Become a feudal king from today

"Okay. Read"

Zhao Xu and Liu Fu looked at each other and both smiled.

For him, although he paid some money, he got the land.

For wealthy families, land is just a tool for profit-making.

But for him, land is the guarantee that the people of Yan County will support him.

Therefore, other wealthy families could give up their land for money, but he could not.

"Your Highness is so smart. He sacrifices small profits for the greater good. With hundreds of thousands of acres of land in hand, more than half of the land in Yan County is in the hands of the palace." Liu Fu was excited.

As for the remaining land, it is still in the hands of the Zhang family and several wealthy families.

But this does not affect the overall situation.

Decide on this matter.

Zhao Xu asked Liu Fu to get the contract and have the wealthy people sign it one by one.

This is proof that they have invested in the Chamber of Commerce.

After everyone signed the agreement, Zhao Xu continued: "Handing over the land this time is really a righteous act. I will not treat you badly in the future. In the future, the palace will still have profitable business, and I will give you some piecemeal work." ”

"Thank you, Your Highness." Everyone smiled happily.

This promise is just for the Dong family, Yang family, and Lu family. They have already benefited from the palace.

It is obligatory to support the palace this time.

They were also the first to take the lead in signing the contract just now.

After all, there was no turning back for them.

As for other wealthy families, they have long been covetous of the business of several companies.

The palace now sells a lot of wine, and requires a huge amount of wine jars, which is a lot of money.

Then, he discussed the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce with everyone.

Yanjun Trading Company was jointly established by the wealthy families of Yanjun.

Everyone in the chamber of commerce must contribute.

This time the wealthy family participates in the sharing, so he will hand over the sales of Wangfu's fine wine to the Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Commerce will count the quantity of wine sold, so that it can be transparent.

Other than that, it's the same as making ice.

Rich families also have to send people to be responsible for sales, while the prince's responsibility is only production.

On top of the original share, if each family can sell additional wine, they can also get a commission.

"Commission, this is a new word." Dong Yuan stroked his beard and smiled.

King Yan proposed this method, which was exactly what he wanted.

The Dong family has a large number of people, and without land, they can just sell their wine.

The bigger the chamber of commerce becomes, the greater their profits will be.

After deciding on this matter, everyone looked at Zhao Xu slightly differently.

At this moment, in addition to being the King of Yan, Zhao Xu is also their food and clothing parent.

They can only follow King Ding Yan.

Busy until noon.

Zhao Xu asked the palace to hold a banquet for the wealthy family to enjoy.

Different from the past, this time it was more like the establishment banquet of a contemporary company.

The wealthy families are not discussing romance, but how to make the chamber of commerce bigger and sell more chamber of commerce goods.

After drinking for an hour, most of the wealthy people left drunkenly.

Zhao Xu was also a little drunk.

Back in the dormitory, Luan'er was about to help him sleep.

At this time Feng'er walked in.

"Your Highness, I'm afraid you won't be able to sleep. Chief Wang of the Military Department sent someone to ask His Highness to come over and watch the iron smelting." Feng'er said with a smile.

Luan'er gently stroked Zhao Xu's back and pouted, "What's the point of smelting iron?"

When Zhao Xu heard this, he was mostly awake from the wine. He nodded Luan'er's head and said, "What do you know, little girl? This is the most important weapon of the country."

He jumped out of bed and went to the Bingzhan Division without stopping.

"Your Highness, this way."

When he learned that Zhao Xu was coming, Wang Ying came out of the Military Department.

It's just that Wang Ying didn't wear an official robe, but an ordinary short jacket, and his face was dark.

But at this time, Wang Ying was filled with a kind of fanatical excitement and expectation.

Follow Wang Ying into the Military Division.

In the backyard of Bingzhansi, Zhao Xu saw two tower-like buildings more than three meters high.

This is the traditional blast furnace.

The blast furnace of Hōjoji is made of clay used for ceramics.

Because this is a natural refractory brick.

The upper mouth of the blast furnace has a cover, and there are two holes below, one hole is connected to the air-heated furnace, and the other is used to flow out the molten iron.

"Your Highness, the coke and limestone have been prepared. The coke is smoldering in the kiln, and the limestone is hewn from Yanshan Mountain."

After getting Zhao Xu's method of making iron, he thought about it all night.

The next day, the blast furnace was built and materials were collected.

After everything was ready, he informed King Yan.

"Then let's get started." Zhao Xu was also a little excited.

In his opinion, the ancients were not stupid.

Some of the mastery of craftsmanship cannot even be replicated in modern times.

They just lack a mentor to lead them on the right path.

And there is no doubt that he is the leader now.

Therefore, in this iron-making, he could only give Wang Ying some instructions, and let him think of the rest.

The fact was just as he thought.

Wang Ying did a good job in the previous preparations.

"Light the fire in the air-heated stove first." Zhao Xu ordered.

He has not yet told Wang Ying the specific process of iron-making.

This is why the king rushed to find him.

After receiving his order, the craftsman ignited the coal cakes in the air-heated furnace and turned up the bellows.

Then, Zhao Xu asked the craftsmen to put iron stone, limestone, and coke into it in sequence.

After doing this, Zhao Xu stood aside with Wang Ying and waited for the results.

"Your Highness, what is the pool below used for?" Wang Ying asked.

Zhao Xu looked at the pool in front of the blast furnace.

The molten iron from the blast furnace will flow into this pool.

Beside the pool stood three craftsmen with sticks.

He said: "Iron is divided into pig iron and wrought iron. The newly smelted iron is pig iron, which contains a lot of carbon. Stirring it while it is hot can burn the impurities in the iron. In this way, the molten iron will become wrought iron after cooling. This method It’s called the steel filling method.”

Wang should understand the concept of pig iron and wrought iron.

But what he didn't understand was that the reason iron is raw or cooked is because there is carbon in it.

The first time he heard this statement, he couldn't help being surprised.

"So that's how it is." He exclaimed in surprise.

Zhao Xu nodded and continued: "Then you can smelt the wrought iron in a graphite crucible to get steel."

"Graphite crucible?" Wang Ying's face was full of questions.

He once boasted that he knew all the skills in the world, but now Zhao Xu's few words made him lose all confidence.

"There is a kind of inkstone made of black stone, which is the cheapest. The black stone is graphite." Zhao Xu continued to explain.

When the wrought iron comes out, the entire steelmaking process is basically completed for him.

Just rectify the graphite crucible and that's it.

The knowledge in his mind told him that there were graphite inkstones in ancient times.

For those who read, paper, ink, pen and inkstone are indispensable.

Therefore, it is easy for Wang Ying to understand if he puts it directly.

Wang Ying suddenly realized what he said.

Then Zhao Xu told Wang Ying how to make a graphite crucible.

The two chatted.

Less than an hour later, the craftsman suddenly called out.

Only a fiery red thin line was seen flowing out of the blast furnace.

The king Ying immediately stepped forward to inspect it and was overjoyed.

"Really, iron really turns into water." Wang Ying looked at a loss.

The craftsmen were also dumbfounded.

Initially, they still didn't believe it, but now that they saw it with their own eyes, they were convinced.

Zhao Xu was much calmer.

The ancients could not refine molten iron because the temperature of the fire was not high enough.

It takes more than 1,500 degrees to melt iron. He added coke and built an air-heated furnace nearby to blow hot air in, thus raising the temperature.

Amid everyone's exclamations, the thin line of molten iron became thicker and thicker.

Gurgling into the pool below.

The red fire made Wang Ying's face turn as red as iron.