After Zhao Xingde came to this world, he paid more attention to iron-smelting because of his interest. The main way of ironmaking in this era was to use charcoal furnaces to make iron, so that the iron smelted was of good quality, but the cost of ironmaking was extremely high and the price was expensive. The armor and blades used in the Xia army were mostly made of iron by this method, and then forged. The iron tools and agricultural tools used by the people are made of simply treated coke and then forged repeatedly. The second is to use a charcoal furnace to make iron, and use the frying method to obtain steel. Because the impurities in the coal seep into the molten iron, steel is very brittle, but it is cheap. Because of the large number of forbidden armies in the Song Kingdom, the three envoys had to save money, so most of the armor blades really distributed to the soldiers were made of this kind of iron. Only a few armor blades, which were rationed to generals and to cope with inspections, were made using the method of making steel. The third method is to smelt iron from small crucibles, and then hammer them into fine blades, which is mainly used by the Hezhong workshops, the Turks, the Tianzhu people and the Khitan people of the Liao State, but the disadvantage is that it is labor-intensive and the yield is too low.

Zhao Xingde said slowly with a look of memory on his face: "Some types of charcoal, as long as they are treated slightly, can replace charcoal to make iron, and the quality of the iron produced is no different from charcoal. ”

"Really?" Chun Yuzhen's eyes showed surprise. Coal, even if it is simply treated coke, is not clean because of the impurities removed, and there is a huge difference between the iron smelted from charcoal. However, the Xia Kingdom strictly forbade the indiscriminate felling of forests, and the price of charcoal used for iron smelting was more than twice as expensive as that in the Kanto region, and the price of refined iron was also higher. Because the people of the Xia Kingdom loved to use good iron, there were merchants who used charcoal to smelt iron in the Song Kingdom, and then smuggled it to Guanzhong to sell.

Zhao Xingde nodded slightly, and said in a deep voice: "I remember that the approximate location is in Jinhua Mountain in the north of Chang'an, where there are many veins of carbon, and I want you to send someone to collect samples to determine the origin of this refined charcoal, and then we will bid for the mining rights." He paused and sighed, "This kind of refined charcoal is rare elsewhere, it can be said to be a treasure in the world, if it is used to burn it for heating, it will inevitably destroy the heavens." ”

His words were conclusive, and Chun Yuzhen was even more shocked in his heart, and nodded: "Just as Mr. said." ”

Zhao Xingde said: "After the origin of the coal is determined, it is enough to bid for a high-grade small iron mine." He closed his eyelids slightly, thought about it for a moment, and said, "In the belly of the Qinling Mountains, one hundred and fifty miles west of Chang'an, the iron ore produced is the best, and Mr. Chunyu can pay more attention." He estimated that with the scale of ironmaking in this era, there was no need to mine the large-scale mines of later generations. Chun Yuzhen nodded again. The veins in Guanzhong have already undergone a lot of exploration, and it is more convenient to simply buy the mining rights of the existing veins than to go to great lengths to find new mines.

Xia Guo divided the iron ore into nine grades, the high-grade ore has a high iron content, and the low-grade ore has less iron, and the price is naturally different. According to Zhao Xingde's words, he was determined to use coal to smelt high-quality steel comparable to charcoal smelting, so he would rather use expensive high-grade small mines than low-grade ores. In this era, smelting a pound of iron requires five or six catties of charcoal, and Zhao Xingde plans to build a blast furnace near the coal production area in the future.

The two then agreed that Chun Yuzhen would be in charge of the day-to-day operations of the iron ore business, accounting for 60 percent of the shares, while Zhao Xingde would only have 40 percent of the shares. Both of them invested most of the bounties they received from cannon casting into the mining and iron smelting business. Chun Yuzhen sent people to Jinhua Mountain to find out the refined carbon vein and bid for it. During this period, Zhao Xingde first assisted Chun Yuzhen to build a small coke oven and began to optimize the coking process. Because charcoal is commonly used instead of wood for heating in the Xia Kingdom, charcoal can be bought everywhere, and iron mines are not so easy to find a suitable one.

