Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 232
The formal awarding of Nine Tins had already taken place in the morning, and a relatively less formal banquet was held in the General's Mansion in the evening.

Except for the generals of the orthodox army and Gan Ning who led the fleet to sea, almost all the important civil and military personnel of the general's palace were already present.

Including... Pang Tong and Pang Shiyuan, the heads of the Ministry of Industry, whom many people have never seen!

Although Pang Tong's appearance was more "shocking" than the rumors, but before the banquet, Pang Tong was the most "welcome" department head!

Bai Tu had not yet sat down at the table, and everyone was casually chatting with colleagues they knew well. Naturally, there were also officials or noble representatives who wanted to "progress" and took this opportunity to hang out with the important staff of the General's Mansion.

Usually the focus at this time is Lu Su.Chen Gong or Lu Kang, these department officials, as well as other subordinate officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Personnel.

However, after learning that Pang Tong would also attend this time, countless colleagues and representatives of aristocratic families who were not in official positions began to circle around him!

Even the people around Lu Su felt a little colder...

If nothing else, there are simply too many "projects" in Pang Tong's hands - not to mention the Yanli, which has been mainly handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Now it stretches from the outskirts of Jinling to the vicinity of Beigu Mountain, which is as big as Hengqianmo. There are hundreds of workshops, most of which work for the Ministry of Industry!

For example, after gradually recovering the benefits of copper and iron, the Ministry of Industry has built an iron-making blast furnace, where tens of thousands of kilograms of iron ore are turned into iron nuggets every day...

The technical content of blast furnace ironmaking in the early days was not high. As long as you understood the principles, you could build blast furnaces everywhere even when you were broke.

When the technology was still very basic, charcoal was generally used as fuel. Modern technology uses coke, which is the product of the carbonization of coal. Compared with coal, coke has a lower sulfur content and can avoid the reaction between sulfur and iron.

Of course, in the Chengji world, let alone coal retort technology, there is not even coal. The blast furnaces of the Ministry of Industry are naturally fired with charcoal.

In the current plan to expand production, factories will be opened in Kuaiji and Yuzhang—one is close to the mines, and the other is close to the woods.

Bai Tu was also helpless. There was no need to rely on charcoal. It would not do much in the short term. After all, the population and industrial scale were only so large at this time, but... in the long run, it would cause great damage to the environment.

However, the refining speed of the iron from such a "simple" blast furnace is indeed astonishing, just like when they were surprised when they saw the salt mountains appearing in the salt field, but... the quality is quite average.

Therefore, the Ministry of Industry outsourced many steel-frying workshops - the steel-frying method, which is a technology that existed in the Western Han Dynasty.

It's called "steel frying", but the finished product is actually more wrought iron.

Low-quality pig iron produced by blast furnace ironmaking is transported to these private workshops by carloads, and then they are contracted to produce wrought iron and given "commissions" to them.

This alone supports countless iron-making workshops.

Personnel are readily available...

Casting mountains into copper and boiling the sea into salt are originally traditional skills of Jiangdong. Just like after the closure of the private salt works, a large number of salt workers were paid off to the general government... Iron-making workshops that had no room for survival were squeezed out by blast furnace iron-making. Now I can only make ends meet by taking orders from the Ministry of Industry - also known as "part-time work."

As a result, the situation of private iron-making workshops was almost entirely controlled by the General's Office.

If you want to cooperate with the Ministry of Industry, you can only make the workshop "transparent" in the eyes of the Ministry of Industry and accept supervision...

In the past, almost all aristocratic families in Jiangdong were involved in privately selling salt and iron, but now the former are extinct and the latter can only rely on the Ministry of Industry!
Three years ago, when Bai Tu and Lu Kang discussed the matter of salt and iron, Lu Kang was not very optimistic about it, thinking that not only would there be great resistance, but it might also lead to conflicts.

But now... I can't just work for the Ministry of Industry!
After all, digging iron ore to make iron by yourself is not as profitable as taking orders from the Ministry of Industry. As for the iron items he keeps privately, Bai Tu really doesn't like them. As long as they are not crossbows, heavy armor, etc., the control is On the contrary, it is much more relaxed.

Some workshops may even lack technical skills, but if they are highly educated and obedient, the Ministry of Industry will also provide technical guidance.

Seeing this, other workshops were even more afraid to complain. After all, there were many workshops that wanted to cooperate with the Ministry of Industry, but there was only one in the Ministry of Industry...

Anyway, enough "wrought iron" must be recycled from the "piggy iron" leaving the Ministry of Industry.

Furthermore, in the Ministry of Industry, the "steel filling method" will be used to cast pig iron and wrought iron in a certain proportion and forge them into steel!
The steel pouring method is to melt pig iron and pour it on wrought iron to form steel—or "high carbon steel".

The technology of steel filling was born between now and the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms. However, it was only used on a large scale in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It was carried forward in the Tang Dynasty. It was recorded and classified in detail in the Song Dynasty. The technology was improved again in the Ming Dynasty...

In the 19th century, Germany's Krupp rose from a small workshop to a military industrial giant. It also used a technology similar to the steel pouring method, which also used a mixture of pig iron and wrought iron to make steel.

Of course, the steel forged in this way is, in modern parlance, "high carbon steel", which has high hardness but poor ductility and elasticity. It is also called "tool steel" and is difficult to quench.

However, some modern kitchen knives also use low carbon steel and high carbon steel composite materials - high carbon steel as the blade and low carbon steel as the blade to make the kitchen knife both sharp and tough.

In terms of quenching, modern times also have double-liquid quenching corresponding to it, that is, water first and then oil to avoid cracking after quenching...

