There may be many people who despise candles and think subjectively: How much does a candle cost, and can it support a smelting bureau?
However, Zhao Hongrun had already done some investigation on this matter.
In this era, electric lighting equipment did not exist. Therefore, when the sky darkened, every household needed to light oil lamps or candles for indoor lighting.
Most of the people in the Wei State, even those living in the royal capital of Daliang City, worked in agriculture.
These honest and honest Wei farmers had to work hard in the fields until nightfall, when they could hardly see anything, then they carried farm tools and rushed back to Daliang at the last moment before the city gate was closed.
By the time they returned to their respective homes, it was already around Youshi and Xushi.
At this time, the women in the family will light oil lamps or candles in the house, and the family will finish dinner in harmony with the only light.
Afterwards, the man sat in the house drinking a cup of tea and scalding his feet, while the woman sat nearby, making full use of the artificial light, mending clothes in the house, while the children played on the bed in the house.
A scene of harmonious family relationships.
In fact, one candle can only illuminate for about a quarter of an hour, so each household consumes almost two candles.
This huge consumption made Zhao Hongrun feel itchy.
Therefore, in the first few days of May, Zhao Hongrun rarely went to the Smelting Bureau to urge the craftsmen in the Smelting Bureau to make candles according to his requirements.
The candles made locally in the Wei State are still mainly made of animal fat. These candles are edible.
But the problem is that this kind of candle, which uses animal fat as the main raw material, will produce a black smoke when it is lit, and it will also emit an unpleasant odor, as if something is burnt.
Not audible.
Zhao Hongrun was really puzzled by this. After all, he had used candles in his palace for more than ten years, but he had never encountered this kind of thing.
It wasn't until Wang Fu, the Chief of the Smelting Bureau, explained to Zhao Hongrun that Zhao Hongrun finally understood: It turns out that the palace candles in the palace are not made of animal fat, but another more noble one.
Raw material, beeswax.
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun suddenly realized that no wonder he had smelled some sweet fragrance.
"Are candles made of beeswax very expensive?"
Wang Fu, the Prime Minister of the Metallurgical Bureau, glanced at His Royal Highness Prince Su, who had lived in the palace for a long time. He smiled bitterly and said, "That is a tribute candle specially provided by the Internal Metallurgical Bureau to the palace."
Wang Fu pronounced Zhao Hongrun's idea of using beeswax instead of animal fats in one sentence: Candles made of using beeswax instead of fats be sold to the public? At what price? They are too expensive and ordinary people cannot afford them, which makes this
Growing candles has a price but no market; and if the land is sold cheaply, then the Smelting Bureau will definitely lose money and vomit blood.
"Is there nothing that can replace oil? The cost shouldn't be as outrageous as beeswax." Zhao Hongrun asked helplessly.
After hearing this, Wang Fu thought for a while and said: "There is a kind of tree in the country of Ba. There are many white insects living on the tree, called white wax insects. During the harvest season, they are cut off in pieces. If they are heated a little, they can get white
Wax oil, after solidification, becomes white wax. When His Highness King Su was supervising the scientific examination venue last year, the batch of white wax produced by the Smelting Bureau, including the white wax in the examination venue, were all wax oil secreted by the white wax insects. "
Zhao Hongrun was stunned when he heard this, frowned and asked: "Then this kind of tree is in my country, Wei..."
Wang Fu shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Those trees are regarded as treasure trees by the Ba people, and the Ba people also hope to earn a steady stream of profits from me, the Wei people. How can I teach the Wei people how to cultivate them? They can only cultivate them through
trade."
"trade?"
"Yes! I, the Wei Dynasty, have a caravan that specializes in trading with the Ba Kingdom, and transports some materials that my Wei Dynasty lacks to the Wei Dynasty. For example, the brocade robe on your body, Your Highness, is made of brocade from Shu. I
Although the Wei Dynasty also had spinning technology, it was not as good as the people from the land of Ba."
A caravan specifically responsible for trading with Pakistan...
Zhao Hongrun smacked his lips, because if nothing else, this kind of caravan with extremely rich returns must be controlled by some famous wealthy families in the Wei Dynasty. Maybe even members of the Ji family are involved, just think about it
Everyone knows that it must be a huge chain of interests.
"What do the Ba people want?" Zhao Hongrun asked.
I saw Wang Fu stroking his beard, lowering his voice and saying: "Gold!... To be precise, it is jewelry and utensils made of gold. This kind of gold utensils are a symbol of nobility in the Ba Kingdom. All powerful Ba people
People wish they were covered in gold."
…
Zhao Hongrun glanced at Wang Fu in surprise. After all, according to his judgment, the land of Ba, Qian, and Shu would not be short of gold mines. In any case, it would not be less than the gold mines in the Wei Dynasty. But why did the Ba people want to come from the Wei Dynasty?
Trading gold?
After much deliberation, Zhao Hongrun could only think of one possibility: maybe the gold mines in Bashu, Guizhou and Shu were buried deep, so the Ba people had no idea that they actually had many gold mines under their feet.
