Following Harkwep's advice, Aarons did not drive his men this time, but went to Phoenix himself.
I don’t know what the railway bureau is thinking. They can obviously get some passenger cars, but they insist on not doing it. Some people can hitchhike, but there are conditions. Not someone like Aarons who has no serious business in Phoenix.
You can also work around it and transport yourself as temporary cargo, but there will be no seats.
The railway bureau did not have a ticket. According to the rules of temporary freight, Aarons brought three men like this, which was calculated as 0.5 tons (minimum starting weight) and cost 2 cents per kilometer.
To be honest, it's not cheap. It's 18 yuan for 90 kilometers. The minimum wage for the new population in Hongshi City is 80 cents. For 18 yuan, you can hire two people to pull a cart for 11 days.
Even though the price is slightly more expensive, it can’t account for the difference in time and efficiency. It only takes more than two hours to reach Phoenix by train, and a horse-drawn carriage can’t arrive in a day. You have to ride from morning to night on horseback, which is very tiring, so many people are still willing to pay to treat themselves as horses. Goods are running around.
Aarons went out from home several mornings and arrived in Phoenix City before noon. He got some juice to drink first, and it sure tasted different from the one in Red Rock City.
In the afternoon, we went to visit Shuangshi Machinery Factory.
The machinery factory was a big name, so they sent a team leader to receive them.
Aarons didn't have a fit. After all, he didn't have an order for them, so it would be nice to have someone to receive them.
The group leader took a group of people to visit the machinery factory, bragging about how powerful their products were and how they were used in the palace.
Aarons listened for a while and then took the initiative to ask: "What is that banging sound behind?"
"Wait for me for a moment." The team leader temporarily called two workers to stare at a few people, then ran away and probably asked the supervisor.
I didn’t have to wait too long... In fact, as long as you can stand the various noises in the factory, you won’t feel that time passes slowly when you watch the workers working.
The team leader came back and took several people directly into another factory. Aarons finally saw something banging.
"This is called a steam forging machine."
In front of the group was a pile of large black boxes, as tall as two people. Two or three people operate one machine, put an iron plate or steel plate on it and pull it open. A large hammer with a special shape falls down and hits the plate, and then the hammer gradually rises.
It only took a moment for Aarons to realize that these things were the reason why the machine factory was not called a blacksmith workshop.
Steam equipment has been around a long time ago, but it has not been developed. The specific reason is not clear to Aarons. He only knows that some mines now have one or two old ones used to extract ore.
I never thought this thing could be used for blacksmithing.
After a while of mental evaluation, I felt that one hammer dropped would be equivalent to half a day's work of a blacksmith. A forging machine can hammer dozens of hundreds of hammers an hour, which is quite efficient.
"Where did you buy it?"
The team leader was obviously proud: "Whatever we bought, our factory made it ourselves."
"Can I buy some?"
"How much are some?"
"Hmm...about ten?"
The team leader shook his head: "Too few. I'll call someone to call the shots for you."
He immediately replaced someone, who was also a night tribe. After understanding the situation, he gave suggestions: "Our factory does not do retail business in principle, but you are lucky, we just need to replace a batch of forging machines, and these old ones will be transferred soon. If you buy Much more, only 5,000 yuan per unit.”
"Five thousand!" Although Aarons had a lot of money, he was frightened by the price. He thought that it must be this price that prevented the popularization of steam equipment.
The person in charge explained to him calmly: "This is a forging machine. Look at the base. It is basically solid. One piece of equipment uses more than two tons of steel and iron. Do you think five thousand is expensive?"
"It's still a bit expensive." Aarons wanted to weigh it.
Unexpectedly, the man from the machine factory refused to accept this set and directly wanted to send the customer away: "You should think about it and come to us at any time after you think about it. But it can't be too long. After selling this batch, we won't sell any more forging machines for the time being."
"Is there anyone else buying it?" Xin asked whether such an expensive thing could really be sold so easily.
"Look what you said, who wouldn't want to buy something that can make money?"
In fact, when it comes to forging machines, the machinery factory has been criticized several times.
When the iron factory first helped them develop the forging machine, they agreed that they would sell the forging machine.
But the founders of the machinery factory are not stupid. They would deliberately undercut their own business, so they thought of a perfunctory way. They built a new factory next to the stockpile area specifically to house the forging machines. People from outside would not immediately See, they won't take the initiative to sell.
I was criticized several times by the director of the ironworks factory next door, but I still had nothing to lose, so I kept putting it off.
