At noon the next day, Zhao Hongrun was sitting in a room in the main building of the Metallurgical Bureau, drinking tea and looking through the roster of personnel under the Metallurgical Bureau.
In front of him, Wang Fu, the chief minister of the Smelting Bureau, led three officials and stood in the house.
Chen Dan, Cheng Lin, Xun Xin...
Glancing at the three officers of the Smelting Bureau next to Wang Fu, Zhao Hongrun turned his eyes to the roster in his hand and carefully checked the official resumes of these three officers.
Generally speaking, each government office will keep a roster of previous officials, including their official resumes, and the same is true for the Smelting Bureau.
What surprised Zhao Hongrun was that among the three officials, Chen Dan, the oldest, had worked in the Smelting Bureau for twenty-eight years, which was simply unimaginable.
"Lord Chen Dan, what is your honor this year?" Zhao Hongrun asked curiously.
In front of Zhao Hongrun, an official with disheveled hair and patches all over his official uniform bowed and said humbly: "Little... little official..."
Small official? What kind of self-proclaiming is this?
Zhao Hongrun looked at Chen Dan in astonishment.
However, being stared at by Zhao Hongrun like this, the official named Chen Dan became even more embarrassed and nervous. He stammered and said with great difficulty: "Little... little official... no no, the lower officer Chen Dan,
This year is forty and three."
It turns out that what he wanted to say was Xiaguan...
Zhao Hongrun turned to look at Wang Fu and asked in a low voice: "Does this Master Chen Dan have a mouth problem?"
Wang Fu gave a bitter smile, lowered his voice and explained: "Chen Dan has no oral problems. It may be that he has never met His Royal Highness up close, so he feels restrained." As he said that, he turned to look at Chen Dan and smiled in relief.
Said: "Chen Dan, His Royal Highness King Su is a wise His Highness, please don't be too cautious."
"Yes, yes..." Chen Dan nodded repeatedly, his eyes flickering, looking quite at a loss.
Zhao Hongrun couldn't help being speechless when he saw this. In fact, at first he thought that Chen Dan had something going on in his heart and was afraid to see him. But now it seems that the other person is clearly an honest man who is too honest and arrogant. His title of prince and king Su
I was shocked.
After thinking for a while, Zhao Hongrun asked in a gentler tone: "Master Chen Dan. According to this roster, you have not passed the scientific examination, and no one has recommended you. You only gradually rose from the position of a craftsman to the position of an official."
, right?"
"Yes, yes. Your Highness Prince Su, I... No, Xiaguan's father was once a craftsman in the Smelting Bureau. Therefore, when Xiaguan was thirteen years old, he was already helping in the Bureau and worked for two years.
I worked as a craftsman apprentice for another three years and then became a craftsman..." At this point, he seemed to feel that he was chattering too much and closed his mouth at a loss.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun asked with a smile: "Trainer? Apprentice?"
"Exactly." Wang Fu from the side explained in a low voice: "According to the custom, newcomers can only do odd jobs for the first two years when they come to our smelting bureau. After working for two years, they can be transferred to the craftsman apprenticeship and learn the craft from the craftsmen, and then they can work again.
After three years, if there are no serious mistakes, you can be transferred to a craftsman..."
"Artisan? Another name for craftsman?"
"No, no, no." Wang Fu shook his head and corrected: "A craftsman is a craftsman. A craftsman is a craftsman." As he said that, he explained the difference between the two to Zhao Hongrun.
It turns out that a craftsman refers to a craftsman who has transitioned from an apprentice to a regular craftsman. Although he has some experience, he generally does not have the ability to make tools on his own and can only serve as an assistant to the craftsman. The craftsman refers to a craftsman who has rich experience and can make tools on his own.
Mature craftsmen who make utensils.
To use the most direct analogy, forging an iron sword, holding a fire tong and keeping an eye on the fire. The person who directs the others is an experienced craftsman, and the craftsman is holding a heavy hammer beside the craftsman.
The assistants who directed the hammering of the iron blanks vigorously, and the ones who pulled the bellows, were the craftsmen, that is, the apprentices.
The most unqualified helpers can only move ore and firewood, and rarely even enter the work shed.
To put it bluntly, only craftsmen can be regarded as regular workers and will be registered on the list of the Smelting Bureau, while the rest are just temporary workers and apprentices.
According to Zhao Hongrun's later understanding, there is also a craftsman in the job title of craftsman, which refers to the more experienced old craftsmen who are responsible for more delicate work, such as making molds for casting money for the Ministry of Household Affairs.
etc.
According to Wang Fu, going from an inexperienced helper to a craftsman is a very long time, enough for a teenager to grow a full beard.
"Does the job title of the Metallurgical Bureau...need to be so rigorous?"
"Professional title?" Wang Fu asked puzzledly.
"I am referring to the levels of helper, apprentice, craftsman, and craftsman."
"Oh." Wang Fu was relieved after hearing this, and said with a smile: "Letting inexperienced young people make utensils independently will only increase the number of inferior products. Your Highness, you also know that we can't make the slightest mistake here, otherwise, the Ministry of War will
, if the Ministry of Household Affairs inherits the technology of our Smelting and Manufacturing Bureau, a large number of inferior products will appear."
Why are you always talking about the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs? Have you made a habit of giving people advice?
Zhao Hongrun glanced at Wang Fu with a strange expression, then put the roster aside and asked: "Wang Jucheng, are the main craftsmen in my smelting bureau mainly blacksmiths?"
"Yes." Bureau Chief Wang Fu nodded and said: "In our Smelting Bureau, there are about 400 craftsmen, 60% of whom are good at blacksmithing, followed by carpenters, and the least stonemason... After all, this is the Smelting Bureau.
