A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1004 Weapon Order
It clears up after the rain,

Soon the sun was scorching again, and the sultry afternoon made people listless.

"Brother Feng, please think about it."

"Since Duke Wu is interested in him, we welcome him."

Wu Huaiyu poured another cup of Qingqianliu tea for Feng Zhishen.
This cup of tea tasted slightly bitter when Feng Zhishen drank it. If he didn't drink it carefully, it would be difficult to taste the faint bitterness in the sweetness of the tea soup.

After reaching the intention of cooperation, the specific details of the cooperation method are not a minor issue. They don't even need to be discussed by the two of them. They can just leave it to their respective subordinates to follow up.

"Brother Feng, I have a big order here to celebrate the cooperation."

Wu Huaiyu took out an order form from his sleeve,
The kitchen knives, scissors, she knives, butcher's knives, horizontal knives and other knives are custom-made, and the minimum order quantity is 10,000 pieces.
Looking at the order that Wu Huaiyu took out, Feng Zhishen was quite surprised.

I was shocked by the large number of knives on this order. There were a total of twenty-four kinds of knives, with a minimum order of 10,000 pieces, ranging from daggers and scissors to large she knives.

What was even more surprising was that Wu Huaiyu had drawn up this order before he came, which meant that Wu Huaiyu had already expected that he would agree to the Wu family's participation in the Yangjiang Iron Manufacturing Industry.

Today in the Tang Dynasty, the iron-producing areas in the world are no better than Guangdong, and the iron smelting industry is no better than Foshan.

His reaction had already been planned by Wu Huaiyu.

Foshan's iron-frying industry, nail casting industry, hardware industry, and pot casting industry produce twenty-four lines, with dozens of varieties including knives, scissors, nails, axes, chisels, locks, needles, pots, etc., all with square, round and flat angles.

If Yangjiang’s kitchen knives are somewhat famous,

All kinds of iron knives are naturally not to mention.

Today's Foshan Yetie Mountain, with Wu Huaiyu's full support for many years, has become an iron capital. The number of handmade iron smelting and casting workshops and the rich products are not only the highest in Lingnan, but also the largest in the entire south.

The iron pots and kettles produced in Foshan are even sold well in Luoyang, Chang'an.

But compared with Foshan Iron Industry, that really pales in comparison.

"Wu Gong wants to make so many knives? Yangjiang may not be able to make them for a while. Why doesn't Wu Gong order them from Foshan?"

The Xijiang, Beijiang, and Dongjiang rivers converge in Guangzhou, and water transportation is convenient. The pig iron mined in the Lingnan area is sold down the river to Foshan, where it is fried and cast into mature iron ingots and made into various iron products.

But if you put it in Foshan, it’s not that amazing.

"That's true," Feng Zhichen nodded. He also often goes to Guangzhou. The Iron Town in Foshan almost suddenly rose from the ground and has achieved the prosperous scene that people are amazed by today.

Wu Huaiyu said with a smile, "Foshan is now well-known and business is very busy. Orders are not received easily and they have to queue up."

The spring breeze fills the streets with red horses, and the iron furnace passes by to hit copper.
Various streets in Foshan Town are even named after industries, such as Tielu Street, Tongtong Street, Bellows Alley, Zhuzhan Street, Zhuli Street, Tiexianglu Street, Tieguo Street...
Wu Huaiyu's order is too big for Yangjiang.

Foshan ironware has given rise to the name of Guangzhou Railway, and Guangguo, Guanghu, Guangzhen, Guangdou, etc. are famous at home and abroad.

Feng Zhishen felt powerless and was completely manipulated.

You must know that Foshan is only a nail-making industry. Now it employs more than a thousand people and produces tens of thousands of stones annually.

Foshan's clay mold casting method has greatly improved the yield of finished products. In addition, the cost of iron materials and transportation are low. In addition, Lingnan uses a large number of slaves. There is also Wu Huaiyu's full support in Lingnan, and the Wu family even takes the lead in the iron smelting industry.
As a result, Foshan's iron smelting industry now not only monopolizes the Lingnan iron market, it has even conquered Jiangdong, Jiangxi, and Qianzhong areas south of the Yangtze River.

