Chapter 60 Ironmaking Furnace Head

Dongye Town is not a big town. It is built in a flat place more than 40 miles southeast of Yangcheng County. It is said that there were people making iron here a long time ago. There is no way to investigate the specific era when iron was started here, but this is a town formed because of the emergence of the iron industry. Ken It must be an indisputable fact.

There were more than 20 iron-making furnaces in Dongye Town more than ten years ago. The amount of iron production is considerable, and it is also a very important iron-producing place in Shanxi. However, because of Zhao Datong's presence in the local area over the years, these iron-making merchants were killed and forced away, so that their furnaces were also abandoned. Some furnaces have become Zhao Datong's industry, but when some merchants left here, they were unwilling to leave the furnace they had finally built to Zhao Datong. Before running away, they destroyed their furnaces. In addition, when Xing Tianjun took over here this time, Zhao Datong was not reconciled before his men left. He left the refining furnace to Xiao Tianjian and destroyed a few more, so that there are only four remaining furnaces in Dongye Town, and the ironmaking craftsmen who used to work here also ran away, and there were not many people left.

Although Zhao Datong himself actually controls Dongye Town, because Dongye Town is basically in danger, he only controls the industry in this area, and all the iron produced belongs to him. Although the officers and soldiers have come to clean up, Zhao Datong ran away as soon as the officers and soldiers came. As soon as the officers and soldiers left, Zhao Datong made a comeback. Even the merchants who used to be here dare not go back here to do their ironmaking business, and the original rich people here can move away, and those who can't move away will be looted by Zhao Datong or the officials and soldiers.

Originally, as an important town, there was an inspection department here. In addition, there were official personnel specializing in charge of the collection of local mining and metallurgy taxes. However, these people are now dead and fleeing. Yangcheng County has already lost its ability to control the local area. To put it bluntly, it gave up here and ignored Zhao Datong's control here. See you.

Some time ago, although Xing Tianjun took over Dongye Town, the Yangcheng County government only sent people to run around here. They did not dare to compete with Xing Tianjun head-on, and ran back to Yangcheng County, and Xing Tianjun only stationed two teams here. After all, there is no perfect defense in Dongye Town. Facilities, the wall of the town collapsed, and the population has also been reduced to less than one-fifth of the previous one. It is meaningless to leave too many soldiers and horses to garrison. In addition, Xiao Tianjian is busy with other affairs and can't take care of too much here for the time being. At present, for the time being, two teams of 20 people from Feng Gouzi's sentries are put in it. Here, a deputy team will be left here to manage Dongye Town on behalf of the Xingtian Army.

After Xiao Tianjian entered Dongye Town, he saw that it was ten rooms and seven empty. Many houses had been dilapidated because no one had lived and repaired them all year round. Some houses had even collapsed. Only a few relatively intact refineries still lived around them. Some ironsmiths stayed here under the supervision of Xing Tianjun. The furnace continues to work, and their family lives around the furnace, which is also convenient to manage.

The deputy team stationed here will be the first old brother under Feng Gouzi to follow Xiao Tianjian. His name is Fang Dashan. He is about 30 years old, but he is a diligent person, but his personal ability is limited. He has never stood out. After working for so long, he only However, it's just a deputy team general. In order to effectively control the new graduates, Xiao Tianjian took special care of him to some extent.

He was left here to manage Dongye Town, not because he could handle civil affairs, but because he had worked as a blacksmith for a few days, learned a little craft, and knew more or less about ironmaking, so he stayed here.

Fang Dashan heard that Xiao Tianjian came to visit Dongye Town in person, so he did not dare to neglect. He immediately took 22 soldiers and ran out to meet Xiao Tianjian. Xiao Tianjian looked at the men of the two teams. Although they did not follow the army at present, there was no loose situation. The spirit is still very full, which means that Fang Dashan with them has not slackened on their practice these days.

In this way, Xiao Tianjian's impression of Fang Dashan is much better. People often need to be supervised and spurred. Once many people leave the supervised and spurred environment, they will soon relax. Fang Dashan left here alone with such few soldiers, but did not And to relax, this at least shows that this person is a principled person, not the kind of person who will easily relax his own restraint.

Xiao Tianjian got off his horse and inspected the two teams of soldiers. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "Brothers are in good spirits. You, as a deputy general, don't seem to be relaxed!"

Fang Dashan straightened his chest and replied loudly, "General, the little one brought out by the general. I never dare to be careless about the general's instructions. Even if we stay here, we still have to go out on time every day and never stop!"

Xiao Tianjian nodded with satisfaction and patted Fang Dashan on the shoulder and said, "You did a good job on this! I wrote it down for you, and I will reward you later!"

