North and South groceries

The iron umbrella that Hengzhi and others brought over from Lishi was originally just a sample, and it was used for display in North and South Grocery, and it was also for the purpose of advertising in advance for the future automatic umbrella sales.

Unexpectedly, it was bought by Yuchi Jingde, and he took it in and out all day long, so that Luo Yong obviously had several automatic umbrellas that were much lighter in his hand, and he didn't know how to take them out.

During the development and research of this automatic umbrella, naturally more than one was made. This time, Hengzhi and the others brought over a dozen of them. The one bought by Yuchi Jingde was the largest, heaviest and most impractical, but it was bought by Yuchi Jingde. Luo Yong judged that it was the most suitable one for advertising.

Who would have thought that there would be people who would buy this, but they would still use it every day after buying it back...

"I heard that General Yuchi went into the palace and came out without an umbrella." In the past two days, Luo Yong heard such rumors at Taixue.

Needless to say, the iron umbrella must have been taken away by the old emperor, and it was an inescapable fate to be dismantled for research.

Let's study it. In fact, the automatic umbrella does not have much technical content. The key is the spring inside the umbrella handle. The reason why it can be opened by itself when you press the switch is because it is ejected by the spring.

When Luo Yong stayed in Lishi County, for a long time, he thought that the iron smelting technology of this era was very backward, and buying an iron pot was dozens of catties, so where could the technology be developed?

It wasn't until later that they made threshing machines that the emperor arranged for many craftsmen from Chang'an City. After some exchanges with those craftsmen, Luo Yong knew that before that, their local iron-smelting technology in Lishi was different from that of Chang'an City. It is very backward in comparison.

In fact, there was fried steel in the Western Han Dynasty, the steelmaking technology was quite mature in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the method of filling steel in the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, metal smelting has developed in an all-round way. Because of the low efficiency of steelmaking, it is not often used now. The iron pot that Luo Yong bought before is still cast. It is currently in Chang'an City, especially in the In terms of weapons production, they are basically forged, which is very close to the folk iron-making craft more than 1000 years later.

That is, during the period of making the threshing machine, Luo Yong came up with the idea of ​​making a spring.

The spring seems inconspicuous. Because Luo Yong was used to it, he didn't even notice how important it played in his daily life. Until one day, when he came to this world without springs.

In the summer and autumn of last year, Luo Yong went to build roads in Guannei Road, and came to Chang'an City after winter, and has been developing in Chang'an City since then, making a north-south groceries.

The disciples staying in Lishi County are not idle either. Luo Yong and others need support from Lishi in many aspects to develop outside. In addition, several people headed by Heng and his son are developing and researching new technologies. In this matter of products, all the energy and enthusiasm have been invested.

People like Heng's father and son, their enthusiasm for new things is definitely beyond Luo Yong's own.

When Luo Yong told them about a new idea, he just wanted some common things in later generations to appear in this era, and for Heng and his son, it was a door to a new world.

It is heard that in the past two years, Heng's and Yin's have cooperated a lot, mainly in iron and steel smelting. Yin's business is bearings, and Heng's is doing springs.

In the end, it was Yin's who achieved their goal first. Their products are now on sale. Heng's movement is not slow. I heard from Hengzhi that in addition to this automatic umbrella, their family is still producing a batch of spring cushions.

"I, Aye, said that I would like to use refined iron to forge other parts of Yan'erfei, but it's really not easy." Hengzhi said to Luo Yong.

After all, their family was a carpenter. Although the business has grown a lot in the past two years, and they have accumulated a lot of money, they can afford to buy fine iron and hire craftsmen, but blacksmithing is not their specialty after all, and it is very difficult to handle it.

"There is no need to worry about this matter." Luo Yong told him, "I heard that the government has been able to use refined iron to make Yan'er Fei. It must be a few years, and some blacksmiths will make Yan'er Fei for sale. At that time, we will just buy ready-made Yan'er Fei. That is, right now it is more important to accumulate wealth.”

The iron smelting technology mastered by the imperial court is more developed than that of the folk. The more developed their technology is, it will inevitably drive the development of the folk iron smelting technology.

This time just for the production of this spring, Heng and his son also spent a lot of effort, and the manpower and material resources invested are immeasurable. Even with some information provided by Luo Yong, due to the backwardness of raw materials and production tools and the Lack, every step is not easy.

With the advent of the first batch of springs, their family almost created a spring workshop for themselves. This workshop has not made any profit so far, but it costs a lot of money every day just to hire craftsmen and consume materials.

Thinking of this, Luo Yong couldn't help but patted Hengzhi on the shoulder, feeling a little sorry in his heart.

At the beginning when Heng's father and son listened to his words, a Yan'erfei was priced at [-] Wen, which attracted many foreign merchants to their Lishi area, but it did not do much good for their Heng's car building itself. It can be said that he suffered a loss, and now he has invested so much for the spring.

"Let your brother make more car mats and umbrella handles, and earn more money before those people realize it." Luo Yong felt that he was a bit incompetent as a master.

"Naturally." Hengzhi smiled and said, "It's just that the local wages in Lishi have been increasing in recent years, thanks to the Guannei Road, most of the people who come from there are not asking for high prices, and they are willing to work hard. Inquired with those people, specially went to them to find some skilled craftsmen."

