than the pots at our Tongfu Inn." Zhao Guangmei picked up an iron pot and exclaimed in amazement.

Iron woks may look simple, but they are actually very technically demanding. If they are too thick, they won't conduct heat well enough and won't be suitable for stir-frying, and they will also waste fuel. If they are too thin, they will easily break when stir-frying if the iron quality is poor.

Therefore, the real difficulty in promoting stir-frying lies not in the technique of stir-frying itself, but in the iron wok. This thing requires a lot of skill. Stir-frying existed as early as the Northern Song Dynasty, but it was not until the Qing Dynasty that it was truly popularized among the general public.

The quality of an iron pot is essentially a matter of the skill in iron smelting. Zhao Guangmei, coming from a military family, certainly understood this.

Especially the small pot in his hand, which is extremely light and can be tossed around very smoothly. He vigorously stirred it with a spatula a couple of times, and you could tell from the sound that it was a good pot.

So, if such a thin, strong, and light iron pot can withstand thousands of blows from a spatula, wouldn't it look like a breastplate if turned upside down?

Although lamellar armor was the primary type of armor during the Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty, the ancients weren't naive; they knew that plate armor offered better protection than lamellar armor. It wasn't that the technology simply couldn't achieve that.

Iron produced by burning charcoal cannot be completely melted into molten iron and cannot be cast in one piece. Iron produced by burning coal can barely be melted into molten iron, but the sulfur content is too high and the cast iron is more brittle than paper.

This forced the widespread use of lamellar armor, with only high-grade armor being equipped with breastplates, and the pure full plate armor of Europe was never developed.

And now, they have seen high-quality, thin iron pots being mass-produced in this "folk workshop".

"Second brother, we really can't keep this technology to ourselves. I'm afraid we'll have to... no, since our factory is already so good, why should we still use the waste materials from government-run workshops? We should let them use our waste materials!"

I'll go talk to my eldest brother and tell him to give me the Arsenal. Second brother, I'll use the entire Arsenal as my investment. How about that? That's more like it. The entire Arsenal is only worth 60% of the shares. What's the point of 10,000 strings of cash? It's blatant robbery! Yes, yes, that's it."

The more Zhao Guangmei thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, and she even jumped up excitedly: "I'll go tell my older brother right now."

Wang Lu did not object. Whether or not the government-run workshops could be contracted out was irrelevant to him. After all, the government was a family-run enterprise, and what belonged to the public was actually their Zhao family's business.

Li Shoujie also asked, "Young master, can we in Hedong use this miraculous technique of smelting iron from coal?"

Wang Lu curled his lip: "Whether Hedong is usable or not, you're asking me, shouldn't you be asking the Emperor?"

Li Shoujie smiled upon hearing this: "That's true."

Wang Jun said from the side, "Third King, the art of iron smelting is most suitable for joint ventures between officials and merchants, to pioneer the military's business activities. Why not start with the Palace Guard and discuss the implementation with the Second King, proceeding slowly and steadily?"

"Second brother..."

Zhao Guangmei had initially intended to agree, but when she thought of those cronies he had just dismissed—all of whom were planted by Zhao Guangyi—she inexplicably shook her head and said:

"Second Brother has only been at the Palace Guard for a short time and doesn't know many people yet. He's also very busy. We shouldn't trouble him with such a small matter. Second Brother and I will discuss and handle it. If you need anything, just go to Eldest Brother."

Wang Jun: "…………"

Just as he was about to say something more, Liu Hou'er came running over and said to Wang Jun, "Brother Jun, Zhang Mei, the Grand Commandant, is here to visit. He's right outside the door."

Zhao Guangmei: "Zhang Mei? What's he doing here?"

Wang Jun also frowned: "He is the Minister of the Three Departments of the current court. Salt and iron are heavy taxes. He probably knows that the Three Kings are here, and I am here as well, and wants to take this opportunity to discuss some financial and tax matters."

"How did he know I was there, and that Uncle Wang was there too?"

Li Shoujie: "He must have planted someone in the factory."

Six Monkeys: "Brother Jun, let me check it myself."

Wang Jun: "No need. It's normal for the Three Departments to send someone to the factory. There are no secrets in my factory, and I can say anything about it. Come with me to pick him up."