Bright Sword: I built Italian cannons for Li Yunlong

The canteen at the arsenal was a large cave dwelling, and the smell of smoke mixed with the ash of plants wafted out.

Beside the stove, Old Chen, who was in charge of the meals, was a veteran cook who had injured his leg on the battlefield.

At that moment, he was lifting the lid of a large steamer.

A hazy, warm mist rose up like dissipating clouds, and a slightly bitter, unique aroma of wild vegetables instantly filled Zhou Zhen's nostrils.

Old Chen looked up and saw the two people walking in.

"Factory manager, you've come at the right time," Old Chen said, his face flushed from the heat. He used a coarse cloth to hold out a plate with two buns bigger than his fist on it.

"I was just about to send it over to you."

"Try this wild grass bun. It's made with freshly picked lamb's quarters from the mountains, mixed with a little cornmeal."

"Hehe, I even added some lard."

"Although it's not as good as wheat flour, it's still a new food. Old Zhao said you haven't had much of an appetite these past few days, so we thought we'd give you something different."

Zhou Zhen absentmindedly thanked him and accepted the steamed bun.

The dough is rough and does contain a lot of wild vegetables, but it feels warm and soft to the touch.

Especially since it had a rich, savory aroma of pork fat, to be honest, if such a bun were in modern times, he probably wouldn't even glance at it.

But in this resource-scarce base, even as the factory director, he couldn't see oil and grease every day.

Before I knew it, my stomach was growling, so I didn't care about my image and started eating heartily.

Seeing Zhou Zhen enjoying his meal, Old Chen's old face broke into a wide smile, and he couldn't help but wink at Zhao Dajiang beside him.

His expression was as if he were saying, "Old Zhao, see? I, Old Chen, am still the most capable!"

As Old Chen tidied the stove, he muttered to himself, "Steaming food is all about controlling the heat. Look at these steamed buns, why are they so good? It's because I can tell the steam well."

"To see the qi?" Zhou Zhen asked subconsciously.

"Yes, look at the steam." Old Chen poked at the firewood in the stove with fire tongs, and a few sparks popped up.

"The fire can't be too fast. If you're greedy and make it too hot, the water will boil like a child throwing a tantrum, and the pot lid will be banging and rattling, which will be quite a spectacle."

"Actually, all the steam is wasted. Not only does it waste firewood, but the steamed food is also prone to being cooked on the outside but raw on the inside."

Zhou Zhen stopped chewing.

"A raging fire...cooked on the outside, raw on the inside?"

He muttered those words to himself.

"Absolutely!" Seeing that the factory manager, who was rumored to have returned from studying abroad, was in the mood to talk, Old Chen also opened up and began to talk about his culinary experiences.

"Just think about it, how much firewood would it take to boil that huge pot of water?"

"The stronger the fire, the more vigorously the water boils, and the billowing steam rises like crazy."

"Is it still usable? No, most of it dissipated onto the roof, and the steam in the pot didn't increase much."

"Why? I think it's because the water was heated too fast, and it lost its own power."

Therefore, the heat is very important when cooking. The heat can't be too high or too low; you have to let the water boil slowly, with steam rising evenly. This way, the heat under the lid is sufficient, the food steams thoroughly, and you save on fuel.

"The water was heated too fast, and it lost its power on its own."

These words struck Zhou Zhen's bewildered eyes like a bolt of lightning.

He held a half-eaten bun, his eyes fixed on the rising steam in the steamer.

His pupils contracted sharply, and a different scene immediately came to mind.

Inside the glowing red-hot furnace, steam kept rising and falling.

Once the water vapor comes into contact with the furnace wall, it is instantly vaporized by the high temperature.

As vaporization occurs, it continuously carries away heat from the furnace.

Vaporization absorbs heat.

A very simple piece of physics knowledge that he had overlooked suddenly came to mind.

Yes, if the steam flow rate at the boiler end is too high, the temperature inside the furnace will drop due to the vaporization of the steam.

At the same time, the large amount of gas flowing out also takes away more heat, which is why even if he increases the furnace temperature, the effect is not ideal.

Although the temperature drop is not significant, the uneven temperature fluctuations inside the furnace will inevitably affect the reaction between charcoal and steam. This is the root cause of why the activated carbon produced is always just a little off.

"I understand... I finally understand." Zhou Zhen suddenly stood up, not even noticing the steamed bun in his hand fall to the ground.

Zhao Dajiang and Old Chen were both startled by him.

"Factory manager, what do you understand?" Zhao Dajiang hurriedly asked.

Zhou Zhen didn't have time to explain in detail and turned around to run wildly towards the activated carbon factory.

The previously weak and exhausted figure now seemed to be instantly filled with boundless energy, completely different from a few minutes ago.

Zhao Dajiang watched Zhou Zhen run away, then looked at the bewildered Old Chen, and finally his gaze fell on the wild grass bun on the ground.

He slowly walked over, picked up the bun, wiped the dust off with his hand, and whispered to Old Chen, "These buns can't be wasted."

Then, he started eating by himself.

Zhou Zhen urgently summoned all the colleagues in charge of activated carbon.

Inside the factory, Zhou Zhen was writing and drawing excitedly in front of the blackboard.

"Comrades, we were going in the wrong direction before."

Zhou Zhen spoke, his voice trembling slightly with excitement, "Our previous approach was to think the furnace temperature wasn't high enough, but that might not actually be the case..."

These words were like a pebble thrown into calm water, immediately causing a subtle commotion among the crowd.

The workers looked at each other, exchanging their doubts in hushed tones.

"Factory manager, what exactly is the reason?" Zhang Tieniu, being the most straightforward, couldn't help but ask first.

Upon seeing that it was Master Tie Niu, Zhou Zhen bowed to him without regard for the presence of others.

"Before, I always thought that Master Tie Niu's temperature judgment was inaccurate, but now it seems that I was wrong. Here, in front of everyone, I would like to apologize to Master Tie Niu and ask for his forgiveness."

Master Tie Niu was also taken aback by Zhou Zhen's actions and quickly helped him up, saying, "Factory Manager, this is unacceptable."

Zhou Zhen stood up and drew a simple diagram of the furnace body on the blackboard with chalk, then drew a heavy circle around the location representing the furnace chamber.

"To give you an analogy, this furnace is like the steamer basket we use to steam buns."

If the heat isn't high enough, the buns won't be fully cooked.

If the heat is too high, the outside will be cooked but the inside will be raw.

He used chalk to draw a thick pipe from the side that would connect to the furnace.

"Our current situation is that we turn on the steam pipe and think about pouring steam in like crazy, assuming that the more steam, the faster and more thorough the activation will be. Is that right?"

The workers below nodded in agreement. Master Han then took a puff of his pipe and said, "Foreman, didn't you say the water vapor looks like little bugs and you have to go in and 'gnaw' at the charcoal? Wouldn't it be faster if there were more bugs?"