Who is this person? I haven't offended them, have I? Why do they make me so disgusted.
Chu Chen was puzzled; he didn't know this colleague who had stepped forward.
"Chu Chen, Lord Hu's words, is this true?"
The Empress's smile faded, and she asked expressionlessly.
"Replying to Your Majesty, absolutely not. Such deception of the sovereign is punishable by death. I don't have a death-exempting token now, how dare I do such a thing again?"
Chu Chen quickly said, "The refined steel method does not add any complex processes to the previous steps. Instead, it follows the existing flow, thus ensuring that the original speed is maintained while forging wrought iron."
"And the initial steel is the same."
The Empress nodded, accepting this explanation, and asked, "Lord Hu, what else do you have to say?"
"Your Majesty, I don't believe it. Not just me, but I'm afraid all my colleagues in the Ministry of Works at the Weapons Department also don't believe it."
After speaking, Hu Youwei glanced at his colleagues, secretly dragging them into it.
"This damned scoundrel Hu Youwei!"
Some officials from the Ministry of Works who had not received prior notice cursed inwardly.
Yet, they had to step forward together.
"Your Majesty, I am the Langzhong of the Swords and Sabers Section of the Weapons Department. All the foundries under my jurisdiction use the old methods, and indeed, I have never heard of the refined steel method."
"Then is forging wrought iron difficult?" the Empress asked indifferently.
"Indeed it is."
Wang Langzhong of the Swords and Sabers Section glared at Hu Youwei and said, "Just as Lord Hu said, in the process of forging iron blocks in our Swords and Sabers Section and Armor Section, we mostly refine the raw ore first, and then open the furnace to pour the molten iron."
"After the molten iron cools and solidifies into a block, we place it on the anvil and forge it for a week to remove impurities, thus obtaining pig iron."
"After pig iron, it is repeatedly heated until red-hot, and then repeatedly hammered for another week to remove impurities again. Only then can a block of wrought iron be obtained."
"And the forging work during this period can only be done by master craftsmen, so it requires technical experience and physical strength, making forging difficult and production slow."
The Langzhong of the Swords and Sabers Section finished speaking and bowed.
"Your Majesty, it takes half a month for a master craftsman to forge wrought iron, but as Lord Chu just said, it can be done in a day."
"Therefore, I believe this is deceiving the sovereign! I implore Your Majesty to punish Chu Chen!"
"I implore Your Majesty to punish Chu Chen!"
The Yuanwailangs behind the Armor Section followed their superiors and pleaded together.
"Chu Chen, what else do you have to say?"
The Empress, strangely, did not get angry, but merely asked in a calm tone.
"Replying to Your Majesty, what the Langzhong Wang of the Swords and Sabers Section, Lord Wang, said is not false, but that was only the previous forging method. My refined steel method does not require so much effort."
Seeing the Empress's expression, Chu Chen immediately felt at ease and replied calmly.
The Empress nodded and said, "Then tell all the ministers about it."
"Your Majesty, it is not impossible for me to explain, but this method is an improved new method. It needs to be kept secret for the benefit of our Yun Yue Kingdom. What do you think?"
"Very well, if this refined steel method is true today, any official present who dares to leak it, I will have their entire family exterminated!"
The Empress said, her face turning cold, and she looked at the officials below with icy eyes.
"We dare not!"
The ministers were shocked and knelt down.
"In that case, is Chu Chen willing to speak?"
"No problem, Your Majesty!"
Chu Chen nodded and smiled, "My refined steel method is very simple. It differs at the raw ore stage. Some raw ore is smelted directly as before, while some is crushed into powder. It is then attracted by a magnet and washed with water to remove iron powder, and the water is poured away, leaving the iron powder."
"The绵铁 (mian tie - soft iron) from smelting and cooling the raw ore is still forged into pig iron. Then, the pig iron is melted into molten iron. After that, the iron powder is added in proportion in the boiler and stirred."
"After stirring and opening the furnace to pour, and after cooling and solidification, what is formed is wrought iron. Then, after heating the wrought iron and hammering it continuously for over a hundred times, it becomes initial steel."
"I have finished speaking."
"..."
The ministers were stunned. Those not from the Ministry of Works' Weapons Department did not understand this, but they felt that the process of stirring and adding iron powder was very similar to simmering soup in a kitchen. Could such a method truly produce wrought iron or that so-called initial steel?
"Utter nonsense! This is just like adding salt to soup, a culinary method. How can it forge wrought iron? Let alone that so-called initial steel!"
"This is definitely deceiving Your Majesty, who does not understand these matters, and intentionally misleading Your Majesty!"
"I implore Your Majesty to punish Chu Chen!"
Hu Youwei, the Langzhong of the Armor Section, with a righteous and excited expression, shouted.
The ministers of the Weapons Department looked at Chu Chen with silence and strange expressions.
It wasn't that they didn't believe him, but the method was so simple that it was unbelievable, and the process really resembled simmering soup with salt.
The overall time spent was not much more, only requiring a little more manpower to process the raw ore into iron powder and add it. It indeed did not cause any trouble.
But could this very simple step, a step that anyone who heard it could replicate, truly forge wrought iron?
The ministers of the Weapons Department did not believe it.
Although they did not speak, their disbelief was evident on their faces.
The Empress glanced at them and asked coldly, "Chu Chen, since you claim this method can produce wrought iron and initial steel, do you have any proof?"
"Replying to Your Majesty, no." Chu Chen replied crisply.
This shocked all the ministers present.
Good heavens, it had been less than a month since he was pardoned from death for impersonating a eunuch, and now he was doing this again?
Without proof, how dare he say such a thing? Is this not deceiving the sovereign?
At this point, other ministers could no longer stand by and stepped forward one after another, demanding Chu Chen be punished.
Only those ministers whom Chu Chen had promoted in the past were still trying to intercede for him.
"Do you know that speaking such words without proof is indeed the crime of deceiving the sovereign? Do you think I really cannot cut off your head?"
The Empress's face turned angry, but her eyes swept over the ministers who were demanding Chu Chen's punishment, and she sighed for them.
How foolish were these ministers?
Who was Chu Chen? How could he speak nonsense without preparation?
"Your Majesty! Although I do not have wrought iron or initial steel as proof, I have weapons forged from initial steel! They are outside the hall!"
Chu Chen shouted at the opportune moment before the Empress could pronounce judgment.
"What?"
All the ministers were shocked, feeling as uncomfortable as if they had eaten a fly.
"Bring them up!"
"Yes!"
Soon, waist swords forged from initial steel were presented.
Chu Chen pointed at the waist sword and said, "Your Majesty, this is a waist sword forged from initial steel. I can guarantee with my head that using this sword, one can cleave through weapons forged from ordinary pig iron without sustaining any damage!"
The Empress nodded and looked at the military officials, asking, "Who is willing to try?"
"I am willing to try!"
The Great General who Guards the State stepped forward.
Then, he had someone bring a waist sword forged from pig iron. He held one in each hand and struck them against each other with force.
With a clang, the result was immediate.
The one that broke was indeed the waist sword forged from pig iron, while the waist sword forged from initial steel was unharmed, not even having a nick.