On the 12th, the first batch of wood was transported back. At the same time, carpenters, masons, and blacksmiths from all over the world arrived.
Liu Heng immediately ordered the carpenters to start making the new spinning and weaving machines. He also summoned the female workers to start training and prepare for large-scale production in the short term.
Although it was still winter, the three counties were bustling with activity. The county government and the people were unusually busy. The announcement every two days was a feast for the eyes. Not only did it bring the three counties into a period of rapid change, but it also made the goals clear and guided the people to move in a certain direction.
On the 13th, due to the use of coal, the kiln temperature was greatly increased. The first batch of qualified red bricks was fired in the brick kiln, and the cement was gradually approaching the predetermined requirements.
Upon hearing this news, Liu Heng was overjoyed. He immediately mobilized the county soldiers to transport the first batch of Red Specialists to the county city and asked the masons to study how to use this red brick to build new houses.
Of course, Liu Heng also drew the style and basic structure of the house from his era for reference.
Like carpenters, masons were also stunned when they saw red bricks for the first time. They turned them over and examined them carefully. No matter how hard they tried, they could not guess how this red brick was made. It was many times stronger than adobe. Although it was not as hard as bluestone, red bricks had many advantages that bluestone did not have, such as uniform specifications, easy transportation, convenient construction, and suitable for mass production.
Many masons couldn't help but want to try building a house immediately to see how good this red brick was!
Liu Heng thought about it. Anyway, the cement was not ready yet. It was not a bad idea to let them use the mud from back then to test it.
Hence, in the afternoon, construction of a house by the river in the county city began. The design of the building structure, the digging of the foundation, the laying of red bricks, the tying of vertical lines…the ancient and modern construction techniques began to try to combine and unify.
On the morning of the 14th, Liu Heng was woken up by Jiang Yao's cheerful laughter.
When he went out, he saw Jiang Yao sitting on a stone chair and smiling at the two magpies jumping and chirping on the courtyard wall. They chased each other, flying and landing. Their flapping wings fanned the snow on the wall, and they were gorgeous under the morning sun.
Jiang Yao watched their impromptu performance intently, occasionally turning her head and pouting, and occasionally laughing softly.
Liu Heng stopped and looked around, deeply attracted by the beautiful scenery in front of him…
In the prefecture, the blacksmiths gathered together and whispered, guessing the purpose of the new prefect gathering them. When they saw the prefect enter, they all kowtowed.
"I have gathered you here today to ask for your help.”
"If the prefect has anything to say, just tell me!"
"Alright, in a while, we will set off for Pingping Village to the east of the county city. We will probably stay there for a period of time. Food and lodging will be provided by the county government, so there is no need for you to worry. I only hope that everyone will do their best to complete the work assigned by the prefecture.”
The next day, 300 prefecture soldiers suddenly appeared in Pingping Village, and the entire village was tightly sealed. The people in the village had already received a notice from the prefecture government five days ago to move elsewhere.
At the same time the blacksmith arrived, another 300 or so civilian workers entered. Soon, the road leading to the Gaoxian Iron Mine and the Southeast Coal Mine started construction.
Blacksmiths began to level up the facilities for smelting iron and tried to use coal to smelt iron.
On the 18th, when Liu Heng was still racking his brains for the distribution of industries in the county, the guard reported," Several craftsmen carried a large wooden box to pay their respects to the prefect.
Liu Heng threw the pen on the table and stretched comfortably."Looks like there's good news again!"
As expected, these people were the craftsmen who were testing the firing of porcelain.
The leader kowtowed and said," Reporting to the prefect. We followed the prefect's instructions and after more than a hundred trials, we finally made the first porcelain cellar yesterday. He knew that the prefect had been troubled by this matter, so he sent it over overnight for the prefect to take a look.”
As he spoke, a few people carried in a large wooden box. They opened the lid and took out the porcelain bowls, plates, and plates that were placed in the straw and placed them on the table.
These pieces of porcelain, which were painted according to Liu Heng's request, were well-made, crystal clear, and shiny. They were cool and smooth in his hand, and were definitely not comparable to ordinary pottery and porcelain at that time.
At this time, Qushou and the others arrived after hearing the news. Under Liu Heng's introduction, each of them chose one piece and held it in their hands to examine it carefully. They saw that there were as many as three colors on the porcelain. The shades were appropriate and gorgeous. Their eyes were filled with surprise and admiration. "My lord is a genius. This kind of porcelain is rare in the world and is a priceless treasure. Where did my lord get it?"
