Chapter 633: Steel as the Foundation

"Well done. Let's go, let this Prince see your results," Zhao Xu said.

Wang Chong replied in the affirmative and went with Zhao Xu to the Steel Workshop of the Armaments Department.

Here, the bellows pulled by the craftsmen had already disappeared, replaced by a massive metal bellows.

On one side of the bellows was a Steam Engine; this Steam Engine was connected to six bellows, and every time the connecting rod moved back and forth, it would blow a massive amount of wind into the Blast Furnace.

In an instant, the Flame in the Blast Furnace would turn from red to blue, and the fire would surge.

"Your Highness, ever since this Steam Blower was put into use, the efficiency of iron smelting and steelmaking has increased by more than tenfold." Wang Ying had also followed over after arriving at the Armaments Department.

Zhao Xu nodded; this was natural. The key factors in increasing the temperature of a Blast Furnace are Coke, and the other is the wind force blown into the Blast Furnace.

After all, there is oxygen in the wind, and oxygen acts as a combustion aid.

Previously, he had solved the problem of Coke, so he successfully smelted liquid molten iron.

Now, the Blower had solved the problem of weak blast force, which allowed the temperature of the Blast Furnace to rise much faster.

The melting speed of Iron Ore accelerated, and the efficiency of iron smelting naturally increased as well.

Besides this, there was also the Hot Blast Stove.

This thing also relied on a blower to burn coal, raising the internal temperature before blowing it into the Blast Furnace.

With the two combined, the efficiency of iron smelting increased more than tenfold.

For a long time, the iron smelting efficiency of the Armaments Department had been very low to him, merely having some improvement compared to the past.

But compared to modern iron smelting efficiency, it was simply far too inferior.

And now, the steel smelting of Yanzhou was finally approaching the efficiency of modern steel smelting.

After observing the Blast Furnace iron smelting for a while, Zhao Xu cast his gaze toward the Crucible Steel.

This place also possessed a blower driven by a Steam Engine.

Unlike Blast Furnace iron smelting, the blower here, in addition to being responsible for raising the temperature of the Flame, was also responsible for blowing wind onto the crucible through an iron pipe connected to the blower.

In this way, oxygen could allow the impurities in the molten steel to burn off fully, improving the quality of the steel.

After patrolling a circle, Zhao Xu was very satisfied. Just as Wang Chong had said, the conditions for Converter Steelmaking were truly met.

Because first, the iron smelting efficiency had increased; due to the large volume of the converter and the fast speed of steelmaking, if the supply of molten iron was insufficient, it would affect the efficiency of Converter Steelmaking.

Therefore, increasing iron smelting efficiency was a prerequisite for Converter Steelmaking.

Second, in fact, Crucible Steel is the predecessor of Converter Steelmaking. Now, the Steel Workshop adopts the method of top-blown oxygen combined with crucible steel smelting, which is similar to the top-blown Converter Steelmaking process.

It is just that in Converter Steelmaking, the material of the converter's lining is different from the material of the crucible.

Simply put, Converter Steelmaking is just making a huge crucible of a different material and wrapping an iron shell on the outside.

"Everything is ready, except for the east wind. Since that is the case, you shall begin building the Alkaline Converter and renovating the Steel Workshop.

You must have this place combine with Steam Engines to realize partial mechanized operations," Zhao Xu instructed.

Since the Steam Engine had already been applied, it naturally had to be fully utilized in heavy industries like steel smelting.

In addition to using the Steam Engine for blowing, one could of course also use the Steam Engine to build a lifting system.

In this way, the molten iron smelted from the Blast Furnace could be hoisted up and transported directly above the converter via a cableway to be poured in for steelmaking.

"Yes, Your Highness. This subject will immediately order people to transport a batch of Dolomite over to manufacture the Alkaline Furnace Lining." Wang Chong replied in the affirmative, his expression excited.

Steel is the foundation of all industry; having learned from Yan Wang for so long, he knew this deeply.

Zhao Xu nodded; Wang Chong had taken a step to the finish line this time.

In the history of Converter Steelmaking, it had gone through two stages.

