Chapter 152 The Moon Over the Past
The review was approved, but Cheng Youmin was not immediately sent to work at the arsenal. Instead, he was transferred to the school to take over Xie Ning's teaching duties. Liu Yun, who had been teaching in place of others, followed Xie Ning to participate in the construction of the new steel plant.
Xie Ning was not familiar with steelmaking. Although she was in charge of the factory's construction, she mostly learned from the experienced workers.
"This seems different from any stove I've ever seen before," Xie Ning said, pointing at the stove.
“It’s different.” The one who spoke was the master craftsman who was in charge of building the furnace. His surname was Liu. He was not tall, and his hands and face were dark. He was from Sichuan and used to work in a steel plant.
"The main improvement of the reverberatory furnace we made is that the coal-fired furnace chamber has been enlarged and the fire channel structure has been improved, so the firepower will be more intense. Therefore, each furnace can produce more steel, and the steel output speed is also faster than usual."
Moreover, this furnace has another advantage: it's not limited by the materials used.
Xie Ning's eyes lit up. "You mean, you can make steel without silicon iron?"
The master craftsman nodded affirmatively, grinning to reveal his big white teeth, "Foreigners always use high-temperature molten iron to smelt steel, but ours is characterized by low temperature!"
Moreover, our system uses indirect heating via fire, rather than direct contact between the fuel and the steel. Therefore, even with less firewood and charcoal, we can use bituminous coal, coal chunks, and coal briquettes to aid combustion. The only difference is that the coal needs to have less sulfur; otherwise, the steel will easily become brittle during hot forging.
"Master Liu, you're amazing!" Xie Ning circled the furnace, observing as he asked, "Master Liu, according to you, since you don't rigidly require the silicon content in pig iron, does that mean that even using coarse iron and scrap iron with different compositions, you can still smelt good steel?"
"That's the theory, but the specific data can only be obtained after refining."
"It's already very good!" Xie Ning took out his notebook to make a note. "I think this furnace was made with only about thirty refractory bricks, a few cast iron bars, some blue bricks, brick blanks, and yellow mud. It uses much less material than a regular furnace."
Hmm... If we add a small, makeshift blast furnace, we can directly smelt the hot iron in the reverberatory furnace to make steel, which should reduce coal consumption. "Master Liu, what do you think?"
A worker nearby chimed in, "Of course! It's convenient and saves on materials!"
Master Liu reached out and slapped the man on the forehead, "Get lost." His face was all smiles.
Xie Ning chuckled along, then pointed to the large bellows the men were pulling and said, "I don't have anything else I can do to help, but I'll design a blower for you guys to save you some effort!"
After spending half a month at the steel plant, Xie Ning and the others upgraded the reverberatory furnace again. The reason was that the initial design of the reverberatory furnace had a small air intake, dispersed firepower, and difficulty in slag removal. It was then upgraded to a three-chamber reverberatory furnace.
Production efficiency is not only ten times higher than before, but coal consumption has also been reduced.
Just after I got back and took a shower, Wen Jingru came over with her youngest son, carrying a basket of mooncakes. "They're all homemade. Changning, have a taste. I didn't know what kind of filling you liked, so I made a little of everything."
She didn't have any relatives here, and Xie Ning was the one she knew best and was a good person. Wen Jingru thought she should visit him more often, but Xie Ning was so busy that he was never home, which made her give up the idea of asking Xie Ning to tutor her youngest son.
Although she didn't know much, she could vaguely sense that Xie Ning was up to something big, just by looking at the guards in the courtyard.
Their family also had a personal attendant, but not as many as the guards in Xie Ning's courtyard, so it was best not to trouble them.
Cheng Wenhui immediately took out a mooncake and handed it to Xie Ning, "Teacher Xie, please try this! It's jujube paste, and it's delicious!"
"Mmm! It smells delicious and is so sweet. Your cooking is excellent, Madam."
Wen Jingru gently patted Xie Ning's arm and laughed, "Why call me Madam? Just call me Sister-in-law. What's wrong? Have we become strangers after all these years?"
When in Rome, do as the Romans do; she couldn't leave a bad impression.
"No, no, sister-in-law." I have to say, Wen Jingru's mooncakes are really delicious. They have jujube paste filling, red bean filling, sweet potato filling, and even five-nut filling.
Wen Jingru didn't stay long either; she chatted for a while and then left.
That basket of mooncakes was obviously not enough to go around. Xiao Yang thought the mooncakes sold in the market were too expensive, so he immediately made a batch himself.
Just as the meat was ready, Erniu, who had gone out to buy meat, ran back excitedly. "Sister Changning, a new drama is starting over there. Shall we go watch it?"
It's a holiday, so it's supposed to be lively and festive.
When the group arrived, they were performing "Women's Literacy Group," which promoted the importance of literacy and literacy education. This was a transformation and utilization of traditional art forms and old artists in the border area.
Drama is the best tool for social education. Whether it is mobilizing for the War of Resistance, reforming social customs, or promoting education, it is a powerful propaganda weapon.
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