Chapter 206: You can be ignorant, but you cannot be fearless

When we got here, there were also several people working. Because of the existence of firewood, road construction did not require much labor for manual excavation.

Therefore, the personnel were relatively dispersed, and several construction sites were opened at the same time, such as here where the furnace was built.

The underground furnace is a place for iron-making, because iron-making requires very high temperatures. Only by building a furnace underground can the heat not dissipate.

Wang Kang went directly to a work shed, which was the temporary headquarters of the construction. There were already many people around, including a few unfamiliar faces.

Seeing Wang Kang approaching, Nie Zhongxing came up to greet him and said hurriedly: "Master Kang, the craftsmen are already here. Deacon Xu of your family brought them personally."

"Xu Changlin? He's here too!" Wang Kang laughed.

"It's just that those craftsmen had opinions on the furnace we built," Nie Zhongxing added.

"Oh? What's wrong?"

"You'd better go over and see for yourself!"

Wang Kang followed Nie Zhongxing over, and several people gathered around him. Xu Changlin said: "The craftsmen that the earl is looking for have arrived. Three of them are from the Smelting Bureau. Let me introduce them to you."

"This is Li Zheng,"

Xu Changlin pointed to a slightly skinny middle-aged man and introduced: "Master Li is the iron smelting master of the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau. Master Li is responsible for the construction of the furnaces of the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau."

"Master Li, I'm sorry for the delay in welcoming you here," Wang Kang said politely.

If you come from Kyoto, you should be treated with courtesy no matter who orders you.

But Master Li just nodded lightly and did not respond.

Seeing that the scene was slightly embarrassing, Xu Changlin pointed to another person and introduced: "This is Master Xi, who is also a famous iron caster. He has improved the purity of the iron embryo..."

"This man's name is wáng fǔ chén and he is also a master blacksmith."

Xu Changlin pointed to the other people around him and said: "They are all craftsmen who came with us, and they are all good hands of the Smelting Bureau."

Seeing such a lineup, Wang Kang knew that his father must have spent a lot of money and didn't know how to invite so many people.

This is also the division of labor between father and son. Wang Dingchang provides resources in the front, while he does construction in the rear.

After looking at the people one by one, Wang Kang said with a smile: "Thank you for coming here to help me, it's really like adding wings to a tiger!"

However, his words did not receive a good response. A skinny middle-aged man named Li Zheng picked up a few drawings and asked coldly: "It is said that you drew this Earthen Furnace Paper?"

"Yes what's the matter?"

Wang Kang asked doubtfully, he was also a little confused as to why these people had such an attitude towards him.

"Drawing blindly!"

"It's ridiculous,"

"A young man from a rich family still corrects me randomly."

Several people agreed one after another, which made Wang Kang's face darken...

When you first meet, you criticize him indiscriminately. Even if you are from the Smelting Bureau, you can't do this!

Seeing this scene, the people around him looked at each other. Nie Zhongxing looked evil, but he was convinced of Wang Kang in every possible way.

These people are clearly here to cause trouble.

Seeing Wang Kang's hidden anger, Xu Changlin hurriedly whispered: "Master Kang, these are all invited by the earl with great effort. Please bear with me if you have something to do..."

"Tolerance?"

Wang Kang sneered, saying that he would just criticize someone without seeing his true ability. He asked lightly: "I don't know how many people said this?"

Li Zheng unfolded the drawing, pointed at it and said: "The earth furnace is used for smelting iron. The construction must be done with great caution. Every deviation will not work."

"And the drawing you drew shows that the molten iron channel extending from the underground furnace is connected to another underground furnace. What are you going to do?"

Li Zheng said coldly: "It is a taboo to connect two floor furnaces. The temperature of the floor furnace is extremely high, and the furnace wall often explodes because it cannot withstand the high temperature!"

"The proximity of two furnaces is extremely dangerous..."

"I see in your drawing that the molten iron melted out of the first furnace flows to the second furnace for re-melting. This is simply unnecessary."

"And this..." The craftsman named wáng fǔ chén also said: "You separate the molten iron from the second furnace into multiple exits..."

"This is completely random construction!"

After Wang Kang listened patiently, he finally understood. It turned out that they had said this after seeing his own drawings.

He shook his head, his plan was not just to smelt iron, but to make steel.

The molten iron melted out of the first furnace is heated and smelted in the second furnace before steel can be tapped and then flowed into the pre-set mold.

After cooling, it becomes steel directly.

They definitely don't understand this.

Wang Kang thought for a while and said: "Let me explain the first question to you first. As we all know, iron smelting requires extremely high temperatures, and the commonly built furnaces are made of bricks."

"But due to the high temperature in the furnace, the bricks cannot withstand it for a long time, so the bricks will crack or even explode. This is also a problem you are worried about."

After hearing this, several people nodded. When they looked at Wang Kang, their eyes were different because these words were very professional.

How can a rich young man understand this?

Wang Kang ignored it and continued: "The essential reason is that the bricks are not refractory enough, and I have found better refractory bricks!"

"Impossible!" Li Zheng shouted directly.

Master Xi also shook his head and said: "Refractory bricks are what our Smelting Bureau has been researching, and we have tried many kinds. There is no way there can be better refractory bricks."

"Just because you don't know, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist!" Wang Kang said directly.

"Young man, this is what our Metallurgical Bureau is engaged in, don't we know?"

Wang Kang didn't say anything, but ordered Nie Zhongxing, "Bring over one of the bricks I asked you to make."

After a while, Nie Zhongxing brought over a square red brick. Wang Kang pointed at it and said, "This is the refractory brick I made."

"Ha ha!"

"That's it?"

"What's the difference between this and ordinary bricks? Are you kidding me?" Several people laughed.

But Wang Kang said coldly: "You can be ignorant, but you cannot be fearless!"

"This brick is made of high-alumina bauxite, clay, and paper pulp. What is high-alumina bauxite? You probably don't know."

Wang Kang continued: "Then let me popularize it for you. High-alumina bauxite is the abbreviation of high-aluminum material. Its essence is also an ore and a sedimentary mineral deposit."

"This kind of ore is found in Xinfeng County, and its clinker can be used to make high-alumina bricks, which are refractory bricks!"

Li Zheng and others were stunned when they heard Wang Kang's words. Many of the terms were heard for the first time.

Wang Kang didn't explain much. When preparing to smelt iron, he had already thought about all possible problems.

For example, there was a problem with the bricks needed to build the furnace. Conventional bricks obviously couldn't withstand high temperatures, so he fired refractory bricks.

"This is purely what you said,"

Li Zheng said with a cold snort, his expression was not very good either, because he basically didn't understand what Wang Kang just said.

"Whether it's just a matter of words or not, we'll know after trying it out," Wang Kang didn't give in at all.

"Let's put this question aside for now," Master Xi said again: "Then let me ask you, why does the molten iron that is melted need to be put into the furnace for a second melting?"
Chapter completed!