For Tian Xiu, writing an official document about the decline and decline of all industries in Gyeonggi City is simply a matter of convenience.

After going to the government the next day, she took a leave of absence in the public office, first went to find Jiang Tuan, and then went to the household department with Jiang Tuan to find Lu Qian, and then asked Jiang Tuan to call Xun An, who had become dim and groggy because he bumped into the true face of the Son of Heaven the day before, and the four of them found a clean tea shop and sat down and talked for a long time. She mixed everyone's opinions and ideas together and wrote an article entitled "Miscellaneous Discussion on the Decline and Prosperity of Gyeonggi Hundred Industries". After everyone signed it, she also left her name at the end of the article, "Tian Xiu, a bachelor of Hanlin Academy, wrote the year, month and day".

When she returned to Princess Nanyang's mansion in the evening, she handed over the song to Nanyang, and then she never cared about the rest of the matter. She already had so much to worry about. She is now the supervisor of Xuzhou Dafang of the Ministry of Industry, and is fully responsible for the manufacturing skills of coking, glass and celestial spheres, and she is too busy with the things at hand, and she really doesn't have the energy to take care of anything else. No, on the third day when she handed over the "Miscellaneous Discussion on the Decline and Prosperity of Gyeonggi Hundred Industries" to Nanyang, the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry received a report that there were two accidents in Xuzhou Dafang one after another. First, a hole in the coke yard collapsed, and two people died. Xuzhou Dafang originally planned to lose some money in private to suppress the matter, but who knew that the disaster would not go alone, and then there was a bigger accident in the glass workshop. The newly built No. 7 kiln furnace suddenly exploded during the fire test, and more than four or five hundred catties of melted frit in the inclined furnace rushed down, and the two people who were adding fire in front of the furnace were burned to death at that time; Because it was a big furnace to test the fire, there were more than a dozen officials and craftsmen present, but in the chaos, the scaffolding erected next to the big furnace was knocked down, and a workshop official who climbed onto the scaffold to observe the fire record copywriting fell and was seriously injured, and the collapsed scaffolding also killed an eight-grade master book in Xuzhou Dafang. After the official died, the matter suddenly became serious, and Yang Heng, the chief supervisor of Xuzhou Dafang, wrote an official document overnight to report the details of the accident. Hearing the news, Tian Xiu immediately put down everything in his hand and hurried to Xuzhou......

When she returned to the capital, it was already half a month later.

It had been ten or twenty days since she left, and there had been a lot of backlog in the yamen, so as soon as she came back, she immediately became busy.

It's the end of September, it's winter, and the weather is getting colder and colder day by day, so it's a big thing to keep warm by the fire. At this time of the year, every household began to stock up on firewood and charcoal for cooking in the winter, and merchants also began to pull firewood and deliver charcoal to the capital one by one. But this year is different from previous years. Nowadays, many people know that the Ministry of Industry can make charcoal into coke, and coke is better than coal, not only does it not have the thick smoke and unpleasant smell emitted when it is burned, but it also saves more time to use it to heat the kang for cooking. It's just that the coke output of the Xiaoluoyi Ministry of Industry is very limited, except for a few glass kilns that guarantee itself and the government-run iron-smelting workshop that supplies, there is not much left, so it is difficult to see it in the market, and occasionally two or three truckloads of coke are taken out and sold by people who have the means, and they are bought at a high price in a moment. Coke, which is half the price of coal, was immediately targeted, and many people started to buy and sell coke, and asked everywhere about the art of coking. However, when they heard that coking was a patent of the Ministry of Industry, they gave up the idea of stealing the art one after another. For them, patents are a strange thing, and people do not necessarily understand what the so-called "patents" are, nor do they necessarily know what the consequences of infringing on other people's patents will bring, but the Ministry of Industry is an undoubted behemoth, and in the face of the authority of the government, respect is necessary, and prudence is also necessary. But respect and caution don't mean they can't do anything, and shrewd traders immediately associate the story of liquor patents in the first half of the year. Since it is impossible to steal a teacher under the nose of the Ministry of Industry, can we follow the precedent of the liquor patent to purchase the patent license for coking from the Ministry of Industry? Even if the Ministry of Industry wants to monopolize the coke trade in the capital and prohibit others from making coke near Gyeonggi, what about outside Gyeonggi? There are hundreds of prefectures and counties in Dazhao, and the places north of the river need to solve the problem of burning fires for heating in winter, and there are thirty or forty large cities with more than 100,000 households. People are quick to put their ideas into action. At the beginning of September, two large merchants applied to the Ministry of Industry for patent authorization for coking. After the Chung Yeung Festival, as the weather gets colder and colder, people's enthusiasm for coke is getting higher and higher, and now nearly 100 applications for coking patent licenses have been submitted to the Ministry of Industry. This matter involves a coke patent, and the Ministry of Industry that accepted the application did not dare to make decisions on its own. In line with the principle that more is better than less, the Ministry of Industry simply transferred all the applications to Xiaoluoyi Workshop and Xuzhou Dafang, and let Yang Heng and Tian Xiu make their own ideas.

