Hai Shuzu and Xu Rongxing stayed in the Luming Pavilion for a few days, and even visited the arsenal, and the two were shocked by the scale of the foundation created by Li Zhaoji in Tamsui.

In the various workshops of Tamsui City, iron is always the most important raw material, its importance is incomparable, and the amount consumed is even more breathtaking, at the docks, every time a ship is berthed, there will be iron and iron unloaded from the ship, and the vast majority of it is from Foshan.

The two also went to the arsenal, but they only visited the gunsmith workshop and the forging workshop where cold weapons were made, and they did not visit the cannon casting workshop not because there were any secrets that could not be known, but because Li Zhaoji was there, for the matter of iron fan cannon casting, Li Zhaoji was very busy, and once again he ate and lived in the arsenal, and he couldn't spare enough time to meet the two, and if he just took some time to meet, he couldn't solve any problems.

"Brother Xu, don't feel slow, Brother Li is really such a person, when he is busy, he is devoted to it, and he will not give up until he reaches his goal, and he does not mean to hold on to you and me." Hai Shuzu said to Xu Rongxing, who was drinking tea in the Luming Pavilion.

He didn't just make peace for Li Zhaoji, the key was that he was afraid that Xu Rongxing would doubt his influence on the side of the Oriental Trading Company.

Xu Rongxing put down the teacup and shook his head slightly: "No, no, the strength of the shopkeeper Li, I have seen it, although this trading company is a business with my iron mill, but it is really a heaven and an underground, our Xu family has been in Foshan for three generations, but it is not as good as the shopkeeper Li in Tamsui for a few months, it is really embarrassing." ”

As he spoke, he looked around and asked in a low voice, "Brother Hai, have you figured out the matter of the Fenghua?" ”

Hai Shuzu smiled: "I've already inquired clearly, it's ....... the case." ”

In fact, Hai Shuzu wanted to intervene in the purchase of iron materials in the trading company very early, so he found Xu Rongxing early and proposed to co-establish a new iron workshop with him. It's just that because of the question of how many shares they have, the two have not been able to make up their minds, but if it weren't for the appearance of the Fenghua, the two would not have come to Tamsui in a hurry, after all, the two also want to stretch and raise the price of iron, and the two of them will be able to make more money.

The Fenghua appeared in Foshan half a month ago, and it is a large fortune ship, which transports timber from Qiongzhou to Guangzhou on weekdays, and carries a large amount of cargo. Because the four pirates made trouble at the mouth of the Pearl River, the Fenghua had no business, and because the hull was too big, the steering remained the same, and even the regimental sailors didn't want the ship.

But ten days earlier, the ship had arrived in Foshan, loaded 1,500 quintals of iron ore powder and 200 quintals of iron from a warehouse, and then departed from Foshan and escorted by the armed merchant ship Dongfang, all the way out of the mouth of the Pearl River, with the destination being Tamsui.

Getting this news made Hai Shuzu and Xu Rongxing unable to sit still.

The reason is very simple, the Fenghua is mainly transporting iron ore powder, does this mean that the Oriental Trading Company wants to set up its own iron mill in Tamsui to smelt iron?

This news sounds a little incredible, after all, the pirates in the Pearl River Estuary are in trouble, and the transportation cost is quite high, and the cost of transporting iron ore from Guangdong to freshwater smelting is bound to be very high, but the problem is that freshwater also has an advantage that Guangzhou does not have, that is, charcoal.

Dongfandi is full of mountains and forests, and if you open up a lot of forests and destroy them, you can pile those branches together to make your own kiln and burn charcoal, but in Foshan, the price of charcoal is very high.

For example, Foshan was full of iron-smelting furnaces a hundred years ago, but now, iron-smelting furnaces are gradually decreasing, and Foshan has gradually evolved from an iron-smelting center to an iron processing center.

Therefore, Foshan's iron smelting has gradually formed more than a dozen masters, and the Xu family is one of them, as well as the iron ore production area in Beimian County, which directly smelts iron on the spot and sells iron to Foshan, instead of only selling iron ore.

