Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 61, Hey? Bro, you're too ruthless.

Cao Wenda led Lin Zhou to an open space about five miles outside the city. The scenery was quite nice, nestled against the mountains and beside the water. He gestured with his hands, saying, "This area, within a mile radius, is all your land, brother. We were planning to build a workshop here. What do you think of this piece of land? Is it suitable?"

His face beamed with excitement, spittle flying from his lips: "Brother, look at this place! There are plenty of trees on the mountain, just cut them down and you'll have plenty of timber! There's a river right next to it, easy to get water! And the road is there too, fifteen miles to the north is the dock, and to the south it leads straight to Lin'an City! I bought this land because I knew it was going to take off!"

Lin Zhou didn't reply immediately. He put his hands on his hips, squinted, and looked at the overgrown wasteland.

While Cao Wenda's excited plans filled his ears, his mind raced through the blueprints and key points given by Xiao Deng, a science student: the blast furnace needed to be located in a sheltered area, the raw material storage area needed to be nearby, the finished product area needed to be easily accessible, and space needed to be reserved for future expansion...

"Brother Cao, wait a minute." Lin Zhou interrupted him, pointing to a sheltered spot on the riverbank: "The blast furnace... that's the main furnace for steelmaking, it has to be placed there. This thing can't be too close to water, the dampness will easily damage the furnace. It also can't be too close to the mountain, in case of a fire, the whole mountain would be a disaster."

Cao Wenda was taken aback and leaned closer to look: "There? The terrain there is uneven."

"Whether it's level or not, dig it!" Lin Zhou said firmly. "Brother Cao, we're not doing this kind of business of building a shed. How much is a monthly output of 300,000 catties of refined steel worth? The furnace is our lifeline, so the foundation must be solid, without any sloppiness. We need to first use a mixture of lime, sand, and clay as a base, then build it with blue bricks, and then line it with special refractory clay... I'll give you the formula for this clay later."

As he spoke, he pulled a crumpled roll of thick paper from his pocket. This was a simplified "first-phase layout sketch of a traditional steel plant" based on the conditions of the Song Dynasty. The drawing had straight lines, clear area divisions, and dense annotations in tiny regular script.

Cao Wenda took it and frowned as he looked at it. He was a former head manager and had seen the world, but he had never seen such an elaborate workshop layout before.

The areas for raw material pretreatment, coke preparation, blast furnace, blast furnace, molten steel casting, and waste disposal are clearly marked, with arrows indicating the flow of people and materials.

"Brother...you're going to be too meticulous." Cao Wenda clicked his tongue, feeling that things were ten times more complicated than he had imagined: "How much money will this cost? How many people? How much time?"

Upon seeing these things, his meticulous and calculating nature resurfaced. He initially thought that ten thousand or so strings of cash would be enough, but after going through all the twists and turns, he discovered that things were far more complicated than he had imagined.

Lin Zhou then pulled out all his savings and slapped them into Cao Wenda's hand. He took a deep breath and said with a hint of helplessness, "Brother Cao, all my savings are here."

"No, no, that won't work."

Cao Wenda immediately waved his hand. He was a very shrewd man. This matter was ordered by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister had a characteristic: he never let his subordinates pay for things. This was his rule and one of the foundations of his ability to wield power in the court.

This made Lin Zhou spend money, and it seemed that he could make some money in the short term. But nothing stays secret forever. If the Prime Minister found out that he had broken his rules, he would not only lose his good days, but he would also lose half his life.

"Brother, don't worry about the money. As long as you can get things done, everything else is negotiable! Just don't fail to meet the target of 300,000 catties a month. Otherwise, I won't be able to explain myself, and you'll probably be in trouble too..."

Lin Zhou patted his chest and said, "As long as you can build it according to these blueprints, I can't guarantee anything else, but 300,000 catties of refined steel, that's more than enough every month. If you're short even one catty, you can cut off my head."

These words had a rough, unrefined,江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) feel to them, and although Cao Wenda had some doubts, he could only grit his teeth and accept it.

"Brother Cao, let's stop dawdling and gather the craftsmen to get to work!"

"all!"

With orders given from above, efficiency was naturally high, and several master craftsmen arrived before dark.

The contracting system in the Song Dynasty was actually quite similar to that of later periods. It was generally divided into the Ministry of Works' crafts and the private crafts. The Ministry of Works' crafts had six departments, each with its own focus. For example, the first and second departments focused on bridge and road construction, the third department was good at water conservancy, and the fourth department undertook royal tasks such as the construction of the imperial palace and imperial mausoleum. The fifth and sixth departments usually took on these outsourced tasks.

