Chapter 970
Hu Hu
Chapter 970 Hu Hu
Pan Yun: "I believe you, but the smelting technology has not made any significant progress in many years, and you are not in a hurry."
Hu Cheng muttered, "A person's energy is limited. I've put all my energy into cannon research."
Pan Yun: "That means the research wasn't thorough enough. Don't cannons use steel and iron? How can cannons be improved without improving the materials? And if we're going to improve the materials, how can we not improve the methods of smelting them?"
Hu Cheng had nothing to say.
Pan Yun unfolded the blueprints. The iron ore they had discovered and mined was only a small part of what would become of it in later generations. There were still many iron ore mines in other places that had not been discovered or mined.
Hu Cheng leaned closer: "Grand Preceptor, are we going to develop an iron mine next?"
Pan Yun nodded.
Hu Cheng: "For the construction of that railway?"
"Steel has many uses, and besides, if I'm going to build a railway, how can I only build one?"
Hu Cheng swallowed hard and looked at Chen Feng: "Chen, you said last time that you wanted to modify the iron smelting furnace?"
“Yes,” Chen Feng stepped forward and said, “The first thing to do when turning iron into steel is temperature. Raising the temperature and speeding up the heating process can increase the ironmaking rate and steelmaking rate. I have discovered that we can add a heat storage chamber to the furnace.”
Pan Jun's eyes lit up, and she immediately turned to face him: "Has there been any progress?"
Chen Feng blushed slightly and said softly, "The existing furnaces are all usable, and we can't delay iron smelting. We'll have to build another furnace, but it might not be successful, and it will cost a lot. The ministers are impeaching me for wasting the people's wealth, so..."
Pan Yun looked at Hu Cheng.
Hu Cheng immediately said, "The national treasury is empty. What could be more important than this? The court officials are vehemently opposing it, and even Minister Chen is not confident about this matter, so..."
Pan Yun said, "I've come to ask the Emperor for money. Eunuch Chen, get ready. I'll give you some blueprints and some materials later. Study them yourself and make sure to improve the iron and steel smelting technology, especially the cold forging and quenching process."
She said, "Steel produced by this process will not corrode or rust for a hundred years, and railways built with it can last for a hundred years."
Chen Feng didn't know what a railway was. Did they mean to lay iron sheets on the road?
How do those carriages and horses move? Don't they slip and get hurt?
Chen Feng had many questions in his mind, but he secretly glanced at Hu Cheng and wisely kept quiet.
Pan Yun had already memorized the map. She casually handed the map back to Hu Cheng and asked, "Who in the ministry knows how to explore for iron ore? Let them go out and find new iron ore."
Hu Cheng: "...Usually, the local authorities report it, and then we send people to verify it. If it's true, we send people from the internal factory to mine it, specifically to search and explore. Nowadays, manpower is limited..."
Pan Yun understood immediately and sighed, “The court is always complaining about redundant officials, but there are no people available in many places. Not only are there officials and craftsmen in our Ministry of Works who are exploring for minerals, but also many of the state, county, and township schools under the Ministry of Rites are drawing salaries without working. However, the schools are extremely short of teachers. It has been seventy years since Emperor Taizu established schools to promote education, so why is the literacy rate of men in the countryside only 30% to 40%, and that of women only 10%?”
Hu Cheng blinked: "Grand Preceptor, why don't you move east to the Ministry of Rites next door?"
This matter isn't under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works!
Pan Yun glanced at him, snorted, and actually turned and went to the Ministry of Rites next door.
The Minister of Rites was also surnamed Hu, named Hu Ying, with the courtesy name Yuanjie, and he also had a pen name, Jie'an.
He was not only one of the five ministers entrusted by Emperor Xuanzong, who served as Minister of Rites for ten years, but also a physician.
If he hadn't become an official, Pan Yun felt he would have been her colleague.
Even when only a very small number of people knew of the existence of cultivators, he dared to risk his reputation by recommending people related to cultivators.
