The charcoal in the furnace is less than usual, this is the conservative strategy adopted by Li Shi, if you really want to reduce the charcoal by three percent to burn, if it is not successful, you have to go back to the furnace and start again, it will be a waste.

The crackling of charcoal continued to crackle, and the situation in the furnace could not be seen, and this was the first time they had come to make iron. has smelted thousands of furnaces of iron, and he can grasp the time without looking, so Guan Fengsheng is not too worried.

They smelt pig iron in an earthen blast furnace, and a furnace usually takes about an hour, and everyone gradually disperses, leaving Guan Fengsheng and a group of people, and Li Xi squatting on the top of the pit. Seeing the furnace workers turning the fans, he also instructed the furnace workers from time to time to open the opening in the regenerator and let in fresh air.

"Ouch!"

It didn't take long for the furnace worker who was taking care of the regenerator to get injured, and it turned out that the temperature of the regenerator was too high, and he accidentally rubbed on it, and as a result, he was burned. When he was injured, Li Xi was relieved, at least the heat storage was no problem.

The timing tool on the mine is a pan incense, specially looking for an incense maker to make an hour's incense, seeing that there is still a quarter of it, Li Xi has been squatting bored, but he heard Guan Fengsheng suddenly shouted: "Open the furnace!" Open the furnace! ”

"It's going to be a while."

Tian Qing and a group of furnace workers were surprised.

"Bastard boy, if you don't turn on the furnace, this furnace will collapse!"

Guan Fengsheng was so anxious that he roared as he pulled through the iron hook and hooked open the brick mouth blocked under the stove.

Li Xi was also shocked, and hurriedly signaled the person shaking the fan to stop, looking at this situation, is the stove unable to stand the high temperature?

As soon as the coolness in my heart rose, I saw a blazing slimy liquid flow out from under the stove, down the sloping brick road, and into the shallow flat pit. There are still a few lines in the pit, this is the iron plate, a version of about 200 catties.

"How can it be so fast! Is there a problem with incense? ”

The furnace workers were shocked, they had never seen it come out so quickly.

"No problem, yes...... The charcoal fire is strong, and it naturally melts quickly. ”

Guan Fengsheng gasped, and looked at Li Xian, who was also panting, both of them were excited in their hearts, and they succeeded!

When the molten iron ran out and the slag was dug out from the slag outlet, the furnace worker screamed again, and it turned out that there was still a lot of charcoal that had not been burned.

"It's ...... That's more than 30 percent! ”

Guan Fengsheng's eyes were a little wet, and the other furnace workers, even Tian Dayou and others, who rushed over after hearing the news, were also stunned.

"We can refine one more furnace every day!"

Tian Dayou first thought of this problem, the amount of ore is sufficient, but there is only one furnace, and there are more furnaces, and there are no more experienced stoves like Guan Fengsheng. At night, the lights were dark, they couldn't see anything clearly, and they couldn't open the furnace, so they could only produce a maximum of six furnaces of iron a day. Now that the time for each furnace has been shortened by nearly a quarter, it is natural that there will be one more furnace of iron.

Save more than 30% of charcoal, and you can also refine one more furnace of iron, which comes and goes, and this improvement is too great.

"Fourth brother, just this thing, you can charge more than a thousand taels a year!"

Wu Tantou on the side had already calculated the approximate accounts, and around the stove, the hundred or so people fell silent, looking at each other, breathing rapidly, and their faces were flushed.

"It's not all ours."

Tian Dayou said coldly, reminding everyone that no matter how much extra pig iron there is, a quarter of it will be taken away.

"That's enough, at least we don't have to go into debt anymore!"

Carpenter Ho patted the cooled brick road with satisfaction, and he was also reminding everyone that this had his contribution.

"The stove has burned down! Then you can't do it. ”

Tian Qing screamed, as if she had found a fly in the crack of the egg.

"Collapsed? It's nothing if it collapses! Build a new one! ”

Guan Fengsheng laughed, of course this is a joke, but it really takes some time to reinforce, and it has to be thickened. However, delaying this time, compared with the subsequent income, is simply a drop in the penny.

