Lord of the Desert

Chapter 407: Journey to the South

August 5th, early morning.

The summer heat has subsided a lot, and the clouds have shrunk to a high place.

Hong Fan arrived at Kaimingxing early in the morning, accompanied by Qian Hong, Wen Zhongguan, and Hong Fu who had just arrived from Jinhai.

"This year we hired ten new warriors from the Golden Magnetic Sect and basically polished the assembly line, which not only improved the output and quality, but also brought the cost down."

Qian Hong said as he led Hong Fan through the newly constructed cement plant.

"Now the cost of a flintlock rifle and a bullet mold is three taels of silver. One hundred and twenty were produced last month."

"It went much more smoothly than I thought. Thank you very much."

Hong Fan praised, nodded to the chief craftsman Sun Pingbo who was walking among the running water, and continued forward.

The polishing workshop at the end of the factory is separated out, and the quartz sand polishing belt driven by a hydraulic wheel axle rotates continuously, polishing the wooden gun handle bit by bit.

Soon, a brand new mahogany handle was completed and sent for painting.

Hong Fan went out and went around to the warehouse.

"Now, some young masters in Xijing have begun to come to us to order exquisite firearms for their enjoyment. Each firearm costs dozens of taels of silver, and they are all handmade by master craftsmen."

Qian Hongdao.

"Of course, most of the output is still sold to Jinhai City. I plan to open a new branch there this year."

The door of the warehouse was opened, revealing new guns packed in wooden boxes.

Hong Fan took out one at random and calibrated the aim with his eyes.

"Recently, there have been several groups of visitors from Huaiye and Tongguang who said they wanted to buy guns, but later they contacted the craftsmen in the industry privately."

Qian Hong said again.

"My guess is that they want to poach people to make their own guns."

"That's all right."

Hong Fan does not care about Tao.

"If they offer better conditions, we will release them. I wish more people in the world would do this."

"By the way, I heard that the Cui family also sent someone to visit?"

He was talking about the Jinhae Cui family.

"Yes."

It was Hongfu who replied.

"There are two masters in Duanshan Hall who are very interested in muskets. They started to imitate them this spring, but the quality of the products is not good and they are prone to bursting - but they can be repaired with some simple repairs."

As they talked, a few of them went to see the newly established gun foundry, and then tested the guns at the shooting range.

About a quarter of an hour later, someone came to report that the guests had arrived.

Hong Fan went to greet him personally.

The first to arrive were Zhuang Liren and the second master of the He family. Not long after, it was Shen Moya and the only Yuan magnetic warrior of the Shen family, "Three Feet of Ice" Shen Maoxun.

The last to arrive were Yuan Lingxue, who looked disgusted, and Qu Luoyi, who followed behind as if they were on a spring outing.

At the 9th hour, everyone sat together in the main hall.

Hong Fan personally prepared tea and sent the servants away.

In a meeting of this magnitude, not only Hong Fu who dared not breathe, but even He Er seemed reserved.

Especially since the parties present are not familiar with each other, greetings seem abrupt.

"Hong Fan, when Zhuang asked me to come this time, you said you had a big business to discuss with us?"

Shen Maya took a sip of tea symbolically and went straight to the point.

Considering his status as a celestial being on the Earth Ranking, his attitude was more friendly than expected.

"Yes, I asked Master Wu Zheng and Senior Sister Yuan to come here to discuss a steel business."

Hong Fan replied.

"Steel business?"

Shen Maoxun raised his eyebrows, feeling a little puzzled.

"Please follow me and you will know it at a glance."

Hong Fan stood up and led everyone to a newly built brick house where the converter production line was prepared.

In front of everyone, Hong Fan used the Yanliu Gong to melt the iron in the blast furnace into water, and then with the cooperation of Wen Zhongguan, he added materials and pumped in air.

As the golden-red furnace gas burst into dazzling flames, a furnace of good steel was successfully produced.

Even though it was not the first time that Zhuang Liren had seen this process, he still couldn't help but applaud and admire.

The others, regardless of their martial arts proficiency, were all more or less surprised - humans have been practicing metallurgy for thousands of years, and steelmaking and forging have long been tied together, but the device before them clearly broke this iron rule.

When the molten steel cooled and took shape in the mold, Shen Moya, Yuan Lingxue and others could not wait to come up and press it with their bare hands to feel it.

Whether it is hardness or toughness, judging from the feedback, it is undoubtedly steel, and steel with good hardness.

"How much steel can this furnace produce?"

Shen Maya asked seriously.

"Six thousand kilograms. In the future, the converter size can be expanded to double that."

Hong Fan replied confidently - compared to last winter, he had made some improvements to the equipment and procedures.

"The quality of our products is currently at the level of Grade A steel, and the cost per kilogram is thirty copper coins. If the scale expands sufficiently in the future, it will not be a problem to reduce the cost to ten coins."

"Ten copper coins per pound?"

Yuan Lingxue now truly realized the importance of this converter.

"Brother Hong, don't lie to me. A pound of armored steel costs at least two coins (about two hundred coins)!"

As the head of the Shura Sect's Foreign Affairs Department, she was very familiar with prices.

"Senior Sister Yuan, let's not talk about the future, but thirty cents a pound is what we have achieved right now."

Hong Fan’s words are true.

"The reason I invited you all here today is that I want to cooperate and establish a new business based on this converter steelmaking technology." Seeing that everyone no longer had any doubts about what they saw, he led the way back to the main hall and described the plan in detail.

