Chapter 6686 Chang'an

Chapter 6686 Chang'an
What can I say about technology? The truth is that those who use it don’t think it has much technical content. Those who work on it have been buried in the pit for many generations before they can truly solve the problem.

The blast furnace looks simple, but it actually has all the necessary technical content. What's worse is that in addition to the technical content of the blast furnace itself, smelting steel in the blast furnace itself is also a thing that requires a lot of technology.

Let's put it this way, if the three-phase diagram of water and the phase diagram of iron-carbon alloy were not something that one must remember when learning about materials, and Chen Xi had not written them down when he was looking through them, it would be impossible for the steel of the Han Dynasty to be at the current level.

It can be said that the phase diagram of iron-carbon alloy provided a bottom line for the Han Dynasty. Without this phase diagram, the quality of steel produced by the Han Dynasty using blast furnaces might not necessarily exceed that of the wootz steel obtained directly from minerals by the Kushans.

In fact, even though Chen Xi was clear about the phase diagram of iron-carbon alloys, it was still difficult to accurately maintain constant temperature, time, and pressure when the steel mill was smelting steel in a blast furnace, because the accuracy of these things had to be verified with each batch of molten steel.

It took the world's major steel mills 400 years to accurately work out the various indicators of the iron-carbon phase diagram. During these years, in order to determine this thing, tens of billions of furnaces were used to refine steel before the correct result was obtained. Considering that Chen Xi did not have so much time to deal with this kind of thing, Chen Xi's steelmaking method for the steel mill was to find an old craftsman, estimate a range according to the iron-carbon alloy phase diagram, and then make it.

Although the actual strength of the steel produced in this way cannot reach the level of the 21st century, it is at least at the level of the 20th century.

Of course, only the state-owned steel mills in the Central Plains, when Chen Xi personally led the team to build the blast furnace, specially sought out professionals, that is, some top swordsmiths who could distinguish the temperature of the blast furnace by color, and the temperature difference would not exceed ten degrees, that is, Pu Yuan and others. It took more than half a month for this group of people to judge by the color of the flame when to increase or decrease the temperature in order to produce the molten steel that Chen Xi needed.

There was no other way. Chen Xi couldn't make a thermometer, especially one with an upper limit of 1,500 degrees. He could only rely on the master. However, considering that in later generations, the master often judged by looking at the color of the flame, and the accuracy was quite high, Chen Xi didn't struggle. After all, humans were truly amazing.

Of course, to be honest, Chen Xi was unable to popularize the concept of temperature to Pu Yuan and his group. He was unable to explain to them what 730 degrees meant and what degrees meant. They could only judge by feeling.

This is also the reason why Chen Xi spent a lot of time in the steel plant after he made the steel furnace in the early days. To put it bluntly, when using a blast furnace to make steel, the problem of the final product of iron-carbon alloy must be solved. If it is just simply melted and then cast, the quality of the final product may sometimes be bad, and it may not even catch up with the steel of the same era.

After all, the technical content here is no joke, so Chen Xi led Pu Yuan and his group to set rules for how to burn the steel furnace, what flame color it should reach, how long it should last, what flame color it should cool down to, how long it should burn, what flame color it should heat up to, and how long it should last.

This rule is not very precise. After all, Chen Xi does not have a thermometer or an accurate measurement method. However, Chen Xi burns dozens of furnaces to find the best result, and then burns according to this rule. This is also the reason why state-owned steel mills adjust their smelting methods every year, and why the quality of Han Dynasty steel is getting better and better.

To put it simply, after having the awareness of metallography, the two special smelting companies, Bingzhou Smelting Company and Yellow River Smelting Company, will constantly try to find products that can be smelted under new temperatures, materials and pressures without worrying about output.

It's just that among the alloy smelting, only the phase diagram of the entry-level iron-carbon alloy is the simplest and clearest. No one knows what product will come out when you add something into it later. This is why, until now, the big names in materials science still make some iron-carbon alloy and add something else into it, and then start burning to see what the finished product looks like.

Up to now, the Han Dynasty has already produced high manganese steel and antimony alloy, which are considered reliable alloys in later generations. But to be honest, they have not taken many steps on the road of materials science. The simplest one is that the Han Dynasty has not been able to produce rebar, a material that is very popular in later generations.

Even though Chen Xi roughly knew the material ratio of rebar, the Han Dynasty really couldn't melt and cast this kind of thing, because there was no phase diagram to guide this thing. The Han Dynasty had to figure it out on their own. They estimated that they could just try to burn a few furnaces every day regardless of the cost. If they were lucky, they would be able to burn it out in thirty or forty years.

