There are two Jingzhao Yin Tieguan, one in Zheng County in the east and one in Lantian County in the southeast of Chang'an.As the largest iron workshop in Gyeonggi, Lantian County, which produces iron, basically undertook the iron demand of the royal family, and this trip to Lantian Iron Official gave Ren Hong a comprehensive understanding of the iron smelting technology of the Han Dynasty.The division of labor has been very developed, and it has reached the extent that it is difficult for him to be a layman, and the processes of mineral processing, batching, furnace, iron melting, tapping, casting and forging are very fine, and there is no problem with the so-called assembly line.The blast furnace iron smelting has been very popular in Henan County, Nanyang County and Zhaodi in Guanzhong and Guandong.The furnace is made of loess ramming, coupled with refractory bricks, built into a two-person oval shape, and coal is actually used, but it is only used as an accelerant, and the main ingredient is charcoal.What dazzled Ren Hong the most was the iron official's deliberate "stacking casting skills", which could cast hundreds of iron castings on carriages at a time, which was simply a nesting doll.The sprue between Fan and Fan is only a few millimeters.After all, after more than 1,000 years of bronze casting tempering in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the cast iron technology can also stand on the shoulders of giants and lead the world.Forging is not false, Ren Hong saw the "Hundred Refining Method" displayed by the blacksmith surnamed Guo from Chenliu County, Guo blacksmith held a sledgehammer, and repeatedly forged the sponge-shaped pieces of wrought iron, burned and burned, beat and burned, and removed impurities, repeating many times or even hundreds of times.When it cools, its color is clear, and when polished, it shows a dull blue-black, which is very different from ordinary iron.At this time, it cannot be called iron, but "steel".The ancients said that the steel red blade was used to cut jade, such as cutting mud.The knives of the Han soldiers are refined as much as possible, and the twenty refining is brought by the tun commander and the team rate, and when it comes to Ren Hong's level, it is necessary to configure a hundred refining knives.However, 100 steels are extremely expensive, and they are generally only used for the production of blades, and the blade is only willing to use wrought iron.However, another craftsman surnamed Kong introduced to Ren Hong a method from Zhao Di that can produce the quality of "Twenty Refining and Refining" at one time, that is, frying steel.After the pig iron is produced, it is put into the blast furnace and continued to be heated until it melts into molten iron, and then the iron ore powder is drummed in, so that a finished product similar to 100 steels can be obtained.However, this method must be mastered by older and experienced craftsmen, and the heat is too important, once the fire is exceeded, it is directly fried into ordinary wrought iron.In the end, the two craftsmen quarreled over which method was better, and Guo Blacksmith, who was in charge of forging, said: "The so-called steel frying is a pseudo-steel ear."
Where there is iron and steel, such as gluten in the face, forging more than 100 fires, one calcining and one light, until the calcining into two catties without reduction, it is pure steel!
”I don't have to say the quality of forging 100 steel, but it's too time-consuming and laborious, and now the Han wants to prepare for the war, and needs a lot of high-quality steel to make weapons such as ring-headed knives that are necessary for foot riding, high quality and mass production?
Ren Hong wants it all!
Although the iron official craftsmen are old craftsmen with decades of experience, they will only explore according to experience, but Ren Hong knows a little about the principle of steel smelting.In fact, if you think about it, you can understand that the soft wrought iron is repeatedly forged with carbon.The hard and brittle pig iron is continued to be smelted in the furnace at high temperature to remove carbon.Two opposite directions, but the ultimate goal is the same: both are to obtain the "chain steel" that Liezi once said is the essence of iron, and to reach the most perfect state in the middle.So Ren Sinong began to give guidance, held his stomach, and began to constantly gesture, looking very knowledgeable: "If you can use pig iron and wrought iron and mud to seal and refine it, can you also make steel?"
”This is the historical "steel filling method", can also be called low-temperature steelmaking method, the principle is very simple to say, of course simple, the difficult is practice, then there is no need to worry about Ren Hong, even if he now says to try to turn water into oil, stone into iron, there are a lot of people who hold stinky feet and say, "Junhou has a wonderful idea, you can try it!"
”The two old blacksmiths were stunned when they heard this, and glanced at each other, although they would not take it seriously when the ordinary big Si Nong came to say a few nonsense, but the great Sima Wei General was famous, and both of them hoped that the Marquis of Xi'an could wear a sword made by himself and engraved with the name of the worker, so he waved at Ren Hong, and continued to quarrel while busy trying.Ren Hong felt that although there were many skilled craftsmen in the Han Dynasty, most of them were like the craftsmen who invented Baqiao paper, blast furnaces, and steelmaking, and they disappeared into obscurity in history, and did not get any benefits, and most of the people in the government-run workshops were in a state of eating and waiting for death, so he announced a new policy that he was approved after asking the Son of Heaven."
