Xuande

Chapter 829 Steel Overlord
The earliest modern literature school, the later ancient literature school, and then the reactionary forces such as the eunuch group, the powerful landlords, and even the Zongwang group, one counts as the other, and they are all big buyers of Shu brocade.

However, they were all killed by Liu Bei. The number of the carnivore class was greatly reduced, and the strong purchasing power of this group of people was taken away by Liu Bei.

However, if Liu Bei wanted the money, he would not use it to buy Shu brocade, but to develop people's livelihood, develop wild lands, and distribute all the money to the poor, and let them reclaim wasteland to produce food, and he didn't care about Shu brocade at all. sales problems.

Now, apart from the surviving high-level members of the Liu Bei Group in the ruling and opposition parties, few people are willing to buy Shu Brocade. Even the Shu Brocade Warehouse is constantly hoarding products, and the warehouses are being built one after another. The Shu Brocade Bureau is asking whether to lower the price. Yield.

Liu Ye felt that at the rate Liu Bei was cutting high-level leeks, after five or six years, Shu brocade would not be able to sell at a high price, or it would simply become a mass consumer product.

At that time, wouldn't Shaofu's income be reduced by a large amount?
The Shaofu's income in his own hands has been declining year after year. It's not nice to talk about this kind of thing.

Therefore, we must seize the opportunity, find more buyers, and sell the surplus Shu brocade to balance the current predicament of Shu brocade.

Therefore, Liu Ye is very happy that Fazheng can find a new buyer for the sale of Shu brocade. These big dogs don't care about the price, they only care about availability, so it's only natural to take this opportunity to slaughter them. thing?

But Zhen Yan has a different view on the sale of ironware.

"It's a good thing that they want to buy iron pots, but Your Majesty, I think we have to consider whether they want to use the iron obtained after melting the iron pot to forge weapons because the material of the iron pot is good. possibility."

It can be said that Zhen Yan's suspicion took Liu Ye by surprise, and then looked at Zhen Yan with some doubts, and asked in a low voice: "Do you think they have evil intentions towards the big man?"

Zhen Yan nodded.

"When it comes to ironware, we have to be careful. Ironware can be used to forge iron pots to cook rice to fill people's stomachs. It can also be used to forge weapons and kill people. Therefore, I think that even if it is sold, it cannot be sold with high-quality iron pots. Instead, a special batch should be made for sale to foreign nations.”

Liu Bei touched the beard on his chin.

"You mean, use defective products?"

"It doesn't necessarily mean that defective products with obvious flaws can't be sold, so as not to damage their reputation. In addition, the iron pot manufacturing bureau can forge iron pots with poor-quality iron to reduce the quality."

Zhen Yan nodded and said: "They don't know what is really high-quality, it's hard to distinguish, and we do this, one can prevent them from threatening big men with high-quality iron forged weapons, and two, we can also earn more Thirdly, the quality of the iron pot is limited, once it is worn out, they cannot produce it, so they have to buy it, so that sales can be expanded and more profits can be made.”

Saying so, a smug smile appeared on Zhen Yan's face.

If you want to say that this guy has a dark heart, he is not satisfied with killing two eagles with one stone, and if he insists on adding another eagle, he will not take any losses, and he will take all the benefits. All the benefits will belong to him, and the other party will be sold. Help him count the money with a smile.

But Liu Bei thought about it carefully, and felt that what Zhen Yan said made sense.

The steel of the Third Empire has undergone six technological improvements, and the current quality is qualitatively different from the steel before the first improvement in the early Liangzhou period.

It means that it was still fried steel at that time, but now it has progressed to the stage of the Su steel method evolved in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Even hot blast has been fiddled with, the smelting temperature has been greatly increased, and the quality of steel has been greatly increased.

At that time, it could be regarded as a high-quality existence of [-] steel smelting, but now it is not suitable to enter the weapon forge, and can only be used for civilian use, or to make simple iron tools that do not have much requirements for materials.

For example, the troughs used to raise livestock, if the corners need to be covered with iron, use that kind of iron.

As for items with a high folk utilization rate such as kitchen knives and iron pots, the iron used for forging must use improved steel.

At that time, it was even considered a hard-to-find civilian iron, but now it seems that it is a complete failure. If any blacksmith produces that kind of goods, he will even be held accountable.

Therefore, the Han Empire can be regarded as a steel overlord at the present stage. The quality of the ironware it uses is the highest in the world. Even the steel used in civilian iron pots is of higher quality than the military ironware of many countries.

Sending such high-quality iron pots to other countries is not afraid that they will be able to develop the corresponding technology in a short period of time, but it is somewhat risky.

