Xiao Tianjian paused for a moment, why did he encounter a kowtow worm today? So he shook his head helplessly, and shouted unhappily: "Stand up!" Our general doesn't want to see you talking on your knees like this! What are you afraid of? Honestly, that's it! ”

The old stove head was like a spring under his legs, and as soon as he heard the scolding of the iron head, he immediately bounced up, which made Xiao Tianjian can't believe that his legs and feet would be so sharp.

Xiao Tianjian then asked the old stove head: "Didn't Zhao Datong pay you before?" ”

When the old stove heard this, he was a little scared and a little excited, gritted his teeth and said: "Don't mention it, when Zhao Datong was alive, we people had to work for him, and he couldn't let us starve to death, so he just took care of our food, and the wages couldn't be imagined, and at most one bucket of bran or moldy old grain was given every month, as for our family, there was no way to live, so we could only dig some wild vegetables, and shoot cakes with bran noodles to live, sometimes we secretly hid some cakes and brought them back to satisfy their hunger, but they were found and beaten!" Where is it like the big boss who is so benevolent and righteous, didn't work, and paid his salary first, if it weren't for the kindness of the big boss, I'm afraid our family members would really not be able to pass this year! ”

Xiao Tianjian sighed after hearing this, he also knew that Zhao Datong would definitely not treat these people well, but he didn't expect Zhao Datong to treat them like this, so he then asked, "Then why didn't you run away in the first place?" ”

The old stove also relaxed at this moment, and then sighed and said, "Don't dare!" When I didn't make trouble before, although my life was poor, I was able to get by! But then there was a fight, and then Zhao Datong occupied the town, and when Zhao Datong was here, we also had people flee, but as long as they were caught back, they would kill the whole family! And it's going to be disemboweled, that's miserable! Later, the big boss killed Zhao Datong, and we didn't dare to run, if we really escaped, where could we flee to? We people have done this iron-making work all our lives, and we can't do anything else, and if we escape, we will starve to death, although Zhao Datong here is very mean, but we can still eat, although we can't eat, at least we won't starve to death! So I won't run! Fortunately, the big boss is here and kind to us, otherwise, we people really don't know what to do! ”

Xiao Tianjian gently patted the old stove head on the shoulder and comforted him: "Now you can rest assured!" I, Xiao and my Xingtianjun, are not Zhao Datong's generation, we will never be mean to you! As long as you work hard, the conditions are still poor, and when we turn around, we have more food on hand, so we must let everyone here eat enough, so that their wives and children will no longer suffer and starve! We have risen up in rebellion so that you poor people have food to eat and work to do! I will not harm you! This I, Xiao, can take the head of the item and want you to vouch for it! Can you believe me? ”

"Believe, believe! Where would you not believe it? The big boss is benevolent and righteous, we all know it, and now we can eat enough here, so the big boss looks, we are much more motivated! These days, the iron is out of three percent faster than in the past! If the big boss stays here and doesn't leave, then we people will be blessed! The old stove head hurriedly nodded again and again, indicating that he believed Xiao Tianjian's words.

Xiao Tianjian nodded and said, "Just believe it!" What I want to do is not only that, now I will give you a message, I also plan to open a academy in Lotus Village or Shuangfeng Village after the New Year, so that our local children can study in the academy smarter, and the children can read and write! The more you can understand, the more you will know why we were poor before! And as long as the children go to the academy to study, eat and wear, our Xingtianjun will take on it! We won't let them go hungry and freeze again! ”

The old stove's eyes lit up, and he involuntarily asked, "Is this true?" Oops, forgive me, the big boss, the little old man should be damned, damned! ”

"Huh! Of course it's true! I, Xiao, speak with a nail by spitting and smearing, and I will never break my word! Now the conditions are still limited, if the conditions are good in the future, not only the older children will go to school, but even the children will be wrapped up, and I Xiao will rebel, just for this! How can words not count? ”

As soon as the words fell, the old stove head grunted, then knelt down again, kowtowed to Xiao Tianjian with tears, and choked up: "Oops! We poor people are finally looking forward to good people! If the big boss really does this, even if my old bones are all nailed, I am willing to follow the big boss to death! ”

Xiao Tianjian pulled the old stove to sit down on a pile of stones on the side, grabbed a handful of fried beans from a cloth bag in his arms, gave the old stove a handful, and grabbed a small handful himself, chewing rattle, this thing may be Xiao Tianjian's only privilege, he came to this era, it is impossible to have any snacks to eat, occasionally ate a few fried beans at a time, and became obsessed with the fragrance of fried beans, so Jin Fuzi always fried some fried beans for him in private, let him take them with him, and when he thought about things, he ate a few, no one thought that Xiao Tianjian was too much, on the contrary, they are all a little sad, Xiao Tianjian is the big boss of their thousands of people, and the only preference is to eat a few such fried beans, so not only will no one say anything, but the big guys feel that they owe him.

