Chapter 36 Chapter 36 Two in One

The simulation began. The ordinary blast furnace was grasped by an invisible hand of creation and was kneaded and transformed like playing with mud. Zhu Dan stared at the blast furnace, but his mind was constantly receiving information.

...the hot liquid slag is poured into a water quenching tank for quenching...a grinder is used to grind the slag into extremely small particles...fly ash and other auxiliary materials are added, and then dried to produce a high-quality silicon fertilizer product...

Zhu Dan's eyes became brighter and brighter. This technology is feasible!

How could she have forgotten that the slag waste produced by blast furnaces can be used as fertilizer.

Huh? Blast furnace slag can be used to produce calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer, which is very effective in improving acidic soils?

Zhu Dan's eyes widened in surprise.

The simulation room is awesome. The last time I used the herbicide, it wasn’t this clear.

Even the Transformation Pill... well, the Transformation Pill did teach her a lot about blast furnace ironmaking.

Her elixir and Tangyuan's skills are a perfect match.

There is no doubt that compared to the insulation cotton, which has a bright future but can only be watched for the time being, fertilizer is achievable at this stage and its uses are no less.

Keeping warm is important in food, clothing, housing and transportation, but eating is not bad either.

Zhu Dan was very satisfied thinking that fertilizer could increase production, even if it could not reach the level of later generations. He could just take it one step at a time.

She stayed in this simulation for a long time until the effect of the drug used in the single simulation was exhausted, and she had to withdraw regretfully.

Then comes the final simulation.

Zhu Dan took a deep breath and muttered, "Knowing how to utilize blast furnace byproducts is great, but the prerequisite is that the blast furnace doesn't malfunction frequently. Otherwise, we won't be able to pass this stage! So, please help! Simulate a method that can actually improve the blast furnace and reduce malfunctions."

She closed her eyes and waved her hand quickly.

The simulation begins.

When she opened her eyes again, Zhu Dan was stunned - in fact, she didn't need to open her eyes, her spiritual awareness was unlimited here, and she could see what was happening even with her eyes closed.

But even in the world of cultivation, few people can give up using their eyes. What the eyes see is different from what the spiritual consciousness sees.

Zhu Dan likes to use his spiritual sense to receive information, and also likes the direct impact of what he sees with his eyes.

At this moment, the corners of her mouth twitched.

The blast furnace in front of her had indeed been improved as she had imagined, changing from round to oval, and the bottom was also tilted sixty-two degrees.

Through simulation, Zhu Dan understood the principle of this improvement:

Ordinary round blast furnaces are too high, and if the air blowing is not in place, the temperature cannot rise. By changing to an elliptical shape, more pig iron can be loaded at one time, but the temperature is concentrated in the center of the elliptical furnace, allowing the material to be fully heated.

Moreover, the temperature will be damaged if it runs upward, and it will also escape through the furnace wall.

...Wait a minute! Does this reduce the risk of blast furnace explosions?

The previous few times the furnace exploded it started from the top.

However, it may also be that the top is not built well and the materials used are not as good as those in the center of the furnace.

——When it was first built, Zhu Dan naturally set the center of iron smelting in the middle and lower sections, which was convenient for the entry of fuel and materials, and also for the molten iron to flow out into the crucible.

What if it's too high and hurts someone?

In this way, the iron smelting mouth must be made of the best materials, and the relevant designs have been repeatedly considered, so it is not surprising that it is not easy to explode.

No matter what, Zhu Dan first made a note of this point.

You'll know if it works if you try it in reality.

Because this was the last chance to hone her skills, Zhu Dan cherished the opportunity very much. Even when Tang Yuan warned her that his spiritual power was almost exhausted, Zhu Dan decisively stopped the spiritual power Tang Yuan was transmitting to her, but she persisted firmly.

She waited until everything went dark and the simulation automatically shut down before she opened her eyes with a sense of loss.

Two of the three simulations worked, but I'm not sure if the one can solve the current pressing problem.

Zhu Dan rushed to the desk and quickly recorded everything that happened in the simulation room while recalling the past.

It seems that there were no problems in the three simulations, which was incredibly smooth.

