Chapter 316: The Crisis of the Bing Casting Bureau
In late June, something shocking happened in the DPRK.
It turns out that although the Military Manufacturing Bureau under the Smelting Bureau was lagging behind the Military Manufacturing Bureau in terms of iron sword production in the first ten days, in mid-June, it had incredibly surpassed the Military Manufacturing Bureau.
The Forging Bureau had nearly 2,000 iron swords, and by late June, the Smelting Bureau was already ahead of the Weapon Casting Bureau with more than 3,000 iron swords.
When the news spread throughout the DPRK, officials such as the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel were all dumbfounded. Even the Ministry of Works, which had silently supported the Smelting Bureau, was in disbelief.
Everyone was dumbfounded. They never expected that the Weapon Casting Bureau, which has specialized in military weapons and equipment for decades or hundreds of years, would be overtaken by the Smelting Bureau.
This incident alarmed Li Huan, the Minister of the Ministry of War. The old man went to the warehouse of the Ministry of War in person and witnessed with his own eyes the people from the Smelting Bureau transporting carts of finished iron swords to the warehouse, and the officials of the Ministry of War counted and recorded them one by one.
"What is the quality and texture of the iron sword made by the Smelting Bureau?"
Li Huan, the Minister of the Ministry of War, secretly asked Tao Sui, the Secretary of the Treasury who was in charge of the armory of the Ministry of War.
Tao Sui, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, glanced at Li Jin, the Prime Minister of the Bingzhu Bureau, who was already dumbfounded not far away, with some confusion. He sighed secretly in his heart and said to Li Huan: "The texture and quality are not inferior to those cast by our Bingzhu Bureau.
Iron sword..."
"this……"
Li Huan, the Minister of War, had an unbearable look of astonishment in his eyes.
Although he also understood that since the Smelting Bureau was planning to compete with the Weapon Casting Bureau for weapons manufacturing orders for the army, it must have been fully prepared, but it was so easy for the Smelting Bureau to surpass their Weapon Casting Bureau.
This made Li Huan really unbelievable.
"How could this be? The Weapon Casting Bureau has invested nearly two thousand groups of craftsmen. As far as I know, there are only four to five hundred blacksmiths in the Smelting Bureau. How..."
Li Huan frowned.
After glancing at his immediate superior, Treasury Secretary Tao Sui lowered his voice and said, "Master Shangshu, take a look at this."
After that, he casually took out five iron swords from the bamboo basket containing iron swords in the Smelting Bureau and placed them neatly on the ground one by one.
Li Huan felt very confused at first, but when he carefully compared the five iron swords, he suddenly discovered an incredible coincidence: that is, the specifications and styles of these five iron swords, regardless of the length and width of the blades,
, thickness, and length of the hilt are almost exactly the same.
The Weapon Casting Bureau cannot do this. The iron swords they forge have certain differences in the specifications of the blade and hilt. Some swords have slightly longer blades, and some have slightly thicker blades. This is not surprising.
, because every iron sword made by the Weapon Casting Bureau is individually crafted by a different group of craftsmen, so there are bound to be differences.
But these batches of iron swords from the Smelting Bureau are almost identical in this respect. What does this mean?
"Are all the iron swords cast by the Smelting Bureau like this?" Li Huan asked in a low voice.
Tao Sui, Secretary of the Treasury Department, sighed and nodded heavily.
Seeing this, Li Huan opened his mouth, but closed it silently.
Obviously, this must be because the people from the Smelting Bureau figured out how to mass-produce iron swords. Just like that group of people mass-produced candles, only iron swords cast from molds of the same specifications will have different shapes.
Nearly equivalent.
But ironware is not a candle. How do the people in the Smelting Bureau make it?
Although Li Huan thought hard and couldn't guess, the fact was before his eyes and he couldn't believe it: the Smelting Bureau had mastered the mass production technology of iron swords.
This is great news. After all, if the Smelting Bureau can produce iron swords, then it can also produce other weapons such as swords, guns, swords and halberds. The difference is not big.
This is not good news for the Bingzhu Bureau.