As soon as Tian Xiu came back, he bumped into this incident. She randomly picked two applications from the thick stack of files and browsed through them, and asked the little official who handled the matter, "Can't you follow the method of the earlier liquor patent?" ”

The little official was embarrassed and said, "This is different from the situation of liquor. ”

"How is it different?" Tian Xiu asked in some surprise.

"Liquor is not a commodity, it is not a monopoly of the government, and there is no tax, and the people can also create their own trading ......"

“…… The household department has already planned coke as a cargo? Tian Xiu was even more strange.

"Not really." The little official said.

"What the hell is going on?" Tian Xiu was a little annoyed by this person who spoke babblingly. There's still a whole bunch of things waiting for her to deal with, and she doesn't want to spend time with this guy.

The little official saw that she was a little angry, and hurriedly said: "Lord Tian, you know, our coke is mainly used for two purposes, one is used to burn glass, and the other is to smelt iron and steel. The process of glass is all in our hands, and outsiders can't learn it, and they don't know how to use it with coke, so this is not a worry. Don't be afraid even if the art of glass spreads! After all, the patent of glass belongs to our Ministry of Industry, and whoever dares to burn it privately without our permission can lose his family just by fighting a lawsuit. However, the skill of smelting iron and steelmaking has been handed down from the Qin and Han dynasties, and the folk craftsmen who are proficient in this way do not know how many, if they know the method of coking......

Before the little official's words were finished, Tian Xiu already understood what he meant. Coke can not only be used for heating and glass, but also for iron smelting; Iron smelting, on the other hand, is an issue that must be taken seriously. The control of iron smelting in the Great Zhao was not as strict as in the Han and Tang dynasties, and pig iron and iron tools were not completely monopolized by the government, and in some areas with a solid ruling foundation and rich iron ore reserves, such as Laizhou and Xuzhou, private iron smelting was even allowed to operate iron smelting on a large scale. However, the government strictly controlled the bulk trade of pig iron and iron artifacts, and implemented an "iron sign" system, in which the outflow and direction of pig iron were strictly controlled, and a high iron tax of two-tenths was levied. Especially in border areas such as Bohai and Yanshan, as well as in areas where many ethnic groups live in the southwest and northwest, the management of pig iron circulation and trading is even more severe to the point of being harsh. In some places, the iron farming tools in the hands of the farmers are registered, and whether they are damaged or lost, they must be reported to the authorities, and depending on the wear and tear, sometimes fines ranging from one to several times. Therefore, in these areas, the smuggling of pig iron, which has high profits, is also repeatedly prohibited. Now with coke, it is possible to produce more pig iron, and it is possible to further forge pig iron into 100 steels with the help of a higher fire and fire power of coke than charcoal and charcoal. In this sense, coke and liquor are obviously not the same thing, liquor is just a dispensable embellishment in the people's livelihood, while coke can be through pig iron, and then involve and affect all aspects of Dazhao......

