In the yamen, Du Zhongxiao said to Master Cui: "Look at the fact that it is about to enter February, in February, persuade farmers to cultivate the land and plant, there are not many days." What is most lacking now is all kinds of farm tools, although the three divisions have transferred some from various states and counties, the number is far from enough. Before I came, I sent someone to Bozhou and bought some from there to relieve my urgent needs. Slender men from all over the country arrived one after another, and it was not enough to buy it like this, but it was still necessary to make it yourself. There is no iron production in this area? We recruited some craftsmen to make our own iron and make our own ironware. ”

Cui Zhushu said: "Not far to the north, Wuyang and Xiping counties, have produced good iron since ancient times. The world-famous Longquan sword is produced there. Xiaguan was an official in Wuyang County, and there are many ancient iron-smelting relics in the county, but in recent times, for some reason, there are fewer and fewer people who smelt iron. ”

Du Zhongxiao couldn't help frowning when he heard this: "Longquan Sword, isn't it produced in Liangzhejiang Road?" There is also a Longquan county there, which also produces swords. ”

Cui Zhushu said: "Xiaguan checked the ancient books, Longquan was the first in this area, and the two Zhejiang rose. For there are many such things in the world. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, always feeling that these place names were a little familiar. After thinking about it for a while, I suddenly remembered that Wuyang himself had some impressions, and there were two things that were very famous in later generations. One is Hu spicy soup, which is said to have come from a place called Kitawudu. It is located on the main transportation route, and later generations developed the characteristic food of Hu spicy soup, which is popular in several provinces. There is another one, which is iron ore.

The place at the junction of Xiping and Wuyang has produced good iron since ancient times, especially the sword quenched with Longquan water, which is a famous weapon for a while. However, since the Han Dynasty, the iron smelting industry here has slowly declined, and I don't know why.

Thinking of this, Du Zhongxiao couldn't help but think of Ruzhou in the north of Tangzhou. In later generations, this is the central part of Henan Province, a place rich in mineral resources, the most famous is the coal mine, known as the Central Plains Coal Sea. In history class, when learning about coal production in New China, I have to mention one place, which is the Pingdingshan Coal Mine in Ruzhou in the north. Du Zhongxiao vaguely remembered that one of the most important features of the introduction of Pingdingshan Coal Mine was that it had a complete range of coal types, and it was the main source of coking coal in New China. There is a lot of coal on Hedong Road, but when it comes to the complete variety of coal, it is still impossible to catch up here.

Wuyang belongs to Xuzhou, close to Ruzhou, and the place where coal is not far from the iron mine, why will the iron smelting industry here decline? With the abundant iron ore reserves in Wuyang, there is no possibility of iron ore exhaustion.

After thinking about it again and again, Du Zhongxiao asked Cui Zhuzhu: "Master, it seems that there is Hedong Road, and now coal is used to smelt iron." There is coal and iron in this area, so why is there no iron smelting? If iron can be produced locally, it will be much easier to make ironware. If you want to make a profit, you must first sharpen your tools, and you can't do it if you don't have a subway device in the wasteland. With iron tools and livestock, we can get twice the result with half the effort. ”

Cui Zhushu said: "I don't hear that there is no coal to smelt iron in this area, and now there are occasional small workshops in the mountains, which also use charcoal to smelt iron. Several nearby states used to be densely populated areas, and trees were cut down for charcoal, and all the trees in the iron-producing areas were cut down early. Although there are trees on the mountain, it has become a sparsely populated place, so naturally no one smelts iron. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded and sorted out the context of the iron-smelting industry in this area. The mountains to the north have been producing iron since ancient times, and the quality is excellent, and swords were once produced. However, since the Han Dynasty, I don't know what happened, and the iron-smelting industry slowly declined. In the late Tang Dynasty, the five dynasties continued to fight, the population fled, and there has been no recovery until now, and the industry has basically disappeared.

