Zheng Yunming said on a whim, so he had to diverge the topic: "Today is not the time to talk about such idle things, Ke Blacksmith, have you finished what I want?" ”

Ke Shenhu answered, turned his head and ordered: "Take what the chief manager ordered!" ”

Bai Yijie originally thought that Zheng Yunming's custom-made should be some kind of new armor, but what the young man took out from the shop was just a pair of steel arm guards.

"Do you need the chief manager to inspect a pair of arm guards?" Bai Yijie couldn't help but say: "Just like the chief manager just said, the general should focus on the overall planning, and just leave these bits and pieces to the soldiers themselves." ”

Ke Shenhu interjected: "It's not just a pair of arm guards, the chief manager also ordered leg guards, iron gloves and enlarged heart guards, the most important thing is that his requirements are particularly demanding, the defense must be strong, and the weight should not be too heavy, my master and I really spent a lot of time pondering." ”

"That's just a show." Zheng Yunming put on the arm guards and stretched out his hand to show Yang Luo and Wang Deng. Wang Deng reached out and tapped on the armguard.

"There should be no problem, with the quality of pure steel, ordinary swords can't hurt." He said.

"Let's make five hundred in this pattern." Zheng Yunming took off his arm guards and said, "The arm guards, leg guards, iron hands and heart guards all cost five hundred." ”

The amount he said startled everyone present.

The reason why Wang Dengyang was surprised was naturally that such a set of equipment cost a lot of money.

"Xiangyang has just experienced the war, the army is not rich in funds, now spend money to order such a large set of things, it is better to change to iron armor and head gear equipment to the soldiers, now the new brothers in the camp basically have no armor, just issued them some anti-card protection. With the same amount of money, equipping some people with basic armor can save one more life. Wang Deng said.

"Jing Song knows one thing, but he doesn't know the other." Bai Yijie said: "I think the intention of the manager is to equip an elite army with complete armor as much as possible, which can be used as an arrow for decisive victory. Instead of equipping everyone with basic armor, it is better to have a few people equipped with the best armor to break the balance of power on the field, and only victory is the best way to reduce casualties, and once defeated, no matter how many people are equipped with armor, the casualties will be heavy. ”

"What are you talking about?" Zheng Yunming looked innocent, and said slowly: "This is not for our army equipment, this is an order from the other deputy envoy of Jiangling Mansion." The craftsmen of Gangneung are now desperately trying to make the armor that replenishes the military horses from all over Jinghu, and they are barely able to support it. There is no longer any room left for other tasks. This list can only be made by private craftsmen. ”

"There has been such a big incident in Xiangyang recently, and it is reasonable for the deputy envoy to want to strengthen the guard of the deputy envoy." Bai Yijie said: "What I am worried about is that Ke Blacksmith may not be able to deliver the goods on time. ”

Ke Shenhu said with a bitter face: "That must not be completed on time." ”

He quietly pointed at Xu Shiqing: "How much iron we want to beat, first of all, it depends on how much pig iron can be produced by the master." He can't give enough goods, even a good woman can't cook without rice. ”

Xu Shiqing stretched his beard and said slowly: "It's no wonder that the little old man is doing this. The Jingxiang War came to an end, and the ministers and generals from all over the country urged the mines in Ezhou to increase production. The veins are all buried in the mountains, how can it be so easy to increase production with just a few words? ”

"Take the coal mine as an example, after digging a few zhang, you can find traces of coal, but it is accompanied by poisonous gas filling the cave, and the miners must immediately withdraw and wait for the poisonous gas to be excreted before entering the cave to mine, which takes a lot of time."

"When it comes to making iron, it takes a lot of effort to crush the ore and go into the mountains to cut wood and burn charcoal, not to mention the hard work, but it also takes a lot of time to transport these ores and charcoal."

"People are the hardest people in the world to mine and practice mining, but how can you know the taste of the road if you don't do it?" Xu Shiqing smiled and said: "Anyway, this job is always to ask the land lord for a bowl of rice, and he doesn't have to be controlled by the wind and rain." ”

Zheng Yunming's eyes rolled, and it was time for the accelerated development of popular science.

"The toxic gas in the coal mine is easy to deal with, and you can use the middle of the big bamboo to open the joint as a pipe, insert the bamboo into the coal, and guide all the poisonous gas out, so that the speed of toxic gas discharge will be much higher."