After Pan Yun became the Imperial Preceptor, he remained largely silent in court. However, Pan Yun could sense that he was the person in court who had the best impression of her, even more so than Yu Qian, with whom she often collaborated.
Of course, Xue Shao is an exception.
However, she and this old minister have never spoken. Pan Yun suddenly appeared outside the Minister of Rites' official residence, raised her hand and knocked on the door. The door creaked open, making a long, seductive "creak-creak" sound.
Pan Yun: ...
Wasn't this door already broken?
Pan Jun couldn't help but glance inside.
The white-bearded old man sitting behind the table inside deftly wrapped up a paper package on the table, pulled open a drawer, stuffed it inside, stroked his beard, chewed quickly a few times, then sat up straight, looked at the door, and said in a deep voice, "Come in."
Pan Jun quickly looked away, paused for a moment, and then pushed open the door, which was already a third open.
"Squeak-yah-"
Another enchanting sound.
Pan Yun couldn't help but look down at the corner of the door.
Hu Yuanjie squinted. Pan Yun was backlit, and it took him a while to recognize her: "Imperial Preceptor?"
Pan Yun bowed respectfully and said, "Lord Hu."
Seeing that she bowed deeply, Hu Yuanjie stood up and reached out to help her up: "Grand Preceptor, there's no need for such formality?"
Pan Yun never bowed to the emperor like that, did he?
Pan Yun looked at the kind-faced Hu Yuanjie and smiled gently: "I dare not be disrespectful to an elder."
Hu Yuanjie couldn't help but stroke his beard and laugh, making the wrinkles on his face come alive.
Hu Yuanjie stepped aside to let Pan Yun sit down.
Pan Jun walked over and sat down, only then noticing the sweet fragrance emanating from the desk.
She sniffed and laughed, "Is it osmanthus cake?"
Hu Yuanjie laughed and took out half a packet of osmanthus cake from the drawer: "Osmanthus cake from Guiyuan, would the Imperial Preceptor like to try some?"
The osmanthus cake was pure white, but it was decorated with a few golden osmanthus flowers. Pan Yun picked up a piece, tasted it, and nodded: "Delicious."
Hu Yuanjie smiled happily and picked up a piece. Before he could eat it, Pan Yun tilted his head and asked, "But is it not suitable for Lord Hu's health to eat too much?"
Hu Yuanjie paused, unable to put the osmanthus cake in her hand into her mouth.
The old man and the young man looked at each other for a moment. In the end, Hu Yuanjie put down the osmanthus cake in his hand, sighed and said, "I am seventy years old. How many more years do I have to live? It's hard to even eat anything good."
After looking him up and down, Pan Jun smiled and said, "But I see that you are destined for a long life. You could live another 10 or 20 years without any problem. However, if you indulge yourself, things may change."
Pan Yun, holding the remaining half of the osmanthus cake in her hand, said, "Appetite is also a desire, and it is also a kind of greed."
Upon hearing that he could live for another twenty years, Hu Yuanjie immediately put down the osmanthus cake in his hand and asked with a smile, "The Imperial Preceptor never visits the Three Treasures Hall without a reason. May I ask what brings you here this time?"
Pan Yun: "I encountered some difficulties at the Ministry of Works next door, and I have come to ask for your advice, sir."
Pan Yun spoke of the Ministry of Works' lack of personnel: "Besides the Ministry of Works, other ministries also lack relevant personnel, and the situation is even worse in local areas. The more detailed the area, the more people are lacking. However, our Great Ming is clearly plagued by a serious problem of overstaffing. Not to mention that Grand Secretary Yu has submitted several memorials on the issue of overstaffing, I myself have seen many instances of empty salaries and redundant personnel in the court, with four or five people doing the work of one person."
Hu Yuanjie stroked his beard and smiled slightly, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes gathering together: "The Grand Preceptor isn't confused, but rather telling me that you want to reform."
(End of this chapter)