When Ye An arrived, he was not successfully recruited by Puhui Village. The reason was simple: he did not meet the recruitment standards for this batch of workers.
From his jade-like face, the recruiter knew that he was a man accustomed to fine clothes and fine food, and he was more likely to be the yamen of a wealthy family who came to have fun...
It is not unreasonable for the recruiters to speculate in this way. Previously, some children from wealthy families came to Puhui Village to apply for jobs, pretending to be poor scholars, but they left after only a few days of work, and were even willing to pay a high amount of money in violation of the contract.
Nowadays, the eyes of these people who recruit workers are very "venomous". They can see through at a glance who can endure the hardships of being an apprentice, who can continue to work in the village for a long time, and who is just here to make a living.
Ye An's white-faced scholar appearance was very eye-catching among the crowd, so he was naturally disliked by others.
But when the steward next to him saw Ye An, he rushed over and shouted loudly: "The Marquis is back! If you, the old man, could just read our recruitment regulations and say something, little old man." I’ll show it to you early!”
Ye An looked at the steward and laughed and scolded: "Why are you shouting so loudly? This guy is your nephew, right? He is quite clever. Doesn't he need to remind him of my identity like this? I just took a look, it doesn't matter. , you have the time, why not think about how to recruit more capable people!"
The steward nodded repeatedly and said: "The old man knows that, he will definitely not disappoint the Marquis!" After saying that, he led Ye An towards the village. At this time, Ye An discovered that after leaving for more than a year, Puhui Village's The scale is still expanding, and the original walls have been raised much higher, making it look like a small town.
Cement roads have basically run through the entire Puhui Village. While the cement factory produces and sells its own products, it also has a lot of surplus. In addition to the original Gewu School, there are several new schools in the village, many of which teach adult literacy. Where to read.
This is completely in line with my expectations. As for the scale of the factory, it has not changed much, but the number of machines in it has increased, and of course the farmers' residences have also increased.
The dormitories where farmers live have been changed to two floors, and the rooms on each floor are full of people. Of course, the number of dormitories is also increasing.
Once this huge production machine is put into operation, the manpower and material resources required will be huge. Every day you can see ox carts transporting large amounts of raw materials to the village or transporting large amounts of goods.
In autumn and winter, cotton is an indispensable means of production, and various cotton fabrics have become indispensable in the city of Tokyo.
Puhuizhuang has mastered the production and processing of cotton cloth, and cotton clothes are a unique skill. The main problem now is not the inability to keep up with the production capacity, but the lack of production materials. After all, cotton is not a cash crop and has not been popularized in the Song Dynasty. Now, apart from Yangcheng County, there are no other places to grow it, and it all depends on Rosanna's caravan from the Western Regions for supply.
This is the most unpleasant thing for Ye An. Potatoes and sweet potatoes have been promoted for a long time, but no people are willing to grow cotton. They don't know what a cash crop is. They just know that cotton should not be eaten or drunk. Planting it in the ground is completely inappropriate. Waste of land.
As for Puhui Village’s own fields, it’s too late to grow various fruits and vegetables, let alone cotton. The best crops purchased in Puhui Village are not the sweet and delicious corn, nor the sweet potatoes and potatoes that are already everywhere, nor the carrots. And tomatoes, but peppers!
Chili sauce and chili powder are popular throughout Henan Prefecture, and fresh chili peppers are in short supply in Tokyo. Ye An doesn't like to read Zhuang Zhong's written reports, nor does he want to listen to introductions. He only believes that seeing is believing.
The system of Puhui Village has become more and more perfect. In the morning, there are no more idlers in the village. The young people go to factories or work in the fields. The elderly people also have no time to spare, either to help cook or to work in the fields.
He uses his rich life experience to impart experience to others.
The school was filled with the sound of children reading, and the Gewün Yuan was filled with the sound of discussing the modification of equipment. Black smoke billowed from the iron factory in the distance, and the sound of hammering appeared from time to time. On the edge of the iron factory, there was a newly divided area.
Iron smelting workshop.
Iron smelting is the top priority in iron forging. The craftsmen of Puhuizhuang have been trying every means to improve the strength and flexibility of iron tools, while also having the ability to mass-produce.
Now it seems that not only iron forging has made good progress, but also iron smelting has also undergone changes. The suggestions I gave at the beginning have finally been adopted, and the tall chimney is the best proof.
Under the leadership of Lao Han, a craftsman in the iron smelting workshop, Ye An finally saw the simple blast furnace that the craftsmen built based on his own suggestions. It is an exaggeration to say that it is a blast furnace, and it can only be said to be a traditional blast furnace.
But even this is not much more advanced than the original iron smelting technology. This kind of blast furnace is filled with refractory bricks made of special clay. People of this era already know the role of kaolin, and making refractory bricks is not difficult.
There are three openings on the blast furnace, one large and two small. The small one is naturally used to discharge the blast furnace gas, while the large one is used for feeding materials.
The craftsmen put iron ore, coke, and limestone into it in order, and the following is the blowing operation after lighting it.
The huge wind wheel was pushed by a few strong men, and the two air inlets began to control the air inward crazily, and the air was heated.
Standing next to the blast furnace, he could hear the violent reaction in the furnace. Ye An was even worried that the earthen blast furnace was not strong enough to explode the furnace. Fortunately, the reaction time was not long, and soon there was only the sound of burning.
The intervals between feeding materials are strictly controlled. Experienced craftsmen stand by the furnace and listen to the sounds inside. Don't underestimate the craftsmen of this era. They have their own smelting experience and are quite reliable.
Unknowingly, Ye An stood beside the blast furnace for more than an hour, until the craftsmen around him shouted: "The material has been released, the molten iron has come out!"
Ye An immediately came back to his senses and stared closely at the taphole below. With the hook of a large iron hook, the huge iron block of the taphole was slowly raised under the action of the winch. Such a design
It has to be said that it is quite clever. Once there is an accident, the iron block can be quickly put down to block the tap hole.
After the yellow-orange molten iron flows out, a group of people quickly push the trough and push the molten iron to the casting workshop. The two workshops are almost connected together to facilitate casting and save the trouble of cutting.
The iron slag flows out from the slag outlet. Ye An was very curious about this separation technology, so Lao Han called in the craftsmen in charge of the blast furnace and asked them to explain clearly, but... they only knew that lime could be separated.
Iron slag, but I don’t know what the specific cause is.
Of course, craftsmen also know that the density of molten iron is different from that of iron slag. The molten iron flows out first and the iron slag flows out last. Therefore, the blast furnace has only one tap hole and no slag outlet. The iron slag flows out after the molten iron is exhausted.
.
As a result, every time the blast furnace is used, the taphole must be cleaned after the slag is discharged. So Ye An put forward his own suggestions to the craftsmen: "Wait until the blast furnace is cold before sending people down to clean it. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive, so why not do it at a high place?"
Set up a slag outlet and send out the iron slag in advance. Even if you waste some molten iron, it doesn't matter. After all, how much is the wasted molten iron worth compared to the improvement in efficiency? In this way, the only thing released from the tap hole is molten iron, right?"
Although it is a simple improvement, it makes the craftsmen's eyes bright. They have been thinking about how to make the blast furnace burn more violently, and how to make the blast furnace larger and have more capacity, but they have not thought of another way.
The idea of setting up a slag outlet!
Ye An shook his head. This is not a profound method, it is just a different way of thinking. Whether it is Puhui Company or Puhui Village, they all need new talents and talents!