"PS: I really can't collect relevant information, if I briefly describe this paragraph, no one should blame me, right?"

――――The following text――――The Armory Casting Bureau, the full name of the Great Wei Ordnance Casting Bureau, it is located in the desolate area near the northwest of the city in Daliang City, the scale of the division covers more than the Smelting Bureau, and the number of craftsmen in the Department is also twice as large as the Smelting Bureau, which is the most large-scale and powerful department in the "Three Manufacturing".

The so-called "three manufacturing bureaus", namely the internal construction bureau, the military casting bureau and the smelting bureau, are respectively under the jurisdiction of the internal superintendent, the military department and the ministry of industry.

However, with the accession of Zhao Hongrun to the Smelting Bureau, the Smelting Bureau was removed from the control of the Ministry of Industry, and the Smelting Bureau became an independent department outside the 24th Division, and its position was replaced by the "Yu Construction Department" under the Ministry of Industry, which took over the cooperation between the Smelting Bureau and the Ministry of Industry.

This change has made the War Casting Bureau sit more firmly in the position of the head of the three bureaus.

However, what no one expected was that on 8 June, Wei Tianzi issued an edict to allow a new subordinate office called the "Military Construction Bureau" to be set up under the jurisdiction of the Metallurgical Bureau, which shocked some officials in the DPRK and China.

Officials of the DPRK and China, no one will be fools, and of course they understand what it means to be under the jurisdiction of the "Military Construction Bureau" under the jurisdiction of the Metallurgical Bureau.

I remember that a few days ago, the Smelting Bureau renovated the official office, built several hearths outside the city, and even started construction on the fourth line, recruiting a large number of new craftsmen for this purpose, which made many officials in the DPRK and China secretly shake their heads, muttering that the steps taken by the Smelting Bureau are inevitably too big, as if they want to eat fat in one go.

But before they could finish their sighs, the Smelting Bureau sacrificed the killer weapon of the "Military Construction Administration" and openly snatched the country's armament orders with the Military Casting Bureau, which surprised many people.

And what made them even more stunned was that in the face of the Smelting Bureau, which openly came to steal their jobs, Li Jin, the Bureau of Military Foundry, remained silent. He did not take his men and horses to the smelting bureau to protest, nor did he write to the imperial court, begging Wei Tianzi to take back his order.

Later, they learned that the Metallurgical Bureau had sent people to transport a large number of iron embryos to the workshop of the Military Casting Bureau the day after the establishment of the "Military Manufacturing Bureau". It was all wrought iron suitable for reshaping and casting iron swords and armor, and it was piled up as high as a hill in the open space in the Arsenal Bureau.

This hand stunned the people of the War Casting Bureau, and at the same time made them speechless.

"It's a provocation!"

Standing in front of the iron embryo that was piled up like a hill in the department, Li Jin, the director of the War Casting Bureau, had a very ugly face.

Of course, he knew what the hill-like iron embryo meant.

It's a message!

The people of the Smelting Bureau wanted to use this to tell him: Your Arsenal Bureau wants iron embryo casting weapons and equipment, and I will give it to you from the Smelting Bureau. But if all your requirements have been met, you will not be able to keep the meat in the bowl. Then don't blame us for the Smelting Bureau.

This is a fair competition, in fact, more seriously, the Smelting Bureau is still a relatively disadvantaged side, because of this, Li Jin, the director of the War Casting Bureau, has no face to make a plea to Wei Tianzi, after all, this means that their War Casting Bureau does not dare to accept the challenge of the Smelting Bureau, which will make their prestige and status in the court plummet.

But then again. Will the Orry Forge be afraid of such a challenge?

Li Jin said that they are not afraid!

"It's just ......"

Li Jin glanced up at the pile of iron embryos that looked like hills, and his brows furrowed slightly.

"These are the number of iron embryos...... It can't really be calcined by the Smelting Bureau in the past few days, right?"

Let's be honest. The news that the Metallurgical Bureau invited people from the Ministry of Industry to build several hearths outside the city, Li Jin was not unclear.

But he was not optimistic.

Why? Because the War Casting Bureau has also tried to calcinate iron ore in a furnace, but unfortunately, there are not many qualified iron embryos (wrought iron), and more are still half-raw pig iron blocks, which are not only very brittle. And lost the ability to shape again.

Come to think of it, if Zhao Hongrun knew about this, he might tell him very sincerely, this is because the hearth you built, the furnace used to calcine ores, has insufficient thermal insulation performance. As a result, a large amount of heat is lost, resulting in the iron ore in the furnace can not be fully burned, and there is still a large amount of carbon remaining, so a batch of "unqualified" "defective products" will be produced.

How did Li Jin know that the furnace used by the Smelting Bureau to calcinate iron ore was made of fire bricks with excellent heat resistance, heat insulation, and heat preservation.

But unfortunately, Li Jin didn't know anything about it.

"This should just be the smelting bureau's cache......

He comforted himself secretly.

After thinking about it, he commanded the subordinate officials who were watching nearby with a stiff face: "Come on, move these iron embryos to the warehouse!" ”

Beside Li Jin, stood his nephew, Zheng Jin, who was also the official of the Military Casting Bureau, and asked in surprise after hearing this: "Uncle, do you mean to accept these iron embryos from the Smelting Bureau?" ”

After all, according to his understanding of his uncle Li Jin, it seems that the Metallurgical Bureau first set up a "Military Manufacturing Administration" and then sent people to send a large number of iron embryos, this kind of provocation should not be accepted by his uncle's character.

