Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 52 Are you teaching me how to do things? [Seeking follow-up reading]

What Liu Kuan used was simply "there will always be brave men under great rewards" and "setting up a tree to build trust", and Wang Buqun naturally understood the principles behind it.

It's just that he was used to directly driving craftsmen and common people to do things, and subconsciously ignored this kind of guiding way of doing things.

He is a smooth and worldly person, but his thinking is more flexible and easy to change.

Now that he understood Liu Kuan's work style, he immediately praised him, "Deputy Lang's move truly kills two birds with one stone. I appreciate your advice. Then, should we offer a reward to select craftsmen to build the coke oven?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. "Making new fire bricks requires trial and error, so we're offering a reward, letting five groups of brickmakers compete for the bounty and work on this together."

“Although the coke oven looks complicated, there is no trial and error involved, and it requires the collaborative efforts of many craftsmen to build it.”

"So, we just need to wait for the news of the generous reward for bricklayers to spread in the ironworks, gain the trust of the craftsmen, and then offer better wages. Then we can select craftsmen to build the coke ovens."

"In fact, compared to building coke ovens, the more important thing is coking itself. Although I have a detailed coking process, I also need to train a group of qualified coking workers..."

Wang Buqun would be the chief official of the Science and Technology Department in charge of the Liuhe Iron and Steel Plant in the future, so Liu Kuan took advantage of the few days of "working" with him in the iron plant to explain everything about ironmaking, coking, and steelmaking to him.

Once the responsible officials understand the technical issues, they will be able to better monitor and control each production link when supervising affairs.

···
After leaving the small kiln, Liu Kuan did not go directly back to the iron smelting office, but went to the iron smelting office kitchen.

Zhang Yi, the accompanying person, followed for a while. When the public kitchen was not far away, he belatedly asked, "Is Deputy Liu going to inspect the public kitchen?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "It's almost noon, let's go to the public kitchen for a quick meal. The inspection is just a side job."

Zhang Yi was anxious when he heard this. "But the government office has already prepared delicious food and wine. Why would Deputy Liu eat with the craftsmen?"

Liu Kuan asked in return, "If you don't eat with the craftsmen, how can you truly understand them? If you don't understand them, how can you use them?"

Zhang Yi looked a little anxious and said, "Liu Fulang, the craftsmen in the ironworks are all here to serve. It's their duty to obey orders. Why do they need to understand?"

Liu Kuan's expression turned cold. "Are you teaching me how to do things?"

Zhang Yi made Liu Kuan shudder at what he saw, and he quickly bowed and said, "I dare not, I just..."

Liu Kuan feigned impatience and said, "I just want to go to the public kitchen to have a quick meal and take a look. Deputy Envoy Zhang is making excuses. Is there something fishy going on in the iron yard public kitchen?"

"Absolutely not." Zhang Yi quickly denied.

"If there's nothing fishy going on, then stop obstructing us!"

After saying that, Liu Kuan didn't care how Zhang Yi reacted and took his men straight to the public kitchen.

The public kitchen in the iron yard is not big, just a big yard.

In addition, the reason why it is called a public kitchen rather than a canteen is because it is only a place for cooking and does not provide dining space or tables and chairs.

When he arrived at the place, the first thing Liu Kuan noticed was the sewage flowing around the public kitchen - there was a sewage ditch, but it was obvious that it had not been cleaned for a long time, so it was seriously clogged.

The environment outside the hospital is like this, so one can imagine what the sanitary conditions inside the public kitchen are like.

The craftsmen usually start working before Chenshi (around six in the morning), eat breakfast very early, and therefore eat lunch early as well.

Although it was just after noon, many craftsmen had already lined up outside the yard to get their meals.

Seeing Liu Kuan coming, the craftsmen subconsciously knelt down to greet him.

Zheng Zhiliang hurried over and shouted to the craftsmen, "Vice-Lord Liu said yesterday that ironworkers won't have to kneel to greet officials anymore!"

Hearing this, the craftsmen stopped kneeling, but made way and the queue dispersed.

Liu Kuan was a little helpless and said, "I just came to take a look. You guys continue to line up and don't make a mess."

He also signaled Wang Guangyue to send a few soldiers to help restore order.

After the craftsmen lined up again, Liu Kuan entered the public kitchen compound with some of his entourage and soldiers from the Yiluansi.

This public kitchen compound is simply divided into a front yard, a back yard, and many side rooms.

When Liu Kuan entered the front yard, he saw several people who looked like cooks standing beside two square tables, serving meals to the craftsmen who came in.

There were two men who looked like clerks standing by, seemingly supervising.

Seeing Liu Kuan and his group coming in, two minor officials immediately came forward to greet them, smiling and bowing, "Your humble servant Li Mao (Jia Dong) greets Deputy Liu!"

