The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 22 Building a Factory
Shopkeeper He saluted and got up from the ground, raised his head and recognized Zhu Linmi, and asked doubtfully, "Master Jun is here to buy knives?"

"I heard that your iron yard is going to be sold." Zhu Linming glanced around and asked.

"Hey," Shopkeeper He sighed, "I'm not going to lie to Mr. Jun. The ironware business in Longnan has been run by our He family, the Kong family, and the Bai family since the Wanli period. A few years ago, the Zhen family in Ganzhou came to Yes, relying on strong financial resources, they squeezed out the Kong and Bai families one after another. My business here is not getting better day by day, and I have long wanted to sell it. If I can do the business of the military master yesterday, maybe I can hold on for a while .Who knows..."

These things can be inquired casually in Longnan, and he simply said it himself, which seemed sincere.

Zhu Linming looked around and found that everything was still usable, but it was far from what he asked for.The craftsmen were knocking on the work in their hands one after another, and there were people sitting all over the blast furnace chatting, obviously the business was very deserted.

In fact, Zhu Linmi didn't care about these equipment or the existing business. He was more interested in the hundreds of craftsmen in the iron yard, as well as the existing ore and coal purchase channels.

"Look at this iron furnace, which can produce nearly two thousand catties of iron every day. This water row..." Shopkeeper He introduced it attentively.

After checking the overall situation of the iron yard, Zhu Linmi said bluntly: "I intend to sell this iron yard. You can make a price."

Shopkeeper He saw that he didn't seem to be joking, so he weighed it in his mind, and finally quoted a price of 7000 taels.

The two bargained again, and finally settled on 500 taels to go to the iron field, and the silver was paid in two installments within two months.

Shopkeeper He didn't expect to be able to sell the iron yard so quickly, and he was very happy in his heart. In fact, poor business was only one of the reasons why he sold the iron yard.The battle in Ganzhou is becoming more and more fierce, and I don't know when it will spread to Longnan. I heard that those Jian captives killed people without blinking an eye...

When it was time to sign and hand over the contract, Zhu Linmi was stunned again. He couldn't understand any house deeds, land deeds, or employment contracts in this era.And Qiao Qian knew nothing about counting equipment and accounting.

In desperation, Zhu Linmi had no choice but to return to the barracks, hoping to find someone who knew how to do it.

Unexpectedly, after he asked around, none of his literate people knew how to do business and settle accounts.

Just when Zhu Linming was thinking about whether to hire an accountant, Qiao Qian hesitated in his ear, "Master, I know someone who is good at this, but..."

"Who? Tell me."

"Chanyi." Qiao Qian saw that Zhu Linming did not look strange, and then continued, "Her family used to be in Nanyang Xingchangzhai, and she is familiar with the business circle. It is said that the princess's private accounts are all entrusted to her."

As a person in the 21st century, Zhu Linming naturally does not have the feudal concept that women must stay at home. It would be best to have a trustworthy person like Chan Yi to help with accounting.

He immediately transferred to the post house prepared for him by Wangzhi County, because women were not allowed to enter the military camp, so Chan Yi has been living here.

Since arriving in Longnan, Chanyi has been bored in the post house, bored to death, when she heard that she was asked to help the accounting shop, she immediately changed into men's clothes, smiling like a flower with joy, and jumped into the carriage like the wind.

On the way, Zhu Linming found out that this little girl was really a good hand, she followed her parents to do business since she was a child, and she knew the way of doing business very well.Later, her family settled in Nanyang and opened a shop, but they encountered Li Zicheng's rebellious army, and all her family members were killed, otherwise she should be the eldest lady of Xingchangzhai now.

When she returned to the iron yard, she checked the accounts clearly with the assistance of Qiao Qian and several guards, and finished counting all the objects in the iron yard in just one afternoon.

At this point, Zhu Linmi officially became the new owner of the iron farm, and the iron farm was renamed "Suji Iron Farm".

There were originally 110 craftsmen in the iron field. Since there were not many officials who were superfluous in the private industry, they did not have a free time, and their craftsmanship was not bad.

Zhu Linmi called all the employees together, first announced that production and management would go on as usual, and raised the wages of several core staff.Then he set a system of working five hours a day, overtime and extra wages and a meal.

The craftsmen had never heard of such a good thing, and the new owner immediately became closer than their relatives in their minds.

Soon, someone brought the bill of materials to the new owner to have a look. Seeing that Zhu Lin was frowning slightly, Chan Yi took it from the side and checked it carefully and handed it back to him, whispering: "Master, it's all right."

Zhu Lin saw that there were craftsmen waiting for him to give instructions, so she simply pointed at Chanyi, "From now on, Mr. Shen will be in charge of all matters in the iron yard." Shen is Chanyi's family name.

Chanyi was taken aback, but His Highness said so, she obeyed her orders, and it was better to help His Highness do some things in this iron yard than to be bored in the post all day long.

That night, two carts of goods were parked outside the gate of the barracks, which were exactly the refractory materials that Zhu Linmi wanted to buy.

Another sergeant reported that Huichang Yuxin's headquarters would arrive in Longnan in the near future.

"It's finally coming!" Zhu Linmei nodded, looking forward to it in her heart, "With these soldiers, I have the power to change the world!"

The next day he had the refractory bricks transported to the iron yard, while the graphite and kaolin were transported to the nearest porcelain kiln.

He asked someone to fetch fine clay, melted it with water and filtered it repeatedly, leaving only fine mud.

Then he ground the fine sand into powder, added it to the mud, then poured in the same amount of graphite as the mud, added a small amount of kaolin and stirred it evenly. This was the raw material for making the crucible.

You must know that this simple formula made Britain the best steel producer in the world in the [-]th century and maintained it for about a century.

The rest of the work is left to the potter.An object more than two feet high was not a difficult task for them. Within half an hour, the shape of the crucible that Zhu Lin wanted was "turned" out in the hands of the porcelain craftsman.

After the crucible embryo and pot lid are dried, they are put into a porcelain kiln for roasting.As for the firing time, Zhu Linmi didn't know, so she simply made another crucible embryo, and if the firing failed, she would use this one to refire.

This thing won't be ready in a short time, Zhu Linmi drove to the iron yard after explaining the precautions.

Chanyi had been at the ironworks for a long time, still in men's attire, leading the craftsmen with two foremen in high spirits.

Seeing her cheerful figure from a distance, Zhu Linmei thought to herself: It's a crime for a little girl like her to sit in the inner house all day serving tea and water.

Seeing Zhu Linming coming, Chanyi hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and then picked out a few craftsmen with quick minds to bring them over according to his request.In less than a day, she already had a general understanding of these craftsmen.

Zhu Linmi repeatedly told the craftsmen about the structure of the furnace, and then made a model with clay.After the craftsmen understood his intention, they began to dig the hearth at the location he designated.

After the pit of the hearth was dug and compacted, the craftsmen measured the size correctly, and then began to paste refractory bricks on the pit wall.

Zhu Linmi looked at the furnace that was gradually taking shape, as if she had seen the hot molten steel in the crucible above.

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(End of this chapter)