Everyone then went down the mountain, this time no longer impatient, but full of curiosity!

In fact, the mountain is not high, only halfway up the mountain, the terrain begins to flatten out.

So the miners stopped when they were carrying the ore from the bamboo baskets here, because from here a wooden track had been built on the ground.

The track is like the railroad tracks of later generations, but it is wooden, and here, there are special frames on the wooden rails, and the axles and the wooden rails seem to fit together, and people pile the ore directly in the body, and then ...... The front of the body is pulled by a horse.

Because of the wooden rails, the ruggedness of the road and the friction of the wheels are greatly reduced, so it ...... A horse can easily pull thousands of pounds of ore!

A cart waits here, and when the ore is filled, the wagon drives the horses towards the end of the wooden tracks.

Eldest Sun Wuji's eyes straightened when he saw it, there are so many whimsical ideas in this mine, I don't know how many times better than my own mine! The time and cost of mining were greatly reduced, and hundreds of miners could easily mine dozens of times the ore that miners could mine, and the time and cost of transportation were obviously greatly reduced because of this wooden rail, because he saw the horses easily carrying the goods and galloping along the track.

And at the end of the track, I finally saw a huge smelting workshop.

The smelting workshop was built along the river, which happened to be connected to Erpigou and Chang'an, so it ...... Here, wharves have been built, and the ore smelted can be easily transported to Erpigou by boat.

But what makes it even more spectacular is that it ...... Huge chimneys were erected.

Smoke was billowing from the chimney.

When you get closer to the workshop, you feel a choking smell, and here, it seems that even the air smells of cinders.

At this time, everyone realized that there were not only people who brought copper ore by rail, but also people who used tracks that extended to the other direction to send a large amount of coal.

Li Shimin was dizzying, and when he saw the dark ore in the distance, his eyes were full of surprise, and he couldn't help but say: "What is that?" ”

"Teacher." Chen Zhengtai said: "That's coal, which is used to smelt copper. ”

Li Shimin was surprised and said: "Why, the Chen family smelts copper, but not charcoal?" ”

Li Shimin's words are actually fine, because charcoal is usually used!

But charcoal is very expensive.

The coal used here comes from the nearby open-pit coal mines.

You must know that although this place in Juxian County is mountainous, it is precisely because it is mountainous that it contains countless mineral veins!

This coal can be obtained from local materials, which is much cheaper than cutting down trees, burning charcoal, and then using it to smelt metal, and it can also be produced on a large scale.

The eldest grandson Wuji shook his head suspiciously and said: "This is a little unreasonable, this black stone, the old man also knows a little bit about it, it is not that it cannot be burned, but when it is used to smelt iron, it is often of little use, the world smelts iron, mostly charcoal, how can this black stone be used?" ”

Chen Zhengtai thought to himself that the fundamental reason why coal smelting was not popular in ancient times was that coal had a high sulfur content, and if this thing was used to directly smelt metal, the copper and iron smelted would often be of very poor quality, so it was normal for the eldest grandson to use charcoal for iron smelting.

But the Chen family is different, the Chen family has Chen Zhengtai!

The coal was sent here, and the Chen family built a coal washing workshop here to desulfurize the coal!

The coal washing workshop has a special coke oven and then ...... After several processes, the coal can be formed into coke.

In later generations, coke was also called metallurgical coal, because after desulfurization, such coal was used for metallurgy, which was simply an artifact.

The coal-washing workshop was connected to the copper-smelting workshop, connected by a special wooden rail, and after the coking coal was made, it was immediately transported to the smelting workshop by horse-drawn carriage.

And the metallurgical workshop built a blast furnace.

Of course...... The blast furnace of this era was very simple, and this blast furnace was made of steel plates as the furnace shell, and the shell was lined with refractory bricks.

In blast furnace production, ore, coke, and limestone, a flux for slag making, are loaded from the top of the furnace, and air bags are installed along the circumference of the furnace at the bottom of the furnace to blow in preheated air. Coke burns, and the temperature in the furnace continues to rise, so that the ...... Refined brass.