It was not until recently that the pressure from the ironworks really came down, saying that they wanted to support another heavy factory, that the machinery factory became anxious and really started selling out forging machines, but it was still delaying.
The buyers are nothing more than blacksmiths in the city. The machinery factory has orders from the Railway Bureau. It is too troublesome to sell civilian products. They can only make some plows for farming, so the blacksmiths are living a comfortable life and are not short of money. It does have some digestive capacity.
Aarons continued to visit for a while and left without placing an order on the spot.
He had some ideas about a forging machine, but it was really expensive.
There is no minimum wage for the lower class people outside. Using iron as an intermediate, the cost of buying iron for an adult labor force outside is 1 dime a day. 5,000 yuan is equivalent to 60,000 working days and employs 100 people. It can be issued for one and a half years.
Even if Feng Gu returns to the Phoenix King in the future, based on Red Rock City's minimum wage of eight cents, 5,000 yuan is more than 6,000 working days, and it is also the expenditure of hundreds of people in two months.
After all, labor is cheap, and this simple equipment doesn’t feel very interesting.
After coming out of the machinery factory with his men, he stopped by the iron factory and told the guard that he wanted to visit.
“What do you do and why do you want to visit?”
Unlike the machinery factory, the iron factory is obviously more strict.
"I am a businessman engaged in overseas trade in Red Rock City. I plan to build some iron workshops in Wind Valley recently, so I want to come and see the situation of the iron factory."
"Where is the Valley of the Wind?"
This question is almost impossible to solve, but fortunately, he really needs it, so there is no need to make it up: "Well, Fenggu is the place name of the second station of the overseas railway that is currently under construction."
"So you want to buy iron and sell ironware overseas?"
"right."
"Wait."
After asking carefully, the guard went in to inform and brought someone soon.
The visitor looked the group of people up and down and said, "I can show you around, but the furnace is shut down for maintenance today, so I can't see anything."
"it's okay no problem."
The location of the ironworks is very strange. It spans the inside and outside of the city wall. Half of it is outside the city wall. You have to go through the hole under the city wall.
The half outside the city is amazing. There are actually four railways here, two of which merge within the factory area and lead to the outside world, and two of which are dedicated to parking and dispatching railway cars.
Although during the shutdown period, there were many people busy everywhere in the factory.
"I've been wanting to ask a question." Aarons stared at the receptionist as he spoke.
"please."
"Is it possible to own all the iron you produce?"
"Pfft!" The receptionist couldn't hold it back and quickly straightened up his expression and replied seriously, "Theoretically, as long as you can support 130,000 Phoenix coins per day, you can temporarily contract our production capacity."
"temporary?"
"Yes, the No. 3 furnace of the iron plant is already under construction, but due to difficulties in fuel supply, it may not be possible to open the furnace within the year."
Aarons was shocked: "So the production capacity of 130 tons is only two furnaces?"
Although he had just visited the factory and seen two blast furnaces, Aarons thought there must be some hidden parts.
The receptionist looked weird: "Ah, didn't I just say that? 130 tons is two-thirds of the theoretical production capacity of the No. 2 furnace. The No. 1 furnace is mainly used for various process experiments."
Aarons was shocked. If only the No. 2 furnace could produce two hundred tons per day, wouldn't it be possible for the No. 3 furnace to produce four hundred tons?
Four hundred tons, Aarons could only imagine, because the caravan he and others built together could only transport more than thirty tons in one trip.
So when Hackwep said that a factory that can consume a lot of iron should be built, it should be here.
If the iron consumption is to account for a small proportion of the iron factory's production capacity, the most suitable method is undoubtedly the machinery factory. Otherwise, even if two or three thousand laborers are hired, it will be difficult to consume 30 tons of iron per day.
Low-priced iron is undoubtedly a very important part of the Phoenix King's territory. A town that consumes a large amount of iron ingots will have a more special status.
"I have an idea to eat dozens of tons, but the forging machines from the machinery factory next door are too expensive."
At this time, the receptionist spoke for the machine shop: "There is nothing we can do about it. Iron cannot withstand steam corrosion. Steel is slightly better, but the cost will go up if it is used a little more."
Aarons thought about it and asked: "There is a river where I plan to build the factory, and the river water flows relatively fast. Is it possible to replace steam with water power?"
"Then you need to see it live to know."
"Looking for a machine shop?"
But the receptionist denied it: "Those guys in the machinery factory are too thoughtful, I'm afraid they won't take it seriously. You can go to Xincheng to find the Research and Manufacturing Bureau."