It doesn't need to be so high, it's almost enough to use iron from the era of low-tech improvement to make iron pots.

So Liu Bei agreed with Zhen Yan's idea and decided to set up a special export organization in the steel forging department. All iron products produced by this organization would use the lowest configuration of iron pot technology, and there would be no advanced ones at all.

Using this kind of iron pot to export can not only ensure safety, but also get more frequent orders.

As Zhen Yan said, those guys have never used the best iron pot, how do they know what the best quality iron pot looks like?

Good for them!

As for Shu brocade, of course it doesn't matter.

As far as Liu Bei knows, Shu brocade seems to have spread to Rome very early. Caesar seemed to be wearing clothes made of Shu brocade, which caused a huge sensation in Rome at that time, and prompted further exchanges between the Han Empire and the Roman Empire. .

It’s just that the distance between the two countries is indeed very long, land transportation is inconvenient, and sea transportation is limited by technical reasons, it is difficult to reach a long-term and stable relationship. Therefore, the rulers of Rome should want enough silk, but it is difficult to get it.

Liu Bei thought that if he could create a stable maritime trade route, transport enough silk brocades to the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and then sell them to Central and Western Europe, then the profits from this business would be too high.

And as much as possible, Liu Bei doesn't want middlemen.

This money should be earned by the Han Empire alone. The middlemen have no meaning except to make the difference, and it is easy to ruin the trade route.

That's why Liu Bei thought about creating the ocean-going merchant fleet of the Han Dynasty as soon as possible, cultivating the ocean-going business genes of the Han Empire, and trying to let people know that the golden route can really bring them gold.

So Liu Bei also allowed the foreign trade business in silk and Shu brocade, and asked Liu Ye to take the lead in personally going to Rinan County, Jiaozhou, to negotiate with Fazheng, and then go to see the progress of Guan Yu, whether the sharp-bottomed ship has been completed Get it out.

If possible, prepare an ocean-going merchant fleet as much as possible, carry various special products of the Han Empire to the legendary Great Qin State, and do direct business with the Great Qin State, perhaps earning high profits.

In addition, based on Ninan County, we should actively explore the southern and western seas, find places where people live, find places suitable for people to live, explore unfamiliar regime countries, and strive to establish stable connections with them.This is not just for making money, it is an important means to broaden your horizons and find colonies, and at the same time, it is also an advance preparation for possible future deflation.

With the successful promotion of the Tiantian Decree, the obstacles to the development of the Third Reich have been basically cleared. The remaining two or three kittens can no longer threaten the overall situation. There is no doubt that large-scale construction and development will be the mainstream in the future. .

And with Liu Bei spending a lot of money on the construction of farms and the reclamation of wasteland, the next ten, 20, or even 30 years will be the era of the explosion of agricultural production in the Han Empire, the population will increase, and the grain output will greatly increase. With increasing growth, the material wealth of the Han Empire will rise steadily.

And at that point, an important question arises.

deflation.

The Han Empire was a country that lacked precious metals, and Liu Bei was no stranger to this.

The Han Empire lacked gold, silver, and even low-value equivalents such as copper. Even because of the traditional concept of thick burials, the precious metals that were already lacking had to be taken underground and buried.

When the economic level is low, the country's mineral reserves are enough to cope with the situation. Once the economy develops, deflation is a high probability phenomenon.

In the next few decades, with the explosion of agricultural production, the currency economy that Liu Bei wants to maintain will inevitably face the dilemma of lacking metal deposits. Money will become more and more valuable, and goods will become less and less valuable. Such a situation is not good for economic development .

So at that time, it is inevitable to obtain enough metal deposits from the outside and initiate currency reform in the country. It is difficult to develop an economy that uses copper coins as the main currency. Copper is not that valuable after all.

You can have copper coins, but you must also have gold and silver coins.

The Han Empire lacked, but some places did not lack, or their upper class did not lack, and they were happy to spend a large amount of gold, silver and bronze to buy sufficient luxury goods from the Han Empire for enjoyment. At this stage, Liu Bei Can increase the precious metal reserves of the Han Empire.

With such a vision in mind, Liu Bei ordered Zhen Yan and Liu Ye to split up.

Zhen Yan immediately went to prepare for the forging department for export, and Liu Ye also adjusted the shape, leading the entourage, and headed towards the Yangzhou Shipbuilding Workshop at high speed.

There are two Yangzhou shipbuilding workshops.

The First Shipbuilding Workshop is headquartered in Wuchang, under Guan Yu's nose, and is mainly presided over by Guan Yu. It is mainly used to manufacture military river warships to serve Guan Yu's Jiangnan water network plan. Military purposes are the main purpose.

