golden scales

In the winter of the 22nd year of Chongzhen, the post-horse postal transmission from the capital to various places almost caused congestion on the official roads.

An unprecedented scene was staged in Daming.Almost every day, more than a hundred riders rush to various places to deliver letters, official documents, document transfers, and newspapers.Every day, hundreds of riders poured into the capital from all over the country, bringing local requests, reports, and news.

Wu Sheng was prime minister twice, the former only felt that he was an official, but the latter felt more and more deeply that he was doing something, and he was doing major things in the world, and he really held the borders of various places in his hands.This illusion of authority made him excited, intoxicated, and alert.He is not willing to enter the black prison again - the crown prince is in the prime of his youth, if he enters, he will not survive.

The huge flow of people also brought prosperity to the commodity economy, and the high-quality Goryeo paper alleviated the hardware shortage of banknote issuance.The country collected silver from the south and issued banknotes in the north, which balanced the economic gap between the north and the south while reducing transportation costs.As people of insight have already seen clearly, the main reason for the bankruptcy of farmers in the north is that there is no silver. At that time, the country only collected silver in taxes, which caused corruption.

Now that the country is stable, the land has been redistributed, and the conflict has been reduced to the lowest point in history.A large amount of banknotes flowed into the hands of the people through various channels to buy daily necessities and improve the ability to pay taxes. Life is simply turned upside down.Moreover, because of the climate and the impact of the war on the population, agriculture in the north has not really recovered. Even a grain-producing place like Huaiqing Prefecture in Henan is only self-sufficient.

Zhang San took over the position of prefect of Huaiqing Prefecture after Shen Jiaxian became the governor of Henan Province.

At the beginning of his tenure, the Chief Secretary of Henan Province issued a document stating that the tasks of the Huaiqing Mansion in the next three years will be labor export, greening and soil stabilization, and assisting in the management of floods in the Yellow River and Huaihe River.

Seeing that the prominent positions are about to be filled by people, Zhang San is of course not satisfied with doing some population statistics.Check post stations, transport labor, and work on tree planting.Huaiqing Mansion has the benefit of the river, and it is also a channel of the Taihang. It is adjacent to Shanxi, and it is a good place to flex its muscles.

The most important thing in the test is taxation and the proportion of the four people.

Nowadays, the definition of the class of "scholar" has become ambiguous. Local culture and education do not count the number of juren and Jinshi, but only the new learning system.However, there are not many issues of concern, mainly the allocation and supervision of money and food.The other is the transfer of the peasant population to business and industry. This is easier said than done, and the key is the channel issue.

As long as farmers can live well on the land, they are reluctant to leave the land unless they can be convinced that other occupations can lead to a better life.Moreover, the threshold of industry and commerce is not low, especially in the commercial field, there are still risks, and it is impossible to take the initiative to drive people away.

When Zhang San was studying at the School of Administration, it was his good friend Shen Jiaxian who served as the magistrate in Huaiqing Mansion.Shen Jiaxian put forward the principle of double income.That is to say, the recruitment salary should be twice the annual income of farmers from farming.

For example, a strong laborer has a field of 200 mu, with two shi per mu and a gross income of 50 shi a year. According to the price of grain collected by the court, he can get [-] taels of silver.Excluding the cost of his own life, seeds, farm tools, and fertilizers, the annual net income of this strong laborer is only [-] taels of silver.

Then when formulating wages, it is necessary to ensure that the annual net income of workers exceeds 100 taels.

This set of theories is indeed helpful for the transformation of farmers.At the beginning of the country's establishment, farmers were already afraid of relying on the sky for farming.Don't say twice, it's just slightly worse.It is also a pleasure to look at the salary every day.It is precisely because of this that Shen Jiaxian perfectly completed all the examination tasks of the Ministry of Officials and was promoted to the Chief Secretary.

During Zhang San's term of office.The task of converting from agriculture to industry and commerce is even heavier, but the world is peaceful, and people feel more secure when they have a piece of land to cultivate.This led to the return of the number of workers, which made Zhang San very worried, so he proposed two new policies and tried them out in Hanoi, the prefecture.

The first is to double the double income again.Raise the wages of workers to four times that of farming, and use huge profits to make them unwilling to return to farming.

The second is to provide government guarantees to businesses that are willing to operate, and let banks in the prefecture provide credit loans.These loans require no collateral and have low interest rates.Many people can buy cheap and high-quality coal and iron from Shanxi, transport them back to Henan for sale, and increase business tax revenue.

In order to increase the amount of coal used in Huaiqing Prefecture and not call for a reduction in the price of coal, Zhang San was keenly aware of the steam engine, a big coal eater, and organized Henan students to carry out trial production.

In terms of technical conditions, the first generation of steam engines used for pumping water in mines has low difficulty and high safety, but their use is limited, and they are mainly used for pumping irrigation water in areas along rivers.

The role of the second-generation flywheel steam engine in the factory was revealed.Especially as a blower to replace the animal bellows, to increase the temperature of the furnace, and in the field of mechanical hammer forging, it can have amazing effects.

When the steam engine is liberated from the hard shell of the "locomotive", even if it only has three or five horsepower, the effect is obvious.

However, when developing the steam engine, all the participants were in their respective positions, and they all understood the principle and structure of the steam engine. They were carefully built, and no serious accidents occurred.

