Yao Fu vigorously broke a sickle, and said in his mouth: "Such good steel, I have lived for decades, and I have not seen it yet!" Such a sickle can't be sold for three times when it is shipped back, and my name is written upside down! The iron supervisor only needs 800 wen here, how can there be such a good business! ”

Nie Sheng said: "The iron prison is a place where iron is produced, how is it the same as other places?" We are close to the iron prison, and we don't dare to sell two times, as long as we are consistent with 500 Wen, we will be content. It's expensive, so people come here to buy it. ”

Yao Fu said: "You didn't do the iron business before, and you don't understand this truth. This kind of sickle can be used for many years, and some people buy it at a more expensive price. You don't see the wheat cut in the countryside with those sickles made of pig iron, and when the season is used up, many holes are broken. ”

Nie Sheng has lived in Luoyang City since he was a child, and he has never seen a sickle for cutting wheat in the countryside, but he has seen a lot of kitchen knives. Although it is softer, I haven't seen anyone whose kitchen knife is cast of pig iron, is it possible that the sickle is made of pig iron?

In this era, steel was still rarely used, wrought iron was not cheap, and the agricultural tools produced in large quantities were mainly pig iron. However, scythes are mostly cast in pig iron and then annealed to become malleable cast iron and then beaten. Much stronger than pig iron, but far worse than steel.

In the Han Dynasty, the Central Plains mastered the annealing and decarburization technology of cast iron, which, together with the frying steel, greatly expanded the scope of steel use. Even occasionally, ductile iron will appear, which is the best grade in castings. However, no matter how you deal with it, it cannot be compared with steel.

The carbon content of the steel produced by the iron supervision is not stable now, most of the carbon content is not high, and the quenching effect is not ideal. The production of agricultural tools is still mainly made of steel pig iron. Pig iron is hard, wear-resistant, and very easy to use after grinding. After wear, it can be sharpened and, if necessary, quenched. Since the carbon content of the blade is increased during the rinsing, the quenching effect is much stronger. It is worn out badly, and it can be re-rinsed.

For the iron supervisor, good steel with high carbon content is also rare, and it is basically used to make tools, such as tools for machine tools. In addition, in order to unify the process, the steel technology is not used, but the pig iron is used for the shower. The most attractive to users is not the hard and sharp edge, but the high strength, good toughness, lightness and durability of the body. The farm tools sold, basically.

Of course, there are some steel furnaces with stable performance that can produce good steel with relatively uniform materials. Most of them were made into steel bars and sent to the capital to be used as military weapons, and it was impossible for them to flow to the people.

In fact, the cost of steel is not much higher than that of iron, and the biggest difference is the loss in production. At present, the main problem is that it is not possible to ensure stable production and produce good steel of uniform material. Simply different carbon content, if the means of production have the level of later generations, the price of various steels is actually about the same. In later generations, China became a big steel country, except for special steel, the price difference between different grades of general mechanical steel is actually very small. However, the precise control of carbon content is extremely technically difficult, and Du Zhongxiao can't even think of the principle, which is a long historical process. At the current level of technology, the price of high-carbon steel and low-carbon steel is far apart, and the medium carbon steel with unstable quality in the middle is a good weapon for making weapons, and a poor one is for civilian use.

Touching the words "Baiting Producer" on the sickle, Yao Fu said: "Good thing!" It's a pity that now we only sell this kind of good thing on Jingxi Road, and we have no way to sell it if we want to. If Lianghuai were to find a store like this, I would be the first to do this business! ”

Nie Sheng said: "Why don't you sell it?" I see over there, there are also customers from other walks of life who come here to buy farm tools. ”

Yao Fu shook his head again and again: "Selling is selling, but there are no these four words." I looked at those goods, there are good ones, but there are also bad ones, where it seems that the goods you buy, even as one. Selling that kind of goods is difficult to make a name for itself, and it is not a long-term business. ”

"I see. It seems that the iron supervision is also good and bad, and it is not easy. ”

Nie Sheng said as fate put the mule on his hand and prepared to set off. There were a total of five families who came this time, the Xu family in Luoyang City was formed with the Nie family, and the other three were from the county and were low-level distributors. Everyone went to the iron supervisor to see it, full of confidence in the future business, and after everything was done, they hurried back to Henan Mansion.