At this time, Li Shimin and his ministers entered the smelting workshop, only to see that everyone here was working naked, and as soon as they entered the smelting workshop, a sudden heat wave suddenly expelled the cold of winter.

Soon, Li Shimin felt sweaty.

Everyone looked at this workshop, and at first they were disdainful, this Chen Zhengtai really didn't know anything, and he actually brought His Majesty into such a place!

Look at the naked, sweaty laborers working here, this ...... Isn't that immoral?

What's more, everyone was wearing wide dresses, and after staying for less than a moment, they felt that their bodies were beginning to sweat, as if they were about to roast themselves.

Li Tai was obese, and he was even hotter and panting, and couldn't help but say: "Father should pay attention to his body, it is too hot here, and it is not suitable to stay for a long time." ”

Li Chengqian felt very fresh, he was not a well-behaved teenager, for anything, he maintained a strong interest, he looked left, right, and even wanted to get close to the blast furnace to see, especially under the blast furnace, the huge blast airbag driven by the waterwheel, at this moment is a steady stream of cold air in the hot blast furnace heated to nearly seven or eight hundred degrees, through the tuyere will continue to enter the furnace cylinder, the hot air in front of the tuyere burns, producing nearly 2,000 degrees of heat.

You must know that the melting point of copper is only 1,000 degrees, and when it is burned by this blast furnace, it will be reduced to copper liquid in an instant.

Li Chengqian felt rare and wanted to get closer, but was pulled back.

Li Shimin smiled and said: "I know for the first time, it turns out that copper and iron are actually cast like this, Qingque, you should also take a look." ”

Li Tai was bored, and he didn't expect his father to criticize him.

Fortunately, an 'honest boy' like him will never lack the Confucians around him to relieve him!

At this time, Xiao Deyan, who was standing behind Li Tai, said: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness King Yue is full of poetry and books, what he has to do now is to learn the way of self-cultivation and Qi family, what is the use of this craftsman's craftsmanship for His Royal Highness King Yue?" The minister thought that His Royal Highness King Yue focused on cultivating virtue and seeking knowledge, rather than the skills of this craftsman. ”

What he meant was that this thing was useless, it was something that ordinary people should do, and the prince was honorable, as long as he cultivated virtue.

Another meaning is that you look at Chen Zhengtai and the prince, they seem to be very interested in this, they are not good things.

Xiao Deyan is a great Confucian in Jiangnan and one of the eighteen bachelors, Li Shimin has always respected him, and after listening to him, he naturally will not argue with him!

It's just that the next moment, Li Shimin's gaze fell on something under the blast furnace.

Over here...... It was a mouth, and then, the molten copper that had been melted had been detached from other impurities, like a stream, flowing out of the mouth.

Under the opening, there are molds, craftsmen put the molds below at any time, and after a while, the copper liquid will fill the abrasives, and then, everyone holds iron tongs and clamps the molds to the side for cooling.

This stream-like copper liquid is endless.

In the cooled abrasive, Li Shimin took a closer look and was suddenly full of surprise.

Because he found ...... It was all pieces of brass, countless pieces of brass, each weighing a few pounds, and then piled aside.

In this process, only a dozen craftsmen are needed, and the brass is produced continuously.

It's as if there's never an end.

Li Shimin couldn't help but say: "Zhuqing, look at it." ”

Xiao Deyan saw that His Majesty didn't answer, and thought that he must have made His Majesty speechless, and he felt a little proud!

He even thought that if His Majesty refuted him, how should he cite the scriptures to oppose it, no matter what, he must keep His Majesty's attitude towards His Royal Highness King Yue in the best condition.

Can ...... now Everyone put away their thoughts and looked in the direction that Li Shimin was pointing at.

Suddenly, everyone was stunned.

Brass...... That's how it's produced......

Countless pieces of copper were piled up, and every once in a while, a horse-drawn cart would come to load the mountain of copper pieces into the truck, and then transport them away.

