Chapter 207 Making a Bet

"Ha ha!"

"Listening to what you just said, I thought you were knowledgeable, but now it seems you are still ignorant!"

"Big talk!"

Everyone laughed, and even the craftsmen he had originally recruited looked at Wang Kang in surprise.

Something harder than iron?

It does exist, but it is definitely not something that can be easily refined.

And what is steel? I have never heard of it.

"It's good that you have this idea, but don't be wishful thinking," Li Zheng smiled disdainfully and said, "Old Xi, come and tell him!"

Master Xi is the iron casting master in the Smelting Bureau, and he is also responsible for purifying the iron embryos. In this regard, he has the most say.

After hearing this, Master Xi smiled and said: "If we want to melt a metal that is harder than iron, our Smelting Bureau has already started researching it!"

"It has been shown many times that the higher the temperature of iron-making, the harder the material of the iron will be!"

After hearing these words, Wang Kang nodded. It seems that the Smelting Bureau is not without merit. It is not easy to discover this.

At this time, Master Xi continued: "Charcoal is used to melt iron. The temperature of charcoal is limited. This is a difficulty that cannot be overcome at all."

"I have purified iron embryos before. Do you know how to do it? Melting, hammering, and so on, the hardness of the iron is increased."

"But this method requires a lot of manpower. I think you want to use it on a large scale, but with all due respect, it's simply not possible."

Li Zheng sneered and said: "We followed Lord Shangshu's order and came here, but we found that you didn't adopt our method at all. In this case, we have no choice but to go back!"

"That's right. What can you, a young man from a rich family, know about things that we, who have been immersed in this way for half our lives, have never been able to do?"

"It's just hearsay, so you start talking nonsense and say we are ignorant? It's really ridiculous!"

Several people echoed it one after another, and even the accompanying craftsmen looked sarcastic.

For a young man from a rich family to brazenly say that he wants to smelt something harder than iron is simply a big joke.

"Masters, please stay. We have come so far, so how can we leave so easily?" Xu Changlin said hurriedly.

Wang Dingchang spent a lot of effort to invite these people from the Smelting Bureau. If they just go back, wouldn't their hard work be in vain?

Moreover, because of Wang Kang, if this spread to the imperial court in Kyoto, the Earl's Mansion would also be in disgrace!

"Master Kang, just listen to the masters!" Xu Changlin persuaded him bitterly.

Although the young master has changed a lot now, he previously developed a formula for dyeing purple fabrics, which made Fuyang Fabric Store famous and its profits doubled.

But iron smelting and cloth dyeing are completely two extremes!

Wang Kang looked at them and smiled lightly: "What if I can increase the temperature of the fire?"

"Oh? What method did Master Kang come up with?" Li Zheng said disdainfully.

"Blower!" Wang Kang said directly.

"Ha ha,"

Hearing this, Li Zheng laughed directly and said: "Continuously blowing the air vigorously can indeed boost combustion and increase the temperature, but do you think our Smelting Bureau doesn't have that?"

"The wind power of the blower is limited, and if you want to maintain the firepower, you must keep blowing, which requires a lot of manpower. Even so, it is difficult to achieve."

"My blower is naturally different from the one you use." Wang Kang said calmly.

"Then I'm curious. What kind of blower does Master Kang use?" Master Xi asked.

"It's still in production, you will be able to see it then."

"It turns out it was just empty talk again, but I'm still interested in this."

Li Zheng said to the two people beside him: "Why don't we stay here for a few days and see a lot of things?"

"That's fine. It won't be a waste of time to watch a farce before leaving!"

Several people laughed.

"In that case, how about we make a bet?" Wang Kang said.

"What to bet on?"

"If my vision comes true, you will stay here and let me do my bidding," Wang Kang said: "If I can't do it, then you can do whatever you want!"

"Okay, let's bet!"

Li Zheng said directly: "I know that your Earl Fuyang has a lot of wealth. If you can't do it, please donate 100,000 gold coins to our Smelting Bureau!"

After hearing this, Master Xi and Wang Fǔ Chén's eyes lit up. The Smelting Bureau is a subordinate of the Ministry of Industry. Although they are arrogant here, to put it bluntly, they are just craftsmen.

Among the six ministries of the imperial court, the Ministry of Industry had the lowest status, and this was especially true for the Metallurgical Bureau. The Ministry of Household had no funds at all.

Without money, nothing can be done, especially for a department like the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau. It is even more impossible without money.

With this bet, you can make a fortune, so why not?

"Why don't you dare?"

Li Zheng asked with a slight smile. In fact, he was also in a state of confusion. He just said this smoothly, and it was like a lion opening his mouth.

"Haha!" Wang Kang suddenly laughed, "I thought you were going to say something, but it turned out that what you proposed was money..."

"Well, this bet has been established, and there is no need to write a handwritten note. With so many people around here as witnesses, I hope you won't default on the money."

Seeing that Wang Kang agreed so simply, Li Zheng and others were a little confused. This was one hundred thousand gold coins, so they agreed so easily?

Even if your family is rich, you won’t be able to blink an eyelid, right?

But the others all looked natural, and they might not be able to guarantee anything else, but when it came to money, Master Kang would definitely not hesitate at all.

Because what he is best at is spending money.

Since he couldn't understand it, he didn't think about it. Li Zheng said with a smile on his face: "Thank you very much, Master Kang, for sharing the money."

"Isn't it a little early to say this now?" Wang Kang said coldly.

"Haha, do you really think you can refine it?" Master Xi laughed.

Wang Kang didn't say much more to them, and when he actually refined it, he would slap them in the face with the reality.

Steelmaking is different from ironmaking. First of all, the fire temperature required for steelmaking needs to reach above 1,500 degrees, which is the biggest difficulty.

What if there are oxidants to support combustion in modern times, but this was not possible in ancient times?

After thinking about it, Wang Kang decided to make a fuss about the floor furnace. Due to the limitations of the material, the production of the floor furnace of this era cannot be guaranteed to be precise.

In this case, the heat will not be preserved and will continue to flow away, making it impossible to maintain the temperature.

But now that Wang Kang has fired refractory bricks, he can achieve perfection at this point, and he has also made a new type of blower.

With the combination of the two, it is entirely possible to raise the temperature in the furnace to over 1,500 degrees.

Moreover, Wang Kang designed two furnaces to be connected and melted twice to ensure effectiveness. However, even so, there must be a gap in the steel produced.

But this is the maximum capability that can be achieved under current conditions. With steel, reinforced concrete can be made to support tunnels...

And it can also make weapons and equipment...very useful.

The reason why Wang Kang wanted to retain Li Zheng and others was because of their expertise. Smelting iron and steel was not an ordinary thing, and he obviously did not have the energy to spend on it.

Thinking like this, Wang Kang raised his eyes and said to them: "When I actually refine it, don't deny it!"

"Haha, I'll wait and see!"
Chapter completed!