At noon the next day, Zhao Hongrun was already sitting in a room in the main room of the Smelting Bureau, drinking tea while flipping through the roster of personnel under the Smelting Bureau.

In front of him, Cheng Wangfu of the Smelting Bureau led three Lang officials to stand in the house.

"Chen Tang, Cheng Lin, Xun Xin......"

Glancing at the three Lang officials of the Smelting Bureau beside Wang Fu, Zhao Hongrun's eyes turned to the roster in his hand again, carefully checking the resumes of these three Lang officials.

Generally speaking, each government keeps a roster of previous officials, including their official biographies, as does the Metallurgical Bureau.

What surprised Zhao Hongrun was that among the three officials, Chen Tang, the eldest, had worked in the Smelting Bureau for 28 years, which was unimaginable.

"Lord Chen Tang, this year's Gui Geng?" Zhao Hongrun asked curiously.

I saw that in front of Zhao Hongrun, an official with unkempt hair and patches everywhere in his official uniform bowed, and said in a humble tone: "Xiao ...... Petty Officer......"

"Petty official? What kind of self-professed name is this?'

Zhao Hongrun looked at Chen Tang with some astonishment.

However, being stared at by Zhao Hongrun like this, the Lang official named Chen Tang became even more embarrassed and nervous, and stammered with a lot of effort before saying, "Xiao ...... Petty Officer...... No, no, Xia Guan Chen Tang, forty and three this year. ”

"It turns out that what he wanted to talk about was Xiaguan......

Zhao Hongrun turned his head to look at Wang Fu and asked in a low voice, "This Lord Chen Tang, could it be that he has a mouth disease?" ”

Wang Fu smiled bitterly, lowered his voice and explained: "Chen Tang has no mouth disease, it may be that he has never met His Royal Highness the prince at close range, so he is restrained in his heart. As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Chen Tang, and said with a smile of relief: "Chen Tang, His Royal Highness King Su is a virtuous Highness. Don't be too reserved. ”

"Yes, yes......" Chen Tang nodded again and again, his eyes flickering, and he looked a little at a loss.

Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but be a little speechless when he saw this, in fact, he thought that there was something in his heart at first, and he was afraid to see him, but now it seems that the other party is clearly an honest man who is too honest. was frightened by his titles of "prince" and "king of Su".

After thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun asked in a more gentle tone: "Lord Chen, according to this roster, you have not passed the scientific examination, and no one has recommended you, but you have only slowly sat in the position of Lang official step by step, right?" ”

"Yes, yes, His Royal Highness King Su, villain...... No. Xiaguan's father used to be a craftsman in the Smelting Bureau, so when Xiaguan was thirteen years old, he had already worked in the bureau to become a craftsman, and he worked for two years to become a craftsman, and then worked for another three years, and then became a craftsman...... "Speaking of this, he seems to feel that he is too chattering. Some closed their mouths at a loss.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun asked with a smile: "Craftsman? Apprenticeship? ”

"Exactly." Wang Fu explained in a low voice: "According to the usual practice. When a newcomer comes to my smelting bureau, he can only do miscellaneous work in the first two years, and he can only become a craftsman after two years, learn the craft with the craftsman, and then work for another three years, if there is no major negligence. You can turn into a craftsman......"

"Craftsman? Another name for a craftsman? ”

"No, no, no." Wang Fu shook his head and corrected: "A craftsman is a craftsman, and a craftsman is a craftsman. As he spoke, he explained the difference between the two to Zhao Hongrun.

Originally, a craftsman refers to a craftsman who has been converted from an apprentice to a full-time worker. Although they have a certain amount of experience, they generally do not have the ability to make tools on their own, and can only serve as assistants to craftsmen, which refers to mature craftsmen who have a lot of experience and can make tools on their own.

To use the most direct analogy, the one who casts the iron sword, keeps an eye on the fire with tongs in hand, and directs the rest of the people is the experienced craftsman, and the craftsman is the assistant who holds a heavy hammer on the side and hammers the iron embryo hard at once under the command of the craftsman, and as for the one who pulls the bellows, that is, the craftsman, that is, the apprentice.

And the least influential, at best, is to move ore and firewood, and it is rare to even enter the shed once.

To put it bluntly, only craftsmen can be considered regular workers and will be registered on the register of the Metallurgical Works, while the rest are only temporary workers and apprentices.

According to Zhao Hongrun's later understanding, in the title of craftsman, there is also a craftsman, which refers to those more experienced old craftsmen, who are responsible for some more delicate work, such as creating molds for the household department to cast money, etc.

According to Wang Fu, it was a long time to go from an inexperienced helper to a craftsman, enough for a young man in his teens to grow to a full beard.

"The title of the Metallurgical Bureau...... Does it need to be so rigorous? ”

"Job title?" Wang Fu asked puzzled.

"This king refers to the rank of helper, craftsman, craftsman, craftsman."

"Oh." Wang Fu was relieved when he heard this, and said with a smile: "Letting inexperienced young people build appliances independently is just adding to inferior products. Your Highness, you also know that we can't have the slightest mistake here, otherwise, if the military department and the household department follow the technology of our smelting bureau, there will be a large number of inferior products. ”

"What are you doing with the military department and the household department? Do you still have a habit of giving hands to others?'

Zhao Hongrun glanced at Wang Fu with a strange expression, then put the roster in his hand aside, and asked, "Wang Jucheng, are the craftsmen in my smelting bureau mainly blacksmiths?" ”

"Yes." Jucheng Wang Fu nodded and said: "In my smelting bureau, there are about more than 400 craftsmen, of which sixty percent are good at ironmaking, followed by carpenters, and stonemasons at least...... After all, this is the Metallurgical Bureau, not the Construction Department of the Ministry of War. ”

"Hmm."

