Chapter 221: The Seven-Furnace Experiment

Huo Ying's beard trembled: "This... this this..."

"This is the money to buy the furnaces and the craftsmen. Experimenting with coke for iron smelting is bound to have losses—even if we succeed by luck, the furnaces will have to be dismantled to inspect the bricks. In other words, no matter the outcome, these seven shaft furnaces cannot be saved. So, I'm paying to buy them."

Judging from the size of the furnaces, Lin Qian calculated that one shaft furnace would cost at most two hundred taels of gold.

Seven furnaces would be one thousand four hundred taels of gold, plus the craftsmen and materials—two thousand taels of gold would be more than enough, if not barely enough.

"This... this..." Even though Lin Qian's offer was far above market price, Huo Ying did not want to sell.

But before such power, what could he do?

He could only nod helplessly in agreement.

Lin Qian said: "Ranqiu, show Master Huo the experimental plan."

Ranqiu stepped forward, took a sheet of paper from the document folder, densely covered with writing.

Ranqiu said: "Per the helmsman's wishes, an ordinary shaft furnace serves as the control group, and five furnaces serve as the experimental group.

Furnace No. 1: thirty percent coke, seventy percent charcoal.

Furnace No. 2: sixty percent coke, forty percent charcoal.

Furnace No. 3: one hundred percent whole-lump coke.

Furnace No. 4: one hundred percent whole-lump coke, with blast increased by twenty percent.

Furnace No. 5: based on Furnace No. 4, with white sand added to the furnace charge."

This plan was agreed upon between Lin Qian and the ironworkers of the Standard Workshop, and had already been tested in small furnaces in Fujian, achieving preliminary success.

That was why they had come specifically to Foshan this time to experiment with the large shaft furnaces.

The plan had only designed five experimental groups; now that there were seven furnaces available, Lin Qian had the accompanying craftsmen modify parameters such as coke, blast, white sand, sand molds, and so on, and designed experimental data for Furnace No. 6 and Furnace No. 7 as well.

The goal of the experiment was to produce gray cast iron.

Then, using the high demand for gray cast iron, they would force innovation in shaft furnace structure and refractory materials.

Huo Ying lamented inwardly: "Nonsense—isn't this nonsense? Sigh!"

Lin Qian pointed at the smallest furnace and said: "Start with Furnace No. 1; every four hours, move on to the next furnace."

"Yes." The ironworker from the Standard Workshop acknowledged, then stepped forward to direct the furnace hands in mixing the charge.

The coal from Hạ Long Bay was low-sulfur anthracite, so the coke produced from it had even lower sulfur content, causing no damage whatsoever to the iron.

But because the ash content was low, the caking property was also low, so most of the coke did not form into lumps—it would not cause hanging or collapsing of the charge, but it was prone to slag flooding and dust clogging.

Therefore, when preparing the furnace charge, the coke had to be carefully selected—neither all large lumps, nor all crushed and brittle pieces.

This was also a technical task; the craftsmen of the Standard Workshop had burned down more than twenty small furnaces before they summarized a rough standard for material selection. From coking to smelting gray cast iron, Lin Qian could no longer help with the technical details—he could only keep throwing silver at it. Every small step forward in technology came at a cost that was hard to estimate.

This was the price of technological progress.

Thinking about it now, Xu Guangqi had compiled the entire Complete Treatise on Agriculture for ten thousand taels of silver.

Knowledge that cheap and that good would probably never come again.

Under the pained gazes of the Foshan furnace masters, the prepared furnace charge was added to Furnace No. 1.

Just after it was added, the charge still piled up on top and no change was yet visible; only as the charge gradually descended did the furnace hands see an obvious change in the flame at the tuyere.

The originally orange-red flame slowly turned white, and the tip of the flame became straight and upright.

A furnace hand exclaimed in amazement: "The fire is harder and denser now!"

The Foshan furnace hands, including Huo Ying himself, all crowded around the tuyere to look. Sparks occasionally flew in and out of the tuyere, and no one paid them any mind. One furnace master said: "This fire is white as a demon—the furnace won't hold up!"

