Dream Broken You Pavilion

"Please sit down quickly." Wang Keyu invited the two of you to sit down with a smile on his face, and he was busy cooking tea to entertain the guests, and said in his mouth: "Master Shang, to tell you the truth, if it weren't for your iron ore mining on Fulong Mountain, I would This iron smelting place should be closed. You don’t know that our Xiang country is short of iron ore. Since Yan State stopped sending us iron ore, my iron smelting place is almost a decoration. It can’t be opened for a few days every year. Work."

Shang Wuyang said: "The discovery of iron ore in Fulong Mountain is indeed a coincidence. Originally, Shang did not intend to mine it. However, he thought that our Xiang country has been fighting for years, and the mining of iron ore can solve the urgent need for military weapons. Report to General Xiao Zizhan and get the emperor's approval, and then the digging will be officially carried out."

"Good thing, good thing," Wang Keyu said with a smile, "Young Master Shang doesn't know that there are 32 large and small iron smelting offices in Hunan, and only the old man here and Chang Boss in the capital are officially recognized by the government, and I am the only one. Only the two can make coins and weapons, which are also exclusively for the Privy Council. I also have people from the Privy Council to supervise me, so there is no room for sloppiness. The demand for iron ore is huge. You are negotiating a long-term deal, I never thought that you, Young Master Shang, would come first."

He poured out the tea, put it in front of everyone with a tea clip, and said, "Come, let's drink tea, let's talk while drinking."

Shang Wuyang took a sip of his tea and said, "Your iron smelting place is quite large, which opened Shang's eyes."

Wang Kexi laughed loudly and said: "In the past, my ancestors were smelting iron for generations, and they got bigger and bigger. I didn't expect my generation to be in a recession. Hahaha, Young Master Shang is laughing, laughing."

Shang Wuyang thought to himself: This person is very hearty, but he is a sweetheart, so he can't help but have a good impression of him.He said in his mouth: "Why are you laughing at me? The so-called clever woman can't cook without rice."

Wang Keyu smiled and said: "Then we will have to rely on Young Master Shang to take care of us in the future. The quantity of our next batch of goods will be larger than the previous batch, so Young Master Shang will have to worry a lot."

Shang Wuyang said: "Shang came here this time for this batch of goods. I'm afraid Boss Wang will have to wait for a few more days."

"Yo, what's the matter? But what happened?" Wang Keyu's eyes were full of worry.

Shang Wuyang said: "It's not that there's anything wrong, it's just that this iron mine has just started to be mined, and Shang is inexperienced. The day before yesterday, he found that the support frame of the mine tunnel was not safe enough, which may hurt the lives of the miners, so he ordered people to re-strengthen it. Mine."

"Ah, so that's how it is," Wang Keyu re-examined Shang Wuyang, with a hint of approval in his eyes, and said loudly:

"Ordinary mine owners only focus on mining and earning a lot of money. Few are as concerned about the safety of the miners as you are. This move by the young master Shang really admires me. If that's the case, it won't hurt to delay the delivery for a few days. As long as it is delivered within seven days, let me not cook without rice."

Seeing him so happy, Shang Wuyang was also relieved, he clasped his fists and said: "Boss Wang is really straightforward, Shang is very grateful, and the goods will arrive in seven days."

"That's very good," Wang Keyu said with a smile, "Oh, Young Master Shang is indeed a young hero, and doing business is such a pleasure, it's a great fortune to get to know Young Master Shang."

Shang Wuyang: "Boss Wang is polite."

Wang Keyu said again: "Speaking of which, Young Master Shang did the right thing about strengthening the mine tunnel. Forgive me for saying it bluntly. If it's an official camp, what if someone dies? At most, it's just compensation, but if You run it yourself, but you can't make any mistakes."

Hearing this, Shang Wuyang nodded and said: "That's why Shang has to be more cautious. Thank you, Boss Wang, for reminding me."

"To be honest, this is the first time I have seen the high iron content of Young Master Shang's iron ore, but the price you gave is indeed not high. It can be seen that Young Master Shang is not a greedy person. Therefore, Wang has a saying, I don't know if I should speak or not." Wang Keyu suddenly hesitated.

"Boss Wang can say whatever he wants." Shang Wuyang was polite and respectful to this kind elder.

Wang Keyu said: "Since that's the case, I'm sorry to say one more thing. Although Fulong Mountain has dug out iron ore, there are not a few small iron smelting places in Xiangguo, but I hope that Young Master Shang can deliver the goods to me. , As for those small workshops, no matter how high their prices are, Young Master Shang should not contact them."

Hearing this, Shang Wuyang was startled, and asked: "Oh? Why?"

Wang Keyu cast a mysterious look, and said: "The small workshop does not have the support of the government. Young Master Shang is a smart person. I will tell you the reason behind it."

"Ah, that's right." Shang Wuyang had an epiphany, and said: "Boss Wang's words are not bad. Iron ore is no better than other minerals. There is no government support, and private transactions are asking for trouble. Thank you, Boss Wang, for reminding me. down."

Wang Keyu nodded with a smile, and said: "Sure enough, Young Master Shang has revealed everything. I was worried that after I said it, Young Master Shang would think that I wanted to monopolize your iron ore."

Shang Wuyang smiled and said: "Boss Wang is quick to speak, every word is clear and to the point, Shang has just entered the Tao, if there is something that I don't understand, I hope Boss Wang will not hesitate to enlighten me, and give me a lot of pointers."

