For the Ming side of the less tax silver, but this border trade is not a normal transaction at all, the beginning of the horse market is to make the Mongols stop, the other is to buy horses, private trade is only incidental, but also the strong requirements of the Mongols, from the beginning of the Ming is out of the super, the Mongols have nothing to sell except horses and skins, the Ming side is even a needle over there is a treasure, this trade is not equal, the Ming Dynasty is very profitable, the tax is therefore only symbolic, tens of thousands of taels of silver transactions, The tax amount is only one or two hundred taels, very limited, the tax is very small, the Ming Dynasty's management of industrial and commercial trade has never been within the scope of scholars' considerations, as long as there is no war, the loss of some silver income is very limited, not only the tax is less, the Mongols will also give a reward to the imperial court, of course, there is a quota for the reward, can not be abused.

Now with Zhang Han's line, the grain is sent out of the plug every month, which is much more convenient than the monthly market, and the amount has increased a lot, but the groceries are different, the leaders of each department have brought the herdsmen to buy groceries, and the herdsmen can also choose according to the scale, which is much more convenient than buying Zhang Han's bulk goods.

At this time, small-scale smugglers traded directly with herders, and they were also quite competitive.

Zhang Han frowned, nodded and said, "Well, I know." ”

The reduction of the requirements of the silver ingots is a good thing for Zhou Fengji and Liang Hong and others, even Lao Cai is very happy, and the allocation of a large number of cars and horses will affect the business of other stores, and now each store has a manager, most of them are from the old store to choose the capable guys to do, they are each in a series, and Lao Cai, who was born in Lahu, is not close to him, and he has to transfer cars from each store when he delivers grain every month, which makes these branch managers complain, if the demand is really less, at least Lao Cai feels that it is good to do less at a loss.

Zhang Han's recent attention is Di copy, there is still no news of the Ministry of Jianzhou and Nuerhachi, the Ming Dynasty is still calm, and it is the same here in Shanxi, there was a large-scale earthquake last year, the earthquake was strong, and the ground was shaken in Xinpingbao, and the drought reduced the harvest, and the center repeatedly asked the emperor to govern, and then there was still no follow-up.

It was already the forty-sixth year of Wanli, and Zhang Han didn't know exactly when the large-scale war would break out, but he expected that it would be soon, and within a few years, the demand for food and groceries would increase on a large scale.

"Three cabinets, I plan to go to the Lingqiu Iron Factory to open a few furnaces and hire some people to make iron."

Liang Hong has admired Zhang Han's layout and decision to the core, even so, he still can't keep up with the ironworks this time, and he can't help but be a little dumbfounded at the moment, and he doesn't know how to respond.

The pig iron output of the Ming Dynasty was a peak in the Yongle years, Zhang Han did not remember clearly, but he remembered that it was more than 30 million catties, and this output was still enough in that year, but now the population of the Ming Dynasty has increased by at least three to five times compared with the Yongle years, and the output of pig iron has declined compared with the Yongle years, and the government-run Zunhua Iron Works, which once employed tens of thousands of people, have been on the verge of closure, and there are small private iron factories everywhere, and some private furnaces cover the sky and the sun, and there are hundreds of thousands of miners, but most of those large iron factories are in the south, and the iron works in the north are very small. Pig iron production is insufficient, the population is booming, and the price of iron is also skyrocketing.

At that time, the iron was the most famous in Fujian, and Fang Yizhi once said during the Chongzhen period: the southern iron is the top in Fujian, followed by the Guangzhou iron, and the Chu iron can only be used as a hoe.

Mao Yuanyi said: Fujian iron is used to make Weiyuan cannons, followed by Jin iron.

Zhao Shizhen said: Fujian iron must be used to make guns, and other iron cannot be used. Iron smelting, charcoal fire is the top, the north charcoal is expensive, and coal has to be used instead, so there are often many explosions.

There are several large-scale iron-producing areas in Shanxi, namely Wutai Mountain and Pingxingguan, as well as Ta'er Mountain and Erfeng Mountain, Datong Town has less iron ore distribution, only Lingqiu County, which belongs to Ulzhou, has iron ore, the number of furnaces is not much, and the output is not high.

The iron ore there should still belong to the government, there may also be a small number of official leaders and private offices, the iron mining industry in the Ming Dynasty is much more flexible than the Qing Dynasty, the official office is not good to change to private, in the final analysis, the control is weak, but in the development of private industry and commerce, the iron ore can be privately run is definitely a great advantage.

As long as Zhang Han has silver and a license, he can start making iron.

"The young proprietor plans to sell pig iron to Tartar again?" Liang Hong's brain was still spinning very quickly, and he suddenly thought of the reason, and his face became a little ugly.

For the export of pig iron, the Ming Dynasty is strictly prohibited, the official market and private markets are not allowed to sell iron, the official market can sell iron pots, the quantity is strictly controlled, the Mongols do not want as much as they want, if Zhang Han sells pig iron, not only the business will be good, but also, the profit is simply bursting.

"Be cautious about this, it's not a foregone conclusion for the time being." Even for a confidant like Liang Hong, Zhang Han is very careful in this matter, he said: "The pig iron business must be done, and I haven't thought about how to do it yet...... Let's put the stove up first, and then we'll talk about the iron when the time comes. ”

"That's it for now." Zhang Han instructed Lao Cai: "It is not easy to prepare the carriages and horses every month, and I am also scolded, it is not easy for you to do this, I know it in my heart." ”

Lao Cai has always been smiling in front of Zhang Han, and at this time, the rare smile was stagnant, his face was first stunned, and then there was a look of emotion.