However, Zhu Dan didn't think much about it. After all, it was a simulation and it wasn't as chaotic as reality.

After sorting out the results, she took a good rest for a day, and then led Yun Qiu and others to start building a new blast furnace with full energy.

Combining the conclusions from the simulation and what they have explored during this period, the number of failures in the newly built blast furnace is indeed lower and it is not as dangerous as before.

However, it still couldn't transition as smoothly as during the simulation... Zhu Dan's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and a flash of inspiration came to his mind.

The simulated blast furnaces are all made of used Zimudan!

Considering the properties of Zi Mu Dan, this couldn't be its real usage, right?

Zhu Dan's face was serious. He quickly said to Yun Qiu, "Get me some more refractory bricks. I need at least ten times the amount used in the previous blast furnace. I want to build a large blast furnace!"

Yunqiu looked at her incredulously: "But Mr. Zhu, according to our experiments, the larger the blast furnace, the more uncontrollable it is..."

"It's alright, I just want to verify something." Zhu Dan muttered to himself, "This is the Mother-Child Pill refined using Wang Jian's luck. Wouldn't it be a waste if the blast furnace is too small?"

Yun Qiu's eyebrows twitched, and he realized what Zhu Dan was going to do.

Soon, she prepared the materials, but when she was about to build it, Zhu Dan stopped her: "Not here, let's find a riverside place. I want to add another waterwheel next to the blast furnace."

"Waterwheel?" Yun Qiu was stunned. His mind raced as he thought about what a waterwheel could do. It could drive the millstone, improving the efficiency of grinding wheat. "Mr. Zhu, do you mean to use the waterwheel to drive the wind bag to blow air?"

"That's right, your time learning from me has not been in vain!" Zhu Dan gave her a thumbs up in appreciation.

Yun Qiu smiled calmly, "Mr. Zhu once said that manual labor in shifts to pull the bellows is too slow."

At that time, she only felt that all beings were equal in Zhu Sheng's eyes, and even slaves were not allowed to suffer.

However, human resources are actually the least valuable. If Zhu Dan wants someone, she can just say a word and the king will help her find them.

However, Yun Qiu had to admit that the newly built water-powered mill in Liuye was indeed very convenient.

Not only is the speed of grinding wheat much faster than manual labor, the flour ground out is also finer, and the buns made from it are incredibly soft.

It was precisely because Yun Qiu was mentally prepared and had explored the area in advance that she took Zhu Dan directly to a place she thought was suitable.

When Zhu Dan arrived and took a look, she was very pleased.

No problem, just set up the blast furnace here.

Reality is not a simulation. It does not mean that you can replicate something in the same place by simply magnifying it several times.

Not to mention that they also have to add a water wheel to drive the air bag to blow, a pool for high-temperature liquid water quenching, and then a grinding wheel driven by the water wheel, in order to grind the slag after water quenching into particles.

These extra things are the result of two different simulations, and Zhu Dan cannot copy them completely.

Fortunately, the transmission principle of the simulation room is detailed enough and there is theory to guide us, so we don’t have to rely entirely on intuition.

Two months later, the large multifunctional blast furnace was completed, and Zhu Dan felt that he could be considered half an engineer.

Because of the extra things, this blast furnace is not like the one in the simulation, which looks perfect even to laymen. Instead, it is very deformed and weird, making people want to cut some here and some there with a knife.

None of us had experienced the influence of later technology, so we relied entirely on our feelings and felt very nervous at the moment.

Is it really true that it won’t explode if it’s just ignited?

The blast furnace in front of us is very large and occupies a large area. Once it explodes, can the dumplings cover the site?

Zhu Dan was very straightforward in answering their concerns: "If we can't isolate the source of the explosion, then I'll just let Tang Yuan lead the way and protect the people present, right?"

"Everyone, don't stand too far apart."

Everyone: “…”

Seeing their skeptical expressions, Zhu Dan said unhappily, "Don't worry. If someone is truly that unlucky, as long as he still has a breath left, I'll give him the rejuvenation pill and make sure he's healthy again."

I even went to see Brother Zheng specifically for this purpose.

However, the crowd did not feel relieved as Zhu Dan had thought, but instead their faces were filled with fear.

