27: Chapter 27 Old Liu's Resolute Determination: Throwing Himself into the Furnace!

"Prince Fusu, what method do you actually have to allow ironware to undergo nirvana and sublimate?"

Old Man Liu was a technical geek; when he learned that Zhao Fusu had a way to upgrade ironware, he wished he could know the method immediately.

"Elder Liu, when you forge iron, you add Kun blood because you want to increase the hardness of the ironware, right?"

Among the modern steelmaking techniques Zhao Fusu mastered, there was no use of blood to make steel. Therefore, in his view, Old Man Liu adding Kun blood while forging was to increase the hardness of the ironware.

"Correct."

Old Man Liu said, "Years ago, King Helü of Wu ordered Gan Jiang to cast swords for him. Gan Jiang collected the iron essence of five mountains and the metal soul of the six directions to cast the swords. However, after three months, the essence of gold and iron still would not melt, and Gan Jiang was at his wits' end."

"At that time, Mo Ye said to Gan Jiang: 'The transformation of divine objects requires a human to be accomplished.' She then expressed her willingness to throw herself into the furnace to help Gan Jiang cast the swords."

"So, Mo Ye cut off her hair and nails, threw them into the furnace, and had three hundred boys and girls stoke the fire. When the furnace fire was at its peak, she threw herself into the furnace. Soon, the gold and iron melted, and Gan Jiang succeeded in casting the swords, naming the two finished swords Gan Jiang and Mo Ye respectively."

"I thought that blood was the essence of a person and could help Gan Jiang cast swords. I cannot use human blood for my sword forging, so I substituted it with chicken blood."

"It is Kun blood."

Zhao Fusu reminded him.

"Uh..."

After Old Man Liu was slightly stunned, he continued, "Looking at it now, Kun, or chicken blood, cannot replace human blood."

"I have thought that if it really doesn't work, I can only throw myself into the furnace."

Zhao Fusu was filled with respect for Old Man Liu.

To throw oneself into a furnace of over a thousand degrees—how much courage and how much obsession with ironware must that take?

Zhao Fusu thought of Wan Hu from the Ming Dynasty.

He was the world's first person in aerospace.

He tied 47 self-made rockets to a chair, sat on it himself, held two large kites in his hands, and then ordered someone to ignite and launch them. He envisioned using the thrust of the rockets plus the power of the kites to fly up. Unfortunately, the rockets exploded, and Wan Hu sacrificed his life for it.

Old Man Liu clearly had the idea of becoming a martyr for his craft.

"You are simply being fantastical!"

Old Man Yang roared angrily.

Zhao Fusu glanced at Old Man Yang.

He suddenly understood a bit why Old Man Yang kept discouraging Old Man Liu; it seemed it might be to make Old Man Liu back down in the face of difficulties and give up on martyrdom.

"That's right."

"Elder Liu, you are indeed being fantastical."

Zhao Fusu said, "In the process of iron smelting, throwing a person in might make the furnace fire burn more fiercely and achieve the effect of hardening the iron, but it is very limited."

"Using a person as fuel can certainly increase the temperature of the furnace fire, but it is still far from enough."

"Prince Fusu, please enlighten me!"

Seeing that Zhao Fusu truly understood artifact refining, Old Man Liu sought his advice with the etiquette of a disciple.

Ah Da looked at Zhao Fusu with surprised eyes.

His master's skills in artifact refining were among the best in Great Qin.

The only one who could rival him was Elder Yang.

Now, Elder Liu was actually showing Zhao Fusu the etiquette of a disciple!

Including Ah Da, all of Elder Liu's disciples were astonished.

At the same time, they were looking at Zhao Fusu with questioning eyes.

Even if Zhao Fusu was Prince Fusu, the eldest son of the First Emperor, they did not acknowledge him in the field of artifact refining.

Nor did they think Zhao Fusu was worthy of their master's consultation.

Forging iron was not that easy.

Starting as an apprentice, one had to watch from the side for a year before being allowed to touch the hammer.

After studying for three years, one would finally be considered a blacksmith and could forge some farm tools.

To forge an iron sword, one had to study for ten years!

They had all practiced since childhood, starting from a young age.

Zhao Fusu had never forged iron, so they didn't think there was anything about forging iron that he could teach them.

However, Zhao Fusu calmly accepted Elder Liu's disciple etiquette.

Steel knives forged with modern steelmaking methods could easily cut through the iron swords forged by these old masters, as well as the bronze swords forged by Elder Yang and his peers.

"The furnace fire is far from enough."

Zhao Fusu was not some genius with a photographic memory.

After pretending to fumble in his wide sleeves for a moment, he took out the industrial encyclopedia stored in the system space. Turning to the page he needed, he said, "The melting point of bronze is lower than that of pure copper. The melting point of pure copper is 1,083 degrees Celsius. If 25% tin is used for smelting, the melting point of bronze will drop to 800 degrees Celsius."

"When the temperature of our blast furnace rises to between 800 and 900 degrees Celsius, the bronze will melt into a liquid state."

"We can then use a crucible to pour the liquid bronze solution into a ceramic mold. Once it has set, we break the ceramic mold."

"The melting point of iron is as high as 1,534.8 degrees Celsius. Currently, our blast furnace cannot melt iron into a liquid state."

Elder Liu said thoughtfully, "So the current furnace temperature is insufficient!"

"Not only that."

Zhao Fusu said, "The refractory temperature of the blast furnace is also insufficient."

"How so?"

Elder Liu asked curiously.

Although Ah Da and the other craftsmen did not understand Zhao Fusu's words, the things he said were full of professionalism.

In their hearts, they all acknowledged Zhao Fusu.

At the same time, they were curious about the book in Zhao Fusu's hand that seemed to have many words.

This was the first time they had seen words written in a book.

Books in Great Qin were mainly bamboo slips.

The book in Zhao Fusu's hand was full of novelty to them.

Zhang Han looked at Zhao Fusu and felt that he understood him less and less.

From military to politics, then to clothing and woodworking, and now to artifact refining, it seemed there was nothing he didn't know.

The other party was like a polymath!

Zhang Han's respect and admiration for Zhao Fusu grew even more.

Zhao Fusu said, "Even if the current blast furnace raises the temperature to 1,534 degrees, the furnace body would not be able to withstand such a high temperature and would crack."

"You should know how dangerous it is if a blast furnace cracks!"

Elder Liu nodded.

"Therefore, if we want to smelt steel," Zhao Fusu said with a serious expression, "we must first fire Refractory Bricks and then rebuild the blast furnace with them."

"Our blast furnace must be able to withstand the burning of a 1,700-degree furnace fire."

"This..."

Elder Liu said with difficulty, "Prince Fusu, according to what you said, the strength of our furnace body to withstand the fire must be increased by nearly twofold!"

"Our blast furnace body is built of clay and stone. We cannot think of any Refractory Bricks that can increase the refractory strength by nearly twofold!"

Qin bricks and Han tiles.

There were already bricks in the Qin Dynasty; the pressure resistance per square centimeter of a brick could reach 480 kilograms.

The temperature that Qin bricks could withstand under pressure was between 900°C and 1,100°C; if it exceeded 1,100°C, they would burst.

They did not have Refractory Bricks that could withstand 1,700 degrees!

Elder Liu was looking at Zhao Fusu.

Elder Liu's disciples were also all looking at Zhao Fusu.