After sorting out the current status of arms inventory, Shen Shuren also had a direction in mind.
Early the next morning, Shen Shuren left Daye County and personally rode on horseback with the guards to inspect Tieshan in the north of the city.
Of course, Liu Minsheng, the magistrate of Daye, had to wait on him from behind and on horseback. He was very cautious along the way, and he only had to help Shen Shuren get on and off his horse.
Because of the promotion of new crops and statistics on seed lending, Liu Minsheng did not perform well at the beginning. He was really beaten up and was very worried. However, Shen Shuren would not punish him without teaching, so he gave him a chance. Changed.
During the recent period, Liu Minsheng has been paying a lot more attention to daily civil affairs. This time Shen Shuren came back to check the accounts. Everything was in order, so he was left to continue working hard.
Tieshan is about twenty miles away from the county seat, and it only takes an hour of jogging on horseback.
When Chen Shuren arrived, Tieshan's officials and junior officials responsible for mining, smelting, and forging, as well as the head craftsmen, were all there to greet him.
Chen Shuren also saw an acquaintance at a glance - the same Song Mingde who pointed out his mistake when he engaged in seed loans last time.
At that time, Shen Shuren was just testing to see who would seek truth from facts.
Song Mingde's theory that "corn is not suitable to be interplanted with spring crops such as early rice, which wastes the growing period. It is more suitable to be interplanted with winter crops such as winter wheat in the north." Shen Shu people found it refreshing and immediately remembered him.
After more than a month of persuading farmers to build polders and build water for utilization, I found that this person is indeed a talented person, he has a scientific and engineering mind, and he is also practical and realistic.
Chen Shuren went out of his way to help him appoint an eighth-grade official to help him manage the mining of Tieshan.
Song Mingde only had the reputation of being a scholar, but he could not even pass the examination. Being able to serve as an eighth-rank official was already an extraordinary act of kindness. Naturally, he was grateful to Shen Daotai and worked harder and harder.
They were all acquaintances, and Shen Shuren stopped being polite and acted like a superior, casually walking around Tieshan while listening to general outlines of reports.
He had no idea about the level of the metallurgical industry in the late Ming Dynasty before, so he had to ask about everything, not just the Daye Iron Mountain, but also the current status of the industry and the status of other peers across the country.
Fortunately, Song Mingde was also a scholar who was in charge of iron ore, and his horizons were much broader than those of craftsmen, and he could basically give a rough idea.
Just listen to him talk about the overall situation first: "This Daye Iron Mountain mainly produces hematite sand. It has been mined for fourteen hundred years since the Soochow Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms. Generally speaking, the sooner iron ore is discovered, the sooner it is discovered. The more it is mined, the easier it is to smelt. Daye Iron Mountain was widely used during the Three Kingdoms period to provide Ordnance for Soochow, which shows that the ore is of excellent quality..."
Chen Shuren was listening on the sidelines. Hearing that there was something unclear here, he was not polite and interrupted directly: "Oh? In the iron smelting industry, has this been said since ancient times? The earlier the iron ore is discovered, the better? This What’s the point?”
Song Mingde replied with a confident smile: "It was Xiaguan Qiacai who was not precise enough. It's just that the earlier it can be mined, the easier it will be to smelt and have fewer impurities. If it was discovered very early but iron cannot be smelted, it is It's a bad ore.
This method of steelmaking was practiced in the pre-Qin and Western Han Dynasties. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, it gradually changed to the steel-frying method. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it changed to the steel-filling method. In the Song and our dynasties, it continued to improve on the basis of the steel-filling method.
It can be seen that in the pre-Qin period, those mines that could produce steel based on hundreds of refining methods were the easiest to remove impurities. Until the end of the Han Dynasty, the south was underdeveloped, and few iron mines were opened in Jingchu.
The Eastern Wu Dynasty and the Six Dynasties of the Eastern Jin Dynasty lost the Central Plains and could only maintain the imperial armaments in a corner, so they were forced to open the Daye Iron Mountain. Based on this, it can be speculated that the quality of the iron ore in Daye should be unfavorable. It can be refined by the Hundred Refining Method, but can be used by the Steel Frying Method.
