Chapter 32 Shi Tong

He quickly jumped to the side and shouted: "Uncle! What the hell are you doing?!"

The strange uncle respectfully took out something from his waist and handed it over: "Master, don't worry, you and I are not outsiders, you should know this thing!"

Su You jumped even higher when he saw it: "Oh, you still dare to steal my things! Oh no..."

He grabbed the thing from the strange uncle's hand and took out something from his schoolbag. They were two identical pocket knives.

Su You couldn't help but ask: "Old man Hengzhi of Shijiacun, who are you?"

The strange uncle said respectfully: "What the young master said is exactly the ancestor of the family."

Su You said: "Hurry up, I'm not used to people kneeling down to talk to me."

Uncle Wei stood up, bowed and said, "Sir, please come with me."

The two of them went to the backyard, and the strange uncle pointed at a sponge-like object and said: "Sir, please look, this is the cloud steel made by my father according to the method of the master."

Su You picked up an iron rod and knocked on the honeycomb-shaped steel: "How is the iron property?"

The strange uncle was beaming with joy: "It's really a masterpiece! This steel should be the kind made by Pu Yuan of the Shu Han Dynasty. It is very hard after being quenched with water. The two steel rods made by my father are 'hard and good' and can be used to blow and break hair."

Su You looked disapproving of Xiao Bai with an engineering look on his face: "Blowing and breaking hair is just a matter of superb grinding skills and has nothing to do with the quality of the steel. Don't speak in layman's terms."

The strange uncle bowed and said: "Yes, but the quality of this steel is the only one I have seen in my life, so there is absolutely no problem."

Su You smiled and said: "Old man Shi is the first person who is willing to believe in the words of a child like me. He deserves this benefit."

Knives are very exaggerated nowadays. The price of an ordinary cattle-killing knife is more than 2 guan. The steel quality is as high as that of Yunnan Steel. It is the same as jade porcelain. It is a treasure with a price but no market.

The strange uncle said: "My father ordered someone to send me a message the day before yesterday, saying that the young master has arrived at Meishan. He also said that the young master is free and generous, has all kinds of magic, is a gift from heaven, has the style of the ancients, and is definitely not an ordinary person. If I meet him, he will

You should serve as a teacher."

After saying that, he knelt down with a puff: "Shi Tong dare not disobey the order of our ancestors. I hope the young master will accept me as his disciple."

Su You quickly jumped away, waving his hands desperately and saying: "Uncle, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, how can I be your master at my age?"

Shi Tong said: "Young master, you don't have to be too modest. You are the same generation as my aunt and grandma from the Shi family, and we have been childhood sweethearts since childhood..."

Su You quickly stopped her and said, "Stop it! Uh... you're talking about the little lady Shi Wei from your village? She wasn't hurt by me, was she? Why are you still kneeling? Get up quickly!"

Shi Tong said: "If the young master doesn't accept me as his disciple, Shi Tong won't dare to get up."

After saying that, he rolled his eyes: "As long as you accept me, my father will go and explain to the young master. My sister-in-law is still locked up in the ancestral hall, but my father is the elder of the clan and has the right to speak in the clan. Now

As soon as Yun Gang comes out, coupled with our relationship as master and apprentice, bad things will turn into good things..."

Su You rolled his eyes and sighed: "Okay, okay, I promise you, get up quickly. Send people to Shijiacun first and ask your father to rescue Shi Wei!"

Shi Tong then stood up and patted his knees: "I know that the young master is someone who can hurt others..."

After that, he asked the people in the shop to buy snacks and fruits. Here, Su You was mixed with honey and water, and he was busy working back and forth.

Su You was stunned by Shi Tong's huge figure and stopped him: "Stop working and sit down and talk."

Shi Tong then respectfully dragged a stool to sit on it.

Su You asked: "This copper and iron is also a matter of special concern to the imperial court. I would like to ask you how this shop operates?"

Shi Tong said proudly: "Although my Shi family is not very powerful in Meishan City, we are descended from the branch of Junyihou, the founder of Xiping County, and our ancestor is the king of Wuwei County."

Damn! The fifth generation of officials and the fourth generation of wealth! The descendants of the mighty and victorious Wang Shi Shouxin in the novel!

This boy was really Song Taizu's best friend, and he followed Taizu in his expeditions east and west.

He was the first to advocate the addition of a yellow robe, and he was the first to resign over a cup of wine to release military power. Then Taizu was defeated in the Gaoliang River expedition, and he was the first to step out and take the blame.

