Chapter 278 Planting Party Members
North of Xiayang, Guanzhong, Hancheng iron smelting base.

The old smelting base was renovated and reopened, and the blacksmiths recruited here have built twelve blast furnaces.

When Black Bear arrived, only two blast furnaces were in operation.

When observing the smelting process of the two blast furnaces, there was no difference in my understanding from that of a black bear.

Crushed iron ore, limestone and charcoal are put into an oval blast furnace, and air is blown from both sides of the oval tip.

During these three days, Black Bear only made two small technical changes. One was to cover the blast furnace to reduce heat escape; the other was to use shade-dried horses to provide power to discharge the heated air into the blast furnace.

At present, the quality of pig iron smelted by the two blast furnaces that have been repaired first is not high, but it can ensure that the blacksmiths have something to do and provide iron resources for the construction of the iron smelting base.

Ten blast furnaces were subsequently built and stood beside the river. The river has begun to be rebuilt and the river embankment will be built and reinforced with stone slabs to restrain the river water and promote water drainage.

Water pumps can be used for blowing air or for forging iron.

The original water mill was too inefficient, and if it was to be upgraded, a large amount of iron resources would be needed.

Black Bear came here not because he was in a hurry to make weapons, but because he was in urgent need of a large amount of wrought iron.

Observing and improving the blast furnace iron smelting technology was just a casual thing to do in his spare time. He came here specifically to make a gold coin punching machine.

The 50,000 gold purchase plan with Jingzhou has been carried out in an orderly manner, but purifying Guanzhong's gold and then stamping it into gold coins can increase the utilization rate of gold and enhance Guanzhong's influence through the circulation of gold coins.

With the help of sand casting and Lu Bu's carving skills, he built the gold coin punching machine in just two days.

In order to enhance the performance of wrought iron casting and fine carving presses, he had to study the "steel frying method".

Even if you are a poor student, you know the difference between pig iron, wrought iron and steel, and that is the carbon content.

The small wrought iron parts in the container are mixed with burning charcoal and stirred to allow the carbon element of the charcoal to penetrate into the wrought iron. This is what Black Bear understands as the steel-frying method.

There is also the pouring steel method, which is to arrange the wrought iron parts and pour pig iron on them. The carbon element in the molten pig iron will penetrate into the wrought iron parts under high temperature environment, making them toughened.

After carburizing, Black Bear performed what he called "tempering" on the press parts.

They dug an earthen kiln, arranged the parts, lit the charcoal in the kiln, and after all three piles of charcoal were burning, they sealed the air intake.

After twelve days of hard work, this set of gold coin stamping machine was finally completed.

Black Bear took another three days to transport it to the minting center in Shanglinyuan and installed it at the water inlet of Kunming Lake together with Lu Bu.

Whether in Weibei, Weinan or Shanglinyuan, rivers, canals and ponds are all silted up, such as the Kunming Lake, which is mostly silted up.

Even if Kunming Lake is silted up, it will not affect the use of this gold coin punching machine.

A giant waterwheel stands at the water inlet of Kunming Lake, and the rotating waterwheel drives the gold coin punching machine through the crankshaft.

This is a one-step stamping machine, which simply changes the previous manufacturing method of Lu Bu's hammer-punching method into batch stamping.

After a loud clang, a pile of hot gold coins appeared.

As long as the water wheel starts to rotate, the punching machine will continuously engage and disengage driven by the gears and crankshaft.

Twenty-five gold coins can be punched each time, with denominations of one thousand and five hundred respectively.

Zhuge Liang watched as Black Bear's personal soldiers skillfully passed the heated golden pills. The golden pills came in two sizes, the large ones weighing one tael and the small ones weighing half a tael.

These bodyguards worked together skillfully and were able to quickly fill the twenty-five holes on the template. Soon after they were almost filled, the stamping die engaged with a teeth-grinding clang.

It was quickly detached, the template was taken down, and another template of the same specifications was replaced, and there was another noise that made Zhuge Liang very uncomfortable.

Five thousand-dollar templates are used in turn, and twenty-five gold coins can be cast at a time.

The accumulated more than 100 kilograms of high-purity gold were stamped out in a short time and turned into two piles of gold coins.

After disconnecting the waterwheel gear from the punching machine, Zhuge Liang stepped forward to grab the gold coin, but the heat from the coin was still there.

Ma Liang brought a basin of water and put some gold coins into the basin. Zhuge Liang then rolled up his sleeves and picked up a gold coin. He looked at the clear outline on the surface and the sharp contrast of the printed text.

He was a little unwilling: "Your Majesty, the gold coins are so fine, I think they should be mixed with other things, and 70% gold is enough."

It would be a waste to use pure gold for such a difficult to counterfeit and exquisite gold coin.

He admired Guan Zhong's philosophy of governing the country and believed that currency should be a credit currency rather than a copper or gold content.

