Seeing Ma Lao Er coming into the house, Tong Yangjia was very unhappy. This Ma Lao Er is really hateful, and he has been drying himself for half an hour. Tong Yangjia said: "Mr. Ziming is so busy. ”

Ma Mingyuan smiled, he deliberately hung this Tong Yangjia. Tong Yangjia is just a showman, but he is good at slapping horses and welcoming the king of Chu, so he became the four strategists of the king of Chu like his brother. This time it's to kill the majesty of this sycophant.

Ma Mingyuan arched his hand and said, "Oh, Lord Tong, I am really wronged." Now that the population under the rule of King Chu is increasing, there is really no time to spare it. ”

Tong Yangjia didn't want to quarrel with this second horse, so he hurriedly got down to business. Tong Yangjia said: "Lord Changshi, I came back this time to meet the King of Chu, and the iron ore has finally produced iron." This time the first shipment of iron ore was brought back. ”

Ma Mingyuan was also very happy to hear it, he was in charge of the overall situation, and naturally knew that the steel mill was only breaking even now because of the increase in iron ore prices, and if there was no iron ore coming in, he would have to pay 100 taels of silver for producing a ton of steel next month.

Hearing that Tong Yangjia finally got back the cheap iron ore, Ma Mingyuan said happily: "Mr. Ziyi is really powerful, His Royal Highness the King of Chu is already waiting anxiously, Mr. Ziyi will follow me to see the King of Chu." ”

Although Ma Mingyuan hated Tong Yangjia, he knew that iron ore was the foundation of all Zhu Hongsan's industries, and he also knew that Zhu Hongsan attached great importance to this matter, so he didn't dare to embarrass Tong Yangjia, and led Tong Yangjia to see King Chu as soon as possible.

Zhu Hongsan is now working on a major project, the reform of the political system. He found that the grassroots management organizations of the Ming Dynasty were no longer suitable for the current rapid industrial production, so Zhu Hongsan planned to make a list of county-level management institutions with reference to the township institutions in later generations, and planned to make a pilot project in Dongguan County after completing it.

Zhu Hongsan was writing his duties at the institution when he saw Ma Mingyuan and Tong Yangjia walking into the office. Seeing that Tong Yangjia was back, Zhu Hong was shocked and asked, "Why did Mr. Tong come back?" Could it be that something has happened to the iron ore? "Zhu Hongsan is very afraid that something will happen to the iron mine, and it will be bad.

Tong Yangjia said with a smile: "Congratulations to the lord, now that the iron ore has been released, I came back with the first ship of iron ore to report the success of the main bulletin." ”

When Zhu Hongsan heard this, a stone fell to the ground in his heart, and he was also overjoyed. As long as there is a stable source of iron ore, then their plans can be carried out as scheduled.

There is a month before the New Year, and next year will be the first year of Hongguang, and the Manchu Qing will go south in May. When the time comes, as soon as the head shaving order is issued, Nanzhili will be in chaos. You have to prepare a large number of weapons, sell them to the rebels, or use them yourself, anyway, you can't let the Manchus get Nanzhili so easily.

And a stable and cheap source of iron ore is the guarantee of their own plans.

Zhu Hongsan said happily: "Mr. Tong did a very good job, can you tell me about the experience?" ”

What Tong Yangjia wanted was Zhu Hongsan's words, and he hurriedly said what his uncle and nephew had done in Qiongzhou Mansion in the past two months.

Zhu Hongsan was happy to hear that the iron ore was in Shilu, which was closer to Shilu, not Yazhou. In the past, he said to Tong Yangjia that he was mainly afraid that the iron ore in Shilu was not easy to mine in Yazhou, and he wanted them to mine the relatively simple Tiandu iron ore first. Unexpectedly, these officials still have some ability, and directly found Shilu iron ore with larger reserves and better taste.

Zhu Hongsan asked, "Mr. Tong, how much iron ore can be produced every month now?" ”

Tong Yangjia said: "Now there are 1,000 craftsmen and 2,000 laborers in the iron mine, and 2,000 Li slaves arrested by the lower officials, and the manpower is quite sufficient, so it can produce 2,000 tons of iron ore every month." ”

Zhu Hongsan is very satisfied, and he can produce 2,000 tons in the first month. The Ming Dynasty produced more than 100,000 tons of pig iron, which was already terrifying in the world at that time. It was not until 1806 that the production of steel in Britain reached 200,000 tons after the Industrial Revolution. One hundred and fifty years ago, the Ming Dynasty had already reached 100,000 tons.

Zhu Hongsan said: "Mr. Tong is doing very well, but it is still not enough, the next step is to continue to expand production, to reach 5,000 to 6,000 tons per month to initially meet the demand of Dongguan." If there are any difficulties, Mr. Tong can raise them. ”

Tong Yangjia said: "The main reason is that there is a shortage of manpower, and the only way to increase production is to increase labor. ”

Zhu Hongsan shook his head and said, "Mr. Tong is wrong, the infrastructure in Shilu is backward, and too many people can't support it at all. You can increase the productivity of each workforce. For example, more work is more reward, and the amount of money is given for each amount of ore mined, so as to increase the production enthusiasm of workers. There are also more tools, isn't the amount of water in the Shilu River enough, build more waterwheels, and use water power. ”

Tong Yangjia nodded and said that he had written it down.