This, this, this, there's no need to alarm the king, right? They trust the Imperial Master very much.

Unfortunately, it still couldn't be stopped.

Even though he had once been in the world of cultivation where human life was treated as worthless, Zhu Dan still attached great importance to human life and his original intention never changed.

Once restricted by the environment of the cultivation world, she could only protect herself, save her own life, and not kill innocent people.

Now? Of course, I wouldn't let my actions endanger the lives of innocent people.

The rejuvenation pill is just an insurance policy.

Anyway, according to her estimation, Fusu should be able to contribute luck again, so she can just use up this pill and then refine it again.

After receiving the elixir, Yun Qiu showed a rare excitement: "Master Zhu, should we find a good day to start the furnace?"

"No, I don't believe in those feudal superstitions." She herself is a feudal superstitious person, "But before I open the furnace, there is indeed one thing I need to do."

Zhu Dan grabbed Liu Bai again and said, "Remember to record this. This is important experimental data."

Zhu Dan used the mother-child pill on the crooked and deformed blast furnace.

This time, there was one more person named Wang Jian in the crowd.

He had not participated before, one reason being that he was now retired and it was not as convenient for him to enter the palace as his son Wang Ben. If his sons saw it, they would definitely describe it to him.

The second reason is that he is not as young as Ying Zheng. After taking the rejuvenation pill, he lost a lot of weight and needed to take supplements and rest every day.

But given his age, it is impossible for him to do strenuous exercise like Ying Zheng did a few days later. His cultivation and tonic are purely the daily routine of an elderly person.

Old General Wang Jian thought that he had experienced so much in his life and had heard many stories about gods and immortals from his son, so there were very few things that could shock him.

But when he saw the huge blast furnace changing before his eyes, he still couldn't keep calm.

It turns out that no amount of verbal description can bring people the same shock as seeing it with their own eyes.

General Wang didn't show it on the surface, but he was actually regretting it to the core.

He is so persistent and cautious. He should rely on his hard work and achievements to ask the king for some privileges.

For example, the Imperial Master must be present every time he refines the elixir and every time he uses the elixir.

After the blast furnace renovation was completed, Li Si sighed: "This elixir is truly magical. Every time I think it has reached its limit, it can still shock me again."

Wang Jian had no expression on his face.

He felt that the other party was showing off.

At this time, Li Si looked at Wang Jian and said, "General Wang, I wonder what bad luck you encountered this time?"

It was strange. He had asked someone to inquire, but nothing was heard.

Speaking of this, Wang Jian couldn't help but smile.

Li Si became even more curious.

But Wang Jian had no intention of telling him at all.

Why should he tell him?

Haha, what a cunning guy. He didn't know that Li Si wanted to use himself as a reference to judge whether it was worthwhile to actively ask the national teacher to refine the elixir.

Comparing the good he got with the bad luck he encountered...

Wang Jian did not think that he had such a relationship with Li Si.

However, Ying Zheng, who was standing in front, was also very curious and asked.

When it came to the king, Wang Jian immediately changed his attitude and respectfully told the bad luck he had encountered in the past two days.

This includes, but is not limited to, finding that a pair of underwear or socks is missing when getting dressed, finding that one dish is particularly salty and another is particularly bland when eating, or forgetting to bring a toilet paper stamp when going to the bathroom...

"Perhaps the Imperial Master sees that I am old and is taking extra care of me."

Wang Jian said very modestly.

Some of these unfortunate things are a bit embarrassing to talk about, but compared with Prince Hu Hai breaking his leg, Prince Fusu falling into the pond, and Zhao Zhongche taking off his clothes in public, they are really as small as they can be.

Wang Jian felt that having his luck extracted would bring him bad luck, but it was really very considerate of him to do so.

And he calculated that the bad luck would not last long.

Unlike Prince Fusu, although the Imperial Master had visited him, he still had a cold that lasted intermittently for more than half a month before he recovered. However, his body was still weak and needed to be well taken care of. He was unable to go to Lantian County with the Imperial Master.

——He thought he could meet Fusu, who was using the alias Monkey, there.

Everyone was silent, especially the three unlucky guys in front, who looked at Wang Jian with envy.

