Chi Hao, the servant of the palace of the envoy of the Compendium, sat down and said to Du Zhongxiao: "The lower official is late, and the judgment is not strange." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "As long as you arrive, it's fine." Alas, the iron supervisor has created everything hastily, and he uses money everywhere, and you have not been able to do it for a long time, and we people are sad these days. It is not easy to travel thousands of miles from Raozhou to here, so you can rest for a few days. ”

Chi Hao said: "When I came, I knew that the supervisor had a grace time, but I was not in a hurry to get on the road. According to the instructions of the governor, when the lower official goes back, he will transport 10,000 copper coins of iron. Please also prepare the judgment and take it away when the next official arrives. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Coincidentally, the smelting furnace has just been built in the past two days, and we are preparing to open the furnace to make iron. But what does the iron you're going to bring back look like? Is it pig iron or wrought iron? Is it an iron ingot or a piece of iron? How big is each piece? ”

Chi Hao hesitated for a moment and said: "The copper supervisor has tried two ways to smelt copper with iron, one is to crush the pig iron into powder, irrigate it with bile water, and after its color changes, release the water to collect the copper. There is also a wrought iron hammer into iron sheets, soaked in bile water, waiting for copper powder on it, and scraping it in turn. The second method is less labor-intensive and more beneficial, but the iron sheet is difficult to make. Knowing the meaning of the supervisor, it is best to collect cooked iron sheets. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "This matter is not difficult, I will give you wrought iron sheets." However, wrought iron and pig iron are not the same price, hammered into pieces, and labor is required, the price is even higher. Although we are all working for the imperial court, we are really difficult here, and the accounts have to be settled. ”

When Chi Hao heard this, he couldn't help but smile: "It's okay, the governor and the supervisor instructed that the copper supervisor will buy it at the market price." ”

The copper supervisor is not only a place for copper smelting, but also a place for coinage, and the last thing they lack is cash. If you buy iron pieces from here, you will be able to smelt more copper, and with more copper, you will be able to make more money. In this era, the imperial court did not control the amount of coinage, and the more coins minted, the better. Raozhou Copper Supervisor is not afraid that Du Zhongxiao will ask for a high price at all, but he is afraid that he will not be able to supply so many pieces of iron.

After handing over the official business, Chi Hao gave his hand: "When the lower official came, he brought some local products such as lotus seeds and dried bamboo shoots, and two baskets outside for the judge to taste." It's all local flavor, don't dislike it. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled: "Thank you." In the nearby mountainous area, chestnut and red dates are prolific, and you can buy some and ship them back. ”

Such long-distance transportation, of course, can not waste capacity, incidental local product sales is a regular operation. Otherwise, Chi Hao and his entourage of dozens of people, how much does it cost to travel thousands of miles? Not to mention, there are magistrates who take the plane to transport goods and make some money, and of course the people below will not go empty.

Chi Hao left, and Du Zhongxiao asked Liu Zhuo to divide the local products sent into several parts and give them to several officials of the Iron Prison. Including Li Bing, the magistrate of Ye County, also has a copy. It is not easy to be an official for thousands of miles, although things are not valuable, they are always a heart.

500,000 yuan is not a small amount, two or three million catties weigh, piled up like a hill. In order to put the money, the iron supervisor officially set up a military treasury at this time, and Liu Zhuo was temporarily in charge of the lock key. The military treasury is not for storing military supplies, but for storing important materials such as money and silk. The Great Song Dynasty was founded by the army, collecting taxes, money and grain, all in order to raise the army, so the most important local treasury is in the name of military funds, which is used to fund the army.

Everything was disposed of, and Du Zhongxiao couldn't help but think about Curry's money. It's a pity that such a large amount of money is put in the treasury, and the money can't flow, isn't it the same as the farm house, which has lost the meaning of flowing all over the world. It's a shame to put it there for a few years. If you use your business to lend, you can collect interest, which is also the way for the iron supervisor to make money.

It is not surprising that Du Zhongxiao thinks this way, in fact, many officials think this way. In theory, the various local treasury and the military treasury belong to the three divisions, and officials dare not move it in disorder, and others, such as the minister's treasury and the standing liquidation, all have officials who lend money. Some people are not even satisfied with the loans, and they use them to do business, and in addition to increasing the money in the treasury, some people also make some of the profits themselves. Later, when Wang Anshi changed the law, all the official treasury lent money to collect interest, and assessed at various levels. If it is too much, it will endanger the people.

This is the disadvantage of not having a bank, money is often stagnant in the private sector, cannot be liquidated, and money becomes an asset. The imperial court used almost all the copper classes to mint money, and the world was still short of money. The more business develops, the more money is lacking, and it has become a stubborn disease.

Of course, Du Zhongxiao is not just to collect some interest, so how much is it? Moreover, in order to overcharge interest and reduce risks, official lending will habitually allocate to you those who do not want to lend money without shortage, and those who are really short of money will not be able to lend. The purpose of lending is to make the dead money in the treasury flow and turn it into capital, so as to promote the development of the industry.

Iron supervision here, so much iron is produced every year, and so many people consume it, which will inevitably drive many industries. It is truly valuable to use this money as capital and release it to the people and as capital, so as to make the local economy prosperous. But how exactly to do it requires a detailed plan.

