The steel water mixed with heat waves flowed in the crucible, and in the hot summer, the steel workshop was as hot as a furnace.

Since the royal palace came out, Xiao Ming went directly to the steel workshop. In just a while, his clothes were soaked in sweat.

"Your Highness, it's too hot here, so let's go outside to discuss this matter." Chen Wenlong advised that ordinary people would feel unbearable after staying in this steel workshop for a while. He was worried that Xiao Ming would be inapplicable here.

Looking at the slave craftsman who was working hard with his shirtlessness, Xiao Ming said, "No need, I am not so spoiled yet. By the way, I heard that the Iron Workshop has changed to a steward. Where is he?"

Chen Wenlong pointed to the young man who was rushing here not far away and said, "Your Highness, this is the one in front of him. He is a student of Bowen Academy and is studying steel production. He just took office a month ago. Just like what Your Highness said, he also mentioned the conversion steelmaking matter. Later, he just said that there was no material, so he did not mention this matter again."

"Oh?" Xiao Ming showed an interesting look. After three years of training, more and more students have entered various workshops in Qingzhou. It is just because they have limited conditions and mastered many things, but they have suffered from the lack of conditions to achieve them.

But there is no way to do this. In contemporary times, his country was once poor and had nothing. At that time, overseas scientists returned from scratch.

But there is one thing he could not compare to was the people who were willing to do production at that time, and now the environment he is in is still in war, so he can only achieve it in the same way.

"Meng Kuocan see His Highness."

The young man who claimed to be Meng Kuo looked literary and looked like a scholar, but like the craftsman in the workshop, the young man was also naked at this time, and his body was covered with black iron filings.

After looking up and down at Meng Kuo, Xiao Ming said, "Chen Wenlong said you are from Bowen Academy. Since that's the case, I will test you. The acidic and alkaline iron-producing nature of this converter steelmaking are of high quality."

"Return to Your Highness, it's alkaline." Meng Kuo said, "Acidal furnace lining cannot remove sulfur and phosphorus from the iron, while alkaline furnace lining can."

"Why do you need to get out sulfur and phosphorus?"

"For steelmaking, phosphorus is a harmful substance. The existence of phosphorus increases the hardness and brittleness of iron. Excellent pig iron should contain less phosphorus. Sulfur promotes the combination of iron and carbon, making iron hard and brittle, and combines with iron to synthesize low-melting iron sulfide, which makes pig iron produce thermal brittleness and reduces the fluidity of iron liquid. Pig iron with high sulfur content is not suitable for casting fine parts."

Meng Kuo said, Chen Wenlong looked like he was dancing. When Xiao Ming saw it, he couldn't help but ask: "I asked Meng Kuo, why are you happy?"

"Your Highness, Meng Kuo was selected by the junior official from the Bowen Academy. He now responded with ease, proving that the junior official's vision is correct." Chen Wenlong laughed.

Xiao Ming was also very satisfied with Meng Kuo's answer. Regardless of whether there were any conditions or not, at least he had mastered the knowledge. He asked again: "What is the oxidant in converter steelmaking? What is the slag-making material?"

"Oxidants are only iron ore and oxygen, while slags are lime." Meng Kuo was calm and comfortable.

Xiao Ming nodded and asked some deeper questions. Meng Kuo answered them very simply, which made him more satisfied.

After pausing, he said, "With you here, I can also give you the converter steelmaking production line with peace of mind."

"Converter steelmaking?" Meng Kuo exclaimed when he heard this.

"That's right, I have found the alkaline lining material for the converter. Now the alkaline converter steelmaking method can be realized. Next, you have to lead the craftsmen of the steel workshop to produce the converter and build a production line to increase the steel output." Xiao Ming said while handing the drawings to Meng Kuo.

Meng Kuo took the drawing and opened it impatiently. As Xiao Ming said, the equipment needed for a whole production line was marked on it, and the structure diagram of the specific equipment was also on the drawing.

"Don't be afraid of failure. If you can't figure it out for the first time, you can try it a few more times." Xiao Ming said to Meng Kuo. Any technological innovation will encounter various problems in the early stage. In Xiao Ming's opinion, this converter steelmaking will have to fail several times before it can be summarized from practice.

However, since this technology has met the conditions, it is not far from realization.

Once Qingzhou can obtain a large amount of cheap steel, it is possible to build railway tracks that require a lot of steel, and steam locomotives will no longer be a luxury to operate in the Great Chongqing Kingdom.

At the same time, the sharp increase in steel production will also improve war capacity and make weapons production easier. As it is now, most troops will remain in the era of cold weapons.

Meng Kuo looked carefully at the drawings and said to Xiao Ming: "Your Highness, the official has been waiting for this technology to be realized. Your Highness is relieved that Meng Kuo must build the production line even if he doesn't eat or drink."

Xiao Ming nodded. The technical difficulties of converter steelmaking are converter and oxygen blowing. Now the problems have been solved. As for other problems such as loading and molten steel shaping, they are the same and do not need to be studied separately.

In the next few days, Xiao Ming and Meng Kuo were discussing the establishment of the production line, and some of the facilities were also delivered to craftsmen for production. On the fifth day, the mine sent the first batch of magnesite ore.

This batch of ore was first tested by Xiao Ming. After calcination, grinding and casting, the inner lining of the converter is formed.

After completing this step, the rest was something natural, and Xiao Ming didn't want to continue to participate. After all, he didn't want to dispel Meng Kuo's enthusiasm.

Because in his opinion, a leader should be lazy, otherwise he will do everything himself and his subordinates will develop laziness.

Withdrawing from the matter of converter steelmaking, Xiao Ming continued to turn his focus to the current chaos.

At this time, a piece of news brought by Wang Xuan made him sweat amid his body.

"The King of Wei sent an envoy to join the King of Yan, and the King of Zhao and the King of Liang?" Xiao Ming asked anxiously.

"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Xuan's expression was solemn, "And the envoy has arrived at the King of Yan, and it is the news that our spies in Bozhou sent back."

"This time, the King of Wei really seemed to be in a hurry to jump over the wall." Xiao Ming's face was heavy. This was a danger of destruction of the country for him.

If the four kings attacked him at the same time, he would definitely not be able to withstand it. After all, in this era, the advantages of firearms cannot completely offset the human sea tactics of the cold weapon troops.

In fact, the real weapon to end the Cold Weapon War was machine guns, and for him, he could not make this thing yet.

"Your Highness, if the King of Wei's plan succeeds, it will be a disaster for us. The official thought that the King of Wei's envoy should immediately assassinate the alliance and delay the alliance." Wang Xuan said.
Chapter completed!