As if echoing his words, the furnace let out a "pa-da" sound—extremely faint, like something shattering.

The furnace masters understood it clearly—that was the shaft furnace's cry of agony!

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Everyone's hearts were bleeding.

Tears had already filled Huo Ying's eyes. Although with the two thousand taels of gold collected, the furnace no longer had anything to do with him, just as a farmer loves his own land, the shaft furnace was the lifeblood of a furnace master. Seeing it so cruelly ravaged, his heart ached as if cut with a knife.

Taking advantage of the wait for the smelting, Lin Qian had wanted to discuss the issue of ownership in Foshan's iron industry, but seeing the current state of the furnace masters, they did not seem to be in the mood for such talk. He decided it was better to wait until Furnace No. 1 and No. 2 produced quality molten iron—by then his words would carry more weight, and it would not be too late to discuss it.

During the waiting time, Lin Qian and his entourage went inside to drink tea and rest.

Most of the craftsmen, however, gathered before Furnace No. 1, staring without blinking.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

The furnace hand carefully poked open the tap hole, and yellow-white molten iron gushed out in a steady stream.

The craftsmen stood extremely close to the tap hole, as if wishing they could press their faces against it to look—their gazes burning hotter than if they were looking at gold.

Huo Ying in particular stood so close that his beard and eyebrows were slightly singed and curled.

Lin Qian found it both amusing and admirable—these furnace masters and craftsmen had such a pure love for iron smelting. As long as there was good governance, rapid progress in the Ming's iron-smelting technology was only to be expected.

One furnace master exclaimed in delight: "The molten iron is flowing fast—thick porridge has turned into thin porridge!"

Another said: "The color of the molten iron is different too—it must be because the furnace temperature is higher."

A moment later, the molten iron ran out completely. On the sand mold, the iron cooled, its surface shrinking visibly, with small blue flames flickering up.

All these phenomena differed from charcoal smelting, but whether they were good or bad could only be judged by examining the fracture surface after solidification.

The craftsmen were burning with anxiety, wishing they could blow on the iron with their mouths to cool it down.

When lunchtime came, Lin Qian's chef team prepared lunch for everyone as usual.

Su Qingmei tested the food for poison, then served it to the table.

The furnace masters did not dare to sit at the same table as Lin Qian; they all hugged their rice bowls, squatting in the corners and shoveling food into their mouths, their eyes fixed dead on the molten iron.

Lin Qian had someone invite Huo Ying and several important furnace masters over, and said: "Iron smelting is the lifeblood of the nation—it cannot be held in private hands..." The moment these words came out, it was earth-shattering; all the craftsmen looked at him in disbelief.

This... was he going to confiscate the family property of every furnace master in Foshan?

Lin Qian acted as if he saw nothing, then shifted his tone: "It's just that Foshan has the tradition of 'officially approved, privately operated,' and iron smelting is the lifeline of the common people—it cannot be changed lightly."

All the furnace masters half-sighed in relief, held their breath, stopped eating, and waited quietly for what came next.

The situation in the Empire's Iron Capital was extremely complex.

Under Ming rule, the government-run ironworks were hopelessly corrupt, operating at a loss, and their ironware was unfit for use.

Forced into a corner, they came up with this "government-sanctioned, privately-run" model.

The government could obtain ironware efficiently at extremely low administrative cost, while still maintaining control over the iron industry.

It was neither a state-owned enterprise nor a producers' cooperative—it was a form of production organization unique to the Ming.

Given the current level of productive forces, this was a highly pragmatic and advanced form of organization.

Moreover, historical materialism told Lin Qian that any reform of production relations that failed to respect the level of development of the productive forces was bound to end in failure or bureaucratism.

Therefore, this "government-sanctioned, privately-run" form of production organization was something Lin Qian could not touch.

But the Foshan model also had serious problems: dispersed capital, insufficient investment, suppressed innovation, and difficulty in the spread of technology.