Chi Hao lived in an inn on the other side of the Li River, and sent his men out to buy local products in nearby prefectures and counties, and took them with him when he was going back. Thousands of miles of trafficking, extremely high profits, well done, you can make a small fortune on this errand.

On this day, Chi Hao was buying some meat and drinking in the room, when a servant arrived and asked him to go to the iron prison immediately. Today is the day of the official opening of the furnace and smelting iron, and the first thing to be delivered is the iron sheet he needs, and the specifications must be set by him personally.

The palace attendant is a petty military attache with a humble status. Chi Hao and these people nominally belong to the Third Division and transport goods all year round, but in fact they are under the jurisdiction of the local government. Du Zhongxiao is a transfer judge, although he is from Jingxi Road, he can't control them Jiangnan West Road, but the top is facing the third division, how dare Chi Hao slack off. After getting the news, he hurriedly put on his official uniform and took a boat from the ferry to the iron prison. He was led by his own duke, all the way to the place where the iron smelting had just been built.

A large shed was built here, and there was a huge stove inside, more than two zhang high, thin at the top and thick at the bottom, and more than one zhang wide at the diameter. The furnace was so big that it looked like a mountain, and people seemed very small.

Du Zhongxiao stood under the furnace with Su Song and others, watching the craftsman fill the material from the furnace mouth. Of course, this blast furnace has already been tried, and a total of three furnaces have been smelted these days, and after many modifications, it will be officially produced from today. By this time, blast furnace iron smelting had been more than a thousand years, and various technologies had matured. This smelting furnace was built according to the blast furnace in Xiangzhou, which tended to be conservative, and Du Zhongxiao did not make any changes. In fact, because of the use of coke, the hardness increases, and the furnace can be built larger. But this is the first one, and everything is in order.

stepped forward to salute, Chi Hao stood beside Du Zhongxiao and the others, watching the people around him busy. Everything here is so spectacular that it's mind-blowing, and no one speaks.

The fire had been lit last night, and by this time the stove was already hot and was being filled with coke. The loading port was too high, and it was too difficult to handle it by manpower, so a conveyor belt was built from the stockpile. Five strong men next to him, riding on a wooden horse, pedaled hard, and turned the conveyor belt together. These people just didn't study well a few days ago, so they can only come to do hard work. Two shifts alternate, every other hour.

The conveyor belt is divided into squares, and it passes in front of the person who loads the material, who fills it with a large shovel. The grid is used to calculate the weight of the material, which is simple and easy, saving the trouble of classification and weighing. Once the furnace is turned on, it is kept around the clock until the furnace is exhausted, and the lining is replaced after the furnace is stopped to cool down. According to the experience of Xiangzhou, this stove should last about a year. Du Zhongxiao's plan is to produce for ten months a year, stop the furnace for maintenance in the hottest weather, and replace the damaged places such as the furnace lining.

The charge reaches the top of the stove and enters a large funnel. The hopper hangs on a shaft, and the charge falls into it and hits the iron wall, driving the hopper to rotate slowly, evenly spilling the charge into the furnace.

At this time, the coke has been loaded, the person who loads the material rests, and the person on the other side begins to load the ore. After the ore is mined, it is roasted and crushed and screened, which is the work done by the nearby contractor and the villagers. Du Zhongxiao vaguely remembered that there should be beneficiation and sintering in this step, but the appropriate method had not yet been tested, so it could only be based on the existing process.

After loading ore, the limestone is loaded, and the amount used is much less than coke and ore, and it is filled from time to time.

After all the ingredients were filled, everyone took a break and looked up at the roof of the furnace together.

There were two people on it looking at the furnace, and from time to time the situation in the furnace was reported. The temperature was high and there was smoke coming out of the furnace, and the conditions were extremely harsh. However, this kind of work is not something that anyone can do, it requires experience and technology, and it is more advanced than the loading and pedaling conveyor belt below.

On the other side of the stove, there were five big men on the left and on the right, kicking on the wooden horse, driving two huge bellows, blowing air into the furnace. At this time, the common bellows are pushed and pulled by people, and the wind power is insufficient. Where is the strength of human arms compared to the strength of legs? Du Zhongxiao made this Trojan horse and used a pedal instead of pushing and pulling. In fact, it is a simple crank slider mechanism that turns the rotary motion into reciprocating motion.

The fire in the furnace didn't know how hot it was, and Chi Hao was a few feet away, still feeling hot. How had he ever seen such a scene? I can't help but forget the time. I don't know how long it took, but I heard the shouts of the people looking at the furnace above, and the people below began to produce slag.

The hot slag is taken out of the furnace and set aside, and when it is a little cooler, the slag carrier pushes it away in a small cart.

After a long while, the iron mouth was finally smashed open, and the red molten iron flowed out.

Seeing the molten iron flowing into the bucket, all the people breathed a sigh of relief. Although I have tried it several times, and today the furnace was officially opened, and everyone still sweated. This stove is too big, and if something goes wrong, it takes a lot of effort.

There is a crane next to the furnace, which is made of iron chains and equipped with ratchets, which can only rotate forward and not reverse to prevent accidents. The crane lifted the hopper filled with molten iron, lifted it, transported it to a small furnace next to it, and dumped it into it. One hopper was raised, the other was connected, and the molten iron was poured into several small furnaces next to it.