After hearing this, the soldiers were overjoyed and immediately stroked their chests and thanked Xiao Tianjian loudly.

Xiao Tianjian waved his hand and said, "Let's go! Dashan will take me around the town! My purpose today is to see the ironmaking situation here!"

"Yes! General! This way, please! General, at present, there are only four usable smelting furnaces left in Dongye Town, and they are all working now! Since we came here, the general has ordered not to abuse these iron-making craftsmen. Everyone has to give them food money. A few days ago, my subordinates have sent them the first month's money. At present, the blacksmiths are working very hard. The four iron furnaces here have not stopped every day, and they can produce about five or six hundred catties of iron. There will be a big car in Shuangfengzhai every day to pull the iron away from here! It's just that there are too few iron furnaces at present, and many iron ores and coal can't be used!"

Xiao Tianjian walked into an iron furnace. What is commonly used here is a vertical furnace in this era. The height is about four or five meters high. It is a small ironmaking furnace. All kinds of iron ore, coal, carbon, limestone, lapis lazuli and other raw materials are loaded into the ironmaking furnace from above. There are large blowers next to it, and there are several Chinese characters, sweating like rain, constantly blowing the wind in the furnace, so as to increase the furnace temperature and restore the iron in the iron ore. Finally, the iron water is released from the iron hole below. The refined iron water is connected to the crucible by the craftsmen and carried to pour it into the iron mold. After cooling, it becomes an iron block. It is basically the prototype of the iron-making blast furnace in later generations.

For the craftsmen who do this, the labor volume is very large, which can be said to be very hard, but when these people saw Xiao Tianjian coming, they not relax, but one by one like a few more rounds of clockwork, and accelerated their lives. .

The iron produced is only cast iron, which can only be used for casting. It is a kind of cast iron, but it cannot be used to build weapons. If you want to build something, you have to transport it to Shuangfeng Mountain and stir-fry the carb iron with mature iron before you can use it. There are many joints. Xiao Tianjian doesn't know much about these processes, so he also I didn't want to delve into this matter. I just looked at the iron furnace here curiously, chatted with some iron craftsmen here, and asked them about their life here.

When the blacksmiths learned that this tall young man was the head of Xing Tianjun, they looked in awe on their faces. Then they looked at the strong guards next to Xiao Tian's fitness, pressed the handle of the knife one by one, and glanced around warily, so they were more afraid of Xiao Tianjian for fear of being carelessness and offending this pole. If Zitou said, his head would move, but there were also bolder people who would hide from Xiao Tianjian and secretly look at Xiao Tianjian a few times, and then hurried to work hard again.

Xiao Tianjian then asked Fang Dashan to call the stove head of the tube furnace here to talk. Xiao Tianjian said to the stove with a kind face, "Get up and answer! I'm not a monster. You people don't have to be afraid of me at all! Although you are working for me now, you can rest assured that I, Xiao, will never treat you as a person like Zhao Datong in those years! Relax! I have something to talk to you about!"

This stove is a 40 or 50-year-old craftsman. His back has collapsed tired because of years of work. The hunchback is relatively strong. The skin on his face is also like old bark, full of wrinkles. Although he is 40 or 50 years old, he seems to be sixty or 70 years old.

Hearing Xiao Tianjian talking to him so pleasantly, the old stove relaxed a little and stood up with a bow, but he still lowered his head hard and did not dare to look at Xiao Tianjian. It was just a constant gratitude.

"Okay! All right! If you continue to thank me like this, I will be unloaded! Let me ask you! How many people are following you in this stove now? Xiao Tianjian really can't do anything about him. Who made the social status so clear? What's more, the handle of the knife is held in the hands of people like him. I don't want these honest craftsmen to be afraid of him. I guess it will be difficult in a short time! So he made a joke and asked him.

"If you go back to the big boss, there are now 20 craftsmen under this stove. They have special ingredients, materials, iron, slag, and special wind blowing. They are not idle! No matter how little it is, you won't be able to take care of it!" The old stove seemed to be afraid that Xiao Tianjian would reduce his people again, so he quickly picked up his subordinates.

Xiao Tianjian understood the idea of this old stove, so he smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. I don't want to reduce yours, and it's not a pity that you eat the rice. As long as the people who work here, as long as my surname is Xiao is here for a day, I can't starve you for a day. I'll ask you again, your wages this time. Have you sent them all to you?"

Hearing the old stove, he quickly ploped and knelt down, kowtowed to Xiao Tianjian and said, "Little old man, thank you for being the boss!" If it hadn't been for the big boss's distribution of this food to us this time, I'm afraid we, young and old, won't even get through this year! You have saved our whole family!"

(Continue to collect! Ask for a red ticket!)