The system of the Great Han Dynasty, in addition to the virtuous and virtuous learning, still has the power of the field, where there are good agricultural people for the power of the field, each township one person.However, Zhou Shu said: If the farmer does not come out, there is no food, and if he does not work, he will lack work.Workers, the pillar of the country is also, skilled craftsmen are also indispensable, so in the government-run salt and iron weaving room, the name of the processor, each county recommends one person every year, called the senior worker, and the rank Lu is the same as 200 stones!
”It's a bit of a monk with more porridge and less, but it doesn't matter, it's also divided into grades, there are "middle workers" in the county, there are 100 stones in the county, and there are "junior workers" in the township.Only those who have made outstanding inventive contributions can be mixed with the name of senior engineers, such as Ren Hong himself.Ren Hong hopes that this initiative will encourage more skilled craftsmen affiliated with the government to display their talents.And when he returned to Chang'an, Huang Ba, who had been ordered to inspect the iron officials of various counties last year, came back, and Huang Ba's experience made Ren Hong realize that compared with the technology that has stood at the forefront of the world, the system problems of iron officials seem to be greater.As early as ten years ago, when he was in charge of Hedong Junyi, Huang Ba was famous for his discernment, he was good at calling his subordinates, and the affairs of the people, no matter how big or small, were sent to investigate in detail and deal with them properly, even the trivial matters of the common people, he also considered them thoughtfully and decently.And when Loulan Road, when the old official died, where the deceased was from, there can be old in the Western Regions, which township tree can be cut down as a coffin, which post house can be used for sacrifice, etc., Huang Ba is clear, which is amazing.People who don't know the inside story say that he has the help of gods, and the little officials don't dare to deceive at all.Therefore, he became the official who lost all the world, and the advantages and disadvantages of each subway official could not escape Huang Ba's eyes, and as soon as he came back, he let people carry the "specialty" he brought to Ren Hong to the yard."
Dasi Nong, this is the iron tools produced by the forty-eight iron officials in the world, and the subordinates sent people to buy and obtain them in the market and the arsenal, and each iron official brought back two knives, one armor, and four sickles."
How do you know who made it?
Just pick it up and look at the inscription, the Han Dynasty implemented the same "Wule Gong Name" system as the Qin Dynasty, and the name of the origin and the craftsman cast must be engraved.Otherwise, it is a three-no product.Ren Hong picked up a ring-headed knife that looked of average quality, and he could indeed see that it was engraved with "Dongyi"."
The first iron official in Hedong, in Pishi County."
Geng Shouchang on the side had a good memory and immediately reported the place of origin.Similarly, "Dong Er" is the second iron official in Hedong, and in Pingyang, "Fu Yi" is the Yongtie official who supports the wind on the right, as long as there is a problem with the quality, no one can run!
But the iron officer is smart, and he will also watch people put off the plate, and the quality of the things handed over to the army and the people are completely different, after Ren Hong tried it, he found that there were not many defective products in the weapons and armor, and they were basically qualified.But the farm tools are indescribable, there are really a lot, the "Dongyi" sickle in Ren Hong's hand is really dull and terrifying, not unpolished, he suspects that the blade is dealt with casually, and even the rope on the slip is cut.Ren Hong couldn't help but shake his head: "I have heard that when Kong Wei and Dongguo Xianyang presided over the Dasi Nong, the sickle produced by the iron official was of inferior quality, and even the wheat stalks were cut. ”After the Han Gaozu, the source of the mountains and rivers such as iron smelting, mining, and boiling salt was delegated to private management, and the people were free to mine, until the emperor ascended the throne, it was still "the people minted money, smelted iron, and boiled salt", so that many large industrial and commercial owners in the world, such as Zhuo's family and Nanyang Kong's family of Shu County, were rich in iron smelting, and the money was huge, and the wealth was comparable to the country, and the market was not too free.By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to raise military expenses for the Xiongnu, he thought that the rich merchants were rich and unkind, smelting and casting salt, and the wealth or accumulated thousands of gold, but not the urgency of the public family, which made the Li people in great difficulty, so he began to levy heavy taxes, and changed salt and iron to the official camp.However, the people appointed are still big business owners, that is, Kong Wei, Dongguo Xianyang, and Sang Hongyang.Kong is only a member of the Kong family of the Nanyang iron smelting clan, Dongguo Xianyang is a salt merchant in Qidi, Sang Hongyang is the son of a Luoyang merchant, good at scheming, Han Wu let them be their own finance minister, control the country's economic lifeline, presumably think that these three