Zhao Hongrun nodded.

After that, he asked some more questions, which made Wang Fu and the other four retreat and take care of themselves.

And himself, with the cup of tea, stood at the window of the house, silent.

"I chose a department that is a potential stock, but it is currently signed......

Looking at the wasteland outside the window, Zhao Hongrun sighed slightly.

It is undeniable that the current situation of the Smelting Bureau is really miserable, far from what he expected earlier.

It can be said that it is poor and white!

The only thing that is gratifying is that the craftsmen in the smelting bureau are all craftsmen who have honed their own craftsmanship step by step to become "regular workers", and even Chen Tang, Cheng Lin, Xun Xinna and other Lang officials have survived from helpers and apprentices, and I believe that they are familiar with striking iron and building utensils.

It's just too unconfident, and it's only promised. Zhao Hongrun was a little displeased.

But it's no wonder, after all, the Ministry of Industry has always been at the bottom of the six ministries of the imperial court, and it is not without reason that people who want to come to the Ministry of Industry are used to being too humble.

Just like the officials of the Ministry of Officials walked with their toes high, who called them the heads of the six departments?

As for the Ministry of Works, it is hard to say. It is purely a craftsman in official uniforms, and I believe that the vast majority of the officials of the other five ministries of the imperial court hold this prejudice.

As a department under the Ministry of Industry, the status of the Smelting Bureau is needless to say, it is simply the existence of being called by the rest of the imperial courts, which makes Zhao Hongrun really unacceptable.

Obviously it is the department responsible for the research and development and improvement of the technology of the Great Wei Dynasty, but the status of the Metallurgical Bureau is very different from the Military Casting Bureau of the Ministry of War.

"We want to reform!"

This idea became clearer and clearer in Zhao Hongrun's heart.

First of all. It is necessary to change the original foundation of the Smelting Bureau.

What kind of situation is the current smelting bureau, Zhao Hongrun gradually understood through observation that it was purely a vassal department that was working for the six departments of the imperial court, including the Ministry of Industry, and all the was thrown to the smelting bureau.

The Ministry of Water under the Ministry of Industry requested to improve the waterwheel and find the Metallurgical Bureau; The War Casting Bureau under the Ministry of War felt that the iron sword that had been built now was backward. Find the Metallurgical Bureau; The household department needed a new large-scale mold for casting copper coins, and went to the smelting bureau.

The whole ****** looking for the Metallurgical Bureau.

As for returns. Hehe, almost nothing.

Recalling the brand-new official uniforms worn by the household officials, and then looking at the official uniforms with many patches on Chen Tang, Cheng Lin, Xun Xin and others, Zhao Hongrun didn't even have the strength to scold.

There are six departments and twenty-four divisions of the imperial court, and the status is high and low, noble and low, and Zhao Hongrun has heard of this for a long time. But he never imagined that the gap was so obvious.

"Beep! In the future, whoever dares to call the smelting bureau to work for white workers will slap him in the face!"

Zhao Hongrun viciously drank the tea in the cup in one gulp.

Bitter!

Even the tea leaves are such cheap defective tea!

Feeling the bitterness of the residual tea in his mouth, Zhao Hongrun put the cup on the table casually, and immediately picked up the pen and wrote four words on the paper.

"Military", "civilian".

For the reform of the system for the Metallurgical Bureau. Zhao Hongrun has already thought of the general direction, which is nothing more than the development of the military industry and civilian use.

The military refers to the iron-smelting process naturally.

Although it is said that the iron-smelting technology of the Great Wei is far more than that of the Chu State, the improvement of skills in this area will not be too much, if it is not for the current smelting technology is not yet at home, in his Zhao Hongrun's opinion, it is still very backward, and he even hopes to make titanium alloy in one go.

What bronze swords, wrought iron swords, are purely things that can be broken at a split.

It's a pity that this kind of wish is purely extravagant, Zhao Hongrun has no doubt that even if he closes his eyes and dies, they will not be able to make titanium alloys.

Let's be honest about steel.

However, it is a pity that as far as Zhao Hongrun knows about the steelmaking method, not to mention that the current conditions of the Great Wei cannot be done, even if it is another one or two hundred years, I am afraid it may not be possible.

can only continue to improve the wrought iron process, although it is said that using forging to make steel is extremely painful in Zhao Hongrun's opinion, but who makes Dawei's current technology far from the level of direct steelmaking?

But the problem is that in terms of how to refine wrought iron, Zhao Hongrun really hasn't paid attention to this kind of thing in his memory, he only knows a general direction at best, and he doesn't know the specific metal ratio at all.

"There's a long way to go!"

Zhao Hongrun sighed again.

As for the civilian aspect, Zhao Hongrun has some ideas.

It's not to improve the living standards of the people in the Great Wei Dynasty, at the moment Zhao Hongrun is just thinking about how to make money, after all, he wants to feed a huge smelting bureau at the moment, don't look at the hundreds of thousands of silver in his hands in the household, but if this money is used in the smelting bureau and other departments with huge expenses, according to Zhao Hongrun's hope, that money is not forbidden at all.

Thinking about it, just now, in order to test the strength of the iron sword made by the new process, the three officials split the iron sword of two bamboo baskets in one go, how much is this fee worth?

"The first step is not good......

Zhao Hongrun was thinking about it when he suddenly heard a noise outside the house.

"Where is Wang Fu? Tell Wang Fu to come out! …… He dared to refuse the matter entrusted by my military department? Ate the bear's heart and leopard gall?! ”

『……』

Zhao Hongrun frowned, got up and walked to the window. (To be continued.) )