Chapter 611 How the Steel Was Tempered!
Zhu Yijun stayed in Kaiping Coal Mine for two days.

At dinner on the first day, Zhu Yijun took Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Xueyan, Hu Ruguang and Yang Jinshui to the coal mine canteen to have a meal. They ate whatever the workers ate.

After the meal, Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Xueyan actually felt that the chefs in the coal mine canteen were better than those in the cabinet canteen.

When you get back, lay off all those people with connections!
At night, it was still late summer or early autumn and the weather was not very cold. The workers surrounded Zhu Yijun in the square and were reluctant to leave.

They came from all corners of the country, some were Jianzhou and Haixi Jurchens. They used to be landless “refugees” and lived a precarious life.

When he was “recruited” to the Luanzhou factory in Kaiping, he was in a daze, as if he was exiled to the frontier, and was prepared to endure hard labor.

But they never expected that they would become workers.

According to the factory’s propaganda department, workers are upright people who are the backbone of the Ming Dynasty’s strength and prosperity.

Working in the mines is very tiring and going down the mines is very dangerous. Once something happens, you basically can’t get out.

But the mine gives a lot!

There is a canteen to eat in, a family building to live in, work uniforms to wear, and a large monthly salary, so it is easy to support a family.

If someone is unable to come out due to an accident, the mine will immediately arrange work for the family members, such as working in the canteen or in the warehouse. The children in the family will also be arranged to go to a training school to learn skills, so there will never be a situation where the family will collapse due to the absence of a person.

Where can you find such good treatment?
The villagers around were extremely envious of such good treatment and they all tried to find ways to come in as temporary workers or ask others to intercede and marry their daughters in.

Many single men got married within two years of joining the factory, and the health center has been working hard to deliver babies in the past two years.

We never dared to dream about this before, but now we are living a good life in reality. It’s all given to us by the emperor!
These people have low education, but their feelings are simple and honest. They will remember the kindness of anyone who treats them well and gives them enough food.

They also subconsciously understood that they had to follow the emperor, otherwise the good life today would be gone tomorrow, and they might have to live the same hard life as yesterday.

Zhu Yijun looked at these workers, his people, and on a whim, he jumped onto the high platform in the square and took over a loud speaker, “Let’s hold a social gathering today.

Whoever is interested can come up and perform, whether by shouting a few words, singing a few songs, or even just doing a somersault on the stage, everyone is welcome.

Do you think it’s okay? “

“Good!” everyone applauded enthusiastically.

“Everyone agrees. This idea was proposed by me, so I will be the first to perform.” Zhu Yijun held up the iron loudspeaker, thought for a moment, cleared his throat, and sang loudly: “True love is like a blooming plum blossom, which cannot be drowned by cold ice and snow. It blooms on the coldest branches, and we can see spring coming to you and me.”

When KTV was popular, who didn’t have a few signature songs?

I have it too!
When the people below heard the song, they thought the emperor sang very well.

The tune is beautiful and catchy. The lyrics are semi-literary and semi-vernacular, very charming, and the key is that they are not pretentious, and the emotions are sincere and straightforward.

Sounds good!

After Zhu Yijun finished singing a song, he pointed at Zhang Juzheng and said, “You may not know that the Prime Minister Zhang Xiang, Master Zhang, is very good at singing Kunqu Opera! We welcome him to sing a song, okay!”

It’s a rare opportunity for the Prime Minister to perform!
However, since the emperor had sung before, it would not seem abrupt for the prime minister to sing.

Zhang Juzheng walked onto the stage with a smile on his face. Looking at the workers and their families who were clapping excitedly and happily below the stage, he suddenly realized something.

These people are the reason why the emperor dares to turn the table against the aristocratic families and the wealthy in the south of the Yangtze River, and even the scholars and Confucian scholars in the world.

As the sky gradually darkened, Yang Jinshui had already asked people to prepare firewood and piled it into more than a dozen bonfires. The red flames flickered and danced on everyone’s face.

Their faces were flushed with life, they were full of hope for the future, and their eyes were filled with respect and love for the emperor.

Zhang Juzheng calmed himself down and sang a passage of Zhang Sheng’s aria from The Romance of the Western Chamber. After he finished singing, he bowed and said to the audience, “I didn’t sing well, please forgive me!”

Tens of thousands of workers and their families cheered and applauded enthusiastically.

Zhang Juzheng returned to the stage, and Hu Ruguang volunteered to step forward and sing a piece of Haiyan opera for everyone.

Because of Tan Lun, Haiyan Opera became very popular among the civil and military officials who were fighting against the Japanese pirates in the southeast.

Hu Rugong sang very well on the stage, and the audience was listening attentively. They couldn’t help laughing when they saw that he was not imitating the actor’s costumes and movements well enough.

Zhu Yijun, who was sitting among the workers’ families, laughed as happily as they did!
Watching this scene, Zhang Xueyan couldn’t help but ask Zhang Juzheng softly: “Prime Minister Zhang, what is the emperor doing?”