Hearing this, Li Jin glanced at this nephew, who had always loved him, and said coldly: "What I accept is the challenge of the Smelting Bureau to my Soldier Casting Bureau!" …… Aren't they going to compare the number of armaments with us? Good! Let's compare ourselves to him! ”

At this time, Li Jin didn't feel that he would lose at all.

What if the Smelting Bureau is a research and development institution? The casting process of the Soldier Casting Bureau comes from the Smelting Bureau, so what? As the so-called art industry has a specialty, he has been building weapons and equipment for decades, and in their strongest one, is it not comparable to the smelting bureau with a hammer in the east and a hammer in the west?

"Tell the craftsmen in the bureau about this, just say that the smelting bureau is worried about the meat in the bowl of our military casting bureau, trying to grab the meat to eat, if you don't want the meat in your bowl to be taken away by others, then from today on, all the craftsmen in the bureau are rushing to work, and it is necessary to leave the smelting bureau far behind in the number of weapons to build!" After speaking, Li Jin thought about it, and didn't forget to advise: "But you must ensure the quality, don't smash the signboard of my military casting bureau!" ”

"Uncle, don't worry!" Zheng Jin hugged his fists and took the order.

Don't look at Zheng Jin's arrogance in front of the people in the Smelting Bureau, but he is actually not a fool who doesn't know anything, although he doesn't know much about the business of casting weapons. But his popularity in the War Casting Bureau is good, and this person also has a mouth that can reverse black and white, and in a few words, the many craftsmen in the War Casting Bureau screamed, holding their sleeves one by one, with a desperate posture with the Smelting Bureau.

Of course, the desperate at this time. Naturally, it is impossible to fight with the Smelting Bureau, but to accept the challenge of the Smelting Bureau, and they want to let those people in the Smelting Bureau understand what it means to specialize in the art industry!

As a result, the entire military casting bureau seemed to be boiling, and one by one, their morale was high, and they were buried in the cause of striking iron.

The news reached the Smelting Bureau within half a day.

"His Royal Highness King Su, Li Jin of the Smelting Bureau accepted that batch of iron embryos. He also ordered the craftsmen in the department to hurry up to cast weapons, and it seems that he also guessed our intentions and wanted to compete with us. ”

"What an accident......," Zhao Hongrun touched his chin and muttered to himself.

To be honest, to provoke the generals in a provocative way, to be honest, Zhao Hongrun was a little worried before, although this worry was actually unnecessary.

Li Jin...... The character is very stubborn. ”

"yes." Wang Fu smiled when he heard this, as the bureau of the Smelting Bureau. He had dealt with Li Jin, the bureau of the War Casting Bureau, and naturally understood what kind of temper the son of Li Man, the secretary of the War Department, was: that was a more stubborn person than his old son Li Man.

And for Li Jin. Zhao Hongrun didn't have any deep contact, and only learned from the oral accounts of others that this person was proud, upright, stubborn, conservative, and had clear likes and dislikes...... Well, just like most Wei people, the first impression determines his attitude towards you later, and it is almost difficult to change his opinion.

To be honest, this kind of person is quite troublesome. At least in Zhao Hongrun's opinion.

"Now that the Ordnance Casting Bureau has accepted the challenge of my Smelting Bureau, then, my Smelting Bureau ...... No, I'm the "Military Construction Department", it's time to make a move! ”

"The lower official has already arranged it." Wang Fu said in a low voice.

Just yesterday. Wang Fu summoned the craftsmen who were sent out before, and called back those craftsmen who were quite experienced in the iron casting process, and included them in the "Military Manufacturing Administration", the construction of Bolangsha River Port requires many craftsmen with excellent melting and casting skills, but in comparison, it is still the "Military Construction Administration" side is more important, anyway, the construction of Bolangsha River Port belongs to the "ten-year project", the construction time is extremely long, and it is not in the way to temporarily transfer some experienced craftsmen back.

"Hmm." Zhao Hongrun nodded when he heard this, and then asked: "How are you considering the specific matters of mass production of weapons?" ”

The Bing Casting Bureau is a strong enemy, which Zhao Hongrun is very clear in his heart.

After all, the Ordnance Casting Bureau specializes in one subject, and has only been responsible for casting weapons and equipment for the domestic elite army for decades, and is even more experienced than the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau in this regard.

The Smelting Bureau studied carburizing, quenching, and plating edges, and gradually improved and strengthened iron weapons, making them sharper and stronger, which made the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau more important in Zhao Hongrun's mind.

Despite this, it is also an indisputable fact that they are not as skilled in forging weapons as the War Casting Bureau.

Therefore, if you still use the old forging process, you will not be able to win the battle at all, and the only way out is to improve the forging process.

The best way to do this is to melt wrought iron into molten iron and mold it into the shape of a sword blade in one step, just like a mass-produced candle.

Of course, the blade of this kind of forged sword is not stable, and it still needs to be vigorously forged and extruded to make it stronger, but this has greatly reduced the time required to forge a sword compared to the old forging method.

As for sharpness, it's easy to do, just polish it with a whetstone.

The only problem was the mold of the cast iron sword and the weaponry.

Admittedly, the clay used to make fire bricks would be the best material for making iron sword molds at the moment, but the point is that it would be too expensive to make molds from clay like the one used to make candles.

Of course, this cost refers to the cost of transporting the heat-resistant clay, not the value of the clay itself.

"Let's try it first."

Zhao Hongrun said to Wang Fu.

Following the Military Casting Bureau, the Smelting Bureau, no, it should be the Military Construction Bureau, also started to rush to work. (To be continued.) )