Chapter 438 Governance Industry
Shanglin Garden, the Sijin Duwei Mansion.

On the river bank, the water pumps were turning, and driven by water power, the newly cast and assembled machines made a harsh noise.

Next to it is an iron-smelting blast furnace, where red-hot iron beads roll in an orderly manner on tracks and are then manually controlled in an orderly manner at the feed port.

Red-hot iron beads fell in one by one, and soon there was a dull sound, and a piece of fish scale armor took shape.

Under the wooden shed nearby, Zhuge Liang reached out and took out a piece of armor with burrs on it from the wooden box, carefully examining the thickness of each piece.

This is a new type of armor plate, different from the long and square iron armor plates commonly used by the Han army. This is a slightly curved armor plate that is one inch and three high and one inch and eight wide, like fish scales.

Ever since he saw Black Bear and Lu Bu assemble the gold coin stamping device with his own eyes, he could not resist the urge and spent more than half a year to finally produce a hydraulic machine for stamping armor plates in batches.

From copper sheets and copper five-zhu coins used for experiments, to square and long armor scales that are easy to mold, to the current new fish scale armor scales.

While Zhuge Liang was observing the fish scale armor, his wife Huang Yueying also walked into the wooden shed and saw that the armor plates that were stamped in one piece did not need holes to be drilled. Only a very small number of armor plates needed to be manually drilled at the holes due to insufficient force during stamping.
She also picked up the nail pieces and observed them, and asked, "How many nail pieces can be produced in a day?"

"Now we have more than 30,000 pieces a day, which is just enough to weave 12 sets of fish scale armor."

Zhuge Liang handed her the armor pieces in his hand and said with a sigh, "There is a lot of work to be done in Guanzhong. It will take more than ten years for the lacquer garden alone to recover. These armor pieces are ground and made, then placed in a kiln for simmering, and then quenched and tempered. These processes are not difficult. We can just apply for a few more people. The only problem is the final painting, which lacks paint."

He was a simple man and always felt that gold- and silver-plated armor was too extravagant. Although gold and silver armor could boost morale on the battlefield, the gold and silver used in this way were difficult to recover.

Gilding and silvering are a form of decoration, but also a rust-proof technique.

Compared with these, Zhuge Liang prefers painting.

The army should wear black lacquered armor to look more serious.

And now, just in Gan Ning's possession, there are 300 pieces of gold armor, both new and old, gathered together; when enough silver armor is accumulated later, another 500 pieces of armor will be given to Gan Ning as a reward.

Ma Chao also made brilliant contributions in the battle of Yuzhong. Ma Chao also has 800 personal soldiers recognized by the shogunate. In the future, when the armor production quantity is sufficient, it will also meet Ma Chao's needs.

In short, no matter how much armor is produced, it will always be insufficient.

There was no shortage of captured armor in arsenals in various places, and a large amount of repaired armor was also obtained after each victory.

Compared to these armors that have been passed down for who knows how many years, the elites from all over the country prefer the newly manufactured Meiko armor-style armor by the shogunate.

The armor accumulated in the past is a heavy burden. It requires special personnel to maintain it at all times, which wastes space and manpower. As for the armor currently in stock, it is already too redundant.

As far as iron armor is concerned, a 70% equipment for a field army is considered high. Often, half iron armor and half leather armor are enough... This even takes into account conversions and wartime replenishments.

Huang Yueying saw how meticulously Zhuge Liang was choosing the materials for the armor pieces, so she couldn't help but smile and asked, "How's the pawning of the hundred coins going?"

"Your Majesty has not responded."

Zhuge Liang looked depressed, but he still secretly suppressed a batch of copper coins as coins.

Money is real money as long as it is minted, stamped and given out, and the denomination is recognized when taxes are collected.

The people have an urgent need in this regard, and he really doesn't understand what Da Sima is thinking.

In terms of the shogunate's revenue, it is not short of money at the moment. What it lacks is food and various materials necessary for production and life.

Industries must gradually recover, and as they recover, the number of people employed must be expanded.

The market needs sufficient money circulation to stimulate the growth of the industry.