people are the best golden partners, must live up to the trust.However, the facts are a bit of a disappointment to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, although the salt officials and iron officials were established in the country, but only a few years later, they have been corrupt, and the officials used their power to engage in fraud, and the iron tools produced were not only high in price, but also of poor quality, and then Kong Wei and Dongguo Xianyang were deposed, leaving only Sang Hongyang to continue to assist Han Wu in carrying out reforms, and the treasury was indeed full, but Kanto complained greatly about it.For example, in order to complete the specified tasks, the government-run iron tools only focused on the output, regardless of the practical value, and the iron tools produced were mostly large iron plows with little application, which were not suitable for small farmers at all.And the fraud is serious, the quality is low, and it is not allowed to choose, even if it is broken on the same day, it will not be returned, and as a result, some farmers can not afford to use iron tools, so they can only resume the life of wood cultivators in ancient times.Ren Hong's life in Hexi was not very deep, and later he walked in Kanto and found that the problems criticized by the virtuous and virtuous schools did exist, and the government's arrangement made the institutions bloated and inefficient was real.However, from the perspective of the state, the large-scale production of the government-run salt and iron industry is better than the small-scale operation of the private salt and iron industry, and as a strategic resource, salt and iron must be firmly controlled by the government.State and capital, who do you believe more?
But looking at the sickle in his hand that was so blunt that he couldn't cut the wheat stalks, and heard Huang Ba tell that all subway officials had similar shortcomings, and when the people of Kanto really suffered for a long time, Ren Hong also understood that the salt and iron system established by Sang Hongyang had fallen into the predicament of "eating a big pot of rice", and it was necessary to reform it slightly.Ren Hong remembers that there was a history in his previous life, and he also faced this problem, as for the solution, don't ask, ask is the market economy!
The next day, Liu Xun was in the Jianzhang Palace to see Jiaodong Xiang Wang Cheng Shu, previously, Jiaodong absorbed more than 80,000 displaced people from the Langya earthquake a few years ago, and for a time Jiaodong was crowded and thieves were frequent.He was thinking about the matter of the envoy of the Marquis of Xi'an to cross the sea by boat and settle in Liaodong and Lelang, but Ren Hong came to visit.Ren Hong presented a note, told about the shortcomings of the Han Iron Officials, and made a statement: "Your Majesty, after the discussion of salt and iron, the general only dismissed the county wine and the Guannai iron officials, and the rest remained unchanged.However, in fact, the Guanzhong Railway Official is still there, and it is now advisable to conform to the will of the people in the world and continue to remove them slightly. ”Huo Guang was hated by them for deceiving Xianliangxue, and now if the emperor finishes this matter, he will definitely be praised by public opinion.But Liu Xun was surprised, ordinary people are desperately trying to seize power in the positions they manage, but the Marquis of Xi'an did the opposite, and actually took the initiative to depose some iron officials.Ren Hong has his own plans: "The minister thinks that it is enough to keep an iron official in each county in Guanzhong, and as for the counties in Kanto, the iron official who was thought to be the worst can be deposed when the inspection of the average official was counted last year!"
”"The dismissed iron official Tieshan, Your Majesty can hand over the management of the rich people of Kanto from the advice of the court governor and the doctor, so that it may be able to solve the disadvantages of the iron official's neglect."
Of course, this is not "not competing with the people for profit" and "being rich for the people".Instead, Ren Hong prescribed the right medicine, thinking that the iron official system, which had long been a pool of stagnant water, needed to introduce a group of catfish and let them stir up the pond, so that the iron workshop that was waiting for death had to compete with it and slightly activate the lower meridians.However, as far as we believe in the words of virtuous and virtuous learning, we must also maintain the basic system of the country's lifeblood, and the basic system of salt and iron official camps must also be maintained.And pig iron, wrought iron two steel-making methods of a truth, go to the extreme is not good, too much, "mean" is the most perfect state: the middle, the world's capital; Those who are harmonious are also the way of the world.To neutralize, heaven is in place, and all things are nurtured!
Ren Hong's proposal, summed up in a later sentence, is that the two unswervingly "unswervingly consolidate and develop the salt and iron official camps, unswervingly encourage, support, and guide the development of private iron mills, and ensure that the two iron workshops participate in market competition fairly and are equally protected by the laws of the Han Dynasty!"
”PS: It's a bit long to write for four hours in a bad state, and the third chapter should be before 0 o'clock as much as possible, and it may be a little shorter.