Only when a large amount of sufficient money circulates in the market can the production enthusiasm of all sectors of society be fully mobilized.

In Zhuge Liang's eyes, the method of conscripting labor service was a backward one.

Through market means, professional craftsmen were recruited and their enthusiasm for production was stimulated, which was much more efficient than corvee labor.

Black Bear was checking the wear of the die. From his naked eyes, there was nothing wrong with the die, and there was no difference between the first and last batches of gold coins.

But a drop of water can wear away a stone, and he is already very satisfied with the current gold coin stamping efficiency.

If there are any improvements to be made, they will be left for the future; now he just wants to ensure that this stamping machine can be used for a long time.

Seeing Zhuge Liang's suggestion to add water to the gold coins, Black Bear thought for a moment and refused: "In the future, when gold coins are circulated, pure gold and semi-pure gold can be distinguished at a glance. If we use 70% gold, others will use 60% or 50% gold, which is not good."

As long as the profit is high enough, someone will definitely devote themselves to studying the art of gold coin stamping.

These technical talents among the people will be demoted to slaves and sent to work in the minting center.

Those who master the technology can survive and have a chance to reform themselves; as for the others who get involved, they are very suitable for raiding their homes and easing social conflicts.

Zhuge Liang then suggested: "Can the Wuzhu coin also be struck and cast in this way?"

"It's all about money."

Black Bear turned his head to look at the mother coin on the table in the distance, and heard Zhuge Liang say again: "Your Majesty, if it is used to make armor plates, in my opinion, such a machine can make more than 2,000 sets of iron armor a year."

Zhuge Liang was really interested in the stamping press. After just observing it for a few moments, he understood how the stamping press operated.

The weakness was also discovered, which was that it lacked strength and could only punch soft gold, which had to be even softer heated pure gold.

When forging or pressing the nail plates, if it doesn’t work the first time, press it a few more times.

For Zhuge Liang, this was a complete understanding. He had already seen countless heavily armored soldiers and armored cavalry charging into the enemy's formation.

"The forging of the armor pieces will be handled by Hancheng."

Black Bear gestured with his arms, and led Zhuge Liang to the wooden shed beside Kunming Lake. After Zhuge Liang sat down, he continued, "Guanzhong is in urgent need of good money. Only by using our good money to exchange for Dong Zhuo's bad money can we gain trust from the people."

Zhuge Liang and Ma Liang looked at each other after hearing this. In fact, there was no need to establish trust among the people now. The 100,000 Xiongnu heads, the approximately 500,000 men, women and children rescued, and a large number of cattle and horses were always inspiring and gathering the people's hearts.

Before losing a foreign war, or before Black Bear does something that angers God and man, there is no need to consider things like public opinion and establishing credibility.

Especially after withdrawing troops from Shangjun, Black Bear has been busy inspecting Guanzhong. He has been running everywhere since the spring plowing and has no time to enjoy himself.

The black bears at the top are working so hard, who among those below dares to slack off?
But since Black Bear said so, Black Bear felt it necessary to establish the trust of the people, and Zhuge Liang had no choice but to argue.

After all, this autumn, officials and people need to pay a head tax, which is a considerable expense.

It would also be convenient to collect taxes if the Dong Zhuo five-zhu coins hidden by the people were exchanged in advance.

Given the current situation in Guanzhong, it doesn't matter how much head tax can be collected. The rule must be established by re-levying taxes.

As they were talking, a breeze blew over, bringing with it the methane from the Kunming Lake sludge, which smelled very unpleasant.

The black bear looked at Kunming Lake and saw that the river channel in the middle was still there, but there were large areas of silt and reeds on the east and west sides of the river.

Zhuge Liang had sent people to harvest both the old and new reeds, and now new reeds were growing.

Zhuge Liang saw the black bear looking at Kunming Lake, so he said, "The lake is heavily silted. I plan to use the autumn water to flush out the silt."

"No problem. Quickly minting coins is the most important thing for Kong Ming right now."

Black Bear retracted his gaze and said to Zhuge Liang, "After the Danshui Canal is opened, Sima Zihua will resign and take up the important task of the Eastern Cao in my shogunate. I hope this place can get on the right track quickly, so that Kong Ming can arrange for his trusted people to supervise it. I hope Kong Ming can concurrently serve as the Commandant of Jingzhao and the Magistrate of Shangluo."

This promotion came too quickly. Although Zhuge Liang was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid I can't handle it."

After a short pause, Zhuge Liang cupped his hands and said, "I would like to recommend a few people for your use."

Almost at the same time, Ma Liang took a deep breath and straightened his back.

Zhuge Liang said, "Jiang Wan, a native of Xiangxiang, Lingling, courtesy name Gongyan, is a diligent man. If I can get his support, I will dare to take on the role of Jingzhao."