This is obviously not something that she can call the shots as a seven-rank official. Tian Xiu had no choice but to say to the little official: "Then let's do it, you leave these applications one by one, and I will help you hand them over to Master Shangshu or Master Chang when I go back." ”

Before the little official went out, another group of people rushed in. Because there are two officials of the Taishi Bureau in this group of people, one of them still has a six-grade official talisman on his belt, and he is one of the Shaoqing of the Taishi Bureau, so even if the people outside come before them, they can only let them come first.

Shaoqing of the Taishi Bureau knew Tian Xiu. He casually bowed his hand to Tian Xiu, and without waiting for Tian Xiu to give up his seat, he found a chair in front of the table, and before his butt fell on the seat, he said first: "Lord Tian, you are close to Uncle Ying, can you please take a trip and ask Uncle Ying County carefully, how is this Heavenly Observatory made?" As soon as the words came out, he knew that he had said the wrong thing, so he quickly stood up and gave up his hands, and said apologies in his mouth.

Tian Xiu pretended not to hear what he was saying, and asked him: "Lord Wang, you are not the same as the Taishi Bureau, can you go to Uncle Ying County?" ”

Lord Wang sighed before he spoke: "I have asked, and I have asked more than once." A few days ago, I also went to Yingxian Bo's Zhuangzi once......" he swallowed. "Keshang Shangzhu said that he also knows a little about the Heavenly Observatory, and he is reluctant to answer our questions."

He was accompanied by an eight-grade official from the Ministry of Industry, and when he heard him sigh and say pitifully, he couldn't help laughing: "I went to ask Uncle Ying about the Tianyi Observatory." I think it's not that Uncle Ying doesn't want to say it, most of the time he really doesn't know. ”

Tian Xiu smiled and asked people to pour them tea. She felt that the Ministry of Industry officials' statements were more credible. Judging from her dealings with Shang Cheng, there is no doubt that Shang Cheng's vision is very broad and his knowledge is also extensive, but it is not fine, it can only be regarded as a general, vague and unrefined category. Whether it is coke or glass, Shangcheng points out a general direction and then leaves it alone, and all the details such as craftsmanship and process are left to others to slowly explore and summarize. This may be a bad habit that Shang Cheng developed during his tenure as Admiral of Yanshan, or it is more likely that he is not familiar with these things himself, so he can only draw a category and teach others to explore; This inevitably leaves an impression that the eye is high and the hand is low. In fact, many officials in the Ministry of Industry have such a view on Shangcheng. However, there are many who disagree. For example, the Lord Wang of the Taishi Bureau in front of Tian Xiu.

Lord Wang immediately defended Shang Chengzuo: "Ha, Lord Liu, you actually said that Uncle Ying didn't know how to make the Heavenly Observatory?" So how does your department make coke and how does it make glass? ”

The Ministry of Industry official surnamed Liu didn't want to argue with him, smiled, lowered his head and drank water without saying anything.

Lord Wang punched the air, was stunned for a moment, remembered his intention, turned around and said to Tian Xiu: "Lord Tian, can I bother you to go?" As long as we can build this celestial observatory, we will be grateful for your merits and favor from top to bottom of the Taishi Bureau! ”

"You are so anxious to get this celestial observatory, this thing is so important to your Taishi Bureau?" Tian Xiu couldn't help but ask curiously. As far as she knew, the Taishi Bureau did not have a celestial observatory, and now there are two celestial platforms placed on the Taishi Temple. Since there is a ready-made one on hand, why is the Taishi Bureau in such a hurry?

