Datang: Li Shimin begged me to rebel

"Li Ke." Li Shimin heard this and turned to Li Ke.

"My son is here." Li Ke stood up calmly.

"Is there such a thing?" Li Shimin looked at Li Ke and asked.

"Well, the craftsmen under my minister have indeed improved certain methods, so the cost of iron smelting has dropped a lot. If the court purchases pig iron ingots, my minister can afford it." Li Ke said lightly.

"Pig iron ingots? Are you providing finished products directly?" Li Shimin asked Li Ke, looking at him.

"I don't know what the smelting price of the Ministry of Industry is, but I think it is lower than that of the Ministry of Industry." Li Ke nodded.

"Duan Lun." Li Shimin called for someone directly.

"The minister is here." Ji Guogong Duan Lun stood up from his seat. Duan Lun is currently the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and these questions are naturally to be asked of him.

"How much is the price of smelting?" Li Shimin asked directly.

"Just now the price mentioned by Qi Guogong is almost the same as the price of the court. Take the forging of the main plowshares of the Tang Dynasty as an example. A plowshare weighs 3 catties, and the final cost is about 900 renminbi after completion. Leaving aside the labor cost of forging , after smelting into pig iron, the cost of 3 catties of pig iron is about 880 yuan." Duan Lun gave a similar price.

Li Ke immediately calculated silently in his mind that Datang's pig iron production last year was about 210 million jin. Based on this cost calculation, it means that last year's national government and private iron-making costs of Datang were 61 guan.

However, it is estimated that at least [-]% to [-]% of the national output has been in the hands of the imperial court.

Of course, it is also because the smelting technology limits the output, and only so much can be produced in a year. Datang’s one catty is about 597 grams in later generations, and the annual pig iron production is about 251 million catties in later generations.Li Ke remembered some articles he had read in his previous life, speculating that the national pig iron production at the peak of the Tang Dynasty could reach 1000 million catties, but now it seems that it is estimated that the data calculation was wrong.

After all, there is no statistical bureau in this era, and the calculations of later generations rely on the iron ore tax, iron revenue and tax rate recorded in the basic ancient books to infer the pig iron production. In fact, this error is very large.

Many people calculate based on the 20% iron ore tax, and then look at the iron revenue of the imperial court, the tax rate is reversed, but the iron revenue of the imperial court does not all come from the 20% iron ore smelting handed over by private iron mines After it came out, the imperial court still had a large number of self-operated iron mines, all of which were handed over to the imperial court.

Therefore, the error in inferring the iron income of the entire Datang is too large.

The pig iron production estimated by Li Ke was also estimated by his Yuelai Trading Company. If you ask Li Shimin about this figure, Li Shimin doesn't know it, he only knows the court's.

Many people say that Datang's pig iron production is only so small, so why make so many swords and armor?

Datang’s pig iron production is indeed only so small, but China’s smelting did not start from Datang. From the Spring and Autumn Period to Datang, after so many years, the accumulated pig iron did not know how much.

"How much was the imperial court's pig iron income last year?" Li Shimin asked again.

"Returning to Your Majesty, last year the imperial court's pig iron revenue was 160 million catties." Duan Lun immediately gave the answer.

"That is to say, about 14 catties of pig iron per month. If the imperial court directly purchases pig iron, can you provide it, Li Ke? 14 catties per month." Li Shimin looked at Li Ke and asked.

Li Ke silently calculated, 14 catties of pig iron, equivalent to about 84 tons of pig iron per month in modern times.

At present, he has 30 blast furnaces, and each blast furnace is guaranteed to be optimal. The best iron casting rate is about one ton per furnace. Of course, this is not the upper limit.If a blast furnace does not rest for 24 hours, it can produce 3 furnaces of iron a day, so its daily output is about 90 tons, eh?A day's amount?

Although there are blast furnaces and torches, even if it is difficult to operate at night, there is no problem with two furnaces a day, 60 tons a day, 2 days.

That's it?

Otherwise, forget about the 5-day amount for Daddy Cheap, and see how pitiful he is.

"I'll triple it for you, forget it, let's round it up, 50 catties a month." Li Ke said lightly.

As soon as Li Ke's words came out of his mouth, everyone in the court hall was dumbfounded, 50 a catty a month? ?Wouldn't that be close to the total pig iron income of the court last year in three months?

"You can do it?!" Li Shimin was shocked.

"Well, the proportion is quite large, but it can still be done." Li Ke said without changing his face. The production volume is one-sixth of a month, and the proportion is of course large.

"How much?" Li Shimin took a deep breath.

"Fifty Wen per catty." Li Ke said with a smile.

Everyone: "..."

Last year, the court cost about 3 Wen for 880 catties, and the average pig iron was nearly 300 Wen per catty. Li Ke directly reduced the cost by one-sixth... No wonder the Changsun family stopped playing. What is the use of this?

"I agree!" Duan Lun was excited, and he agreed before Li Shimin could speak, one-sixth of the cost!This means that this year's pig iron income has tripled, but the money paid is actually less? !Only 30 can be won!It cost 48 guan last year!

Changsun Wuji's face turned dark, this was completely different from what he expected!According to his idea, if the imperial court is allowed to directly purchase pig iron instead of iron ore, if Li Ke's output is not so large and cannot produce what the imperial court needs, then he can suggest that Li Shimin ask Li Ke for smelting technology, and the official Set up a smelter for iron production.

And in order to avoid Li Ke running on them with words like last time, he had already thought about it. The official smelter does not sell to the people, but is used by the court itself, so he can't say anything about competing with the people for profit.

Li Ke's smelters can't produce technology, but sooner or later the official smelters will not be the ones who will produce related technologies?

But he never expected that Li Ke not only produced enough, but even tripled it for Li Shimin...

This time, stealing chickens is not enough to lose money. On this point, the people from the Ministry of Industry are naturally on Li Ke's side temporarily, because the Ministry of Industry is under a lot of pressure every year, and now Li Ke will increase the number for them all at once. After spending so much, the production of armor by the Ministry of Industry will naturally be much less stressful!

The point is that after the main output of smelting pig iron is not owned by the Ministry of Industry, the output does not need to be watched by the Ministry of Industry, so naturally it has nothing to do with the Ministry of Industry, and the responsibility is reduced!

And the funds required by the Ministry of Industry have also been reduced, so that part of the funds can be retained within the Ministry of Industry!

"Then since Qi Guogong can't continue to operate here, then the relevant orders from the Ministry of Industry will be transferred to you." Li Shimin pushed the boat along and did it directly. Anyway, Changsun Wuji proposed it himself, so it is no wonder that he is Li Shimin.

Besides, how could Li Shimin not know why Changsun Wuji did this?Isn't it just telling him Li Shimin that Li Ke has made him unable to live anymore?

After thinking about it, Li Shimin felt that the eldest grandson's family couldn't really survive like this. The elder grandson's smelting business was equivalent to disappearing. Otherwise, let him sell ore?