In the yamen, Du Zhongxiao said to Zhuzhu Cui: "Look, it's going to be February. February is urging farming and planting under the ground. There are not many days left. What I lack most now is various farm tools. Although the three departments have transferred some from various prefectures and counties, the quantity is far from enough. Before coming, I sent people to Bozhou to buy some from there to solve the urgent problem. Later, the boatmen from all over the country arrived one after another. It's not possible to buy it like this, but they still have to make it themselves. Is there a place to produce iron in this area? We will recruit some craftsmen, smel iron by ourselves, and make iron by ourselves."

Cui Zhubu said: "Not far north, Wuyang and Xiping counties have produced iron since ancient times. The world-famous Longquan sword is produced there. Xiaguan once served as an official in Wuyang County. There are many ancient iron smelting relics in the county. For some reason, fewer and fewer people have smelting iron in modern times."

Du Zhongxiao couldn't help but frown: "Isn't Longquan Sword produced on Liangzhe Road? There is also a Longquan County there, which also produces swords."

Cui Zhubu said: "When the officials checked ancient books, Longquan was the first area, and it started from Liangzhe. There were many such things in the world."

Du Zhongxiao nodded, always feeling familiar with these place names. After thinking for a while, he suddenly remembered that Wuyang himself had some impressions, and there were two things that were very famous in later generations. One was Hu La Tang, which was said to come from a place called Beiwudu. It is located on a major transportation road. Later generations developed Hu La Tang, a very distinctive food, which was popular in several provinces. Another one is iron ore.

The place at the junction of Xiping and Wuyang has produced iron since ancient times, especially swords tempered with Longquan water, which were famous for a while. However, since the Han Dynasty, the iron smelting industry here has gradually declined, and I don’t know why.

Thinking of this, Du Zhongxiao couldn't help but think of Ruzhou in the north of Tangzhou. Later generations were central Henan Province, a place with rich mineral resources. The most famous one was the coal mine, known as the Zhongyuan Coal Sea. When studying coal production in New China in history classes, one must be mentioned, the Pingdingshan Coal Mine in Ruzhou in the north. Du Zhongxiao vaguely remembered that the most important feature of introducing Pingdingshan Coal Mine was that it had complete coal species and was the main production area of ​​coking coal in New China. There were a lot of coal on Hedong Road, but when it came to the complete variety of coal, it still couldn't catch up with it.

Wuyang belongs to Xuzhou and is close to Ruzhou. The coal-based place is not far from iron ore. Why will the iron smelting industry here decline? With the abundant reserves of Wuyang iron ore, there is no possibility of iron ore failure.

After thinking about it, Du Zhongxiao asked Cui, "The chief clerk, where is Sihedong Road, now uses coal to smelter iron. There is coal and iron production in this area, so why is there no iron smelter? If iron can be produced locally, it will be much easier to make iron. If you want to make money, you should first sharpen your tools. If you lack subway equipment, you can get more results with half the effort."

Cui Zhubu said: "I have never heard of coal and iron smelting in this area. Now there are occasionally small workshops in the mountains, and they are also made of charcoal. Several nearby states used to be densely populated areas. They cut down trees and burn charcoal, and cut down all the trees in the iron-producing areas early on. Now, although there are trees on the mountain, they have become sparsely populated places, so naturally no one will smel the iron smelting."

Du Zhongxiao nodded and sorted out the context of the iron smelting industry in this area. The mountains in the north have produced iron since ancient times, and the quality is excellent, and they once produced good swords and swords. However, since the Han Dynasty, I don’t know what happened, the iron smelting industry has slowly declined. The wars continued in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, and the population fled, but it has not recovered until now, and the industry has basically disappeared.

The 20,000 boatmen brought by Du Zhongxiao from the capital were arranged in the Tang, Ru and Cai. It was time to plant in spring, and the most important thing is to arrange the places and divide the scope of each. The boatmen who came one after another arranged them to other states.

There are not many officials in the Yingtian Yamen, but now they are the chief clerk of Cui. He was promoted from a minor official, and once served as a county clerk in Wuyang, and also served as a various minor official in other prefectures and counties. He has rich administrative experience.

It is far from enough to rely solely on land camp matters. It is mainly to coordinate local prefectures and counties to help. People working in various places mostly borrow from prefectures and counties, plus officials and servants. Only after they are slowly replenished their staff can the yamen be truly independent.

There are many benefits for boatmen, such as hard work, strong discipline, etc. But there is one disadvantage, that is, whether they are themselves or their families, the lack of scholars, and most people do not recognize words. If they do not know words, how can they become officials and manage local governments? The yamen must recruit people who read and read from local governments to become public officials, and they cannot get enough hands on them.

The most difficult problem Du Zhongxiao is now facing is the shortage of manpower. Most villages that open fields choose a place, and there is no time to plan in detail, so that the local area can provide grain and plant food and plant oxen according to the policy of land camping, and the boatmen find ways to find their own ways. Even the organization is a mess. Most villages designate a family with a large population as the main security chief, and all policies are basically not implemented.

After thinking about it, Du Zhongxiao said to Zhuanzhu Cui: "The chief clerk, if no future is done, there will be immediate worries. We have made all things, but we are short of manpower, and we are short of everything. But there are some things that we have to do in the future. You draw a list of articles and post them to nearby prefectures and counties, and recruit people to explore the ore veins in ancient iron smelting places. If anyone can find iron ore, the official will give him a reward. If he has made great contributions, he can do it for the official."

Zhuan Cui bowed and said that he was right, and sat aside and proposed a listing document after the case was proposed.

Iron smelting has field affairs, and there are various supervisors and officials. Du Zhongxiao can decide such a small official by himself, but it is nothing more than asking the court to make a confession in the future. If the iron smelting industry is large, the court can even let the court proclaim his own name, and Du Zhongxiao can fill in his own name.

In this era, the court paid local officials for their work, and it was impossible to make all the cash. First, the three departments did not have that much money to pay, and second, they always had to try their best to distribute so much goods in their warehouses. In addition to various physical money, there was also a blank confession and a short certificate. Blank confession could allow local officials to be granted officials by themselves, of course, they were all small officials as a means of rewarding merit. During war, blank confession was the most common. The former chief coach could be awarded a large number of officials based on military merits. Everything started from scratch in the field business, and there were also blank confession. As for blank confession, it was sold for money.

Du Zhongxiao came in a hurry and the three departments brought not much money and goods. He agreed that the transfer department of Jingxi Road will be allocated from various prefectures and counties. Now the local government is not cost-effective in helping the land, but it is converted into money and grain, and deducted when collecting taxes.

Bao Zheng, deputy envoy of the Ministry of Revenue of the Third Department, was not easy to talk about. One, one, two, two, and two were very rigid and refused to pay Du Zhongxiao more cash advances. He had no money in his hands and was restricted in everything, which made Du Zhongxiao very troubled. When he was on Hedong Road, no matter what errands were done, Du Zhongxiao had never lacked money in his hands. In the later period of Ren Zhijun of the Volcano Army, he often had hundreds of thousands of guans, but like now, thousands of guans were large.
Chapter completed!