Lord Wang nodded vigorously: "Yes, very important!" Very urgent! "It's impossible not to be in a hurry! The Taishi Bureau is the Qingshui Yamen that can be counted in the imperial court, except for the little money and grain allocated by the household department every year, there is no oil and water for the rest, and hundreds of officials in the Taishi Bureau have long been hungry and their eyes are green. At the beginning of the year, I was finally dragged by the Ministry of Industry to burn glass, and before everyone had time to look forward to the good times in the future, they were beaten back to their original form by an official letter from the Prime Minister's office. At present, the Ministry of Industry has sold the glass at a sky-high price, and the car by car is pulling money into the yamen, but the Taishi Bureau can only stand next to it and drip saliva, comparing the two and the other, this feeling of loss is simply impossible to describe in words. Especially thinking that I once had the opportunity to work with the Ministry of Industry, this makes people even more sad and sad! The more prosperous the glass trade of the Ministry of Industry, the stronger the grief and indignation of the Taishi Bureau, even if everyone knows that the money from the sale of glass cannot be attributed to the Ministry of Industry, but they can't suppress the heart fire that jumps in their chests! The business of glass is too big, even if it is a little bit of dregs leaking between the fingers, it is enough for the Ministry of Industry to eat and drink for three or five hundred or eight years, not to mention the inconspicuous little yamen of the Taishi Bureau; It is estimated that that little leftovers can make the Taishi Bureau survive several times. Since the Ministry of Industry began to sell glassware, the Zhengqing and Shaoqing of the Taishi Bureau who failed to withstand the pressure of the Prime Minister's public office and were forced to hand over the glass were scolded by their own people so that they didn't even dare to look up when they walked. A few people are ashamed and brave, since the glass can't catch up, then let's do the sky-watching instrument! They drafted a note, carefully arguing that the Tang Dynasty's "Chongxuan Calendar" used by the Great Zhao today was flawed, and the conclusive moment of the 24 solar terms had reached the point where it had to be corrected; Revising the old calendar, promulgating the new calendar, is just around the corner! The first step in formulating the new calendar was to set up 16 planetariums and observation points in various places to observe the celestial phenomena and determine the star positions. The celestial observatory is the most important astronomical instrument for these planetariums and observation points. According to the cost of casting two celestial gazetteers in the time of Gaozong, and after the calculation of the Taishi Bureau, the average cost of each celestial observatory is about 6,700 catties of copper, plus other casting costs, each celestial observatory costs about 1,500 taels, plus 16 celestial towers and stone objects such as Rigui, and finally calculated, the total cost of compiling the new calendar is roughly between 550,000 and 600,000 taels.

This official document from the Taishi Bureau was presented at the right time. Although the state treasury revenue for the year 22 has not yet been finally counted, judging from the state and county account books that have been put in order, it is possible that this year will fall into stagflation or even regression. Just when the Prime Minister's Office headed by Zhang Pu was anxious about this matter, this official document simply became a lifesaver. The Prime Minister's Office published it in the newspaper as soon as it received the official document, and its intention was naturally self-evident: it was not that the prime ministers did not work hard, but that there was a problem with the calendar; If there is a problem with the calendar, how can the calendar be used to guide the farmers to farm? If the farmer does not cultivate at the most appropriate time, the yield of grain will naturally regress; If there is no food, the population cannot be fed, and where will the taxes be collected...... In a word, it is imperative to revise the new calendar! The Ministry of Household allocated 600,000 yuan, and the Taishi Bureau immediately began to compile the new calendar.

However, the Prime Minister's official letter on the compilation of a new calendar was rejected by the Ministry of Households. Hubu Shangshu is a classmate and close friend of Han Yi, the secretary of the Ministry who is competing with Zhang Pu for the position of left minister, so he doesn't care whether the calendar is urgent or not. He said eloquently that it has been more than 100 years since the founding of the Great Zhao Dynasty, and the "Chongxuan Calendar" has always been used. So there is no problem with the Chongxuan Calendar; The problem is definitely not the "Chongxuan Calendar"! So he didn't agree to allocate money to the Taishi Bureau. Even if the funds are really to be funded, they must wait until the Ministry of Industry successfully produces the celestial observatory.

If there was no last sentence of the Hubu Shangshu, most of the Taishi Bureau would have died. The reason why Zhengqing of the Taishi Bureau threw out such a note is just to divert people's attention, let himself be less scolded, make life better, and it doesn't matter if it succeeds or not. As a result, with the words of Tobe Shangshu, the fake show must also be done. I heard that there may be 600,000 yuan for five years, and the Taishi Bureau blew up the nest at that time. Taishi Bureau Zhengqing and the two Shaoqing immediately made a clear division of labor, he was responsible for finding the Ministry of Household to allocate funds to urge money and grain, Wang Shaoqing and the first to do things in the Ministry of Industry, although it was a story ten years ago, but after all, there is a bit of origin, so urge the Ministry of Industry to make the Tianqiyi as soon as possible Wang Shaoqing will bear it; As for the big and small affairs of the Taishi Bureau, they are all taken care of by another young secretary, and they are not big anyway; All in all, all for 600,000! In this way, at present, Lord Wang completely regards the Ministry of Industry as his home, and sees that he is in and out of the yamen of the Ministry of Industry morning and evening, and people who don't know the inside story may think that he has come to work in the Ministry of Industry.

