After the end of the year.

Zhu Shun went to the Institute of Metallurgy and asked for a fine house, and he was not ready to leave until the steelmaking method was studied.

Before steelmaking, refractory bricks need to be fired.

The melting point of iron reached an astonishing 1538 degrees Wen's, and the various bricks fired by Daming were certainly not up to standard.

Refractory bricks are one of the important refractory materials, which can not only be used to fire steelmaking, but also become an important refractory material for chemical, petroleum and machinery manufacturing in the future.

The main material of refractory bricks is bauxite, Zhu Shun did not stay in the Metallurgical Institute for two days, and rode out with Xu Jixin.

According to the memory in Zhu Shun's mind, he went to find bauxite mines in Henan, which is close to Beizhili.

The distribution of bauxite is very concentrated, and the reserves of Shanxi, Guizhou, Henan and Guangxi provinces account for 90.9% of the total reserves.

Shanxi, as the nest of Jin merchants, occupies 41.6%, and Guizhou and Guangxi are now a mountain range, and the possibility of development is almost equal to nothing.

As long as the industrial faction masters the five major bauxite mines in Shanxi, it basically monopolizes the bauxite mines.

As for why Zhu Shun didn't go to Shanxi, but ran to Henan, which accounts for 16.7%, it was the big pit he dug for Jin merchants.

A month later.

Zhu Shun, who had been sleeping in the open for a month, rode a horse on a dirt road in the countryside and began to take advantage of the industrial education system: "The next kind of mine to look for." ”

"The whole is white or grayish-white, and some parts are brownish-yellow or light red because of the iron content."

"In addition, this kind of ore is more brittle and hard, and it is easier to be crushed into stone slag by a crusher than ordinary calcium carbonate stones."

Xu Jixin heard the teacher's narration, sat down on the horse and began to think, and discussed with the metallurgical students.

Because this kind of stone is useless in the eyes of the Ming people, it is not as good as ordinary hard stones, at least hard stones are not easy to break, and there are few records.

What the bureaucratic squire didn't know was that bauxite was extremely difficult to melt because of its brittle and hard characteristics.

It is one of the main raw materials for all refractories, and refractories are widely used in later generations and have a large market.

In the eyes of the Ming people, the brittle hard stone that is worthless will be priceless in the future generations, and money cannot be bought.

Xu Jixin thought about it for a while, and really recalled a similar record in a miscellaneous note.

Whether it is specific or not, you need to see it yourself before you can really be sure.

Xu Jixin recalled seriously two or three times, and said: "Just near Luoyang, there is really a mine like this. ”

mentioned that Luoyang was really at the doorstep, and the vassal territory of the prince of King Fu was in Luoyang, Zhu Shun nodded: "Okay, let's go over and have a look first." ”

Zhu Shun and Xu Jixin and a group of metallurgical students accelerated their horses and galloped on the dirt roads in the countryside, which took several days of hard work.

Finally, near Yanshi City for seventy or eighty miles, I found the kind of abandoned mine in Xu Jixin's memory.

Before coming to this mine, Zhu Shun led the horse and walked over and picked up a stone at the foot of the mountain.

Zhu Shun took this stone in his hand and broke it hard, breaking it into a pile of gravel.

In order to be truly sure, I picked up another piece, or broke it into a pile of rubble by hand.

Zhu Shun couldn't help but show a flat smile on his face, judging from the appearance, taste, and hardness, it was indeed bauxite.

The hardness of bauxite is only 1~3 degrees, which is basically about the same as the hardness of gypsum.

There are 10 grades of hardness for all stones, with the lowest grade 1 and the highest grade 10.

The hardness of gypsum is 2 degrees, and the hardness of bauxite is relatively low.

The main material was bauxite, and the next step was to fire refractory bricks.

But first buy the refractory mine, this waste mountain that is inferior to even the most common stones in the eyes of the bureaucratic squires.

Zhu Shun looked at Xu Jixin who was collecting data with metallurgical students, and said with a flat smile: "Who does this mine belong to?" ”

Over the years, the Institute of Metallurgy has summarized various ores in the Ming Dynasty, especially the ownership of the mine, so as to facilitate the use of industrial schools.

Xu Jixin's years of preparation immediately came in handy: "The Jin family, one of the eight Jin merchants. ”

The eight Jin merchants have long been unworthy of their name, and only the two major Jin merchants remain.

After such a long time, he can finally pit the Jin merchants again, as long as he buys this bauxite mine, he can let the Jin merchants see the mine that doesn't even need to touch ordinary stones.

Turn waste into treasure and become a mountain of gold.

Zhu Shun knew who the owner of this mine was, and explained: "King Fu's influence on this land is still there. ”

"But I thought that the noble status of the teacher was not suitable for visiting King Fu, Qi'er, you will take a trip on behalf of the teacher."

The next step is to develop bauxite mines on a large scale, and the demand for miners is relatively large.

No matter what you do in Daming, the first thing to solve is to have a good relationship with the local county office.

Otherwise, every day, just those three-shift and six-room officials can force the Shandong family to leave.

There is not much of a problem for Zhu Shun in this regard, whether it is the Yanshi Yamen or the local bureaucrats and gentry.

As long as there is a relationship between the blessed king, the problem of local forces can be completely solved.

Zhu Shun left Xu Jixin to deal with the problem of the mine, and after all, the mine was in charge of him, so he rode to the capital first.

After arriving in the capital, he found Wang Chengen, the governor of Dongchang, and borrowed a stall from him.

In order to hide his identity, Zhu Shun said that he was Wang Chengen's nephew and completed a borrowing of Dongchang.

When he came to the lobby of the official office of the 24th Yamen, when the stall head heard Zhu Shun's request, he couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "Our family still thinks that Brother Wang is going to do something, but this matter is not easy to capture." ”

Zhu Shun smiled flatly, and suddenly asked: "I heard that Father-in-law Fang's ancestral hall is relatively poor." ”

"I don't know if I'm interested in opening a spinning factory with Wang to improve the life of the ancestral hall."

Pulling Dongchang into the house together, Zhu Shun thought about it for a long time.

In the future, there will be more places to use the East Factory, relying solely on the maintenance of human favors, and after a long time, human favors will always be used up one day.

If you can bring in the East Factory, tie them together, and assimilate them into a member of the industrial faction.

In addition, not everyone can enter the industrial faction, only those who have passed the character test can enter the industrial faction.

There is a clear record in the history books about the character of Fang Gonggong.

Martyrdom to the death.

The head of the stall didn't immediately agree, pondering for a long time, as if he was weighing something.

Just when Zhu Shun thought that he would not agree, the stall nodded solemnly: "Okay, in the future, our family's ancestral hall will ask Brother Wang." ”

The stall head agreed to this, got up and walked out: "Let's go, let's go and meet the Jin family's big shopkeeper in the capital." ”