However, although there is a steady stream of people transporting the copper in this warehouse, new copper will always be smelted.

What's even more terrifying is ...... The color of this copper block is excellent, there is almost no impurity on the surface, it shines brightly, and even glows golden from a distance.

Xiao Deyan was still smiling, and the next moment ...... Something suddenly was wrong with his face.

"Chen Zhengtai ......"

Someone shouted excitedly, it was the voice of the eldest grandson Wuji.

The eldest grandson Wuji said: "How many of these brass do you smelt here every day?" ”

Just now, many people still feel that their heads are dizzy, but at this time, they all cheered up, something is wrong, something is wrong.

Chen Zhengtai said with a smile: "It's not much, now there are only three such blast furnaces, so the brass that can be smelted in a day is only seventy or eighty thousand catties, mainly because the craftsmanship of the craftsmen is still very rusty, and many places still need to be improved. ”

Seventy or eighty thousand catties......

Someone is starting to get confused.

A hint of surprise flashed in Li Shimin's eyes.

And many of the people around me already feel that their bodies are a little shaky.

The eldest grandson Wuji opened his mouth, a little unclosing.

But Chen Zhengtai showed a very regretful look.

Oh, yes...... I, Chen, am simply the scum of this traverser, seventy or eighty thousand catties, and when converted into the unit of measurement of later generations, it is only forty tons!

This is still the output of thousands of people in the mine, and it took three blast furnaces to produce it, and in later generations, any blast furnace will produce five or six thousand tons a day, and the efficiency is frighteningly high, while Chen's shoddy blast furnace is only one percent of the later generations.

I'm ashamed.

But this is enough to frighten the eldest grandson Wuji, this is already an astronomical amount.

It's copper.

You know, a hundred dollars is almost a pound of copper, and the consistent money is roughly ten pounds of brass.

And these 70,000 or 80,000 catties, isn't it the copper output every day, which is enough for nearly 10,000 copper coins?

That month was 300,000 guan.

This does not include the situation of continuing to increase production as mentioned by Chen Zhengtai.

If it is added, it will ...... in the future Isn't it possible to produce millions, or even two millions, or three million dollars in a month......

Everyone was frightened for a while, it was terrible.

No wonder...... It's no wonder.

Wei Xuanzhen stood aside, standing indifferently, for a long time, his mouth trembled, and he muttered to himself: "No wonder the Chen family dares to buy land on such a large scale, it turns out that ...... His family's money...... That's how it came about. I...... I ......"

It's land, and even if it doesn't grow crops, it's still land under its feet.

And now, when they see the liquid copper flowing out of this huge blast furnace at any time, they can take away a large area of their own land in a matter of moments, and even those who know nothing about arithmetic can perceive it...... I seem to be a little silly.

At this time, Chen Zhengtai said again: "Some of the copper veins in this county are copper veins, so the students plan to recruit some people to continue to explore in the depths of the mountains of this county in a few days, and then build seven or eight workshops and more than a dozen blast furnaces, so that the output of this brass can be guaranteed." ”

"I ...... My ......" a wail, Wei Xuanzhen suddenly felt that her eyes were dark.

What does it feel like......

The reason why copper is valuable, everyone treats it as a treasure, is precisely because of the high production cost of this thing, the low efficiency of mining, and the difficulty of refining!

Everyone is willing to sell land, on the one hand, the price of land has plummeted, on the other hand, because the crisis has caused a shortage of brass on the market, to put it bluntly, everyone is unwilling to spend money.

Originally, everyone expected that the money was becoming more and more valuable anyway, so they simply sold the land, and the landlord became a rich man, but in fact, in this era, he did not suffer a loss. Because in a deflationary environment, money will only become more and more valuable, and more and more things can be bought.

But where did you think of it...... Chen Zhengtai actually has a backhand.

Not only did he have a backhand, but he also invited everyone to watch the production of brass.

Burst......

This time, under the anger of the heart, Wei Xuanzhen actually spurted a mouthful of blood directly from his mouth, and he couldn't live.

