Chapter 388 [Small Ironmaking Blast Furnace]
During the conversation, the situation of the chess pieces on the stone table had already been decided.
"I lost." Zhang Shanshen counted the number of pieces, said with a smile, and then began to pick up the pieces back into the basket, ready to start the game again. Fang Chang put down the teapot in his hand, and began to pick the pieces he was holding back into his basket.
The two played chess until noon, before Zhang Shanshen left with satisfaction.
Of course, he still loses more than he wins, but the chess strength of the two is already somewhat close to evenly matched.
After sending Zhang Shanshen away, Fang Changcai took the few books brought by the other party as gifts back to the bedroom and put them on the bookshelf, ready to read them in his spare time.
He walked back to the field, pulled up the **** that was stuck in the ground, and went to work.
Let’s forget today’s lunch. Anyway, for Fang Chang, it doesn’t matter if he eats a few, dozens, or hundreds of meals less. However, he decided to cook more in the evening to make up for the missed lunch.
He moved his hands lightly, and the land in front of him, seemingly slowly, was turned aside quickly. According to this speed, these fields on the cliff can be turned over at noon tomorrow. It will be faster to rake the field later, and it is estimated that it will only take three days to sow the seeds.
Thus, three days later, Fang Chang had finished plowing the field.
His efficiency is much higher than that of cattle.
The land in the field is flat and tidy, the seeds are sown, the ridges are straight and the spacing is consistent, the plants in the flower field and medicine field have been weeded and loosened, and several fields have been watered from the Jasper Pond. suitable. The various seeds that come to mind will soon germinate and grow.
After the spring plowing is over, Fang Chang still has a lot of things to do.
The days on the cliff are never boring, let alone boring, as long as you want to work, you will always be fulfilled.
Fang Chang first inspected the iron ore collected before going down the mountain last year, as well as a batch of coke refined by local methods, and moved them from the workshop to an open space not far away—next he planned to find time to try iron smelting, But it is not planned to place the small iron-making blast furnace too close to the Unnamed Hall.
Although I don’t know if there will be a lot of smoke, the risk of blackening the house should always be avoided.
However, he didn't act in a hurry, but went down the mountain to the bamboo forest and picked a batch of bamboo back. The bamboo spirit inside was still a little numb, and ignored his greetings, but Fang Chang didn't care, he dug some bamboo shoots by the way, and carried dozens of bamboos as thick as bowls back to the cliff.
Then he split the bamboos and used the skills of a bamboo craftsman to make them into bamboo plaques one after another.
For the remaining part, Fang Chang made rows of shelves, then repaired and tidied up the hut where he lived before, placed these shelves inside, and then placed bamboo plaques.
He went to the forest behind, looking for the mulberry tree that was growing fresh leaves, picked a lot of mulberry leaves, carried them back in a basket, and spread them in bamboo plaques. Then, Fang Chang took out the silkworm eggs left in the cellar, sprinkled them on the bamboo plaque, and then sprayed some water.
It takes a lot of work to hatch spring silkworms, and of course careful care is also indispensable.
Fang Chang spent nearly half of this time taking care of the silkworms, and the rest of the time, he often went to the back mountain to see.
The back mountain of Xianqi Cliff is very high, and the scenery at the top is also beautiful.
Clouds are like the sea, spreading directly from the feet to the distance, and constantly surging, with different shapes and myriad postures, it seems that everything in the world is contained in it, and you will never tire of seeing it.
He still remembered that the little white-haired monkey, Sun Yun, looked at the sea of clouds here, broke through the bottleneck and refined his bones, and he was able to speak to others.
It is worth coming here often.
If you have free time in the future, you can build stone steps on the back mountain to reach here—and then surround the peak with railings.
After all, on the way up the mountain, the strange rocks are messy, steep and dangerous. Although it has no effect on the long climb, it looks a bit too desolate compared with the way down the cliff, and it is a bit uncomfortable after all. The same is true for the top of the mountain, surrounded by a circle of man-made things, it feels more impressive.
When coming down from the top of the mountain, Fang Chang would always go around the forest on the cliff and pick a basket of mulberry leaves. After returning, he would dry these mulberry leaves slightly and put them into the bamboo plaque for feeding.
The silkworms inside have hatched, and when they grow their bodies, they eat a lot.
It is not the first year for him to do this kind of thing, and he is already familiar with it.
The scale of sericulture this year is much larger than that of the previous two years. Before, we could only collect silk to make silk thread. This year, we may be able to make a few handkerchiefs for ourselves.
Walking in the forest, he looked at the emerald greens on both sides, and the flowers of various colors and shapes mixed in between the emerald greens, and he was in a good mood.
Although he has killed a large number of birds and beasts for food these years, due to his cultivation traits, the birds and beasts that come and go do not avoid him, but regard Fang Chang as a "risk-free big tree that can move".
Because the "Cultivation Way" and "Cultivation Method" are still in the Unnamed Hall, the poisonous insects, snakes and ants around are often encountered, which is a little in the way.
On his back is still the back basket woven with extremely thick rattan, which is now full of mulberry leaves.
On top of the pile of mulberry leaves in the basket was the bronze ax that he always carried when he was in the mountains.
I think that after he has iron, this ax will also retire and be put on the shelf.
During this period of time, apart from raising silkworms and going to the back mountain to lie down and look at the sea of clouds, he first built a few sheds with bamboo, wood and hay in the place where iron ore and coke were piled up, and then began to think about how to use the existing If possible, make a soil blast furnace.
The requirements for ironmaking are much higher than those for copper smelting, as are the required temperature, furnace conditions, and ventilation facilities.
Fortunately, Yunzhongshan is rich in products. As long as you search patiently, you can find many things you want. And Fang Chang had been wandering and observing in the mountains all day before, and had already discovered the origin of a large number of resources. It only needs to do a few more experiments, and the blast furnace can be built to smelt pig iron.
According to the location in memory, Fang Chang searched for several possible refractory materials, and trial-produced two kinds of refractory bricks according to different ratios.
Then he used bricks as the outer wall, refractory bricks as the inner lining, and a mixture of white mud and finely crushed quartz as the adhesive, and started to build on the open space.
Of course, these may still be insufficient, because ironmaking also has a difference in pH, which has different requirements for the **** resistance of refractory materials. At the same time, refractory bricks must also have impact resistance, rapid cooling and rapid heating, stable volume, small heat capacity, and appropriate air permeability and thermal conductivity.
In short, it is not easy to find suitable materials.
Stove with a square and long plan, the top is small and the bottom is large, and then it is as high as possible, so that the heat can be more fully utilized. Fortunately, the iron ore in Yunzhong Mountain is of high grade and has good iron content, and according to his spiritual sense, it is relatively pure and will not affect the smelting too much.
Tapping the iron was also relatively rough. He dug a trench directly on the ground. If it is really successful, the molten iron can be solidified directly on the ground into iron ingots.
(end of this chapter)