Three days later, the first blast furnace was ready for use.
Fang Er directly employed the simplest and most brutal method for mining!
Gunpowder!
Holes were chiseled into the cliff face and filled with gunpowder.
As the fuses were lit,
The Skyfire Army responsible for ignition quickly retreated on horseback.
The fuses were long enough for them to reach a safe distance.
As the gunpowder detonated, the iron ore on the cliff face was blasted in all directions!
Scattered everywhere.
Craftsmen, carrying baskets, picked up the ore from the ground and transported it to the blast furnace.
After being crushed with hammers, the ore was fed into the blast furnace.
As the furnace fires were lit, the iron ore melted into molten iron.
Discharging and smelting!
Tan Zong was already incredibly skilled.
Ingots of steel were piled up in the workshop.
"Lord, we're short on manpower."
After completing a furnace of steel, Tan Zong felt a bit awkward.
He had never imagined the iron ore here would be so high quality.
The iron content exceeded seventy percent!
Because gunpowder was used for mining, the ore extraction speed was very fast.
This, in turn, required more blast furnaces and more hands!
"Guan Chang, Lü Shuang, take your men and recruit people from the nearby villages!
Five qian of silver per person per month. We'll take as many as we can get!"
As Fang Er's orders were issued,
The eighteen horsemen scattered.
Heading in different directions.
There were many villages around the mining area.
Living off the land, relying on what nature provided.
These villages had already gathered due to the iron ore.
As the recruitment news was spread by the eighteen horsemen,
A large number of young men came seeking work the next day.
With Fang Er's permission, Tan Zong selected a few quick-witted craftsmen from Shenyang City. He taught them the method of smelting steel.
These people all had families in the city.
And the Skyfire Army was guarding the area.
Fang Er didn't worry about any problems arising.
Tan Zong then took charge of the deployment and management of these craftsmen and young men.
With the influx of many young men, blast furnaces rose from the ground one after another.
Seeing that things were gradually getting on track,
Fang Er went to check on Ma Tao.
Ten cement kilns had been built.
However, finished cement was not easy to store, so these days, besides building kilns, they had been accumulating raw materials.
After instructing Ma Tao to begin firing, Fang Er returned to Shenyang City.
By the time he reached Chen's residence, it was getting dark.
"Young Master is back."
Xiao Qing, seeing Fang Er enter the courtyard, rushed to greet him.
"Mm, is there anything to eat?"
Fang Er threw his horsewhip to Guan Chang behind him.
Having ridden for half the day, he was famished.
"Young Master, please sit for a moment, I'll go get it."
Xiao Qing poured Fang Er a cup of water and then headed towards the kitchen.
A short while later, she returned with a plate of pastries.
"I didn't know when Young Master would be back, so there's no prepared meal at home, only these pastries."
"Young Master, please eat first, I'll go cook."
"It's fine, this will suffice for now."
"Sit down, tell me what's been happening at home these days."
Fang Er casually picked up a pastry and put it in his mouth.
The mung bean cake was soft, glutinous, fragrant, and sweet. It went perfectly with the tea.
Xiao Qing obediently sat beside Fang Er and recounted the affairs of Fang Family Village since Fang Er's arrival in Shenyang.
"The cement roads have all been completed."
The smooth, polished road surfaces amazed the passing populace.
Even Li Shimin was intrigued.
He specifically rode his horse from Chang'an to Fang Family Village and back.
However, due to Fang Er's absence, he couldn't get any clear answers.
It wasn't as if they could arrest the craftsmen of Fang Family Village and interrogate them over this matter.
"The printing workshop has already begun selling books in Chang'an."
As Fang Er had instructed earlier, the pricing of the books was not high.
In this era, they were considered cheap.
Therefore, the printed books were bought up as soon as they left the workshop.
"And the paper business."
"It's exceptionally booming!"
"The soft toilet paper sells even better than writing paper!"
Especially the eunuchs in the palace, they bought it by the crate!
Similarly, the business of glass and soap was also a huge success.
However, as Fang Er had entrusted these two items to the Chai, Zhang, and Changsun families,
Merchants could only procure goods from Liuli Pavilion and Shufu House.
The wheat seedlings in the breeding fields were exceptionally good. By the time Xiao Qing came, they had already begun to ear.
The developing ears of wheat were already much larger than ordinary wheat.
Li Shimin paid great attention to it, visiting several times within a month.
The entire breeding field was heavily guarded by the Imperial Guard.
Except for Old Ma Tou and others who were working, no one could enter or leave freely.
Hearing this, Fang Er chuckled.
He wondered what Li Shimin's reaction would be if he knew about the potatoes and sweet potatoes that produced ten piculs per mu here.
Rubbing his belly, Fang Er drained the tea from the stone table.
Unknowingly, he had eaten to about seventy percent fullness.
He stood up and stretched. He asked Xiao Qing to heat some water and took a relaxing bath!
He got into bed wearing only his underpants.