Liu Yongnian looked at the water cup in his hand. It was as white as porcelain, but light and agile as it hits soundly, like copper and iron. After looking for a while, he asked Du Zhongxiao who stopped: "Yunjudgment, what is the cup made of? It looks like porcelain, but it is not."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Yanei, this is called enamel. Iron is used as the embryo, and glazed on the outside, and fired like porcelain. It is as smooth as porcelain, and light as copper and iron, and it is durable and will not rust."

"Oh——" Liu Yongnian nodded and said to Deng Baoji beside him: "It turns out to be called enamel. There is iron embryo inside, no wonder it is so thin and strong. I just don't know where to fire it, enamel--I have never heard of this kiln."

Deng Baoji nodded. Although he served as the governor of the state, he was an eunuch. He was familiar with Liu Yongnian when he was in the palace.

Enamel is made of iron or steel as embryos and is coated with glaze on the outside. The combination of steel products and porcelain is one, absorbing two advantages. It has developed from enamel in history and has a long history. However, truly practical enamel products appeared very late and were a product of the industrial era.

At this time, there was already enamel craftsmanship. When Du Zhongxiao saw it by chance, he remembered Tang porcelain products. For decades, a white or green enamel cup was held in his hand and brewed strong tea, which was the scenery of the times. Some major projects and even some institutions would issue customized enamel cups, which was very popular. Not far from Ye County, it was the famous Ru Kiln firing site, and Ruzhou was the center of porcelain at this time. With such good conditions, Du Zhongxiao tried it for several months and finally fired practical enamel products.

With the arrival of spring and the railway was paved, Du Zhongxiao asked the Iron Supervisor to build a batch of cups and basins, which also wrote a few words of railway memorials and distributed them as souvenirs to those involved in the road construction. Liu Yongnian and Deng Baoji, as well as officials from various states who came to take people, each had an enamel washbasin, an enamel bowl and an enamel cup. The foreman had no washbasin, and the general road construction personnel had only an enamel cup.

Compared with porcelain, enamel is light and not afraid of falling. Compared with iron and copper ware, it will not rust and has a beautiful appearance. As soon as the things are sent to your hands, everyone is surprised. At this time, daily necessities are very inconvenient. Small items can be made of porcelain, and larger ones are like washbasins. Porcelain is too bulky and fragile. For rich families, washbasins are made of copper, which are important assets, and their name is copper basins. Copper basins are extremely expensive and heavy. Where is enamel as light and beautiful?

Today is the day of the road construction and celebration. Ye County is jubilant. The villagers from several states gathered outside the city, handed out souvenirs, and sent out another set of farm tools, waiting for the last celebration meal.

The built-in roads range from Tiejian to Yexian Town, then to Xiangcheng north and Fangcheng south, which stretch for hundreds of miles. Tiejian is not on the main road, Yexian is the center. This is not only a must-pass place for traveling from south to north, but also the center of Tiejian shipments in the future.

Sun Sanlang played with the enamel cup he sent down and said to Ruan Wu: "Fifth brother, this is good! It's clean, light and not afraid of falling and bumping. I don't know how to make such a good thing! This cup will cost a lot of money when you go out!"

Ruan Wu said: "Be careful. I heard from the person who sent me that although this cup cannot break, the porcelain outside will rust if it hits off!"

Sun Sanlang said, "How come it rusts? I've grown so big, and I haven't heard of porcelain rust yet!"

"What do you know! There is iron embryo inside. If the porcelain is knocked off, the iron will be exposed, and it won't rust."

Sun Sanlang kept looking at the cup in his hand, and he could not tell the iron embryo, and he didn't believe Ruan Wu's words.

At this moment, Uncle Wu Liu held a cup in his hand, then a big bowl, and said to everyone: "Stop making trouble, eat soon! Each of you has a piece of meat, two steamed buns, and some pickles. Then go to the person who gave the rice there and take a basin and let him serve you! There is also a cup that was sent to you, each of you has a glass of wine!"

Seeing the enamel bowl in Uncle Wu's hand, Sun Sanlang and Ruan Wu both lit up their eyes and asked, "Uncle Liu, where did the big bowl come from? It looks so beautiful, let's get one too!"

"What are we responsible for? Only the people we manage have such a big bowl! Everyone has it, but the Iron Supervisor doesn't have that much money!"

After hearing this, everyone was discouraged. Looking at the beautiful big bowl in Uncle Wu Liu's hand, and then looking at the clay pot in his hand, they all envied. It was also made of enamel, and it was made of iron embryos and could not be broken. Could it be the legendary iron rice bowl?

Uncle Wu Liu ordered all the way, holding the big bowl in his hand, feeling everyone's eyes, and his chest couldn't help but stand up.

Not far from the city gate, Du Zhongxiao brought everyone to the table and ordered the food to start serving. The railway was opened and the wealth was coming, and today's food was particularly rich. As long as the iron products from the Iron Supervision Bureau could be sold, countless money would flow in, which was very different from before.

This section of built-in road is not actually important to Xiangcheng. There are major roads to the north, and the river network is dense and convenient for transportation, so it is very different to the south. When you arrive in Fangcheng, you can enter the blocked water, go downstream, enter the Han River, and connect to the developed Yangtze River waterway. The south has not yet developed at this time, and the demand for iron tools is much greater than that in the north. Following this road, together with iron tools, I believe that many people will enter Jinghu and develop there.

Xiangzhou is the iron smelting center in the world. Even if the quality of steel is not as good as that of Baitingjian, it is of good location and much cheaper freight. The iron tools of Baitingjian are sold to Hedong, Hebei and Kaifeng Prefecture, and the low-end applications are not that competitive with Xiangzhou Iron. Jingdong Road has Laiwu Jian and Xuzhou Liguo Jian. Unless the railway network is laid out in the future, these places will not be the big market of Baitingjian.

Only by entering the Yangtze River waterway, the vast Jinghu, Liangzhe and Jiangnan are the places where Baitingjian is powerful. Du Zhongxiao planned to organize his men to build south to Tangzhou when the summer farming is slack. Fangcheng is on the water blockage and there is no big boat trip, so Tangzhou can barely be able to build it. It takes one or two years to build it to Xiangzhou and the Han River. The transportation network is completely formed.

Liu Yongnian saw the servant bring the wine, slapped the enamel cup in his hand on the table, and said, "I'm impatient to drink it with a small cup, so I'll use this big cup today! I heard that this area is brewed with good wine, so I'll drink it today!"

Du Zhongxiao looked at the cup and was stunned for a while before saying, "That's it. However, this cup is different from a wine glass. It is of average thickness and has a poor alcohol content. Be careful not to get drunk."

Liu Yongnian's action reminded Du Zhongxiao of some scenes. In difficult times, the items of soldiers were also very simple, such as an enamel cup, an enamel rice bowl, and a kettle. The occasional drinking in the army was like this, and it was particularly touching.

Of course, there is no need to worry about not being able to sell the enamel products, but the Iron Supervision suffered a loss in the lack of a complete sales network, so it is not easy to increase the quantity. If you can talk about the army, a large number of equipment enamel cups, or even enamel bowls, it is a big market. I just don’t know if the army will give money.
Chapter completed!