Sun Yuanhua's face was a little embarrassed, seeing that the barrel of this new musket was in front of him, he unconsciously picked it up and studied it, but he didn't expect to be looked at by Xue Fengxiang.

glanced back at Zhu Youzhen, and saw that His Majesty was also waiting to listen.

Then he said directly: "This barrel can naturally be regarded as a qualified product, but in my opinion, it is not a good product." ”

It's good to say that Sun Yuanhua hasn't said this, after all, it can be explained by his lack of understanding of the internal structure of the new rifle when he first came here.

But this time it comes up and says that other people's things are not doing well.

Isn't it just a direct pick-up from the side to say what the General Bureau of Ordnance has made out at the moment?

The surrounding craftsmen put down their work at that time, and said to Sun Yuanhua in a circle:

"Today, if this lord can't tell the reason and can't tell where the barrel is, don't blame me for refuting your face."

Xue Fengxiang on the side was even more angry, "I don't know if Master Sun has seen the design drawings of the Minne rifle, how can my General Bureau of Ordnance produce defective products." ”

Unexpectedly, Sun Yuanhua was just silent, and once again lifted a boring barrel and put it in front of his eyes to take a closer look.

After reading several roots, he finally said:

"This barrel is indeed a qualified product, but it is indeed not a good product, the key point is that the iron used is not excellent, and it is rigidly processed in accordance with the design requirements when boring, resulting in its performance can only be barely qualified."

"Barely qualified?" When the craftsmen on the side heard this, they were not happy again.

I saw one of them say with a displeased face, "If it is according to what the adults say, how should it be modified?" ”

Sun Yuanhua said confidently: "Modify the boring knife, just a little less boring at the muzzle of the barrel." ”

"A little boring?"

The craftsmen's expressions were a little puzzled, and at this moment, outside the workshop door in the distance, Lao Wang Tou walked in with his apprentice Xiaosi, first bowed to Zhu Youzhen, and then said: "If you lose, you lose, it's not a shame if you don't have the same skills, I told you a long time ago that it doesn't matter if you can't see it, don't stop others.."

As the first craftsman in the General Bureau of Ordnance to come into contact with the production of new rifles, Lao Wangtou has the deepest skills and qualifications.

And Xue Fengxiang was also a little surprised when he saw the old Wang Tou say this: "Master Wang, is what this adult said true?" ”

"Hmm... What this lord said is that this is indeed caused by poor iron, which is not only the poor iron used to produce the barrel, but also the iron of the boring knife is not of the highest quality. ”

"Why... So why not report it early? ”

"Because the source of this matter is not the slackness of the craftsman or the lack of craftsmanship, but the poor quality of the iron, the texture is soft, and the boring cart will slip when it goes in."

What the old king said seemed to define the technical nature of this matter.

However, Zhu Youzhen, who was originally standing on the side, looked at Xue Fengxiang with some confusion, and couldn't help but say, "Why is the poor quality of the iron material just mentioned?" Isn't the iron material used by the General Bureau of Ordnance to produce new rifles all transported from the Ministry of Industry? How can it be of poor quality. ”

Seeing that Zhu Youzhen's face had not changed, Xue Fengxiang understood that he had to give the emperor a reasonable explanation now.

Otherwise, today's matter would not be a simple technical discussion, and Xue Fengxiang at this moment had already scolded Sun Yuanhua thousands of times in his heart.

Tell me about you, you don't care what you're doing, and if you don't have good iron, you can also produce a qualified Migne rifle.

"Back to Your Majesty, this iron material is indeed from the Ministry of Industry, but the iron ore behind this iron material is all from iron ore..."

"Then why is the iron material of the Ministry of Industry poor?"

"Your Majesty... This seems to be iron, but in fact it is the refined iron that is specially smelted by the Ministry of Industry, which is rare in itself, and the large increase in the production of Mine's rifle in a short period of time means that more refined iron is needed that is, iron ore, but now because of the thorough investigation of the mining tax. Iron ore production in the imperial court has been declining for months.."

Zhu Youzhen understands that this matter is not as simple as it seems on the surface.

But as an emperor, he must show something at this moment.

"Back in the palace, Xue Fengxiang and Sun Yuanhua will come with me."

"Obey."

The group followed Zhu Youzhen quickly, and Zhu Youzhen himself was full of thoughts.

"Damn.. Damn it! How can you leave such an important thing behind! ”

Zhu Youzhen did not expect that he had a smooth journey, but he never thought about whether the production output of refined iron and various minerals in the Ming Dynasty could meet the growing demand for metals after the Ming Dynasty.

Rather than having abundant knowledge, the Ming Dynasty probably needed to accelerate the process of industrialization.

As soon as he returned to the palace, Zhu Youzhen couldn't wait to ask Xue Fengxiang, "Let's talk to me, what is the current iron production of this Ming Dynasty, and whether it can still meet the needs of the General Administration of Ordnance and future production." ”

"Back to Your Majesty, Dongchang has fully taken over the mining tax matters and is gradually transferring them to the Daming Royal Taxation Bureau, but neither Wei Zhongxian nor Bi Ziyan has reported the decline in ore production."

Wang Chengen first said on the side, while Xue Fengxiang had a bitter face, this bad guy finally fell on his head.

"Your Majesty, the minister does not dare to deceive the saint, and now the Ming Dynasty has indeed not declined iron ore production, which the Ministry of Industry also knows, but what you don't know is that the background of this production is not declining because the iron ore production in the south is increasing year by year, but the north is shrinking year by year. It's barely maintained. ”

"Is the North any worse than the South? Why is there such a big difference between the North and the South? Zhu Youzhen was really puzzled.

I only listened to Xue Fengxiang explain: "It is reasonable to say that the content of various mineral deposits in the north is more than that in the south, but the problem is that now the tax clearance starts from the north, not to mention, a large number of these young and strong manpower are lost to the south, resulting in a shortage of mining manpower in the north... Plus.."

Seeing that Xue Fengxiang was a little snorted as he spoke, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but be angry, and said angrily: "Go on!" ”

"Plus this... A large number of mineral deposits in the north originally belonged to Shanxi merchants. And many of the businesses controlled by those merchants participated in it, and the north had a large number of cheap mines, so they went to the south to open mines. Reducing the amount of mineral deposits in the north will transport ore from the south to the north and raise the price of ore in the north."