No wonder the Chen family will always be able to get a large amount of copper coins, no wonder their Chen family owes astronomical debts, and they are not in a hurry at all, it turns out that he has already made such preparations, this is to seize the land of our Wei family.

Just imagine how terrible it would be if countless veins in the world used this thing to start refining brass!

When the time comes...... I'm afraid that even if the copper coins on the market are not flooded, they will definitely continue to depreciate, which is a coincidence...... Most of his family's property and land have been exchanged for money, which is ...... Isn't this trying to force yourself to death?

Wei Xuanzhen's eyes were red, staring at Chen Zhengtai deadly, and suddenly roared: "Chen Zhengtai, you ...... You...... You swallow my Wei family's land, you ...... Heinous ......"

He was so angry that he trembled, and in a hurry, he found that he was stumbling even to speak.

And this sentence almost speaks to everyone's heart.

Lack of virtue, lack of great virtue, this beast, is there such a person, the life can't be lived, to break his dog's head.

Chen Zhengtai saw that Wei Xuanzhen was about to go crazy again, but he lowered his face and shouted: "What is this, my copper, is a joint venture with the palace, of which the palace accounts for the majority, why, copper smelting is still illegal?" ”

Wei Xuanzhen's tears were about to come out, and she said angrily: "But you ...... beforehand and they go to our land. ”

Chen Zhengtai was more fierce than him, and said confidently: "What kind of stupid talk is this? I didn't want your land in the first place, but who had to sell it to me? At that time, but His Royal Highness the King of Yue repeatedly requested, I was really helpless, so I just agreed, did you forget it yourself? Even when I refused to do so, you had to put it in my hands! When you sold the land, you were so happy that you danced with your hands, and said that His Royal Highness the King of Yue loved you, why did it take less than a month to turn your face ruthlessly, and it became like I was going to seize your land? This business has always been your love and my willingness, and I Chen Zhengtai can still force you with a knife? Whoever forces me to sell my land, you will go to whomever you want, why do you always have trouble with me? Is there any reason for this? ”

Chen Zhengtai spoke eloquently because what he said was ...... It's all happening in reality!

At this time, he said, "Have you forgotten all the things of the past?" Now blame me, do you have to force me to die before you give up? What I do, you are not satisfied, today you want me to buy it, tomorrow you say that I hurt you, what did I harm you, who hurt you? ”

“……”

When Chen Zhengtai said so many words in one breath, all of a sudden, everyone was quiet.

This happened not far away, so it can be said that it is vivid!

At the beginning, Li Tai, the king of Yue, knelt at Chen Zhengtai's feet and asked Chen Zhengtai to buy the land, and even Chen Zhengtai repeatedly refused, but Li Tai said that he couldn't afford to kneel for a long time.

And everyone praised His Royal Highness King Yue for his wisdom at that time, and no one could say a word about this!

To put it mildly, Chen Zhengtai at the beginning was almost forced by Li Tai to forcibly eat everyone's land.

Chen Zhengtai is the victim.

When Li Tai heard this, his color suddenly changed.

His face, which had always been ruddy, turned pale all of a sudden.

Because he found that at this moment, countless eyes fell on him.

This...... Doesn't that mean...... Is this king harming everyone?

There are even some eyes, with a bit of unkindness.

Because some people even began to wonder if you Yue Wang Li Tai conspired with Chen Zhengtai to make a good show, and then cheated everyone?

If it is really a conspiracy, then Chen Zhengtai is certainly inferior to pigs and dogs, but His Royal Highness King Yue, you are really not very kind!

The big guys all praise you, and you knelt down in the palace and said with tears in your eyes that you love the people like a son, but it turned out to be a scam?

What hypocrisy and cunning this is!

Although people hate their opponents.

But...... will definitely hate Erwuzai, because the opponent is just stealing your interests, and Erwuzai has deceived your feelings!

…………

The second chapter is delivered, something happened at home today, and the update is late, so after writing this chapter, the tiger will have dinner, and the third chapter will be delivered as soon as possible.