Chapter 158 Settlement of Accounts

"Father, you just saw it. This steel furnace is not something that can be built casually with money."

"You don't know, in order to build such a big thing, many craftsmen almost lost their lives. In fact, from the beginning, I and those craftsmen were counting on this thing to earn some hard-earned money."

"From the beginning, I actually didn't know this thing could be made, but these craftsmen trusted me and worked hard to make it. In the end, you just said one word. How should I deal with this?"

Old Zhu's face wrinkled into a ball, but he didn't know what to say to Zhu Chong. He always believed in keeping his word.

"So what do you want? I've already given you 100,000 strings of cash. Besides, this is a matter of national importance. The Ministry of Industry is counting on you to put it in the pot just now. Don't challenge my patience!"

Your patience is bullshit! Even if you want to kill me now, you can't take this thing away!

Zhu Chong had basically tested out Old Zhu's bottom line, and he knew what he was talking about, so he was in a good position to talk.

"Father, you misunderstood me. How can I, along with these artisans, sacrifice public service for personal gain? The Ministry of Works needs steel, and I will give it to them. But please leave at least some hard-earned money for the artisans. I know the Ministry of Works is quite wealthy."

"I can sell it to the Ministry of Industry at a price 50% lower than the market price. No, 60% lower. I will give them whatever the Ministry of Industry wants. I won't give them any discounts. But they have to bring their own people to take the steel away."

"Father, you just saw it. Moving such a large furnace to the Ministry of Industry is a huge undertaking!"

"Even if I were to work tirelessly from now on, leading the craftsmen and instructing the Ministry of Works to rebuild one, it would still take at least ten days, half a month, or even longer. Wouldn't this delay important matters of state?"

"As you can see, there are still many steps and time left between transporting the steel from me and refining it in the Ministry of Industry. I don't believe that the Ministry of Industry is short of hundreds of thousands of kilograms of steel right now."

Zhu Chong's purpose is actually very simple. You can't move the furnace, and even if you can, it will cause a lot of trouble. It is better to buy the steel directly from the Baochao Tizhusi. He won't make much money from you. Just buy it at 40% of the market price. Anyway, you can't get it for free!

Old Zhu frowned when he heard what Zhu Chong said. He could see that moving the steel furnace would be a huge project. By the time the Ministry of Industry could do it, the war might have already broken out. By then, everything would be meaningless.

So Old Zhu looked behind him, found the Minister of Works Qin Kui in the crowd, and waved to him.

Qin Kui hurried to Lao Zhu and knelt down. At this moment, his heart was filled with a great sense of happiness.

The recent period has been the most difficult time in his life. Because the Ministry of Industry lacks sufficient steel, he is almost ready to write a suicide note.

After all, the hole in the armory is too big. Even if the Ministry of Industry mobilizes all the craftsmen now, it will be too difficult to plug any hole.

But unexpectedly, Zhu Chong gave him a pleasant surprise. The Baochao Tizhusi was "not doing its job" and actually made a steel furnace. Qin Kui roughly estimated that the molten steel just produced was enough for the Ministry of Works to use to plug the hole in the arsenal!

As for what Zhu Chong said about asking the Ministry of Industry to pay for the purchase of steel, he didn't take it to heart at all, and he even ignored the details about how much discount the purchase would get.

After all, as Zhu Chong said, the Ministry of Works still has a lot of spare money in its account, so even if it buys at the market price, it will not be a problem, not to mention the 40% discount that Zhu Chong mentioned.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works is currently short of 100,000 jin of steel. I am willing to pay for this batch of steel from His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin!"

Hearing Qin Kui say this, Zhu Chong was immediately happy. He bypassed Old Zhu and decided with Qin Kui on the spot how to purchase the steel.

The market price of one hundred thousand jin of steel was three taels of silver per jin. Zhu Chong directly cut off most of the price and gave the Ministry of Works one tael of silver per jin.

Although it seems like a loss, 100,000 jin is still 100,000 strings of cash. Using 100,000 strings of cash to purchase 100,000 jin of steel is completely different from using 100,000 strings of cash to buy all the steelmaking equipment as Zhu just said.

For Zhu Chong, one hundred thousand kilograms of steel is at most one day's output. As long as the steelmaking furnace remains in the Baochao Tizhusi, this business can continue.

Qin Kui did not say anything after listening to what Zhu Chong said. It was true that the quality of Zhu Chong's steel was too good. In his opinion, Zhu Chong had suffered a great loss.

But Lao Zhu was not happy when he heard it. "Wait a minute, don't agree to it yet. Lao Er, there must be something fishy going on here!"

In fact, Old Zhu also felt that Zhu Chong was at a disadvantage at the beginning, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that the account could not be calculated the way he thought.

Although the money was paid by the Ministry of Works, in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, the Ministry of Works' money was also the court's money, and the court's money was his own money. His second son was still calculating.

He made all kinds of excuses and was unwilling to send the steel furnace to the Ministry of Industry. He was only willing to sell steel to the Ministry of Industry. It was obvious that there was something fishy going on.

"Second brother, you said the market price is three taels of silver per pound of steel, but judging by your steelmaking speed, you can make it in two days at most. Even if you sell it at a discount to the Ministry of Industry, you're still making a huge profit!"

In just one or two days, he earned 100,000 strings of cash. This was faster than robbery. Old Zhu was jealous!

Old Zhu's peasant mentality began to take over. He didn't want to suffer any loss, even if it was his own son making money from him!

Zhu Chong immediately put on a shocked expression, "Father, how did you calculate this? You can't say it like that!"

"Don't you know that steelmaking first requires wrought iron? Wrought iron is made from pig iron, and pig iron is made from iron ore. You should be aware of the labor and complex process involved."

"I have truly followed your wishes and wholeheartedly considered the interests of the Ministry of Works. This little money is only enough to purchase ore and pay the craftsmen a small amount of wages. You don't think I am profiting from this, do you?"

"Isn't it?" Old Zhu, now possessed by his old peasant mentality, was convinced that Zhu Chong was up to something. "Do you think I don't know how much a pound of iron ore costs? You're not very naive if you want to deceive me!"

After hearing what Old Zhu said, Zhu Chong was sure that Old Zhu knew nothing and was just looking for trouble out of jealousy!

"Father, let me do the math. Normal pig iron must be hammered and forged before it becomes wrought iron. Each round of hammering is called a fire or a refining. The entire process takes a skilled blacksmith a full day."

"I won't mention the loss during the process of refining pig iron from iron ore. Let's just talk about the process of turning pig iron into wrought iron. After hammering, at least three-tenths of it will be lost. In other words, 30% of ten pounds of pig iron will be lost during the hammering process, leaving only seven pounds of wrought iron."