After listening to Lord Wang's words, Tian Xiu couldn't laugh or cry. She said: "Lord Wang, it's not a way for you to stay at the yamen of our Ministry of Industry. If you look at the process of firing glass in our Ministry of Industry, you should know that the production of this celestial observatory cannot be achieved overnight. ”

Lord Wang didn't say anything.

Tian Xiu understood that Wang Shaoqing did not speak, in fact, he was showing his attitude towards the matter of observing the heavens one by one, and the Taishi Bureau did not trust the Ministry of Industry. This is understandable, and it is also true. Glass is related to the vital interests of the Ministry of Industry, and it is also related to the official motto and future of many people, so everyone can work together. But the celestial sphere is different. This thing was thrown to the Ministry of Industry by the Prime Minister's Office in order to appease the emotions of the Taishi Bureau, and it is what the Ministry of Industry should do well, and it is not good...... If you can't do it well, you can't do it well, and it has nothing to do with the future of interests, at most, it is a few words that are read by others, and it doesn't hurt your muscles and bones, so people don't pay much attention. It's not that I didn't care, but it's just that it seems easy to make a celestial observatory out of glass, but it's probably more difficult than firing glass. For example, an old celestial observatory weighs thousands of catties, and if the same weight of copper is fired into a hollow copper tube, there is almost no possibility of success. The workshops of the Ministry of Works, the workshops of the Ministry of War, and the old people of the Ouchi Imperial Supervisor shook their heads in unison when they heard this weight; Solid cores are big problems, not to mention that this is a hollow copper tube. What's more, the screw pattern must be carved on the copper pipe and the copper cap, and the two screw patterns must be wedged...... She took out a few copper pipes and a few copper caps from the closet, as well as a box of glass lenses, and placed them on the table. She said: "Lord Wang, copper pipes and copper caps are easy to make, but it is almost as difficult as climbing to the sky to carve screw patterns on them. To tell you the truth, almost all of the more than 20 masters in our bronze workshop are doing this. But the fact is too hard. A master craftsman may not be able to make a set of brass pipes and caps that match each other in a month. From July to now, we have less than 30 sets of copper pipes and caps that we can use to try out the celestial observation instrument......"

"It's thirty-one now." The official from the Ministry of Industry next to him interjected.

Tian Xiu ignored his words and continued: "...... And these glass lenses. Such lenses are easy to grind, and a slightly larger jade workshop can do it, but if you want the two lenses to work together to achieve the effect that Ying Xianbo said," she shook her head, "We still don't have the slightest clue. As she spoke, she took out two lenses, expertly fixed them to the ends of the copper tube with copper caps, picked them up and looked at them, and they were still white and chaotic. She sighed and put the brass down again. Besides, these copper tubes and copper caps and glass lenses are all models made for the future casting of the celestial sphere, and the copper tube and copper cap are not titled, but the glass lens with a diameter of nearly two feet to be used on the celestial sphere is a big problem. The 500-pound furnace that Xuzhou Dafang has just fried this time not only hopes that the Ministry of Industry hopes to further increase the output of glass, but also contains the idea of preparing for the next step for the lens of the Guantianji. Unfortunately, this brave attempt failed......

"It's because we don't know how to make a celestial observatory out of glass, so I think we should go to find Uncle Ying again." Lord Wang said without giving up.

"Uncle Ying has already told me all the tricks of making the Heavenly Observatory, let me ask again, what else do you think you can ask?"

