Chapter 347: The Initial Reform Plan of the Mountain Copper Mansion
Arriving at the location chosen by Qian Bingrui, Zhou Tieyi looked around and nodded, "Okay, let's prepare it tomorrow and hold a groundbreaking ceremony. Let's prepare some meat for the corvées in the town today."

After getting Zhou Tieyi's affirmation, Qian Bingrui hurriedly gave orders. During this process, Zhou Tieyi gathered the people he had gathered into a circle. He first pointed to the pig iron factory not far away. This was the largest iron factory near Baizhi Mountain. Half of the pig iron produced was used in the construction of supports within the mine, and the other half was sold to all parts of the world in the form of iron wires.

The status of ordinary pig iron in Daxia was far less than that of Zhou Tieyi in his previous life.

In the hands of practitioners, weapons made of pig iron are only slightly harder than wooden weapons. Only special metals rich in the ancestral qi of heaven and earth are the main items controlled by Daxia.

The lack of attention paid to pig iron itself also resulted in the entire industry being unable to benefit from upper-level technological advances, so production costs have never been truly reduced to a level that the lower-class people can fully afford.

Look at the houses built by real miners along the way. A few mud walls are enough to make a house. Can they afford to use iron as the support of the house?
Therefore, pig iron is just like coal, with a status of neither high nor low. Practitioners look down on it, and ordinary people cannot afford it. It is far inferior to salt, inkstone, wood and steel.

"How many pounds of iron can these two furnaces produce each year?"

A manager stepped out from the crowd and said, "Reporting to Lord Zhou, each of the two blast furnaces can produce one million kilograms of iron per year."

He sounded quite proud as he spoke.

Before coming here today, he had been asked by his superiors to do his homework seriously.

Nowadays, except for the newly built pig iron plant built by Zhou Tieyi in Tianjing, most of the pig iron plants in Daxia that are only operated by ordinary people outside Taihang Mountain have an annual production capacity of less than 500,000 kilograms per blast furnace. The biggest reason is that Baizhi Mountain can get a large amount of cheap coal as fuel, while the pig iron plants in other places, even if they are built, mostly use charcoal as fuel.

Zhou Tieyi did a rough calculation and found that one million jin, although it sounds like a lot, is only about 500 tons.

He pondered for a moment and said, "When you report to me from now on, use tons as the unit of weight."

"Ton?"

The people present hesitated for a moment, and they looked at the Mohist people, who knew best how to measure things.

The Mohist people shook their heads slightly, indicating that they were hearing this for the first time as well.

Zhou Tieyi continued, "One ton is equal to two thousand kilograms."

Since Zhou Tieyi said so, the steward quickly said, "Yes, report to Lord Zhou, each of the two blast furnaces can produce 500 tons of iron."

After the steward finished speaking, everyone present immediately understood why Zhou Tieyi used tons.

Although one million jin and five hundred tons have the same weight, they sound like two different things.

Suddenly, 500 tons seemed so little.

Even when the manager said it himself, he felt like he didn't try his best.

The officials present looked at Zhou Tieyi thoughtfully and sighed in their hearts. They learned something. He was worthy of being Marquis Zhou who was able to wield power in Tianjing. Just this little trick was enough for everyone to learn.

Zhou Tieyi continued to laugh, "Each of these furnaces can produce 500 tons, but you don't produce 1000 tons per year, right?"

The steward gave a bitter smile, knowing that since Zhou Tieyi had brought it up, he could not hide the matter from him, and said, "Lord Zhou, please judge for yourself."

He hesitated for a moment and looked at the officials around him, as if hesitating whether he should say something.

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "I am not here to uphold justice, but to solve problems. I have already stated this. The reason I can stay in the Wu family until now is because the problems are not entirely caused by them. If I solve one Wu family, there will be a new 'Wu family' after I leave. But many problems can be solved. At least I can find solutions and let everyone make progress together. But if I can't solve the problem because you deceive your superiors and subordinates, then I can only solve the people who created the problem. Do you understand what I mean?"

Zhou Tieyi's words were very confusing. After hearing them, the officials present thought carefully for a moment and compared in their minds all the actions Zhou Tieyi had taken since he came to Shantong Mansion.

Sure enough, all of Zhou Hou’s actions can be explained.

They glanced at Li Jianhu and the other three people who were following Zhou Tieyi. They saw that these three people who came to Tianjing to complain did not show any extreme reaction after hearing Zhou Tieyi's words. Instead, they looked thoughtful.

