Li Shen rushed over when the Ruishengzhuang Iron Forging Workshop was opening the furnace, probably because of the problem of iron materials in the Iron Forging Workshop.
Salt and Iron has always been a government operation.
The third division in charge of Li Zhen was responsible for salt and iron.
The iron forging workshop on Ruisheng Village avoided the Third Division and was engaged in large-scale iron and steel making. Li Zhen would definitely come to inquire.
Kou Ji had expected this.
Mu Chong and Qian Le both looked unhappy when they saw Li Shen.
Mu Chong held his belly and said with a grimace to Kou Ji beside him: "I'm afraid Li Sansi is here for the iron forging workshop..."
Qian Le looked at Kou Ji with a sad face, glanced at Kou Ji, and said in a low voice: "If the three departments interfere, it will be difficult for our forging workshop to open the furnace."
"That's not necessarily the case..."
Meng Weizhong said something sincerely.
There was no fear at all because of Li Shen's appearance.
Mu Chong opened his eyes slightly and looked at Meng Weizhong, "Brother Meng... you are really big-hearted..."
Qian Le nodded in agreement.
Meng Weizhong said calmly: "We are not the big owner of our forging iron workshop, so what are we afraid of? If Li Sansi really has the ability to bring down the big owner of our forging iron workshop, I admit defeat. The money I invested in the forging iron workshop before will
I don’t want a cent.”
Mu Chong and Qian Le were stunned, and their eyes lit up slightly.
Qian Le instantly put on a smile and said cheerfully: "Brother Meng is right. We also have a big boss..."
With the support of their big boss, Mu Chong and Qian Le were no longer afraid of Li Shen in an instant.
Chen Jing and others only understood a little of what Mu Chong and the others said, and knew that there was a big boss behind Ruisheng Manor.
As for who the big boss is, they can't even tell.
They looked at Kou Ji, trying to find an answer from Kou Ji, but they saw that Kou Ji had no intention of speaking at all. He just stood there quietly waiting for Li Shen.
After Li Zhen and his party arrived, they walked up to Kou Ji.
Li Zhen stared at Kou Ji and said coldly: "I heard that the people in your village are forging iron?"
Kou Ji stared at Li Zhen calmly and said: "What do you mean that we people in Zhuangzi are forging iron? You can eat more, but you can't talk nonsense. Zhuangzi is the royal Zhuangzi, and it has nothing to do with us.
Whatever the people in Zhuangzi do, that is also a royal matter."
The resettlement place for the refugees was allocated from the imperial village.
At present, the inner court has not decided to allocate this land to the people, so the deed has not yet been established.
The land currently occupied by Ruishengzhuang is still royal land.
Even if Ruisheng Village becomes a village, it will still be an imperial village, not anyone's private place.
Li Zhen wanted to give Kou Ji a blow, but he didn't expect to be pushed back by Kou Ji. He was secretly annoyed and said, "Even if Zhuangzi is the royal Zhuangzi, the people inside are not the royal people."
Kou Ji looked at Li Shen in astonishment as if he had heard some kind of joke, and said: "Everyone knows that the whole world is not the land of the king, and the shore of the land is not the king's ministers.
Zhuangzi belongs to the royal family, and the people who live in Zhuangzi are also royal people. They regard the official family as their father, so how can they not be regarded as royal people?"
Li Zhen was at a loss for words and couldn't think of anything to say to defend Kou Ji, so he glared and said, "I don't want to talk to you, so I just want to ask you, are the people inside forging iron?"
Kou Ji nodded and said, "Yes..."
Seeing Kou Ji admitting it, Li Zhen sneered and said: "That's right... I am the Third Secretary Envoy, in charge of the salt and iron of the imperial court. I have never approved the official document allowing the people of Zhuangzi to forge iron.
The people of Zhuangzi are now forging iron, which is against the law of the imperial court.
I now want to arrest a bunch of people."
After saying this, Li Zhen's eyes fell on the three of them, Mu Chong, and coldly snorted: "A number of profiteers who helped provide iron materials to the thieves who forged iron in Zhuangzi are also under arrest."
Mu Chong and the others were not afraid of Li Shen's threat. They looked at each other and looked at Li Shen calmly.
Seeing this, Li Zhen cursed secretly in his heart.
act recklessly.
Kou Ji stared at Li Zhen and smiled lightly: "Li Sansi is telling me a joke?"
Li Shen stared and shouted: "I follow the laws of the imperial court. Private salt and iron is illegal. If it breaks the law, I will be arrested. Do you think the laws of the imperial court are also a joke?"
Kou Ji didn't care at all about Li Zhen's stern rebuke. Instead, he asked curiously: "Does the Third Division have the power to arrest people?"
Before Li Zhen could speak, Kou Ji said to himself: "Even if the Third Division finds someone breaking the law, it will be reported to the inner court. After the inner court makes a decision, it will be handed over to the Criminal Department to arrest the person, right?
