With Xu Siyuan at the beginning, others naturally expressed their own opinions. They all expressed their opinions, of course, they also made suggestions, and when they made suggestions, Shi Yiwen, who was holding the idea of brainstorming, just nodded silently.

Finally, after everyone expressed their opinions, Shi Yiwen said.

"Now there are several problems, first of all, on the iron factory side, there is a surplus of pig iron, and the iron produced cannot be sold, unless we reduce the price."

Turning his gaze to Wu Cai, Shi Yiwen commanded.

"You write a letter tomorrow and tell that the price of pig iron will drop by one percent first, and then see the situation first."

"It's Childe."

After Wu Cai responded, Shi Yiwen looked at Xu Siyuan and asked.

"What do you think about the ironworks?"

"Childe, I think it should be good for the iron factory to produce horse-drawn carriages, after all, horse-drawn carriages need a lot of ironware, which is ......"

Looking at Childe, Xu Siyuan asked tentatively.

"I just don't know if we can make bearings, it's definitely not enough to rely on Gongzi to bring them from overseas."

The carriage has always wanted to be a good business, not only Qi Jiguang took a fancy to it, but even together with Shi Yiwen's two-wheeled covered two-seater carriage, because it often runs inside and outside the capital, this light and fast carriage has also aroused the interest of many people, and many people have gone to the carriage and horse shop to ask about its selling price.

"Well, you can try it."

Pursing his lips, Shi Yiwen thought for a moment.

"This kind of ball bearing can't be made, we can build cylindrical bearings first, but this requires the use of high-quality steel, and we must find a way to solve it."

After planning the next development of the iron factory, Shi Yiwen set his eyes on Wang Qidong and asked.

"Qidong, what do you think about the pharmaceutical factory?"

Seeing that Gongzi asked himself, Wang Qidong pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.

"Childe, in fact, after you left today, I have been thinking about this problem, I think, our gunpowder is sufficient, even if Jimen does not use ours, there is no problem, just say that Zunhua Iron Factory, there must be a lot of iron ore, this iron ore mining, generally is cannon quarrying, I have been to Tang County, there is a mine quarrying, each time is more than hundreds of catties, when a cannon is fired, all of them are the sky is cracking, gunsmoke is filled, we can sell gunpowder there, our medicine is enough, the medicine is less, they are definitely willing to use ours."

Wang Qidong's words made Shi Yiwen's eyes light up, how could he forget this stubble.

"I think it's okay, not only can you sell it to iron ore, but you can also sell it to those coal mines in western Beijing. Mines have always been big users of gunpowder, including iron ore and coal mines, and I estimate that tens of thousands of quintals of gunpowder will be used a year. ”

As soon as Shi Yiwen's words fell, Wang Qidong hesitated for a while before he said.

"Childe, I don't know, Zunhua, Tang County's iron ore mining must use gunpowder, but the coal mines in western Beijing will definitely not be successful, those coal kilns are generally used to plow coal with pickaxes, only a few good mines are black powder coal, and even if the coal is mined, it may not be able to be transported out, after all, the mines are in the mountains, and the pits rely on people to pull baskets, and they are transported out of the mountains, relying on mules and horses to transport coal, and it is difficult to transport coal, and the coal cannot be transported, even if it is mined, it is useless."

Looking at Wang Qidong, Shi Yiwen was surprised,

"You're saying that the coal in western Beijing can't be shipped?"

He really didn't think that the coal would not be able to be transported after mining?

But the next day, Shi Yiwen finally knew why the coal could not be transported, sitting on the tea stall on the side of the road, he did not drink tea, but looked at the coolies driving mules and horses down the mountain road.

"Childe, you see that the coal used in the capital is transported down like this, first the big dealers buy coal from the mines, and then use mules to transport it out of the mountain, and then transport it to the coal factory next to the official road leading to the capital, and then sell it to the coal shops in the capital through the coal factory, and finally sell it to thousands of households in the city. Therefore, these coal factories have a fleet of horses and carts, and mules are mainly used from the top to the bottom of the mountain, and the flat land depends on the horses and carts. ”

There were a few coal blacks sitting at the tea stall over there, looking at Shi Yiwen dressed in brocade clothes, he only thought that he was the young owner of the coal factory, and one of them took the initiative to say across the table.

"This old man is wrong, he came down from the mountain, saying that he relied on mules, but in fact he still had to rely on us coal blacks, mules are stubborn, one is not careful, maybe even people bring coal down the ravine, and if they leave us, this coal will not be transported out of the mountain no matter what."

"That's all up to you. The brothers have worked hard, and the tea money will come to an end in a while. ”

Shi Yiwen smiled, if he wanted to hear the news, he still had to inquire from them.

"Oh, son, you're polite, you don't know, others look at the few pennies we earn from transporting coal, and think a lot, but this money is earned in exchange for life, the mule is stubborn, and if you don't pay attention to even the coal and bring people, you will tear down the mountain, don't say, just say that the tigers and wolves in the mountains are all deadly things, there is no one on the side of Fangshan, that unlucky, just married Yan Ruyu's beautiful girl, one black and one white, I wanted to give birth to a big fat boy, but I thought that that person met a tiger on the way to carry coal a while ago, and he actually died and fed the tiger, hey, coal black music, coal black women are as biased as jade. Coal black is bitter, coal black meets Xishan tiger. This life......"

The coal black man said while pitying the beautiful girl who became a widow, surprisingly, none of them had to ridicule the beautiful girl who became a widow, but sympathized with the coal black who had never been known in his life, and sympathized with the widow, after all, they themselves were also coal blacks, maybe they would encounter the same thing that day, and their beautiful girl became a widow overnight.

"Childe, do you want to take a breath first, you are a rich man, unlike us rough people, we have long been accustomed to this mountain road."

When going up the mountain, Li Feng asked the son who followed the mountain from time to time. It was his words before.

"No, I don't feel tired."

Unexpectedly, Shi Yiwen found that his physical fitness seemed to be very good after crossing, and he walked for an hour on the mountain road without sweating or feeling tired, which made him feel quite happy.

"Hey, work hard, what's the point of being tired, earn some silver and go home, the wife and children are hot on the kang, that's comfortable."

"Brother Li, look at what you said, what if you touch a tiger?"

"It's not like going out early in the morning and coming back at night, driving the mule back and forth, and accidentally falling into the tiger's mouth, but it's complete, we don't care if it's over, it's the mother-in-law at home...... Hey......"

"Hey, don't think about it, it's falling rocks, big water, these things, everything costs human lives......"

Listening to the sighs of these coal blackspots, Shi Yiwen watched him pull the mule on the winding mountain road, and it must have been even harder when he transported coal out of the mountain. For them, joy is naturally the welcome when their wife hears the bell and opens the door to greet them when they come back, which is probably the most heartwarming moment for them. However, in addition to the hard work, the journey of carrying coal is sometimes unpredictable, and it may encounter landslides or floods, and even encounter fierce beasts, and the danger is everywhere.

When going up the mountain, Shi Yiwen will look at the mountain roads that carry coal under his feet, which are all paved with stone strips or stone slabs, which should have been level, but as the hooves of the beasts continue to step on them, they accumulate over time, and even obvious hoof sockets appear on the stone paths (1).

Staring thoughtfully at those hooves, Shi Yiwen pursed his lips, just here, only to hear someone say.

"Hmph, surnamed Shi, we haven't seen each other for a while!" ……

(1) There are several centimeters deep in the hoof nest of the Fengkou Nunnery section of the Xishan Road in Mentougou, which are all traces of hundreds of years of coal transportation down the mountain.