Chapter 259 I’m Tie Kuang
The next morning, Ordnance Supervisor Zheng Wen Shutong came to the Ordnance Supervisor Yamen early and asked his confidants to recruit fifteen "experienced" craftsmen for Fang Jun. Although Fang Jun said that all old, weak, women and children are acceptable, Wen Shutong is also particular about people, so naturally he cannot really make a group of old, weak, women and children miserable.
Of course, since the people he recruited are "rich in experience", it means that they are actually quite young...
There was no way around it. The Ordnance Supervisory Office had a lot of small affairs and never had idle people. Wen Shutong had to squeeze out these things.
As for allocating a piece of land for a workshop outside the city, this is much easier.
There are many weapons produced in the weapons prison, so they cannot be built within the imperial city. Most of the workshops of the Ordnance Supervision were located on the banks of the Feng River in the south of the city. After the weapons were repaired and manufactured, they could go directly to Chang'an and Xianyang along the river, making it easier to equip the army.
The foothills of Zhongnan Mountain are all ownerless wasteland. The mountainous surface is hard and contains gravel, which is not conducive to farming. To allocate a piece of land at will, you only need to submit a document to Chang'an County afterwards.
Wen Shutong has a good idea. As long as Fang Jun doesn't cause trouble for him, he will do whatever he wants...
It didn't take long for Fang Jun to arrive, leading a carriage with several pig iron ingots neatly stacked on the flatbed of the carriage.
"Master Jianzheng, we have brought a few samples of iron ingots. Please appoint an experienced blacksmith from the Ordnance Supervision to test them and see if they are of much better quality than the iron ingots you purchased before."
Yesterday during the check-in, calling Uncle Wen seemed very cordial and brought us closer to each other, but now Wen Shutong was already standing at the door of the check-in room, with people coming and going, so he had to be consistent with his official position.
"Haha," Wen Shutong smiled, walked over with his hands behind his back, glanced at Fang Jun, and then looked at the iron ingots on the carriage.
"Although I am not a blacksmith, I am not inferior to those blacksmiths."
After decades of working in the Ordnance Supervisor, I have learned a lot about it, even as a layman. Moreover, Wen Shutong is very diligent in studying. When it comes to craftsmanship, few people in the Ordnance Supervisor dare to boast that they can match him.
In this era, there was no metallographic microscope, so it was impossible to accurately measure the elemental composition in steel materials. We could only rely on the most primitive metallographic method, that is - visual inspection!
Sometimes Fang Jun really admires our ancestors who can tell the general performance of an iron ingot without using any tools. Just by looking at it with a pair of eyes, and then knocking it with something like an adze, the performance is basically the same.
After carefully examining several iron ingots, Wen Shutong's eyes lit up, he stared at Fang Jun and asked, "Are you sure they are all of this quality?"
Fang Jun said calmly: "It can only be better, never worse."
"Okay!"
No wonder Wen Shutong was so excited.
Nothing can better match the posture of an ideal Tang Dynasty soldier than a Mo Dao.
The blade of the blade is long and straight, with a heroic and upright appearance. Even if it is slightly curved, it is upright and awe-inspiring, without the wind-cut feeling of a scimitar. The blade is wide and flat, graceful and generous; the blade is small and square, capable and confident. The tip of the knife is either bent or curved, without cutting first, and it naturally has an aura of intimidation, but no killing intention. The scabbard may be simple or gorgeous, with the edge hidden inside, polite and elegant.
Volume 16 of "Liu Dian of the Tang Dynasty" contains: "There are four types of swords: the first is the Yi Dao, the second is the Barrier Dao, the third is the Horizontal Dao, and the fourth is the Mo Dao... The Mo Dao is a long sword, held by infantrymen, and is an ancient weapon. To kill a horse, the sword weighs fifteen Jin, also known as machete, is seven feet long, with a blade three feet long and a handle four feet long. It can be used when riding on water. A strong man can hold it and use his waist strength to cut anyone in the way."
The Mo Dao is the most important weapon used by the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty against the Turkic cavalry!
The swordsmen formed a formation, and their blades were as sharp as a forest; they advanced like a wall, and all the men and horses were shattered!
However, although holding this sword can greatly increase the power of infantry against cavalry, it has a fatal flaw-it is too difficult to forge!
The Modao blade is narrow and long, which places extremely high requirements on the material used to make the knife. If it is too hard, it will break easily; if it is too soft, it will bend easily...
Therefore, the iron material used to forge Mo Dao must be of excellent quality. Even if it is not as good as steelmaking, it is still almost the same.
How many kilograms of iron was smelted every year in the Tang Dynasty? It is really difficult to select the iron material suitable for forging Mo Dao from here! And the cost is too high! Therefore, although the Mo Dao is a powerful weapon against cavalry, its output is very small. Each Mo Dao will be registered separately. When a person dies, the knife must be taken back!
The imperial regulations even expressly stipulate that Mo Dao is not allowed to be buried with him!
But now, almost every piece of these iron ingots brought by Fang Jun can be used as iron material for forging Mo Dao!