In Guangzhou Port, Hu merchants who leave the port and return home every winter will load a lot of Foshan iron pots on their ships, ranging from one or two thousand kilograms to tens of thousands of kilograms per ship. It all depends on how much goods can be grabbed.

Nowadays, hundreds of thousands of merchants from the Central Plains come to Lingnan to purchase iron goods and sell them back to the Central Plains.

The Tang Dynasty imperial court prohibited civilians from possessing weapons such as horizontal knives, bows and arrows, and prohibited armor, crossbows, spears, and swords. Ordinary people would not buy weapons like horizontal knives, but landlords and peasants would definitely buy them if they had the conditions. Horizontal knife.

Countless pig iron materials gather in Foshan, where mature iron is fried.
It is precisely because of the collection and distribution of these raw and cooked iron materials that the corresponding iron industry development such as Guangguo Guangdou in Foshan has been developed. The development of a large number of iron industry has also brought about related industrial chains, such as anvil bellows, etc. .

The current development of the iron industry in Yangjiang is not only the result of the accumulation of the original iron workshops, but also the radiation effect of Foshan, a large industrial area.

The Feng family originally wanted to follow Foshan's lead in building some Guangdong pots to sell.
But the imitations were not successful. Foshan Guangguo was dominated by the Wu family and attracted many wealthy families to run the industry together. It was a large-scale industry, but it is so famous now because this pot is different from other pots on the market.

The Foshan Guang pot is thin and smooth. It can be said that it led the revolution of cookware in the Tang Dynasty and allowed the people of the Tang Dynasty to enter the iron pot era.

Not only people in the Tang Dynasty like Foshan Guangguo,
It's just the barbarians around, who doesn't like them. These wide pots are thin and slippery, yet durable, and the most attractive thing about them is that they are

In the past, iron pots were bulky and expensive because they consumed a lot of iron and were difficult to cast. But the Guangguo pot uses the red mold casting method, which can be produced in large quantities and quickly, and can save materials to the extreme. The pot is extremely thin but has good thermal conductivity.
It can be said that Foshan Guangguo enabled many people in the Tang Dynasty to own an iron pot and even cook.

The Feng family also wanted to learn Guangdong pot technology, but there were so many outstanding blacksmiths in Yangjiang who could not make good iron pots that were both material-saving and durable.

There are key formulas in the iron material, and even the red mold casting method, there are many secrets that outsiders cannot know at all.

Even Guangguo doesn’t have to worry about being sold to grassland nomads and being melted into weapons by them, because it is said that Guangguo is directly smashed and melted, but it is not suitable for casting weapons. Many of the materials added are difficult to refine and cast weapons. The quality is not good.

It is not impossible to refine it, but it is time-consuming, labor-intensive and extremely costly, so it is not cost-effective. Even ordinary tribes do not have the ability to melt and cast Guangguo to extract the qualified iron materials required for casting weapons. What is cast is just some iron. Poor quality weapons. The Feng family secretly bought Guangguo and melted it to make knives, but found that it was indeed a thankless and uneconomical business.

The Feng family never expected that cast iron pots were more advanced than knife-making technology.

Traditional iron casting generally uses iron molds.

Only Foshan iron smelting, the Wu family invented the clay mold. The Wu family used red mud as raw material, added rice bran and other materials to make a special clay mold. During the mold burning process, the rice bran was carbonized, and the clay mold was heated in the oven, and the whole body would emit light. red light.

Selected iron materials, secret clay molds, and exclusive craftsmanship,
Coupled with the low cost of iron materials and the convenience of transportation and sales of goods,

The result is a pot that is light, thin, and slippery, with quality much higher than that of other pots on the market, but at a much lower price than those on the market.

The Yangjiang blacksmiths tried it but failed, so no one tried to imitate Foshan Guangguo anymore. They honestly continued to sell their own kitchen knives, and now they have gained a reputation.