Wang Kexi said loudly: "Don't dare to be, I just lived a few more years and gained a little more experience. The young master Shang is so humble and polite, it really makes the old man ashamed. Today I can see the young master Shang, and I really hate seeing each other too late. Since Young Master Shang is here, would you be interested in seeing how your iron ore is smelted?"

This remark fit Shang Wuyang's heart, he couldn't help cheering up, and said: "It's very good, it also gave Shang a long experience."

"Hahaha," Wang Keyu stood up and said, "Let's go, before it's dark, the old man will take Young Master Shang to go around the back and watch the excitement."

"Boss Laowang is here."

……

It’s no wonder that the iron smelting office occupies such a large area. It turns out that there is a gate walking down the long corridor. Inside the gate are several rows of barracks-like rooms. They are said to be houses, but they are actually compartments without doors and roofs. The boss told Shang Wuyang that there are a hundred of such compartments in his place.

In each room, several workers took turns blowing air into the raised circular adobe stoves, and raging flames were emerging from the adobe stoves.

Boss Wang said that this kind of adobe stove is called a "melting furnace". Because it is erected on the ground, it is also called a "shaft furnace". The furnace needs to be burned for several hours to produce iron, and if the iron is to be produced smoothly, the fire in the furnace cannot be stopped, and the workers need to take turns to blow the wind.

In one compartment, several workers were rapidly breaking a furnace with iron rods. Boss Wang said that the iron in this furnace was made.Sure enough, from the broken furnace, I saw rough smelted iron lumps that were burning red and white.Workers took it out with iron tongs and immediately cut it into several small pieces.

Wang Keyu said with a smile: "The iron is extracted and cut into small pieces, which can be taken to the blacksmith room to make various weapons. Generally, there are only twenty or thirty such compartments in smaller iron smelting places, so the smelting speed is extremely slow. Especially small blacksmiths, they have few people, and usually only make one or two shaft furnaces. They usually buy iron ore, but they also buy some iron ore of poor quality privately, and the craftsmanship is rough. Some ordinary farm tools, pots and stoves. By the way, there are better ones, let’s go, I’ll take you to have a look.”

He took Shang Wuyang to see the larger shaft furnace, where the workers were constantly stirring the molten iron in the furnace. Boss Wang said that this is fried steel, and after being "hardened" by craftsmen, high-quality steel can be obtained, that is, Hundreds of steel smelting, the steel knives and swords made of it are extremely sharp.But the manufacturing process is complicated and the cost is high.This is not something that a general-scale iron smelting office can do.

The temperature in these rooms is extremely high, the workers are all shirtless, Shang Wuyang and Deshun are already sweating after staying for a while, Deshun clicked his tongue and said:

"I didn't expect iron smelting to have so many crafts and exquisiteness. It's not easy, it's not easy."

Wang Keyu smiled and said: "These are the iron ores you sent. It has been a long time since we have started such a full-scale operation. We have work to do, and the workers also have wages. Everyone needs to support their families. So, everyone Your livelihood depends on Young Master Shang."

"Where is it, Boss Wang is polite." Shang Wuyang responded.

Wang Keyu sighed and said: "We have been fighting at the border for many years, our Yangcheng is the closest to the battlefield, the trade is blocked, the country's financial resources are not good, and the people are in dire straits. Alas, I really hope that the world will be peaceful, and the people can live and work in peace and contentment."

Shang Wuyang nodded silently, he couldn't help feeling a little more fond of this frank and outspoken Boss Wang.

After the matter was done, it was getting dark, and Wang Kezhen was bid farewell, Shang Wuyang and Deshun hurried back to Fulong Mountain, at the foot of De Mountain, it was already time.

The two got off their horses, and guards came to lead the horses, and they went up the mountain on foot.

A guard stepped forward to report: "Young master, after the hour of the day, we found a few people dressed as villagers peeping nearby. I don't know who they are. I wanted to go forward and ask, but they ran away."

"Villager?" Shang Wuyang frowned slightly, and asked, "Did you find out tonight?"

The guard replied: "Yesterday, I also saw a few people walking to the front of the mountain to look around. When they saw me waiting at the foot of the mountain, they left."

Deshun said: "My lord, recently when we mine ore on the mountain, we recruited a lot of men from the villages below the mountain to go up the mountain. These people also heard about this and wanted to come to work, right?"

Shang Wuyang said: "If you want to come to work, do you need to come to visit in the middle of the night?"

Instead, he asked the guard: "You don't know these people?"

The guard shook his head and said, "I don't know, could it be people from other villages? My subordinates saw that they were all wearing coarse clothes, and they looked like peasants."

Shang Wuyang turned his head and glanced at the village in the distance. In the middle of the night, the village shrouded in darkness was vaguely shadowy, and the surroundings were empty, but there was no sign of anyone.

He said thoughtfully: "Nowadays when mining ore, there are more and more miscellaneous people going up the mountain, which is not conducive to control."

Deshun said: "Young master, why don't we make some pass tokens, and those who need to go up and down the mountain must register with the steward, and they can travel together after issuing tokens?"

"Access token?" Shang Wuyang thought for a moment and said: "Well, this is a good way. After you go back, you can go to Gao Liang and ask him to arrange this immediately."

"Yes, my lord."

Shang Wuyang instructed the guards guarding the mountain: "Don't be careless, idlers are not allowed to approach Fulong Mountain, and those who go up and down the mountain must be strictly investigated."

The guard clasped his fists and took the order.

……