I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 554 Steel and Coal Complex

Whether it was road construction in Shuntian Prefecture or the expansion of workshops under the Ministry of Industry, it was all proposed by Zhu Youxiao.

The reason is also very simple. As the capital of the Ming Empire and the seat of the emperor, Beijing's environment and economy are too poor.

In Zhu Youxiao's memory, the environment in ancient times should be better than in modern times.But when he traveled through time, he realized that he was completely wrong.

The sandstorms in Beijing last year were extremely serious. According to statistics compiled by Zhu Youxiao, there were more than 100 days of sandstorms last year, and the entire capital was considered to be very dusty.This year has been especially serious. There have been 24 times in the first month, 27 times in February, [-] times in March, and as of April, there have been a total of ten times.

With such a high frequency, Zhu Youxiao was eating sand every day, which really made him helpless.

But he has no choice. Although coal is mature now, it has not become popular across the country.Many people rely on wood for their livelihood and cooking, and the large population has led to a surge in demand for wood.

Coupled with the tradition of burning wasteland in Jiubian to prevent Mongolian invasion, this has led to extremely serious wood cutting and soil erosion throughout the north, and sandstorms are naturally inevitable.

Of course, this is still secondary. What makes him most intolerable is that the environment in Beijing is really dirty and messy.

Since then, he has made a total of three patrols, three incognito. Every time he patrolled, the streets were cleared, which was considered clean. However, the three incognito visits allowed him to experience people's livelihood up close, but it also made him understand more about the current life in Beijing. Difficulties.

Due to the lack of a good drainage system and the large number of people, it is difficult to see the excrement directly on the streets, and there are more flies, gnats, rats, and snakes.

Especially in the summer, the city is even hotter due to the heat island effect. In addition, the environment is relatively closed and the drainage system is poor. As long as it rains, all kinds of things will be soaked in the water, and malaria and diarrhea will continue to occur.

When Zhu Youxiao thought about this, he felt how deceptive TV dramas of later generations were, and how well they portrayed ancient times.But if we really traveled from modern times, modern people would not be able to live at all.

Zhu Youxiao felt helpless every time he thought about this, and secretly made up his mind to improve this situation.Therefore, a very important reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty in history was the plague.

The so-called major disasters are followed by great epidemics. Historically, during the Chongzhen period, the climate was abnormal and major disasters continued. Coupled with the chaos and chaos, wars were frequent.As a result, plagues, especially the bubonic plague (Black Death), spread across the north of the Ming Empire.

Even Beijing was no exception. In the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign, a large-scale plague broke out in the capital. Tens of thousands of people died every day, and it was impossible to cure it.In the end, because so many people died, the death bed was in a mess, and all ten rooms were empty. There were even no households, and there was no one to collect the corpses.

It was so tragic in Beijing, and even worse in other places.This is one of the reasons why Li Zicheng was able to successfully move north and invade Beijing.

Therefore, whether Zhu Youxiao wanted to improve the environment, prepare for a rainy day, develop the economy, or improve sanitary conditions, he must take good care of Beijing City and Shuntian Prefecture.

So there were arrangements for road construction in Beijing and Shuntianfu and the Ministry of Works.

The first step is to build roads. The roads in the capital are uneven and extremely uneven. There are many sewers and culverts, and there are many places where dirt and evil gather. Every time it rains, these places are breeding grounds for plague. Indeed. In need of some repairs.

The same is true for the roads from Beijing to Shuntian Prefecture, but Zhu Youxiao repaired them more for the economic development of Shuntian Prefecture.

There is a huge difference between the north and the south of the Ming Dynasty. The south of the Yangtze River is uniquely located and has a developed economy. It can be said that the tax revenue is unparalleled in the world.At this time, the economy and environment in the north were really inferior compared to those in the south. The so-called economic base determines the superstructure, which also led to the fact that the number of scholars in the south was much higher than that in the north in the officialdom.

To a certain extent, quantity represents quality. Therefore, whether Zhu Youxiao wants to balance the north and the south or increase taxes, it is necessary for him to develop the northern economy.

And his first choice is Shuntian Mansion. The reason is undoubtedly that its geographical location is too unique.

Tongzhou's Grand Canal water transportation and firearms manufacturing, Tianjin's shipping, Zunhua's iron mines and iron plants, Xishan's coal mines, plus Beijing's huge consumer market, etc., are all unique conditions, and these conditions can be fully utilized. , jointly build a steel and coal complex.

Zhu Youxiao had even chosen the location, which was Tongzhou.

This place is the end point of the Grand Canal, close to Tianjin Prefecture and Zunhua Iron Works, and the Ministry of Industry has also built a firearms workshop here, resulting in a large number of craftsmen gathering here. It can be said that the right time and the right place, the next step is to let The policy tilt is due to someone taking the lead.

And some people have already taken the lead in doing this.

Before Zhu Youxiao approved it, people among the people had already taken action.

As one of the principals of Daming Trading Company, Huang Dong had already come to Tongzhou to lay out his business.He and Zheng Zhilong have a clear division of labor. Zheng Zhilong is responsible for maritime trade, and he is responsible for daily business transactions.

After receiving "various hints", he had already guessed the news of vigorously developing Tongzhou, so he came to Tongzhou in advance. While buying land and hoarding it, he also acquired iron workshops in Zunhua, recruited craftsmen and apprentices, and moved them all to Tongzhou to start. Produces various ironware.In addition, he is also planning to continue to set up a workshop in Tongzhou and put into practice the two royal secret recipes taught to him by the emperor.

