Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 598 Overwhelmed
In the western suburbs of Hancheng, by the river.

The banks of the river have been paved with stones, and weirs have been built to store water and guide the flow of water, so that the water can drive rafts for blowing air and assist in forging farm tools.

The good iron produced in Hancheng will be transferred to the Sijin Duwei Mansion to forge armor and weapons, and the vast majority of the remaining pig iron will be forged into farm tools on site.

Only a small amount of pig iron would be transported by water to various markets, where it would be forged and produced by local craftsmen.

Although many places have begun to resume smelting, they can only supply it for local use.

What now limits Hancheng's iron smelting capacity is no longer the blast furnace and iron ore, but the supporting fuel.

A furnace of 4,000 kilograms of iron requires seven times the amount of charcoal and one-third of lime.

And these seven times of charcoal require more than forty times of wood to burn.

Timber was cut down from Taiyuan and Hexi, and the rafts were sent down the Fen River. The good timber was left at the Linfen Shipyard to be dried in the shade before being used to build ships, while the other timber was burned into charcoal and then transported to Hancheng along with coke.

Therefore, steam engines had to be copied on a large scale to increase coal mining and coking.

The slaves and captives obtained last year have basically been distributed, with most of them going to the Hancheng smelting system.

People die all the time during logging, transportation and charcoal burning, but the highest number of deaths occurs in coal mining.

While the giant steam engine was being built, Black Bear inspected the nearby coal mines.

The Xiongnu, Xianbei and miscellaneous Hu slaves here are already very honest, and more than that, they are numb.

It is said that people will move out in ten years, but many people may not be able to survive until then.

Due to the lack of technical inheritance and guarantee, mining accidents occur frequently.

Black Bear stood on a nearby ridge and looked down at the coal mine. The coal dug out was burned in a nearby kiln, and the coking coal was then transported to a smelting plant not far away.

This reminded him of the Battle of Bowangpo, during which he stayed and observed in Wanjian. Before the chaos in the world, Wanjian was the largest smelting base around Wanluo.

There are many mountains around, and the forests have been severely damaged and are recovering slowly.

Many mountains and forests are artificially planted so that they can be harvested nearby when the trees are mature.

The number of blast furnaces in Hancheng only caught up with Wanjian's record this year. It is now very dependent on coke. If it relies solely on charcoal, the current labor force will not be able to meet the full operation of the blast furnaces.

"This miner is indeed a selection of elite soldiers."

Black Bear said to Fa Zheng who was accompanying him, "I requested to increase the food supply for the miners in Hancheng several times before, but Xu Lin refused. He was afraid that the miners would be too energetic to be suppressed."

Fa Zheng was silent. He also knew how hard and dangerous mining was.

It is really important to ensure that these nearly 100,000 miners who live together day and night have enough food to eat and have sufficient physical strength. If they ever rebel and seize the iron from Hancheng to make weapons, there will be huge losses even if the situation is pacified.

Therefore, it is understandable that Hancheng would rather suffer from insufficient physical strength and low labor efficiency than to prevent rebellion.

This is almost unsolvable.

The miners will not be grateful to you just for having enough food to eat. They will only try to find ways to resist. It is also a win for the miners to die with you.

The mountain roads in the mining area have long been dug up, all external passages are blocked, and the garrison is always on guard against rebellion.

The mine's external transportation and supply receipt are all contactless.

"It can't go any faster. We have to wait for the subjects and servants."

Black Bear felt somewhat reluctant, and said to Wei Kang who was not far away: "Write this down. Hancheng's production will slow down in the next three years, and the expansion of blast furnaces will be stopped. In the next ten years, the number of households in each county will increase slowly, and the lack of equipment can be replenished slowly. It will be difficult to capture more than 100,000 prisoners."

"Your Majesty is benevolent."

Black Bear just smiled in response to the praises from those around him. From beginning to end, no one had reminded him of the danger here.

Even Xu Lin, who was in charge here, probably felt that he could control the situation and did not issue any warning to him.

If you don't give the miners a way to survive, when they reach the critical point, they will fight you to the death.

These Hu slaves had no families to serve as a weakness, so they could not seize the opportunity. They did not want to be killed meaninglessly, so they endured it.

The officials of Hancheng have no sympathy for the miners, nor for the craftsmen or ironworkers.

Unless a large number of scholars are transformed into technicians, immersed in the daily production links of the mines, and participate in the improvement of safety technology.

But the scholars in Chang'an University are too honest. Even if someone stands up to incite, most of them will draw a line and tie up the other party and hand him over to the public out of fear.

There is really no opportunity to get cheap technicians from Chang'an University.