Only Li Si frowned

If it is because Wang Jian is old, then this has no reference value, because he is younger than Wang Jian.

Zhu Dan was unaware of the arguments behind him. When he saw the transformation was completed, he immediately rushed over to check it carefully.

"So this is how it's connected... Wow, this should be improved... Hey, why is there an extra hole?" Zhu Dan subconsciously put her hand on it. Unexpectedly, the blast furnace, which should have been a dead object, gave her an idea at this moment. "It's actually designed specifically for the steelmaking process? Heating the pig iron to a semi-molten state at 1200 degrees Celsius and constantly stirring it can expel the excess carbon through oxidation..."

Zhu Dan is incredible.

No, shouldn't this function be unique to the simulation room?

Why does it work in reality?

Zhu Dan's eyes lit up as he explored other parts almost inch by inch, but unfortunately he got no response.

She asked others to try it as well.

The moment just now was more like the elixir transforming the blast furnace, and some of the power dissipated. Because Zhu Dan was the refiner, he captured some fragmentary information.

"Yes, this is perfect." Zhu Dan clapped his hands. "We must know the reason behind it."

She no longer had to answer any questions when faced with Shi De's inquiries.

She didn't rush to light the fire, but continued to explore and analyze it in the same way, but this time she didn't have the courage to let everyone tear it down.

Zhu Dan's intuition told him that it would not be so perfect if he took it apart and put it back together.

There is a high probability that the medicinal properties of the pill will dissipate after it is opened.

It was three days later when she finally announced the ignition.

Looking at the blazing blast furnace and the orange-red molten iron flowing out of the furnace mouth, Zhu Dan was very satisfied. Sure enough, after adding the steel-frying method, her spiritual sense could feel that the iron was purer.

After the steel is fried, it is hammered repeatedly.

Even though Zhu Dan didn't know much about this industry, he had heard of a phrase: "Steel is made through repeated tempering."

She also heard a joke, but she didn't know whether it was true or not.

Historical records show that it took Cao Cao three years to forge the Five Treasures Sword, during which time it was forged repeatedly a hundred times.

"I still remember hearing about some famous swords during the Warring States Period, like Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, and the swordsmiths Ou Yezi and Gui Guzi..." Zhu Dan muttered, rubbing his chin. "I don't know if it's true or not, and I don't know if the steel knife I've honed can compete with them."

Yun Qiu's heart moved, and he asked, "Master Zhu, do you want to collect famous swords and try them out?"

"No." Zhu Dan quickly waved his hand. "To me, those are antiques that belong in a museum. It would be terrible if they were cut in half by the steel knife I made. What a sin!"

For Zhu Dan, compared with the practical value of famous swords, she values ​​their collection value more.

"However, such a famous sword might also contain aura and luck, making it a valuable treasure." Zhu Dan pondered. "You could have someone collect them. Even if they can't be used, it would look nice if we gave them to Brother Zheng."

Yun Qiu quickly wrote it down.

This matter would take a long time, and she was afraid that she would forget it, so she wrote it down on a bamboo slip.

She didn't do this before, for fear that others would see the secrets she recorded.

But Zhu Dan had too many incidents one after another, and her workload was very heavy. In addition, the other party did not have particularly strict confidentiality requirements.

Unless it is something extremely important, Yun Qiu will only remember it in his mind. The rest of the time, just like Zhu Dan said, he will take notes and look through it from time to time.

The blast furnace operated for one day, two days... Zhu Dan kept watching it.

Either she or Tangyuan was there, and the amazing thing was that there was no trouble at all.

Zhu Dan tentatively increased the frequency of iron smelting, and one day she suddenly heard a sound like the sound of water in a boiling kettle.

Almost immediately, Zhu Dan came to his senses and stopped others from planning to strike while the iron was hot and make another batch of products.

After the blast furnace had rested for a while, there was no screaming sound when it was ignited again, and it continued to run very smoothly.

No major explosions or minor glitches were left.

Only then did Zhu Dan truly understand the power of the Mother-Child Pill.

No, it should be said that it is how strong Wang Jian’s luck is.

