Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 701
Most of Zhu Yuanfeng's descendants have gone to Beidao, but he himself did not go. He is old and knows that he does not have much time. His greatest wish in life is to be buried in Wujiang Zhu's cemetery with his father and biological mother. buried together.

His daughter Zhu Jie is responsible for managing the property in the capital, and at the same time taking care of her elderly father.

Fan Ning and Zhu Pei came to Zhu's house together, and Zhu Pei hadn't seen his third grandfather for a long time, so he took this opportunity to visit with her husband.

In the night, Zhu Jie waited at the gate, the carriage stopped slowly, Fan Ning got out of the car first, and then helped his wife out of the car, Zhu Jie stepped forward and took Zhu Pei's hand and smiled, "Why is Pei'er here?"

"Let me see Grandfather San, is he still in good health?"

"The spirit is not bad, but he is old and weak, and he can't walk anymore, so he needs someone to carry him."

Zhu Pei whispered to her husband: "I want to go to see the third grandfather first, will my husband go too?"

"go together!"

The husband and wife followed Zhu Jie into the mansion, and saw Zhu Yuanfeng sitting in a sedan chair smiling at them in the yard, and four servants carrying sedan chairs stood behind them.

Zhu Yuanfeng fell ill last fall. Although he survived, his body collapsed completely, his lower body was paralyzed, and he could only travel in a sedan chair.

Fan Ning hurried forward to hold Zhu Yuanfeng's hand, it was cold, and he complained a bit: "It's cold outside at night, what is grandfather doing out here?"

At present, among Fan Ning's grandfather's relatives, only the old grandmother Yang, Zhu Pei's third grandfather Zhu Yuanfeng and Cao Xiu's grandfather Cao Cong are left, which are extremely precious.

Zhu Yuanfeng grinned and said, "His Royal Highness King Chu is here, why can't I come out to greet him?"

"Do not make jokes!"

Fan Ning said to the boy: "Hurry up and carry it into the house!"

Four young servants carried Zhu Yuanfeng's sedan chair into the warm room, and everyone hurriedly moved him onto the soft couch, and the young servants then retreated.

Two maids supported Zhu Yuanfeng to sit down. At this time, Zhu Yuanfeng's grandson Zhu Qi came in. He was also Fan Ning's sister-in-law. Fan Ning was pleasantly surprised, "Xiao Qi, why is it you, Hoduo?"

Zhu Qi hurriedly bowed to his wife and brother and said, "She is pregnant again and cannot take the boat, so I am the only one coming back."

Zhu Jie next to him waved his hands and said, "Don't stand there, everyone, sit down and talk!"

Everyone sat down on the chairs on both sides, and Fan Ning asked again with concern: "Ado is a few months pregnant, who will take care of him when you come back?"

"Brother, don't worry, my mother is taking care of her. She is about five months pregnant now, and I can catch up when I go back."

Fan Ning let go of his heart, and smiled at Zhu Yuanfeng: "The third grandfather really doesn't want to go to Beidao to see his great-grandson?"

Zhu Yuanfeng smiled and shook his head, "You boy, don't use such words to oppress me. I have too many great-grandchildren. I can't see it. Now I can only manage myself and try to live a few more years."

Zhu Pei whispered next to him: "Husband, the third grandpa can't travel long distances by boat!"

"I know, I was just joking with him."

Fan Ning asked Zhu Yuanfeng again with a smile, "Will the old friends of the third grandfather be willing to go to Beidao?"

Zhu Yuanfeng moved the steam engine manufacturing institute in Chenliu County to Beidao last year, and all the craftsmen gave generous compensation to them to live in Beidao for ten years and bring out a group of apprentices.

In the end, after negotiation, there were 75 craftsmen in total, 33 of them were willing to lead their families to immigrate to the North Island, and 37 people were willing to bring their wives and children to live in the North Island for ten years because of generous compensation. I don't want to run around anymore, but these five people are craftsmen with the best skills. Of course, Fan Ning hopes to persuade these five people.

Zhu Yuanfeng nodded, "Four of these five old guys were persuaded and were willing to take the whole family to Beidao, and one of them was really in poor health, worse than me, so forget it, this time they will be with Xiaoqi Let's go back to North Island together."

Fan Ning turned his head to look at Zhu Qi and said with a smile: "You, the county magistrate, came to the capital in person, didn't you just pick up a few families and go to Beidao?"

Zhu Qi shook his head, "Of course not. I came to the capital this time for two things. One is to negotiate with the Imperial College and send a group of outstanding students to the Institute of Engineering for further studies. The other is to purchase refined steel for the imperial court."

Sending students to the Institute of Engineering for further studies was a long-term decision. Fan Ning also knew that he didn't want to ask more questions, but when Zhu Qi mentioned fine steel, he was talking about Fan Ning's mind.

"What's with the steel?" Fanning asked.

"It's like this. At the beginning of the year, the Military Weapons Supervision ordered 50 catties of fine steel from us. This is our entire output. If the imperial court buys them all, we will have nothing left."

"So you want to negotiate with the imperial court and leave some for Bei Dao, is that right?"

"That's not what it means!"