Yao Fu was an iron merchant from Lianghuai, who came here to sell iron, mainly iron ingots and steel bars. He bought raw materials in an ironware shop in his hometown and went home to make all kinds of ironware for sale. He made a living from this, and when he looked at the iron tools sold by the iron supervisor, Yao Fu knew that his own could not be compared. And the price is not high, and it is much better to be able to sell it back like these merchants on Jingxi Road.

It's a pity that the iron supervisor is now only developing sellers on Jingxi Road, and only the ironware they sell will have the name of Bai Tingjian, and the goods are obviously better than those sold to others. Yao Fu has his own shop, and it is better to make those ironware without a name.

Watching Nie Sheng and his entourage leave, Yao Fu thought about it again and again, and still had to buy some made farm tools to go back. The price is too attractive, 800 wen for a sickle, excluding the raw materials, the salary for making a scythe by yourself is more than that. Sold to foreign merchants, it is obviously defective, some are too soft steel, some are bad mouth, all kinds of small problems, the price is the same as the merchants on Jingxi Road, people are really unwilling. What annoyed Yao Fu the most was that the iron supervisor was not allowed to pick and choose, and after paying the money, he got which one. If pick-and-choose is allowed, Yao Fu can select those with bleaching defects, and go back and reprocess them himself. It is not difficult to drench, the technology spreads, and blacksmiths in many places will do it.

Here in Tiejian, there are merchants from several nearby roads, mainly Jingxi Road and Lianghuai Road, and fewer of Shaanxi Road and Jinghu Road. This place is not only a place where businessmen gather, but also a place of technical exchange. Everyone came from all over the world, exchanged experiences, and learned from the iron supervisor, and many technologies spread rapidly. Yao Fu learned the pig iron drenching, and also learned the annealing of castings, which he could use when he went back.

In addition to plows, the most popular among farm tools is the sickle. A good sickle can be sold for several times the price of others, but there is not such a big difference between an iron shovel and a hammer. Manual harvesting, the quality of the sickle is very important, affecting the harvesting efficiency, a good tool can do the work of two people. And it wears out quickly, others can use it for two or three years, and a few bad seasons have to be replaced, and the gap is very obvious.

Yao Fu saw Nie Sheng's scythe and was envious. He is a connoisseur, and when he looks at the workmanship, the steel mouth, and the structure, he knows that it is very easy to sell and durable. The font size of the iron supervisor on it can open the market in one year. It's a pity that the iron supervisor is not looking for a dealer on Lianghuai Road, otherwise he will definitely seize this opportunity. Although the two Huai roads are far away, because of the water transportation all the way, the freight is actually not more expensive than Luoyang.

Yao Dalang came back from the noodles, took a bamboo stick and said, "Daddy, we will load the goods tomorrow." I agreed with Director Huang, who delivered the goods, to invite him to a banquet today, and send us some good steel tomorrow. The ingots looked the same, and I heard people say that they were very different. ”

Yao Fu heard this, and said happily: "My son is very clever and can do things!" Let me tell you, not only are the ingots different, but even the farm tools they sell are different. Since we have invited the director to the banquet, I will let him call the shots, and pick some good scythes for us tomorrow, and it will be worth giving some. Pick those sickles that are well built and have some small problems with the mouth, and we will re-rinse the mouth after we go back, and it will definitely sell well! ”

Yao Dalang said: "This is easy. Director Huang, who is in charge of the delivery, I heard that he turned out to be the commander of the Xiang Army, who is greedy for money, as long as he gives money, there is nothing he does not agree. ”

With this news, Yao Fu was happy again. There is no "Bai Tingjian" font name, so he put the font number of his own shop up. The iron supervisor opened a shop on less than two Huai Road, wouldn't it be better to do it well. The font size is up, and the business will be easy to do in the future.