PFC Chapter 247: Zhuti County Rebellion.
Chapter 247: Zhuti County Rebellion.
A master said, "Master Ye, we can slowly make most of the things you design, but it is very difficult to produce in large quantities. One reason is that the precision is not enough, and the other is that the quality of the materials is unstable."
Another iron smelter said:
"The quality of the iron blocks used each time is different, so the hardness of the products made is different. Lord Ye, why don't we get the iron ore ourselves and smelt the iron from scratch? Only in this way can the quality be stable."
Ye Kun nodded: "We have accumulated a lot of iron ore in Qionglai Mountain. When the time comes, we will be able to produce a batch of steel with stable quality. As for the product precision, I will develop a lathe and use it to complete it."
The most important thing about a lathe is the high-strength cutter blade.
Current technology cannot meet Ye Kun’s requirements, but through quenching and other methods, the cutter blade can be temporarily raised above the workpiece to complete a preliminary lathe system.
Gold and silver are easy to process. The skills of gold and silversmiths have improved rapidly recently. They suggested to Ye Kun:
"I think we should work harder on the molds to improve the precision of castings. For example, the inner and outer rings and retainers of bearings can all be manufactured by die casting."
Ye Kun appreciated everyone's ideas and said with a smile:
"Everyone can boldly experiment with their suggestions. It's okay if you make mistakes. I won't blame you for wasting some materials. Even if it takes you ten years or a lifetime, if you can master a technology, it will bring great convenience to our descendants."
All scientific experiments and technological explorations must allow for mistakes.
Otherwise, there will be no progress.
With the arrival of technical personnel, Ye Kun began to promote technology in a bold manner.
Ten biogas digester technicians were trained, and twenty large families were selected by lottery to build and promote the digester free of charge.
Large households have many families and livestock, and have sufficient manure resources, so they have the conditions to build a biogas digester. If there are educated people in the family, they can also learn how to maintain the biogas digester.
At first, Ye Kun wanted to help the gentry build it for free, but then he thought that he couldn't let these guys get away with it. Anyway, the gentry had money, so it didn't matter if they bought firewood and charcoal.
There are also dragon-bone water wheels, one hundred of which were sent from Dongba County.
Ye Kun gathered large farmers and small landlords, gave away 20 aircraft by lottery, and sent technical personnel to guide their installation and use.
The remaining water wheels are for sale.
It was the rice filling period, and some fields were difficult to irrigate due to high terrain. Small landowners all needed this thing, and when they saw how useful it was, they bought the remaining water wheels without hesitation.
The wealthy and powerful people wanted to please Ye Kun and placed orders, often buying 100 planes at a time.
Ye Kun received the order payment and asked the carpentry workshop to increase production.
The availability of sawing machines has greatly improved the efficiency of carpentry, because sawing wood is the most laborious and time-consuming part of carpentry.
The hydraulic workshop near Chengdu has completed base construction and started assembling and debugging machines.
The porcelain kiln factory also started production.
Everything is developing steadily.
Unknowingly, Chengdu's economy has begun to prosper. Those landless tenants have gradually broken away from the control of the gentry and entered Ye Kun's factories and workshops to work and learn a craft.
Taking into account the long-term development of Chengdu, Ye Kun moved the cattle and horse livestock trading market in the city ten miles outside the city.
In a big city like Chengdu, tens of thousands of cattle and horses are traded every day, and there are also people selling pigs and dogs, which seriously affects the city's sanitation and also wastes some animal manure.
The newly built livestock trading market is located on a barren hill outside the city. It is surrounded by farmland and vegetable fields, so manure can be disposed of nearby.
The original livestock trading market in the city covered an area of dozens of acres. Ye Kun organized and planned it, intending to use it to build a textile factory.
Between the big city and the small city of Chengdu, there is a tall city wall that stretches for three or four miles and separates the business district and the government district.
Ye Kun directly ordered to demolish the city wall and connect the business district and the government district.
