At this time, although the Royal Ironworks was still under construction, some of the earthen blast furnaces that had been built on the site had already started production, and thousands of craftsmen and tens of thousands of people were working hard.

Now, with the improvement and guidance of the engineering college, the blast furnaces in the ironmaking plant can produce more than 10,000 jin per day. In total, this one factory alone can produce 4 million jin a year, which is more than one-third of the national output in the past.

(Historical records show that the annual iron production of the Han Dynasty was 5,000 tons, or 10 million catties! That's just over one-third of the 28 million catties produced during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty!)

Inside the ironworks, Zhao Ning, holding the approval slip issued by Zhao Zhong, found Guo Sheng, the eunuch in charge of managing the place.

"Hmm, this piece of paper is fine. You can buy iron from our factory..."

Guo Sheng took the approval slip from Zhao Ning, first checked the seals of the Royal Trading Company and Zhao Zhong, and then carefully examined the material of the approval slip to confirm that there were no problems before finally approving Zhao Ning's purchase request.

"Thank you very much, Director Guo!!"

Seeing that the matter of buying iron had finally been settled and the biggest problem had been solved, Zhao Ning couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Guo Sheng smiled upon seeing this, "Hehe, don't rush to thank me. Buying iron is a very important matter. Although we can sell it to you, you will need to pay a deposit of 50 million coins based on the amount you purchase."

We will also send people to supervise you, and only after we confirm that you have successfully forged all the iron into farm tools will we return it to you!

Zhao Ning quickly replied, "No problem... I will send you the payment and deposit very soon!"

Zhao Ning didn't think much about things like supervision and security deposits. After all, iron is a very complex commodity, so it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.

"That's good!!"

Guo Sheng then signed his name on the approval slip.

"Master Zhao, you can take the approval slip to the warehouse to pick up the goods now. As for the payment and deposit, we will send someone to accompany you back!"

As they were talking, Guo Sheng handed the approval slip back to Zhao Ning.

"This... could you please ask Factory Manager Guo to wait three days?" Zhao Ning took the approval slip and looked at Guo Sheng with a troubled expression.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"To be honest, I didn't expect the iron purchase to go so smoothly. There's so much iron that we can't transport it all back home in one go, so I need to hurry back and organize a transport team..."

Now that the problem of buying iron has been solved, how to transport it back as soon as possible has become a problem facing Zhao Ning.

"A transport team? Doesn't Patriarch Zhao know about it?"

"Know what??"

Zhao Ning looked at Guo Sheng with a puzzled expression, somewhat confused.

Guo Sheng laughed and said, "The Royal Trading Company bought several thousand warhorses discarded by the Northern Army and the Imperial Guard a couple of days ago and set up a transport team. You can hire them there!"

"Oh? Is that so? That's wonderful!"

Upon hearing about the transport team Guo Sheng mentioned, Zhao Ning couldn't help but show a delighted expression.

Zhao Ning then left the ironworks and returned to the Royal Trading Company, where he quickly completed the formalities for hiring the Royal Transport Team.

Soon, Zhao Ning led the royal transport team to the ironworks, loaded the iron blocks they needed to buy, and left Luoyang for his workshop.

Zhao Ning sat in the carriage on his way home in a very pleasant mood. The convenience and speed of the royal transport team saved him several days, which he could use to focus on production and manufacturing.

Most importantly, according to Zhao Ning's calculations, hiring the royal transport team was about 40% cheaper than organizing his own transport team, which saved Zhao Ning a lot of money.

The next day, Zhao Ning led a well-organized and large transport team back home, which made him very excited. Having saved so many days, he was sure he would be able to exceed the court's expectations this time.

Meanwhile, Zhao Zhong immediately sent people to spread the news that Zhao Ning had bought iron from the Royal Merchant Guild.

When people learned that Zhao Ning had transported 50,000 jin of iron from the Royal Trading Company in less than two days, they were truly astonished by the Royal Trading Company's efficiency.

The Zhen family, the Mi family, and other families facing iron shortages also flocked to the Royal Trading Company.

The power of the Royal Merchant Guild has once again refreshed people's understanding. If buying iron can be so convenient and fast, what else can't they do?

The emergence of the Royal Transport Corps, in particular, made them truly understand what organized logistics is all about; as long as you're willing to pay, there's nowhere I can't deliver to.

In a short time, with the purchasing demands of various families, the ironworks became busy, and Guo Sheng also began to provide extra meals and pay to the craftsmen and laborers to speed up production.

Soon a new problem arose: due to the production at the ironworks and the construction of the glass factory, coupled with the demand in Hejian for refined salt and imperial wine, a coal shortage emerged.

Therefore, the Royal Trading Company also found those families that purchased coal, not only buying up all the coal in their stockpiles, but also signing a large number of long-term purchase orders with them.

Those families originally thought that winter was coming to an end and the coal market would disappear, but who would have thought that they would suddenly receive such a large order.

People who had already made a fortune from coal once again began to organize and recruit a large number of people and civilians to rush to western Liaoning to buy coal.

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