He wanted to kneel, Zhang Han helped him up, and said with a smile: "We are not an official government, what is the reason for kneeling at every turn, and you are also much older than me, and I have accepted your gift like this for no reason, don't I want to be blessed." ”

The young proprietor doesn't like people to bow down, but Lao Cai knows it, so he stood up at the moment, and only said: "If there is a young proprietor, no matter how troublesome it is, the villain is not afraid." ”

After all, he was born in Lahu, and he still had to bring two words that were not easy for him, and Zhang Han only smiled when he heard it.

There are so many things outside, not far from the silver vault next door, where the defense is very strict, outsiders and so on can not enter, many people do not even know what this compound does, the corner of the courtyard has built a small arrow tower, by the dart master in shifts on the look, of course there is no bow and arrow, the fire gun does not dare to fight more, but there is a dart master with a knife and gun on the guard, at a glance it is a key place.

Zhang Han glanced at it from a distance, and saw that the guards were as usual, and he didn't plan to look at it, Chang's was a little uneasy after looking at the silver treasury, but fortunately, he originally had a family background of tens of thousands of taels, if a poor family saw so much silver at once, he would not faint on the spot? Zhang Han doesn't plan to call his mother Fan Jin's mother, the corner towers around the city plus the people patrolling inside, the safety is enough in the short term, and in the future, you still have to learn from the great Jin merchants of the Qing Dynasty, dig a super big cellar at home, and then dissolve the silver into a large silver nugget of thousands of catties, you steal it, grab it, as long as it is a normal year, who has the ability?

The size of the mule and horse shop has expanded three or four times, and the courtyard that has been converted into a silver treasury has been bought, and the four courtyards and five or six private houses have been bought, adding up to fifteen or sixteen acres of land, and there were originally more than three hundred houses, but now they are all connected as a whole, and there are more than two hundred stables in the storehouse and the mule and horse shop, and they go all the way inside, and there are dozens of houses and large open spaces connected together, but there is the place where the craftsmen are.

Seeing Zhang Han come in, Wang Debang, who had a goatee, caught up, he mainly attacked all kinds of weapons, Zhang Han used the fire gun at hand was carefully made by him, the workmanship was very exquisite, seeing Zhang Han coming, Wang Debang sent a new fire gun in the style of offering treasure, and said: "The proprietor, this gun has been made." ”

Zhang Han took it in his hand, feeling that the gun weighed six or seven pounds, and the length was also very suitable, and the materials for the barrel and butt were very exquisite, and it was very comfortable to hold in his hand.

Wang Debang said in his mouth, and introduced: "This gun weighs seven pounds and is seven feet long, and it is made of a pipe, a bed, a curved butt, a dragon head, a trigger, a fire door, a rail, a front mouth, a back door, a door, and a crosshair. ”

"Well, well done."

Zhang Han raised the fire and the gun, felt that the gun body and the arm were connected together, gently pulled the trigger, felt the dragon head fall, and then heard the click of the steel sheet, the bolt rebounded after it fell behind, and the mechanical elasticity was very good.

"The precision of this gun is much higher than that of the bird, and the power is far above the bird, but it is very difficult to build, the size of the pipe is set, the drill pipe is also difficult, the drill bit should be good, but also concentrate, the slightest carelessness will be abandoned......"

Wang Debang bragged vigorously, and a few people who followed him to make firearms were also watching from the side, Zhang Han's perception was very important to them.

The days of these craftsmen here, and the life in the fort before is almost like a cloud, the adults are clearly seen in the outline of the muscles, the women and children have flesh on their faces, and they are much stronger, the babies are full of food and clothing, they play and laugh in the courtyard every day, the adults are happy to listen to their hearts, each family has a place to live, each family has two or three tiled houses to live in, in the past they lived in the grass hut shantytown in the south of the fort, every day they froze to death, often do not eat enough, meat is rare once a year, The life is worse than the ordinary military households, worse than the tenant farmers, compared to the beggars to be one more fixed place to live, but the beggars don't want to do the work, they have to work hard every day, sometimes they are requisitioned to Taiyuan to repair the palace of the king of Jin, or go to Datong, the farthest has to go to Beijing, where there is a great work, craftsmen all over the country are within the scope of the transfer, the work is hard, the life is also hard, the key is that the generations are so, there is no hope, of course those who can escape are escaped, but the punishment is also heavy, Ordinary people do not dare to flee at will.

Zhang Han didn't speak at first, only asked someone to bring the gunpowder can, press the canister with his thumb, pour the gunpowder into the neck, and after it was full, cover the neck door with his index finger, and then he took the gunpowder and built the gunpowder, but it was not built to the point where it could not be loosened, and the key was only to people who often cast fire and guns to grasp it, and then went down to take the projectile and put it in, and then stuffed the cotton paper with the stick, and the projectile should be tightly plugged, so as to lower the gun and not move.

Then hold it horizontally with the left hand, then take the medicine jar, bite the plug with the mouth, pour the medicine into the pool, cover the lid, turn the fire gun on the left side, so that the fire eye is facing up, and tap the fire gun body with the right hand, so that the hair medicine enters the eye, and the barrel is connected with the ejection.

The next step is to place the torch on your right leg so that the mouth of the torch is upward, then take out the rope with your right hand, blow off the ashes, and clamp it on the dragon's head.