Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 152: Arms Trade

Zhu Shenzhui originally planned to go and see the mining, but because it was getting late and the sun was about to set, it would be difficult to go there now. The people from the mine had already returned one after another, and he would not be able to see anything if he went to see it now, so he simply planned to go tomorrow.

That night, Zhu Shenzhui did not return to the Hundred Households Office in Zhaowuling, but stayed temporarily at the workshop. Although the conditions at the workshop were not as good as those at the Hundred Households Office, the houses were all newly built, and there were not many of them, so it was still possible to clean up two rooms and stay there for one night.

Because of Zhu Shenzhui's arrival, Zhao Da specially cleaned up the house he lived in and gave it to Zhu Shenzhui to live in.

Originally, Zhao Da planned to take his wife and children to stay at someone else's place for one night, but Zhu Shenzhu refused after knowing this. Zhu Shenzhu moved into Zhao Da's main house and asked Zhao Da and his family to stay at Shitou's house. As for Hu Yisheng and his family, they had to stay somewhere else for one night. It was just one night anyway, so there was no need to make a fuss.

Dinner was also eaten at Zhao's house. Zhao Da's wife was a good cook. Although the food was just ordinary, it was very good. Zhu Shenzhui, who was a little tired after walking on the mountain road all day, ate particularly deliciously. After dinner, Zhu Shenzhui returned to the house and had just sat down on the kang when Zhao Da came.

"Sixth Master, I've made you a pot of tea. You should have a good rest tonight. If you need anything, just let me know." Zhao brought the brewed tea with a laugh. When Zhu Shenzhui saw him put down the teapot and prepare to leave, he stopped him.

"Uncle Zhao, sit down and chat for a while."

"Hey!"

Zhao Da sat down next to the kang and glanced at Zhu Shenzhui, looking a little reserved.

"Uncle Zhao, this is not the first day we have known each other. Now that you are the governor, why do you feel so restrained when looking at me?" He picked up the teapot and poured two cups of tea, pushed one of them towards Zhao Da, and asked with a smile.

Zhao Da smiled awkwardly: "Sixth Master, what are you saying? Isn't it because of your help that I became the governor?"

"Hahaha, Uncle Zhao, do you regret wearing this clothes now?" Seeing his look, and thinking back to the time when he asked Zhao Da to come here and Zhao Da was a little unhappy at first, Zhu Shenzhui laughed and joked.

Zhao Da scratched his head and smiled innocently: "How can I regret it? This is a good thing that I can't ask for in eight lifetimes. If it weren't for you, Sixth Master, my family would still be a craftsman."

"Uncle Zhao, this is just the beginning. Work hard, and there are still many good days to come." Zhu Shenzhui said this to him meaningfully. Zhao Da nodded vigorously, with excitement and anticipation on his face.

After taking a sip of tea, Zhu Shenzhui asked, "How confident are you about the matter I mentioned to you earlier? How long will it take to complete it?"

"Sixth Master, I just thought about it in my mind, this matter is not that difficult to handle. It's just that the workshop has just been established, and although we have people, their skills are good or bad. And the current apprentices can only help out. It will take some time to meet your requirements. But don't worry, give me two months at most, and I will make you satisfied by then!" Zhao Da replied after thinking.

Zhu Shenzhui shook his head and held up a finger, saying, "Two months is too long. I can only give you a month at most. You must get these things out for me next month, and I will send someone to pick them up then."

"This..." Zhao Da was embarrassed, but seeing Zhu Shenzhui staring at him, he gritted his teeth and nodded, "Since Sixth Master said so, I will help you get this done no matter what. OK! Just one month! Next month, I, Zhao Da, will definitely give you the things you want!"

"Okay!" Zhu Shenzhui was very satisfied with Zhao Da's straightforwardness. He nodded and said to Zhao Dadao: "Uncle Zhao, being a leader is different from running a blacksmith shop by yourself. You are the governor now, the person in charge here. Don't just focus on doing the hard work yourself. You should think about how to cooperate with your subordinates."

"With so many people here, we can't use the old way of doing things. Everyone does their own thing, so the work will naturally be done slowly and inefficiently. Uncle Zhao, you have to think carefully about this and think of other ways, such as..."

There is absolutely no problem with Zhao Da's craftsmanship. Among the craftsmen, he is very good in both iron smelting and manufacturing. Otherwise, Zhu Shenzhu would not have given the job of making muskets to Zhao Da.

Over the past year or so, the muskets that Zhao Da made for Zhu Shenzhui were well-made, which was enough to prove his ability. But the problem was that Zhao Da was no longer an ordinary craftsman. The reason why Zhao Da was given the status of governor and was brought from Wangjia Village to Zhaowuling was not only because of his craftsmanship, but also because he wanted Zhao Da to help him manage the workshop.

At present, this is just a workshop. Although it is much larger than an ordinary blacksmith shop, the number of people is ten times more than that of Zhao Da and his son Shitou. But it seems that it is still far from meeting Zhu Shenzhui's requirements. In a word, it is still a blacksmith shop in its original state, but it has changed from one blacksmith shop to several or even more blacksmith shops. This situation is not what Zhu Shenzhui needs. A single blacksmith shop is just a blacksmith shop no matter how many there are. What Zhu Shenzhui needs is a systematic and large-scale ironworks or arsenal. A single blacksmith shop, operating in their own way, is inefficient, and there will be repeated and ineffective labor in many aspects.