To address these problems, Lin Qian decided to expand the functions of the Foshan Ironworkers' Guild, enabling it to represent the entire Foshan iron industry externally.

Internally, it would represent the government in carrying out unified management.

He established quality grading and premium purchase standards, using price incentives to push furnace households to improve the quality of their ironware.

He set up a limited patent protection mechanism, encouraging the limited spread of skills within Foshan, breaking the status quo of "pass it to sons, not daughters; teach the apprentice and starve the master." The guild's operating funds came from a cut of official orders and revenue from selling coke.

The guild's surplus funds were used to encourage development, investment, and innovation.

The ultimate goal was to push Foshan's dispersed property rights toward the development of joint-stock companies.

Within the guild, clerks from the Qingping Office supervised, modern accounting methods were adopted, and the guild's accounts were fully transparent, published monthly.

The guild head was elected by furnace household representatives and appointed by the government, rotating every three years.

The beauty of this scheme was that no new organization was created—the guild had existed all along.

Nor was there any levy imposed on furnace households; the funding came from selling coke and taking a cut of official orders.

Nor did it force furnace households to divulge their "ancestral secret formulas," nor did it change the existing form of ownership.

So resistance to implementation would be minimal—it was a quiet revolution in property rights and organization.

Lin Qian had even already chosen the first guild head: Huo Ying.

His personal prestige could command respect, and Lin Qian had already bought up his family's shaft furnace, so in exercising the duties of guild head, he would be less swayed by private interests.

Even if he lost the people's support, he could be replaced after three years.

And if he committed misdeeds during his term, the Qingping Office's surveillance meant the government could dismiss him directly.

If one thought of technological change in production and the stimulus of massive orders as a fierce fire,

then the form of production organization was the shaft furnace itself—without a good furnace, no matter how much coke you added, the end result would be a furnace explosion.

Lin Qian laid out his entire plan.

Everyone present listened with stirring hearts, silent for a long time, not even noticing that their food had gone cold.

The furnace households instinctively felt that too many changes were not a good thing.

But when asked to say exactly what was wrong, they couldn't articulate it.

Even Huo Ying himself was struck speechless.

Just then, a furnace worker called out: "The mold's been lifted!"

The furnace households, Huo Ying among them, hurried over to Furnace No. 1 as if they'd heard a bugle charge, watching several furnace workers use iron tongs to lift the pig iron blank from the sand mold and set it on a nearby pile of goods to cool.

Huo Ying hastily ordered someone to bring a hammer and iron tongs, and knock off a piece to expose the fracture.

"Crack!" A corner of the iron ingot was knocked off, revealing a smooth, bright-white fracture—fine white iron of the highest quality.

Its hardness, toughness, and brittleness were exactly the same as white iron made with charcoal.

So coke really could smelt iron!

All the furnace households felt a shock to their hearts. Foshan had been the Iron Capital since the Song dynasty; centuries of smelting had completely exhausted the surrounding forests, to the point that charcoal had to be transported from other prefectures, greatly limiting iron production.

If the method of smelting iron with coke could work... wouldn't that mean throwing off their dependence on wood?

The south produced very little coal, but Lin Qian had just said that at Ha Long Bay in Jiaozhi, there was an open-pit coal mine whose coal quality was unmatched in the world, with reserves so abundant they were nearly inexhaustible.

Amid the craftsmen's astonishment, Furnace No. 2 began charging materials, while Furnace No. 1 released its second pour of molten iron.

This batch of molten iron had greater fluidity than the previous batch, and its color was closer to yellow-white.

This was because the furnace's original charge of pure charcoal had been exhausted.

To make the experimental data more precise and stable, just two pours was far from enough—it would take years of slow, gradual testing.

But Lin Qian didn't have that much time to grind away, and he had enormous amounts of money.

So he would use enormous amounts of silver to smash through—to force a path open.

While waiting for Furnace No. 2, the furnace households returned to the house to discuss the affairs of the Foshan Ironworkers' Guild.

In truth, there wasn't much to discuss—after all, expanding the guild's functions was basically all benefit and no harm for the furnace households.