Nowadays, the steel-filling method has been used for seven or eight hundred years. Most of the iron ore was discovered before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but the iron ore that could be mined after the Sui and Tang Dynasties had to meet the technological requirements after the steel-filling method appeared, and the texture was inferior to that before the Tang Dynasty. You can practice better."
Song Mingde's words are actually a bit far-fetched. They are forced to summarize and belong to his personal experience.
But the general idea still has certain reference value, and it also allowed Shen Shuren to fully realize what a valuable resource card he holds in his hand——
In a nutshell, the quality of the iron ore here is good, and steel could be made with the technology from 1,400 years ago. The technology now is of course more stable.
From these words, it can also be heard that Song Mingde really likes reading miscellaneous books. He can actually extract and understand ancient history books and miscellaneous books about the history of science and technology, and also make inventory and summaries by himself. He is really a rare talent. .
After hearing this, Chen Shuren was a little surprised and couldn't help but ask: "Although what you just said is not entirely correct, it is quite insightful. You must have put a lot of thought into it. How do you know so many complicated things?" It reminds me of the many discussions in this dynasty's famous work "Tiangong Kaiwu" in recent years..."
When Song Mingde heard Shen Shuren mention "Tiangong Kaiwu", his expression was solemn at first, then he was a little happy, and finally he was embarrassed and had to hold back, and he said incoherently and modestly:
"How can "Tiangong Kaiwu" be called a masterpiece? I'm really ashamed... Shen Daotai, your "Rizhi Shijian" and "Liu Thief Lun" are the world's masterpieces. Who in the Manchu Dynasty would dare not to read them? Those are His Majesty's Recommended to read."
Chen Shuren's expression was serious: "Whether "Tiangong Kaiwu" should be regarded as a masterpiece, how can you say anything? Huh? Could it be..."
As Chen Shuren spoke, he suddenly remembered some clues: Song Mingde's surname was also Song, and his ancestors were also from Jiangxi. He moved from Nanchang to Huguang to co-organize the iron mine...
Chen Shuren reacted quickly and immediately followed up: "Do you know Song Yingxing? Oh, I mean Song Changgeng, or are you related to him?"
Chen Shuren subconsciously blurted out the word Song Yingxing. Then he realized that it was rude to directly call his senior by his first name. After thinking about it, he changed his name to Song Changgeng.
There is no way, the name Song Yingxing is much more well-known, and it can be found in books on the history of science in later generations. People will definitely report this name first without going through the brain and subconsciously.
Song Mingde listened to Shen Shuren's tone of respect for Song Yingxing and was a little grateful. He quickly changed his serious expression and cupped his hands:
"I don't dare to take it seriously. Duke Chang Geng is an uncle of the Xiaguan clan. We are all from Fengxin County, Nanchang Prefecture. I didn't expect Master Daotai to have such high regard for the clan uncle. If the clan uncle knew about it, he would definitely be pleased."
Nanchang Mansion in the Ming Dynasty was much larger than Nanchang City in later generations.
It is roughly equivalent to Nanchang in later generations plus Jiujiang and several counties in the northwest of Yichun. Fengxin County is located in the mountainous area added to the northwest corner and belongs to Yichun City in later generations.
That place was relatively close to the junction of Hubei and Jiangxi, and they were both mountainous areas. Many people went to Wuchang Prefecture to make a living. There was a lot of population movement in the late Ming Dynasty.
The Song family in Fengxin County, with a family background in science and engineering, went to Daye to help the imperial court open an iron mine, which was perfectly normal.
Chen Shuren was secretly surprised when he heard that his uncle was Song Yingxing.
Fortunately, the Shen Shu people have a city and are used to big winds and waves. After traveling through time for two and a half years, I haven't seen any big shots, so I'm not overjoyed.
He just asked with slight appreciation: "Song Gong is a man of practical ability from his predecessors. Nowadays, the country is changing day by day, and it is necessary to help the world with the learning of practical work. I wonder where he is an official now?"