Zhu Shenzhui told Zhao Da that this approach was absolutely not feasible. These craftsmen could not be used separately. Instead, all of them had to be united and each small-scale blacksmith shop could be turned directly into a large-scale formal workshop.

No matter in the grinding, selection, smelting, iron making, forging, molding and other aspects of the ore, one must never do it alone, because not only is it inefficient, it will also waste a lot of time and manpower. In addition, the quality of the products cannot be guaranteed, which is definitely not the result Zhu Shenzui needs.

Zhu Shenzhui carefully shared his views with Zhao Da and made many suggestions, including gathering manpower, first using ordinary apprentices to grind and select ore, and replacing small furnaces with large furnaces to increase the amount of smelting at one time. In the subsequent procedures, manpower can also be gathered, with skilled craftsmen taking charge of different sections according to their abilities and expertise, ultimately ensuring standardization and proceduralization based on quality assurance.

Of course, Zhao Da still didn't understand many aspects of such explanation. After all, he was an ordinary craftsman who could barely read. Zhu Shenzui could only use some simple metaphors and examples to explain. Zhao Da listened carefully, kept them firmly in mind, and then thought about it in combination with reality and felt that it made sense.

"That's basically it. You're an expert on this. You'll have to figure out the specific arrangements and how to do it yourself. I can't help you much else." After saying that, Zhu Shenzhui gave another reminder.

"Sixth Master, I understand what you mean. I have to try whether this can work. But since you said that, I just thought about it in my mind, it shouldn't be a big problem." Zhao Da nodded repeatedly, and admired Zhu Shenzhui, a member of the royal family, for knowing all this. He had been a craftsman for his whole life, but he hadn't figured it out. But Zhu Shenzhui just said it very clearly. Although he had never heard of these things, it was very likely to be implemented after careful consideration. Zhao Da was an old craftsman, and he still understood the basic principles. What he lacked was just these things he had never had before.

"Don't be impatient. Just try it boldly. There are plenty of mines here. If you don't have enough people, just tell me directly. It's okay if I don't look for Captain Hu. I will ask him to cooperate with you to the fullest."

"As for money and food, you don't have to worry. As long as the workshop is established, it will be worth spending any amount of money. I'll leave this matter to you, Uncle Zhao, and I hope you will pay more attention to it."

"Sixth Master, you are really hurting me by saying this. I am just a craftsman, and you are a noble man. You gave me a chance and promoted me to be the governor. How can I not take responsibility? Don't worry, even if I sacrifice my life, Zhao Da, I will help you get this done!"

Zhao Da patted his chest and made a promise, as if he was willing to go through fire and water for Zhu Shenzui. Zhu Shenzui immediately smiled.

He comforted Zhao Da with a few words and chatted with him for a while. Seeing that it was getting late, Zhao Da left.

After Zhao Da left, Zhu Shenzhui did not rest immediately, but lay on the kang and continued to think about the things here. The two hundred households have been set up, and many things have gradually taken shape from scratch, but it is still a long way to go to achieve success.

Now is just the beginning, there are still many things to do. Let's not talk about other things for now, let's just talk about the workshops and mines in Zhaowuling.

Zhu Shenzhui was not too worried about mining, as Hu Yisheng and others were originally miners, so he was good at it. Moreover, Zhu Shenzhui asked Hu Yisheng to recruit miners today. Once the subsequent miners arrived, the mining volume of the mine would increase. Even if the mining technology was primitive, it didn't matter, as it was enough for the current needs.

The key is the workshop. Compared with the mine, the workshop has a much higher status in Zhu Shenzhui's mind. The establishment of the workshop is of great use. In the future, this workshop will become Zhu Shenzhui's most critical area and the foundation of his future.

There is a saying that goes, "If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools." The workshop is the "tool" for Zhu Shenzhui. How can you do things without the "tool"? Relying on others is absolutely unreliable. Only relying on yourself is real.

Moreover, although these two hundred households are nominally hundred households, their actual scale is not small. If Zhu Shenzhui recruits miners and refugees to fill the hundred households in the later period, and if Zhu Shenzhui prepares to imitate the training of Qi's army, the three hundred households in his hands, except for Wangjia Village, Yangtou Mountain and Zhaowuling will be important bases in the future.

With so many people, it would be difficult to rely on self-sufficiency alone. Even the production of coarse grains such as sweet potatoes and corn is limited. To feed so many people, and to do big things, financial resources are the top priority. Zhu Shenzhu's main source of income is from the business. Apart from Hengtong's normal shops including salt shops, pawnshops, etc., the real source of income is private salt and grassland trade.

Let's not talk about the former for now, let's talk about the latter. The demand of Tana's tribe is not small, enough for Zhu Shenzhui to make huge profits in trade. But the ordinary trade profit is still not big enough, the trade profit of ironware, especially military equipment, is the real profit.

This is actually very simple. In the words of later generations, doing this kind of trade is equivalent to "selling arms". This has been the case since ancient times. Is there any business that can make more money than arms? The workshop here is Zhu Shenzhui's military factory. If you want to make more money in the future, it depends on the output of the workshop.

(End of this chapter)