"Are you two officials in charge of the imperial court?"

Li Mao sneered, "He's just an official."

The so-called clerks are just a nice term. In fact, they are the same as menial servants, and are all recruited by local government offices as helpers.

None of them receive a salary, but some receive financial subsidies and some hidden benefits.

Liu Kuan asked again, "Will you two be in charge of the public kitchen?"

Li Mao's expression flickered slightly, and he said, "We are just here to supervise."

Liu Kuan nodded, and without further questioning, he continued walking forward. When he reached the square table, he saw the lunch rations for the craftsmen.

Brown rice porridge, multi-grain pancakes, boiled vegetables, that’s all.

Under Liu Kuan's gaze, both the cook who served the food and the craftsman who received the food seemed quite nervous.

Liu Kuan frowned when he saw that there was almost no oil in the boiled vegetables. Without saying anything, he said directly, "Give me a meal."

"Ah? This..." The cook was very surprised and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Li Mao came over quickly and said, "Liu Fulang, the food in the public kitchen is all pig food for the craftsmen. Why are you..."

"Pig food?!" Liu Kuan snorted angrily, "So this is how you view the artisans' food?"

Li Mao realized that he had spoken too much and had let his words slip. He wanted to slap himself twice, but he didn't know how to make amends.

Liu Kuan said: "Tell them to prepare two meals, and you can eat together with me!"

Li Mao was afraid of saying more and making more mistakes, and he did not dare to refuse Liu Kuan's order, so he did it immediately.

Soon, a bowl of brown rice porridge with boiled vegetables and a multi-grain pancake were delivered to Liu Kuan.

Not to mention, there were a lot of boiled vegetables added, and the brown rice porridge was obviously thicker than the one in the big wooden barrel.

But Liu Kuan almost vomited it out after taking just one bite.

Not only does this brown rice porridge have a rough texture, it also contains husks and even mud and sand!
Although the amount of mud and sand was extremely small and barely noticeable, Liu Kuan, who was very picky about food, still felt his teeth showing.

Liu Kuan took another bite of the cooked food and found it bland and had a slightly sour smell. It was most likely mixed with rotten vegetables from the previous night!
The multi-grain pancakes, on the other hand, were simply hard and difficult to chew.

After taking a bite, Liu Kuan really didn't want to eat it.

But when he saw Li Mao next to him frowning and stealing glances at him, he gritted his teeth and ate it.

Because he ate slowly, he did not forget to ask the chef to continue feeding the craftsmen in line while he was eating.

As a result, many craftsmen saw Liu Kuan asking Li Mao to accompany him for dinner.

I was too stupid to understand Liu Kuan's intention and didn't even think about it.

Only a few quick-witted craftsmen tried to guess Liu Kuan's intention.

"This Vice-President Liu actually came to eat our meal. Could it be that he was trying to understand the people's sentiments?"

"He asked Li Mao to eat with him, but was he dissatisfied with Li Mao? Or did he trust Li Mao?"

"I'm afraid something big is going to happen in the public kitchen today. I don't know whether it will be good or bad for us."

'···'

Amid the strange looks and wild thoughts of the craftsmen, Liu Kuan finally finished all the brown rice porridge and multi-grain cakes.

But his face was also very dark.

He turned around and said to Li Mao, "You eat for now. The cooks continue to prepare the meal. I'll go take a look in the kitchen."

After saying that, he took a few people into the public kitchen.

As soon as he walked in, Liu Kuan regretted it.

It was indeed very dirty and messy inside, much worse than some of the dark kitchens exposed in later generations, except for the fact that there were fewer oil stains.

The rest has nothing to do with the word "hygiene".

When Liu Kuan thought about the food he had just eaten that was cooked in such an environment, he felt nauseous and almost couldn't help vomiting.

After walking out of the kitchen, Liu Kuan saw Li Mao, who had just finished his meal, coming over again, and he frowned in thought.

Although he thought that this public kitchen had many problems, at this moment, they should not be a big deal.

Then why did Zhang Yi stop him from coming to inspect?

Li Mao, who was standing by, seemed to realize that Liu Kuan hadn't found anything, so he smiled and said, "Liu Fulang, if you have any instructions regarding the public kitchen, please let me know. I will correct them as soon as I get back."

After hearing this, Liu Kuan decided to talk about the quality of food and the hygiene of public kitchens first.

Before he could even open his mouth, one of the craftsmen queuing over there ran over here.

Seeing this, the Yiluansi soldiers who were following Liu Kuan hurriedly stopped him.

After being stopped, the craftsman fell to his knees and shouted, "Cook Li Mao and his men are robbing us of our food. Please, sir, seek justice for us!"

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(End of this chapter)