It’s not the Military Construction Department.”
"Hmm."
Zhao Hongrun nodded.
After that, he asked some more questions, and then asked Wang Fu and the other four to step back and go about their business.
As for himself, holding the cup of tea, he stood at the window of the house, contemplating and silent.
Although I picked a stock with potential, it is currently under contract...
Looking at the wasteland outside the window, Zhao Hongrun sighed slightly.
It is undeniable that the current situation of the Metallurgical Bureau is really miserable, far from what he had expected earlier.
It can be said that he is completely broke!
The only good thing is that the craftsmen in the Smelting Bureau are all craftsmen who have honed their crafts step by step to become "official craftsmen". Even officials such as Chen Dan, Cheng Lin, Xun Xina, etc.
Having worked as a helper and apprentice, I believe that I am very familiar with blacksmithing and making utensils.
It's just that he was a little too unconfident and submissive, which made Zhao Hongrun a little unhappy.
But it's no wonder. After all, the Ministry of Industry has always been at the bottom among the six ministries of the imperial court. It's not without reason that people who want to come to the Ministry of Industry are accustomed to being overly humble.
Just like the officials of the Ministry of Personnel who walked with arrogance in those days. Who said they were the leaders of the six departments?
As for the Ministry of Industry, to put it harshly, they are just craftsmen wearing official uniforms. I believe that the vast majority of officials in the other five ministries of the imperial court hold this prejudice.
As a department under the Ministry of Industry, the Smelting Bureau's status, not to mention, was simply being ordered around by other imperial ministries, which Zhao Hongrun really couldn't accept.
It is obviously the department responsible for the research, development and improvement of technology in the Wei Dynasty, but the status of the Smelting Bureau is completely different from that of the Military Casting Bureau of the Ministry of War.
Want reform!
This idea became increasingly clear in Zhao Hongrun's mind.
First, we need to change the original foundation of the Smelting Bureau.
What kind of situation the Metallurgical Bureau is currently in, Zhao Hongrun gradually understands through observation. It is purely a vassal department that works for the six ministries of the imperial court, including the Ministry of Industry. Everything is thrown at the Metallurgical Bureau.
The Ministry of Water Resources under the Ministry of Industry asked for improvements to waterwheels and approached the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau; the Military Casting Bureau under the Ministry of War felt that the iron swords currently manufactured were lagging behind and approached the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau; the Ministry of Households needed new large-scale molds for casting copper coins.
Contact the Metallurgical Manufacturing Bureau.
Contact the Smelting and Manufacturing Bureau all over the country.
As for the reward, haha, almost none.
Recalling the brand-new official uniforms worn by those officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and looking at the heavily patched official uniforms worn by Chen Dan, Cheng Lin, Xun Xin and others just now, Zhao Hongrun lost the energy to even curse.
There are six departments and twenty-four divisions in the imperial court, with high and low status, noble and lowly. Zhao Hongrun has heard about this for a long time, but he never expected that the gap would be so obvious.
Beep! Whoever dares to ask the Smelting Bureau to work for free in the future? Beep slap him in the face!
Zhao Hongrun drank the tea in the cup viciously.
bitter!
Even the tea leaves are such cheap and defective tea leaves!
Feeling the bitterness of the remaining tea in his mouth, Zhao Hongrun put the cup on the table and immediately picked up a pen and wrote four words on the paper.
Military industry, civilian use.
Regarding the institutional reform of the Smelting Bureau, Zhao Hongrun has already thought about the general direction. It is nothing more than developing toward military and civilian use.
Military use naturally refers to iron smelting technology.
Although the iron smelting technology of the Wei Dynasty is far superior to that of Chu State, the improvement of skills in this area is not too much. If it were not for the fact that the current smelting technology is not yet at home, in his opinion, it is still very backward, and he even hopes to
Get titanium alloy.
Bronze swords and forged iron swords are just things that can be broken with a single strike.
It's a pity that this wish is purely extravagant hope. Zhao Hongrun has no doubt that even if he waits until he closes his eyes and dies of old age, they, the Wei Dynasty, will not be able to produce titanium alloy.
Just be honest and get steel.
Unfortunately, as far as Zhao Hongrun knows, the method of steelmaking that Zhao Hongrun knows is not possible under the current conditions of the Wei Dynasty. Even if it takes another hundred or two hundred years, it may not be possible.
We can only continue to improve the forging process. Although using forging to make steel is extremely painful in Zhao Hongrun's opinion, who makes Da Wei's current technology far from the level of direct steel making?
But the problem is that Zhao Hongrun has never paid attention to this kind of thing in his memory as to how to improve forged iron. At best, he only knows a general direction. He doesn't know the specific metal ratio at all.
There’s a long way to go!
Zhao Hongrun sighed again.
As for civilian use, Zhao Hongrun has some ideas.
It is not to improve the living standards of the people in the Wei Dynasty. At the moment, Zhao Hongrun is just thinking about how to make money. After all, he now has to support a huge smelting bureau. Even though he still has hundreds of thousands of silver in his hand, but this
If the money is used for a hugely expensive department like the Metallurgical Bureau and it develops as Zhao Hongrun hopes, the money will not be used at all.
Just think about it, just now, in order to test the strength of the iron sword made by the new technology, the three public officials broke two bamboo baskets of iron swords in one go. How much was the cost worth?
It’s not easy to take the first step...
Zhao Hongrun was thinking deeply when he suddenly heard a noise coming from outside the house.
"Where is Wang Fu? Tell Wang Fu to come out! ... He dares to refuse the matter entrusted to me by the Ministry of War? Is he too brave?!"
…
Zhao Hongrun frowned, stood up and walked to the window. (To be continued.)