national surname chiming

Chapter 148

To be honest, when Shen Shuren first came to Daye Iron Mountain for inspection, Shen Shuren thought about many possibilities:
Whether to improve smelting technology first, or improve mining technology, or find a way to optimize steel production from the perspective of raw materials and fuel quality...

But I didn't expect that after a field trip, I finally started from the perspective of the mine operating environment and production safety, and asked people to rectify anything that was not pleasing to the eye.

Even if a little cost is invested, the output is not obvious, at least there is no immediate productivity increase.

There is no way, after all, Shen Shuren's soul is still from the civilized society of later generations, and his compassion threshold is much lower than other scholar-bureaucrats in the late Ming Dynasty.

He really couldn't bear to let him witness this kind of production environment where people would die every few days.

The scholar-bureaucrats in the late Ming Dynasty generally ignored the life and death of coolies, especially now that there are refugees everywhere, and cheap labor is everywhere-don't think it is an exaggeration, or black Confucian scholar-bureaucrats, this was a normal phenomenon at the time.

Those born in the 90s and 00s have never seen hard times, and feel that the death of a person during the production process is a very serious matter.But in fact, this is the result of the national efforts to pay attention to production safety after entering the 21st century.

As long as we go back a few decades, to the 20s or 80s, it was normal for the migrant workers who built houses at that time to die a little after each building was completed.Even if none of the migrant workers died after the construction of a building, the developer and contractor would still be praised.

But this also led to Shen Shuren's many rectifications. At the beginning, not only the county magistrates and small officials could not understand, even the coolie miners themselves could not understand.

……

"What do you think this new Daotai master wants to toss about? We have suffered enough and are tired every day, and we still have to repair ramps in the mine. Dragging such a heavy stone roller to grind the ground is no worse than carrying a load of ore. tired?"

"Who says it's not? If you're tired for ten days and a half a month, that's all. It's over. At least one liter of potatoes and half a salted fish can be delivered every day. The key is that after the ramp is completed, in the future we To transport ore, you have to walk a lot of Pantuo roads, isn't it a lot of trouble?"

Two days after Shen Shuren ordered the rectification, hundreds of miners were working hard in the largest mine in Daye Tieshan.

On a gentle slope that had just been repaired beside the pit, three six-foot-tall, muscular muscular men were pushing a stone roller to level the road.

Beside them were a few shorter ones with thinner muscles, holding shovels and dirt baskets on their backs.

When there are protruding stones on the ground, dig them out, fill them in the low-lying places nearby, and then shovel half a shovel of floating soil to cover the hole left after the stones were dug out, beat them down with a shovel, and finally let a roller grind Pass.

As for the workers, most of them are complaining about the ungroundedness of Master Xindaotai, and doing the work for everyone indiscriminately.

Among the three strong men pushing the stone rollers, the one in the middle is also the biggest, with a rough appearance and a short beard like a steel needle.

His surname is Wang, Xing Er, and he doesn't have a formal name. Because he can swing a sledgehammer so well that he can hit the steel drill accurately, he is called Wang Tiehammer by his brothers.

He was in his twenties, and had been a refugee in the south since the eighth year of Chongzhen's Huaihe River turmoil. He had been digging here for six years, and the number of his fellow refugees who were weak had died.Also because of his good physical strength and senior qualifications, the group of Bailai miners are vaguely headed by him.

In the past few days, they have been treated well every day, with a little extra wages and enough food, but when they think that they will have to walk more every day to transport ore, they feel resentful.

There was a lot of resentment at work, and the voice of complaining inevitably became louder, which was heard by a supervisor officer passing by for inspection.The officer also had a violent temper. Seeing that someone was ignorant and slandering Mr. Daotai behind his back, he immediately pulled out his whip and slapped it.

"Thieves who don't know what's good and what's wrong! Master Daotai is doing this for the safety of all of you, and you've already added money and meals, so what are you waiting for?"

This officer is Lu Datou, Chief Qian under Zuo Zixiong's command. He is still here to stand in front of Shen Shuren's inspection today. Shen Daotai will arrive soon. He will bring his own soldiers to the scene to maintain order. Talking badly about someone behind their back.

A year and a half ago, Lu Datou was just the leader of the dock workers in Huangqiankou Town, Qishui County, Huangzhou Prefecture on the opposite bank, and he brought hundreds of laborers under him.Because of Kong Wu's strength and prestige, after joining the army, he gradually accumulated meritorious service and rose to the rank of Qianzong.

But after all, he comes from a humble background and is illiterate. Even if he is allowed to learn, he learns very slowly, and it will be difficult to go up.At the beginning of this year, he was Mr. Qian. Now that he has fought Erhe and experienced several small battles, he is still Mr. Qian.