The 20,000 slender men brought by Du Zhongxiao from the capital were arranged in Tang, Ru, and Cai Prefectures. Now that it's time to plant in the spring, the most important thing now is to arrange the places and divide them into scopes. The slender men who came one after another in the back were arranged to other states.

There are not many officials in Yingtian Yamen, and now it is a Cui master. He was promoted from a small official, and once served as a county chief bookkeeper in Wuyang, and served as various minor officials in other states and counties, and has rich administrative experience.

It is far from enough to rely on these manpower alone, and the main thing is to coordinate the help of local states and counties. Most of the people who work in various places are borrowed from the state and county, plus the officials are served. Later, the manpower was slowly replenished, and the yamen was able to truly become independent.

There are many benefits to being a slender man, such as being hard-working, being disciplined, and so on. But there is a disadvantage, that is, whether it is themselves or their families, there is a lack of readers, and the vast majority of people cannot read. If you can't read or write, how can you be an official and manage the place? The yamen had to recruit literate people from the local government to serve as public officials, and there was no shortage of manpower for a while.

The most difficult problem that Du Zhongxiao is facing now is the shortage of manpower. Most of the villages that open fields choose a place, and there is no time for detailed planning, so that the local government can give grain and seeds according to the farmland policy, and lend farm tools to ploughing cattle, and the slender men will find their own way. Even the organization is a mess, and most of the villages have designated a family with a large population as the chief of the Lizheng Bao, and the policies are basically not implemented.

After thinking about it again and again, Du Zhongxiao said to Master Cui: "Master Book, people have no long-term concerns, but they must have near-term worries." We are understaffed and overstretched. But there are some things that have to be done in order to be done later. You draw up an example, post it to nearby states and counties, and recruit people to explore ore veins in places where iron was smelted in ancient times. If there is anyone who can find out the iron ore, the official will give a reward, and if the merit is great, it can be given to the official. ”

Cui Zhushu said yes, sat aside and prepared an example.

Iron smelting has field affairs, and there are various supervisors and officials. This kind of petty official, Du Zhongxiao can have the final say on his own, it is nothing more than to let the court make up for it in the future. If the iron-smelting industry is big, you can even ask the imperial court to leave blank, and Du Zhongxiao fills in his name.

In this era, the imperial court paid the magistrates to do things, and it was impossible to cash all the money. One is that the three divisions don't have so much money to distribute, and the other is that they have so many goods in their warehouses, so they always have to find ways to apportion. In addition to all kinds of physical money, there is also a blank and short position. A blank confession can allow the magistrate to seal himself as an official, of course, he is a petty official, as a means of rewarding merit. When fighting, blanks are the most common, and the former money coach can seal a large number of officials according to his military exploits. Everything in the field is done from scratch, and there can also be a blank to say goodbye. As for the blankness, it is sold for money.

Du Zhongxiao came in a hurry, and the three divisions he brought did not give much money and materials, and said that he would be transferred from various states and counties by the Jingxi Road Transfer Division later. At present, it is not costless for the local government to help run the fields, and they are all converted into money and grain, and they are deducted when collecting taxes.

Bao Zheng, the deputy envoy of the household department of the third division who was in charge of distributing money, was not easy to speak, one was one and two was very rigid, and he refused to give Du Zhongxiao more cash advances. has no money in his hand, and he is tied to everything, which makes Du Zhongxiao have a headache. When he was on Hedong Road, no matter what errands he did, Du Zhongxiao was never short of money in his hands. In the later period of the Volcano Army, it was hundreds of thousands of runs, and where it was like now, thousands of knots were a large number.

The key to the development of field work is not to open up the fields and cultivate the land, then everyone will do it. The most important thing is to have industrial support, so as to form a virtuous circle with grain production, and not to lack energy. Relying on the imperial court to allocate money alone will never be enough. If you don't have any money in your hands, let the slender man who opened the field work hard, which one will listen to you? The development of the industry requires capital, and Du Zhongxiao is now short of time and capital.