Straight man of steel

Chapter 45 Wealthy Country and Strong Army
Since the death of Liang Wang Liu Wu, the big man has fallen into peace.

Like a pool of water, even if someone throws a stone into the lake, it can only cause a ripple, and then it will soon return to calm.

This is the case with the appearance of Zhuo's iron pot. After several months of Chang'an Sansuke's iron pot craze, it disappeared without a trace from the conversations among nobles, as if it had never been released, but people's Habits have changed.

Iron pots replaced pottery pots and cauldrons, and became the main cooking utensils in the homes of nobles.

The market for Zhuo's iron pots among the nobles has disappeared. The nobles may have prepared five or six iron pots because of the large number of people in their families, but it is impossible to prepare fifty or sixty iron pots.

According to Zhang Yuan's prophecy, iron pots appeared in all parts of the Han Dynasty, at least in the area north of the Yangtze River. Many blacksmith shops are imitating this utensil, and the price is much cheaper than that sold by Zhuo's, so they can't afford it. The little dignitaries or common people of Zhuo's iron pot turned their attention to this kind of iron pot.

However, the situation is not optimistic. Ironware will oxidize and rust without maintenance, especially if it is used above a fire, and if it is washed with water, the reaction will happen faster.

The taste of rust in a stir-fried dish is too strong, and it will not be very tasty. This sets off the difference between Zhuo's iron wok and other utensils. This wok has something wonderful.

No one knows how many iron pots Zhuo Wangsun sold at the price of ten taels of gold, but now he has become the richest man in the big man. There may have been a few giants who could rival him before, but now he has given them all. Step on it.

The most typical example is the Cheng family who are both in Linqiong with the Zhuo family. The Cheng family knew that there was no way to continue to compete with the Zhuo family in the smelting business, so they turned their direction to foreign trade.

That is to set up a large number of caravans to go to the small countries in the southeast or the countries of the Western Regions to exchange Sichuan brocade gold and silver for their local specialties.

The two giant merchants in Linqiong began to transform. After seeing these movements, Zhang Yuan couldn't help but think that in a few years, these wealthy people would be gradually exploited by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty with decrees such as counting strings and salt and iron orders because of their huge wealth.

"Ding, How Steel Is Made: Reinforced Iron Bone quest is complete, and I have obtained a topographic map of the coal mines in Shu County."

Four days after the Wolun water row was made, Zhang Yuan was silently writing all kinds of knowledge in his mind on the bamboo slips in his room, when he suddenly heard the sound of completing the task, but he didn’t have time to check the rewards and the next round of tasks .

The two brothers, Xiong Daxiong Er, were already yelling outside.

"My lord, the dagger you want has been forged."

"Come in directly."

Zhang Yuan rolled up the bamboo slips, put the pen and book knife on the pen stand, got up and walked towards Xiong Da Xiong Er.

"My lord, look at these three daggers."

Zhang Yuan picked up one by himself, and pulled out the dagger from the scabbard. Xiong Daxiong and the others followed Zhang Yuan's example and pulled out the dagger. The cold light was chilling, and Zhang Yuan could feel the three daggers just by looking at them. sharp.

"Before, the two of you were asked to make farm tools in the iron smelting workshop all day long, it seems that the owner of the house has lost his sight.

Not to mention those ordinary blacksmiths, even the blacksmiths who specialize in making swords are not as skilled as the two of you. "

Zhang Yuan praised Xiong Daxiong Er, which made the two of them laugh out loud.

"Go down and find Xiaoqing to get 30 taels of gold, just tell me what I said."

Although Zhang Yuan didn't plan to sell these daggers, he still had to give the reward. Xiong Da Xiong Er did him such a big favor. If he just made carbon steel utensils by himself, it would take at least 20 days, and he still had to pay for it. It must be those axes and hoes that have no technical content, even if they can be sold for money, they are not as much as 1000 taels of gold.

Hearing that Zhang Yuan still wanted to reward him with money, the two of them quickly waved their hands and shouted "no, no, no, no."

"Young master, we don't want rewards. You gave us brothers 30 taels of gold before, which is enough for us to spend a lifetime."

Zhang Yuan thought about it carefully, everyone in his family has gold on them, some like Xiong Daxiong Er have 30 taels, and some have as little as six taels. If it spreads, it may be bad for them.

Zhang Yuan still knows the reason why everyone is innocent and pregnant with jade.

"Alright, don't go out and show off the gold I gave you. Since you don't want rewards, I'll be free later, my lord. I'll see if I can talk about a marriage with you."

This time, Zhang Yuan said that the two of them have their hearts on the line. Why do these craftsmen need so much money?There is no place to spend flowers, and the scope of activities all day long is only this house. It is their greatest ideal to be able to use this money to find a daughter-in-law who can give birth to a good child.

Seeing the expression on Xiong Da Xiong Er's face, Zhang Yuan suddenly felt that the house had to be expanded ten times in order for each of these craftsmen to ask for a wife.

"Thank you son, hehe."

"I will keep this matter in mind, let's go down first."

"Here."

After Xiong Daxiong Er left, Zhang Yuan returned to his bed and lay down, closed his eyes and began to enter the system interface.

After the task of reinforcing the steel and iron bones was completed, the system gave Zhang Yuan a new task.

"How Steel Is Made: Iron Trees Bloom: Using a Quyuan Plow to Cultivate [-] Mu ([-]/[-])
Mission completion reward: Beet Seeds. "

Beet seeds, Zhang Yuan suddenly felt that the system finally gave him a chance to make a fortune without conflicting with other people.

In the past few months, Zhang Yuan has also eaten sugar, calling maltose the same as maltose in later generations.

It is a kind of sugar that is saccharified and boiled from rice and malt. Although sucrose should already be available in this era, Zhang Yuan has never tasted it, because it is expensive and the taste is not good. It is better to eat sugarcane directly to absorb sugar.

Sugar cane is not suitable for planting in the north, and the areas where sugar cane is produced are not under the control of the big man. The daily foreign trade of the Zhuo family and the Cheng family includes exchanging sugar from small countries in Southeast Asia and the south, and transporting it back to the big man to trade.

If Zhang Yuan can grow beets, he can produce high-quality white sugar, which is much more cost-effective than boiling sugar with expensive grains.

From the time when the Qin State destroyed the six kingdoms and unified the world, and then when Han Gaozu Liu Bang established the Great Han Dynasty, China's population dropped sharply from 4000 million to more than 600 million. .

No one was farming, the food production was not high enough, and the population had not recovered to the level when Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms by the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

If there is a large amount of cheap white granulated sugar, it will be able to supplement the necessary nutrition of the common people, and the nobles will not need to consume a large amount of grain to make caramel. Although it may only slightly improve the lives of the common people, Zhang Yuan is enough Satisfied.

Forging iron can strengthen the army, and farming can enrich the country.

(End of this chapter)