The weapons built by the Ministry of Industry also follow this principle and are cast by combining wrought iron and filled steel - the wrought iron obtained by frying steel is itself close to "low carbon steel".

The shape of the knife is also the result of repeated experiments by the Ministry of Industry...

Even compared to the knives equipped to grassroots officers or even mid-level officers for loading on armor, the current Ministry of Industry's composite steel knives have absolute advantages!

Although it is still not as good as Hundred Steelmaking, but... what is the cost of Hundred Steelmaking?

It often takes several famous craftsmen and several years to build one. The quantity is extremely limited, and only the top military generals are qualified to equip it.

Compared with mass-produced composite steel knives, the price/performance ratio is completely crushed.

What's more... the technology of using water power for forging is already in the research sequence of the Ministry of Industry. Once successful and applied, water power steelmaking will also be expected to be mass-produced.

It's just that this kind of engineering technology is not in the priority list. After all, Pang Tong's main focus is not on engineering.

This is just a project of the Ministry of Industry...

If it weren't for the General's Palace now, and the popularity still needs to be raised and maintained, Lu Su would really like to suggest that the projects of digging canals, building roads, and building water trucks and bridges should also be outsourced. As the demand for projects increases, Lu Su It has also gradually been discovered that some people have become more skilled in construction.

Hiring "construction teams" to build everywhere is more efficient than recruiting manpower to work on the spot...

Judging from this year’s grain production budget, this situation may become more obvious in the future!

Although in the eyes of aristocratic families, power, fame, or status in the government or in the opposition, are more important than wealth, but...who can ignore the Ministry of Industry that drives countless workshops?
What's more, Chen Gong of the Ministry of Civil Affairs cannot reasonably and legally give official positions to people with whom he has a good relationship. The Ministry of Civil Affairs is more inclined to cultivate "construction teams" on its own. After all, the major gentry families did not support such groups in the past, and there is no advantage... ...But Pang Tong from the Ministry of Industry can give orders reasonably and legally to workshops with which he has a good relationship - as long as the results are correct.

But they must be disappointed. Pang Tong's communication skills have not deteriorated. He is still the ugly man who will find "interesting souls" after chatting. But... Pang Tong now is not very willing to talk to them.

The compliments to everyone are just a few half-hearted hesitations, as for wanting to use Pang Tong's mouth to find out about the future project direction of the Ministry of Industry?

dream!

Pang Tong just didn't want to pay attention to them, it wasn't that he was socially awkward. Even a first-rate counselor or debater couldn't take advantage of Pang Tong...

If Pang Tong really revealed something, it was what he planned to reveal!
For example, now, Pang Tong is reminding everyone to set up workshops near several iron smelting plants that are to be expanded - but the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has already raised the price of land.

Sima Lang also stepped forward to chat with Pang Tong...

Pang Tong's attitude toward this Hanoi nobleman who had no direct interest in the Ministry of Industry was better. Although his hair was getting less and less, Pang Tong still had a scholarly temperament.

Sima Lang was an eloquent person, and he soon had a good conversation with Pang Tong.

When Sima Lang intentionally or unintentionally turned the topic to the iron smelting matter, Pang Tong didn't know whether he was really unprepared or had expected it. He directly revealed: "Yes, the iron smelting matter has indeed made progress. The reason why I came today This is also to present the first batch of forged swords to the lord."

In fact, what Sima Lang cares more about is quantity. After all, the previous "sea salt" only made the general's government rich and wealthy, but the iron smelting skills... can directly improve the combat effectiveness of the army!

However, Pang Tong brought the topic to swords, which made it difficult for Sima Lang to ask about the quantity.

Instead, Pang Tong took the initiative and said: "My lord was granted the title of Marquis of Chu, and among the nine tins he received, there were also three hundred tiger warriors... This time, I am going to present my lord's three hundred tiger swords and three hundred swords and heavy swords forged by the Ministry of Industry." First."

War armor actually has an armor interface, but compared to weapons, the value of a piece of "treasure armor" is much lower at this time. After all... too thick armor will also affect the sensitivity of the war armor. Scale armor was only popular during the Three Kingdoms period. , chain mail and willow leaf armor have not yet appeared, so military commanders do not have much demand for them.

As for Ji Zao soldiers, there are even fewer who are equipped with thick armor - the cost is too high.

As soon as he heard "three hundred pairs", Sima Lang lost most of his interest...

Obviously, in Sima Lang's view, the mere three hundred soldiers' armor had only symbolic meaning, and was just a drop in the bucket compared to the copper and iron output of the Ministry of Industry that he had inquired about.

Pang Tong noticed Sima Lang's disappointment, but he didn't explain much, but sneered secretly.

Not long after, Baitu also came out, and the banquet officially began!
First, they had a drink for Duke Bai's award of Nine Tins, then Ling Tong, as the representative, reported the results of Jiangxia's battle. Finally, before entering the banquet stage, the eye-catching Pang Tong stood up...

"My lord is blessed by nature, and with the blessing of all people, he was awarded the Nine Tins... Fortunately, the Ministry of Industry cast the first batch of armor at this time. I hope to take this opportunity to dedicate it to my lord's fierce warriors. "Pang Tong said.

Of course, everyone knows that this must have been rehearsed long ago, otherwise how could so many weapons be sent to the general's mansion?

"Okay, soldiers are the most dangerous weapons of the country. They are also blessings and important weapons to protect all people. Let's take a look at the swords forged by the Ministry of Industry!"

　Dongdong: Something happened tonight, so I might just update this one today - but Bendong still wants to ask for likes!This is the activity mentioned by the author...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)