Zhu Hongsan thought for a while and said, "Mr. Tong, you go back and tell Zhou Yu that he will take two thousand people to Leizhou by boat and listen to Ma Jiyuan's orders." ”

When Tong Yangjia heard Zhu Hongsan say this, he knew that something had happened in Leizhou. asked: "Lord, isn't it going well for Lord Ma in Leizhou?" ”

Zhu Hongsan sighed and said to Tong Yangjia: "The sugar farmers in Leizhou are very unstable, and if they don't get it, something big will happen. ”

Although Zhu Hongsan said it very simply, Tong Yangjia still heard that the King of Chu was dissatisfied with Ma Jiyuan, and it seemed that Ma Jiyuan's errand was not done well.

At this time, it was the time to give the Ma family brothers eye medicine, and after thinking about it, Tong Yangjia said: "Don't worry, my lord, Mr. Zhongming has been a local official, and I believe that he can handle this kind of small matter." ”

On the surface, Tong Yangjia seems to be saying good things for Ma Jiyuan, but it means that Boss Ma has been a local official for so many years, and he can still do this, it seems that he is not capable.

Ma Mingyuan on the side was furious, he didn't expect this Tong Yangjia to be so hateful, and he fell into the well for his brother. Hurriedly said: "Lord, Mr. Zhongming's side is a bit of a twist and turn, I think as long as the army arrives, it shouldn't be a problem." However, the prefect of Tong enslaved a large number of Li people, you must know that the Li people rioted more than ten years ago, and I hope that there will be no big incident. ”

Tong Yangjia didn't expect Ma Mingyuan to find his mistake, and hurriedly said: "What Master Ma said is very true, lord, since Master Ma said that the Li people are unstable, I don't think it is better to send troops to Leizhou." I think that with Mr. Zhongming's great talent, I can solve the problem of civil unrest in Leizhou. ”

Here, Ma Mingyuan was about to speak to refute Tong Yangjia, and Zhu Hongsan said: "Okay, don't talk about the two gentlemen, this king has already decided, and Zhou Yu will take 2,000 people to Leizhou." And Mr. Tong worked hard, and he will set off back to Qiongzhou tomorrow, on the one hand, to arrange iron ore production, and on the other hand, to prepare to do a good job of accepting displaced people. ”

Seeing that he had won a big victory this time, Tong Yangjia was very happy, got up and said: "Don't worry, the lord will be fortunate not to be dishonored." "Say goodbye and go out.

Watching Tong Yangjia go out triumphantly, Ma Mingyuan hated it so much that his teeth itched.

Zhu Hongsan waited for Tong Yangjia to go out and said: "Mr. Ma, I hope you don't bring personal relationships to work, iron ore is our lifeblood." ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded at Ma Mingyuan with words, afraid that he would have a small belly and chicken intestines, and artificially set up obstacles for Tong Yangjia at work. The battle is very good, but don't blame me for delaying Zhu Hongsan's big event.

Ma Mingyuan saw that Zhu Hongsan was very serious, and hurriedly stood up and said: "Don't worry, my lord, Tong Ziyi and I are just a battle of will, and we will definitely not delay our work." ”

Zhu Hongsan nodded and said, "Very good." Mr. 2, you send a letter to the eldest brother, and when the army arrives, he should not be merciful, and those sugar rats will leave five or six households, and the rest of the family will be killed by men, and the women will be sold into the sect, and the property will be confiscated, and all the sugar farmers who make trouble will be decided. Tell the eldest brother that extraordinary means must be used in extraordinary times. ”

Hearing Zhu Hongsan's murderous order, Ma Mingyuan was shocked, he knew that this King of Chu had committed the mistake of killing people again. It seems that he has to warn his eldest brother not to use Huairou means again, when is this coming.

Seeing Ma Mingyuan bowing, Zhu Hongsan was very uneasy, he knew that Ma Jiyuan was a good official and loved the people like a son. But when is that going to be, those sugar rats are riding on his neck and and talking about benevolence, which is cowardice.

Zhu Hongsan also knew that Ma Ji was far from being a cool official, but there was no way, there were only a few qualified materials under him. Ma Jiyuan had no choice but to catch ducks on the shelves, originally it was good to use Tong Yangjia to deal with this matter in Leizhou, but he had to take into account Ma Jiyuan's face, after all, he was his own cheap father-in-law.

Thinking of this, Zhu Hongsan sighed, and said to Zhang Jiayu, the secretary on the side: "Yuanzi, you write a secret letter and hand it to Zhou Yu of the Qiongzhou garrison, and ask him to go to Leizhou to let go of his hands, as for Ma Jiyuan. Zhu Hongsan thought about this for a while, and then said: "If Ma Jiyuan does not agree to kill, my order will prevail." ”

Zhang Jiayu nodded and went down to write.