Chapter 131 Qin Mo's Hard Work
"Why did you take the spinnaker away? It's the south wind now, the spinnaker is just right."
"I'm not on the boat, Danfeng, so you shouldn't use the spinnaker. There are only two of you, and you can't manage several sails. If you suddenly encounter strong winds, it's easy for something to go wrong."
Qin Mo looked at Wang Yushi and Qing Ning with a sense of helplessness. After he and Wang Yushi had circled the island, Wang Yushi got hooked and insisted on sailing to Tianjin. She wouldn't let him accompany her and dragged Qing Ning along as a sailor.
“This young lady is already an expert at navigating ships, so what difficulty could a mere spinnaker pose? A prince is being so stingy, clearly he's just worried about your shabby ship!” The heroine Qing Ning chimed in, seeing the beautifully shaped single-masted schooner, she also wanted to experience the joy of piloting it.
Wang Yushi was even more dissatisfied. Having gotten used to high-speed, high-speed driving, how could she tolerate the speed without a sail?
Seeing Wang Yushi's slightly pouting lips, Qin Mo's heart softened. Over the years, Wang Yushi had often revealed various girlish traits without her even realizing it. Qin Mo pretended not to notice, simply enjoying their happy time together.
He handed the sail to Qingning, repeatedly instructing her not to use it in strong winds and to write to him once they reached Tianjin. He then reiterated the location and function of the lifebuoy and lifeboat before sending the two of them onto the ship.
Qin Mo threw an exquisite wooden box onto the deck, and then a bag flew directly towards Qing Ning.
"These are some trinkets I found in the south. Both of you can have a share. This is a farewell, and I don't know when we'll meet again. Take care!" Watching the master and servant set sail with such airs, Qin Mo still felt a pang of sadness. After giving them the treasures he'd found in Alai's tribe's lair, he waved goodbye and turned to leave.
"This guy doesn't seem so stingy after all!"
Qing Ning caught the bag that Qin Mo threw to her. The bag, no bigger than a baby's palm, was filled with gems of various colors, which shone with five colors in the morning light.
Wang Yushi remained seated in the captain's chair. She didn't rush to open her exquisite wooden box, but her squinting eyelids and upturned lips revealed her mood. No woman dislikes sparkly things; Qing Ning's are all top-quality, so why would she need her own?
A shipyard on the outskirts of Tamsui.
Qin Mo arrived at the steelworks. Unlike the carpentry workshop, all the craftsmen there were either people from the Great Xia or teenagers from other ethnic groups, with no adult laborers from Japan or Korea.
"Your Highness, everything was done according to your instructions. It was fired for a full ten kilns before being cooled down with water. After it came out of the kiln, I tried it first, and it is indeed a fine product."
Beside Qin Mo was a burly man, about eight feet tall, with a kind and honest face; but if you thought he was easy to bully, you would be sorely mistaken, as he himself didn't know how many orcs had died at his hands.
Xiao Jingkun, the least noticeable general in Qin Mo's troops, is one of the four Xuanjing level generals in Da Yuan's army, along with Lin Bolin Huaiyuan, Wu Shengze, and Xu Liyan.
When Qin Mo went north, he took Allen with him, leaving Xiao Jingkun and Uncle Lin, the two strongest fighters, to guard the shipyard. When Qin Mo needed a strong person to oversee the shipyard, Xiao Jingkun volunteered and took on the task.
"Uncle Xiao, don't underestimate this broken kiln. Turning coal into coke is the key to smelting good iron. It's just a thin layer of paper; once you break through it, it's worthless."
"Your Highness, rest assured, I will never let anyone learn it. All the staff have been carefully selected, either as our own people or those who have signed a life-or-death contract. We will never let them leave this factory area."
Qin Mo nodded after hearing Xiao Jingkun's assurance. She watched as truckloads of coke were pulled out of the kiln, occasionally offering a few pointers and sorting out the substandard coke.
In the past, the Great Xia Dynasty used charcoal to smelt iron, and the temperature could only reach 1,300 degrees Celsius. The ore was first reduced by carbon monoxide produced by incomplete combustion, and then iron blocks were formed. Only after the iron blocks absorbed carbon and the melting point was lowered could they be melted into a liquid state.
However, using coke can reach a temperature exceeding 1600 degrees Celsius, far exceeding the melting point of pure iron at 1538 degrees Celsius. The difference is obvious.
In Qin Mo's previous life, there was a saying in the history of steel: "The emergence of coke made large-scale steelmaking possible," which shows the importance of coke.
"Uncle Xiao, why don't we see our craftsmen? All the kiln workers are fourteen or fifteen-year-old kids. And their clothes are wrong too." Qin Mo frowned as she looked at them, her face darkening.
"...Your Highness, these were extremely dirty when they came out of the kiln. In the previous few kilns we tested... some were even scalded..."
Xiao Jingkun couldn't continue, because Qin Mo's face had turned as dark as the bottom of a pot, almost dripping with water.
Who are the people who are unwilling to do this job?
"Your Highness, it's not that they don't want to do it, it's just that there are readily available foreigners..."
"If they don't want to work, then let them go farm! There's plenty of wasteland in the south; just give them a few hundred acres."
Qin Mo interrupted Xiao Jingkun, saying that after only a few good days, some people were already afraid of getting dirty and tired.
He has always emphasized that these Japanese and Korean children are the future pillars of the high-ranking officials' children and should be treated equally. It seems that they don't take his words seriously anymore. Will they not take him seriously in the future?
"Your Highness is right. There are indeed a few fellows who have forgotten their roots. They have taken one concubine after another, but they have learned to shirk their responsibilities when it comes to work."
"Make them change out of their clothes too. Anyone who didn't know better would think they were a bunch of beggars!"
Whether it's traditional coking or blast furnace ironmaking, workers must wear long-sleeved, thick clothing to prevent burns. Those who haven't worked in front of a blast furnace might not imagine that steelworkers sometimes wear cotton-padded coats in the summer; these coats not only keep them warm but also provide insulation.
Qin Mo bought many women from Fusang and had them learn weaving in Dayuan. Adults spent ten hours a day, and minors spent five hours a day. As a result, the textile industry in Dayuan has begun to take shape.
Qin Mo, being wealthy and generous, provided all the steelworkers with masks and thick work clothes. But now, seeing those Japanese teenagers dressed in rags, how could he not be furious?
"Your Highness, shall we go take a look at that... blast furnace...?"
Looking at the angry prince, Xiao Jingkun sighed for his old brothers who didn't know what was good for them. The prince was no longer the silent heir apparent.
Compared to the crude coking kiln that was half-buried underground, the towering blast furnace was Qin Mo's masterpiece, and its technology far surpassed that of the Great Xia Western Continent.
The ore crusher, preheating air intake, hydraulic blower, cooling device attached to the inner wall of the blast furnace, and other designs were already as rudimentary as Qin Mo could be, but in the eyes of Uncle Lin, Uncle Xiao, and others, they were incredibly complex and ingenious.
Coke, crushed iron ore particles, and limestone were systematically sprinkled into the furnace. With the whistling of the blower, the flames instantly changed from red to blue, and finally turned into an opaque bright white color.
"It's done!"
Qin Mo couldn't help but shout excitedly, startling Xiao Jingkun who was standing next to her. Xiao Jingkun turned around and looked at the increasingly incomprehensible prince with a puzzled expression.
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