The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 23

"Not to mention that our relationship with this family isn't deep enough yet, my Du family can't bring ourselves to ask. Even if we were to shamelessly ask, it wouldn't be of any use, and we'd only offend them for no reason, making them think that my family is coveting their iron-smelting technology. This is definitely not a matter of money," Du Erlang said with a troubled expression.

"Xu Tian, ​​since you need ironware, why don't you just have it made by your family? You can just buy it directly, can't you?" Uncle Du asked again.

Xu Tian sighed, "It's like this, I was thinking of making a new kind of human-drawn cart, and some of the parts need to be cast from iron, but there will be many kinds of these parts, and I'm not sure what they will be like or what quality they need."

We need to work and observe simultaneously, constantly improving. Outsourcing to someone else would be too time-consuming and compromise confidentiality. Therefore, we must do it ourselves.

“This is not urgent. Why don’t you just figure out how to build a furnace yourself? I’ve seen iron smelting furnaces before, and they’re not much different from pottery kilns. If we wait a little longer, we can find someone who knows how to build a kiln.”

"Sigh, Uncle Du, that's too slow," Xu Tian replied helplessly. Uncle Du had oversimplified the matter.

The requirements for iron smelting furnaces are definitely higher than those for ordinary pottery firing. For example, the inner chamber of the furnace must be made of high-temperature resistant materials, the container for holding molten iron must also be high-temperature resistant, and there are also cast iron molds, etc.

He knew there were things called firebricks and crucibles, but he only knew the names and didn't know how they were made. He just guessed that they were related to pottery making.

If he were to start from scratch and study brick and pottery making, although he might eventually be able to develop refractory materials that meet the requirements, starting from scratch and improving step by step would not only be time-consuming and energy-intensive, but also extremely costly.

The result will most likely be inferior to the current level of technology.

Moreover, there is the risk of taking detours, and it is by no means something that can be achieved in the short term.

Furthermore, this shouldn't be the focus of our current work. The priority should be to utilize the mature technologies of the present era to create what we want, and then conduct further technological research and improvements based on these technologies if needed in the future.

"Erlang, how about this, I no longer expect to be able to get his family to come and help me build a furnace. Could you help me make some contact and let me go to his iron smelting place to take a look? That way, I'll at least have a general idea of ​​iron smelting and won't go astray."

"Of course, I can pay for that too. You should talk to them nicely and explain that I only use the iron furnace to cast iron for my own use, and I don't sell finished ironware directly to outsiders, so I won't steal their business," Xu Tian said, taking another step back.

“That’s practically the same as having his family come over and build an iron furnace,” Du Erlang said with a wry smile. “Forget it, I can first try to find out from his family members privately, and see what their attitude is, and whether it’s possible. But I reckon it’s unlikely to work.” Du Erlang finally agreed.

"Thank you very much then." Xu Tian cupped his hands in thanks.

In early spring, the countryside is already showing signs of green.

In late February, Mr. Cui came to our door; this was the first time he had taken the initiative to come.

"Xu Tian, ​​the Hundred Family Surnames is finally finished. Take a look at it one more time. If there are no objections, it is probably the final version."

After nearly four months of research and development, during which the two discussed and refined the text five or six times and consulted other books, the primer "Hundred Family Surnames" was finally published.

Like later versions, it consists of four characters per group, with two groups per line. It contains more than four hundred characters in total, encompassing all the common surnames.