Zhu Qi quickly explained: "In fact, the price given by the imperial court is very good. One catty of refined steel can be exchanged for five catties of ordinary pig iron. We want to exchange refined steel from the imperial court for ordinary pig iron, which is very beneficial to us."

"And then?" Fan Ning felt that Zhu Qi still had something to tell him.

"It's like this. We invented a re-smelting method in the process of smelting refined steel, which can remove a large amount of impurities in ordinary pig iron. We bought back ordinary pig iron from the imperial court, then re-smelted it, and then added an appropriate proportion of carbon powder. We can get high-quality pig iron that is second only to refined steel, which we call refined iron, not only for our own use, but also sold to the people of the Song Dynasty, which is very profitable.”

Zhu Yuanfeng smiled slightly: "It seems that you have learned how to do business with Ming Ren and Ming Li."

Zhu Qi blushed, "This is Mingren's plan, but he can't get away, so I will deal with the court."

Zhu Jie next to him smiled and said, "If you're so honest, aren't you afraid that your elder brother will ask you to hand over the smelting method to the imperial court?"

Fan Ning shook his head, "That's not true. Now the Son of Heaven has decided to develop the Southern Continent on a large scale in order to obtain a large amount of refined steel. At this juncture, how could I destroy the hard-won development plan?"

Seeing his grandfather looking tired, Zhu Pei said to Fan Ning, "Husband, take Xiao Qi to the study to talk! Grandpa is tired."

Zhu Yuanfeng smiled and said: "The body is really bad. I can't do it after sitting for a while. You go! I really want to rest."

Fan Ning nodded, and took Zhu Qi to the study, while Zhu Pei and his aunt supported his grandfather to the dormitory to rest.

In the study, Fan Ning said to Zhu Qi: "The imperial court is planning to develop the southern continent on a large scale. This is an opportunity for the North Island. Try to cooperate with the imperial court in recruiting people. Population is the most important thing."

Zhu Qi nodded, "I remember. After I go back, I will ask the elders to negotiate, and everyone will mobilize to fight for the population."

At this time, the maid brought tea, and Fan Ning took the tea cup and sat down. He took a sip of hot tea and asked, "How is Bei Dao now?"

Zhu Qi said with a smile: "In the past six months, the population of Beidao has continued to increase, and another [-] households have been added. There are Han people from the Liao Kingdom arranged by the court, and people from the Song Dynasty recruited by ourselves. We have added three more counties. Qicheng, Lucheng, and Jincheng, plus the original Wu, Yue, and Song cities, have now increased to six counties, with nearly [-] households."

"Have you considered developing to the north?"

"Have!"

Zhu Qidao: "We will build two more county towns in the future, and plan to put them on the northernmost peninsula."

"Isn't it too far to put it on the northernmost peninsula?"

"It's not too far away! On the one hand, we need to communicate with Seoul on Nuamey Island, and on the other hand, building a dock and a transit warehouse there can save the cargo ship a little more than a day's voyage."

Fan Ning was taken aback, "That's not right! It may take two and a half days to walk from the northernmost peninsula to Wucheng County."

Zhu Qi said with a smile: "That was before. This year, our shipyard successfully developed a propeller, and used it to replace the paddle wheel, making the ship faster. It only takes one and a half days from the northernmost point to Wucheng County."

Fan Ning was overjoyed. The propeller drive he proposed to Zhu Xiaolin had been developed for many years.

"Did you come here this time to drive it with a propeller?"

"Exactly, it took a total of 23 days, which is three days less than the previous 26 days."

"How can it be reduced by three days?" Fanning was really disappointed.

Zhu Qi explained: "Brother doesn't know that this kind of propeller is really fast when used on a cargo ship with three thousand stones, but the effect is not significant when used on a cargo ship with ten thousand stones. It just saves coke, so Bei Dao and The connection between the South Island and the South Continent is very convenient with a ship of [-] shi."

At this time, Zhu Qi looked sadly and said: "There is one more thing I want to tell my elder brother. My fourth uncle, my whole family immigrated to the North Island in May, but encountered a strong man on the sea hundreds of miles north of Nuame Island. During the storm, ten ships capsized and three were sunk, and more than 140 people were rescued, and [-] and three people were killed in the end. The fourth uncle and his family of seven also died. I dare not tell my grandfather and auntie about this. Don’t dare to say it over there.”

The fourth uncle of the hall that Zhu Qi mentioned was Zhu Yuanfu's fourth son, and Zhu Pei's relative fourth uncle Zhu Xiaonan. He had three sons and a daughter. The daughter was married, and the three sons were all in their teens. Died.

Zhu Pei's three uncles, the second uncle Zhu Xiaolin took thousands of people from Yang's shipyard to the North Island, the third uncle Zhu Xiaohua was greedy for the prosperity of the Song Dynasty and refused to immigrate to the North Island, the fourth uncle Zhu Xiaonan was persuaded, and the whole family decided On the way to Beidao, there was a shipwreck on the way. This was the first shipwreck encountered by Beidao, and the third uncle's family met it.

Fan Ning was silent for a moment and said, "Don't mention this matter again. I will tell them when I find the time. Grandfather is getting old, let alone tell him about this matter."

(End of this chapter)