But regardless of whether they can be promoted again, Lu Datou, a group of officers who were born as dock workers, has absolute respect for Mr. Daotai from the bottom of their hearts. They know that Mr. Daotai is approachable and can understand the sufferings of soldiers and laborers.

Now in Wuchang Mansion, how come these miners don't know good from bad?

On the other side, Wang Tiehammer received a solid whip, and was furious in his heart.

With his skill, he could dodge originally, but he was pushing a heavy stone roller, afraid that if he let go of his hands, the brothers next to him would not be able to hold on, and they would roll down along the slope and crush them to death.

After being beaten, he reluctantly pushed the stone roller to the side of the slope to resist, and then rolled up his sleeves and glared.But seeing that the other party was an officer, he didn't dare to make a mistake, he just glared.

Lu Datou was displeased by him, and he didn't feel that he was in the wrong, so he stepped forward to argue:

"Aren't you dissatisfied, you fellow? Is it wrong for me to beat you? The affairs of the world can't be justified. Master Daotai is for your own good, and you actually gossip about people behind your back, it's not the actions of a man!"

Wang Tiechui spat and yelled loudly: "If you want to be reasonable, let's make it clear!"

The two were arguing, and suddenly there was a louder commotion behind Lu Datou, and someone shouted to clear the road, Lu Datou looked back, and it was Master Daotai who had come, bringing Song Xieli——

This is the third time for Shen Shuren to inspect the mine. It can be seen that he attaches great importance to the rectification proposed by himself, and has made a little arrangement, and will see the effect every two days.

Lu Datou hurriedly stepped forward to plead guilty, saying that he had not done a good job in clearing the way and maintaining order, and asked for punishment.

Shen Shuren waved his hands in a friendly manner, indicating that it's okay, and followed Lu Datou to Wang Tiechui, and asked matter-of-factly:
"This official is Shen Shuren. What dissatisfaction do you have with the rectification requested by this official? As long as there is reason, this official will accept it. Why bother to talk about people behind their backs? This is not the way of a gentleman."

Hundreds of miners left and right had never met Shen Shuren, and at most they knew Song Mingde, and couldn't help but sweat for Wang Tiehammer, fearing that he would be liquidated.

Wang Tiechui is also a head iron, and he has reached this level. He just spun his calves for a few seconds, and then he was not afraid again. He gritted his teeth and said:

"My lord! It's not that we don't want to work! It's really too much trouble to change it like this! There was no road in the mine before, so we just picked up two bamboo baskets of ore, picked up a pole, and directly stepped on the rocky slope next to it. .

At most one or two hundred steps, the ore was transported to the flat ground outside the pit.Although the road was difficult, it was fast enough. The supervisor asked us to carry ten loads per hour, and fifty loads a day. With my strength, I finished it in three hours!

Now the slope has been changed to a gentle slope, and the steep rocky steps next to it are not allowed to be directly climbed. Although it is said that carts can be pushed in the future, they are all taken on the Pantuo Road. It takes three laps around the entire mine to reach the top of the slope. I am afraid that it will take two miles to walk. land!This is more than five times farther than before!Even if the pushcart can carry much more at one time, several times more than carrying the load, it will not be much faster!

We have already estimated that only the skinny people who were weak in strength, unable to climb the steep slope, and had to take a detour can move more and faster after rectification.Those of us who are strong and strong can climb rocks like walking on flat ground, so we don't need them at all! "

It is not easy for laymen to understand Wang Tiechui's complaints at first glance.It turned out that the slopes next to the ancient mine pits were unrepaired, and they were just a natural pile of rocks, with some steps naturally formed.

This kind of road is difficult, but for a strong man who can carry a load of one or two hundred catties up the steps, it must be much faster to climb the steps directly out of the pit.

According to the workload of the miners that Wang Tiechui just said, they pick fifty loads of ore a day, each load is two baskets, and each basket can only hold one bucket of iron ore, which is ten stones or seven thousand catties a day.

(Note: A bucket is a unit of volume, not a unit of weight, so things with high density can’t be loaded too much. One basket of grain can carry five buckets, about seventy catties, and one bucket of iron ore can weigh seventy Mingjin.)
This workload is equivalent to that of a courier boy in later generations who picks up seven thousand catties of goods every day from the bottom of a ten-story residential building without an elevator, and climbs the stairs in fifty steps to the top of the building.

For a strong man who is good at climbing stairs, of course it is better to take the stairs to save time, but for those who are physically weak, of course it is safer to take the winding road.

Shen Shuren understood their demands immediately. For a person like Wang Tiehammer who is as talented and physically strong as walking on flat ground, after the improvement of the mine transportation environment, he really did not take advantage of it and wasted time.

