Chapter 2075 - Inspecting the Furnace House

Wu Xianlong led them into the foundry. Besides several brick-and-tile workrooms used to store small items and provide shelter for workers during breaks or meals, a vast proportion of the grounds was open space. Nearby stood several furnaces of varying sizes. The largest could smelt pig iron; the smaller ones were used to melt iron for casting.

Beyond the furnaces was a deep pit, roughly four to five meters across, beside which stood a wooden frame and a crane device.

Wu Xianlong explained that this pit was used for casting large items—bells, tripods, cannons, and the like. The molds were placed in the pit and packed with earth all around. Because large castings required enormous quantities of material, a single furnace couldn't produce enough molten metal. Multiple furnaces had to release their molten iron or copper simultaneously. After casting, once cooled, workers would dig it out and hoist the casting free.

Xi Yazhou was quite familiar with this process. When the Fubo Army first began casting cannons, their techniques had been little different. The main advances in Lingao were the large-capacity, high-efficiency reverberatory furnaces that allowed batch casting of cannons, plus iron-mold technology.

Viewed this way, organizing local production of smoothbore cannon barrels for the Army would present no technical difficulty. Naturally, some modernization would be preferable, but the existing local equipment and workers could be used directly. The only missing key equipment was the boring mill for polishing cannon bores.

Xi Yazhou was considering cannon production because the smoothbore guns used by the artillery were almost all cast iron—their barrel life far shorter than bronze barrels, requiring replacement after roughly 200-300 firings. If production could be organized locally in Foshan, the artillery could repair and resupply nearby. Moreover, as occupied territory expanded and more fortified positions required garrisoning, more cannons would be needed. Often, a single cannon blast was enough to shatter the fighting spirit of undisciplined bandits or rebel soldiers.

He looked around and his eyes lit up: not far away, under a reed-mat shed, several Red-Barbarian cannons lay horizontally.

Red-Barbarian cannons were essentially European half-culverin or culverin types. Their casting technology differed little from Napoleon guns. If this foundry could cast Red-Barbarian cannons, casting Napoleon gun barrels would be no problem.

Wu Xianlong noticed the "true Australian's" expression change at the sight of the Red-Barbarian cannons. He hastily explained: "These Ming cannons were ordered by the government and assigned to our foundry. This humble one didn't want to accept the job..."

These cannons had been requisitioned by Xiong Wenchan and assigned to Foshan's furnace operators as "corvée procurement." Such government contracts were never welcome. Though payment was supposedly made according to official rates for labor and materials, in practice the rates were too low and caused losses, or payment was endlessly delayed—sometimes for a year or more until the matter was forgotten entirely.

But when the Governor-General assigned quotas, no one dared refuse. After much bargaining within the furnace guild, it was finally decided that each foundry would contribute labor and materials according to size, with the largest foundries undertaking the actual casting. If the government paid anything, it would be refunded proportionally.

"That's nothing to worry about," Xi Yazhou said, in good spirits. "You're just ordinary people—could you have said no?"

"Yes, yes—the Leader is quite right!" Wu Xianlong exhaled in relief and quickly added: "This humble one is willing to present all these cannons to the Council of Elders."

"Your attitude is good. But I'm currently on campaign and cannot accept them formally." Xi Yazhou turned to Lin Ming. "You'll handle this. When the Enterprise Planning Institute's people arrive, bring them to receive these cannons."

Lin Ming quickly replied, "Understood."

Xi Yazhou noticed that the foundry's reed-mat sheds were piled with iron pots—so many, large and small, that there must be a thousand or more. Upon inquiry, he learned these were all destined for export. Iron pots were Foshan's largest and most famous product in this era, sold throughout the seven southern provinces domestically and across all of East and Southeast Asia. Particularly the oceangoing vessels—almost all carried iron pots as cargo or provisions. Even European traders purchased large quantities through Portuguese merchants in Macau for the Southeast Asian trade.

The pots came in many varieties. Large ones included sugar cauldrons, deep-sevens, deep-sixes, ox-ones, ox-twos. Smaller ones included ox-threes, ox-fours, ox-fives. There were also three-opening, five-opening, and handleless pots like ox-chief and Qing-gu—all sorts of sizes and styles. Besides cooking, they were used for boiling sugar and rendering cocoons.

Apart from iron pots, there were many large round iron plates. Xi Yazhou couldn't tell what they were for. Upon asking, he learned they were used by coastal salt workers for evaporating brine.

