I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 266 Iron Smelting Workshop, Mysterious Woman
Although there is still time, it is okay to take your time.

But Li Tian was tired of reviewing memorials every day, so he couldn't help but walk around and have a look.

In his opinion, instead of sitting in the royal study to deal with those tedious government affairs, it would be better to personally participate in it, which would be of greater help to Daming.

He was awakened to the idea of ​​colonizing the world only yesterday by the Queen's reminder.

The next day, he couldn't help but want to put this idea into action.

According to the order sorted out yesterday, if you want to build a ship, you must first improve the quality of steel.

But at this time, the largest iron smelting workshop near the capital was located in the Yanqing area, more than 100 miles away from Deshengmen.

Even if you go fast, it may take five or six hours to get there.

It is almost impossible to make a round trip in one day.

Moreover, if you go out of the city so far, you will bring fewer people, and your safety cannot be guaranteed. If you bring more people, it will greatly slow down Li Tian's speed.

After much deliberation, Li Tian temporarily gave up his plan to inspect the official iron smelting workshop.

Instead, I came to a private iron training workshop located in Xuanbeifang, south of the city, to observe.

After passing Xuanwumen, walking not far to the east is the location of Liulichang, which is famous in later generations.

At this time, Liulichang was not the famous cultural street of later generations. It was not until the 32nd year of Jiajing that the outer city was established outside the city.

After it became a residential area, it was no longer suitable for firing porcelain, and it gradually became the street of later generations.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Liulichang, as one of the five major factories of the Ministry of Industry, was very large both in terms of personnel and scale.

This gradually led to the emergence of residential areas around Liulichang, which gradually became lively.

Many workshops had to move out of the inner city where every inch of land was expensive due to the large area occupied, and settled in this increasingly densely populated area.

And the Chenji Tiefang that Li Tian and the others are going to visit today moved out of the inner city for this reason.

Chen Ji Tiefang, as soon as you hear the name, you know that it should be opened by someone with the surname Chen.

However, after investigation by the fans of Dongchang, it was discovered that the real owner of the so-called Chen Ji Tiefang was not Chen, but Xu Jingchang, the Duke of Ding.

Xu Jingchang is the grandson of Xu Da, king of Zhongshan, and the son of Xu Zengshou, Duke Ding of the previous generation.

Xu Da's lineage has produced two princes and one empress, which can be regarded as the most prominent noble family in the entire Ming Dynasty at this time.

But Xu Jingchang did not inherit the bravery of his grandfather and father at all, and spent his whole life in the imperial court being mediocre and doing nothing.

But after all, he is also a majestic prince. Although he does not have military power in his hands, his business is indeed flourishing.

The largest private iron smelting workshop in the capital is one of his family's many industries.

As soon as they came here, Li Tian and the others were rushed by the scorching air with flames several feet high, unable to take a step forward.

The ironsmiths who were busy in the workshop were all shirtless, only wearing a shiny black animal skin apron on their chests, wandering around in the hot molten iron.

Seeing Li Tian and the others was frightened.

"Wearing so little, they are not afraid of being burned!" Wang Fu couldn't help but whispered worriedly.

Jiang Bao interjected,
"Then what can be done? In this kind of place, even in cold weather, it is still steaming. It is more likely to cause accidents if you wear too many clothes."

Wang Fu didn't know about this kind of thing, he rolled his eyes at Jiang Bao, and said dissatisfiedly,

"As long as you know, our family doesn't know!"

Li Tian ignored the daily bickering between the two, and leaned forward cautiously, wanting to learn more about the extent of Daming's iron and steel smelting technology at this time.

Seeing that Li Tian wanted to put himself in danger, Jiang Bao and the two quickly stopped Li Tian and said in unison,

"Your Majesty!"

Seeing that Li Tian still ignored them, Jiang Bao was so anxious that he was about to cry.

"Your Majesty, this place is very dangerous, and this old servant thinks it's better for you not to go in.

What do you want to ask, the old slave just calls out the manager here, there is really no need for you to go in! "

Li Tian was blocked by the two of them one after another. Although he was upset, he also understood their scruples and pretended to be annoyed.
"Well, you go, I will wait here."

After finishing speaking, he casually found a fairly clean big rock and sat down.

Jiang Bao and the two looked at each other, not knowing what to do for a while.

Looking into the workshop for a while, I thought I could find two people in charge, but after searching for a long time, I didn't find any.

Just when the two were in trouble, a gorgeous carriage wobbled up not far away.

Seeing three people sneaking around the workshop and peeping inside, the driver in charge of driving the carriage flicked his horsewhip and shouted angrily,
"Who are you, you dare to spy here in broad daylight, you don't want to live anymore."

Jiang Bao and Wang Fu, when had they been so scorned by others, they suddenly became angry, and wanted to rush over to teach this ignorant coachman a profound lesson.

Unexpectedly, before they could make a move, the curtain of the carriage was lifted, and a pleasant female voice came from inside,
"Chen Liu, don't be presumptuous!"

After saying this, a woman dressed as a young woman in an animal skin cloak and a luxurious bijia slowly got down from the carriage.

Although this woman is dressed as a young woman, she looks at most eighteen or nineteen years old, not much older than Zhu Zhanji.

Li Tian looked at the woman slightly, but his heart couldn't help but tremble slightly.

This woman was born with an oval face, with slender eyebrows and phoenix eyes, and fair and smooth skin, she had a beautiful face.

Even Li Tian, ​​an old driver who is used to seeing stunning beauties in two lifetimes, couldn't help but exclaim, "What a beautiful girl!"

With the support of the servants around her, the woman slowly got out of the carriage.

First, he looked Li Tian and the other three up and down, then turned around and said to the coachman who just spoke rudely,
"Apologize to the three nobles!"

The coachman might be used to being arrogant, so how could he apologize to Li Tian and the others who were dressed in ordinary clothes at the moment.

He stiffened his neck and reluctantly argued,

"Third Madam, it's the three of them sneaking around and spying, and the villain is also thinking about our family's business!"

The woman ignored his justification, her pretty eyes squinted slightly, and the coachman was so frightened that he shut his mouth immediately, and didn't dare to say any more.

Li Tian had never seen such a powerful woman in this era, so he looked up and down again with great interest at this woman with the temperament of a cold female president.

But he found that he seemed to have seen this woman's appearance somewhere, but he couldn't remember it for a while, and his eyes stayed on her instead.

(End of this chapter)