Everyone couldn't help but sigh in their hearts again, Zhou Hou is really great.

We all need to learn how to judge a case in a way that leaves both the plaintiff and the defendant speechless!

"Just say whatever Lord Zhou tells you to say!"

An official coughed, then bowed to Lord Zhou and said, "Lord Zhou, I have overstepped my authority."

Zhou Tieyi glanced at the official and he roughly understood who was behind this pig iron factory.

But he smiled and said, "It's okay. It's a good thing for the people below to think more about things, but just don't be too smart."

Although Zhou Tieyi said this with a smile, the manager of the pig iron factory had sweat on his forehead and hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Reporting to Lord Zhou, the iron produced by iron factories in various places is generally consumed locally. Iron is not like salt, which is a necessity for the people. In this respect, it is not even comparable to tea. It is not as precious as inkstone. However, iron is a heavy object. It takes at least twice as much manpower and horses to transport it from our Taihang Mountains to make a profit. Therefore, it is not as good as the inferior and expensive iron produced locally."

"What about Tieyin?"

Zhou Tieyi asked.

His question hits the nail on the head.

The leader hesitated for a moment, then sighed, "The iron rope is now tightening our ropes."

"How to say it?"

"The iron certificate was originally a voucher for merchants to buy and sell iron, but when the army and the Ministry of Industry need iron, they directly ask merchants with the iron certificate to come to us to buy it. They use the iron certificate as a sword of imperial power. Not only do they eat the money of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry, but they also put pressure on our prices and ask for kickbacks from us. Finally, they explain to their superiors that the quality of Taihang Mountain iron is good, but the transportation is expensive, so the price they report to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry can be three to five times our production price. This is called 'eating from both ends'. If we are not willing, then the entire ironworks will never sell a pound of iron in the future!"

"Our iron transportation is expensive, and that is also due to the 'credit' of Tieyin!"

After saying this, the person in charge felt weak all over and even wanted to kneel down.

Because he didn't know how many important people he had offended by saying this, but if he didn't say it, he might offend Lord Zhou in front of him.

Li Jianhu was stunned. He really didn't expect that the iron factory next to him would have so much money embezzled every year. Compared with that, his father's funeral money was really nothing.

How dare they embezzle money from the Ministry of Works and the army?
Li Jianhu clearly felt that the air around him had become dull. Even the chirping of insects had quieted down. The only sound was the slightly heavy breathing of the officials.

After hearing this, Zhou Tieyi did not get angry and looked normal.

In fact, he is also a participant here, participating unconsciously.

For example, if he asked the Southeast Chamber of Commerce to buy pig iron, how much of this pig iron was "forced" out by iron?
Zhou Tieyi thought about it seriously.

There are two points at the core of this issue.

The first point is naturally the iron guide system.

This system certainly cannot continue to be implemented and needs to be abolished. Otherwise, it will be impossible to pave the way for subsequent industrialization.

Advanced technology must be matched with advanced production systems in order to unleash advanced productivity. Otherwise, it will be like the Taihang Mountains today. Even with advanced technology, it is stuck in a difficult situation. Even the Taihang Mountains are unwilling to produce more high-quality iron because it will lose money if it is produced and there is not enough market.

Although Tieyue is not like the canal transport, which is the basis for the livelihood of millions of canal workers, it is also of great importance. From all perspective, it seems that only the merchants are making money, but where does the money of the merchants go?
If we force the iron levees to change, once the market is in chaos, all the civil and military officials in the court will probably jump out to criticize us.

Zhou Tieyi finally understood why Wang Anshi's reforms had led to his being in and out of the court three times.

Only someone like me who has a historical perspective can grasp the interests of all parties and every historical node. Otherwise, any mistake at any node will cause a huge political storm.

Even a strong person like Wang Anshi was sad, and a strong person like Zhang Juzheng also died.

The second key point is the cost of pig iron itself.

This can be solved from the two aspects of transportation cost and production cost, and it just so happens that I can solve both aspects myself.

By using steam blowers and hot blowers in addition to blast furnace construction, production capacity can be expanded and production costs can be reduced. By using railway transportation, production capacity can be consumed and transportation costs can be reduced.

The two can form a virtuous circle, but the only thing missing is the initial start-up capital.

This is also the most difficult point.

Even for a country, primitive capital accumulation is the most difficult link and also the one that requires the most sacrifices.

