Chapter 186: Checking The Smithies
Jia Hao’s mood wasn’t good after everything happened. However, he couldn’t help but be intrigued by what he heard from the Minmin.
‘ What is Yixue hiding from me? What is it that thing she can’t tell me freely?’ Jia Hao couldn’t help but ponder inwardly.
At that moment Old Yang knocked on the door. ” Young Lord, May I come in?”
” Yes, What is it?” Jia Hao looked at him.
” Well, As you asked, I have already invited the blacksmith of our iron forges here.” Old Yang replied. ” Do you want to meet them right now?”
” Indeed, let’s go.” Jia Hao nodded instantly as he followed Old Yang.
Sitting in a carriage, Old Yang and a few soldiers escorted Jia Hao out of Nanhai City. In a small village on the outskirts of Nanhai City, Jia Hao could see a lot of forges there.
Soon enough, he reached a bunch of middle aged men and old men standing in the hall. All of them had tanned skin, with a messy appearance.
However, Jia Hao had to admit that their muscles were completely ripped.
‘ Most of them were at the peak of the Ninth stage of the Body Strengthening Realm.’
‘ However, with the amount of work they have done, some of them have better physiques than the Low stage of the Profound Awakening Realm practitioners.’
” We greet Young Lord Jia.”
” We greet Son in Law Jia Hao.”
Jia Hao nodded as he waved his hands. ” Well, I shall not waste time on pleasantries. I am here to visit the condition of our forges and see how some improvement can be made.”
The blacksmiths looked at each other with dismay.
” Improving our forges? Is that some sort of trick?”
” Shhh, Don’t let hin hear you. What if he gets angry?”
” Hmph, the Cai Family already treated us with respect. Why should we lower ourselves before a newcomer?”
Jia Hao chuckled as he could hear every murmur between the blacksmiths.”
” Well, I know a lot of you have doubts. However, Please believe me. I would definitely be able to help you.”
” So, before anything, let’s visit your forges, ok?”
An old man walked out as he nodded. ” My name is Tong Yuan, and I will guide Young Lord here.”
” Old Tong, Don’t be too cold.” Old Yang chuckled. ” My Young Lord isn’t bad.”
” Well, Since Mr. Yang is saying…”
Tong Yuan gave a side eye to Jia Hao before beckoning him to follow him. As Jia Hao followed him into one of the forges, he nodded.
‘ As expected, This is a bloomery furnace. And they are using woods to burn the furnace.’
‘ However, the temperature…This…’
” Uncle Tong, What sort of wood are you burning?” Jia Hao couldn’t help but ask curiously.
” Most of the time, we use the wood of local trees. However, the best kind of wood is the Crimson Oil Tree’s wood. A single piece of Crimson Oil Tree’s wood is worth fifty pieces of normal wood.”
” It gives very high temperature and remains stable for a long time, making the smithing process a lot smoother.”
” But I believe it’s expensive?” Jia Hao asked curiously.
” Indeed, It is.” Tong Yuan nodded. ” Although The Flamecloud Crystals are even more expensive.”
” What are those?” Jia Hao was curious.
” Flamecloud Crystals are a special type of crystal mined around the central province of Great Yan Kingdom.” Old Yang replied.
” They burn very fiercely and remain hot for a long time. They are bright like red and used as the main ingredient by the imperial family and some other elite family’s forges.”
” A single piece of Flamecloud Crystal costs ten taels of silver. Meanwhile, ten taels of silver can buy a lot of wood.”
” The imperial family already put sanctions on the mining of the Flamecloud Crystals. So, unauthorized possession is a crime.”
Jia Hao rubbed his chin for a moment before pondering. ‘ Hmm, This sounds like coals. Did the Flamecloud Crystals evolve from the coal pressurized by natural energy?’
” If we can’t get our hands on Flamecloud Crystals, we can sure use the Crimson Oil Tree, right?” Jia Hao looked at them.
” The Crimson Oil Tree grows deep in the Nanhai Mountain. So, it’s hard to obtain.; Tong Yuan replied. ” Not to mention, a tree takes ten years to grow.”
” The more we cut trees, the more further we need to go inside the Nanhai Mountain.” Tong Yuan shrugged. ” Besides, It’s not only us who are using Crimson Oil Tree’s wood to burn.”
” So, We can only make a proportion of normal wood and Crimson Oil Wood to smelt the iron.”
” I see…”
Jia Hao walked to the forgeries and looked at the house. ” Hmm, The ventilation here is pretty bad. Don’t you feel all stuffed and sweaty?”
The blacksmiths were dumbfounded when they heard.
” But, This is the condition we work, right?”
” Yeah, This is normal.”
Jia Hao shook his head. ” No, This is not normal. All these big houses need to have vents and ventilation channels. Otherwise, you all might suffocate inside.”
” Not to mention, don’t tell me the burning iron, wood, and smoke is not harming your health?”
” Old Yang, Take some money and renovate these forging houses. I will draw the plan for it, so I hope you can implement it.” Jia Hao spoke.
” Yes, Young Lord.” Old Yang nodded instantly.
Tong Yuan and others were stunned when they heard Jia Hao’s words. He was actually thinking about their conditions and health before talking about the output of ores?
” Also, you all are not going to work for longer hours. Divide the workers into three shifts. If there aren’t many laborers, recruit some.” Jia Hao gave another order.
” Young Lord, Are you telling the truth?”
” You are so generous, Young Lord!”
” Praise Young Lord! Praise his benevolence!”
Even Tong Yuan couldn’t help but be stunned when he heard that. He thought Jia Hao was just here to get familiarized with the business.
However, he never thought he would actually care about the workers and the working conditions here.
” Bring me a pen and paper. I wish to draw something.” Jia Hao thought for a moment before adding, ” And bring me some charcoal too.”
The workers were stunned when Jia Hao used a charcoal piece to sharpen and draw on the paper. Looking at them, Jia Hao couldn’t help but laugh.
” Well, the strokes on the brushes are thicker and inconvenient to use. So, I use this for fine lines.”
As Jia Hao already got the title of Genius Mechanic and read a lot of books, his knowledge regarding building various things was already surpassed by a common graduate.
First of all, he designed a simple air ventilation system. It will automatically pump out all the hot air from the smelting houses.
However, if some workers want, they can also use the pump manually to suck out the air.
The next thing Jia Hao saw was the production. ” So, you mainly use this type of iron?”
” Indeed, Young Lord.” Tong Yuan replied. ” In fact, mostly, we make bronze equipment. The iron is only reserved for making weapons and chainmail.”
” Hmm, You also make farming tools, right? Can I see them?”
As Jia Hao inspected the farming tools, he saw all of them were made from either bronze or pig iron. After a few knocks, he could already see the cracks in it.
” Hmm, The pig iron isn’t stable at all. Not to mention, the bronze equipments are way too heavy.” Jia Hao looked at Tong Yuan.
” The farmers must be changing their tools quite often, eh?”
