I have to say that although Zhao Hongrun has warned himself again and again that his smelting bureau must develop step by step, it is undeniable that the stalls laid by his smelting bureau are still too big, so that there are places that need money everywhere.

In particular, the construction of Bolangshahe Port and the expansion of Xiangfu Port have made the Metallurgical Bureau, which has just undergone a good change in its financial situation, return to the tight situation at the beginning, and successively owe a large amount of money to the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry.

Fortunately, the R&D of candle technology has made the Smelting Bureau have a stable and considerable income, and it also makes the household department rest assured that it will lend money to the Smelting Bureau, otherwise, the situation of the Smelting Bureau may be even more difficult than back then.

"Is it necessary to be in such a hurry? Remember, if you want to hurry, you can't get there. ”

When they were having dinner together in Ningxiang Palace, Wei Tianzi also mentioned this matter.

I remember that since the Bolangsha incident, Wei Tianzi asked the inner chamberlain to pay close attention to his son Zhao Hongrun and the smelting bureau he was in charge of every day.

"I also understand that the stall of my smelting bureau is too big all of a sudden, but there is no way to ...... it."

Zhao Hongrun shook his head a little distressed, and said sharply: "Recently, I have gradually felt that my foundation in Dawei is very weak. ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Hongrun really felt quite depressed.

After all, if the transportation capacity of the warehouse was strong, he would not need to build a river port in Bolangsha at all, nor would he expand Xiangfu Port, and similarly, he would not have to think about imitating the ships of the Chu State to build a transport ship.

The most fundamental reason for all this is nothing more than that the transportation capacity of the warehouse is not enough to supply the smelting bureau with sufficient raw materials.

As for Bolangshahe Port, which is bound to become the most prosperous trade river port near Daliang in the future, this is just a by-product of Zhao Hongrun's efforts to enhance the transportation capacity of the warehouse.

Thinking about it, if it was just to make money, Zhao Hongrun would not have chosen to build a river port in Bolangsha at all, after all, it would have to invest a lot of manpower and material resources in the early stage. And it takes a long time, and it is a veritable national project.

Earn money by initiating national projects?

I am afraid that before the Bolangsha River Port is completed, the smelting bureau in charge of Zhao Hongrun has already starved to death.

After all, it was a big project with only input but no output in the early stage, and no hope of any gains, and its ultimate purpose was only to make a prosperous trade area appear near Daliang and drive the economy of the surrounding areas of Daliang and even the entire Great Wei, which was purely a "ten-year project" and a "project for the benefit of future generations".

"For the sake of my smelting bureau contributing to my Dawei free of charge. Didn't my father give him any benefits? ”

Wei Tianzi glanced at his son when he heard this, and asked in a deep voice for a long time, "What do you want?" As long as it is reasonable, I can compensate you accordingly. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun was a little surprised, after all, what he said just now was just a complaint.

"Was it a surprise?" Wei Tianzi noticed his son's surprised and unexpected gaze, and said with a smile: "I'm not blind, I can see that what you did is just for the sake of my Great Wei......"

"......" Zhao Hongrun blinked, unconsciously a little stunned. After all, their father and son rarely praise each other, but more ridicule and squeeze, so even Shen Shufei sometimes has a hard time understanding the communication methods that their father and son use to deepen their relationship.

"Hmm...... Let me think about it. ”

"Think about it slowly. As long as it makes sense, I will agree. ”

Speaking of this, Wei Tianzi stopped the topic and turned the topic to another matter: "Sect Mansion, your second uncle, how is the situation?" ”

"It's okay." Zhao Hongrun shrugged his shoulders and said, "Although he didn't say much, I felt it." The second uncle was very dissatisfied with the way I did things at that time, most likely because he thought that I had harmed the interests of the Ji family...... What is the relationship between the father and the second uncle? ”

Wei Tianzi frowned when he heard this. After thinking about it, he said vaguely: "It's okay...... Q: What does this do? ”

Zhao Hongrun grinned and said with a smile: "I feel that there should be many contradictions between my father and my second uncle......"

"......" Wei Tianzi opened his mouth, and then shook his head with a wry smile.

Indeed, as Zhao Hongrun guessed. Zhao Yuanxi, the son of Wei, and Zhao Yuanyan, the Zongzheng of the Zongfu, are brothers, but in fact they are not close.

In a sense, Wei Tianzi and his son Zhao Hongrun, the values that the father and son focus on. It's basically similar.

The difference is only that Wei Tianzi, as the king of the Great Wei, has the responsibility and obligation to shoulder the Great Wei Sheji that his ancestors worked hard for, so in his mind, the interests of the entire country should take precedence over the interests of his Ji surnamed Zhao family, after all, he is the king of the entire Great Wei.

And Zhao Hongrun, I'm afraid he doesn't have the consciousness of being a member of the clan surnamed Zhao at all, and what he values is only "I am a Wei person" and "I am the prince of the Wei people", as for what Zhao Wenkai, the king of Yuanyang, and his son Zhao Chengxiu, in Zhao Hongrun's eyes, there is actually no difference from strangers, and there is no so-called same-clan affection at all.

Therefore, as long as it is beneficial to the entire Great Wei, even if it harms the interests of the Zhao family surnamed Ji, Zhao Hongrun will do it, and Wei Tianzi will also turn a blind eye to a certain extent and give convenience.