Zhou Tieyi thought seriously for a moment, looked at the limp steward, and suddenly laughed, "Well said, there's a reward!"

After saying this, he took out a bright pearl from the white jade chessboard.

"This is a statement that is a great threat to the country. I will report this to His Majesty and ask for a reward for you. Now, I will first grant you the pearl as an angel to show His Majesty's wisdom."

The officials around him looked either surprised or horrified.

They thought carefully about what Zhou Tieyi meant.

It is obvious that Zhou Tieyi is also prepared to take care of this Tieyin, but this is a good thing for their Shantong Prefecture, not a bad thing, and it will benefit their Shantong Prefecture.

Zhou Tieyi bestowed rewards as an angel, which was a political statement.

If the head of the pig iron factory dies an abnormal death later, Zhou Tieyi will have to investigate it thoroughly. This will be the beginning of a political struggle. As for the other forces that want to deal with this "talkative" head of the pig iron factory because of today's incident, they will have to consider whether it is worth paying the political price.

Of course, the prerequisite is that Zhou Tieyi can win a great victory in this political storm as he did before, rather than suffer a crushing defeat.

However, Zhou Tieyi's behavior warmed the hearts of officials and clerks, because when there was a problem, Zhou Hou really stepped up! Who wouldn't want to have such a leader?
After a silence that lasted for ten breaths, the steward, who had just looked as if the sky was falling and his whole body was limp, suddenly seemed to have ascended from the netherworld to heaven, and actually cried with joy in front of everyone, "Lord Zhou..."

Zhou Tieyi took two steps forward and put the pearl in the hands of the steward, then said with a smile, "If there is a reward, then I want to see your ability to solve the problem. I will now propose a solution to the problem for you."

"Two points. First, I will give you the blueprints of Tianjing's new steam blower. You will rebuild these two blast furnaces. I want to see blast furnaces with an annual output of 1,000 tons. And I want to expand from two to four, so as to reduce your production costs."

The manager hesitated for a moment. Producing so much iron, not to mention whether the owner behind the production would be willing, what should he do with the iron alone?
Then Zhou Tieyi said, "Secondly, I will ask Tianjing's Railway Chamber of Commerce to buy your iron first, and then sell it at a price that you can make money from. I will monitor the specific price and will not let you produce at a loss."

"Tianjin's iron collection is only an emergency measure. You still need to save yourself locally. This is the long-term solution. In a few days, I will go to Mo City and Jiju City to discuss with the Mo family and Gongshu family to build several train tracks that can cross the Taihang Mountains and connect Tianjing, which is 6,000 miles away. The train tracks will use a large amount of high-quality steel. During construction, the production capacity will be consumed nearby. After completion, the transportation cost of the entire steel will be reduced. By then, you may have to build a few more pig iron plants."

"Of course, there are many other places where steel is used."

Zhou Tieyi pointed to the empty space in front of him and said, "See this new house? This kind of house requires a lot of steel. In the future, I will use steel to build hundreds of feet high buildings. I want to build such high-rise buildings in every corner of my Great Xia country. Of course, the quality of the iron you produce at that time may not be up to standard. So during the production process, you can try to communicate more with the Mohists and Gongshuists to adapt different 'irons'. Some irons are good for repairing rails, and some irons are good for building houses."

Under the gray sky, Zhou Tieyi talked eloquently, and everyone was brought into the grand blueprint that Zhou Tieyi had envisioned.

A railway that connects 6,000 miles, a huge steel building that is hundreds of feet high...

Even if Mozi or Gongshu Ban were alive again, they wouldn't dare to have such thoughts, right?

They looked at Zhou Tieyi, and only then did they understand why the news from Tianjing said that Zhou Tieyi was not fighting for power, but for the orthodoxy.

Only the Taoist tradition can support such a grand vision of a person.

Zhou Tieyi smiled brightly and looked at the manager of the iron factory beside him, "Can you do this and open up a new way of making a living for the people of Shantong Prefecture? If you can run this iron factory well, come to Tianjing to work in the future. Then we will need you to spread your experience to the world."

The steward didn't need the master to remind him this time. He bowed and said with a choked voice, "I will definitely die for you."

Zhou Tieyi personally helped the steward up and said with a smile, "I won't die trying. I want to see you doing things and thinking of ways to solve problems. You should solve the problems you can solve, and come to me for the ones you can't solve. As for what you can solve and what you can't solve, I think you know it clearly."

This is the first step to gaining the trust of officials.

(End of this chapter)