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Chapter 117 The Situation of Craftsmen

() These craftsmen were asking if they could have enough to eat just now. They were obviously moved. But why did they regret it now?

Zhong Jinwei asked the craftsman who just asked him with doubts: "Old man, why don't you participate?"

"Sir, I have a granddaughter in Cao Min's family. After Cao Min dies, she will have no one to take care of her. I beg you to have mercy." After saying this, the craftsman knelt down on the ground with a pop.

When the other craftsmen who had not raised their hands saw someone taking the lead, they all knelt down, leaving only the craftsman who had raised his hands standing alone.

"You, what do you mean? Isn't this life dangerous?" Zhong Jinwei didn't know if there was something wrong with their minds.

These craftsmen just kowtowed and said nothing, and Zhong Jinwei was confused by them.

An Guiyi on the side saw these craftsmen secretly glancing at the factory guard behind Zhong Jinwei while they were kowtowing. His heart moved and he guessed the reason for a long time. He explained to Zhong Jinwei in a low voice: "They are afraid that when the work is done, they will

Silenced."

Zhong Jinwei was stunned, is there such a thing? He looked at An Guiyi, then at the large group of factory guards standing behind him holding knives, and then turned to look at the group of craftsmen kneeling on the ground.

"Are you afraid that I will silence you?" Zhong Jinwei asked in surprise.

After waiting for a while, but still no one answered his question, Zhong Jinwei asked the craftsman who was still standing there: "What is your name? Why are you not afraid of being silenced by me?"

The craftsman had been looking at Zhong Jinwei, but now that he saw him asking himself, he replied nonchalantly: "Sir, Lu Liang, a common man, is a bachelor. Instead of starving to death, it is better to be a well-fed ghost."

It seems that they are really afraid that I will silence them. Of course, the highest level of confidentiality is the dead person. But how could I do this? Zhong Jinwei was a little speechless.

He turned to An Guiyi and asked, "Mr. An, has this ever happened?"

An Guiyi approached Zhong Jinwei and replied in a low voice: "It is not possible to silence someone. For example, craftsmen who build imperial mausoleums will be imprisoned in a place and will not be allowed to leave for life. If people spread rumors, they think they have been silenced. But legend has it that before

The dynasty had it."

Zhong Jinwei understood the cause of the matter and said to the craftsmen who were kneeling and kowtowing: "Get up, get up, who said I am going to silence you."

Hearing what Zhong Jinwei said, the craftsmen looked at him with doubts. Although they stopped kowtowing, they did not get up either.

"As long as the thing is made, I will not only keep your mouth shut, but I will also ask the emperor for credit for you. Well, yes, in the future I may send you to various parts of the country to be masters and lead others to make this thing. Official

They may all have bodies. You all, get up."

The craftsmen were not completely convinced, and only a few people got up. Seeing this, Zhong Jinwei had to use a trick that the ancients believed more: "I, Zhong Jinwei, the Ming Dynasty Zhongxing Bo, hereby swear to God, if I make false claims, God will strike with five thunders."

!”

When An Guiyi wanted to stop it, it was too late, so he had to blame Zhong Jinwei: "Uncle Zhongxing, you are a noble man, why do you swear for these lowly things?"

Zhong Jinwei smiled and shook his head and said: "It doesn't matter. If you can say it, I can do it. Naturally, I won't be afraid of thunder."

When these craftsmen saw Zhong Jinwei swearing to God and listened to what he and An Guiyi said, they finally felt relieved and stood up, choosing to believe Zhong Jinwei.

When Zhong Jinwei saw it, he repeated the raise of hands to participate. This time everyone raised their hands. Since there is no danger of life, who doesn't want to have enough food and clothing.

Zhong Jinwei was very satisfied and asked them all to put their hands down.

At this time, the same craftsman who had negotiated with Zhong Jinwei before spoke: "Sir, do you know what you want us to do?"

The other craftsmen looked at Zhong Jinwei, wanting to hear clearly what was to be done that needed to be kept secret.

"I call it cement. It's not very complicated. Just mix lime and clay and burn it." Zhong Jinwei explained what he wanted to do.

"That's it?" the lead craftsman blinked and asked with confusion.

"Well, that's it. It's very simple. It's just that I forgot the ratio of lime and clay. I need everyone to do it a few more times to try out the best ratio." Zhong Jinwei said what he thought was the difficulty.

