Villager of Daming

Chapter 240 Increased Production and New Furnaces (Part [-])
Hongwu five years, the first day of the first month.

The officials and the people in the palace began to toss, and the people in Xiaqiu Village fell asleep in the tents.

Shopkeeper Xu of Fuhua Building warmed up the bean buns sent by Xiaqiu Village, added pickles, made some tofu soup with shredded radish, and sent them to the students in the library.

Many places in Nanjing City seem to have come to a standstill this morning, sleeping late and unable to wake up.

At the second quarter of the day, people in Xiaqiu Village woke up one after another. The people in the kitchen took a look at the leftover dishes from last night, and chose the ones that were easy to spoil and reheated first.

I don't know how to cook tonight, and I can't finish the leftovers. The people in Xiaqiu Village usually eat too well, so I can't eat them now.

Zhou Zong had already gone back. Before he left, he got some charcoal from the fire, heated up a hot pot, and five people put the leftover dumplings in it to cook for a while, and then each of them ate two pig's trotters, and went to work when they were full.

"Chinese New Year is very tiring! Hanhan, did you sleep well?" The village chief finished packing his things and saw that Hanhan had just finished brushing his teeth.

"I'm not tired during Chinese New Year, I'm tired from staying up late, but fortunately I don't have to do other things, rest, rest today."

Zhu Wentian yawned, and went to help put the food away, smelling the smell, he became more energetic.

The older children also came together to work, while the younger ones were still asleep, and the babies could be heard from time to time.

The sun was almost in the middle, and the villagers ate. The dumplings were not thrown into the hot pot like Zhou Zong and the others, but were fried hot, and they tasted good.

……

For several days in a row, the excitement of Chinese New Year slowly dissipated. On the sixth day of the first lunar month, the box restaurant opened and officials began to work.

There was a queue in front of the door of the convenience office. A few years ago, the whole of Nanjing started to publicize it. The common people knew about it, but no one came.

After the new year, it's time to find a job and register at the convenience store.

Those who need to hire someone enter another door, have a stool to sit on, tell their household registration, what they do, what kind they want, and how much money they will give.

There were three registered people, and other businessmen sat around and ordered tea.

The convenience department started to make money, including businessmen who didn't have breakfast, and would eat snacks with tea.

The crown prince Zhu Biao and Zhu Xi came here to observe in casual clothes, accompanied by the head of the village, accompanied by Hanhan.

"Master Zhu, there are indeed quite a few people. How do they usually find jobs and hire workers?"

Zhu Biao was very satisfied when he saw the people queuing up, which proved that the convenience station was set up correctly.

"Look for acquaintances to introduce each other, or go to the pier or market to inquire. Those who do hard work will gather in a certain place and wait for others to pass by."

The head of the village understands that when buying vegetables, he can see that there are specially organized people, such as the temporary team that Xiaocao used to do things.

"Is the price fixed?" Zhu Biao asked again.

"For example, if there is a fixed manpower, there is a leader, who can usually ask for more money, while those who find jobs sporadically, generally have a lower price.

The prices at the convenience store are looking chaotic now, but after a while, the prices of each item will basically be at that position.

Finding a job and hiring a worker at a convenient place has one advantage, not being oppressed by other organized workers..."

The head of the village told the two highnesses about gangs, such as the transportation on the river before, they were also divided into gangs.

Such gangs bully other poor people while threatening those who employ them.

For example, if you are working hard, suddenly raise the price, stop if you don’t pay, and don’t allow others to take over.

It is better to have a hook-up, but the businessman is unwilling to find a hook-up, and has to pay extra money.

Zhu Biao listened and nodded: "Our convenience store serves as a dental office, and we don't take a cut from it, so the dental office can't grab our business."

"Actually, it can be robbed. Several dental shops unite to ask prices wantonly and disrupt the rules."

"Do they dare? Lend them a hundred courage, let them know whether their teeth are hard or steel knives are hard.

Speaking of steel knives, craftsmen have now been asked to manufacture a large number of tracks and mine cars, and they will be laid according to the route drawn on the map. Before the tenth day of the first month, all the open-pit mining areas can be laid.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Industry, if the smelting place has sufficient manpower, it can produce more than [-] catties of iron per day.Does the chief know what this output means? "

Zhu Biao was talking about teething, then changed the subject, and brought up the output of Nanshan Iron Mine in Ma'anshan.

"It means that the iron ore produced by one mine is more than all the mines in Daming combined, and it also means that the technical level is too low, and the output cannot be increased."

The head of the village knows the data, Hanhan said that there are a total of thirteen institutes in Daming, and the annual output is more than 700 million catties, that is, more than 4000 tons.

Adding up other places, that is seven or eight thousand tons, more than 1000 million catties.

A mining area can smelt [-] jin of ore a day, which shows that the smelting technology is not up to standard.

Zhu Biao: "..."

He didn't expect that there are so many things grown in the Supreme People's Education, and he can actually know the iron production of Daming last year.

Zhu Xi said from the side: "Master Zhu knows how to turn iron ore into molten iron faster?"

"Steaming coke, blowing coal powder, building a blast furnace, I have a set of plans, His Royal Highness can use it to find someone to make a look at it, if iron is smelted in a blast furnace, it is convenient to use a converter to make steel.

Iron and steel have their own uses, but not all steel is good. The same is true for pig iron and wrought iron, which are processed according to their uses. "

The chief took out a stack of papers while talking, and he was prepared for something that might happen suddenly once he came into contact with the prince.

There is something else in his arms!If the prince doesn't ask, let's not talk about it. The blueprint of the blast furnace was originally planned to be built outside Nanjing for a trial in the village before being given to the palace.

Now that this matter is mentioned, let the prince find someone to build it. It's very simple. It's made of clay blast furnace and refractory bricks.

The height is about three feet, and a large area is built. When loading materials, the shelves are moved over. It is a product of the great steelmaking period.

This is the simplest, and it is indeed faster than the current iron smelting speed. As long as the ore supply is available, wait for the crazy iron production!
When the two brothers looked at the drawings and introduced the text and data, the head of the village explained: "I wanted to build one outside the city first, and then let others learn it after it is easy to use."

"I'm going to find someone to build it, build one, and bring the iron ore over here, it's just outside the city."

Zhu Biao said to put away the drawings, turned around and walked back, he was very anxious, Daming was short of iron, no, not only iron, but everything.

Zhu Xi watched his elder brother lead the people away quickly, and he looked at Lichang: "Zhu Lichang, is there anything else good?"

"I don't need it for now, don't be in a hurry." The chief of staff shook his head. Things have to be done step by step. There is no large amount of iron ore, and the blast furnace is useless.

"I'll go to the store to have a look." Seeing that there was nothing new, Zhu Xi didn't want to stay any longer.

The chief turned to look at Hanhan: "Where are we going?"

"Book, look, um!" Zhu Wentian wanted to go to the library.

"Let's go." The head of the village walked ahead, motioning for Hanhan to follow.

The prince Zhu Biao hurried into the city and went directly to his father. Once in, someone shouted to welcome His Royal Highness, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head: "My son came here in a hurry, is it cold?"

"The child is not cold. Father looks at this set of drawings. It is used for iron smelting. It should be built quickly to test production capacity."

Zhu Biao didn't talk nonsense, and directly put the drawings on the table.

(End of this chapter)