With transport severed, these finished pots and pans couldn't be shipped out. Left sitting in the sheds, they had already begun to rust. Wu Xianlong lamented again.

The yard was piled with pig iron ingots, charcoal, and furnace ash—but no coal. Upon inquiry, he learned the local smelting industry didn't use coal.

"It's not that there's no coal—buying coal is actually cheaper than charcoal. But smelting with coal makes things dirty, and the iron quality suffers." Wu Xianlong explained that furnace operators who used coal found their iron became brittle and quality declined. After a few experiments, everyone preferred expensive charcoal to coal.

"Everyone says Guangdong iron is good because of the iron sand, but in my humble opinion, Guangdong iron is good precisely because we use charcoal, not coal."

Xi Yazhou was somewhat surprised. Coal contains sulfur; without coking to remove it, coal-smelted iron indeed becomes brittle. But this was only understood after modern chemistry and metallography developed. In ancient times, most people couldn't explain the phenomenon—even a scientist like Song Yingxing knew Guangdong iron was superior but couldn't analyze precisely why. Some attributed it to yin-yang and Five Elements theory. Yet this furnace operator, through experience alone, understood "why Guangdong iron is good."

It seemed ancient China had no shortage of technical talent—what it lacked were people who could record, systematize, and disseminate such technical discoveries. In that context, Song Yingxing—who had written The Exploitation of the Works of Nature—could truly be called a "remarkable man." Thinking of Song Yingxing reminded him of something. He murmured a few words to a messenger, who immediately ran off.

"Everything here is castings!" Xi Yazhou remarked. "Don't you make anything else?"

Wu Xianlong quickly replied, "There's specialization in every trade. My family has made bells, tripods, incense burners, cannons, and iron pots for generations—crude, heavy things. If it's farm tools, silk-shears, vegetable cleavers—those are made by other workshops. Though we're all in the furnace guild, we produce different goods."

He explained that Foshan's so-called Furnace House Guild actually encompassed many trades: iron pot makers, founders, steel-puddlers, wire-drawers, locksmiths, farm-tool and sundry-goods makers, nail-makers, and more. Anything involving iron smelting or metal processing belonged to this guild. In their heyday, there had been three to five hundred firms.

"In recent years, though, things have been bad. Many colleagues have failed—" Here he bit back his words, for the failures had been caused by the flood of "Australian iron." Saying so might anger this "true Australian."

Xi Yazhou appeared not to notice, pressing: "Why did they fail?"

Wu Xianlong groaned inwardly but had to answer, stammering: "Their craftsmanship was inferior, couldn't match imported goods... prices too high..."

"Because of Australian ironware?"

Wu Xianlong smiled awkwardly but dared not speak.

"If the craftsmanship is lacking, the Council of Elders can teach them," Xi Yazhou said. "Your production techniques and equipment are really too backward."

Wu Xianlong hastened to agree. "Yes, yes, yes. We're narrow-minded. We've always known that the Great Song's hundred crafts are incomparably exquisite."

"When I have time, I'll send some people to guide your production."

Wu Xianlong was startled—what sort of move was this? If the "Elder" wanted his business, that would be a simple matter of one word. Why bother with "guidance"?

But he dared not refuse, and murmured another string of "yes, yes" replies.

Xi Yazhou noticed the foundry grounds were piled with pig iron ingots—some disc-shaped, some square blocks—and asked about their origins.

"They're produced all over the province. Luoding and Dong'an produce the most." Wu Xianlong said the best pig iron came from the Datangji furnaces in Luoding—all so-called "standard iron," with a "lustrous sheen," soft and ductile. It was used for wire-drawing but also excellent for pot-casting.

"Is there a tax on pig iron?"

"Of course. Just outside Guangzhou is the Official Iron Works. Anyone wanting to mine ore and smelt iron must obtain a license there first."

Iron merchants went to the iron works outside Guangzhou to obtain permits, which allowed them to enter the mountains under the Guangdong Provincial Administration's authorization. After smelting, they transported the pig iron back to the works to verify permits and pay taxes.

The tax rate was not high. In the Hongwu reign, it had been "two parts per thirty." Now it was two taels of silver per ten thousand jin of pig iron arriving at the works. After paying, they received another ticket allowing sale. Buyers also had to verify the ticket and pay taxes: eight qian per ten thousand jin of pig iron, one tael two qian per ten thousand jin of wrought iron.

(End of Chapter)