The old man's mouth was okay, and he saw that Xiao Tianjian was really a person without a fight, so he completely relaxed, followed one by one to eat fried beans, and then chatted with Xiao Tianjian seriously, he would hide a few fried beans into his sleeve, Xiao Tianjian didn't blame him when he saw it, presumably there must be children in his family, and he wanted to take them back to give the children a try!

"How many craftsmen like you are there in Dongye Town right now?" Xiao Tianjian asked the old stove head while chewing fried beans.

"Not much! I think that when this Dongye Town was prosperous, there were no less than 500 of us iron-making craftsmen in the town, but now it is not good, together it is dozens of people, and the rest of the people are either used as poles, or they were killed by poles or official soldiers, and some people are not willing to wait here for death and run away! In the past, there were more than 20 large furnaces like this, which could produce hundreds of thousands of catties of iron in a year, but now there is only one larger furnace left for us, and the remaining three are still in use, and they are all smaller stoves, no matter how good they are every day, that is, they can only produce three or five hundred catties, and if they are good, they can produce five or six hundred catties of iron, and at the end of the year, they can't produce tens of thousands of catties of iron, and they are all deserted! It's a pity! ”

Xiao Tianjian was slightly shocked after hearing this, but after converting, he laughed dumbly, hundreds of thousands of catties of iron, converted into tons, that is, hundreds of tons of iron, can not catch up with a fraction of the iron produced by an ironmaking plant in later generations, the number sounds not small, but in fact it is not very big, no wonder Yangcheng is not famous for iron production in history, it turns out that this is still a small iron production place, but then I feel that it is not right! These stoves produce 500 catties a day, so if you turn it down in a year, at least this furnace will produce more than 100,000 catties of iron a year! How is it that so many furnaces produce so much iron in a year? But after thinking about it carefully, I figured out the truth, this old-fashioned shaft furnace has not been producing iron all year round, during which it must be extinguished and repaired, otherwise it will not take long to be scrapped, not to mention that ironmaking must at least have sufficient raw materials, if the mining volume is insufficient, no matter how much ironmaking furnace can not produce much iron.

"Yes! This is all the way of the world to make trouble! But does the old man know how to build this iron-making furnace? Xiao Tianjian asked the old stove head.

When the old stove heard this, he was a little unhappy, reached out and secretly stuffed the remaining beans in his hand into his sleeve, clapped his hands and said: "You must know that our Lu family, but we have been doing this for generations, and half of the stove in Dongye Town is repaired by our Lu family, and it has been passed on to my generation, and I don't know that it is the first generation, how can it not be this?" ”

"Huh! Don't be angry, I'm just asking! So like you, is there anyone else who can do it? Xiao Tianjian then asked.

"Of course...... I don't know what the big boss is going to do when he asks this? The old man was still very vigilant, and as soon as the words came out, he immediately stopped and asked Xiao Tianjian, as if he was afraid that Xiao Tianjian would let others take his position as the head of the stove.

"Don't get me wrong, Dongye Town, are you willing to watch it go down like this? It's definitely unwilling, just a few stoves can't feed too many people, why don't we build more furnaces? Ask if there is anyone else who can do this stove, just want to restore some more stoves, as for manpower, don't be afraid! Now there are a lot of people everywhere, so it's no problem to find some random ones and do some rough work! The key is that it's hard to find a stove like you! If you are willing to restore some furnaces, then I guarantee that your old Lu family will be the hero of my Xingtian Army, and in the future, the children of your old Lu family, as long as they are over ten years old, will be able to send them to the academy to study! And I'll give you three buckets of grain every month in the future, plus five taels of silver!" Let you be the steward of this Dongye Town Iron Smelt! Xiao Tianjian threw the remaining beans into his mouth, and then said to the old stove.

"Seriously!?" The old stove head stared at Xiao Tianjian eagerly with wide eyes.

"A gentleman has no jokes!" Xiao Tianjian replied affirmatively.

The old stove jumped up at once, and hurriedly beckoned a few people to come over, asked them to kneel down for Xiao Tianjian, pointed at them and said: "Big boss, these guys, but they are all my apprentices, and the two descendants over there, they are all my sons, don't look at their young age, but when they are young, they will follow me here next to the iron-making furnace to watch me work, and they can all be stove heads!" As long as there are people, my surname is Lu, I dare to say that within a year, there will be no problem in repairing five more stoves of this size! ”

Xiao Tianjian laughed and stuffed the small bag of fried beans in his hand into the old stove's hand and said: "I believe your words, but one year is too long, up to two months, and not only to build an iron-making furnace here, I also want to build it in Shuangfeng Village, such a furnace is too small, I want at least a big furnace that can rise thousands of catties at sunrise!" Can you do it? ”

"Huh? ……！ The old stove head was a little dumbfounded with this small bag of salt-baked beans.