Zhang Juzheng replied softly: “Those who are far away are close, those who are near are distant. Those who are humble are lenient, and those who are respected are strict.”

With the leadership of these three people, mine manager Chen Qing’an and chief engineer Liang Youping also went on stage to perform, followed by the workers who enthusiastically went on stage.

There were three or four workers working together, one played the erhu, one played the ban drum, one played the pipa, and then one of them sang at the top of his voice.

“With a shout outside the tent, the heroes couldn’t help but laugh out loud! A certain man rode alone and trampled the Tang camp, killing the men in grief! The wilderness was filled with blood, and the corpses piled up in a mountain with no place to bury them.”

A drawn-out sound was like a rocket from the prince rushing into the sky, dragging a long tail, flying higher and higher in the dark sky, and finally with a sudden bang, it exploded.

Tens of thousands of people in the audience shouted in unison: “Good!”

The sound was like dozens or hundreds of Prince’s rockets exploding at the same time.

There were workers from Henan who sang local tunes, people from Huaixi who sang Fengyang tunes, and the Jurchens who sang their own folk songs. Each of them showed off their best skills and won applause from the audience.

Until ten o’clock in the evening, despite the repeated persuasion of Hu Ruguang, Chen Qing’an, Liang Youping and others, the workers and their families still stayed there and refused to disperse. Finally, Zhu Yijun took Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Xueyan and others and left first amid the cheers and applause of the workers’ families. Only then did they reluctantly disperse.

The next day, Zhu Yijun awarded commemorative medals to twenty annual advanced workers of Kaiping Coal Mine in the meeting hall of Kaiping Coal Mine. At noon, he left Kaiping Coal Mine and went to Luanzhou Iron and Steel Plant.

Luanzhou Iron and Steel Plant is located on the bank of the Luan River. Its area is more than ten times that of Fengrun Woolen Fabric Plant and more than twice that of Kaiping Coal Mine.
Because it owns a coal mine.

There are fifteen chimneys that are 20 to 30 meters high, distributed in various parts of the factory. Black smoke rushes out of the chimneys, spreading a strong pungent smell.

Twelve of them are the chimneys of iron-making blast furnaces, which means that twelve blast furnaces are smelting pig iron day and night.

Two of them are the chimneys of the power workshop, where there are four steam engines with amazing horsepower output, providing the steel plant with a steady supply of powerful power.

There is also a chimney for heating water.

Zhu Yijun, wearing short-sleeved summer army uniform and helmet, and Zhang Juzheng and his party first visited the ironmaking workshop. This place is like the legendary Flaming Mountain. You can feel the heat coming at you from a distance, wrapping you tightly.

Conveyor belts transport the crushed iron ore from afar and drop it into the furnace.

Liu Jianping, the director of Luanzhou Iron and Steel Plant, introduced: “Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang, and other superiors, these iron ores were mined from Zunhua and Qian’an in the north and transported down the Luan River.

We mine the coal ourselves, and some is shipped over from Kaiping Coal Mine. We refine it into coking coal and then transport it to the furnace for burning and use.”

Zhu Yijun asked, “How good is the quality of the iron ore in Zunhua and Qian’an?”

“Your Majesty, it’s OK. But it’s still inferior to the iron ore shipped from India. The iron ore from India is not stable at all.”

Zhu Yijun nodded: “The iron ore from Tianzhu can be used to make wootz steel, and the quality is indeed good. Tong’anbo Yu Dayou is currently opening up a sea route to Tianzhu. I believe that it won’t be long before iron ore from Tianzhu will be shipped here in large quantities.”

Zhang Xueyan couldn’t help but ask, “Your Majesty, there are iron mines in Zunhua and Qian’an. Why should we go to such a long way to transport iron ore from India?”

“Zhang Changshi, because the iron ore from Tianzhu is of good quality,” Liu Jianping replied.

“No, there is more than one reason.” Zhu Yijun took a quick look and pointed at Yang Jinshui among his followers and said, “Jinshui, tell us the key to this.”

“As you wish.” Yang Jinshui bowed and replied, “Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang, Chief Secretary Zhang, and all my colleagues. The good quality of Tianzhu iron ore that Director Liu just mentioned is one of the important reasons.

From his point of view, if the quality of the ore is good, the quality of the steel produced will also be good. Of course, he is willing to use Indian iron ore, and there is nothing wrong with that.

But from the perspective of the Ministry of Finance and the commercial exchanges of the Ming Dynasty, it is still not enough.”

Everyone turned to look at him and listened quietly to the story told by Yang Jinshui, the eunuch of the Imperial Household, who was known as the best golden hand in the Ming Dynasty and the God of Wealth in the business community.

“My Ming silk, porcelain, tea, glassware and other goods are very popular in India and are sold at very high prices. But in addition to gold, silver and jewelry, India only has cotton and grain.