So he didn't blame the other party, but just discussed calmly in front of the miners: "You say so, I don't blame you, but have you ever thought about how much you can do in this mine with your strength and muscle?" people?
This rocky pit wall is said to have steps to step on, but in fact, who knows whether it is stable or not, and will it collapse?Let me ask you, last year, how many people were killed when they climbed the wall of the pit to carry ore?Also, was anyone buried alive? "

Wang Tiechui was immediately stunned by the question, and he had to admit: "That's not something we can know, let's just work! But it's common for people to die in mining. If they don't fall to their death, they may collapse in the mine. Yes, you must die every few days!"

Faced with this problem, Song Mingde, who was in charge of management next to him, stood up. He saw that he was a science talent who liked quantitative management, and the data was abundant:

"Master Daotai, I know that last year, at least seventy or eighty people fell to their deaths just because they were climbing uphill to transport ore. It is what it is, most people climb the slope, and they step on their own way. When it rains, it is common to collapse directly.

I'm talking about seventy or eighty people, if they are still dead and the whole body can be found, it is because they fell to death.Last year, there were more than a dozen of them. When climbing the slope, the whole mountain collapsed, and they were directly buried alive and smashed to death. No one deliberately dug them out.

For those in this line of work, when the ore is mined until the top is dug out, the bones will naturally be exposed, and there is no need to deliberately disturb the undead. "

The miners in the late Ming Dynasty were really pessimistic about life and death. If they were thrown to death, where should they be buried?Since it was buried alive in the ore pile, it should be regarded as resting on the spot.Digging and burying again is pure tossing.

After hearing this number, Shen Shuren stretched out two fingers, poked Wang Tiechui's chest and said:
"Did you hear that! You are Kongwu powerful, with a steady foot, and you have been working for so many years without any accidents. What about those who are weak? You don't care about their life or death? Why do people like you have such prestige among these miners? Serve you!"

Shen Shuren's words were also to buy people's hearts, so he spoke with full of air and a loud voice.Some other lean miners beside him were also a little moved after hearing this, and began to understand that Lord Daotai was doing it for their own good.

Shen Shuren also struck while the iron was hot and continued: "Besides, how do you know that if the steps on the chaotic stone wall are changed to a gentle slope on the Pantuo, it must not be transported faster?
The unicycle you use now can’t be loaded several times, but the car can still be changed in the future!The livestock that pull the cart can also find a way to change!Maybe we will lay rails and push cars with iron wheels on this Pantuo Road in the future?Isn't it much easier?Is it possible to add a little tenon to the rail to prevent the iron wheel cart from rolling back?As long as you use your brain, there is always a better way that way.

But you rely on your good physical strength to directly carry loads and climb the steps, but you have not made any progress. Today you can carry fifty loads in three hours, but in a few years you will only carry less and less as you get older!The technology of carrying the burden will not improve!The matching appliances can't be improved any more!This road can be seen at a glance!Are you ready to carry the burden of transporting ore for a lifetime? "

A group of miners and management officials were stunned by Shen Shuren's down-to-earth words, and everyone felt ashamed, and found that Mr. Daotai was not so ambitious, but really cared about their safety.

Some miners with little knowledge and shallow eyelids have already started to kneel and cry.

"I heard that Master Daotai is also a famous person in the world and a literary star in the sky. He can still do things so down-to-earth. We can understand the truth of what he says. Those dog officials are more arrogant than the other, and their nostrils are turned upside down. I can't understand a word that was said."

Shen Shuren was also a little moved by these twists and turns, walked to the high place on the edge of the mine alone, looked down and looked at all this, thoughtfully.

Song Mingde followed beside him, tried his best to enlighten him, and said, "Sir, this kind of thing should be done step by step, so don't be discouraged."

Liu Minsheng, the county magistrate, was not far behind, and hurriedly persuaded him: "My lord, you think about those coolies, but they may not understand it. If there are other improvements in the future, it is better to directly increase the output and improve the quality of steel.

If you attach so much importance to the life and death of these coolies, they may not think well of you.Besides, in today's world, there are so many refugees who can't afford food, you can't use them all up.

Every year in Wuchang Prefecture, there are at least 10,000+ refugees from Henan and Anhui who go south along the Han River from the north. They would die if they had no food. It's okay. "

Shen Shuren's face was serious: "What are you talking about! Thanks to you, you still read the books of sages! No matter how hard these refugees lived in the north, they fled to Wuchang and wanted to earn a living here by working hard. That's Wuchang Mansion. people!

Huji's major affairs must be people-oriented, and now people belong to me, how can we abandon it! "

(End of this chapter)