The problem everyone feared most—amateurs directing professionals—was also eliminated with the guild's establishment.

So this so-called discussion was basically Lin Qian narrating the details while everyone else listened.

During the conversation, Furnace No. 2 finished smelting.

The furnace worker opened the tap hole. This batch of molten iron was brighter in color, its edges even approaching blue-green. As it poured into the sand mold, the blue flames burned more violently and persistently.

At the same time, the slag became more viscous and darker in color.

Just looking at molten iron that performed better than Furnace No. 1's strengthened the craftsmen's confidence.

After it cooled and was knocked open, the fracture surface was still bright white.

By dusk, Furnace No. 3 had begun charging—this time with ten parts whole-grain coke, and the furnace households' expressions were all extremely tense.

Because this was approaching the limit of what the shaft furnace could withstand in temperature.

An hour later, darkness had fully fallen. At Furnace No. 3's tuyere, the flames blazed with astonishing brightness, the fire-tongues like sharp swords pointing straight at the furnace top. When the tap hole was opened, the molten iron was a dazzling blue-white, plunging into the sand mold like flowing water, contracting with extreme intensity, blue flames burning violently and persistently. In the dim yellow lamplight of the evening courtyard, the blue-white molten iron wound like a river of hellish sulfur, blue flames leaping without cease, like eerily blooming spider lilies.

The glow of the molten iron reflected on the faces of the surrounding furnace households, making their expressions seem strange and uncanny.

This furnace was fired purely with coke—a true watershed moment marking the complete departure from charcoal—so it demanded their full attention.

Lin Qian was somewhat tense as well. The coke-smelting iron experiment had only barely succeeded at the Zhangzhou standard workshop, with considerable unpredictability. Whether it could be replicated, he had no confidence in his heart.

But with subordinates surrounding him, his tension could not show. He kept idly toying with Little Black with his hand.

After observing for a long while, the craftsmen returned to their rooms one by one, their faces flushed with excitement—clearly the molten iron from Furnace No. 3 was of excellent quality.

Lin Qian summoned Sun Yu to discuss the production and improvement of matchlock muskets.

Compared to Foshan, the Macao cannon foundry had far too low a production capacity. The new army's seven thousand matchlock muskets, worked in three shifts, had taken over a year to barely complete. The root cause was the difficulty of producing gun barrels—in this era, barrels were all made of wrought iron, hammered by hand.

The boring process was already laborious even for cannon barrels; trying to bore a musket barrel was about as difficult as boring through a strand of hair.

Therefore, to meet the needs of subsequent troop expansion, matchlock muskets had to be manufactured in Foshan.

Foshan's specialty was large-scale smelting, casting, and forging—producing matchlock muskets was a perfect match for its expertise.

At the same time, the Portuguese-style matchlock had exposed many problems on the battlefield—improper dimensions, bayonets that snapped easily, poor accuracy, locks prone to rust, and match cord and powder susceptible to dampness, among others.

The matchlocks currently popular in the Southeast included mainly the Portuguese style, Spanish style, Dutch style, bird-gun muskets, Rumi muskets, and Japanese iron guns.

Lin Qian had physical specimens of all the above guns, with even the rarest numbering over a dozen. All had been brought by ship to Foshan for the craftsmen to study. Sun Yu said: "Among all matchlocks, the strongest is the Rumi musket. This gun achieves balance in structure, materials, and strength." As he spoke, he picked up a Rumi musket, braced it against his shoulder, and aimed into the distance: "This gun is six chi five cun long, weighs seven jin, loads four qian of powder and three qian of shot. Within one hundred twenty paces, a hit means death. The stock conceals a steel blade…"

As he spoke, he lifted the stock and indeed revealed a seam.

Sun Yu said: "This blade hidden in the stock is still somewhat inferior to our army's bayonet."

Having said that, he picked up another gun and introduced it: "The Rumi musket is costly to make, heavy in the barrel, and inconvenient to carry. Among Ming troops, only the capital armies and the elite of the Nine Border garrisons are equipped with it.