"What is the most in Jinghu? It's a river, wouldn't it be a pity not to use such natural strength? When I was in Lin'an, I heard that there are so-called crushed ore water drains, forging and smelting water drains, and pulling water drains, and I have written down all the manufacturing methods and drawings. The extra manpower can be assigned to dig new mines. With a multi-pronged approach, ore production is bound to increase even more. ”

"Regarding the section on charcoal needed for ironmaking, I don't know why the old man of Lu Dao does not use coal and stone to make iron, but uses time-consuming and labor-intensive charcoal?" Zheng Yunming said: "Coal and stone are high in calories and cheap, don't you need the best fuel for ironmaking?" ”

"That's because the manager only sees the benefits of coal stone." Xu Shiqing sighed: "Why don't we know that the coal stone is easy to use? But using coal and stone as fuel to smelt pig iron is just that, used to smelt wrought iron or further want to smelt fine steel, after the wrought iron will be brittle and easy to break, used to cast farm tools can barely be used, if you make weapons for battlefield fighting, it will definitely not work. ”

Zheng Yunming calmed down and thought about it, which point of vague understanding of metallurgy that he remembered in his previous life had not been completely lost.

"The use of coal and stone cannot make good iron, because the coal and stone contain sulfur, and if sulfur is mixed in the iron, the iron will lose its toughness and hardness." He struggled to recall a little thing he remembered in his previous life: "So before using coal, you must first refine the coalstone in the fire." ”

"Put it in the kiln, bake it in the air with fire, and bake the impurities in the coal, including sulfur and phosphorus, into gas and emit it. All that remains is pure coke, which can be used to quench refined iron without any problems. ”

A strange smile appeared on Bai Yijie's face again.

He suddenly interjected: "I beg my pardon for saying more, although these methods are ingenious, they can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. Completely solving the problem of mineral mining in Jinghu is not something that can be done by one or two new inventions. ”

Zheng Yunming was slightly embarrassed, since he became a general, no one dared to criticize him in front of him for a long time, especially when he was using future knowledge to speed up the current scientific and technological process, people could only admire, where did they have time to be picky.

But he was not a narrow-minded person, and immediately said: "Sir, if you have any lofty opinions, you might as well say it bluntly, what we need is the wisdom of the people." ”

"The current problem of national mining and metallurgy is not how backward the technology is and how ineffective the equipment is. At present, the efficiency of mine production in the country is not as good as that of the north, or Xirong and Nanban, but not as good as before the Nandu. If we talk about how the skills are insufficient, how unfavorable the equipment is, we will only be worse before the southern crossing, not better. Now that there are more advanced techniques and the number of people involved in mining has increased, why has the efficiency of mining ore decreased? ”

Yijie thought that it was because the management system had collapsed. At the beginning of the establishment of the dynasty, the officials did not dare to show favoritism, and worked diligently, so they were able to go deep into the mines to observe the problems that arose, and correct them in time. This is the management advantage brought about by the initial establishment of the system in the prosperous period. ”

"But since the Zhenzong and Renzong dynasties, the management has gradually been abolished. The matter of greed for ink from top to bottom constantly appears in the national yamen involved in mining and metallurgy. The management of the mine is even more ignorant, and basically relies on the miners to manage it themselves. This is the inertia brought about by the long-term stagnation of the political situation, and this root is not dug up, and advanced techniques and machinery are used. In the end, it was just a wasted effort. ”

"To change the situation of poor mine production, we should first start with employing people, appoint competent people, and then reform the parts of the system that do not adapt to the actual situation, and then reform the technology and use new tools. in order to close the overall effect. Otherwise, these skills of the general manager will only have the effect of half the effort. ”

"Talent is not easy to come by." When Zheng Yunming said it, Xu Shiqing and Ke Shenhu couldn't stop nodding: "There are many politicians, the orders are unclear, everyone has merit to rob them, and they have pushed each other, no one wants to cause this kind of trouble." The new boys are all self-exalted, and they would rather go to the county to deal with the old farmers than come to the mountains to suffer from the wind and rain. ”

"I'll go." Bai Yijie said: "Within one year, make some achievements for the general manager." ”

"Now that there are many affairs in the army, and I can't leave you for a moment, you want to leave us to manage the iron mines?" Zheng Yunming shook his head: "Who does Luzhong rely on to implement the eight strategies?" ”

"It is precisely because I have to implement the eight strategies that I have to gather talents in advance, in addition to the manager's mine cave this time, I also have to travel around the two lakes, gather people with lofty ideals to go to the general manager's command, and make some preparations in advance for the future plan."

He also said: "The disadvantages of hardware are by no means a trivial matter, first of all, hardware is not only for the army, but also for ordinary production and life. All kinds of equipment in the army need a lot of copper, iron and tin, and if a large number of firearms are used in the future, the amount of lead will not be less. Iron ploughshares are needed for farming, pickaxes and hoes are needed for water conservancy, and all kinds of small places in life rely on the convenience of hardware. Starting from this direction is the fastest and easiest to demonstrate the effectiveness of the General's 'New Deal', and from this reform onwards, all kinds of affairs will be overwhelmed in the future, and the obstacles will be much reduced. ”

"Secondly, it is precisely because there are many political departments that there is no obstacle from fixed vested interests here, and this is a gray area where the various yamen are incompatible with each other, and although there are many intertwined contradictions, there is also room for maneuver and containment."

"If you want to make eight strategies, start with the mines in Jinghu," he said, "Please give me this opportunity." ”