The two did not know how much the charcoal from freshwater was worth, but Lee did mention that the trading company was going to build a ship to transport pig iron, and the charcoal could be transported back when he returned.

“...... The Oriental Trading Company built an iron-smelting furnace at the test site and brought iron ore to be used for iron-making there. Hai Shuzu said.

Xu Rongxing said: "That's not to make iron, if so, can our order with the Oriental Trading Company be finalized, even if it is finalized, won't it shrink." ”

Hai Shuzu waved his hand and signaled Xu Rongxing not to be excited, he said: "Ironmaking is to make iron, but not to make an iron workshop specializing in ironmaking, but only to smelt the molten iron of the cannon." ”

"Have you been deceived, if you just melt the molten iron, you can directly melt the Foshan iron, why buy iron ore powder? Could it be that they want to fry steel, no, this is not right, if they fry steel, they will buy more than 1,000 quintals of iron ore powder at once? Xu Rongxing shook his head.

As a family of iron smelters, the Xu family also has steel production, using the method of frying steel, there is this method in Tiangong Kaiwu, the so-called fried steel is not difficult, that is, the pig iron is smelted into a liquid or semi-liquid state, and the willow stick is constantly stirred, and at the same time blowing, because it is just like stir-frying, so it is named the fried steel method.

The difference between steel and iron lies in the carbon content, and the key to controlling decarburization is to add iron ore powder, but the steel output is very low, and the amount of iron ore powder is not much.

Hai Shuzu shook his fingers in front of Xu Rongxing, who was a little distracted, and after waking him up, he said: "Brother Xu, not as much as you think, let me say something ugly, that is, Li Zhaoji looks down on Foshan Iron and wants to smelt iron himself to cast cannons." ”

Xu Rongxing laughed: "It's really a strange story through the ages, in terms of iron materials, where in the world can it be compared to Foshan iron?" It is the Franco machine in Macao who casts cannons, and he also buys iron directly from Foshan, and has never heard of his own iron smelting.

You might as well tell Li Zhaoji that iron smelting is a complicated science, and the iron required to cast cannons is even more so.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty cast cannons, which are also mostly made by us in Guangdong, and the use of Foshan iron is also used, and the cast artillery is better than that made by Jiannu, do you know why? ”

"I don't know." Haishuzu was the first to get involved in this way, and he had just entered the steel industry, where did he understand the key to iron smelting and cannon casting.

Xu Rongxing said proudly: "The key is iron, our Guangdong's iron is smelted from charcoal, and Jiannu's iron is smelted from coal, and their iron is more brittle and easier to blow up." Although iron smelting in freshwater is inevitably made of charcoal, the technology is complicated.

In addition, I have been in contact with people here in the past few days, and I found that many of them are from Macao and Guangzhou. This is strange, the same iron ore powder, the same lineage of iron-smelting skills, why does he think that he can smelt better iron than Foshan iron? ”

In the end, Xu Rongxing's face was full of suspicion.

"Two." At this time, Liu Mingde knocked on the door and entered, clenched his fists and said: "Master Hai, shopkeeper Xu, the furnace and iron smelting over there in the arsenal, the big shopkeeper said that Shopkeeper Xu is an expert, and Master Hai is also well-informed, please go over and take a look." ”

"Oh, it just so happens that Brother Hai and I also talked about it, and I just want to see the excitement, but I want to see how the iron smelting technology of Shopkeeper Li is different." Xu Rongxing said immediately.

Hai Shuzu said: "Brother Liu, the two of us will clean up and come in a while." ”

Liu Mingde left after giving up, Xu Rongxing knew that Hai Shuzu wanted to stay with him, and asked, "Brother Hai, what else is going on?" ”

Hai Shuzu said: "Brother Xu is an expert in the iron industry, I know this, although the shopkeeper Li is talented and smart, but it may not be as good as you, today's iron smelting, maybe failure, is success, and the molten iron is not as good as the Xu family iron workshop." ”

"That's the right thing to do. My Xu family in Foshan is not the largest family business, nor the deepest background, can be based on three generations, it depends on the quality of the iron, not to mention anything else, Bu Jialao cast cannons, most of the iron is from my Xu family. Speaking of the quality of his own iron smelting, Xu Rongxing is very proud.