"According to my and Duke Zhuang's estimates, Dahua currently produces about 160,000 tons of steel annually, with Liangzhou accounting for one eighth of the total. Among them, one pound of high-quality sword steel costs three ounces of silver, and armor steel costs two coins."

"We're all calculating based on Grade A steel. Liangzhou's steel business alone has an annual output value of eight million taels."

"In terms of market share, although Hongyi City Tongyun Villa is an absolute giant, due to transportation efficiency and cost constraints, it only accounts for 30%, about 2.4 million taels a year."

"Once the new company is established, I plan to sell it at one-fifth of the current market price, which is 40 coins per pound. I will then take over the market with my absolute price advantage."

Speaking of this, Hong Fan was very excited and couldn't help but clench his fists.

"One-fifth of the price, even if we take the entire share, wouldn't it only be 1.6 million taels?"

Shen Maoxun frowned.

The business hasn't been done yet, but he seems to feel at a disadvantage just by hearing these words.

“Of course it’s far more than that.”

Hong Fan explained patiently.

“If steel prices fall sharply, the number of places that can afford steel will increase significantly - if the price drops to one-fifth, the market size will more than quintuple.”

The logic of his words was simple, and everyone understood it as soon as they heard and thought about it.

"Junior brother, I have a question. Although I don't understand the mechanism of your method, it seems that you just make a rotating iron furnace and blow air into it. Will it be easy for others to learn it?"

Yuan Lingxue said worriedly.

"Don't worry, Senior Sister. This matter is not as easy as it seems."

Hong Fan smiled faintly.

"Let's not talk about other details. There are many tricks involved in the structure of this furnace and the selection of materials. I'm sorry I can't go into details here."

"But I can give you a definite answer. If there is no direct technology leak, and other companies are only conducting their own research in this direction, it will take at least ten years to achieve some results."

Seeing how confident he was, Yuan Lingxue no longer had any doubts.

"Then I have one last question."

Shen Maoxun stroked his white beard and suddenly interrupted.

"The steelmaking business is the exclusive domain of the Zhu family in Liangzhou. What do you think about this?"

The name of Tongyun Villa is well-known in the northwest of Dahua. When the second master of the He family thought about confronting such a behemoth, his face changed obviously.

"I can't compete with the Zhu family alone."

Hong Fan told the truth and spread his hands.

“That’s why I came to you.”

Shen Maoxun did not reply immediately after hearing this, but glanced at Shen Moya silently.

The Shen family has never been short of money. For them, it is probably not worth it to confront the Zhu family for money - even a large sum of money.

"That's my plan, what do you think, Senior Sister?"

Upon seeing this, Hong Fan turned to ask Yuan Lingxue first.

Excluding the various departments of the imperial court, the Shura Sect has two celestial beings. Its leader, the "God of Wrath" Li Pochen, ranks third on the Earth List. There is no doubt that it possesses the strongest military force in Liangzhou.

Yuan Lingxue was about to reply, but was interrupted by her junior brother who had been absent-minded and daydreaming.

"Why not?"

Qu Luoyi picked his ears and said casually.

"With the temperament of our sect, from the junior fellow apprentice to the old master, how can we go out without offending others? One more enemy is not too much, and what's wrong with making some money?"

Hongyi Zhu's family has a celestial being residing in the world, who has the final say in Banque Liangzhou.

But Qu Luoyi didn't care.

He is now ranked first on the list of geniuses, and has earned great reputation for the Shura Sect. Even his screams when he was beaten by his master for sneaking out two days ago were a little tougher. How could he still look down on any second-rate family?

Yuan Lingxue, whose role was snatched away, glared at her junior brother fiercely, but rarely agreed with his opinion.

"I think this idea of ​​opening a business is a good one. If Tongyun Villa has any objections, we can reason with them."

She replied with a faint smile, and her expression was 70% similar to Qu Luoyi's.

"But Junior Brother Hong also knows that we have few people in the Shura Sect, and running a business is not something we are good at. When the time comes, we can't guarantee anything except not being at a disadvantage in a real fight."

"It's enough to have Senior Sister's words."

Hong Fan nodded repeatedly and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What about Lord Wu Zheng?"

He looked at Shen Maya.

"Hong Fan, what is the positioning of this business for you?"

The latter asked a question that seemed irrelevant.

"First among the first!"

Hong Fan returned immediately.

"I plan to name this new business Tiannanxing. This is something I must do and must accomplish."

Shen Moya nodded when he heard this, looked at him deeply, and agreed without further consultation with Shen Maoxun.

The general direction was set, and the atmosphere suddenly became relaxed.

After some verbal negotiations, the initial funding for Tiannanxing was finally set at 300,000 taels.

In terms of equity, Hong Fan personally holds 40% of the shares, Shura Sect holds 20%, the Shen family holds 20%, the Equipment Manufacturing Supervisor holds 10%, and the He family and all levels of management within the company share the remaining 10%.

In addition, this new company also obtained a large piece of land west of Xijing owned by the Shura Sect, as well as two iron mines of the Shen family. Zhuang Liren also said that he could provide orders for the weapon production supervisor...

Two quarters before the hour of Xu, the sun set in Xijing as usual.

Hong Fan and Hong Fu rode into the city on horseback and saw the streets bustling with people and smoke rising from the houses, creating a peaceful scene.

At this moment, people in the world still do not know the difference between today and other days.

(End of this chapter)