The furnace workers also laughed, anyone would calculate this account, and in the laughter, looking at Li Shi's gaze also changed, and those doubts before disappeared, replaced by a red heat like a fire. Tian Qing twisted his eyebrows for a while, as if he also wanted to have his own share of the extra money, and the dissatisfaction on his face gradually dissolved.

Reducing costs and increasing production could be more important to workers than these two things?

Li Xi casually piled a small brick house for them, added some gadgets, and did both things.

"The results are a little different from ...... expected"

Li Xian was embarrassed, he didn't expect that with the regenerator, even the production time would be saved, if it wasn't for Guan Fengsheng's experience, if he burned down this furnace, it would be a big trouble.

"Fourth brother, I believe you can really make steel."

Guan Fengsheng didn't care about this deviation at all, which was a great thing......

Steelmaking is not a priority now, proving that his regenerator is effective, Li Xi looked at Wu Tantou, who nodded again and again. Li Shi's real plan was to fall on Wu Tantou, there was an example in front of him, Wu Tantou began to believe Li Shi's statement, and he was ready to go at full speed and move towards the requirements that Li Shi put forward for him.

Then the furnace workers naturally grabbed Li Shi again, and asked him why this small brick house could have such a miraculous effect, and Li Shi could only perfunctory them as he had answered Carpenter He before, and at the same time invited them to participate in the "lecture" in the future. Guan Fengsheng suppressed his voice and coldly reminded the furnace workers to keep secrets.

Needless to say, the furnace workers all know that technology is the cost of eating these days, and they are all regarded as Guan Fengsheng's disciples, and they all nodded awe-inspiring at the moment.

Thinking that they no longer have to be in debt, the furnace workers were so excited that they talked about it one after another, and then threw themselves into the repair and reinforcement of the furnace. Li Xian's heart relaxed, and he also came to the river to breathe.

In this transformation, the money can't fall directly into Guan Fengsheng's hands, it has to be filled in the debts they owe to Master Zhong on the books, but it can pull them out of the quagmire of Master Zhong, which is only a step in long-term planning. To solve the problem of imperial grain and to earn start-up capital, we have to look at the progress of Wu Tantou's side.

Li Xi was thinking about it when a cold voice sounded.

"What are you doing!? Why did the stove look like this? ”

Li Xian's heart sank, and Lai Yipin came......

Lai Yipin didn't stay in the mine all the time, he was a county official, and he had always been in charge of the row in the area of Fengtian Village.

But unlike that era, he didn't have much "force majeure" in his hands, and in this era when the number of people was roughly combat effectiveness, Lai Yipin didn't dare to bully the miners in Fengtian Village too much, and basically only made some small moves.

"Li Shi, is Li Xi here?"

Li Xian smiled coldly, Mrs. Liu's complaint was quite neat, and Master Zhong's reaction was fast enough.

Turning around and walking over, beside Guan Fengsheng, a thin and gloomy man was looking at him coldly, and his eyes were glued to Li Shi, just like holding a toad, which made Li Shi particularly unhappy.

Lai Yipin didn't care about the stove at all, Guan Fengsheng explained on the side, he shouldn't have listened to a word, and when he saw Li Shi coming, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Sabotage?"

Hearing Lai Yipin's head talk about this, Li Shi was really a little caught off guard.

"I haven't been working for three days, and your work in this mine is gone!"

Lai Yipin said viciously.

Li Shi shrugged his shoulders indifferently, if it was gone, it would be gone, and now he didn't expect the seven or eight dollars of silver a month, and it was impossible for him to be busy in the mine for at least ten hours a day.

"Guan Fengsheng, you have to pay off your arrears in the past three years."

As soon as Lai Yipin's words changed, it was Guan Fengsheng.

"In the forty-eighth year of Kangxi, your Guan family owes one or two or three dollars in taxes, forty-nine years, you owe one or two or two dollars, and in fifty years, you owe one or two or four dollars, counting the fire consumption, Junping and miscellaneous factions, a total of thirteen taels and six dollars! This year, you are still the first one, and the first one owes a total of eighty-six taels and six cents over the years, adding them together, Ye Renyi, I will give you a fraction, just one hundred taels! If you don't pay it off within three days, you just wait for Qingtian to sell the house! ”

Lai Yipin came prepared, the numbers were accurate, the tone was decisive, and there was no room for counteroffer.