To put it the other way around, it was only after Rome and Kushan developed blast furnaces that they truly entered the race. The problem is that this race track is not a place for small fry to fool around, it can really get you killed.

At the very least, Chen Xi is not optimistic that the Kushans and the Romans can produce a decent product within a dozen years. From a practical point of view, most of the products should be inferior to Wootz steel. This is not Chen Xi praising Wootz steel, but the product of blind firing in blast furnaces is at this level.

The blast furnace is indeed a scientific advancement, but the crucible method and the steel-making method are smaller in scale, many links are easy to control, and hundreds of years of technological accumulation are there, so the quality of the products is naturally better than that of the blast furnace.

Just like the internal combustion engine and the steam engine, how could a newly-introduced internal combustion engine be more powerful than a steam engine? Even if technically the internal combustion engine is indeed an improvement, the advancement of technology does not mean that the product is excellent from the beginning. The same is true for the blast furnace.

If it weren't for the example of the Han Dynasty, Rome and Kushan would have had disagreements over the blast furnace and crucible method. After all, there were huge problems with the quality of the steel produced by their blast furnaces.

"In other words, there is something wrong with the steel produced by Rome and Kushan?" After listening to Chen Xi's explanation, Liu Bei did not actually understand what Chen Xi was talking about or what kind of strange technology it was, but he still understood Chen Xi's simple and rough conclusion.

"Well, for a long time, the quality of steel produced by blast furnaces was still inferior to the final products of the crucible method and the steel-making method. The advantage of blast furnaces is the large quantity, but the quality is not as good as before before it reaches a certain level." Chen Xi nodded and said, "At least it is not as good as the Wootz steel currently used by the Kushans."

"Is that so?" Liu Bei nodded thoughtfully. He originally thought that the molten steel from the steel furnace would become his own weapons and equipment after forging.

"It's not that simple. Steel furnace smelting is a very important technology. Moreover, after the steel furnace is put into use, if it is not put into the assembly line or large-scale hydraulic forging plant, it is actually difficult to bring out the advantages of the steel furnace." Chen Xi sighed and said, rolling steel, the result of doing it in one step is the best.

"The Kushans don't have the conditions, so there's no need to worry." Chen Xi spoke to comfort them. Chen Xi had known for a long time that the steel furnace would be exposed. After all, the other two families were not blind to the technological progress he had brought, and they would definitely follow suit.

You have to know that after the swans with broken beaks were repaired with titanium alloy beaks by humans, they knew how to use this invincible advantage to dominate the local area. As for intelligent creatures like humans, as long as they are not anti-intellectual, they will naturally find ways to obtain the progress brought about by new things.

It's just that the fighting power of the Han Dynasty was pieced together by Chen Xi by combining a bunch of stuff. Copying a certain part can indeed bring some progress, but you cannot understand the technological innovation and social innovation within it. Even if you achieve it, Chen Xi will still beat you.

"Well, even if it is garbage steel, it is still steel. Many of the young and strong men recruited by the Kushans in Southern Guizhou did not even have complete weapons and equipment before. Now that the steel plant has produced molten steel, even if the quality is not good, at least each person can be equipped with a steel gun." Liu Bei frowned. He felt that this matter was not that simple. Even though Chen Xi's comfort made sense, Liu Bei was still a little worried.

"Let me tell you one thing first, Lord Xuande. You are actually wrong. Kushan does not lack the steel needed to equip the young and strong men in southern Kushan. With Kushan's steel production, there is no problem in fully meeting the needs of the Kushan Legion." Chen Xi restrained his smile and spoke very seriously.

"Huh?" Liu Bei was shocked when he heard this. Could the Kushans actually meet the steel needs of their own army? Then why did they always see Kushan soldiers using wooden weapons?

"The situation is actually similar to that of Emperor Ling's reign more than 20 years ago. The Han Dynasty's weapons and equipment were actually sufficient, but distribution issues and corruption and bribery meant that these weapons and equipment could not fall into the hands of those who needed them. The same situation was true for the Kushan Empire." Chen Xi said with a sigh.

Just like the various crops grown by humans on Earth and the various livestock raised together are enough to feed 30 billion people, but people still starve to death every year. Domestic real estate data in China shows that China has built enough new houses to accommodate billion people, but there are still a lot of young people who have no new houses to live in.

These problems are not actually problems of insufficient production or distribution of purebreds, but very real distribution problems that still exist in the 3st century. How could they not exist in the rd century? The problems would only be bigger. The Han Dynasty was not exposed only because Chen Xi managed certain links very strictly. Otherwise, it is not impossible that the situation when India sent troops in the st century would be repeated in the rd century.