Once the steam engine is put into the folk, there are many strange phenomena such as poor workmanship and improper operation, and there are endless stories of steam hurting people at two or three hundred degrees.It puts forward a great test for the technological requirements of various places, and also provides more constructive suggestions for the reform and finalization of steam engines.

After all, Huaiqing Mansion is a well-established Central Plains mansion. From the disclosure of the steam engine technology to the 23rd New Year's Day in Chongzhen, thirteen second-generation flywheel steam engines were imitated in just one month, ranking first in the country.

The place where the steam engine is used most is the iron factory, and the production efficiency and quality have been significantly improved. Even the large iron factories in Xuzhou, Wuhu and other places that can smelt Suzhou Iron and Steel had to come to learn from experience and exchange technology.

This kind of spontaneous technology upgrade has given Huaiqing Mansion an additional flagship product, Huaiqing Su Steel. Strictly speaking, it is only an improved variety of Su Steel for pyrite, but it is good enough for the manufacture of high-end civilian ironware.

Similar good news has also appeared in the newspapers in various places. There are various uses of steam engines. It seems that as long as there is a need for power sources, steam engines can be used.

"They are all fools!" Xu Jiafu, the CEO of Himin Iron and Steel Group commented.

……

Xu Jiafu dragged his fat body and squeezed into the carriage of His Highness the Crown Prince, and the carriage sank immediately.Min Ziruo looked at him nervously, thinking that his fat body was a very dangerous weapon.

Zhu Cihong looked at Xu Jiafu gently, and said, "You are getting richer."

Xu Jiafu smiled, a little embarrassed, and said: "Your Highness, you haven't changed at all."

Zhu Cihong stroked his beard, indicating that it was time to start.

The carriage galloped all the way from the Forbidden City to Jingxi Iron Works, a newly completed large iron factory.Zhu Cihong didn't know the technical conditions of the steelmaking method, so he didn't dare to show his timidity, so he could only simply say: bigger, more, better.After the theory of elements was gradually accepted by people, the research method of steel formula was also on track, which greatly promoted the improvement of smelting technology.

As the CEO, Xu Jiafu didn't need to come to Jingxi Iron Works in person, but because he heard that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is very interested in steel, he hoped that Jingxi Iron Works could become a smelting base for all varieties and train more smelting technicians. Only then came to participate in the layout and expansion in person.

Who knew that the Crown Prince would actually grant him the honor of sharing a carriage.

"I heard that you are not happy with the popularity of the steam engine?" Zhu Cihong's first question was not about steel.

Xu Jiafu was a little surprised, and immediately hated those newspaper interviewers, he really didn't miss anything.However, the crown prince can notice one of his gossips from so many newspapers every day, and it seems that he still cares about him.

Xu Jiafu said: "Your Highness, when I say that those people are fools, I don't mean that the steam engine is not good, but that they are using it in the wrong place. It is clear that a few draft horses can be made better and more economically, but they also want to make one. It may explode if it does not move Isn't it stupid to do it with a machine?"

Zhu Cihong himself believed in "there is no best, only the most suitable", but he disagreed with this issue.

"This is the beginning of an era. The more people we use, the richer our technical reserves will be." Zhu Cihong said: "Now you are in charge of the iron administration of the entire Ming Dynasty, including the research direction of iron and steel and the talent reserve. Not to remind you: be sharp at all times, don’t rest on your laurels. Especially our steel group does not allow outsiders to intervene, and it is easier to be complacent and lose.”

Unlike steam engines, steel is the lifeblood of the country on the one hand, and it is also a non-renewable resource on the other.The poorer the technical conditions, the more serious the pollution and the greater the waste, so Zhu Cihong finally held the steel in his hands for the sake of his descendants and did not release it.

Xu Jiafu wiped off his sweat: "Thank you for your advice, Your Highness, I will be vigilant at all times."

"Steel is my Daming's skeleton. If you hurt Daming's bones, I will never forgive you." Zhu Cihong looked at his fat body and said, "What do you think of Liaotie?"

Because today's chemical industry is almost zero, iron and steel metallurgy also depends on the sky.The quality of the iron ore is good, the natural quality of the refined iron is good, and the formula is easy to master.If it is a lean iron ore with extremely high phosphorus and sulfur content, the iron produced will be very brittle, and it will be very difficult to make farm tools.

Huaxia's iron ore is generally rich in phosphorus and sulfur, and it will suffer a lot in this regard.On the other hand, there is natural phosphorus-free iron ore in the UK, so it took a lot of advantage during the industrial revolution.

After regaining Shenyang, a huge open-pit iron mine was discovered in the mountains south of Dongningwei. It is not only easy to mine, but also low in phosphorus, sulfur and impurities. It is a rare high-quality iron mine in the country.In particular, there are high-quality coking coal mines nearby, which is simply a treasure house given by God.If all of this was ignored, then Zhu Cihong would have no shame in claiming to be Daming's manager.

Xu Jiafu has also heard of Liaotie, and has read the relevant data performance report. Hearing the crown prince's question, he felt excited: Does Your Highness want me to preside over the development of Liaotie? (To be continued..)

ps: Ask for a recommendation ticket, ask for a monthly ticket~~!I'm really sorry yesterday, I hope this kind of thing won't happen again in the future.