Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 50: Iron Smelting in the Early Ming Dynasty: The Thoughts of Craftsmen [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

After passing the group of craftsmen, Liu Kuan asked, "How do the ironworkers get their meals?"

Gong Zhengdao said, "The ironworks would provide rations and salt to the craftsmen who came to serve. The ironworks had a public kitchen, and the craftsmen could give the rations and salt they received to the public kitchen to make meals, saving them the time of cooking every day."

"However, in order to save food, local craftsmen usually give the salt and food they receive to their families to take back home, and they eat the food their families bring them."

“Thus, most of those who ate in the public kitchen were shift workers from other places, as well as convicts and hard laborers.”

"Criminals and hard labor?" Liu Kuan was puzzled.

"They are criminals or their families who were sent here to do hard labor because of their crimes. Among the group just now, there were about ten hard laborers."

After listening to Gong Zheng's explanation, Liu Kuan felt a little relieved.

He said that it is still the middle period of Hongwu, and even though the craftsmen under Zhu's rule are sad, they are not to the point of being numb, right?
If the prisoner is doing hard labor with almost no chance of turning over a new leaf, that look is understandable.

But is it really appropriate to let such criminals and hard laborers work in this important ironworks?
Liu Kuan then asked, "The imperial court is sending these criminals to work in the ironworks. Aren't they afraid that they might cause trouble?"

Gong Zheng laughed and said, "Although the hard labor is tiring, it won't kill you. However, if you dare to cause damage in the ironworks, you will be punished by death."

"Besides, these prisoners and hard laborers are under close surveillance at the ironworks. They won't be allowed near important sites like the iron smelting furnaces, so they won't have the opportunity to cause any damage."

Liu Kuan nodded slightly, but still felt that it was inappropriate.

Even if we ignore the possibility that the prisoners might harbor resentment and cause trouble, the presence of such a group of people would affect the working atmosphere in the iron yard, and it could be said that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

Continuing to walk forward, Liu Kuan finally came to an iron smelting furnace.

Although the iron smelting furnace was still in preparation and had not been ignited, the surrounding area was still very hot, and almost all the craftsmen and laborers were shirtless.

Dozens of people were busy in front of a furnace. When they saw Liu Kuan and others coming, they knelt down to greet them under the leadership of an old craftsman without any need for the clerk to call them.

The clerk who was clearing the way was afraid that Liu Kuan would get angry again, so he stepped forward and loudly explained that there was no need to kneel to greet him.

"Thank you, sir!"

This time, there were more craftsmen who expressed their gratitude, and their voices were more uniform.

Liu Kuan immediately noticed that these craftsmen looked much better than the group he first met. Many of them had rosy complexions and looked strong, and almost none of them looked pale.

This shows that ironworks craftsmen are definitely divided into groups and their treatment is also different.

Then, Liu Kuan looked at the iron smelting furnace in front of him.

I saw that this iron smelting furnace seemed to be embedded in a slope of earth. It was oval in shape, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, and more than two meters high.

It can be said that it has many similarities with the main body of blast furnaces in later generations.

Liu Kuan came to the slope and found that there were four large air bags placed there, connecting the mechanical components made of iron and wood.

There is a circle of ditches around it with hoof prints scattered inside. It seems that most of the animals such as cattle and horses were used to create wind.

After taking a rough look, Liu Kuan returned to the front of the iron smelting furnace and asked, "Who is the master iron smelter in charge of this furnace?"

An old craftsman with gray hair but a strong build stepped out from the crowd and replied with a nervous look on his face, "Sir, it's me."

"What's your name, old man?"

"My surname is Wang, and my given name is Siwu."

Wang Siwu, a typical name of a Han Chinese commoner in the Yuan Dynasty, seems normal considering the age of this old craftsman.

"Are you a master craftsman, father-in-law?" Liu Kuan asked curiously again.

As far as Liu Kuan knew, the craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty were also divided into clear levels, from top to bottom: master craftsman, upper craftsman, middle craftsman, lower craftsman, and apprentice.

Whether one is conscripted by the government to serve or doing private work among the people, the treatment is different.

The status and treatment of the master craftsman were even not inferior to those of the regular clerks in the Ministry of Personnel.

Wang Siwu replied, "I am only a senior craftsman, not a master craftsman."

Liu Kuan nodded and asked, "How many kilograms of pig iron can this iron smelting furnace produce in one run? And how many times a month can it be run?"

Perhaps due to his age and experience, Wang Siwu answered in a very logical manner, "This furnace can produce about a thousand pounds of iron each time. It is opened at least two or three times a month, and at most four or five times."

After hearing this, Liu Kuan immediately began to calculate in his mind. Wang Buqun had previously said that the Liuhe Ironworks had 21 ironmaking furnaces, but in fact, 4 of them were steelmaking furnaces, so there were only 17 real ironmaking furnaces.