Of course, if we include the Southern Gui, who were not considered human beings by the three major empires, then the things that might have happened in Chen Xi's impression had actually happened a long time ago. After all, the distribution problem of the Southern Gui was something that could not even be mentioned. This outrageous distribution method even affected the Northern Gui.

You should know that in the early days, the elite guards of the Northern Kushans all looked pale. It was not until Oswald came to power that the deep-rooted problems were cleared away and the Kushans looked much more normal. But as I said before, Oswald offended too many people because of this.

At that time, Urdu said that he did not trust the Kushans. Oswald's answer was that whatever he ate, everyone else would eat. Then Oswald forcefully achieved this result. This was the key to the subsequent increase in Kushan's combat effectiveness. Otherwise, if the Kushans continued to allow those guys in the Southern Gui to take advantage of them, they would have killed themselves.

It was thanks to Oswin that he finally raised the will of the empire and directly proved his truth. Otherwise, after the Battle of Qunu City, the Han Dynasty would not have to do anything, and the Kushans would have killed Oswin. The reason why Oswin was not killed now was because those around Oswin were the majority, and those who wanted to kill Oswin were the small group, although the power that that small group could use was far greater than the majority united around Oswin, just like when society is stable, rules are more important than power.

"Is that so?" Liu Bei's expression became extremely complicated upon hearing this, and he couldn't help but become even more dissatisfied with Emperor Ling's actions.

"The Kushans have actually solved the problem of weapons distribution to a certain extent. The steel they originally produced is actually enough for the Kushan army to use. The existence of Oswald has solved these problems to a large extent." Chen Xi said with some emotion. Even he had to admit that the other party was indeed a hero. It's just that heroes in the Kushan Empire, judging from the current situation, will not have a good death.

Liu Bei nodded slowly after hearing this. He had his own understanding of the problem of the steel furnace and the problem of technology loss. For him, as long as Chen Xi could control the matter, he would not interfere. After all, Chen Xi's internal affairs were much better than he thought.

"How is the military performance being handled now?" Liu Bei changed the subject naturally.

"It's just a rumor, and some veterans have come forward to share their experiences, saying that they have become powerful people with internal energy leaving their bodies. So some people have come to sound out the rumors privately. But generally speaking, people agree with this matter. The veterans still agree that one can win the prizes through real strength." Chen Xi explained with a smile.

There are always some veterans who can contact the veterans under Liu Bei. After all, some of them were even the guards of the veterans in the early days, such as Guo Jia's guard Ruan Liangyu. If someone received the news and came to secretly ask Guo Jia, Guo Jia would not hide it, as it was not a confidential matter.

But it's no use saying it. Ruan Liangyu most likely won't be able to get it. On the one hand, the quantity of this medicine produced is limited. On the other hand, Ruan Liangyu was injured during his time in Kushan. Even if he was cured later, there would still be a blind spot in the battle.

Although Ruan Liangyu was very confident of winning the fifth-level smelting, the ones who could grab this kind of thing in the end must be ruthless people. Ruan Liangyu thought about his situation. If he fought the sixth-level smelting, under the attention of a group of people, his blind spot would be discovered in less than two games, so he was helpless.

Guo Jia had no good solution for this. If Ruan Liangyu could get into the top 100, he would really have a way, but according to Ruan Liangyu, they would be defeated in two games at most. Guo Jia was also nervous. He was a veteran, but the Executive Yuan was not founded by him alone. Even Chen Xi could not be too direct in this matter.

"I suggest you study other competition plans. If we only compare combat power, some special talents may miss this opportunity." Liu Bei seemed to have remembered something and suggested to Chen Xi, "Martial power is indeed important, but veterans are not just about martial power. In actual combat, archers are actually at a disadvantage. Unless the scope of the fight is expanded to the size of the parade ground, the melee veterans will have too much advantage."

This is not nonsense. There is restraint between veterans. Although veterans who can reach the fifth or sixth level of smelting have no shortcomings, this does not apply to veterans of the same level. If it comes to close combat, melee players like Jiang Guang and Jiang Fei will definitely have obvious advantages.

"Who received the news and came to you to make a proposal?" Chen Xi said with a smile. It was ridiculous that Liu Bei would consider such a thing. Liu Bei had never realized such a situation before. This must have been a proposal made to him when he went to Bingzhou or was playing there.

"Not really. I think what Li Zhe said is very reasonable." Liu Bei said with a smile.

Again, if Li Zhe's talent is ready, he can restrain anyone, but if it is according to the competition prepared before, Li Zhe will definitely be finished. Being proficient in everything means being proficient in nothing. Of course, it is easy to play against an opponent who restrains you, but after you have restrained the opponent, facing another opponent whom you cannot restrain, wouldn't you be killed?

After all, Li Zhe has studied all talents, which means that his research on most talents will not be too in-depth, at least not as deep as those guys who specialize in studying five or six talents.