Li Xian frowned, owed? I saw that he didn't have any arrears on the Li family's list before, and then I realized that it was naturally Guan Fengsheng Tian Dayou who helped him make up for it, but they were still dragging the arrears, what kind of idea was this Lai Yipin?

"But...... Your little dry land, plus the homestead, not to mention a hundred taels, ten taels is not worth it. It seems that you have to take the detention ticket from Master Li of Zhixian County and stay in the class room for a while. ”

Lai Yipin smiled hideously, but the corner of his eye kept looking at Li Shi.

"Lai Dashao, everyone has a debt, not just us, why are you staring at me? And the old arrears, I'm just the first one this year, why is it my turn to pay? ”

Guan Fengsheng gritted his teeth and protested.

"Who do you care I am? Does your family have any debts? Should I chase if I have a debt? As for the old arrears, which charter says that the arrears of the current year belong to the first head of the current year? Could it be that you have the final say casually, isn't it my lord? ”

Lai Yipin said impatiently, Guan Fengsheng was speechless, whether it was numbers or this "truth", it was really impeccable, and Lai Yipin was completely "acting according to law".

The people around slowly gathered around, and seeing that there were more people gathered, Lai Yipin snorted coldly: "The words will be brought to you, three days, just three days!" ”

Then he lowered his voice again and said to Guan Fengsheng: "I have a good heart, and I will never frown if I can help the villagers." To tell you honestly, you dress up your second girl and wait for me to pick up someone in three days, and I will help you solve this debt. ”

was originally sincere, but immediately became extremely cold again, and then Lai Yipin lowered his voice: "If you don't give it away, I don't want your money!" I don't care who rents this mine. As long as I say a word, Master Zhong can transfer it to the people of Liu Village, you weigh it yourself! ”

He straightened his waist and looked at Li Shi, "Li Si, in a few days, we will be considered brothers-in-law, remember to come and have a glass of wine, haha...... Aha......"

Li Shi and Guan Fengsheng glanced at each other, and only then did they understand that it was not Master Zhong who coveted Second Sister Guan, it was this guy!

Guan Fengsheng's eyes were on fire, and he was about to grab Lai Yipin, who turned around, but Li Shi grabbed him.

"Lai Dashao, are you sure you have these debts?"

Li Xi asked in a deep voice.

Lai Yipin shook two words without looking back: "Nonsense!" ”

Li Xian nodded, not much to say, he owed ......, he looked at his own "license" before, he felt that the year of Kangxi's fifty years was somewhat familiar, just now Lai Yipin talked about this year again, he finally remembered one thing, speaking of which, thanks to those who praised the "prosperous Qing Dynasty", he would remember it so strongly.

"This thug!"

Guan Fengsheng looked at Lai Yipin's back, and his whole body trembled with hatred, saying that he was going to owe, but in fact, he was blackmailing his daughter. But there was nothing he could do. Li Shi had just laid out the prospect in the mine, and this Lai Yipin used the mine to pressure him to comply. The whole village depends on this mine to live, Master Zhong really doesn't rent it to them anymore, and the people of a village can't wait for death? Can he, Guan Fengsheng, afford this responsibility?

Weighing the gains and losses sensibly, he had to bow his head, which is why he would be so angry.

"Uncle Guan, don't be angry, I'll solve this matter."

Li Xian's eyes were gloomy, this Lai Yipin, he actually understood people's hearts so well, and took the villagers to blackmail Guan Fengsheng, but he was not an ordinary ruffian, if he wanted to fight this guy, he had to be beaten to death with a stick, and it just so happened that he should be holding the seven inches of this guy.

Forced debtors? Look at not forcing you to death!

Li Shi sneered in his heart, Guan Fengsheng gritted his teeth helplessly, and could only believe Li Shi.