The ingredients for these two secret recipes are very simple. They both use limestone. They are easy to make, low cost, easy to popularize, and more importantly, very convenient to use.

One is called soap, although there were previously known saponins, soaps, etc. as plant ash, rice water, etc. among the people.But after preliminary manufacturing, it was discovered that this thing has a strong ability to remove dirt without hurting the hands.

It's just that this thing requires lard as a raw material. Lard is a rare thing and ordinary people can't afford it, so it is impossible to sell soap to civilians.But Huang Dong didn't care. Ordinary people didn't have much money anyway. There was a huge demand for such things among dignitaries, and they would definitely make a fortune in the future.

If soap is a precious thing, then in Huang Dong's opinion, another item is definitely an artifact that will become popular in the future. This item is cement.

After receiving the emperor's secret recipe at first, Huang Dong didn't take it seriously at first.Therefore, this kind of thing has always been available, mostly using lime and yellow mud mortar or glutinous rice mortar, etc. The most commonly used now is Sanhe soil.

As the name suggests, Sanhe soil is a mixture of three materials: fine sand, clay and lime. In some places, it is lime, gravel and pottery powder.But no matter what, after solidification, this material has strong waterproof performance and high strength. It is most suitable for making large buildings.

But Huang Dong never imagined that this kind of production would require materials such as lime, clay, and sand, which are crushed, mixed, and stirred together. It is not only low-cost, but also has high strength, good durability, and can prevent moth corrosion, etc. It's more than a little better than Sanhe Tu.

But making cement is troublesome, that is, lime is difficult to get and requires high-temperature calcination and subsequent stirring.Generally, wood burning is difficult to reach a temperature that requires the use of coke, that is, coal and a large number of skilled workers.

Huang Dong was originally worried about this, but since coming to Tongzhou, he found that many problems have been solved.

There are craftsmen in Tongzhou and the transportation is convenient. Xishan coal can be easily brought over for use. This solves the problem of raw materials and transportation.

What's more important is that the Tongzhou Firearms Workshop, in accordance with its original plan, is planning to license some iron factories to produce firearms in order to increase production and reduce costs. At the same time, it is also opening up the hydraulic forging hammer technology modified by Song Yingxing, a member of the Ministry of Industry, to private use, which allows them to The efficiency is greatly improved.

Now the Ming Trading Company is in the limelight, and everyone knows that the Ming Trading Company is the Imperial Merchant.

Therefore, Huang Dong and Zheng Zhilong's every move is often watched, and there are many people who get close to them. The purpose is to obtain some top-secret information and get one step ahead of others.

Now seeing Huang Dong buying an industry and setting up a workshop in Tongzhou, soon Shanshan, Huizhou and other chambers of commerce, although not sure of their old intentions, quickly took action and prepared to set up shop in Tongzhou.

Huang Dong had already received hints from the emperor and knew that he could not live for free alone, but needed to bring others together to do business and revitalize Tongzhou.Therefore, they did not refuse merchants who came to ask for cooperation, and even handed over part of the ironware, soap, and cement production of Daming Trading Company to them for cooperation.

The Daming Trading Company took advantage of the craftsmen in Tongzhou and planned to try to make some Western objects, such as clocks, telescopes, etc., which were more profitable and could be regarded as the exclusive products of the Daming Trading Company.

Other merchants were even more surprised when they heard this, and thanked Huang Dong repeatedly. Not long after, the "Da Ming Daily" suddenly announced the news that Shuntian Prefecture would pave the road, and the Ministry of Industry would expand the Xishan Coal Field and the Tongzhou Firearms Workshop.

This made the merchants who followed Huang Dong to Tongzhou have no doubts at all. They immediately gave up their only worries and became more concerned about the Tongzhou workshop.

Everyone from the traders to the merchants and dignitaries saw an opportunity in this news.

Nowadays, the handymen pay money, and the common people no longer do corvee work for the government for free.When the government recruits people for work, they pay wages. How much labor is needed to clean the streets in Beijing and smooth the roads in Shuntian Prefecture?

There were many well-informed and intelligent people in the capital, and they had guessed the layout of the imperial court.They either got a hint or wanted to take a gamble, so they began to make plans in advance.

So the Xishan Coal Mine, which was reopened last year due to the abolition of the mining ban, is now bustling again, and the demand for coal mine operators in Shuntianbu is also increasing day by day, and now there are hundreds of coal mine operators.

But the hottest one right now is Tongzhou.

It was all because Tongzhou Firearms Workshop also issued a notice at this time, willing to deliver some orders of iron parts for firearms to private workshops for manufacturing.

As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused people to spy on Daming Trading Company's advance layout, and also attracted many merchants who were only belatedly aware of it.After all, they all know that the Tongzhou Firearms Workshop has a large output. The imperial court spent as much as 150 million taels on it last year, and I am afraid it will increase this year.

It can be said that the hair on the firearms workshop is thicker than their waist. Who doesn't want to make this money?

As a result, merchants gathered in Tongzhou County, and even nearby Zunhua was affected. The number of iron workshops also increased sharply, now to more than 150, and the monthly wages of craftsmen in each workshop also skyrocketed.

　Chapter 2 that was blocked yesterday can be watched. I will try the third update today.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)