When Pan Geng moved to Yin, I initiated Jian Shang

Seven days later, a column of more than a thousand soldiers and horses was moving slowly on the official road.

Seeing Beijing from afar, many people widened their eyes and even exclaimed in surprise.

"It's so big. Father, look! It's so big!"

A dark-skinned child stood on the carriage, opened his arms and shook exaggeratedly.

His father was a strong man with many burns on his body. When he heard this, he looked up and was dazed.

"Indeed. Very big."

Before the strong man finished his sigh, the Shao Sikong Taoao, who was about to take office, shouted to the craftsmen he brought with him: "We have arrived at the Xuanwu Gate Post Station. Let's take a look at the world outside the city. After entering Xuanwu Gate, from now on, you can only stay in the Shaofu Iron Official Workshop. You will never have the chance to leave the city again."

After hearing what their boss said, many of the craftsmen showed signs of disappointment.

Prior to this, Xin Qu had set up several iron officials' bases in Shunyi and Huairou areas so that they could produce iron materials properly.

However, as the combing of the Haihe River Basin has basically come to an end, Beijing now has a fairly complete urban river system that can support industrial clusters.

Therefore, in order to ensure that the technology would not be leaked, Xin Qu officially began to relocate all iron craftsmen across the country to the interior, centrally manage them, and control the outflow of technology.

After entering the Xuanwumen Post Station, you will reach the northern suburbs of Beijing.

Going north, there are only small towns and farmland, and the forests have been basically cut down.

After all, the geographical environment of the Haihe River Basin determines that the areas near Yanshan Mountain and Taihang Mountain will be developed first. There is no problem of swampy polder, so to the north, the output is high and the population is dense. Such a place must not be handed over to other lords for control.

With a stroke of his hand, Xin Qu turned the northern suburbs of Xuanwu Gate into a gathering place for the Yan army and their families.

As a result, some craftsmen will also live here.

Especially military supplies such as steel, bronze, and bows and arrows.

Entered the Xuanwu Gate.

From then on, they had no chance to experience the colorful world outside.

Unless some of the future generations can achieve success.

"Okay, since no one wants to continue watching, follow me south. Your children will be granted commoner status after entering the city, and can also go to school. This treatment is also earned by you.

In the future, if your children can study and become officials, they may continue to serve as iron officials."

After Tao Ao finished speaking, he shook the reins and quickly went inside.

Everyone then calmed down and entered the city.

On that day, the steel plant under Sikong Mansion officially began operations.

Then the craftsmen took the iron materials brought from the north and after a day of preparation, finally made it into "hundred-fold refined steel".

Xin Qu brought people to "inspect".

Actually, it’s just to see the production speed.

When he went to court to calm people's hearts, he said that the production efficiency of the Hundred-fold Refined Steel had been greatly improved.

Many people still have doubts, so if you come and take a look, you won’t have to worry about them stealing your knowledge.

After all, any clan of a certain size would know something about smelting technology.

Of course, the smelting techniques of these clans are mostly roasting.

Xinqu's smelting method has already adopted the traditional blast furnace to directly smelt pig iron, and then reprocess the pig iron using the steel pouring method and hydraulic forging hammer to make steel.

“The Iron Court, under the guidance of the Lord, adopted a four-part method.

That is, the grinding area, blast furnace area, smelting area, and forging area form a complete moving line.”

Tao Ao introduced them to everyone like he knew them all.

In the grinding area, many people are busy. You can also see the windmill grinding ore directly, or the windmill driving the keel car to lift water to the water tower. When the water in the water tower reaches a certain height, the water is released to let some hydraulic grinding wheels start running, so as to grind the large pieces of ore more conveniently.

The manpower is mainly for mineral processing and maintenance.

Some are also in transport.

Even though the State of Yan has brought in a bunch of slaves, it still lacks manpower.

Machinery is the only tool that can make up for the development of Yan State.

In addition, the intensity of the project assigned by Xin Qu was too high, forcing everyone to find ways to complete the tasks assigned by Xin Qu.

Therefore, manpower and machinery were squeezed quite thoroughly.

It is common to see a person who is multitasking and very busy.

After leaving the grinding area, you will enter the blast furnace.

The blast furnace is a dangerous job, so it is full of slaves who help out. And because a large number of white slaves were brought back from the west, Xin Qu selected a thousand white slaves and threw them all here.

As for how long these people can stay, Xin Qu has no idea.

The reason is simple: fuel is expensive.

Therefore, an earthen enclosure is being built around the Yan State's blast furnace. When winter comes, the earthen enclosure will be covered with some warm materials and the blast furnace will be protected inside.

This would greatly reduce the temperature and fuel required.

As for the toxic gases that may be produced during the blast furnace combustion process, heat stroke and dehydration caused by excessive temperatures, and the fact that sometimes slaves would accidentally fall into the blast furnace when pouring ore, for a slave society, these were nothing more than the growing pains of development.

"According to the current consumption rate, one thousand people can guarantee the operation of the blast furnace area for one year at most." Tao Ao looked at the busy white slaves and said to Xin Qu, "My lord, this is only the first phase. The second phase will definitely be put into production within three years. By then, the annual consumption of white slaves will be 5,000."

Xinqu nodded.

The nobles who followed were also secretly amazed.

Consuming five thousand slaves a year is way too much.

But it's more of a physical pain.

It would be better to invest 5,000 people in agricultural development, at least the losses would not be so great.

"There will be no shortage of slaves." Xin Qu said directly, "There are plenty of these white slaves in the west. Just leave some capable supervisors, and the rest are consumables. I only care about quality and output.