Wang Jian assisted Zheng Ge in conquering the five kingdoms smoothly. He himself died of old age, and his descendants had a bright future. To some extent, he was an absolute winner in life and had almost no regrets.

The pills refined by his luck were also able to overcome all difficulties. While repairing the newly built blast furnace neatly, because of Wang Jian's fame and importance to the entire Qin Dynasty... just a little bit was extracted, and the mother-child pill was successfully formed.

To further verify the strength of Wang Jian's luck, we only need to calculate how long this blast furnace can last.

Zhu Dan instructed Yun Qiu, "Find someone who can read and record the status of the blast furnace every day."

Although he was sure that it would not malfunction, Zhu Dan still left the dumplings there.

As for the other blast furnaces, some only had minor faults and did not explode as horribly as during the first trial, so they are still in use.

Either they have collapsed and need to be rebuilt, and the rebuilt blast furnaces have also learned from previous lessons.

So Zhu Dan brought the glutinous rice balls over with confidence.

Blast furnace failures are inevitable, just like bad luck coming from extracting qi.

This is an inevitable result of technological development, or in other words, even if the world is as developed as it is in later times, unfortunate accidents will still occur.

Zhu Dan can't give up the food because of choking. If she keeps watching over it like a mother hen all the time, she will be exhausted to death.

So at this point, she felt she could let go.

As for the big one, the dumplings were not taken away for the time being. After all, if it exploded, the consequences would be extremely tragic.

On the other hand, it also allows Tangyuan to analyze the blast furnace.

Tangyuan's main business is to analyze elixirs, but this blast furnace uses mother and child elixirs, so they can be combined and viewed together.

For Zhu Dan, the most exciting thing is that Shi De has finally created the best iron pot that can be made at this stage. If he succeeds this time, the chances of success will be much greater in the future.

Although the iron plate is good, it still cannot be compared with the iron pan.

On the day he got the big iron pot, Zhu Dan invited everyone to a dinner without hesitation.

Yes, it’s that extra-large iron pot used in the cafeteria.

Small pots require a relatively high level of technical expertise and are difficult to make.

However, Shi De said that he would try his best to make a small pot for the national teacher that he could carry with him.

Zhu Dan: “…”

Sorry, actually I can use the alchemy furnace.

She couldn't use the alchemy furnace to cook in the world of cultivation, only because of the food ingredients in the world of cultivation, but it was not a problem in Daqin.

But she did not let others down.

Now that we have the pot, we need the oil.

In order to achieve perfection, Zhu Dan made a special trip to Lantian County and selected a half-grown pig with a smaller skeleton.

It takes too long to smelt iron in a blast furnace, and it has been almost half a year since she started raising pigs.

Although black pigs cannot grow as big as large white pigs, nearly half a year is enough for them to grow to 50 or 60 kilograms.

When Zhu Dan chose to kill the pig, those people looked at him with resentment.

It couldn't handle it, so it handed it over to the housekeeper.

In fact, Zhu Dan was particular about choosing pigs. She chose pigs with big skeletons, which were generally able to grow meat, so she didn't choose any.

Zhu Dan knew that Da Niu and others were very ambitious and wanted to raise the pigs to 100 kilograms in order to get a reward of one gold.

She wouldn't ruin that.

What a joke! She wouldn't be so reluctant to give up even a penny!

Those pigs with small frames are not a problem.

No matter how much they are fed, their innate conditions are there, and not killing them later would be a waste of feed.

But Zhu Dan also knew that this was not a question of waste, but it was just like farmers who could not bear to see the seedlings grow yet and had to pick and eat them early.

Even if they can be compensated, even if they raise pigs just to sell them for money.

This heartache will not diminish in the slightest.

"Since you knew that, why did you still kill the pig?" Xiang Lichun, who was busy working beside Zhu Dan, rolled his eyes.

Zhu Dan touched his nose and said, "I'm just comparing animal oil and vegetable oil to see which one makes the most delicious fried dough sticks."

"And this half-grown pork is very tender. In later generations, some people even made roast suckling pig for it."

She felt she was being very tolerant.

"Yunqiu, in addition to using the fat to make lard, don't forget to cut out some pork belly. Let's make teppanyaki."