Li Huan felt that it was necessary to visit Chui Gong Hall in person.
Thinking of this, the old man went straight to the palace without saying a word.
At this time, the news that the late comers of the Smelting Bureau had come to the Chui Gong Hall was also spread to Chui Gong Hall by the all-pervasive eunuch. When it was learned that the Smelting Bureau had completely surpassed the Weapon Casting Bureau in the casting of iron swords in just forty days.
, this made the newly appointed Zhongshu Youcheng Feng Yu stunned.
Accepting the bet, he had no choice but to take out thirty taels of silver and lose to Emperor Wei and his two colleagues Lin Yuyang and Yu Ziqi respectively.
To be fair, officials with a rank of Zhongshu are higher than ministers, but their influence is even greater than officials with a rank of Shangshu. These thirty taels of silver are just a small amount for ministers like Feng Yu. But the problem is,
Losing money is a trivial matter, losing inexplicably is the key.
"Wei Chen really doesn't understand why the Bingzhu Bureau lost to the Smelting Bureau?"
Seeing Feng Yu asking with confusion on his face, Emperor Wei, Lin Yuyang, and Yu Ziqi were secretly amused.
To be honest, they did not have full confidence in the Smelting Bureau at the beginning, but they were very aware of Zhao Hongrun's ingenuity. His Royal Highness, Prince Su, would often invent things that could subvert people's original ideas, such as,
A while ago, candle molds were sold out in domestic candle workshops of all sizes.
But at this moment, in front of Feng Yu, the "junior", Lin Yuyang and Yu Ziqi, as the "old men" of Chui Gong Hall, naturally have to put on a face that they have seen through everything, which makes Feng Yu can't help but feel that these two senior colleagues
It is indeed "unfathomable".
All jokes aside, Lin Yuyang and Yu Ziqi still have to mention what should be mentioned.
No, after suppressing his smile, Lin Yuyang immediately said to Emperor Wei: "Your Majesty, the Smelting Bureau defeated the Bingzhu Bureau in this gambling game, which is enough to prove the talent of His Highness Prince Su, but... Bingzhu Bureau should be in the future
How to deal with it?"
He spoke very cryptically, but Emperor Wei naturally understood what he meant.
Indeed, the foundation of the Bingzhu Bureau is to forge weapons and equipment for the domestic army, but if their forging capabilities are overtaken by the Smelting Bureau, then what significance does the existence of the Bingzhu Bureau still have?
"I believe that the Metallurgical Bureau must have adopted a new technology for casting iron swords. I suggest that the Metallurgical Bureau teach the Military Casting Bureau the new technology to improve the casting capabilities of the Military Casting Bureau..."
"..." After listening to Lin Yuyang's words, Yu Ziqi frowned slightly, and before Emperor Wei could speak, he said first: "Your Majesty, I think what Lord Lin said is inappropriate!... The Metallurgical Bureau has improved the new technology, and its contribution is
In the Metallurgical Bureau, for no reason, the Metallurgical Bureau was asked to teach the painstaking efforts of the research to the Bingzhu Bureau. Isn't this just a marriage? If Your Majesty ignores the Metallurgical Bureau's hard work, he may not be able to convince the public."
"Master Yu, what are you talking about?" Lin Yuyang turned around and said with a frown: "The Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau is currently building in Bolangsha and Xiangfu Port at the same time, expanding the dock port, and also building dozens of ships for Cangbe.
Ships carrying cargo are now involved in the manufacture of weapons... This step is too big and is not conducive to the development of the Smelting Bureau."
I have to say that what Lin Yuyang said is indeed pertinent. In fact, even Zhao Hongrun feels that the steps taken by the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau are too big now, resulting in places that need money everywhere, so that he now owes money to the Ministry of Household and Works.
Fortunately, the Smelting Bureau had dividends from candle casting. Otherwise, the Ministry of Household Affairs might not have felt comfortable asking the Smelting Bureau to lend such a huge sum of money on credit.
But even so, Zhao Hongrun gritted his teeth and held on. He had no choice but to invest manpower and material resources at any cost in order to make the country strong as soon as possible. At this time, if he was asked to give up one or two of the projects, I believe he would never agree.