"Ten thousand small knives, such as kitchen knives and scissors, are no problem,"

Feng Zhishen was secretly surprised by Wu Huaiyu's generosity, but he still told the truth, "If you are not in a hurry, I can divide the order into pieces and we can rush it out soon.
But things like horizontal knives, she knives, and wild boar spears,”

He didn't finish his words,
Ten thousand horizontal knives. Although the horizontal knives were not among the weapons that the imperial court prohibited civilians from owning, there were so many of them that it was unavoidable to make people feel frightened.

Moreover, Wu Huaiyu’s order is not only for 10,000 horizontal knives, but

There are also ten thousand She knives and wild boar spears.

She knife, also called machete or trousers knife, is common among Lingnan people. It can be hung on the waist of the trousers. With a short handle, it is a She knife used for slash and burn farming. It can be regarded as an agricultural tool.

But if it is mounted on the handle of a long pole, and the three girls fasten it tightly, it will become a simple sword and become a long soldier in battle.

The killing power of Pu Dao is much stronger than that of Heng Dao.
As for the wild boar spear, even though it has the word "wild boar" in front of it, this thing can definitely be considered a heavy killing weapon.

The wild boar spear is actually a slightly more exquisite one, which is the tiger shooting spear.

The head of his spear is wider and heavier, and the handle is thicker and stronger.
The total length is about seven or eight feet, shorter than a military spear, but its lethality is not weak.

The biggest feature of this kind of wild boar spear is that there are two protruding ears under the spear head. When the spear pierces a wild boar or tiger,
After the spear head is pierced, it will soon be stuck by the two leather buckles. After the spear is pierced, the beast can close to the hunter. The thicker and harder spear shaft can also ensure that it will not be broken by the beast.

Wild boars weighing several hundred kilograms, and even tigers, can be restrained by this spear. You can imagine how powerful it is.

The length is moderate, the front is wide, and it is bladed on both sides. The spearhead can penetrate deeply and can even be thrown for attack.

Its two small ears are uniquely designed to prevent it from being penetrated too deeply. Of course, if used in battle, these two ears can also be used to hook a shield.

Just like Pu Dao,
Compared with military spears, wild boar spears are hunting spears that can be owned by civilians. Moreover, this kind of wild boar spear is relatively cheap to make.

A horizontal knife, a she knife, a wild boar spear, and if paired with a hunting bow,
Feng Zhichen already had an image of an armed militia in his mind. Although this set of equipment was unarmored, if it were to be armed and numbered in the tens of thousands,
That is already an amazing fighting force.
At least for Lingnan now, it is already very strong.
The tribes in Yunkai Mountain, Youxi River and Zhuya Island have always been rebellious and rebellious;

Their Dongding equipment may not be that good.

Wu Huaiyu wants to build so many things at once. Is this a rebellion?

But he quickly rejected the idea, saying it was impossible.

Wu Huaiyu was Sikong of the Tang Dynasty, a hero of Lingyan Pavilion and a Yuan Cong of Zhenguan. This Duke Wu was deeply favored by the emperor and was even married to the royal family.

How could such a person rebel?

But don’t rebel,

What did Wu Huaiyu need with so many knives? Did he really use She knives to open up mountains and burn wasteland, and use wild boar spears and pigs to kill wild boars?

It's hard to understand and guess.

"Mr. Wu, to be honest, it is not difficult to make Heng Dao, She Dao, and Wild Boar Spear, but making tens of thousands of them this time is a bit scary."

It's hard for Feng Zhishen to even say the word "fear", which shows that this matter cannot be taken lightly.

If someone were to accuse him of making weapons privately and intending to rebel, he would be punished.

"What are you afraid of, Mr. Feng? The She knife is used to open up wasteland. The wild boar spear is used to protect the crops from wild animals. As for the horizontal knife, that is what the imperial court allows the people to hold."

"But the number is indeed quite large."

"Is it much?"

The batch of knives Wu Huaiyu ordered was mainly for Lu Song. Of course, this was also a small test for the Feng family.

(End of this chapter)