Qiushou was the first to speak.
Of course, Liu Heng couldn't tell them that he learned it two thousand years later, so he had to bring up the fake master again.""This was taught to me by my master, but I was naughty when I was young and didn't study what my master made. Sigh, seeing things and thinking of people makes one feel deeply touched!”
In one sentence, the source of this technology was completely sealed. Qiushou didn't think too much about it and continued to praise him.
Chen Hu, on the other hand, looked at it a few times and said happily,""Governor Liu, if we sell such fine porcelain outside, I believe it will fetch a good price.”
"Then how much do you think this item is worth?"
Chen Hu thought for a long time before he gritted his teeth and said,""I won't sell it unless it's 30,000!"
Liu Heng laughed and said,"Thirty thousand is too little. I won't sell it unless it's a hundred thousand!"”
Then he said to the craftsmen," You have worked hard for the past few days. Before you leave, each of you will go to the accountant's office to receive 5,000 yuan. In addition, each of the craftsmen who helped you will receive 1,000 yuan. You will receive it on your behalf."
After he returned, he immediately expanded the scale and handed over the secret of the porcelain produced to Zhao Juncheng.
There are two things that you must pay attention to. First, the porcelain firing process must be kept strictly confidential.
Secondly, you will have to work hard after you return to study whether you can make more styles, such as wine cups, vases, bracelets, and so on.
In addition, there were still too few colors, so he had to continue experimenting. Those who discovered new colors would be rewarded handsomely.”
After the craftsman left, Liu Heng felt relieved. With the porcelain, paper, printing, and textile industries, the county government's construction funds for the next few years were finally secured.
Seeing how much everyone liked it, Liu Heng immediately gave the porcelain pieces to them and sent the samples to Zhao Feng, asking him to prepare to promote them among the rich families.
The initial foundation work of the three counties had already started. What was left was to wait for the development to grow.
The talents in his hands had their own duties. Xun Yu was in charge of the people's livelihood, reorganizing the administration of officials, measuring the land, and arranging the distribution.
Although Zhao Feng was the county magistrate of Right Beiping, ever since he took over the industrial and commercial production, he had never interfered with the affairs of the county. He did his best to help Liu Heng develop the industrial and commercial business, supervise the equipment manufacturing, train the workers, patrol the workshops and kilns, arrange the purchase of raw materials, the production of goods, and organize the sales. There was almost no time for leisure.
Gao Shun stayed in the military camp to train the elite soldiers. According to Liu Heng's plan, he arranged various kinds of training, such as physical fitness, martial arts, battle formations, military postures, and so on. He also tried to carry out moral education to strengthen military discipline and increase combat strength.
Wei Hong and Chen Hu were his assistants, and they were busy patrolling the city defense with Qin Feng and Du Lei to arrange the training of the second-tier troops.
Sun Hong was single-handedly assigned by Liu Heng to be responsible for the protection of the various production workshops, especially the smelting base that was under construction. Every day, there were at least 500 commandery soldiers guarding it. The roads leading to the outside world were strictly guarded by Mingka secret sentries, and the patrols were frequent, almost one team following behind another.
And the busiest of them all was Ju Shou, who was in charge of the central management. He had to coordinate civil affairs, military affairs, and production, causing Yang Ling and Ma Cheng, who were in charge of communicating and sending letters, to complain endlessly.
Wu An was still in charge of the secret agents. Not only did they gradually expand within the three counties, but they also quietly extended to the surrounding counties.
Liu Heng secretly ordered Guo Jia to participate and began training him. The reason why Guo Jia and Wu An were in charge of this task was because they were the most reliable. Needless to say, Wu An regarded Liu Heng as his closest brother and was loyal to him.
Although Guo Jia was close to Xun Yu, according to his daily contact and historical records, he was far from Xun Yu in terms of major policies. He was more open-minded and had a better ability to accept new things than Xun Yu.
The first task that Liu Heng gave them was to build a complete intelligence network. First, they would focus on collecting business information and finding talented people. When the foundation was solid, they would transform into a political and military intelligence network.
Mu Xin was still a diplomatic envoy. Ever since he successfully went to Xianbei, he became more and more confident. Whenever he had free time, he would ask Xun Yu, Ju Shou, and Liu Heng for advice on etiquette and sophistry to constantly enrich his abilities.
Liu Heng was delighted to see this. Other than constantly urging him, he also made him responsible for negotiating with those powerful families that were difficult to deal with to train his talent.
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