The second shipbuilding workshop was set up in Wu County and handed over to Cheng Yu, the governor of Yangzhou, to take charge of it. The main purpose was to manufacture various types of transportation ships, undertake the transportation of materials from south to north, and also develop large-scale ships for navigation. role.

According to some indicators and lists given to Cheng Yu by Liu Bei, Cheng Yu quickly promoted the technological innovation of the craftsmen, and in a short period of time manufactured a sample of the sharp-bottomed ship according to Liu Bei's vision. After a series of practical operations and corrections, In early February of the second year of Zhenguan, the construction of the first sharp-bottomed ship was completed.

After the actual operation, the experienced sailors were very excited, thinking that as long as this kind of sea-going ship has a stronger ability to resist wind and waves than a flat-bottomed boat, the possibility of rollover is greatly reduced, even if it sails away from the coast for a period of time. Not too much risk.

After Cheng Yu received the report, he finally felt relieved and prepared to report the good news to Liu Bei. But before he could report the good news to Liu Bei, Liu Ye came.

Liu Ye was also from the clan of the Han Dynasty. He was cited by Liu Bei as a general, and he belonged to Liu Bei's "Yingmeng Xianchen" in identity, so Cheng Yu was more friendly to Liu Ye and took him to visit the place where he had just entered the water and accepted the experiment. big sea ship.

"This is a large ship built according to His Majesty's requirements, featuring a sharp bottom and a keel. It has gone through three tests before, and the conclusion drawn is indeed similar to what Your Majesty said before. This kind of sharp-bottomed sea ship can indeed withstand It is stronger against wind and waves than a flat-bottomed boat."

Cheng Yu pointed to the big ship moored at the port and showed it to Liu Ye.

Liu Ye looked at it for a while, and then asked if he could get on the boat to have a look, Cheng Yu took Liu Ye to have a look.

After looking around, the two got off the boat and returned to land, talking about Liu Bei's purpose of letting Liu Ye go south this time.

"Your Majesty intends to organize a fleet to sail westward as soon as possible, inquire with the merchants in Rinan County, to find the Great Qin State, to establish direct contact with the Great Qin State, and to sell more silk to the Great Qin State. , I will be the master in this process, and no one will be allowed to handle it.

Not only that, His Majesty also hopes that there will be more large ships to form a fleet, and we can take the initiative to go to the home countries of those foreign merchants, not just by them. His Majesty's request for this is very clear, that is, we can take the initiative , to get more information. "

Cheng Yu thought about the news about overseas countries that he had been cramming some time ago.

"It is said that the Great Qin State had contacts with the Great Han as early as the time of Emperor Xiaojing and Emperor Xiaowu. I heard that there was an official meeting and understanding, but because the two countries are too far apart and the road is difficult, there is no further contact. Contact, does Your Majesty mean to take the sea route to establish contact with the Great Qin Kingdom?"

"Yes, Your Majesty thinks this is necessary."

Liu Ye smiled: "Of course, I also think it is necessary. Cheng Shijun, you should also know that your Majesty has eliminated many sinners over the years. The death of these sinners is not a pity, but they are indeed extravagant people like Shu Brocade." After their death, there were fewer people buying Shu Brocade.

To tell you the truth, the current output of Shu brocade is three times larger than before, but the number of buyers is constantly decreasing. If things go on like this, the Shu brocade may not be able to sell at all, and the income of the Shaofu will also be reduced. When the time comes, His Majesty will ask Me, can I attribute this matter to His Majesty's mistake? "

Cheng Yu looked at Liu Ye and smiled too.

"Zi Yang, you can be regarded as an old man who follows His Majesty. Why do you not know His Majesty so well? How could His Majesty blame you for this kind of thing? Your Majesty has never been an indiscriminate person. If you explain the problem clearly, Your Majesty can still Won't you be wronged?"

"I know that... but as a courtier, you can't blame your majesty for your mistakes after all, can you?"

Liu Ye whispered: "It's your Majesty's business that your majesty won't blame you. As ministers, shouldn't we take the initiative to share your worries?"

Cheng Yu pursed his lips and nodded slowly.

"It's not unreasonable to say this, but you have to know that today's emperor is broad-minded and generous, and he is not the emperor of the past. You should not worry too much and just do your own thing. Today's emperor is the most generous. What is needed is for the subordinates to do their own thing well.

Regarding the merchant fleet, I will concentrate my manpower here. The speed is still relatively slow now, but after the craftsmen sum up their experience and speed up, it is estimated that by the middle of the year, I can hand over to you twenty large ships like this. The merchant fleet should be enough, right? "

(End of this chapter)