Chongzhen Chat Group

At this time, on the streets of the capital, with the passage of time, the depression caused by the Jianqi invasion of the capital has become less and less obvious. As food is no longer so tight, the flow of people on the streets is returning to the previous level.

In the bustling crowd, there were some strong men in rich clothes hiding in the crowd, pretending to look at the surrounding shops, but their eyes were never fixed on one place.

In the middle of these strong men in brocade clothes, Emperor Chongzhen, dressed in casual clothes, surrounded by five or six people including Fang Zhenghua, was watching the excitement on both sides of the street with great interest.

But to be honest, although the capital of the Ming Dynasty is already one of the busiest and most prosperous cities in this era. But in the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen who traveled from later generations, it was just that, and it was still not as exciting as later generations. At least there will be no traffic jams on the streets at this time.

Emperor Chongzhen would walk in and take a look when he saw a shop he was interested in. But every time he entered, Fang Zhenghua and other five or six people who were escorting him came in together, making the store feel crowded. Because of this, when he got there, it became boring to enter even the not-so-large shops.

As he was walking, he suddenly saw a shop selling ironware in front of him. Emperor Chongzhen immediately thought of firearms, cannons, swords, guns, swords and halberds.

During this time, he was also worried about the equipment of the new army, especially the artillery. The cycle of building one was extremely long, at least three or four months, and there were various flaws, which made him very dissatisfied. Although a large reward has been offered to the craftsmen to find a solution, until now, no satisfactory solution has been presented. Now that he saw the blacksmith shop, he became a little interested and walked over to take a look.

"Sir, please come in!" The waiter who was busy at the door saw Emperor Chongzhen wearing brocade clothes and having an entourage, so he knew he was a wealthy man. He hurriedly greeted him and greeted him attentively, "All kinds of iron utensils in our store are well made. Affordable prices, guaranteed to satisfy you.”

However, before he could get close to Emperor Chongzhen, he was arbitrarily blocked by the guards, which made him a little embarrassed. Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and strolled inside, asking with interest on his face: "What kind of ironware do you have in this shop?"

The waiter must have seen the world and knew that some rich kids have strict rules, so he didn't care about being stopped. Instead, he immediately and enthusiastically welcomed the guests inside and introduced enthusiastically: "Our store has all kinds of iron products." Farm tools, as well as iron tools used for road construction, digging, and gravel crushing, are all made of high-quality iron materials. If you don’t believe me, take a look..."

As he spoke, he pointed at the various samples displayed inside.

Emperor Chongzhen walked into the store and took a look around. Sure enough, he found that the store was relatively large, with various household ironware on display, such as iron pots, iron forks, etc., as well as iron plows and shovels used in the fields, as well as the ones introduced by the waiter just now. Hoes, hammers, awls, etc. Anyway, there are many kinds.

Seeing that the waiter seemed to be welcoming a wealthy customer, the shopkeeper hurriedly came over to entertain him. But at this moment, another person hurriedly came in at the door. Before the man came in, he shouted loudly: "Shopkeeper Wang, hurry up and pack thirty hammers, the big ones, 20 iron awls, and five hundred hoes. Hurry up, the car will be here soon."

After entering the store, the man saw that there were many people in the store. He was a little stunned. Then he saw the shopkeeper and said to himself: "Hurry up and check out!"

The shopkeeper obviously knew him and was a regular customer. He apologized to Emperor Chongzhen a little and hurried over to entertain the man.

Emperor Chongzhen noticed that they should do business frequently. As soon as they met, they settled the accounts first. They settled with Ming Dynasty banknotes. Neither party had any objections. Apparently they were accustomed to settlement with banknotes.

This is much faster than physical settlement of silver taels, and the settlement is completed in a few seconds. Then the shopkeeper shouted to the backyard to remind the people inside to pack and deliver the goods.

After finishing these things, the shopkeeper turned around and asked the man with a smile: "Liu Tou, how is the repair of this road?"

"It's still early, the road needs to be widened, and we encountered a large area of ​​rocky ground, so we have to delay a lot of work!" Liu Tou replied while he was idle.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he immediately remembered that the road construction they were talking about should be the official road from the capital to Tongzhou that Liu Mao reported to him. After this road is built, goods from the south can reach Tongzhou through the canal, and then they can reach the capital more quickly. It is also a busy road, and building the road with cement will not lose money.

However, in this era, road construction is all about manpower. Not only is the speed slow, but it also requires a lot of manpower. This person bought these hammers and hoes at one time. It can be seen that it is only a temporary supplement.

Thinking like this, he became a little curious, walked over and interrupted: "It seems that your store is not very big. Do you have that much iron stock?"

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper misunderstood and quickly replied with a smile: "Sir, don't worry, it's just these quantities. Our store has them ready-made. Even if the quantity is several times larger, our store can still provide it." Just hurry up and get the work done. You see, we can make as many as you want. If the quantity is large, the price can be easily negotiated!"

The man next to him was looking at Emperor Chongzhen at the same time, but after looking at it for a while, he said: "I'm afraid this young master doesn't buy often, right? Just these iron things, boil the molten iron and pour it into the mold, and that's it. It can cost a lot of money." How much time!"

After finishing speaking, he even pointed outside and said: "A few houses over there are also people selling ironware, and they are all the same. But I can give you an idea. Only this one's ironware is the most sophisticated and the price is the best. Fair and absolutely true!"

When Fang Zhenghua and others saw the man calling himself brother in front of the emperor, they immediately glared at him. As long as the emperor frowned, they could immediately step forward and take him down.

However, Emperor Chongzhen obviously didn't care, and just asked curiously: "Is it true that the mold will not break if it is used too much? Or are there many spare ones prepared?"

One of the reasons why artillery is difficult to make is the mold. Therefore, he asked curiously.

Upon hearing what he said, the man and the shopkeeper laughed. When Fang Zhenghua saw it, he immediately shouted "Bold!"

This shout immediately caused the laughter of the two people to freeze on their faces. When Emperor Chongzhen saw it, he quickly waved his hand and shouted: "Go aside!"

After he finished speaking, he clasped his fists and said sincerely: "Please give me a lesson."

The shopkeeper came to his senses after hearing this and quickly said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, it's actually very simple. Those molds are made of iron and won't break easily!"

"Made of iron?" Emperor Chongzhen asked curiously upon hearing this. When he inspected the war bureau, he saw that they were making cannons, but they were all molds made of clay!