For folk crafts, the price is cheaper, but the craftsmanship is relatively rougher. Cao Wenda dared not mess around in such a "monopoly" project, so he immediately called over the people from the Sixth Division of the Crafts Bureau.

The master craftsman from the Ministry of Works naturally had the air of authority. When he first arrived here and met Lin Zhou, he was arrogant and haughty. When Lin Zhou came up to discuss the blueprints with him, the master craftsman turned his face away and pretended to refuse to receive him.

"It's just a workshop, it's not up to you, a mere child, to interfere."

Lin Zhou was too lazy to argue with him, and simply took out the stack of manuscript paper: "Go ahead and finish it in seventeen days."

The master craftsman lowered his head and began to look at the manuscript. When he looked up again, his eyes were as clear as those of a recent college graduate.

"Just do it." Lin Zhou was too lazy to explain. "Leave the professional stuff to the professionals. Get started."

The master craftsman, who was nearly fifty years old, was behaving like a greenhorn. He could understand the blueprints, but he had never seen any of the terms like refractory bricks, coke, or gas before.

"This... oxygen tank is..."

"I don't know, just build it. If it explodes, it explodes. If it explodes, it means your project failed inspection."

Lin Zhou had his hands behind his back, and all he was missing was an administrative jacket. Although he wasn't an official, he had the air of one.

The master craftsman approached Cao Wenda: "Manager Cao... that young man is throwing a tantrum, you see... if this delays the project..."

Cao Wenda had grown up to be Lin Zhou's age back then, and he had been tormented by these people quite a bit when he was handling things. Seeing the master craftsman's attitude, he also raised his chin and said, "I don't know. Let the Prime Minister decide. I've paid the money and provided the design. If it can't be built, can I blame others?"

The master craftsman was now completely flustered. He paced around anxiously, his previous arrogance completely gone.

On the contrary, Cao Wenda walked up to Lin Zhou and said with a smile, "It's okay. I know these people's character too well. If we don't teach them a lesson, they won't know their own limitations. They're used to bullying others."

"Tch." Lin Zhou curled her lip. "These bastards are just asking for it. They bully anyone who treats them like human beings. Just watch me teach them a lesson and that'll be the end of it."

"The construction period..."

"If they won't do it, there are plenty of others who would. Go back and tell your superiors that these people are putting on airs and bullying others. I don't care about fame or fortune anymore; I won't tolerate this kind of bullying. At worst, I'll just stop getting involved in this Song-Jin friendship thing. I'm rich; I'm not afraid of not having a young and beautiful wife."

Lin Zhou stood there with his hands behind his back. Cao Wenda knew he was just saying it out of anger; if he really didn't want to, he would have left already. But he didn't say anything. Instead, he walked up to the master craftsman and sighed, "Look at you all, what are you doing putting on this act? Young people have a lot of tempers!"

With one playing the good cop and the other the bad cop, and this being the Prime Minister's project, the master craftsman was completely stumped.

"Manager Cao, I just wanted to deflate his arrogance... I really didn't mean it, I..."

"What's the use of telling me? Let's change the person." Cao Wenda waved his hand: "Go, bring Master Zhou here, and you can get some rest."

The group left looking dejected. Cao Wenda walked up to Lin Zhou again and smiled at him: "Brother Lin, although you're not an official, you're certainly putting on a show of authority."

"Even if you haven't eaten pork, you've seen pigs run, right?" Lin Zhou sneered. "If we show the slightest weakness, these people will definitely have us completely under their thumb. If something really goes wrong, won't they blame it all on us?"

"Yes, yes, that's right. These people are extremely wicked." Cao Wenda agreed wholeheartedly: "Back when my brother first entered the industry, he was as innocent as a blank sheet of paper and was bullied by these scoundrels quite a bit."

"We're not in a rush. We'll keep going until we're satisfied. If there's a delay, so be it. If there's a delay, we'll make them work overtime. We'll have the workers work in three shifts, four hours a shift. Don't let any of them get any sleep." Lin Zhou rolled his eyes. "If something goes wrong, they'll have to take responsibility themselves. They're too green to play these tricks on me."

"hiss……"

Cao Wenda took a deep breath and looked at Lin Zhou in astonishment. Although he knew that Lin Zhou was not a very decent person, he did not expect him to be so ruthless. What kind of four-hour shifts were these? Even corvée labor was not this exhausting...

"Brother Cao, when the new master craftsmen arrive, tell them it's four-hour shifts, no stopping for a moment on the construction site, and forget about days off. New Year's? What New Year's my foot! They're all working here. If I can't go home for the New Year, none of them will have an easy time either." Lin Zhou spat on the ground. "If they refuse, don't tolerate it. Replace them directly. If that doesn't work, we'll go to the south city to recruit people! I can handle them when it comes to doing some work."