The first stage was the Acidic Converter; the defect of this type of converter was that it could not process the sulfur and phosphorus in the molten steel, so the quality of the steel produced was not high.

Later, the Alkaline Furnace Lining appeared, which solved this problem.

This alkaline material was a brick made from a mixture of Dolomite and tar.

This thing called Dolomite was not rare in ancient times; ceramic craftsmen would use it when firing ceramics, so this was not a problem.

And tar was a byproduct of smoldering Coke; just let the craftsmen collect it when they smolder Coke, and this was also not a problem.

Therefore, this time the Converter Steelmaking industry in Yanzhou would not have to walk the wrong path of acidic steelmaking again.

But acidic and alkaline were merely differences in steel quality; the true value of Converter Steelmaking was that it realized large-scale steelmaking for the first time in human history, thereby making the price of steel very cheap.

Cheap steel further promoted the development of industry.

After chatting with the father and son Wang Chong and Wang Ying for a while longer about the details of renovating the Steel Workshop, Zhao Xu returned to the Prince's Mansion.

Before his seat was even warm, he had Feng'er pack a few sets of clothes for him, preparing to head to Pingcheng.

This time, although he had let Dong An go to sea to resolve the conspiracy of Dongying, he had never placed all his hopes on this.

He firmly believed in one saying: sometimes things that cannot be obtained on the battlefield cannot be obtained at the negotiating table either.

If Dong An could resolve the conspiracy of Dongying with his own glib tongue, then so be it; if he could not, war would be inevitable.

Therefore, he decided to make a trip to Jinghai County to inspect the Warships under construction.

At the same time, he was also prepared to hand a brand-new set of ship blueprints to Chen Shou.

These blueprints were naturally no longer for conventional Sailing Warships, but for Hybrid Power Warships combined with Steam Engines.

In addition to the hybrid-powered Sailing Warships, there were also some blueprints for small Steamships.

These small Steamships would all eliminate sails, leaving only a few chimneys on top, belonging to pure steam power.

He wanted to let Chen Shou first build these small Steamships to accumulate technical experience, and further on, manufacture larger steam 【vessels】.

Once the technology was mature, they would be qualified to build Steam Ironclad Warships.

After all, although he could provide technical blueprints, it did not mean that one blueprint could solve all problems.

In the contemporary world, even if the blueprints for manufacturing an atomic bomb were published to the whole world, the countries capable of manufacturing an atomic bomb would be few and far between, because this involves numerous auxiliary industries.

Therefore, although Zhao Xu wanted to possess Ironclad Warships immediately, it would not work without establishing the supporting industries.

Fortunately, the most important steel problem at present had already been solved, and the remaining technical problems only needed to be overcome by Chen Shou while building the small Steamships.

Having theory certainly allows one to achieve twice the result with half the effort, but mastering technical experience in practice is equally important.

Two days later, Zhao Xu arrived at Jinghai County.

Because the places suitable for shipbuilding along the Pingcheng Canal were limited.

The Shipbuilding Department restarted the Jinghai County Shipyard; currently, in addition to the twelve warships being built in Pingcheng.

There were also twelve warships being built here.

"When can the warships be delivered to the navy?" As soon as Zhao Xu arrived in Jinghai County, he and Chen Shou went to the Jinghai Wharf.

"In just thirty days, these warships will be ready for launch," Chen Shou said.

Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction.

This timing was very important; if the conspiracy of Dongying were to succeed, he estimated that there would be a large-scale naval battle within the next one to two months.

At that time, the impact of twelve warships versus thirty-six warships would clearly be different.

"You must ensure they are launched on time; there must be absolutely no mistakes," Zhao Xu said.

From the Battle of the Three Cities south of the Jin River to Dongying framing the Black Shark Sea Bandits at sea, nearly two months had passed.

It was already November, and the cold wind from the North Territory had already given Yanzhou the scent of winter.

In another month it would be December, and these twenty-four warships would have been under construction for nearly a year.

Besides that, after the warships were launched, the students of the Naval Academy would still need a period of time to adapt to the warships.

Seeing the serious expression on Yan Wang, Chen Shou knew that something major must be about to happen at sea, and he said in a solemn voice: "Your Highness, rest assured, I dare to stake my own head on it."