After Chun Yuzhen's cannon casting technique was completed, although he was admired, he always felt that there was something missing than before, and now Zhao Xingde proposed the cause of mining and smelting iron, so that he was like a tired war horse suddenly heard the sound of the golden drum of the charge, and was ready to do it again with great interest. Different from casting cannons, iron smelting involves thousands of households, and in the Xia Kingdom, most of the real wealthy merchants and giants are inseparable from the business of tea, iron, and Buma porcelain.

At this time, there was a haze in the Linquan Palace. Both the Zhuguo Mansion and the Protector Mansion raised doubts about interfering with the autonomy of the Chamber of Commerce, which made Chen Xuan quite angry.

"The pillars of Guanzhong and the lieutenants themselves have a lot of money in the workshop, and even the public treasury of the various armies and military governments are also involved. And the captains in the river were worried that the imperial court would interfere with the operation of the chamber of commerce, and as soon as this case was opened, there would be endless troubles. Liu Yi's face is not good-looking, whenever the imperial court uses troops, whenever the materials hoarded by the baggage division are lacking, the merchants in the river will raise the price of some goods, although it will not be too much, but let the treasury spend more money. The baggage division has long been dissatisfied, but it is forced by the imperial court not to interfere with the rules of merchant autonomy, and cannot force the chamber of commerce to stabilize the value of goods.

"Some Zhuguo said that allowing the chamber of commerce to be autonomous and recognizing the contract between merchants is the law of the imperial court, and if the power of the imperial court interferes with the contract, the imperial court itself has violated the law, and how will Your Majesty rule the world in the future?" Liu Yi looked at Chen Xuan's angry expression and said slowly, "They also said that if the emperor feels that the apprentices are in a pitiful situation, he can increase the apprenticeship treatment of the Fuhaixing Workshop, or the inner treasury will pay to help the apprentices, which is in line with the laws of the imperial court." Moreover, if you want to help the workers in Guanzhong, there is no source for this money. ”

"These old and young, I want to ......," Chen Xuanzhen said angrily, he rarely expressed his dissatisfaction with the Protector Mansion Zhu Guofu, but after holding it for a while, he couldn't say what to do. The Protectorate Pillar has its own opinions, and it is not the same time.

Chen Xuan forcibly calmed the anger in his chest, and asked in a deep voice: "Could it be that among the Zhu Guo and the school captains, there is no one who agrees with the proposal of the Prime Minister's Mansion?" ”

"Yes," Liu Yi said in a deep voice, "Yang Ren and Yu Zangyun, the captains of the Zhu Kingdom, both advocate restricting the wanton enslavement of workers in the workshop, and Xu Wenhu, who has just retired from the army, also supports the Prime Minister's Mansion. However, because the new law conflicts with the existing law, it is necessary for more than two-thirds of the pillar states to agree before the original law can be amended and the new law can be promulgated. Moreover, the two sides in the Protectorate are still at loggerheads. ”

"I see," Chen Xuan muttered, "If the Protectorate is not unanimously opposed, what if I first issue an edict to rectify this matter?" ”

Liu Yi's face changed slightly, and the hall of light suddenly fell silent, the wind whistled outside, and only the sound of the two monarchs and ministers was heard in the hall. The elder brother of the first emperor, Chen Su, repeatedly admonished the two prefectures, and more than 300 school captains were impeached for "acting unworthy of the king", and were finally deposed by the two prefectures, and Chen Xuan's father, Chen Yuan, was re-established, that is, the first emperor. Since then, the emperor has been extremely cautious in issuing a separate edict to decide major matters, and Chen Xuanxian has to take the great risk of losing the hearts of the people when he makes an edict that is still being disputed between the two governments.