"Sir, what is the best proportion of this cement?" The leading craftsman slowly got into the mood.

"After adding water, test its adhesion. It is the same as glutinous rice juice in adhering to sand and gravel."

The craftsmen thought that both lime and clay were sticky, and if they were mixed together and burned, they should be almost sticky. This work seemed not difficult.

Zhong Jinwei saw that they understood it almost, so he asked the leading craftsman: "What is the old man's name?"

"Grassman Wu Shengda."

"How about Uncle Wu taking the lead in doing this?" Zhong Jinwei asked.

"If you don't dare to be a common man, please call me Wu Da, a common man." Wu Shengda was a little frightened.

"There's nothing you dare to do or not. It depends on your age. Let me ask you, can you take the lead?"

Wu Shengda did not dare to argue with Zhong Jinwei about the title anymore and agreed to the matter. He was the head of these craftsmen. Otherwise, he would not have opened his mouth to negotiate with Zhong Jinwei first.

Wu Shengda led the craftsmen to start working, moving raw materials and arranging the kiln. Zhong Jinwei sat in a shed to watch the progress, not sure if it could be finished today.

An Guiyi turned around and ordered the two heads of factory guards to lead people to surround the area.

Not long after Zhong Jinwei sat down, Wu Shengda came over to report the situation: "Sir, there is lime and clay, but there is no charcoal."

There was no charcoal in the ceramics factory, so Zhong Jinwei didn't believe it.

It turned out that the ceramic factory had been shut down for a long time, and the charcoal was already being used. After the shutdown, the charcoal would not be brought in. The craftsmen were hungry and freezing, so they shared the remaining charcoal for heating.

After Zhong Jinwei figured it out, he asked An Guiyi to coordinate the affairs of Fotan. An Guiyi was about to leave after receiving the order, but Zhong Jinwei stopped him again and asked him to stop by and solve the problem of clothing and food for the craftsmen.

Zhong Jinwei finally saw that the ancient craftsmen not only lacked food and clothing, but also had to live in fear. This was not good. The future development of the Ming Dynasty was inseparable from them, and they were an important source of technological development. This situation must be changed.

In fact, Zhong Jinwei didn't know that craftsmen with superb skills had a relatively high status in the late Ming Dynasty. They were often guests of scholar-bureaucrats, chatting together without being looked down upon. There were also some craftsmen in key positions, and

Officials and officials worked together to embezzle materials and public funds, making them very fat.

The craftsmen were sorting out the lime and clay that had been moved in the open space in front of the down-fire furnace.

Zhong Jinwei was bored just sitting there, so he ran over to watch and give instructions nearby.

The first step was to let them crush the lime and clay separately. Good guy, it was freezing cold, so the lime and clay were frozen hard. First they smashed them open with effort, and then ground them into powder with a millstone. This time it was just

The experiment was qualitative and not very large, and it took almost an hour.

In the second step, Zhong Jinwei asked them to mix lime and clay in the proportions of 1:1, 1:5, 1:10, 10:1, and 5:1 respectively.

Zhong Jinwei used the half-search method. This ratio will quickly determine the optimal ratio. He was lucky and had just enough materials this time.

Then there is no need for Zhong Jinwei to worry about it, the craftsmen will do the rest of the work.

While Zhong Jinwei and the others were getting raw materials, the head of the Ministry of Industry and other officials who were absent came to see Zhong Jinwei. Zhong Jinwei bothered them and asked An Guiyi to deal with them, but he was too lazy to see them.

Before it could be calcined, it got dark, so Zhong Jinwei ate with the craftsmen, imitating the style in popular movies of this dynasty, which was more close to the people.

As a result, while the craftsmen were eating happily, Zhong Jinwei was grinning.

The craftsmen felt that today's meal was sufficient, and there were several more dishes than before, which was a real treat.

However, Zhong Jinwei felt that not only was the rice unpalatable, but several of the dishes were also bitter. In the end, Zhong Jinwei couldn't eat it anymore. He thought the food in the university was already bad enough, but he didn't expect that the big pot rice in the ceramics factory was better than the food in the university.

The food was a hundred times more unpalatable. Zhong Jinwei asked someone to find the cook and eat it himself.

Who would have thought that Uncle Zhongxing was so crazy that he had a meal with the craftsmen. The chef and the supervisory officials repeatedly accused him of doing it again, and he must do it again.


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