After watching the iron-making in the blast furnace, Zhao Kuo did not leave the workshop immediately. Instead, he dismissed the others and wandered around the workshop with Lin Xiangru and Liu Ping. The person in charge of the workshop, Zhao Zhu, accompanied him.
After Zhao State obtained Yecheng, there was a barrier in the south, and Zhangshui was no longer the border between Zhao and Wei. The workshops were moved to the banks of Zhangshui and Fushui, and the scale expanded tenfold.
The reason why it expanded so much was not that Zhao State really had so many more craftsmen, but that after the Yantie official camp, those craftsmen raised privately by noble merchants were sold to the government.
There may be some craftsmen hidden in each mansion, but the number will not be too many.
Some of these craftsmen were sent to workshops in Jinyang, Wuyang and other places, but most of them were left in Handan.
A group of craftsmen with the best skills in the world gathered here, and most of Zhao's weapons and equipment came from here.
In addition, Zhao Kuo also ordered the closure of smelting workshops below the county level and concentrated all workshops and workers in the main cities of Zhao State.
Prior to this, there were smelting workshops in many places in Zhao State, both government and private. The quality of the weapons and agricultural tools produced varied, making it difficult for Zhao State to supervise.
Concentrating workshops in major cities is more conducive to supervision and standardized production, and stabilizes production quality.
In addition, the larger the scale of the workshop, the lower the average cost of the equipment produced.
Along the way, Zhao Kuo saw many unkempt and ragged ministers, and some prisoners even had shackles on their feet. Most of them were prisoners of war, or countrymen who had committed crimes and were demoted to ministers.
They use sledgehammers to crush the mined ore into chunks. This is the most painful, tiring and time-consuming task in the workshop. The ore is so hard that it can only be broken by smashing it with all your strength for a long time.
In recent years, the State of Zhao has been engaged in smelting, and a steady stream of ore is fed into the workshop from the northwest of Handan every day.
The workers still receive wages and rest, and every once in a while, the government will distribute one or two kilograms of fish.
These servants had nothing, so they had to work before dawn every day until night, and they were miserable.
In addition, there is a combination similar to a water wheel and a stone mill next to it. The flowing water drives the water wheel, and the water wheel rotates. Under the action of the gears, the stone mill rotates, and the ore crushed by Li Chen is crushed even more.
, the more crushed the ore is, the easier it is to smelt.
However, the height difference of plain rivers is small, and the gravitational potential energy that can be converted is small, so they cannot drive large waterwheels and stone mills. They mainly rely on manpower and animal power.
Zhao Guozheng was trying to find ways to build large-scale smelting workshops in Shangdang and Jinyang to make full use of the water resources in the Taihang Mountains.
"Although the Handan iron mine is large in scale, its iron content is not high. It is far behind the iron mines in Yiyang and Wancheng, and the quality of the iron produced is not as good as that of Han Chu. Later, someone proposed to grind the iron ore
After crushing it and then smelting it, the quality of the smelted iron will be better."
"But it requires more manpower and material resources. Before the help of water power, there were nearly a hundred thousand servants working in the workshop at its peak. Later, the Mohists used waterwheels in the workshop, and the number of servants was reduced to only half of the previous number.
" Zhao Zhu explained.
"We must pay attention to technology development. Remember, no matter who it is, even these ministers, as long as they can break through technology, they will be rewarded. Those who have made significant contributions can even be reported to the Shaofu and given a title." Zhao Kuo warned.
.
What makes a person strong is his wisdom, not his physical strength.
One tiny technology may not have much impact on Zhao State, but when many such tiny technologies come together, Zhao State's national power will increase.
Besides, who can guarantee that among so many ministers, there will not be a single true genius.
"I understand." Zhao Zhu nodded solemnly.
If the workshop makes technological breakthroughs, he can also receive rewards, and as a member of the Zhao clan, although he is already a collateral branch within the collateral clan, he also has advantages that others cannot match.
That is for the same merit, the clan will receive more rewards!
This kind of thing does not only exist in Zhao State, but also in the other six countries.
To be precise, it has been like this since there were people.
Zhao Zhu also hopes that he can obtain a fiefdom through the workshop. Although the possibility is very small, it is possible, right?
Ever since the meritocracy system was announced and everyone was clearly told that it was a real title and could be passed on to heirs, everyone's fighting spirit was aroused.
Those who have a fief want to get a bigger and better fief; those who don't have a fief want to get a fief.
Everyone is fighting for their fiefdom.
Since the three families were divided into Jin and Tian, everyone has been waiting for this opportunity for hundreds of years.
"These people didn't cause any trouble, right?" Zhao Kuo pointed at the officials not far away and said.
Many officials recognized Zhao Kuo or guessed Zhao Kuo's identity. After all, Zhao Zhu could accompany him personally, with a flattering smile on his face. There were not many people in the entire Zhao Kingdom who were in their twenties.
Some ministers turned around and left silently, some bowed and saluted, a few had hatred hidden in their eyes, but most of them could not hate Zhao Kuo.
Since ancient times, the winner is the king and the loser is the enemy.
As losers, it was inevitable that they would be demoted to slaves. Zhao State was able to provide them with two meals a day and prohibited managers from bullying and scolding them. If they got sick, Zhao State would also ask doctors to treat them. In this era
It has been called the most benevolent and righteous.
You know, most of them got sick and had to wait to die before becoming ministers.
Now that they have become subordinates, there are still people treating them. It is really ironic.
They knew very well that if they were the victors, the captured Zhao people would definitely suffer much worse than them.
Ministers of the State of Zhao have always felt that Zhao Kuo was too kind to these ministers. Slaves from other countries did not even have enough to eat, not to mention treating illnesses. It was common for them to be bullied and beaten. Even if they died, no one would care about them.
One glance.
Until Zhao Kuo told them: Only living slaves can create value.
The ministers stopped talking.
Zhao State's mechanized production is still in its most primitive stage, and is basically made by hand. For the rapidly developing Zhao State, every labor force is precious.
Moreover...those medicinal materials are really worthless, and they are all collected by the pound. There are two large warehouses in Handan City, and there are also two warehouses in the military camp outside the city and in Handan College. If they are not used, they will become moldy...
"There were some troubles in the past. Later, according to what Mr. Du Ping said, these people were grouped into groups, implemented a joint sitting system, and ten people were selected and given the status of common people. After that, everyone became much more stable. In the past year, basically
There has been no trouble. I plan to select ten more people after a period of time." Zhao Zhu said.
The status of just ten common people was exchanged for the stable jobs of tens of thousands of slaves. For Zhao State, it was just a waste of money, so it was not a good deal.
"You just have to watch and decide." Zhao Kuo nodded.