His son Shi Baoji, Marquis of Junyi, married Princess Yanqing, the second daughter of Song Taizu.

With such involvement, the slug that followed him and called him Brother Xiaoyou was actually related to the current Song Dynasty?!

But that was also many years ago. Now the Shi family, in addition to being low-key, is still low-key. After all, the world today is from the Taizong lineage.

And if you wait a few years, wealthy merchants and wealthy merchants will be able to sell their daughters as wives as long as they sell five thousand coins. This royal bloodline is just that in the eyes of the rich and powerful.

Then Shi Tong continued: "Although the ban on copper is very strict in my court, we are located in the southwest of Meishan, and most of the copper we use is Dali copper, so the court cannot control it."

"And iron tools are used everywhere, so as long as you pay the full quota and have some background from the Shi family, there is no problem in getting some iron to make some agricultural tools."

The political reform in the Song Dynasty was not a bad thing for the court. After all, it was able to sustain itself for so many years in an environment of redundant soldiers and officials because of taxes and state monopoly.

Let’s not talk about the quality of the salt, tea, and mining policies for now, but the copper policy is really a bit painful.

A hundred years after the founding of the country, after the commodity society developed to a certain height, copper coins were no longer enough for use.

How to solve it? The Song Dynasty's solution was to take all copper into the government, and even strictly restrict the use of copper by the people. Except for the use of copper by officials, temples, clans, and ancient cultural relics, all other bronzes were listed as prohibited items.

Then, the actual value is not considered at all, and the price is set forcefully, resulting in one set of prices for the government and another for the private sector.

In the early Song Dynasty, the government collected copper from the private sector at a cost of only 100 cents per catty.

But a copper coin is theoretically only one pound. History books often write that officials made mistakes and were fined several kilograms of copper. In the Northern Song Dynasty, this meant just a few copper coins.

The ten-fold price difference clearly illustrates the nature of the so-called specialization, which is cruel and crude resource possession and plunder.

In Sichuan alone, this has caused many problems.

First, buy raw copper from the Yi people. Because the price is not high, the Yi people are unwilling to sell it.

Second, through special privileges, officials can buy a pound of copper for a hundred dollars, melt it and make copperware, and then sell it for nearly a pound! It’s a huge profit!

Third, if the state officials dared to set fires, the people would dare to light lamps, so they spent their money to make utensils, and private coinage was rampant.

Fourth, not only is it impossible to be active in cheating households with small profits, but it is also possible to adulterate in large quantities. If the ore is mixed with soil and sold to the government, there will always be a small loss!

Therefore, even though the laws are strict, everyone has no choice but to work together to create this so-called copper government, which is simply a joke.

And closely related to the copper policy is the money policy, the economic foundation of a country.

The final problem is that Sichuan has no money, so everyone plays with paper money and iron coins.

Thinking of the Song Dynasty, which was as leaky as a sieve, Su You sighed: "If we buy copper from Dali, will the court take care of it?"

Shi Tong frowned and said: "I don't care, but the problem is that you can only sell it to the government after you buy it. This means buying high and selling low, and you will suffer huge losses..."

Su You rolled his eyes: "What if the thing you bought is bronze?"

Shi Tong's eyes lit up: "If it were copper itself, there would be no problem with the price difference of the original copper. It would be fine to resell the imported goods, but a new problem has arisen. The copper they make is really shoddy, and buyers may not necessarily appreciate it.

It’s worth it!”

Su Youyou smiled and said: "It seems that there are huge business opportunities in this. But let's wait until we have the opportunity. For now, let's talk about steelmaking. For small workshops, the best method is to use the steel massaging method. Can you learn this method?

"

Shi Tong thought for a while and said: "My Shi family in Meishan is engaged in smelting and forging. Does the tuan steel mentioned by the master mean that crude steel is wrapped with wrought iron, smelted with mud, and finally impurities are removed to obtain refined steel?"

Su You said: "This is exactly the method! The iron sand in our Meishan water has a pure texture. The cloud steel that is smelted needs only to adjust the carbon content to get fine steel..."

Shi Tong said in confusion: "The smelting books in the family collection say that strong wood generates fire, strong earth generates gold, and fire can overcome gold. Therefore, the way of smelting is to use fire to force earth to promote the production of gold. Then it is quenched.

Use water to force the fire energy out of gold, but only pure gold can survive. What about the carbon content that Master mentioned? Gold contains carbon, so it should be because the fire energy is not enough to force out the gold, and then the wood is trapped in the gold. This is
Chapter completed!