Cotton can be shipped back to Shanghai to be woven into cotton cloth, but grain can be shipped back or not. After all, the grain from the South China Sea region has caused the grain price in the southeast to drop by a quarter.

Therefore, there were not many things that could be brought back to the Ming Dynasty from India, and the trade was very unbalanced. The piles of gold, silver and jewelry we had could not be eaten or worn, and they were of little use in the industrial economy.

Such an unbalanced trade cannot last long. We must bring back tangible goods from India to improve our industry and commerce.

Iron ore from Tianzhu is a very good option.”

Yang Jinshui paused and continued, “The iron ore from Tianzhu is shipped back by sea from thousands of miles away. In fact, if you calculate the cost carefully, it is cheaper than the iron ore from Zunhua and Qian’an.”

Everyone was in an uproar.

How can iron ore shipped from thousands of miles away be cheaper than iron ore from one or two hundred miles away?

Zhang Juzheng was puzzled at first, but suddenly an idea flashed in his mind and he understood.

“Eunuch Yang is right. If you calculate the cost carefully, the iron ore in Zunhua and Qian’an is really not cheaper than the iron ore in Tianzhu, which is thousands of miles away.”

Zhang Xueyan, Hu Ruguang and others looked at each other in bewilderment. Prime Minister Zhang, how did you calculate this?

Zhang Juzheng faced everyone’s gaze and began to count. “I have never been to the Zunhua Qian’an Iron Mine, but I think it is the same as the Kaiping Coal Mine, with complete facilities and generous treatment.”

Hu Rugong nodded and said, “Prime Minister Zhang is right. I have been to the Zunhua Iron Mine and it is indeed similar to the Kaiping Coal Mine. Even the meeting hall, canteen and bathhouse are almost exactly the same.

There are 6,000 to 7,000 workers, and nearly 20,000 family members. Their food, clothing, and housing are no different from those in Kaiping Coal Mine.

Zhang Juzheng continued, “As Hu Futai said, the Zunhua Iron Mine also uses machines, especially the steam engine. The other costs are not expensive, but the money spent on the workers is not cheap.

In India, the iron ore sold to us must have been collected by merchants from the local indigenous leaders.”

Yang Jinshui quickly added, “Zhang Xiang, the local indigenous leaders are called Tugong. Although today’s Zhu is nominally unified by the Mughal Sultan, in reality, the local Tugongs act on their own, just like in the Eastern Zhou and Spring and Autumn Periods.”

“Well, even if it’s the local chieftain, we have no control over how he mines iron ore. We also have no control over how he treats the people under his rule like pigs and dogs to mine.

I guess we are all exchanging our Ming goods for local iron ore and cotton. Our goods are very expensive, and their iron ore and cotton prices are very low. “

Yang Jinshui smiled and nodded, “That’s right, just as Zhang Xiang said.”

Zhang Juzheng couldn’t help but glance at Zhu Yijun, who stood out among the crowd like a crane among chickens.

This is the free trade of our Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Juzheng sighed in his heart and continued, “Look at us using extremely expensive things to exchange for a bunch of extremely cheap things. In fact, we all know that those extremely expensive things are produced by us in the factory at a very low cost.

They are extremely expensive. Why are they so expensive? I think they are expensive because of the huge profits.

So if you do the math carefully, we are actually using something that is inexpensive to make, and exchanging it for a lot of very cheap iron ore at an extremely high price. Even if we add the shipping cost for the thousands of miles of sea transportation, this cost is not much more expensive than the iron ore from the Zunhua Iron Mine.

Things that are useful and inexpensive are of course popular.”

“Good! Zhang Xiang said it well, and Yang Jinshui also said it clearly!” Zhu Yijun took the lead in applauding, and when the applause stopped, he added, “Another point is that good things must be used by our own family first, and others’ first.

It’s like when I go shopping incognito with Master Zhang, I will definitely spend the money in Master Zhang’s pocket first, and then spend the money in my own pocket.”

Everyone couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

After chatting, Liu Jianping took everyone to continue the tour.

At this time, you can see the twelve furnaces burning red by the coking coal underneath. The iron ore has turned into molten iron, like a thick red soup, flashing and emitting sparks from time to time.

The workers pulled up the furnace with an iron chain and then hooked it with a long iron hook. The furnace tilted, molten iron flowed out of it, sparks flew, and it was a spectacular sight.

The molten iron flows into the mold and is pulled into threaded iron, wire, or gathered into iron ingots. When other factories need it, it is melted and re-molded.

The steam is rising and the iron flowers are flying, it is breathtaking!
Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Xueyan were amazed. Such large-scale industrial production was really exciting!
Liu Jianping continued, “Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang, and all the superiors, please move over. Shall we go to the next room to watch the steelmaking?”

Zhang Xueyan was stunned. “Steelmaking? I heard that steel is forged.”

(End of this chapter)