If we calculate that each furnace is opened three times per month on average, the Liuhe Iron Works can smelt more than 61 kilograms of pig iron a year.

Before coming, Liu Kuan consulted the Ministry of Industry's information related to iron smelting.

In the seventh year of Hongwu, the thirteen iron smelters of the Ming Dynasty produced as much as 1.6 to 1.7 million kilograms of iron per year, while the least was only 200,000 to 300,000 kilograms.

An iron smelting site typically governed multiple ironworks, so the Liuhe Ironworks could produce over 600,000 jin (approximately 1,000 kg) of iron annually, a considerable output at the time. (The previous article incorrectly identified the iron smelting site, which has been corrected.)
However, this output is significantly lower than that of modern steel mills in later generations, let alone compared with those in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Liu Kuan remembered that he had read in a relatively sophisticated novel about the late Ming Dynasty that the steel industry was already quite developed in the late Ming Dynasty, and that ordinary people could often produce two to three thousand kilograms of iron in one furnace!
At the same time, a bottle furnace similar to a small blast furnace and a converter steelmaking method were invented, and the famous Su steel was born (suspected to be medium carbon steel or even high carbon steel).

Therefore, there are really many areas that can be improved in Liuhe Ironworks at the moment.

Liu Kuan was not in a hurry and asked Wang Siwu about some other situations.

After asking this question, I learned that most of Wang Siwu and others were resident craftsmen. Although the regulations required them to serve ten days a month, in practice, they accumulated their service period and served on site for several consecutive months every year.

From this we can see that the Ming Dynasty's craftsman system itself was very rigid, and in many cases and places it was necessary to make adjustments in order to get things done.

Afterwards, Liu Kuan visited several other iron smelting furnaces nearby and then went to inspect the steel frying furnace.

Compared with the iron-making furnace, the steel-making furnace is much shorter, only about ten feet high, but slightly wider, because the molten iron needs to be stirred during the process.

There are currently four steel-making furnaces in the field, each managed by three iron smelters with experience in steel-making.

There is another one that is usually shelved. Only when steel is urgently needed will people be selected from the craftsmen above to try to use this furnace to smelt steel.

Finally, Liu Kuan also noticed that in addition to iron smelting furnaces, steel frying furnaces, and casting furnaces, the ironworks also had many charcoal kilns.

If the ironworks' smelters are the largest group of workers, then the charcoal burners are the second largest.

Because currently iron is smelted by burning charcoal, not coal.

However, Liuhe Iron Works does not burn all its own coal, but also purchases some from outside...

After inspecting the ironworks on site and returning to the iron smelting office, Liu Kuan sat down and looked at Wang Buqun.

"Master Wang, I asked you to come here first to prepare for the blast furnace steelmaking. It's been two or three days now, and why don't you see any signs of preparation at the ironworks?"

Wang Buqun was originally sitting, but upon hearing this, he immediately stood up and said with a look of grievance, "Replying to the deputy officer, it has taken me most of the day to understand the situation in the field since I arrived."

"After inspecting the coal, ochre, clay, and other materials that the Ministry of Works had brought here, I immediately sought out craftsmen to build coke ovens and brick kilns. However, despite repeated inquiries, the craftsmen refused to respond, claiming they didn't understand."

"I am incompetent and can only wait for the deputy minister to come here and then discuss a solution."

Liu Kuan frowned and looked at Gong Zheng, asking, "Ambassador Gong, why are the craftsmen here unwilling to cooperate with our Science and Technology Department?"

Gong Zheng looked helpless and said, "Deputy Liu, didn't Chief Wang just say that the craftsmen have no experience in building coke ovens?"

"As for firing refractory bricks, if it's fired according to the old method, there are people who can do it, but Master Wang insists on firing it according to the new method, so naturally no one dares to agree."

After hearing this, Liu Kuan fell into deep thought and remained silent for a while.

He probably understood why Wang Buqun had been unable to carry out work after being there for two or three days.

Ultimately, it’s all because of the craftsman system established by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Although the Science and Technology Bureau has the support of the imperial order, what they have to do are things that the craftsmen have never done before.

According to the Ming Dynasty's craftsman system at that time and its attitude towards manufacturing, if the craftsmen rashly participated in the tasks assigned by the Science and Technology Department, even if the tasks were completed, it would be their duty and would not necessarily be beneficial.

But if things go wrong, you will most likely be blamed.

Under such circumstances, no one would be willing to participate.

Therefore, if the Science and Technology Department wants to start work at the iron yard, it must first reform its system and transform the iron yard into a steel plant!

　Many things in the early Ming Dynasty were different from those in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. In addition, the Hongwu period lasted for 20 to 30 years, and some things in the early, middle and late stages were also different. There is a lot of information that needs to be checked.

　　Sorry for the late update.

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(End of this chapter)