"Of course, go, prepare for the horse." Xiao Ming shouted loudly after coming to his senses.

The graphite mine was found and the limestone mine was also found. Although the mine has not been established yet and systematic production has been formed, it is still possible to mine some in advance.

However, only part of the mining was mined, and Xiao Ming also consumed a lot of money. The civilians who were transporting back and forth had to pay silver.

So Xiao Ming was so urgent to cooperate with Liang Dahai this time. As long as he had a large number of slaves, mines and workshops, he would have enough staff. Then he would select some young and middle-aged people from the slaves to transmit various technologies and gradually build the industrial foundation of Qingzhou.

One master and one servant, the two left the Qi Palace and went to the Equipment Department. Now, except for going to the Governor's Office to supervise the implementation of various decrees, Xiao Ming's most important thing is to go to the Equipment Department.

In the Equipment Department, Chen Qi is correcting the production of crucible steelmaking assembly line. He has the technology, but there will be deviations in specific production practices.

During this period, Xiao Ming focused on cultivating Chen Qi, and Chen Qi also got the most technical transmission in this scientific crystal.

However, other craftsmen often master specific technical steps but cannot fully master the entire process. The reason why Xiao Ming did this is very simple, which is to prevent the craftsmen's technical leakage.

Ten people master ten parts of a set of technology are much more insurable than ten people who master all technical processes.

In addition, the Equipment Department has also formulated strict technical confidentiality measures. If a person leaks secrets, craftsmen on a production line will be punished.

In the Dayu Kingdom, craftsmen are low-ranking households and have a very low status. In order to prevent craftsmen from making private weapons, the household registration of these craftsmen were made into craftsmen separately and were supervised by the government.

It is very simple to control these people entering and leaving Qingzhou.

"Your Highness, these are limestones." There are piles of gray-white stones in the backyard of the Equipment Department, and these are limestones.

In modern times, limestone is not only a necessity for the production of cement, but also a necessary solvent in blast furnace iron smelting. Limestone can effectively remove sulfur and silicon impurities, improve the quality of iron, and prevent the subsequent steel refined from becoming brittle.

Xiao Ming went over and saw that the limestones were piled into a hill two meters high. The limestone was also relatively large and of good quality.

The two blast furnaces are working at the same time. Four workers take turns using blowers to blow the blast furnace. Some craftsmen pour iron ore, coke and limestone into the blast furnace.

Red molten iron flows from one blast furnace to another, and finally the molten iron flows into crucibles assumed to be on a one-meter high shelf. When one crucible is full, the other crucible will be replaced by another crucible.

This efficiency is even more than that of modern times, but compared with the previous steel filling method, this is already mass production.

When high-quality steel is formed, different craftsmen will use it to create tillage tools, machine tools and briquette furnaces.

Chen Qi was instructing the workers to collect the slag, which Xiao Ming taught him.

Seeing Xiao Ming observing the steelmaking process, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Your Highness, you said that after adding limestone, I will collect this slag. Now there is a lot of slag, but what's the use?"

"This slag is a good thing, it can be used to produce a very powerful material." Xiao Ming smiled.

Before Xiao Ming could tell Chen Qi this knowledge, Chen Qi said curiously: "Your Highness, the slag has come out, just tell me, otherwise I will probably not be able to sleep again at night."

Xiao Ming laughed twice, "In fact, in addition to smelting iron, this limestone can also be calcined into a material - cement! Because the slag contains a large amount of cement, these slags can also be used to calcin cement, so you can collect it to avoid wasting it, otherwise it would be a pity if the slag is discarded."

"Cement." Chen Qi and Qian Dafu looked at each other.

Now they are no longer surprised by the strange words that popped up from Xiao Ming's mouth, and they are not sure where the prince learned these strange knowledge.

Xiao Ming and the two stood aside, and the knowledge in the technology crystal was instilled in their minds. After explaining it, they understood what cement was and what function it was.

"Your Highness, if this cement is used to build city walls and pave roads, wouldn't it be invulnerable to swords and guns?" Chen Qi said in surprise.

"No, cement is just the most basic thing, and things built by concrete are really invulnerable to swords and guns." Then Xiao Ming told Chen Qi about the concept of concrete.

"..." Chen Qi can no longer describe his shock in words. He said: "Your Highness, if all the city walls of the Great Yu Kingdom are built with concrete, then the barbarians can only be beaten outside the city wall."

Xiao Ming smiled and said, "You are thinking a little too much now. Although this concrete and cement are magical, at our current production speed, it would be great if we can use it ourselves."

After being excited for a while, Chen Qi was suddenly a little depressed. He said, "Your Highness, you have taught me too much now, but you see that there are too few craftsmen in this equipment department, but this job is too busy. There is probably no one to use this calcined cement."

During this period, the Equipment Department recruited some craftsmen. The number of craftsmen in the Equipment Department reached fifty, but it was obviously not enough. He couldn't help but feel helpless, "I'll think of a way to do this, take it slowly, and produce as much as you can."

Chen Qi nodded helplessly.

This time Xiao Ming came here, one was to check the application of limestone and graphite in iron smelting, and the other was to let Chen Qi know about cement and prepare for subsequent production.

As the saying goes, if you want to be rich, you should build roads first. The smooth traffic can greatly promote production. However, because of the characteristics of people living in cities in this era, building roads does not need to be modern, and they can often take hundreds of miles.

The application of crucible iron smelting has matured, and now graphite ore and limestone mine are only in the hands of Xiao Ming, which means that he monopolized the technology of crucible steel smelting.

However, the shortage of labor is still his weakness. The current equipment department is generally a small fight.

Thinking of this, he could only increase his investment in Liang Dahai. Every year, the Great Yu Kingdom was plundered by the barbarians, and these people became goods traded by the barbarians and the Great Yu Kingdom. Many smugglers were active in the Great Yu Kingdom and the barbarians engaged in the slave trade.

For slaves, his first choice is naturally the people of Dayu. As for slaves outside the territory, they can basically only do some hard work, after all, language communication is also difficult.

After staying in the equipment department for a while, she guided the details of the craftsman making steel. Xiao Ming and Qian Dafu went back.
Chapter completed!