When Song Mingde saw that there was something going on, he was willing to put in good words for his uncle and quickly clarified:
"My uncle is nearly sixty years old. He originally served in several counties in southern Jiangxi, only as a teacher, and later worked as a promotion official in Tingzhou, Fujian. At the end of last year, he used his advanced age as an excuse. I can't bear the heat and the climate of Fujian, so I have resigned and returned home."
The exact age of Song Yingxing this year should be fifty-seven, and it is not wrong to say he is nearly sixty.
He only had the honor of being a civil servant, so as a guide to the county, promotion of officials was the limit, and he could not be promoted too high. After he resigned this time, it was not until the 16th year of Chongzhen that he was actively invited by the imperial court to be appointed an official. , but actually failed to take office——
Historically, two years later, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had smashed all the Jiangbei prefectures in southern Zhili, and most of the local officials were killed or turned into thieves.
For the sake of face, the imperial court appointed Song Yingxing as the "prefect of Bozhou" when he was seriously ill and went to the doctor. However, in fact, Bozhou was already in the occupied area and it was impossible to take up the post.
From this point, we can also see why the Ming Dynasty’s official positions depreciated very quickly in the last one year or so between the 16th and 17th years of Chongzhen. People who could only be eighth-grade minor officials, three years after returning home , he can actually become a fifth-grade prefect.
Basically, all ministers who were willing to remain loyal to the Ming Dynasty, as long as they were not officials in the capital, could be promoted to some extent during the last year or so of Chongzhen.
However, it is only the 14th year of Chongzhen's reign, and official positions have obviously not begun to depreciate greatly. Chen Shuren heard that Song Yingxing was originally an eighth-grade minor official and disdained to be a low-ranking official, so he could naturally use his bargaining chips to attract these great sages.
Chen Shuren didn't show any politeness to Song Mingde, and directly offered him a price to help with the matchmaking: "Uncle, you are just a promotion to an official position, which is really humiliating your talent. You are only a scholar, but I can use you as an eighth-rank official to assist Tieshan.
Uncle Ling can write "Tiangong Kaiwu", isn't it more than enough to just find Yu Heng, the Ministry of Industry, and the Qing Li Division to manage the local weapons and kilns and metallurgy department? He is a person with an official status, and I will support him It’s also easy to operate. It’s easy to get to the seventh level first, and then it will be easy to move up after you have achieved results.”
The Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty had four major Qing officials. The chief officer of the Yu Heng Division was the fifth-rank "Langzhong". There were several departments below, and the chief officer of the Ordnance and Kiln and Smelting departments was the "Chief Affairs", which was the sixth rank.
This is because the central government is in charge of military industry and metallurgy. Officials are only of the sixth grade. When it comes to local governments, they can only manage the military industry and metallurgy of a province. At most, they can only be of the seventh grade.
Therefore, it is not that Shen Shuren is stingy, but that he can only transition from the seventh-grade position to Song Yingxing first in order to convince the public. If he is a seventh-grade official, he will have to be recommended by Fang Kongzhen, and the procedures are also troublesome. For some, it is better to rely on relationships after achieving results.
Song Yingxing was originally a junior official of the eighth rank in Gannan. When he was promoted to Tingzhou, Fujian, he barely reached the seventh rank. This time when Chen Shuren came to him, he could only be regarded as the rank he had before resigning. Flat tone.
However, the situation of working as an official in Wuchang is very different from that of working in the mountainous areas of southern Jiangxi and northern Fujian. After all, Wuchang is close to home, the living conditions are good, and there is no need to worry about tropical diseases and acclimatization.
The most important thing is that this kind of work can give full play to personal interests and hobbies.
After Song Mingde heard the conditions offered by Master Daotai, he immediately realized that they were very sincere and should be very attractive to his uncle, and immediately expressed his willingness to help match the strings.
Shen Shuren also added generously: As long as Song Yingxing is willing to come, he can choose what kind of work he will be responsible for in the future, and he will not be allowed to actually open an iron mine. He wants to engage in machinery, farm tools, guns, gunpowder... ...Anything is fine. As long as you are interested, he can provide a working environment and experimental funds.