A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 485 Patrolling the World Iron Warden

In the second year of Emperor Qianyuan's reign, Sichuan had been at peace for a long time. Due to Dujiangyan's flood control, the Bashu plain was fertile, with abundant products and a large population. Even though the roads in central Sichuan are difficult to travel, many caravans come and merchants come and go on the plank road in an endless stream. Sichuan is famous all over the world for its brocade.

To the south of the land of Bashu, the First Emperor of China entrusted him to the King of Dian. The climate here was hot, the vegetation was lush, and there was a lot of miasma in the forest. After the King of Dian came here, after decades of governance and defeating many barbarians, he finally settled in these mountains. He succeeded in gaining a foothold on the plains, but he was really powerless in the mountains and forests.

The imperial court has also been exploring the southwest in recent years, but with little success. The roads here are difficult to travel, the climate is hot, and the mountains are densely forested. After the iron armor arrives here, it is heavy, difficult to move, and cannot be used at all.

Moreover, the mountains and forests are full of poisonous insects and often poisonous miasma. When a large army enters them, they cannot exert any power at all. When faced with the endless southern barbarians emerging in the mountains, the soldiers suffer heavy casualties.

The Dian Kingdom and the Southern Barbarians have been entangled for decades, but there is no winner. Even the land of Bashu was harassed by these southern barbarians. When the imperial court saw this situation, it was ready to send a large army to completely conquer the Southern Barbarians.

Wang Che appointed Ma Heng as the general to conquer the south, mobilized [-] troops from Jinling, Jiangzhou, and Bashu, and ordered him to attack the southwest barbarians.

Although the imperial court had not used large-scale military force in the southwest, there were constant small frictions. Ma Heng had conquered the Shanyue barbarians many times in Cangwu. This time he went to the southwest to fight in the mountains and forests, so he was appointed commander-in-chief.

After receiving the order, Ma Heng set out from Jiangzhou and went upstream to Shu. He planned to use Chengdu as a base to gather his forces and then go south to conquer the southwest barbarians.

After Wang Che appointed Ma Heng as General Zhengnan, he began to prepare for a tour of the world.

What happened in Guanzhong made him very worried about the current world in Daqian, and he wanted to inspect it personally. The ministers in the DPRK wanted to dissuade him, but they couldn't. The emperor of Daqian was very powerful.

When Wang Che patrolled the world, he naturally led a large army, including three thousand Yu Lin Guards and two thousand elite cavalry.

Because of their strict training, the Yulin Guards often guard the border. The royal family attaches great importance to them. They have always been one of the most powerful armies in Daqian. The two thousand elite cavalry are also elite men who have experienced hundreds of battles.

Together with some accompanying officials and support staff, the number exceeded [-].

The army first took the canal to Daliang, and then followed the canal southeast toward Xuzhou. Xuzhou is the place where the Xu State was located. When the Huai State destroyed the Han State, the Yetie Supervisor was established in Han. Later, after the Xu State merged with the Huai State, the Yetie Supervisor was moved to Xuzhou.

Nowadays, Xuzhou is an important iron smelting town in Daqian. More than half of the weapons and armors in the country are produced in Xuzhou, and Daqian ranks first in steel production here. Huaiguo has been operating in Xuzhou for hundreds of years, and its foundation is deep.

When Wang Che arrived here on a parade, officials from the city came out ten miles to greet him. Xuzhou is the county seat of Sishui County, with convenient water and land transportation. It is an important town in the country, so it is natural to take a look.

"Your Majesty, Geng Ji, is here to see you. Your Majesty will live forever." Geng Ji, the governor of the county, bowed and paid homage.

"Geng Qing, please get up!" Wang Che personally stepped forward to help him up, followed by officials from the imperial court's Xuzhou Supervisory Office, then Xungui and other officials, and finally some other people came forward to pay homage. After the visit, Wang Che entered the city accompanied by everyone. Wang Che casually asked how much Xuzhou Prison's annual output was. Geng Ji said in a nutshell: "Xuzhou Prison can smelt 52 kilograms of pig iron every month. Most businessmen and common people are engaged in the iron smelting industry and make huge profits."

How much is 52 kilograms? When converted, that is 260 tons per month, which is more than 3 tons per year. Daqian's annual iron production is more than 1.7 tons. (The author checked the information of the Han Dynasty. According to some information, the Han Dynasty produced 9 million kilograms of iron per year, about [-] tons, but the Tang Dynasty only produced [-] tons per year. The Tang Dynasty's annual output was even a fraction of the Han Dynasty. No more. The peak of the Ming Dynasty was [-] tons. The Han Dynasty was too exaggerated and is only for reference.)

The monthly output of 260 tons includes pig iron and wrought iron. As for steel, which requires further processing, the output is very low. Much of Xuzhou's iron output was produced by private iron smelting plants, while the imperial iron plants mostly used iron to forge steel.

Of course, there must be something concealed in this. 260 tons will not be Xuzhou’s total output. Many private iron smelting plants will secretly hide part of it to evade taxes.

The imperial court charged a [-]% tax on iron, but it could be deducted with pig iron, so not many people dared to evade the tax. In particular, in order to reduce the price of agricultural tools and encourage farming, the tax rate was not high.

Wang Che stayed in Xuzhou for a few days and made a special trip to inspect the Xuzhou Railway Supervisor to see what the situation was like at the Xuzhou Railway Supervisor. In order to prevent Xuzhou officials from working together to fool them, Wang Che specially asked the secret guards and embroidered clothes envoys to secretly investigate to determine the true situation of Xuzhou Iron and Steel Supervisor and the living conditions of the craftsmen and common people.

After some questioning, the final result Wang Che got was not much different from the answer given by Xuzhou officials. An old blacksmith could earn fifty royal silver coins a year. The result obtained by the secret guard was about forty-eight, which was not much different.

The annual income of forty-eight silver coins is a high salary in Daqian. Ordinary people cannot earn so much money. The only disadvantage is that it requires a lot of physical exertion, the working environment is bad, and nutritional supplements are needed.

Because the imperial court promoted water conservancy projects, water conservancy facilities were used in many places in the iron smelting plant to improve work efficiency, and output has been increasing.

Especially for forging a piece of pig iron, wrought iron needs hydraulic forging machinery to forge steel weapons.

After Wang Che inspected Xuzhou, he did not find any major problems, and some minor problems were quickly corrected.

Wang Che knew about the craftsmanship of armor. Nowadays, some of the armors used by Daqian are iron armors, some are a mixture of rattan armor and iron armor, and there are also various types of armor inlaid with iron leather.

Among them, the iron armor includes fish scale armor, two-crotch armor, and pierced armor. The fish-scale armor has the best defense, and is only available to senior officers. The two-crotch armor is a mixture of leather armor and iron armor. The best actual defense is fish scale vine armor. Fish scale vine armor is a layer of fish scales on the surface, with vine armor on the inside and leather armor on the inside.

The process is complicated, the cost is very expensive, and the output has always been low.

Wang Che did not understand technology. After some encouragement, he rewarded some of the master craftsmen in Xuzhou Prison and set up rewards and punishments to reward craftsmen who could improve or invent iron smelting techniques. If you can make significant progress, you can be knighted or promoted, and the officials in charge will also be rewarded.

For a time, the morale of the craftsmen in Xuzhou Prison was high, and even the officials were ready to give the master craftsmen more time to improve their craftsmanship and technology so that they could be promoted.

(End of this chapter)