I am not a deposed emperor of Han Dynasty

Chapter 32

Colleagues have been enemies since ancient times, especially in occupations such as carpentry that have "technical thresholds".

The proprietor of this shop obviously regarded Liu He as a colleague who came to inquire about news.

Liu He couldn't help shaking his head deep in his heart. This kind of "keep secret" idea is not a small obstacle to technology dissemination, and it really needs to increase the intensity of technology sharing.

Liu He took out a copper seal about two inches in size from his bosom, shook it in front of the proprietor, and said, "To tell the truth, I am a member of the Prime Minister's family, and I was ordered by Prime Minister An Le to investigate secretly. I hope the proprietor knows everything about the workshop."

Liu He's identity is true, and the official seal is also true: in order to do things cheaply, An Lexiang "lend" the official seal worn by the two hundred stone official to Liu He.

There are as many officials as two hundred shi, at least dozens of them can be found in this small Changyi country.

And in the city of Chang'an, if you throw a brick down casually, you may be able to hit five or six officials with a rank of two hundred stones.

However, an official is an official, and the people are the people.

When Liu He showed his official seal, the proprietor's face changed suddenly, first he was frightened, and then his wrinkled face bloomed into a chrysanthemum.

"A villain has eyes but does not know Mount Tai. I have offended you just now. Please forgive me."

After finishing speaking, the proprietor was about to bow down, Liu He quickly supported the other party, and said very generously: "It's also my fault, I didn't reveal my identity just now, we can just stand and talk."

Seeing that Liu He seemed to be more friendly, the proprietor rubbed his hands, and stood still somewhat cautiously.

On the contrary, it was the boy squatting on the ground, with big eyes flashing, staring at Liu He curiously.

"I don't know the proprietor's name?"

"Don't dare, the villain's surname is Meng, and the single name is a class."

Liu He nodded, this is a very simple name.

"Is this a handicraft handed down from your family?"

"If you want to say it, you can count it, but it can't be all counted." Meng Ban said with some embarrassment, as if he didn't know how to accept it.

"Huh? How do you say this?"

"The villain's family started from Emperor Xiaowen, and all generations have been carpenters. It has been passed down to the villain's fifth generation, so this carpenter's work is indeed ancestral."

"However, the agricultural tools displayed in this workshop are not handicrafts handed down from the ancestors. They were recently imitated by the villain according to the pattern he received from the worker."

"How did you know about this pattern?"

"At this time last year, the worker summoned all the proprietors of the woodworking workshops in the county, and asked us to bring back this design."

The workers Meng Ban mentioned here should be the workers in Changyi County, not the workers in the middle school.

Liu He nodded in satisfaction, it seems that the efficiency of the work officer is not bad.

"How many wood workshops like yours are there in Changyi County?"

"There are five families in total, all in this city."

"If people want to buy wooden farm tools, they can only buy them in this county. It is inconvenient for remote villages to buy farm tools."

"Exactly, but people usually let people from the same village who go to the city bring things back, so it's actually not too much trouble." Meng Ban replied cautiously.

"I heard from your boy that there are two sons in your family who specialize in making these farm tools. Based on these two people, how many can you make in a month like this overturning cart and columbine cart?"

"It's really not easy to make rollovers and cogs. Except for those small tools, our family can only make four or five a month."

Liu He calculated in his mind that if one carpentry workshop could make five frames, then these five carpentry workshops could only make fifteen frames at most in one month.

There are 20 people in the entire Changyi County. Excluding merchants, officials, and slaves, there are at least [-] peasant households on average.

Even if ten households share one columbine cart and rollover cart, at least a few thousand machines are needed, and the fifteen machines in this area are simply a drop in the bucket.

Even if the workers can build dozens more a month, it is still difficult to meet the needs of farmers in the county.

Hearing this, Liu He realized his innocence. The woodworking workshop did make machines, but the quantity was too small.

Talking about quality without quantity is nothing more than a moon in a mirror and a flower in water.

How to increase the output of wooden machines is the next step for Liu He to solve.

"How much do you sell this machine for?"

"For example, a columbine cart costs [-] yuan, and an overturned cart costs [-] yuan. After deducting the cost of wood and rivets, it can earn about [-] yuan for a single frame."

A knife sold by Tieguan is about [-] yuan, and an ordinary cattle is about [-] yuan. The price set by Meng Ban is indeed not particularly expensive.

"How many people are there in your family?"

"The eldest son and the second son are already married, but they have not given birth yet. Including the wife and this little brat, there are seven people in the villain's family."

"Are the women in the family still free to weave?"

"The villain still has a few acres of land in the village. He usually grows hemp. He can barely add clothes to everyone all year round. He has no other livelihood. He has to pay for millet and vegetables."

When Meng Ban said this, his face was embarrassing, as if life was not so easy.

After deducting costs and taxes, Mengban's family can earn about [-] yuan a month, which is comparable to the income of an official with a rank of a thousand stones.

But the actual account is not very easy to calculate, because this is the total income of the seven members of the Meng family, and it is only more than 2000 yuan when it is shared equally among each person.

They are slightly stronger than farmers who cultivate land, but they have no land and can only buy millet directly from the market.

Compared with woodware whose price is stable, the price of millet is more volatile.

Once the price of millet increases, it will directly affect the income of Mengban's family in a disguised form.

If Mengban wants to "make a fortune", he can only increase his speed of making woodware.

The number of people in the family is fixed, so if you want to increase the number of people, you can only hire people to produce.

Liu He didn't speak. He walked around the narrow shop a few times and looked carefully at every piece of wooden farm implements. He found that every detail was meticulously done.

Even the wood stubble on all sections is ground very smooth, without any burrs to the touch.

This can be much better than the samples made by the craftsmen in the workers.

"These things of yours are much better than those made by the workers. They are not as careful as you."

When it comes to craftsmanship, Meng Ban's face immediately showed a proud expression, and he said proudly and modestly: "The craftsmen of the officials eat official food, and the things they make are for the princes and ministers. This farm tool is not their specialty, so it is naturally a bit worse."

Liu He wrote down this sentence, it seems that Dai Zong and Xie Lang still have to be urged to build the workshop in the palace, relying on the middle school and county workers, the strength is far from enough.

"Why don't you hire more people, so you can build more machines and make more money?"

Liu He's words did not surprise Meng Ban, he seemed to have expected that Liu He would ask this question.

(End of this chapter)