This one is a bird-gun musket—five chi long, six jin heavy, loading one qian of powder and one qian of shot, with an effective range of about eighty to ninety paces.

Masters, you must all be quite familiar with this gun. Most Ming troops use this type—light and accurate.

Finally, what our army uses is this—the Portuguese-style matchlock, which the Portuguese call the 'arquebus' matchlock.

This gun is four chi long, weighs five jin, loads one qian of powder and one qian of shot, with an effective range of about eighty paces.

Additionally, with the bayonet attached…"

As he spoke, Sun Yu drew a gleaming bayonet from the sheath at his waist and fitted it over the muzzle.

"With this, the gun becomes five chi long. In close combat it can hold its own against the bird-gun musket, but in long-range exchanges it gains no advantage."

That the new army could sweep through Guangdong unimpeded—from a purely military-technical perspective—was thanks to the Ming bureaucracy's corruption being so thorough, with military equipment and pay being embezzled so heavily.

Had the camp soldiers been at full strength and their bird-gun musket issue rate raised, there would have been no difference from the Nan'ao new army in firearms technology—they might even have held the lead. After a round of discussion among Lin Qian, Sun Yu, the furnace masters, and the Macao gunsmiths, it was finally decided that Foshan-made matchlocks would have their barrels extended by five cun, using a multi-layer forge-welding process.

Imitating the Rumi musket, a hinged moisture-proof cover would be added over the powder chamber.

The stock would be reshaped with a curve to better fit the cheek and shoulder pocket, improving aiming comfort and stability.

Standardized front sights and rear notches would be added.

Fixed ammunition would be adopted—measured powder and shot wrapped together in oiled paper, bitten open and poured directly when used.

This new gun was named by Lin Qian the Foye Manufactory Model 01 Matchlock Musket.

Huo Ying asked: "May I ask, Skipper, how many of these new guns are to be made?"

Lin Qian held out one palm.

"Five thousand?" Huo Ying was taken aback.

Lin Qian said flatly: "Fifty thousand."

"Ten thousand?" A ringing sounded in Huo Ying's ears.

At the current pace of research, who knew when the flintlock musket would ever be produced—the troops could not simply wait around.

Lin Qian's silver, Foshan's productive capacity, and the Ming court's pacification armies certainly could not wait around either.

For subsequent troop expansion and to counter the court's encirclement campaigns, cheap and effective weaponry had to be produced as quickly as possible.

Even if the new army later switched to flintlocks, the Model 01 matchlocks could be phased down to the garrison troops.

After the garrison troops phased them out, they could still be sold to the Jiaozhi people.

Either way, there was no loss to be had.

Huo Ying was staring blankly when, in the courtyard, a furnace worker shouted: "Furnace No. 4 is being opened!"

The furnace masters rushed out in a crowd. After the better part of an hour, they returned with grim faces.

Huo Ying spoke with difficulty: "Skipper, should we pause the experiments for now? Having proven today that coke can smelt iron is already a great step forward." Lin Qian said: "What, did Furnace No. 4 turn out poorly?"

The furnace masters dared not speak.

A craftsman from the standard workshop, knowing Lin Qian's direct style, explained: "What came out is mottled iron—full of slag holes, uneven in texture, a poor product. And the slag is so thick and viscous it's hard to rake out."

Lin Qian laughed: "Mottled iron is the transitional product between white iron and gray iron. Isn't that good news?"

Huo Ying said: "But if we keep smelting like this, the furnace…"

Lin Qian said: "Before technology, everything is consumable. Keep burning."

Huo Ying sighed, hesitated for a long moment, then said: "Then for Furnace No. 5, add more lime. With that added, the slag will flow more easily." In the courtyard, furnace workers busied themselves adding charge to Furnace No. 5.

Huo Ying urged: "Skipper, it's getting late. Please go rest—this old man will keep watch here."

Lin Qian smiled and shook his head: "Gray iron is about to be produced—how could I leave at a time like this? Besides, there are still matters left unfinished." Many furnace masters younger than Lin Qian were already so sleepy they could barely keep their eyes open, yet Lin Qian not only didn't yawn but grew ever more spirited. Huo Ying couldn't help muttering inwardly: "Those who accomplish great things are indeed extraordinary men."