As industries grow and monetary stimulus is provided, people's productivity will also increase significantly.

Therefore, it was really difficult for him to let go of the large-scale promotion of Zhibai coins. Especially now, there were a lot of materials in Yizhou, and if the shogunate wanted to purchase them, the best and most convenient way was to use Zhibai coins.

Given the prosperity of Shuzhong, there was also an urgent need for Zhibai coins.

As for the gold coins with larger denominations of 500 and 1,000...this was a huge waste in Zhuge Liang's eyes!
Such fine gold coins are unaffordable for ordinary people, so the minimum face value should be one thousand!
The face value is stable during payment and exchange, so how could anyone refuse?
Who can imitate the current gold coins?
If someone imitates it, wouldn’t that be an extra income?

Zhuge Liang was not in a good mood, and the couple lost interest in talking too, so they walked out of the wooden shed one after the other.

Looking at the gray-black snow remaining on the shady slopes in the distance, Zhuge Liang put his hands behind his back and said, "Spring ploughing is coming soon. I have been appointed with an official salary of 2,000 dan, and I will also be allocated 500 mu of official land."

Huang Yueying listened, thought for a moment and asked, "Does my husband want to plan for his official land?"

"Well, not only official land, but also private land."

Zhuge Liang held the hilt of his sword with his left hand, paced back and forth, and said, "This official land is allocated from the public land. I cannot recruit tenants, nor can I give it to my subordinates or servants to cultivate it for me. I need to work on it myself. If I want to cultivate 500 acres, I must buy cattle, horses, and large farming tools."

He is not afraid of farming. With his current surplus salary, he can only buy seven or eight cows. He can organize people to make farming tools himself and just pay for the materials and labor.

He was talking about official land, but Huang Yueying was concerned about private land, so she asked, "Husband, do you want to keep more cattle and horses?"

"Yes, but my salary and savings are not enough, so I would like to trouble Madam to give me some dowry."

Zhuge Liang glanced around to make sure there were no other people on the road, and then continued, "If there were no incidents in Hanzhong and Shuzhong, after the Grand Marshal returned victorious from defeating the Qiang, he would have issued a law on titles, salaries and positions, and would have granted titles according to merit and positions according to titles. Different titles have different amounts of private land. I heard that those without titles cannot keep slaves and can only hire one household of workers."

"There are limits on slaves and hired workers?"

Huang Yueying was surprised, she only knew that the expansion of the military units was strictly prohibited in Guanzhong, and these military units specifically referred to armed servants.

You will be provided with food, armor, and military pay for as many troops as you have. When a troop joins the army, its individual merits are not counted, and all these merits are credited to the main general.

However, in order to promote his old brothers, Gan Ning maintained the size of the 800-member army, but some of the old men had already left their army status and became military officers.

This special military system was designed to maintain the stability of surrendered generals and was a special product of a special period.

However, even the number of slaves and hired workers that people without titles could keep was limited, which made Huang Yueying feel very incredible.

She looked at Zhuge Liang in surprise, and Zhuge Liang nodded slightly.

This system has such a huge impact that it would be better to implement it later.

Huang Yueying couldn't help but sigh and said, "If we follow this method, how can people without titles manage and run their ancestral business?"

Coming from the Huang family and as the niece of Cai Mao, she knew very well what the real wealth of the powerful and wealthy families was.

It’s not the mines, charcoal fields, or workshops, but the people who control them!
Only with these people can this kind of industry be run!

Even if you don't run any business, you can still make a living by directing these people to farm and fish.

In other words, from now on under the shogunate, people without titles can only employ one household, which means that people without titles are not worthy of getting rich or having a lot of wealth.

What kind of wealth is money?
In the eyes of Huang Yueying, only the human resources that are actually controlled are the foundation of a family.

Then Zhuge Liang said, "I want to buy 2,000 acres of private farmland, mulberry fields, and hemp fields. This is probably the limit for my family."

Three thousand acres is the basic line for purchasing a manor.

Zhuge Liang knew that he could be promoted and buy a manor in the future, but it was not appropriate now and it was best not to challenge the bottom line of the shogunate.

(End of this chapter)