So Li Zhe thought about taking part in the archery competition, adjusting his talent to be the most suitable for an archer, and then performing it to the best of his ability.

As a result, when he went to Bingzhou and fooled around with Ermu's group and met Liu Bei, he asked about this. Liu Bei then told Li Zhe that there were currently no bows and arrows in the martial arts performance. That was it!

"Then we have to study it further. But what you said does make sense. Archers are indeed not suitable for participating in this kind of large-scale martial arts performance." Chen Xi did not refute when he heard it. However, if it was a bow and arrow competition, how to increase the difficulty would be a new problem. There were actually many fancy talents for bows and arrows, and when it came to power and distance, there would be no fun once beyond visual range came into play.

The problem is that although beyond-visual-range attacks are powerful, some archers fight within visual range and deal burst damage in a short period of time. For example, Yu Mang can now basically shoot twelve extremely powerful arrows in an instant, and directly rely on explosive output to blow up the opponent.

"Let's study it. We might as well divide it into major categories," Liu Bei suggested. "And the scale of the competition can be larger. We can also continue it in the future, every few years, just like a military parade."

"Okay." Chen Xi nodded and agreed with Liu Bei's idea.

After eating, drinking and fooling around in the restaurant for an hour, chatting with Liu Bei and confirming some things, Chen Xi went back before it was dark. At this time, all the lights in Chang'an were turned on. Although Li Yuan and Huang Yueying were busy with each other, they did a lot of things. At least the bright lights in Chang'an were indeed Li Yuan's masterpiece.

"Clang clang~" Chen Xi walked back with an arrogant pace, bought some snacks on the way, and was about to go back to play with his son, and then he met his older cousin.

"Hey, isn't this Zichuan?" Fan Qin was obviously very happy. He greeted Chen Xi with a smile when he saw him. There was none of the awe in the eyes that Chen Xi's other relatives had when they saw Chen Xi.

"Oh, isn't this my cousin?" Chen Xi smiled when he saw Fan Qin.

"Wandering around at night, I never did that when I came to Chang'an. I didn't expect that Chang'an would be so different after I came back from southern Australia. I just came out to hang out with the gang, you know me." Fan Qin raised his eyebrows and said to Chen Xi. He was actually quite arrogant. He opened up his spiritual talent and joined Cao Cao for the sake of his family. Now he has sacrificed himself for his family. Now it's his turn to enjoy himself and be happy.

"Not bad, there is no curfew. It's always like this at night, even all night long. Many people who have just arrived here are not used to it." Chen Xi said with a smile, and pulled Fan Qin to find a familiar place to sit and chat. At night, after a round of banquet, there is the second round of barbecue. After the second round of barbecue, there is the third round of musical. It's so wonderful.

"I've been here for three days, but I'm not unaccustomed to anything. Can you still eat it? If you can, go get me some barbecue. It's run by an acquaintance of mine, and I have to go and support him." Fan Qin said with a smile.

"Okay, we can go together if it's free." Chen Xi was quite optimistic about his older cousin. On the one hand, distance creates beauty, and on the other hand, Fan Qin really didn't have any demands on Chen Xi. From a certain perspective, the other party was already a free and easy man who had completed his life journey.

Even the Fan family had no way to control Fan Qin. After all, the other party had made the greatest sacrifice for the Fan family more than ten years ago, and now as the head of the family he helped to deal with a lot of miscellaneous matters. The elders of the Fan family now had no way to deal with Fan Qin.

If it doesn't work, just fire me. I don't want to do this anyway. There are so many people in the family, right? You can't just use me, can you please have a little conscience?

This set of rhetoric was very useful. After all, the current situation was that the Fan family owed Fan Qin. Of course, Fan Qin was just talking, and he would still handle things if he could conveniently do so, but his awareness of living for himself was very clear, so Chen Xi envied his free and undisciplined character.

"Uh, is this Yuan Gonglu's place?" After Chen Xi arrived, he realized who owned this place because Yuan Shu was acting crazy on the stage.

"Yes, so I came here to show my support." Fan Qin said with a smile, "Today, all drinks are free, drink as much as you want."

"Oh oh oh." Chen Xi had already remembered the sweet wine that Yuan Shu, Liu Zhang, and Zhen Yan made. Well, it was almost the end of the summer when they made it.

But the place was very lively, the free drinks attracted many people from Chang'an. After a few drinks and a few bites of meat, their faces flushed and they started to blow their clothes. There was all kinds of noise. Fan Qin and Chen Xi were sitting in a corner and were laughing. This was what prosperity was like.

It’s really the end of the month, hurry up and vote, everyone, the author is really going to be gone!