"He must have something else to say!" Lord Wang insisted that Shang Cheng must have hidden his personal interests on the Heavenly Observatory! But he immediately reacted that it seemed very inappropriate to speak like this, and changed his words and said, "What if he remembers something?" ”

Tian Xiu had no choice but to say vaguely with the perseverance of Shaoqing of the Taishi Bureau: "That's okay." I'll take the time another day and ask Uncle Ying again for advice. ”

"Which day?" Lord Wang immediately asked.

“…… The day after tomorrow, right? If I'm free the day after tomorrow......"

"Good! Let's make an appointment the day after tomorrow! The day after tomorrow, I will go with you to ask Uncle Ying for advice! ”

As he spoke, there was a knock twice on the open door. An official of the Ministry of Industry told Tian Xiu that the left waiter Chang Xiu Chang taught her to go to the Shilang Mansion now.

Lord Wang's purpose of coming to see Tian Xiu today has been achieved, he stood up and said goodbye: "Lord Tian, you are busy first, and I will go back." The day after tomorrow, I will come to you after the day after tomorrow, and we will go all the way to see Uncle Yingxian. That's it! ”

Sending away Shaoqing of the Taishi Bureau, Tian Xiu cleaned up the things on the table, and told the few groups of people waiting outside the door that he was going to see Zuo Shilang now, if they didn't have anything important, they could go back first, and if there was something urgent, they could only wait for a while. As a result, these groups of people said that what they wanted to do was important, and they had to be personally inquired about and dealt with by Lord Tian; However, they also said that the matter of Lord Tian going to see Lord Chang was more important, so their affairs could wait until Lord Tian came back after meeting Lord Chang.

When these people speak, whether it is their tone or expression, as well as their standing posture, they all reflect their respect for Tian Xiu. Tian Xiu felt that their attitude was not only respectful, but even a little flattery and sycophancy; This simply taught her inexplicable. Could it be that she is about to be promoted? As soon as this ridiculous idea came to her, she immediately felt a little funny. Promotion? She? How is this possible? She is a woman, and she has never participated in the imperial examination, with a little bit of fame and the protection of her teachers and friends, it is already the end of her current Zhengqipin Hanlin Academy. She never thought that her career could go further, and she didn't dare to think about it; The only thing she hopes for is that she can have a real job, so that her salary can be higher, so that she can cope with life in the capital, that is enough. She just wants a real job, she doesn't want anything else, it doesn't matter if she can continue to stay in the Ministry of Industry, as long as it's a real job, even if she is demoted one or two levels to be an eight-grade official! You must know that even the actual official of Bapin, her monthly salary is much stronger than what she is now. Her current monthly salary and various subsidies, including firewood, rice, oil, salt, cloth, and grain, all of which combined are combined into less than 17,000 yuan. Seventeen thousand, what can you do with this money in Shangjing? Chang'an rice is expensive, it is not easy to live in a big place, there is no problem with this money to eat, but she has to support a little maid who has followed her for many years, and she also has to raise a horse for transportation, two people and a horse, and she will eat half of her salary; Once in a while, we see friends, we drink tea and soup and have a wine and dinner, and then there is nothing left. This is still thanks to the blessing that she does not have to live in a rented house in the capital. If she didn't have two good friends, Nanyang and Changsha, she would have to rent a small courtyard with her own door, and the rent of such a place would be at least three or four thousand yuan a month. In this way, her hands will immediately be very cramped, and she may rely on the help of friends to live again, just like when she was a wind watcher in Jiangnan a few years ago......

Thinking of the past few years in Jiangnan, her eyes were a little trance. It was so hard that she still remembers some of the painful experiences. On a rainy day, on a misty ground, she and the maid were drenched, snuggling up to each other in the grass pavilion on the post road, shivering from the cold......

No, she doesn't want to be a wind watcher anymore! She would rather get married than do anything else!

She thought wildly and walked into the hall where the waiter of the Ministry of Works was working.

The discerning handyman immediately changed the room with a pot of freshly brewed tea, poured a lamp for the squire, poured another for her, and then quietly closed the door.

