Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Should I show the iron ore to this female official whom I am meeting for the first time?

Fang Qi looked at Shen Zheng with a frown for a long time.

Shen Zheng straightened her back and met his gaze without dodging.

"Just to take a look at the iron ore." Yu Zhengqing saw that he began to hesitate, and lobbied him: "You don't want to give me refined iron, but you can take a look at the iron ore, right? Just as Shen Zheng said, if it works well, the output rate of the Salt and Iron Bureau's iron ore refining can be doubled. If it doesn't work well..."

He smiled and said, "The iron ore can't be lost for no reason by Shen Zheng. You won't suffer any loss."

In this way, the Salt and Iron Administration did not suffer any loss.

"Just look?" Fang Qi was looking at Shen Zheng.

"Uh..." Shen Zheng hesitated and added some conditions: "Can we chisel it open and see?"

After hearing this, Fang Qi Zheng realized that he had never actually thought of refusing.

Otherwise, if the other party adds conditions, he will not even think about whether it is feasible or not, but will just turn around and leave.

Hesitation is actually another form of consent.

"Okay." He looked at Shen Zheng with a look like Gu Tan, then turned around and said, "My lords, please follow me."

......

Just as Shen Zheng guessed, Fang Qizhen only took them to the Salt and Iron Administration's office in Liuyang Prefecture, and not to the location of the furnace for purifying iron ore.

The Salt and Iron Bureau occupies a small area, only about half the size of a government office.

Since Shen Zheng and the others came in, everyone they met was in a hurry. They only reacted when they saw Fang Qi Zheng, but they just greeted him as a routine and then left in a hurry.

It's true that "what goes up must come down", Shen Zheng thought.

With a boss like Fang Qizheng over their heads, the people working under them also feel the same as him, giving people a dull feeling.

There was really nothing to see in the Salt and Iron Bureau. Even the green plants were pitifully few. It seemed as if the air was filled with the smell of pig iron. Several people followed Fang Qizhen to the study.

"Please sit down for a moment." Fang Qizhen turned and left without even pouring them a cup of tea.

The door closed, blocking out the biting cold wind.

"I really don't want to come to his Salt and Iron Bureau." Yu Zhengqing leaned back in his chair, picked up a small fire tong and started to light the stove. While he was shoveling charcoal, he said, "You have to boil water yourself before you can have a sip of hot tea."

Shen Zheng chuckled, took the small fire tongs from his hand, and said in a smooth manner: "You have condescended to accompany me here. We originally wanted to take something from him, so we will just suffer for a short while."

"You..." Yu Zhengqing put the tea leaves into the teapot and sighed, "When you get along with others, as long as the other person is half good, you are not afraid of being at a disadvantage. Are we asking him to do something? If you can really double the purification of the iron ore of the Salt and Iron Bureau, then it is not an exaggeration for Fang Qizheng to call you godmother."

Such a cold-faced godson?

Shen Zheng shuddered just thinking about it, "That's not necessary..."

As they were talking, the door was pushed open again, and the "godson" came in holding a pitch-black sack. It was unknown how much of their jokes he had heard.

"Bang--" Fang Qizhen didn't think it was difficult to deal with and put the sack directly on the desk.

Then the wooden window was pushed open, and the little heat that had gathered in the house was immediately dispersed by the cold wind, but everyone's vision improved a lot.

Fang Qizheng grabbed the bottom of the sack with both hands and shook it twice, and the iron ore poured out with a series of muffled sounds mixed with some crisp sounds.

——More than one kind of iron ore.

At least Fang Qizhen didn't hide anything.

Yu Zhengqing said that he didn't want to come, but his eyes were eventually attracted by the iron ores of different sizes and colors on the table.

Liang Fu obviously had more insights than him. He stared at the iron ore and said, "One, two, and... Is this black iron ore? You even have black iron ore?"

Black iron ore is the most precious type of all iron ores, and almost all the black iron ores in various parts of the Great Zhou are in the hands of the General Administration of Salt and Iron. Even the mining is done by people sent by the General Administration, and it is rarely done by local people.

When Shen Zheng saw the ore emitting a cold black glow, she felt her breathing pause for a moment, "Magnetite!"

"Magnet?" Fang Qizheng picked up the ore and rubbed it, saying to Liang Fu, "Your Excellency is right. This is black iron ore. Black iron ore has the highest iron content. I got it by accident, and the amount is not much."

"Black iron ore?" Shen Zheng stretched out his hand and asked Fang Qizheng, "Can I take a closer look?"

Since she had already taken it, there was no reason for Fang Qi Zheng not to give it to her.

After getting the ore, Shen Zheng became more certain that it was magnetite.

Under the gazes of several people, she held the magnetite in her right hand and randomly picked a piece of ore on the table with her left hand. When the two were put together, there was a "clang" sound.

The two pieces of ore were sucked together just as she expected. Fang Qizhen and Liang Fu's expressions remained unchanged, and it seemed that they had known about this for a long time.

"This black iron ore..." Shen Zheng struggled to separate the two pieces of ore and asked Fang Qizheng and Liang Fu: "Is the Salt and Iron Bureau only used to refine iron? What about the Ministry of Industry?"

Seeing that Shen Zheng obviously knew this characteristic, Fang Qizheng frowned and asked, "What does Lord Shen know?"

Shen Zheng paused after hearing this.

This man is suitable for fighting, and it would be unfair to him to be responsible for iron smelting.

"You use magnetite to find iron, right?" she threw the question back deliberately.

Fang Qizheng remained silent, obviously agreeing.

But his heart was far from as calm as he appeared on the surface - how much did this female official know?

Shen Zheng touched the shiny black iron ore in his hand and asked Liang Fu, "Will the Ministry of Industry use it?"

When she asked this, Liang Fu immediately understood the answer. After a moment of silence, he said, "Someone in the previous dynasty's Ministry of Industry discovered that when an iron rod rubbed with black iron ore is placed on a copper plate, its position will shift by itself and eventually face the same direction..."

"But the north and south?" Shen Zheng immediately understood that they might have discovered Si Nan.

But the next moment she felt something strange.

Since the Ministry of Industry had already discovered that magnets point north and south, why had she never heard of the term "compass" or "compass" from Liang Fu or Wei Que?

For sailors, without a compass, they can only observe the stars to determine the direction, and it all depends on the mood of God. If God is in a bad mood and there is a little wind or rain, the ship will be like a fly on the roof, flying around aimlessly.

No wonder shipping in the Great Zhou is not well developed nowadays!

Although he knew that Shen Zheng might know something, Liang Fu couldn't hide his shock.

"Yes! It's the north and south!" He was a little excited, and then a little discouraged: "But the result is not always accurate. So some people say it's just a coincidence, but there are still many people who think that this is the characteristic of black iron ore, and it can help us identify the direction."

Even Fang Qizhen had heard of this matter, because at that time the Ministry of Industry was making a big request to the Salt and Iron Bureau for black iron ore, making the matter sound miraculous.