I am Da Song

The people in power replaced feudal scholar-bureaucrats by citizens, and the greatest benefit has been clearly stated by Han Sui.

That is, the entire society is creating wealth. While the population of the Central Plains is growing, the pie of the society as a whole is also expanding.

Unlike in a feudal society, the ability to create wealth is limited, and the feudal landlords are constantly annexing and sucking blood, which will lead to thunderstorms once the population approaches the upper limit.

Zhao Huan was very interested, and asked several ministers: "After talking so much, there must be results, right? Where is the largest industrial city in the Song Dynasty?"

The two prime ministers gave different answers respectively, and Ji Xiang gave the answer: "Suzhou."

But the answer given by the prime minister was: "Taiping Prefecture!"

Zhao Huan laughed immediately, and said, "Tell me the reason."

Minister Ji Yang Shixian opened his mouth and said, "Suzhou is the economic center in the south of our country. It also has a shipbuilding center, a silk center, a commercial center, and a silk rice trading center. According to the current trend, the tax revenue will exceed [-] million in a few years. The wealth of a single city can exceed that of any country outside the Central Plains, and at the same time, it can support the Song Dynasty's million imperial troops."

"As long as Suzhou is still under the control of the imperial court, the imperial army will be able to quell all rebellions and make the Central Plains as stable as a mountain."

Zhao Huan nodded, and had to say that this situation was an irresistible temptation for any ruler.

Why was Datang able to maintain its rule for hundreds of years after the Anshi Rebellion?
It is because although the Hebei rebellion is surging, the imperial court still firmly rules the large tax areas in the south.It was able to form one army after another to march into Hebei. Even if the king's division was destroyed by hundreds of thousands or hundreds of thousands again and again, the imperial court was able to reorganize the Central Forbidden Army again and again, maintaining an absolute deterrent force against the feudal town.

It was the Huangchao Uprising that really shook the rule of the Tang Dynasty, and the Huangchao Uprising was in the south, circulating in Lingnan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Huguang. In the end, the Northern Expedition broke through Luoyang and Chang'an, the inner treasury was burned to ashes, and the Tianjie was trampled.

This is the situation where the entire south of the Tang Dynasty was smashed. In the Song Dynasty, Suzhou alone could provide hundreds of millions of taxes, which would be a hundred times more significant than that of the Tang Dynasty.

As long as the Song Dynasty concentrated its troops to defend here, the rule of the imperial court would be unbreakable.Even in terms of current military expenditures, [-] million yuan still accounts for a huge proportion.

If Song Dynasty raised a million imperial troops, then Suzhou could raise at least 20 elite soldiers.

And after the destruction, another 20 elite soldiers can be recruited in the second year.

Such is the unparalleled mobilization capacity of industrialized empires.

With this kind of ability, as long as the rulers of the court do not compromise or bow down, all powerful enemies can be smashed to pieces by the successive waves of troops.

Zhao Huan looked at Prime Minister Zhang Jun curiously, and asked, "Why does the Right Prime Minister think it is Taiping Prefecture?"

Zhang Jun replied calmly: "Taiping prefecture is governed by quarrying, and it was Danyang County in ancient times. There are many mountains and iron mines. The [-] elite infantrymen from Li Ling in the Han Dynasty and the Danyang soldiers in the late Han Dynasty all came from here."

"The ability to have such elite soldiers is due to the abundance of local copper and iron mines, and every household can smelt iron. After the ban on salt and iron was lifted in our dynasty, the local area quickly took advantage of the benefits of commercial cities such as Jiankang and Suzhou to set up melting furnaces on a large scale. Every household has tall chimneys, and there are thousands of smelting workshops."

"The iron and steel smelting capital of our dynasty is undoubtedly Taiping! Do you know how many smelting craftsmen there are in Taiping?"

Zhao Huan pondered, this is very characteristic of the Song Dynasty and fits the background of the Central Plains.

If it is said that the sprouts of industrialization appeared in the Song Dynasty, industrial cities appeared without external intervention.

Then this city must only appear in the south of the Yangtze River, not in the northeast.

Although the name Steel City seems to be incompatible with Jiangnan Water Town, the physical laws of reality are like this.

Moreover, the name Taipingzhou is not heard now, but in later generations he has a thunderous name, named Ma'anshan, which is the most famous steel capital in the world.

The reason why Taiping Prefecture can quickly become the steel capital of Song Dynasty is because it has unparalleled advantages.

First of all, even as Zhang Jun said, there is a tradition of smelting in the local area. At least since the end of the Han Dynasty, the local people have been smelting metallurgical iron for weaponry, and became the famous Danyang elite soldiers.

Guarding the most abundant copper and iron mines in the Central Plains, and having a tradition of smelting, as long as there is market demand, the local area can easily erect thousands of chimneys and start furnaces for steelmaking.

And this market demand must appear in Jiangnan.In the south of the Yangtze River, there is the most prosperous commercial city group in the Central Plains. From Taiping Prefecture, there are Jiankang Mansion, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Huzhou, and Changzhou, and there is also a canal connecting Tokyo all the way to the north.

Then go to Xiuzhou, where you can go directly to the sea, and the market is as wide as the whole world.

This huge market and prosperous economy can ensure that the steel output of Taiping Prefecture can be perfectly digested and earn back wealth.

And this set of processes is in place, and transportation is naturally indispensable.After all, it is heavy steel!

In this era, it is simply hopeless to transport thousands or tens of thousands of tons of steel by animal power.Without national mobilization, only relying on merchants to pull hundreds of mules, horses or camels, it would make merchants desperate, and they would not be able to make money, and it would not be enough for transportation costs.

The Yangtze River waters to which Taiping Prefecture belongs perfectly solve this problem.

The Yangtze River has been a golden waterway in the Central Plains since ancient times.In the Song Dynasty, before Zhao Huan intervened, more than 500 tons of cargo ships were born in the waters of the Yangtze River.

A giant ship of fifteen hundred tons!
Most of the steel production capacity can be pulled down by one ship, and the ship can be easily packed and delivered to the target along the river or along the coast.

Even if it is [-] tons of steel, let’s not talk about this kind of production capacity, which country can afford it, and whether the Song Dynasty has passed the approval, and whether merchants dare to sell it.

Even in the most extreme situation, only six or seven cargo ships are needed to transport them all.

Thousands of mules and horses transport goods on land, which is high-profile and public, and is easy to attract the attention of the court.But on the ocean, six or seven ships are not enough to form a fleet.At best, it is equivalent to a small caravan.

You must know that the joint-stock fleet that goes to sea in Suzhou consists of [-] or [-] merchant ships at a time. It is a fleet jointly established by merchants, workshop owners, clan elders, bow and arrow clubs, and Yinglue clubs.

Looking at the composition of the organization, one can imagine what kind of characters are on board.

You can say that they went out to do business in a serious way, or that they went out to rob houses, Zhao Huan was not surprised at all.

When Suzhou's first fleet went to sea, the prefect of Suzhou and local businessmen reported this to Zhao Huan as a political achievement.

Anyway, when Zhao Huan saw the bows, crossbows, knives, spears and giant axes on the ship, he didn't believe that this was a peaceful caravan.

The armaments in the hands of the princes in troubled times are not as complete as they are!
Except for the lack of armor, all their weapons are against the elite troops of the Song Army.

The reason is simple...they are taking the equipment retired from the active-duty troops.

And it may be military worship. They are all equipped with equipment used by the so-called "Shenwu Youjun".

The reason why it is so-called is because the Shenwu Youjun has 5 people, but the equipment sold by the Shenwu Youjun on the market has exceeded 50...