Liu Yi was silent for a while, and said in a deep voice: "Those who are worried about the ministers, in the autonomous region, it is the Chamber of Commerce that pays to maintain the city guards. The imperial court never interfered much in the appointment and dismissal of personnel. Although the commander of the city guard was a retired officer who swore allegiance to the imperial court, if the chamber of commerce was bewitched by the imperial court's perverse behavior and the imperial decree violated the law, it would be difficult to guarantee the consequences. And now the attitude of the two governments is unclear. If a rebellion is provoked, and Captain Guanzhong has an ambiguous attitude, will the imperial court mobilize the army stationed in the north of the desert on the right side of Tunlong to attack Chang'an? ”

Chen Xuan was silent and did not speak. Because of the stakes, he retired from the guards. In this empty hall of light, only echoes buzzed, and the evening sun shone obliquely through the windows into the hall, and the tall pillars of the hall dragged long oblique shadows, shrouding the monarch and the minister in black shadows.

Liu Yi said: "Now that Rus has been decided, the Turks are accumulating strength to stir up trouble, Mobei is unstable, and the Liao and Song kingdoms are ready to move, and there will be a big war in a few years." The Quartet is troublesome, and there can be no more chaos in the country. At the beginning, the 'law of redeeming and buying the land was forcibly implemented', but the consent of the two governments was obtained, and the rebellion in the river was rebelled, and then the counterinsurgency war caused the people to be killed and injured very seriously, so that there was a move of 'filling the river in Sichuan and Shaanxi'. And Emperor Weiyuan also had to abdicate after committing his own crimes. Later, the system of slaves and maids was abolished in the country, and there were still endless arguments in the two houses, so there were slave armies that rose up, and when the civil war was about to break out, if it were not for the Jiaorong army to subdue the slaves who had risen, I was afraid that the national fortune would be worried. The situation today is just as similar as it was back then. ”

Chen Xuan listened, suddenly interrupted Liu Yi and asked, "The royal family and Fuhaixing also opened a workshop in Guanzhong, right?" ”

Liu Yi pondered for a moment and replied: "Not only the royal family, but also Weichen knows, all the founding princes, including the Liu family, have opened workshops in Guanzhong, but most of us employ craftsmen and apprentices in the guild, and rarely recruit lius as apprentices. His tone was uncertain. The Xia State forbade land annexation, and the concubines of the royal family and the founding princes were not able to inherit titles and fiefs, and there were a large number of people who ran caravan workshops, and some of them were inevitably in collusion with the merchants who enslaved the exiles.

Chen Xuan nodded and sighed: "The Chamber of Commerce is inextricably linked, no wonder there is so much resistance in the two provinces. The people are stranded and displaced, how can they be called peaceful and prosperous? He shook his head, feeling a sigh of relief in his chest, and then got up and stood in front of the window, breathing deeply in the cold air to calm his irritable mind. Outside the window, on the opposite side of Shou Changze, there was a group of people looking at the palace, seeing Chen Xuan standing by the window, they shouted long live to this side, Chen Xuan took a deep breath, waved his hand to that side, and the people became more and more elated. The cool breeze blew, and the feverish mind gradually became calm, Chen Xuan's face turned resolute, and he said in a deep voice: "Although it is difficult to improve the situation of the workers, it must still be done. ”

"The Prime Minister's Mansion first opened a government office in the autonomous area of the Chang'an Chamber of Commerce, on the one hand, to help the people, and on the other hand, to investigate various workshops." Chen Xuan thought about it and said, "I think that the autonomy of the Chamber of Commerce is still under attack, and the good and bad workshops are uneven. Let's start by finding out the workshops that really abuse and enslave the workers. and then make public the common anger of people and gods. Besides," he said, turning around, with a sneer, "the covenant is meant to protect, but the decree also protects the subjects from lynching. After the establishment of the government office, it first investigated whether the workshop had been privately punished, beaten, or even maimed at people's lives. He paused for a moment and said in an accentuated tone, "I must get real evidence." ”