A furnace of molten iron weighs 12,000 kilograms. Even if one person dies in one furnace, it is still considered a profit.

Sixty kilograms of iron can be used to make a set of five-piece agricultural tools, and a set of five-piece tools can be used to reclaim dozens of acres of land.

It greatly improves the efficiency of land reclamation.

There were ten furnaces in the first phase, but wasn't the second phase already testing a 50,000-jin blast furnace? As the blast furnaces became larger and the technology improved, the slaves could produce faster.

The cost is reduced.”

After hearing this, the nobles finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In this way, now it is just the adjustment period, and we can accept such losses.

Tao Ao nodded and said no more: "The next place is the smelting area. The molten iron from the blast furnace cannot be used directly for forging, so usually after cooling, some is reserved for making wrought iron, and the other part is used as pig iron for hammering in advance.

In addition, the smelting area also undertakes part of the coking function.

When necessary, we can also guarantee about 30% of the production capacity.”

"Good." Xin Qu was very satisfied with Taoao's sense of crisis.

The next area is the forging area.

This is also the area where craftsmen are most concentrated.

Of course, in addition to manpower, there are also hydraulic forging hammers.

So this is also the place closest to water.

In order to ensure hydraulic operation, a reservoir was added upstream and the entire workshop was dug several meters downwards, which not only saved fuel but also improved forging efficiency.

"Now, how many sets of armor plates can a Golden Gourd Warrior make in a day?"

Xin Qu proposed the ultimate goal.

Everyone pricked up their ears and listened.

Tao Ao said without hesitation: "There are enough materials, and the grinding is complete. After a month, we can produce thirty sets of armor plates a day."

"Thirty?" Xin Qu frowned slightly.

“My lord, it’s not a small amount.” Tao Ao saw Xin Qu frowning, thinking he was dissatisfied, and quickly explained: “The iron materials needed for a full set of armor range from fifty to seventy kilograms.

The real trouble lies in the nail pieces and stringing them together.

If it is made according to the specifications of the Golden Gourd Warrior, the number of armor plates needed will be 1,800.

If arranged according to the specifications of the Imperial Guards, the armor plates can be made longer and larger, and the number of armor plates can be reduced to fifteen hundred.

But even so, the consumption is still huge.

Therefore, being able to produce thirty sets of armor plates a day is already the current limit.

Of course, if you adjust it back to the original specifications, I can produce 150 armors a day."

The nobles behind Xin Qu narrowed their eyes.

They knew that the production process of the armor for the Golden Gourd Warriors was quite difficult, but they didn't expect the proportions to be so terrifying.

Xin Qu, what kind of monster are you going to create?

"Thirty is thirty." Xin Qu shook his head slightly, "Within a year, I guarantee to produce eight hundred armors. With eight hundred heavy armors, I can fight against tens of thousands of people."

"Yes!" Tao Ao could even feel a shiver.

A monster weighing fifty or sixty kilograms goes to the battlefield. Not to mention eight hundred, even a hundred can defeat two or three thousand people.

"After returning, limit the armor specifications."

Xin Qu looked at the nobles and said, "Each title has a certain number and weight of armor that can be carried. Even for the titles of duke and marquis, if you carry more than 20 pieces of armor, it will be regarded as treason and the whole family will be executed. Therefore, when you return to your fiefdom, you must set up a special armory and accept inspection by the court.

Normally, steel armor must be kept in a sealed warehouse and should not be used unless necessary.

If all your retainers were wearing this much armor, who would be able to sleep well?"

"That makes sense." The nobles thought of the performance of the Golden Gourd Warriors and nodded.

Xin Qu would also be afraid when he saw them wearing so many armors.

What about them?
So, it is better to take unified management.

Xinqu's golden gourd warriors all had to deal with each other when they went to and from get off work. If anyone lost a piece of iron, the warrior would be beaten with a stick at the lightest. In serious cases, not only would he lose his head, but his family would also be harmed.

"Okay, the remaining output will be used to make farming tools."

Xin Qu finished his inspection, patted Taoao on the shoulder and said, "As always, you have done a good job. So, from now on, you are the Earl of Luxing Township (now Dachang County, Langfang), with a fief of 200 households."

"Thank you, my lord!" Tao Ao immediately knelt down to express his gratitude.

Although it was a system of enfeoffment, Taoao from Luxing Township knew it. It was under the jurisdiction of Tong County and had only 500 households. Now Xinqu directly enfeoffed him 200 households.

Although it is not a real law, Tong County is a transportation hub, and Luxing Township has a promising future! The taxes alone will definitely allow him to have no worries about food and drink for the rest of his life.

More importantly, he doesn't want to get the actual land now, because if he gets the actual land, he will have to go to the local area to work and develop, and he cannot have contact with the central government.

It's a huge loss.

"Okay, do a good job. If we conquer the world in the future, we will have to reward you according to your merits. Your achievements are not much less than those who actually went to the battlefield.

Iron is needed for production and for fighting.

You figured these out bit by bit.

The position of Shao Sikong is also an encouragement to you.

Grand Marshal Gulu Xiaogui is also getting old."

Xin Qu left these words and left.

Tao Ao's eyes became sharper.

Grand Marshal Gulu Xiaogui is nearly seventy years old. Although he can still work now, he will soon be old.

Maybe just in these few years.

As long as he works hard, the next step for Shao Sikong will be Da Sikong.

Becoming the Grand Marshal will give you even greater real power.

By then, his title will be promoted faster!

The future is promising! (End of this chapter)