Black Bear looked at Ma Liang and said, "Since Kong Ming recommended me, I have no objection. With Ma Jichang and Jiang Gongyan here, the affairs of Jingzhao, coinage, and grain transport will be entrusted to Kong Ming."

"Yes, I accept your order."

Zhuge Liang stood up and saluted. Black Bear said, "The Jingzhao Commandery cannot be left vacant. I trust people when I employ them and I don't employ people I doubt. Although Ma Jichang and Jiang Gongyan will help Kongming with the minting and transportation of coins, we still have to worry about the future."

Zhuge Liang was moved by what he said and bowed again: "I am grateful to Your Majesty for your high regard for me and for not looking down on me. I will do my utmost to serve you."

"Kong Ming, there's no need to be so polite."

After helping Zhuge Liang sit down, Black Bear came to the edge of Kunming Lake, put his hands behind his back and looked at a bunch of reeds: "Guanlong is vast, and the world is even more vast. One person cannot rule the world, as the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. If you want to accomplish something, it is very difficult to rely on your own strength alone. It will be easier to do things if you have more friends."

He turned around and looked at Zhuge Liang: "There are only a few talented people in the world. Recruiting them before they grow up is like helping someone in need or being close friends since childhood. The more talented people we recruit, the fewer enemies we will have in the future. This is good for us, for others, and for the common people."

"Your Majesty is wise."

Zhuge Liang and Ma Liang stood up and bowed again. Black Bear just smiled and said, "The pressing of gold coins cannot be delayed. We must also pay attention to safety. This machine is very powerful. If the craftsmen are not careful, they will break their hands and fingers. I have been away from home for nearly two months, so I will not bother you here anymore."

"Yes, I look forward to seeing you off."

Zhuge Liang saluted and watched Black Bear stride away. The other personal soldiers quickly followed, mounted their horses, and more than ten riders galloped away like the wind, raising a cloud of dust.

Seeing the smoke dissipating in the distance, Ma Liang thanked Zhuge Liang: "Congratulations, brother."

"Ji Chang, there is no need to do this. Your Majesty has long valued me. Now he is just letting me take over Sima Zihua's place."

Zhuge Liang did not smile: "Both coinage and grain transport are under my control. This assessment is a bit heavy."

Ma Liang also restrained his smile and said nothing more. In any case, the ancestral coins and mother coins must not be lost.

Any lost mother coin would become Zhuge Liang's hangman.

There is also the Danshui Canal Transport, which can bring huge profits even if it is just the temporary priority of scheduling cargo ships.

Not only does this work require meticulous work, but it also requires rejecting various requests from friends and fellow villagers in Jingzhou.

If there are any loopholes, the Guanlong people will definitely hold on to them and torture them to death.

The stage in Guanzhong is so small. If you want to climb up, you must be prepared to fall down.

Black Bear will not allow any one party to dominate. If any one party dominates, the others will unite to fight against it without Black Bear taking any action.

More and more people are gathering and attracting here in Guanzhong, which makes it more resilient.

It is no longer an empty shell that will fall down at the slightest touch. If anyone is missing, there will be similar people to step up and take his place.

However, the high-level positions in the Grand Sima Shogunate are still very important. So far, the vacant position in the East Cao has been left for Sima Zhi.

Traditionally, before being sent out to the West Cao and the East Cao, one must have served in the Three Tais to gain experience, and then become a governor or the governor of a large county.

Zhuge Liang could already conclude that when Sima Zhi left Dongcao, he would definitely be promoted to the governor of a state.

The system under the Grand Marshal's Office was similar to that under Liu Biao and Liu Zhang, both of which were traditional county systems.

The difference is that the shogunate has a unique system of hundred households. These nominal Black Bear troops and slaves have already divided Guanzhong, breaking it into pieces. There is no force that can cross counties and prefectures to challenge Black Bear.

Therefore, there is no need for competition among the people and the grassroots.

Neither legal nor illegal means can defeat these hundred-household offices.

That can only be done by competing with the top brass of the shogunate, and the scholars in Guanzhong will be encouraged to devote themselves to official careers.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang didn't think there was anything wrong with Black Bear allowing him to recruit new talents to expand his team.

The potential of the Grand Sima Shogunate is so great that it is almost equivalent to a small imperial court.

Being a lone minister or a cruel official is a good way to go here, but if you want to be in power, it is not something that a lone minister or a cruel official can do.

Only by expanding the team early and enriching and training talents in all aspects can there be a possibility of governing in the future.

Ma Liang was only slightly envious and surprised. He also knew that the position of Chief Secretary in the Grand Marshal's Office was temporarily occupied by Cui Zhouping for Zhuge Liang.

When the opportunity is right, it will flow into Zhuge Liang's hands.

Without bringing a dozen people into the shogunate, Zhuge Liang would not have been able to secure his position as Chief Secretary.

(End of this chapter)