The moon climbed to mid-sky. Lin Qian and the furnace masters discussed the issue of workpiece standardization, showing the Foshan craftsmen the *Standard Parts Illustrated Manual* printed in Zhangzhou.

At present, Foshan craftsmen all used a unique set of measurement standards, known locally as "Guangzhou workmanship."

Lin Qian could tolerate craftsmen using Guangzhou-workmanship tools, but from now on, all products must conform to the specifications in the Standard Parts Illustrated Manual—including civilian products.

This matter was an administrative order, not open to negotiation. The furnace masters dared not defy it and agreed.

Forcibly changing workpiece standards naturally brought some costs, but Lin Qian had also brought with him a large order for fifty thousand matchlock muskets, and the furnace masters' profits would fully cover the costs.

The next agenda item: manufacturing carronades.

This required solving the problems of gray iron and precision finishing of cannon barrels.

The former was already under development and would soon see a breakthrough.

As for the latter, that required building lathes and boring machines.

The Portuguese currently cast cannons using the lost-wax method, while the Ming people use the clay-mold method—both can only cast the barrel directly as a single piece, then polish it smooth.

The straightness of such barrels is far too poor to make carronades.

In fact, even without building carronades, one-piece cast cannons have highly unstable ballistics.

To further develop artillery, one must unlock the prerequisite technologies of the lathe and the boring machine.

The first batch of technologies: 1. Uniform, precise metal gears. 2. Precision measuring tools. 3. Gray cast iron. 4. High-carbon steel.

Then unlock the next batch: 1. Precision spindles and bearings. 2. Precision lead screws and nuts. 3. Precision fixtures.

After repeated discussion, the craftsmen discovered a desperate truth.

Within this lay a chicken-and-egg technological paradox—to build the machine tools that process precision parts, one must first possess a ready supply of precision parts.

The discussion reached an impasse, and at the same time, dire news came from Furnace No. 5.

The furnace had split open with a crack over one person's height; furnace and charge alike were all scrapped. Fortunately, the furnace master was unharmed.

The Ming vertical furnace was designed for burning charcoal—it had neither the design redundancy for burning coke nor the high-temperature-resistant materials for it.

Forcing these seven furnaces to try was indeed a stretch.

By now it was past midnight; everyone was mentally exhausted and, having suffered another setback, their spirits were visibly deflated.

Ran Qiu brewed hot tea and served it to everyone.

Geng Wu lit a charcoal brazier and placed it in the center of the hall for warmth.

The Lin household's dispatched cook also made a midnight snack for everyone—piping hot sheep blood soup with a tiny sprinkle of chili pepper.

One mouthful down—sour, spicy, salty, and fragrant; the sheep blood was silky smooth, so fresh it made one's mouth water.

After finishing a bowl of hot soup, a thin sheen of sweat appeared on everyone's foreheads. Stomach warm and body warm, morale soared.

The craftsmen began proactively analyzing the cause of Furnace No. 5's explosion, and after discussion, concluded it was because Furnace No. 5 was too small.

Furnace No. 7 was the largest and used the most material; it should be able to withstand the scorching of the coke—at the very least, it would explode later.

Lin Qian said, "In that case, forget about what comes first—fire up Furnaces No. 6 and No. 7 at the same time!"

The candle flames flickered.

At Lin Qian's direction, Ran Qiu took out paper and brush, recording the technical difficulties that urgently needed to be overcome.

A full thirty-four items were recorded.

Lines were used to connect technologies with sequential relationships, forming a distinct tree structure.

At the root of the tree, the foundational technology was the mass production of gray cast iron.

The sky shifted from pitch black to deep blue, then to light blue; the east gradually showed white light, and all of Foshan was shrouded in hazy morning glow.

Accompanied by the crowing of roosters, a craftsman's voice came from the courtyard: "Opening the furnace!"

Yahei

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