Yu Ziqi, the secretary-general who had always been good friends with Zhao Hongrun, also knew this very well. After hearing this, he said unceremoniously: "Whether the steps taken by the Smelting Bureau are too big, Yu has no say, Lin
It doesn’t matter what your Excellency says, it depends on what His Highness Prince Su means... Yu just feels that now that the Smelting Bureau has separated from the Six Ministries and Twenty-Four Divisions and is self-sustaining, the Ministry of Household Affairs no longer allocates funds to it.
Master Lin wants the Smelting Bureau to teach the new craftsmanship to the Bingzhu Bureau for nothing, how is this different from the behavior of bandits?"
Yu Ziqi's words were very serious and not very pleasant, but the truth behind them was obvious and Lin Yuyang could not refute them.
But the problem is that if this matter is left unchecked, the Bingzhu Bureau will be crushed by the Smelting Bureau sooner or later.
Unless the imperial court intentionally favors Bingzhu Bureau.
But then the question arises again. Although it clearly has the new technology of the Smelting Bureau, the imperial court still uses the old technology of the Ordnance Casting Bureau. What is this? Abandoning beautiful jade for stubborn stones?
At this time, Zhongshu Youcheng Feng Yu said from the side: "How about merging the Military Manufacturing Bureau with the Smelting Bureau? Or, merge it with the new Military Manufacturing Bureau?"
"..." Lin Yuyang and Yu Ziqi were stunned for a moment, and glanced at Feng Yu with strange expressions. They said to themselves, are you, Feng Yu, short-sighted? That Bingzhu Bureau is the son of the Ministry of War. How could the Ministry of War let Bingzhu Bureau and Ye
A merger with the Manufacturing Bureau? Let alone a merger with the Military Manufacturing Bureau, a subsidiary of the Metallurgical Manufacturing Bureau?
"This... is not appropriate." Lin Yuyang shook his head vaguely to save his colleague's face.
However, Feng Yu was wrong. He nodded and said: "Indeed, it is indeed not appropriate. If so, the Smelting Bureau is too big and has exceeded the specifications of the department..."
Lin Yuyang and Yu Ziqi looked at each other and pretended not to hear.
However, the conversation between these three people made Emperor Wei slightly moved.
It is true that the current expansion of the Metallurgical Bureau is indeed a bit big, so that his son Zhao Hongrun seems to be constrained due to limitations in manpower and material resources, but it is impossible for Emperor Wei not to see the value of the Metallurgical Bureau.
As Zhao Hongrun once said, the Smelting Bureau may really become his standard for the top craftsmanship of the Wei Dynasty.
Therefore, if the Bingzhu Bureau can be merged into the Smelting Bureau, Emperor Wei believes that his son Zhao Hongrun can be more effective. The only problem is that this move is bound to be strongly opposed by the Ministry of War, which is far worse than the loss of the Ministry of Personnel.
The influence of the right to host imperial examinations is even greater.
While Emperor Wei was deep in thought, a young eunuch suddenly walked into the Chui Gong Hall and said respectfully to Emperor Wei: "Your Majesty, Li Huan, the Minister of War, would like to see you."
Li Huan, that stubborn old man wants to see me at this time?
After being slightly stunned, Emperor Wei immediately guessed the purpose of the other party's visit: Li Huan's visit this time could only be due to the new technology of the Smelting Bureau's mass production of weapons.
After thinking about it, Emperor Wei nodded and said: "Xuan!"
The young eunuch bowed and left. Not long after, Li Huan, Minister of the Ministry of War, walked into the Chui Gong Hall in a hurry, knelt down in front of the dragon case, and directly stated his intention.
"I beg your Majesty to order the Smelting Bureau to transfer the new technology for casting weapons. Otherwise, the situation of weapon casting will cease to exist!"
At the same time, Li Jin, the son of the Minister of War, Li Huan, and the Chief of the Bureau of Military Casting, came to the door of the Smelting Bureau in person. (To be continued.)