Even if you don’t have to go through the inner court, you still have to send someone to inform the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Punishment will arrest the person, right?”
When Li Zhen heard this, his face turned the color of pig liver.
Of course he knew that the Third Division had no right to arrest people, but if the matter was handed over to the Criminal Department, there was still a question whether the Criminal Department would arrest people.
Li Zhen stared at Kou Ji and said through gritted teeth: "Everyone knows that you have a good relationship with the King of Criminal Affairs. If he protects you, how can I punish you and other private crimes?"
Kou Jili was amused and said in a funny way: "If the prince is biased in his dealings, just impeach him? As for whether he is biased, that's still something that hasn't happened. Is it useful to speak out about something that hasn't happened?"
Li Shen was angry but could not get angry. He gritted his teeth and said: "Okay... I can wait until the person who committed the crime is reported to the inner court, and then the inner court will order the criminal department to arrest the person.
However, as the chief officer of the Third Division, I have the right to seize private salt and iron workshops all over the world.
Now, I want to seal up the blacksmithing workshop on Zhuangzi.
Is this okay?"
Without waiting for Kou Ji to speak, Li Shen coldly ordered the person behind him, "Search all the iron forging workshops here!"
The officials and petty officials from the Third Division brought by Li Zhen were about to rush into Ruisheng Village and seize the forging workshop.
Chen Jing, Wang Tiansheng and other old men stood in front of them.
The officials and junior staff of the Third Division did not dare to charge head-on.
Wang Yunsheng's affair with the Third Division had just passed not long ago, and now that they encountered an older person blocking their way, it was inevitable that they would be a bit jealous.
One by one, they turned around and looked at Li Shen with embarrassed expressions.
An angry look flashed in Li Shen's eyes, and he immediately ordered the officials and petty officials to rush in.
But I heard Kou Ji's faint voice.
"Li Sansi, before you send someone to seize the forging iron workshop on Zhuangzi, I have a question to ask you."
Just when Li Shen was about to open his mouth to instruct the officials of the Third Division, when the junior officials heard Kou Ji's words, he turned around, stared at Kou Ji and said coldly: "What's the problem? Could it be that you want to stop our Third Division from sealing up the forging iron workshop on Zhuangzi?"
"
Kou Ji shook his head and said calmly: "I just want to ask Li Sansi, before sealing the forging iron workshop on Zhuangzi, were you ready to take responsibility for obstructing the government affairs of the Ministry of Industry and privately inspecting Tianjia's property?"
Li Zhen's heart skipped a beat. He looked away from Kou Ji and glanced at the blast furnace in Ruisheng Manor.
Could it be that the forging iron workshop in Ruisheng Village has some official members?
If there are members of the official family, things will be a little difficult to handle.
Ever since the official family withstood the impeachment of hundreds of officials and established its identity as the owner of Yizijiaozipu, the unwritten rule of the Tian family not to compete with the people for profit has been broken.
With official protection, Li Zhen really couldn't touch the forging iron workshop in Ruishengzhuang.
Li Zhen glared at Kou Ji, gritted his teeth and asked: "Is there any official member of the forging iron workshop on Zhuangzi?"
Kou Ji nodded slowly.
Li Shen glared at Kou Ji fiercely, "Since the forging iron workshop on Zhuangzi has officials, then our Third Division can pretend not to see the forged iron on Zhuangzi.
But don't be too proud.
I have many ways to make it impossible for your iron forging workshop to continue."
"Let's go!"
Li Zhen shouted at the officials and petty officials of the third division.
After hearing this, the officials and minor officials of the Third Division hurriedly followed Li Shen and left the place.
Li Zhen left just as quickly as he came.
He behaves like an important official in the court, but he does things very well.
Chen Jing, Mu Chong and others secretly laughed in their hearts, feeling that Li Shen, the Third Secretary-General, might not last long.
Only Kou Ji stared at Li Zhen's leaving figure, thoughtfully.
Li Shen's behavior today seems like he is looking for trouble.
But Kou Ji felt that Li Shen was not here to cause trouble, but more like a threat or reminder.
With Li Zhen's status, there was no need for him to come forward to handle this kind of matter. He could simply send the deputy envoy of the Third Division or an official under his jurisdiction.
There is no need to go into battle shirtless, ask for trouble, and lose face.
Therefore, his personal appearance this time must have other purposes.
If Kou Ji's guess is correct, it must be related to Zhao Yuanyan.
Only Zhao Yuanyan could make this important minister in the court lower his face and personally threaten and remind Kou Ji.
Kou Ji could roughly guess what Zhao Yuanyan's purpose was in threatening him.
It's nothing more than a template for making money.
"If the deal doesn't work out, why not just threaten?"