And unlike their father and son, Zongzheng Zhao Yuanyan focuses on the interests of the Zhao family surnamed Ji, after all, the Zongfu exists for this, and it is not difficult to understand.

Because of this, even Zhao Yuanyan hoped that Great Wei would gradually become stronger, but he would definitely not sit idly by and watch the practice of making Great Wei strong by harming the interests of the Zhao family surnamed Ji.

"What does my father think of my Great Wei and my Ji surname Zhao?" Zhao Hongrun asked coldly.

When Wei Tianzi heard this, he couldn't help but pause when he reached out and picked up the vegetables with his chopsticks, and turned his head to look at Zhao Hongrun inexplicably, his expression was full of surprise and surprise.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun shrugged his shoulders and explained: "When I first met the second uncle, the second uncle asked me this question. ”

Wei Tianzi was silent for a moment and asked, "Then how did you answer?" ”

"I didn't dare say it directly." Zhao Hongrun shrugged.

Wei Tianzi was stunned, then smiled and nodded: "Well, there are some things, just keep it in your heart." …… Come, eat more. He put a chopstick dish into Zhao Hongrun's bowl.

"......" Zhao Hongrun glanced at his father, and he understood in his heart.

May at the Smelting Bureau has become busier and busier since the middle of the year.

Aside from the construction and expansion of Bolangsha and Xiangfu Port, and the matter of imitating the ships of the Chu State, the furnace of the Metallurgical Bureau outside the city was also transported to the warehouses outside the city one after another with the sand of different textures in the vicinity, and was officially put into use.

The fire brick project was officially launched.

This matter was handed over to Wang Fu of the Smelting Bureau.

There was no way, because the stalls were too large, the officials in the Smelting Bureau became more and more strained, and the three Lang officials of the Smelting Bureau, Chen Tang was responsible for supervising the construction of Bolangshahe Port, Cheng Lin was responsible for supervising the expansion of Xiangfu Port, and Xun Xin was responsible for copying the ships of the Chu State.

In addition, now that Cheng Wangfu of the Smelting Bureau is personally responsible for the firing of fire bricks, the four main officials in the Smelting Bureau who can take charge of the technology are all tasked with their tasks.

It is impractical to borrow people from other ministries and departments, and it is difficult for Zhao Hongrun to trust them completely, so the best way is to train relevant officials and select talents from among the principal-level officials below the Lang Guan.

In addition, the craftsmen have also fallen into the embarrassment of lack of manpower, don't look at the smelting bureau has more than 400 craftsmen and nearly 1,000 craftsmen, craftsmen, but with the start of the fourth line of the smelting bureau, the problem of manpower shortage has become more and more serious, even if the Ministry of Industry kindly borrowed more than 200 craftsmen, it is only a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, Zhao Hongrun decided to recruit craftsmen from the people, after all, there are many stonemasons, carpenters, and blacksmiths with relevant experience in the territory of the Great Wei, and recruiting these craftsmen with corresponding work experience to the smelting bureau is the best way to solve the problem of shortage of manpower.

But the problem is that communication in this era is really inconvenient.

After thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun had to use the most stupid method, and during the period of selling candles to various markets, the officials of the Warehouse Department posted a recruitment notice of his smelting bureau near the city gate of each county in the country, on the wall of the announcement wall where the wanted bounty was pasted in the past, so that those craftsmen who were not satisfied with their current working environment would throw themselves into the arms of the smelting bureau.

Not to mention, the early effect is really good, at least in Daliang, when the recruitment notice of the Smelting Bureau appeared on the announcement wall near the city gate, many of the Wei people in Daliang City went to the Smelting Bureau to try the work.

For this reason, Zhao Hongrun specially promoted three directors to be in charge of this matter, these three people are called Lu Yu, Gu He, and Zheng Zhao.

Among them, Lu Yu was responsible for recruiting new people, Gu He was responsible for testing the level of those newcomers, and Zheng Zhao was responsible for transferring the newly recruited craftsmen to Bolang Shajian River Port, Xiangfu Port Expansion, imitating Chu State ships, and firing fire bricks according to their strengths.

These three directors are all old people who have worked in the Smelting Bureau for several years, and they have excellent work ability, but their qualifications are not as good as Chen Tang and others, so they are not worthy of the position of Lang Guan.

After all, the departments under the Ministry of Industry, especially in the Smelting Bureau, generally attach importance to qualifications, and put qualifications and personal abilities at the same level: even if a person can be mediocre, but as long as he has worked diligently for a few years and has made contributions to the Smelting Bureau, then this person is worthy of respect.

I have to say that the atmosphere of the Ministry of Industry is far more rigorous than that of those officials in the Ministry of Officials.

After all, all he has to do is to formulate a development plan for the Smelting Bureau, and he doesn't need to do everything himself, anyway, Wang Fu, Chen Di, Cheng Lin, Xun Xin, Lu Yu, Gu He, Zheng Zhao and others are watching for him.

This gave Zhao Hongrun a rare and precious personal time to arrange personal matters.

For example, officially moved to the Suwang Mansion, which had already been renovated, and held a housewarming banquet.

For another example, take Miss Su from a water pavilion to King Su's mansion, confess to her the truth that "Jiang Run is actually King Su Hongrun", and let Concubine Shen Shu meet this woman who has a skin-to-skin relationship with her son. (To be continued.) )