The bricks removed from the city walls were just right for building textile factories.
Youde was very happy and asked Ye Kun privately: "Sir, is this textile factory for me?"
"Yes, it's for you. You will be the boss here in the future." Ye Kun took Youde's hand and said, "Youde, do you want to thank me?"
"Let's talk about it after you have built the textile factory." Youde pulled his hand away and ran away with a red face.
Youde definitely cannot manage a textile factory of dozens of acres.
Wang Ganma and Dai Xi are both involved in the planning.
Ye Kun divided the textile factory into two areas, one specializing in making linen thread and linen cloth, and the other one making Shu brocade.
Linen and linen are low-end industries. If they are done well, they can free up a lot of labor.
Shu brocade is a high-end industry and one of the pillars of export revenue.
In terms of technology, Ye Kun also gathered skilled craftsmen and folk masters, referred to existing machinery and equipment, and pondered technical improvements.
Just when Ye Kun was preparing to make his grand plan, a carrier pigeon came from the south, saying that Huang Yan, the prefect of Zhuti County, had raised an army in rebellion and led a large army to besiege the miners in southern Sichuan.
Under Zhuti Commandery, the four counties of Hanyang, Nanguang, Tanglang and Nanchang all rebelled and spread rumors that Ye Kun had massacred Gongsun Zhang's entire family.
Raise the banner, conquer the thief Ye, and avenge Gongsun Zhang!
Ye Kun first sent Zhou Xuanwu to lead an army of 5,000 to confront Huang Yan in southern Sichuan, while at the same time summoning civil and military officials from Yizhou to discuss countermeasures.
Xie Tong said: "Zhuti County rebelled because Lord Ye controlled the gold and silver mines in the north of Yizhou, so Huang Yan was afraid and took the initiative to gain territory for himself, hoping to suppress Zhuti forever. I guess he rebelled just for show, and we just need to appease him."
The jurisdiction of Zhuti County is located at the junction of Sichuan and Guizhou, roughly in the areas of Zhaotong, Gaoxian, Zhenxiong and Weixin.
This place is the richest because there is a huge silver mine!
How big is the silver mine here? It was developed in the Qing Dynasty and still had a huge output. In its heyday, it was said that if you brought a cart of rice here, you could exchange it for a cart of silver cakes back home!
During the Qin, Han and Three Kingdoms periods, there was a saying that Hanjia gold and Zhuti silver were important gold and silver mines.
Hanjia is located in the Leshan-Meishan area of later generations, not far from Zhuti County.
Between Hanjia and Zhuti counties, going south, there is a big river called Lishui, which was later called Jinsha River.
Why is it called Jinsha River? Because it produces gold sand!
Ye Kun made too big moves in the northern part of Yizhou. He took over all the gold and silver mines in the north and sent a large number of personnel and troops to mine coal in southern Sichuan. He had already approached the territory of Zhuti County.
So Huang Yan, the governor of Zhuti County in the south, became frightened and started a rebellion!
Zhuti County nominally belonged to Yizhou, but in reality, it was Huang Yan who had always declared himself king.
He gave a symbolic amount of the silver he earned to Yizhou.
When Ye Kun took over Yizhou, he gave Huang Yan several carts of porcelain, tea leaves and fragrant oil in order to appease him.
Huang Yan was grateful and gave Ye Kun one thousand taels of silver!
Ye Kun was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
With the silver production in Zhuti County, this one thousand taels of silver was just enough to feed a beggar.
Now Huang Yan of Zhuti County is rebelling, which is exactly what Ye Kun wants!
Han Chun, like Xie Tong, probably accepted Huang Yan's bribe and did not want to fight, so he clasped his fists and said, "Master Ye, I am willing to be an envoy to comfort Huang Yan and make him put down his weapons and continue to submit to Yizhou."
Ye Kun nodded and looked at the civil and military officials in the hall: "My Lords, do you have any other opinions?"