All right, the diggers have all gone to the Guannei Road. There is someone like Heng Huai at home, and the Heng family's business is not worrying about it.

When Hengzhi came this time, he was not in a hurry to go back to Lishi County.

As the most prosperous and affluent city in this era, Chang'an City naturally gathered a lot of advanced technology, like Hengzhi, who was very interested in this kind of thing, and he could study everything he saw for a long time.

Luo Yong didn't let him live in North and South groceries, so he vacated a room for him in the yard on the side of Feng'anfang.

The courtyard here is not big, and they are basically full of people, but there is a room dedicated to stocking goods, but it can't be vacated for a while.

Luo Yong originally planned to ask Wulang Liulang to sleep in his own room and let Hengzhi sleep in their room. When Hou Lin heard about this, he asked Qiao Junlin to sleep in his room and gave Qiao Junlin's room to Hengzhi.

In the end, after all, it was Ah Zhi who gave up her room, she moved in with Siniang and Qiniang, and gave Hengzhi the vacated room.

It would be appropriate for Ah Zhi to share a house with Si Niang and Qin Niang, anyway, they are close on weekdays, and they seem to have endless conversations all day long, mainly because the two younger ones are talking and listening to Ah Zhi.

It’s just that there is a difference between men and women after all, and it’s always a little inconvenient for Hengzhi to sleep in Azhi’s room, but Azhi himself doesn’t seem to care at all, and Hengzhi’s kid doesn’t seem to think about it at all, so Luo Yong and the others agreed. don't say anything.

When Hengzhi and others came this time, in addition to a batch of North-South groceries, there were also a few samples of automatic umbrellas, and the umbrella handles of the entire two large carts.

These umbrella handles are also made of dianthus, and special tools are used to pass through the middle. I heard that this process is very difficult. A skilled worker can pass a dozen umbrella handles in a whole day. In addition, it needs to be polished, baked and oiled. Install springs and other accessories.

For such an umbrella handle, the Heng family sold it to Luo Yong at a price of 35 renminbi at present, and if it was sold to someone else, it would cost at least [-] renminbi.

The main reason is that the spring is valuable, and the reason why they can successfully manufacture the spring is largely due to the information provided by Luo Yong.

With this batch of umbrella handles, contact the Changan city umbrella artist who has cooperated with their shop, and soon, a batch of automatic umbrellas will be put on the shelves of North and South Grocery.

The umbrellas of this batch of umbrellas are all made of various high-grade fabrics, and tung oil is also the best and clearest. There are solid colors, and some are embroidered with patterns, some are richly colored flowers, and there are various patterns of birds and animals.

Such automatic umbrellas are sold in North and South groceries, and the cheapest one costs a lot.

Others don't know the cost of the automatic umbrella, but Luo Yong's disciples know it very well.

35 renminbi umbrella handle, plus some shipping costs, plus fan material, embroidered patterns, ranging from tens of renminbi to one or two hundred renminbi, plus the wages for those umbrella craftsmen, one Umbrellas can be no more than [-] Wen at most, but the price Luo Yong set for them is nearly [-] Yuan at the highest, which surprised his disciples a little.

Luo Yong was naturally happy to answer questions from his disciples.

"If you want to be affordable, an ordinary ten or twenty yuan oil-paper umbrella is enough. Those who can afford this automatic umbrella are not ordinary people. How much is their clothes, how much is a pair of shoes, how much does this umbrella cost? Baiwen, doesn't it look contemptuous and cheap?"

After all, Luo Yong's disciples are all from poor backgrounds. Even though the economic conditions have improved a lot, most of them still pay attention to practical benefits in life.

Different classes have different ways of thinking. These disciples Luo used only from their own point of view, but they often forget that others may not necessarily think the same way. One or two pennies is enough for those rich people living in Chang'an City. Say, nothing at all.

When Luo Yong said this, they felt that Master's words made sense.

Their master's words are always very reasonable.

So these batches of automatic umbrellas are put on sale like this. Hanging, swinging, opening, closing, each one looks so delicate and grand.

After all, it is a thing that costs two to three hundred yuan. Many people can only earn so much money in half a year. After deducting food expenses, they can't save so much in a year. It discouraged many people, as if they didn't even have the courage to look more.

The children who are in charge of the daily necessities area on the second floor are even more closely watching these automatic umbrellas.

These umbrellas may not be something they can afford in their entire lives, but they are related to the profit of North-South Grocery, and North-South Grocery is related to their livelihood.

Recently, the business in the shop has been getting better and better, so the manpower seems to be a bit tight. Luo Yong's disciples all said that they may need to add some more manpower after a while.

In Guiyifang, many children are eagerly looking forward to it, pointing out that North and South Grocery can still ask for more people, and that they can be selected by the boss to work there.

Working in their shop, not to mention the food, and the clothes of the four seasons, eating well, dressing well, and being clean, the whole person looks different.

The children who stayed behind listened to the older children talking about how the shop was going, and they could often eat the cakes and bread they bought with their own wages.

Those pastries are so sweet, they don't seem to be something that they should have in their gray life, but they are always held in their hands.