"Many merchants are willing to sell the refined iron produced by our iron furnace. Yesterday, a Shanxi businessman came and took a fancy to our refined iron and ordered a quantity of 10,000 kilograms."
Chen Hongtao accompanied Liu Heng on inspections of the iron yard.
"Not bad." Liu Heng said, "But you have to reserve a portion and send it to Hutou Village, and the rest can be sold."
Chen Hongtao, who was accompanying him, said: "The reserved refined iron has been sent to Hutou Village, and the rest has been booked out. Boss, do we want to set up a stove?"
When he first took over the iron yard, he was worried that the iron yard would not make money. Now that the business of the iron yard is so good, there is not enough refined iron to sell, so he actively wants to buy a new iron furnace.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "You can make up your own mind about this matter. How much money you need can be taken from the price of the fine iron sold, but the accounts must be written clearly. I will send someone to check the accounts regularly."
Hearing that Liu Heng agreed to add a new furnace, Chen Hongtao said happily: "The area in front can just be used to expand the area of the iron yard, and the new iron furnace can be erected there."
The direction Chen Hongtao pointed to was an empty hillside with some sparsely grown dwarf trees. It was not far from the mineral veins and could be erected as long as it was leveled off.
After taking a few steps forward, Liu Heng suddenly asked, "Our iron yard has stricter management than other iron yards. Do the miners have any dissatisfaction?"
"That's not the case." Chen Hongtao said, "Our iron yard has three meals a day, one meat and vegetable each in the morning and evening. The wages are high and they live in big tile-roofed houses. What else do they have to be dissatisfied with? Let's put them in other iron yards. They can only live in shacks and eat pig food, and their wages are twice as little as ours."
The miners were doing hard physical work, and if they didn't eat well, they would have no strength. Liu Heng was not stingy with the little money and asked Chen Hongtao to go to various butchers to buy pig and sheep guts. Sometimes there were also bone sticks to make for the iron yard. Miners eat.
The weather was getting brighter and brighter. Liu Heng wrapped his clothes around his body and asked, "I heard that there is a gambling bureau in the iron yard?"
The miners in Dongshan are used to being idle, so they go gambling when they have some money in their pockets. Some people who set up traps will set up traps in the lower mountains of Dongshan specifically to attract miners to gamble.
The income of miners is better than that of ordinary people who work in the fields, and they have a little spare money in their hands. Moreover, because they have been engaged in heavy physical labor for a long time, their nutrition cannot keep up, and their bodies are exhausted early. Many miners under 40 are tired. After death, miners rarely save money and spend it as they earn. Gambling has become the hobby of most miners.
Chen Hongtao was dissatisfied with Liu Heng and hurriedly explained: "The iron yard only allows the miners to leave for one day every half month. I was worried that the miners who like to gamble would not be able to bear it, so I allowed them to set up a private gambling bureau in the iron yard. The gambling capital is not large, up to two For ten coppers, the game must be broken up at the third watch. The proprietor was mainly dissatisfied, so I asked them to withdraw."
Liu Heng waved his hand and said: "No need, as long as the gamble is not big and it doesn't delay work the next day."
Chen Hongtao secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Liu Heng did not ban gambling in the iron field.
Compared with other ironworks, the management of their ironworks is very strict. Some miners have already expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of restraint. If even gambling is banned, he is afraid that the miners will cause trouble and delay production.
"Master." At this moment, Yang Yuan came over.
Seeing that Yang Yuan had something to say, Chen Hongtao took the initiative to leave.
When Chen Hongtao walked away, Yang Yuan said: "There is something wrong with the situation in Lingqiu City. In recent days, there have been rumors in the city that we killed Chen Dafu and took over his iron farm. Now it has spread throughout Lingqiu City."
"It's not surprising." Liu Heng said, "Our iron farm has improved its iron-making technology and made a lot of money. It is inevitable that other iron farms will be jealous. It is not uncommon for some people to spread rumors."
Yang Yuan lowered his head and said: "My subordinates are incompetent and failed to find out the mastermind behind the message."
Liu Heng smiled and said, "I don't blame you. How long have the intelligence team's talents been deployed in Lingqiu? Others have lived in Lingqiu for several lifetimes and have deep roots. How can it be so easy for you to find out."
"My subordinates are confused. As we are not afraid of these rumors at all, what is the purpose of the people behind spreading these rumors?" Yang Yuan frowned.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "If you don't understand, just wait. You will understand when the time comes. Before that, how are things going at the county government?"
Yang Yuan said: "My subordinates selected a few smart miners and trained them for a period of time. Now they are placed in the county government through Shi Baotou and serve as white labor temporarily. There are now our people in several houses of the county government. It's just that We can’t get in touch with the county magistrate yet.”
"It's pretty good to do this in such a short time." Liu Heng praised.
The intelligence team no longer consists of dozens of people. It has developed greatly after recruiting miners. Miners can be sent to places where Hutou Village cannot come forward.
Yang Yuan has fully adapted to his role as the leader of the intelligence team, reducing the number of times he appears in Hutou Village. He will only appear next to Liu Heng when reporting news, and he usually walks outside.
The only one who could contact him was Liu Heng.
A room at the far end of the iron house was specially prepared for Liu Heng.
Although Liu Heng does not usually live in the iron field, the house is cleaned every day, and it is always clean whenever he comes.
After Yang Yuan left, Liu Heng returned to the house and sat on a stool, holding a large teapot with steaming white steam in his hand.
"Damn it, it's getting really cold today." Chen Xunping rubbed his hands and walked from outside to the house, put down the cotton curtain in front of the door, and put his hands on the brazier to warm himself up.
Liu Heng handed the teapot in his hand to Chen Xunping and said, "Drink some hot water first to keep warm."
What later generations would call the Little Ice Age had begun, but it was not as severe as it would later be. It had not yet entered winter, and it was already extremely cold outside the house. Water was sprinkled outside the house at night, and a thin layer of ice formed the next day.
Taking the teapot, Chen Xunping took a sip, which burned his mouth. He placed it between his legs and placed his hands on both sides of the teapot.
He said: "I heard from the patrolling guards that Yang Yuan is here? He is elusive all day long, and it is difficult to see him even once."
"I just left not long ago." Liu Heng lifted half of the cotton curtain at the door and placed it on the edge of the door.
When Chen Xunping saw Liu Heng lifting the curtain, he muttered, "Don't lift the curtain in a hurry, let me warm up first."
"The house is burning coal and there is no ventilation. You will be poisoned soon."
The brazier was burning coal, and he closed the windows and lowered the door curtains. Liu Heng was afraid that he would be poisoned by carbon monoxide in a short while. He was not dead in troubled times, but died of poisoning due to the fire. He was so unjust.
Seeing what Liu Heng said, Chen Xunping did not mention it again, but said: "These miners have a good foundation. They already look like veterans after only one month."
not enough. "Liu Heng said, "These trained miners are okay against ordinary bandits, but they may not be able to face the government. Unlike us people in Hutou Village, we have no choice but to fight against the government. "
"By the way, there is one more thing." Chen Xunping said, "The miners and guards recruited are all paid, but the people we brought from Hutou Village are not. As time goes by, I'm afraid there will be trouble."
Liu Heng said with a smile: "Don't worry, I have discussed this with Brother Shu Heng. In the future, both the people from Hutou Village and the miners' guards will be paid. Brother Shu Heng and Zhao Yutu are studying the specific amount. This time It’s almost time to get results when I go back.”