This is good news. After all, as long as the Ba people are not aware of the gold mines under their feet, it means that the gold objects of the Wei Dynasty are still valuable in those countries and can be exchanged for more things.
But the problem is that the output of gold mines in Dawei is not much, and using this non-renewable mineral, even if it is just gold that Zhao Hongrun thinks is flashy, is exchanged for light crafts such as pewter and silk that can be continuously produced,
No matter how he thought about it, Zhao Hongrun felt that he was at a disadvantage.
What's more, the cost of making candles with this kind of pure imported white wax cannot be very low. If you don't do it well, you will have to work for the Pakistani people.
After thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun decided to use oil as a raw material for candle production: if the smell is unpleasant, just let it smell bad. At least you can control costs in the future, right?
However, Zhao Hongrun also kept in mind the so-called precious trees in Ba that were parasitic with white wax worms.
After all, paraffin (obtained from the decomposition of petroleum) cannot be obtained with the current technology of Dawei. Therefore, white wax is bound to become the main raw material of candles. This means that Zhao Hongrun will one day completely replace animal fat with white wax. In this way,
The ash trees and ash insects of Pakistan became something he was bound to seize.
Regarding this matter, robbing is not a good idea. After all, the Ba people may directly destroy those trees based on the mentality that I can't have it and you can't have it. Then Zhao Hongrun will probably be dumbfounded.
After all, it takes at least ten years to cultivate a tree, and how many decades does Zhao Hongrun have?
Therefore, if possible, Zhao Hongrun still prefers to obtain those things through peaceful means.
As for if you can't get it, then you can only make candles with animal fat.
It has to be said that the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau are indeed very skilled in craftsmanship. Although they do not have much experience in making candles, they are somewhat familiar with it. They bought a large amount of pig fat from the market and poured a large amount of it into it.
In the pot, fry out the fat, filter out the impurities on the surface, and then mix in some rosin and some other powder that Zhao Hongrun can't name.
The last step was to add some salt according to Zhao Hongrun's request, and then continue to stir evenly.
After that, pour it into the molds that have been prepared in advance.
I saw that those molds were all semi-circular depressions.
Before the wax in these molds had cooled down, the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau placed the cotton thread prepared in advance. When the grease was about to completely solidify, they quickly covered it with another mold without adding cotton thread, and filled it with
After the candle oil in the two molds cooled down, the Smelting Bureau obtained a candle.
"Your Highness, I have kept you waiting for a long time."
Director Wang Fu handed the first solidified candle to Zhao Hongrun.
Zhao Hongrun took the candle, looked around, and even compared it with other candles that had not yet solidified.
It has to be said that the work done by the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau is rigorous. Especially after Zhao Hongrun advanced the weights and measures, he became especially precise in the convenience of measurement. This is not true. I saw that this batch of dozens of candles looked almost
They are exactly the same, and the workmanship is so fine that it is hard to imagine that they are candles that can only be sold for ten copper coins each.
But even so, Zhao Hongrun still discovered various problems.
First of all, this production method is time-consuming, complex, and requires a lot of manpower. Unless Zhao Hongrun recruits tens of thousands of people to participate in the production, and he still makes it day and night, otherwise, he wants to use the candles produced by the Smelting Bureau to become a big company.
Don't even think about candles being the mainstream in the Wei market.
Nothing else, because the output per unit time is insufficient and far lower than Zhao Hongrun's estimate.
It's no wonder that even candles made from animal fats have high prices in the market. The reason lies in the output.
The problem of production made Zhao Hongrun, who had the ambition to occupy the mainstream of the Wei market, feel as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on him, and all his enthusiasm was extinguished.
Want a faster and more convenient mass production method!
After handing the candle to Wang Fu, Zhao Hongrun picked up two empty molds not far away and looked at them repeatedly.
After a long while, he asked: "Wang Fu, if our Smelting Bureau builds several large-scale molds to produce candles, will it be possible?"
When Wang Fu heard this, he hesitated for a moment and said in deep thought: "I'm afraid we can't solve the cotton wick problem."
Zhao Hongrun was silent.
Yes, the reason why the craftsmanship of candles is complicated lies in the cotton wick in the middle. Without this cotton wick, anyone can easily mass-produce them.
This is why for a while, the market in Dawei was flooded with a batch of fake candles without cotton wicks.
"Let's put this project on hold for now."
Zhao Hongrun put down the two molds in his hands and said with some disappointment.
Wang Fu, the chief minister behind him, was stunned when he heard this, and his expression was a little embarrassed: "Does His Highness want to give up this way of making money?"
give up?
Zhao Hongrun looked back at Wang Fu and said with a smile: "Why give up? The Smelting Bureau under my control has so many talents!... Call all the craftsmen in the Bureau to discuss this matter together. Who can come up with a brilliant idea?
For solving this problem for me, I will reward him with two thousand taels of silver!"
"Two...a thousand taels?" Wang Fu, the chief minister, swallowed in shock. After all, that was a huge reward equivalent to his annual salary.
"yes!"
On that day, the craftsmen of the entire Smelting Bureau were immediately excited after hearing about the reward. (To be continued.)