Kou Ji stared at the place where Li Zhen and his party disappeared and whispered.
With his sharp ears, Mu Chong heard Kou Ji's whisper, stepped forward and asked, "What's the threat?"
Kou Ji glanced at him and said angrily: "The affairs of the court have nothing to do with you, so don't ask about it."
Mu Chong smiled dryly and asked no more questions.
"Let's go! Go to the forging workshop."
Kou Ji gave instructions, and Chen Jing and others took Kou Ji and his party to the blacksmithing workshop in Zhuangzi.
The forging iron workshop is far away from where the people live, and it is also far away from the textile workshop.
Half of the textile work is placed next to the south bank of the Wuzhang River.
The forging iron workshop is on the north bank of Wuzhang River.
There is a bridge on the river, built by the imperial court a long time ago.
After crossing the bridge, two tall blast furnaces appeared in front of Kou Ji.
The craftsmen of the Kou Mansion were busy with the people.
After seeing Kou Ji appear, they all stopped to salute.
Kou Ji encouraged them and asked them to continue working.
When they arrived at the blast furnace, Bi Sheng led a group of officials from the Ministry of Industry to greet Kou Ji.
"Shangguan!"
Bi Sheng and others saluted together.
Kou Ji looked at the blast furnace and asked, "What's wrong?"
Bi Sheng said respectfully: "As long as the superior officer gives the order, the inferior officer and others can lead the craftsmen to open the furnace to refine new iron."
Kou Ji nodded, "Then let the craftsmen begin."
Bi Sheng asked a small official to deliver the order. He took Kou Ji to a shed not far from the blast furnace and sat down.
After sitting down.
The craftsmen led the people and began to forge iron.
Carloads of coke and carloads of iron embryos were transported to the blast furnace.
The fire broke out in an instant.
Carloads of coke and iron blanks began to be loaded into the furnace.
Kou Ji and others just watched quietly.
Blast furnace forging iron, Bi Sheng, Mu Chong and others had never seen it, so they all craned their necks to stare at it, for fear of missing a detail.
Kou Ji didn't have much interest in this.
After seeing the craftsmen successfully opening the furnace, he began to chat with Bi Sheng.
"Are you still used to working in the Ministry of Industry?"
At Kou Ji's call, Bi Sheng withdrew his eyes from the blast furnace, faced Kou Ji and smiled: "I'm not used to it... The trivial matters in the Ministry of Industry are a bit complicated, and I don't have free time to study crafts."
Kou Ji laughed in a low voice: "Yes..."
Bi Sheng nodded without saying anything more, and his eyes fell on the blast furnace again.
The process of steelmaking in the blast furnace lasted for several hours.
Kou Ji and others waited quietly for several hours.
When the molten steel flowed out, the officials, craftsmen, and people in the forging workshop burst into cheers.
A smile appeared on Kou Ji's face.
No one knows better than him what the appearance of molten steel means.
Steel, a product that spans the ages.
The Song Dynasty was destined to undergo huge changes due to the emergence of steel.
Unfortunately, few people in the civil and military circles of the Manchu Dynasty paid much attention to it.
Not many people care about its value.
It seems that it is just ordinary iron.
The only one who values it and cares about it is Kou Ji.
From now on, everything related to it is destined to be controlled by Kou Ji.
Kou Ji waited until the poured steel ingots cooled down and checked the quality of the steel ingots before leaving the forging iron workshop with satisfaction.
Before leaving, he gathered together all the craftsmen in his house who knew how to make steel and build blast furnaces, and signed an unknown contract with them.
A contract that affects one's wealth and life.
If they reveal their steel-making skills or help others build steel-making blast furnaces, they will bear a price they cannot afford.
The craftsmen had no objection to this.
Their steelmaking skills were taught by Kou Ji.
As the founder of this craft, Kou Ji has the right to ask them not to spread this skill to others.
This is a rule passed down from ancient times in the craftsman industry.
Kou Ji is willing to pass on his craftsmanship to them so that they can use his craftsmanship to make a living, which is a kind of generous gift. Therefore, they will agree to how Kou Ji restrains them in inheriting his craftsmanship.
When Kou Ji returned to the house, the bright moon had already climbed up the branches, but they did not rest.
Instead, he changed into court clothes, hung up the palace badge that had not been taken back by the palace, and hurried into the palace.
When we arrived at the palace, we passed through Tongzhen and went all the way to Zishi Hall.
After seeing Kou Zhun who was staying up late to review the memorial, he hurriedly said: "Grandpa, I want to dispatch the Tiger Character Army to Beijing!"
Kou Zhun dropped the ink pen in his hand, glared at Kou Ji with a straight face, and yelled: "Where are the rules?"
Kou Ji was stunned and quickly said, "I've met my grandfather."
Kou Zhun's expression softened a bit and he waved his hand to Kou Ji.