How could Wen Shutong not be excited? Just think about the countless tigers of the Tang Dynasty advancing like a forest with swords in their hands. The cavalry outside the wall had to avoid their sharp edges and retreat in a hurry. He was almost in a state of panic...
"I want it! I want it all, no matter how much you have!"
Wen Shutong's eyes were red and he was cruel! Even if the entire iron factory of Changsun Wuji's family is abandoned, all this iron material must be taken down, even if Changsun Wuji is offended to death!
He has gone crazy for all this iron!
Just...
Fang Jun smiled slightly awkwardly: "What... Mr. Jianzheng, you can't do it..."
Wen Shutong immediately glared: "What can't you do? You are a dignified ordnance supervisor. Even if you stop the contract with other iron factories, I will take all the iron materials from your house! The money of the ordnance supervisor is not enough, so I will Go and ask your Majesty!”
"Your Majesty can't ask for it... A certain family's iron factory can produce 20,000 kilograms of this iron material every day. It's just given to you for free. How can you get so many craftsmen to forge it for you? You can't let it rust... …”
"Two...twenty thousand catties?"
Wen Shutong's eyes almost popped out of his head. He thought to himself, kid, just brag. If you don't brag, will you die? For twenty thousand kilograms, the entire Guanzhong is your iron factory?
Wen Shutong had a look of contempt on his face, as if I have seen through you a long time ago: "Even if your family can produce 20,000 kilograms a day, who will you sell it to? The Ordnance Supervision can be said to be the place that consumes the largest amount of iron in the entire Tang Dynasty. It is working at full strength. , only consumes 100,000 kilograms of iron per month! I don’t believe it. Which yamen consumes more iron than the Ordnance Supervision Bureau?”
Fang Jun said helplessly: "I didn't say which yamen I would sell it to..."
"That's even more ridiculous! Which business in the Tang Dynasty consumes as much iron as the Yamen?"
"It doesn't have to be sold to the yamen, right? It is true that the scale of the Military Supervision or other yamen is much larger than that of the private sector, and the demand is also large, but you have to know that the profit is small! The lower official can forge iron pots , kitchen knives, hoes... and other agricultural tools, the profit can be doubled compared to selling it to the weapons inspector!"
Fang Jun had to tell Mr. Jianzheng some business experience. The quality of Fang's iron material was not much worse than the so-called "steel" among the people. This kind of wrought iron has a carbon content second only to steel. The quality of their agricultural tools is absolutely better than all the iron factories in Datang at this time. Coupled with the low prices, it will not be a problem to monopolize the iron market in Datang!
Wen Shutong was completely stunned, his eyes were obviously dull, and he said: "You...you mean...use this kind of fine iron to...forge kitchen knives?"
Fang Jun nodded affirmatively: "There is also a hoe..."
Before he finished speaking, Wen Shutong let out an "ouch" and rushed forward like crazy, pinching Fang Jun's collar with his eyes as if he wanted to eat people: "What a waste of natural resources! What a waste of natural resources... What a bastard! To use this kind of fine iron to forge kitchen knives and hoes, you...are simply committing a sin!”
Fang Jun was startled by his actions. He was grabbed by the collar and did not move away...
I really didn’t realize that Mr. Jianzheng, who is as thin as a thin piece of paper, can move so quickly?
But according to Fang Jun’s back, he can kick the prisoner away with one kick...
Of course you can't do this, so Fang Jun had to let him go and just smiled bitterly: "Master Jianzheng...Uncle Wen...don't get excited. You think it's a pity to forge kitchen knives and hoes out of these iron materials, but have you ever thought about it?" It’s also helpless. Can we stop the iron factory by ourselves? ”
Wen Shutong was just angry for a moment when he saw such a good guy being ruined by Fang Jun. When Fang Jun said this, he also knew that he was too excited. People have worked hard to smelt iron, so naturally they make money and sell it...
It’s just that the iron material is so good that it was forged into a kitchen knife...
Wen Shutong was so torn in his heart that he could only grit his teeth and keep out of sight and out of mind: "One hundred thousand kilograms of iron per month...80,000, let me deliver it to the workshop in the south of the city on time, and the price will be half of the current market price. Right? ”
"As long as it's cash, it's absolutely fine!" Fang Jun didn't care. His improved iron-making method greatly improved both output and quality, and the cost naturally dropped to an incredible level. Even if he sold it at half price, he still made a lot of money.
Wen Shutong ordered the clerk to come and write down a contract with Fang Jun. They agreed not to regret each other. They made empty promises and wrote them as proof!
Then he waved his hand in an extremely bored tone: "I have already assigned the person you want. Go and discuss with the secretary to see which piece of land is suitable. Just ask him to go to Chang'an County and make a report."
Fang Jun was overjoyed: "Let me choose?"
Wen Shutong nodded, disapproving: "Ah! Anyway, our workshop is next to Zhongnan Mountain, which is a wasteland on the hillside, and no food is grown. As long as you don't go too far, you can do whatever you want!"
Fang Jun couldn't help being happy, but when he saw the fifteen craftsmen selected by Wen Shutong for him, Fang Jun's eyes widened... (End of Chapter)