Chang Xiu held a teacup in his hand, looked her up and down a few times, and said to her with a smile: "I just heard that you came back from Xuzhou." Why are you in a hurry to come to the yamen as soon as you come back? It's still tiring to go back and forth, and you should rest at home for two days. He pointed to a chair in front of the desk. You sit down and talk. ”

"Thank you, teacher." Tian Xiu bowed respectfully. Chang Xiu and her father Tian Wang once worshipped under the same Confucian disciple to learn "Poetry" and "Yi", so she has always been a disciple of Chang Xiu. After sitting down, she answered Chang Xiu's question: "Before I went to Xuzhou, I had some things backlogged on my hands; It's been half a month, and there must be more things, so I didn't dare to delay. ”

Chang Xiu nodded with satisfaction and said, "What happened in Xuzhou has already been prepared?" ”

"Almost, only the last ones haven't been done yet." Tian Xiu leaned over and said, "Because I have a lot of miscellaneous things at hand, Lord Yang Hengyang asked me to come back first." The specific measures will be submitted when Lord Yang returns from Xuzhou. ”

"What's going on over there in Xuzhou?"

Tian Xiu pondered for a while, organized the wording, and then said: "I have carefully inspected with Lord Yang, the matter of the 500-pound furnace fryer in the glass kiln has nothing to do with the furnace itself, it is that the mud bricks around the furnace cannot withstand the fire of coke, and after a long time of roasting, it will explode, and finally cause ......the furnace to collapse."

Chang Xiu waved her hand and asked her not to be busy talking first. He tilted his head and pondered for a moment, and asked, "I remember that there have been many times before when the mud bricks have exploded, but none of them have had such a result; What's going on? ”

"We used to use a small furnace of 200 catties, filled with frit, and even the stove itself weighed less than 300 catties. But this time the accident was a 500-kilogram furnace, and the furnace weighed more than 700 kilograms after the filling, even if the furnace did not collapse, only one or two mud bricks were stretched, and sometimes there may be a fryer. One by one, after a large furnace filler it was too heavy. ”

"You didn't know about this before?"

Tian Xiu nodded heavily and said, "...... We only know that now. There was no such furnace before......"

Chang Xiu was silent for a while and asked, "What's going on over there in the coke field?" ”

"It wasn't the people who worked in the workshop who died, it was two dolls. The doll was small, and the adults in the family didn't care about it, so the two of them were fighting in the coke yard, and when they ran over the coke kiln, they stepped on the kiln and collapsed, and then they ......"

Chang Xiu's face became even more ugly.

"We lost money to the families of the two dolls, and they agreed to do the same...... Don't bother with us anymore. Tian Xiu said, "Lord Yang allocated a sum of money to build a wall and completely enclose the Jiaochang. This will prevent the same thing from happening in the future, and it will also keep the coking secret. On the side of the glass workshop, the matter of the 500-pound furnace will also be temporarily suspended until a way to prevent the kiln from collapsing is found. ”

Chang Xiu was still nodding his head while listening to Jiaochang's measures, but when he heard Tian Xiu say that the construction of the 500-pound furnace in the glass workshop was going to be stopped, his brows furrowed. How can you stop the glass furnace because of an accidental fryer? Do you still need to find a way to prevent the fryer? Wouldn't it be okay to just make the furnace higher and thicker? He was about to say this, and suddenly realized one thing, when it comes to firing glass, it is impossible for Manda Zhao to be more insightful than Tian Xiu and Yang Heng, since they all think that the furnace is not higher and thicker to prevent the explosion of the furnace, then they must have a good reason, he is a squire of the Ministry of Works, there seems to be no reason to point fingers in this, right? At the end of his sentence, he changed his words and said, "Do as you wish." ”

Chang Xiu put down the teacup and said something else. This incident is the reason why he is looking for Tian Xiu today.

"Two days ago, the Ministry of Industry submitted a separate submission to the Ministry of Officials and the Prime Minister's Office, wanting to set up a patent department under the Ministry of Industry to unify the response to liquor, coke, glass and other patents that may exist in the future. I discussed with Lord Shang Shu and Lord Right Shilang, and I am going to let Yang Heng serve as the judge of the Patent Division, and you will serve as the Secretary of the Patent Division. Right now, the Prime Minister's Office has agreed to set up a patent department, just wait for the news from the Ministry of Officials......"