"Li Ke." Li Shimin heard this and turned to Li Ke.
"My son is here." Li Ke stood up with a calm expression.
"Is this possible?" Li Shimin looked at Li Ke and asked.
"Well, Erchen's craftsmen have indeed improved certain methods, so the cost of iron smelting has dropped a lot. If the imperial court purchases pig iron ingots, Erchen can bear it." Li Ke said lightly.
"Pig iron ingots? Are you providing the finished product directly?" Li Shimin looked at Li Ke and asked.
"I don't know what the smelting price of the Ministry of Industry is, but I think it is lower than that of the Ministry of Industry." Li Ke nodded.
"Duan Lun." Li Shimin called directly.
"I'm here." Duan Lun, Duke of Ji, stood up from his seat. Duan Lun is currently the Minister of Industry, so these questions naturally have to be asked to him.
"What is the price and cost of smelting?" Li Shimin asked directly.
"The price just mentioned by Qi Guogong is almost the same as the price of the imperial court. Take forging the main plowshare of the Tang Dynasty as an example. A plowshare weighs 3 kilograms, and the final cost after completion is about 900 Wen. Putting aside the labor cost of forging. , after smelting it into pig iron, the cost of 3 pounds of pig iron is about 880 yuan." Duan Lun gave a similar price.
Li Ke immediately calculated in his mind that Datang's pig iron production last year was about 2.1 million kilograms. Calculated based on this cost, the national government and private cost of iron smelting in Datang last year was 610,000 pounds.
However, it is estimated that at least 60% to 80% of the national output went to the imperial court.
Of course, it is also because smelting technology limits output that only so much can be produced throughout the year. One kilogram of Tang Dynasty is about 597 grams, and the annual pig iron output is about 2.51 million kilograms. Li Ke remembered some articles he had read in his previous life, which speculated that the national pig iron production during the peak period of the Tang Dynasty could reach 10 million kilograms, but now it seems that the data is probably wrong.
After all, there was no Bureau of Statistics in this era, and later calculations relied on iron ore taxes, iron revenue, and tax rates recorded in basic ancient books to infer pig iron production. In fact, this error is very large.
Many people calculate based on the 20% iron ore tax, and then look at the imperial court's iron revenue and tax rate, but the imperial court's iron revenue does not always come from the 20% iron ore smelting handed over by private iron mines. After that, the imperial court still had a large amount of self-operated iron ore, and all of this iron ore was handed over to the imperial court.
Therefore, the error in inferring the iron income of the entire Datang Dynasty is too large.
Li Ke's estimated pig iron production was also based on preliminary statistical estimates by his Yuelai Trading Company. If you ask Li Shimin about this figure, Li Shimin will not know it. He only knows the figure from the imperial court.
Many people say that Datang's pig iron production was only so small, so why did it make so many swords and armors?
The output of pig iron in the Tang Dynasty is indeed only this small, but China's smelting did not start in the Tang Dynasty. From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Tang Dynasty, there is no telling how much pig iron has accumulated over the years.
"How much was the imperial court's pig iron income last year?" Li Shimin asked again.
"Your Majesty, the imperial court's annual pig iron income last year was 1.6 million jins." Duan Lun immediately gave the answer.
"In other words, there are about 140,000 kilograms of pig iron per month. If the imperial court purchases pig iron directly, Li Ke, can you provide it? 140,000 kilograms per month." Li Shimin looked at Li Ke and asked.
Li Ke silently calculated that 140,000 kilograms of pig iron is equivalent to about 84 tons of pig iron per month in modern times.
At present, he has 30 blast furnaces. Each blast furnace is guaranteed to have the best iron tapping rate. The best operating iron tapping rate is about one ton per furnace. Of course, this is not the upper limit. If a blast furnace does not rest for 24 hours, it can produce three furnaces of iron a day. Then its daily output is about 90 tons, right? A day's worth?
Although there are blast furnaces and torches, even if it is difficult to operate at night, there is no problem with two furnaces a day, 60 tons a day, two days.
That's it?
Otherwise, give the cheap dad a 5-day supply, look at how pitiful he is.
"I'll triple it for you. Forget it, let's make it up to 500,000 kilograms a month." Li Ke said lightly.
As soon as Li Ke's words came out, everyone in the court was stunned. 500,000 per catty a month? ? Wouldn’t it mean that within three months, it was close to the imperial palace’s total pig iron revenue last year?
"Can you do it?!" Li Shimin looked horrified.
"Well, the proportion is quite large, but it can still be done." Li Ke said without changing his expression. One-sixth of the monthly output is of course a large proportion.
"How much?" Li Shimin took a deep breath.
"50 yuan per pound." Li Ke said with a smile.
Everyone: "..."
The imperial court's cost last year was about 880 Wen for 3 pounds of pig iron, and the average cost of a pound of pig iron was close to 300 Wen. Li Ke directly reduced the cost by one-sixth... No wonder the Changsun family doesn't play anymore. What are they doing?
"I agree!" Duan Lun was excited. He agreed before Li Shimin could say anything. One-sixth of the cost! This means that while this year's pig iron revenue has tripled, the amount of money paid is actually less? ! You can win it for only 300,000 yuan! Last year, I spent 480,000 yuan!
Changsun Wuji's face turned dark. This was completely different from what he expected! According to his idea, if the imperial court is allowed to purchase pig iron directly instead of iron ore, and Li Ke's output is not that large and cannot meet the needs of the imperial court, then he can suggest that Li Shimin ask Li Ke for smelting technology and let the official A smelting plant was established for iron production.
And in order to prevent Li Ke from using words to sway them like last time, he had already thought about it. The official smelting plant was not sold to the private sector, but was used by the court for its own use, so he couldn't say anything about competing for benefits with the people.
They couldn't come up with the technology in Li Ke's smelter, but wouldn't they be the ones to come up with the relevant technology sooner or later in the official smelter?
But he never expected that Li Ke not only produced enough, but even tripled it for Li Shimin...
At this point, the people from the Ministry of Industry naturally sided with Li Ke for the time being, because the Ministry of Industry is under great pressure on projects every year, and now Li Ke suddenly increased the quantity for them. With so much, the pressure on their Ministry of Industry to produce armor will naturally be much less!
The point is that after the main output of smelting pig iron is not owned by the Ministry of Industry, the output does not need to be monitored by the Ministry of Industry. Naturally, it has nothing to do with the Ministry of Industry, and there is less responsibility!
The funds required by the Ministry of Industry have also been reduced, so that part of the funds can be retained within the Ministry of Industry!
"Then since Qi Guogong can no longer operate here, the relevant orders from the Ministry of Industry will be transferred to you." Li Shimin followed the trend and did this matter directly. Anyway, it was Changsun Wuji who proposed it himself, so no wonder he, Li Shimin.
Besides, could Li Shimin not know why Changsun Wuji did this? Wasn't it just to tell him Li Shimin that Li Ke had already made him unhappy?
After thinking about it, Li Shimin felt that he couldn't let the eldest son's family really live like this. The smelting business of the eldest son's family would be gone. Otherwise, let him sell the ore?