Zhu Dan's attention was on the flour in front of him.

She knew that there was special dough stick flour for making dough sticks, but didn’t they only have flour?

She also doesn't know what processing steps the flour needs to go through to make authentic fried dough sticks.

Anyway, Zhu Dan did it according to his own ideas. First, he added yeast and fermented it like making buns. Then he cut it into long strips, pressed it with chopsticks, and fried it in a pan.

She doesn't care whether it's authentic or not, as long as it tastes good.

The first few pots were not fried well, so I added water and flour to adjust them, and soon I found a more suitable ratio.

That’s certainly not all.

Since it was a banquet and so many people were invited, of course they had to make plenty of fried food. Zhu Dan asked Yun Qiu to kill a lot of chickens.

Fried chicken is well-known, but I haven't heard of fried duck or fried goose. However, I heard that braised pig's trotters, which are fried first and then braised, taste better, so Zhu Dan decided to try them both.

Fried food is delicious because of its crispiness. Zhu Dan couldn't wait until all the dishes were served before announcing that the meal was ready, so he just fried a pot and served it casually, and everyone took it and ate it like a buffet.

Fried chicken is indeed a classic that has been popular for so many years. Even though it is called junk food, it does not reduce people's love for it.

Even though many of the people attending the banquet were high-ranking officials of the Qin Dynasty and had no shortage of meat to eat, this high-fat and high-sugar delicacy still conquered them instantly.

Deep-frying covers up the disadvantages of the ingredients to the greatest extent.

Ying Zheng held a plate in his hand and walked calmly around the iron pots, and the plates were piled full.

Not to mention the palace maid in charge of frying the food, who was shocked, panicked and happy when she saw the king coming over with a plate, all the ministers also looked at him frequently.

Calm and composed? Not happening.

However, when the palace maids caught a glimpse of their expressions, they found them very subtle.

Not as fast as they calmed down.

"Brother Zheng, come and try the fried dough sticks I made. I used my divine power specially to make them, so they must be more delicious than those made by others." Zhu Dan greeted Ying Zheng.

Ying Zheng also directly agreed to this title. After all, Zhu Dan was very well-behaved in formal occasions.

Ying Zheng had just taken a bite and said it was delicious when someone behind him quietly handed him the plate.

It was made by the national master himself, so it has to be tested.

Even if it doesn't taste good, they will still praise it highly.

In this regard, Zhu Dan accepted everything. She would put a fried dough stick on every plate.

——No matter how crispy it is, it is still fried food. You will get sick of it if you eat too much, so she is not stingy in sharing it with everyone.

"Even though I get sick of eating it too much, it's really blissful to eat it once in a while." Zhu Dan whispered to Ying Zheng, "Brother Zheng, I've already thought about my next project."

Ying Zheng raised his eyebrows.

At this time, the silver hair on his head had turned half black, and the roots of his hair and the newly grown hair were all black, which meant that the upper half was black and the lower half was white.

If someone else had this kind of yin-yang hairstyle, it would definitely look weird no matter how you look at it, but Brother Zheng actually pulled it off, making people feel that he was following some trend.

At the same time, his calm temperament does not make people feel frivolous.

Zhu Dan thinks that Zheng Ge with this kind of skin is also worth recording.

"I want everyone in Daqin to be able to afford fried dough sticks."

"That's difficult. Oil is expensive." Ying Zheng didn't mean to pour cold water on Zhu Dan, but this was a very realistic problem.

But why did Zhu Dan mention fried dough sticks instead of fried chicken? It is because she thinks fried dough sticks can be solved at this stage.

She blinked, a bit proudly saying, "This brings me to what I'm going to do next. I want to improve the soybean genes and increase the oil yield! Oh, yes, both oil and satiety are important. Since we're selecting improved varieties, we might as well do everything we can at once."

Ying Zheng rarely changes his expression.

Zhu Dan had always said that he wanted everyone in the world to have enough to eat, so he went to understand in depth how difficult it was, so - "Mr. Zhu can actually solve it? Didn't you say that the herbicide pills can't work?"

"The herbicide pill won't work, but another one will."

"It's so far away, yet so close at hand. Brother Zheng, why don't you take a guess?"