Hai Shuzu immediately said: "Even if Brother Xu is confident, in front of Shopkeeper Li, he doesn't have to be aggressive, let alone ridicule and ridicule.

I heard that there was an old man who made a bet with Shopkeeper Li that if he could not make a cannon, he would be locked up in the bell tower and wait for the result, and if he did, he would swallow a table. This is Tamsui, and Shopkeeper Li is not an ordinary businessman like you and me.

We are here to talk about business, whether we succeed or not, we can't offend people. ”

Hearing this, Xu Rongxing nodded heavily, restrained his smug expression, and said, "Brother Hai, thanks to your reminder, I forgot about this." ”

Li Zhaoji's anecdotes, he has also heard some of them, and when he sees the trading company industry here, he knows that Li Zhaoji is not a mortal, let alone a businessman in the ordinary sense, if he annoys him, I am afraid that he will not be able to get out.

The two agreed, left the Luming Pavilion, got into the carriage and entered the arsenal, listened to the noise from afar, and when they arrived at the place, Xu Rongxing got off the car and saw an iron smelting furnace as high as one and a half zhang, which was shaped like a large bottle, and the shape was no different from the Foshan iron smelting furnace.

Along the way, Liu Mingde also introduced some, Xu Rongxing already knew that the master who built this furnace was surnamed Ma, Xu Rongxing also recognized, quite a bit of reputation in Foshan, among the twelve iron-smelting furnaces of the Xu family, three of them were built by this master Ma, if it was before, there were more, but in Xu Rongxing's generation, there were many people in the family, and they had mastered the masonry technology of iron-smelting furnaces.

Approaching, found that this is the common shape of Foshan iron smelting furnace, a square circle of filler mouth upward, the bottom of three zhang five feet square, although never seen, Xu Rongxing knew that the furnace body is two feet thick, the height of five or six feet, four feet wide of the blast wooden fan is exactly the same.

"Master Ma." Xu Rongxing really saw the master Ma and stepped forward to say hello.

"Shopkeeper Xu, you are also here." Master Ma bent down again and again.

"It's no wonder that the shopkeeper Li of the Oriental Trading Company is full of confidence in smelting good iron, and it turns out that Master Youma is in charge of the overall situation." Xu Rongxing said with emotion.

"Me, in charge of the overall situation?" Master Ma shook his head, his expression was a little gloomy, and said, "Don't say that you are presiding over the overall situation, this furnace may not be built by me." Shopkeeper Xu, I'm sorry for you, if this furnace fails to smelt iron today, and you go back to Foshan, don't say that I built a furnace for them. ”

Xu Rongxing was puzzled: "Why is this?" ”

"Shopkeeper Xu, take a closer look, is this our Foshan stove?" Master Ma sighed and said, smashing his fist into his palm, his face full of regret.

Xu Rongxing patronized and talked to Master Ma, but he didn't look good, and Hai Shuzu also said: "Yes, it seems that there are more things than what you saw in your iron workshop, you look at that small brick house, it seems to be built with refractory bricks, which is what your iron smelting furnace does not have." ”

"yes, it's weird." Xu Rongxing also saw it, and he was even more skeptical.

Seeing that the surrounding workers were still preparing charcoal and iron ore, and Liu Mingde was going to invite Li Zhaoji, Xu Rongxing hurriedly leaned forward to observe and found that there was indeed a big difference.

There is an extra pit at the top of the pit next to the iron-smelting furnace, there is a passage that connects the small brick house with the blast outlet of the furnace, which is also made of bricks, and there is a brick passage on the brick house, close to the top of the furnace, and there is a chimney in the middle, and there is a convex pipe structure, there is a fan behind it, and what is even more amazing is that this fan is made of iron, I don't know whether it is iron-clad or iron leaf.

And as the preparations were ready, someone brought a large horn made of iron sheets, which looked very similar to the top of the furnace, as if it could cover the stove roof, and the curved iron pipe was also carried in, and I don't know what to do.