kingnovel Chapter 578: After several years of making steel, the result is not steel?
Chapter 578: After several years of making steel, the result is not steel?
The problem with the steel obtained is much more serious than the problem with the steelmaking method!
Liang Fu was a little flustered. He stared at Shen Zheng's eyes and asked, "Is there...what's the problem?"
He actually already had the answer in his mind.
As the saying goes, only by discovering the problem can we solve it. Shen Zheng paused for a moment, and chose to tell the heartbreaking fact: "It seems... not steel."
"Bang--" Liang Fu sat down on the ground with a deathly pale face.
The "steel" that has been refined for dozens or even hundreds of years is now said to be not steel!
Anyone here today would have the same reaction as Liang Fu.
"Lord Liang!" Shen Zheng saw Liang Fu's tailbone hit the ground with her own eyes, and hurried forward to help him up.
Liang Fu's hands and feet were weak, and he could only shake his head at Shen Zheng, and asked her with tears in his eyes: "That's not steel, that's not steel... What is it?"
It's like you are a dog living with humans every day. You don't know what you look like and have never seen other dogs, so you subconsciously think you are a human.
But one day, another dog came to this house and started barking at you. Then you were horrified to find that you could understand what the dog said! You, who have difficulty communicating with humans, can communicate with dogs without any obstacles!
So...it's not that you can understand dogs talking, it's that you are also a dog.
After being a human for most of my life, I suddenly became a dog... This is Liang Fu’s most real feeling at this moment.
He asked Shen Zheng again: "Sir Shen, so what exactly is it that my Ministry of Industry has spent so much effort to refine?"
He didn't even think that Shen Zheng was lying to him, but was determined to know what wrong path they had taken.
"It's wrought iron." Shen Zheng said, "Wrought iron is more rare than refined iron, but wrought iron is not steel after all."
"Why not?" Liang Fu felt as if the whole world was spinning and couldn't help but ask.
Because they forged steel, there is "steel" in this world. Why does Lord Shen say that what they forged was not steel?
So what exactly is steel?
Shen Zheng sensed Liang Fu's stubbornness, pursed her lips and asked, "Is the 'steel' tempered by the Ministry of Industry more likely to rust than refined iron?"
Liang Fu seemed to understand.
His hands fell limply, and he said dejectedly, "Yes, it is more difficult to preserve than fine iron."
They also thought that steel, like iron, would rust, after all, "steel" is tempered from iron.
It turned out not to be.
He looked up at Shen Zheng, "So real steel won't rust?"
Shen Zheng nodded, then shook her head, "Some will, some won't. Rust is secondary. The main thing is that the method you mentioned of quenching soft iron cannot turn iron into steel."
After saying that, she and Yu Zhengqing stepped forward and helped Liang Fu up.
Yu Zhengqing didn't know anything about iron or steel, so he didn't say anything. But he had to admit that he was no less shocked than Liang Fu.
"Don't be upset." Shen Zheng poured a cup of tea and handed it to Liang Fu. "Although wrought iron is not steel, it can be used in many ways. Just like how we gradually understood 'force' and the principle of levers, the tempering of synthetic metals is not something that can be achieved overnight."
Liang Fu knew that Shen Zheng wanted to comfort him, and he sighed softly.
"Lord Shen, I just... sigh." This feeling is actually difficult to describe, especially since he had just proudly shown off his "steel" sword to Shen Zheng.
Yu Zhengqing was confused and interrupted, "What force? What lever principle?"
"Uh..." Shen Zheng scratched his head and said briefly: "It can also be used by the Ministry of Industry. I'll talk to you later."
Yu Zhengqing felt a lump in his heart and nodded sullenly.
The topic returned to the original track. Shen Zheng said to Liang Fu, "Because of the substances contained in iron, as long as iron is in a place with air and water, it will rust. And wrought iron is an extremely fine iron, so it is also the easiest to rust."
Liang Fu drank two cups of tea and finally accepted the fact that the "steel" was not steel.
He seemed to have thought of something, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked Shen Zheng: "Then Lord Shen, what does real steel look like? How can we get it?"
He was certain that Shen Zheng must have seen real steel.
"Steel..." Shen Zheng thought about the characteristics of steel: "There are many kinds of steel, one of which is stainless steel. It's easy to understand, right? It's steel that won't rust. It also has the characteristics of high strength, high hardness, high toughness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance."
With every word she spoke, Liang Fu and Yu Zhengqing's mouths opened wider.
They also asked: "Is this a conclusion drawn from the comparison with iron?"
Shen Zheng nodded: "It can be said that steel can replace iron in many aspects, especially military equipment."
Liang Fu and Yu Shizhang thought of the same scene almost at the same time - on the battlefield, an iron sword and a steel sword collided, and the iron sword was cut. The iron sword refused to give in and chopped at the other's steel helmet. When the two touched, the iron sword broke directly into two.
What a passionate scene!
If the Great Zhou army could use steel weapons... wouldn't it be truly invincible? They would be able to kill gods and Buddhas!
so......
"So how do you get the steel?" Liang Fu looked hopeful.
Shen Zheng was silent for a moment, "Maybe we need to melt the iron... into molten iron first."
Liang Fu also fell silent, because he had told Shen Zheng before that the Ministry of Industry did not master the method of smelting iron.
Things seemed to have returned to the starting point. Yu Zhengqing, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly looked at Shen Zheng and said, "Is there any way to melt iron?"
It’s no wonder that Yu Zhengqing is good at judging people.
Shen Zheng nodded slowly: "Maybe we can give it a try."
Liang Fu suddenly turned his head to look at her and asked, "Didn't you say that day that feldspar cannot help melt iron?"
It didn’t work that day, so how can I try it again today?
Shen Zheng smiled at him and said, "I only said that feldspar wouldn't work, but I didn't say that other methods wouldn't work."
In fact, she did not tease Liang Fu on purpose, but she originally wanted to use the blast furnace to melt glass first, and then "accidentally" discovered that the blast furnace could actually melt iron.
In this way, everything went smoothly - there was glass, molten iron, and steel.
Who would have thought that Liang Fu and Yu Zhengqing were so stingy that they were unwilling to give her the fine iron to build a furnace, so she had no choice but to slide the steel out first.
Liang Fu slapped his thigh when he heard this. He was so angry and happy that he couldn't help asking, "What method?"
Shen Zheng chuckled and spread his hands: "First, give me some fine iron to build a furnace. It would be even better if you have wrought iron."
"......" Liang Fu and Yu Zhengqing were choked and couldn't help asking: "So you said so much just to get the refined iron? You're even thinking about the wrought iron now?"
She had exaggerated the "real steel" before, could it be that she wanted to make it into fine iron and made it up to fool them?