The bad thing about foreign wars is that they go too smoothly.

The captive scholars captured from You and Ji states had not yet been fully tempered, and tossing them over would be like pouring sparks onto dry firewood.

After weighing for a moment, Black Bear continued to say to Wei Kang: "Increase the rations of each mine in Hancheng by one third, and allow miners to take sick leave. I will send Taoist priests to participate in supervision and treatment. These miners are of great significance. Unless I lead the army to fight, the rations must be fully provided. In addition, one meal of wine and meat will be provided every season throughout the year."

Compared with these expenses, the war cost of capturing slaves was even greater. Although the war between You and Ji was a war of attrition at the hands of the enemy, the mobilization of the second and third batches of reinforcements in the rear were real actions, and this part of the cost was also a cost that was difficult to recover.

If the miners really rebel, they will never surrender easily and will fight to the end.

Even if the rebellion is successfully suppressed, it will still be a huge loss.

If we want to increase steel production, we can only further relax steel monopoly restrictions.

But now is not the right time. We need to wait until the next generation of population grows stronger before we can relax the policy and carry out population diversion.

He couldn't help but think of the Hehuang area. As the Hehuang Qiang people moved away, the Qiang tribes on the plateau moved into the Hehuang area.

These newly arrived Qiang people were more barbaric and had begun to expel the traditional Han landlords in the Hehuang area.

If Liangzhou can accumulate for another year, it will be able to join forces with Hanzhong, Wudu and Shuzhong to launch a suppression operation and capture labor.

In a war of this level, as long as the right to distribute the spoils is given to the local governments, they will naturally show immeasurable enthusiasm.

Not to mention joining forces to suppress the enemy, even if we attack alone, we can still gain the upper hand.

The more emphasis is placed on unified command and distribution, the lower the efficiency will be.

Unfortunately, the terrain in the southwest is fragmented, and inciting the Ba people and the Yi people to capture the wild barbarians is not very efficient.

But they would catch as many as they could, so while the craze for cultivating immortals in the southwest had not subsided, it was a good opportunity to launch a new round of destroying mountains and temples.

Giving scholars in Shuzhong and Nanzhong the opportunity to make meritorious contributions will help increase the region's centripetal force towards the central government.

The system of one hundred and one thousand households fits the current situation of the Ba and Yi people in the southwest very well.

Even though these tribal chiefs were hereditary, they still had to compete with other nobles and take turns to be the leader.

Gaining recognition from the shogunate and the imperial court was a crucial transformation for these leaders.

Selling out tribal interests for family interests is not new.

Only when a considerable group of military merit is formed and the old officials in the southwestern counties are dealt with, these people will not be able to get sponsorship and will naturally accept suppression.

Only after clearing out the old officials in the southwest can we promote the promulgation of the official title law.

Therefore, the craze for cultivating immortals that broke out in the southwest may be a coincidence, or it may not be the result of the promotion of many forces.

The black bear blinked and fell into deep thought.

The surrounding retainers stood quietly, looking down at the miners and slaves moving slowly throughout the valley with the guards. In order to prevent the animals from being killed, the coal and iron ore were loaded onto trucks and then transported by slaves pulling and pushing carts.

Coal is coked nearby, and iron ore is further shipped to downstream smelters.

Before leaving, Black Bear climbed onto his horse, reined in his horse, turned back and took a deep look at the group of slaves in the valley.

His mood grew worse, and he lightly kicked the horse's belly.

After building the giant steam engine, we will return to Ganquan and have a good rest for a while.

Give yourself a long vacation, and give everyone else a long vacation.

Everyone took a breather, and Liu Fu and Cao Cao put more manpower into production and recovery.

Wealth is formed by manufacturing and accumulation. If we push too hard, they will all turn into a militaristic system, with each one poorer and more brutal than the other. It will be a loss even if we win the war.

This is no longer the early stage of entrepreneurship. At that time, we had to beat fast and slow, compress step by step, and pursue the limit.

It would even be fine to liberalize the steel monopoly next year. He does not lack this little financial benefit. It is the counties and prefectures that lack this money.

The coins minted by the Sijin Duwei alone are enough to maintain the operation of the army.

As for the vast majority of officials, under the official-field system, these people can support themselves and have enough food and clothing, so it is naturally impossible for them to resign.

The only pity is that there was chaos in the Western Regions, trade routes were cut off, and a lot of tax revenue was lost.

What’s even more regrettable is that he stayed in Lantian for such a long time, which gave Budugen a window of opportunity to lead his troops to escape westward, but Budugen did not dare to escape.

Otherwise, the Xianbei people with their cavalry advantage would flood into the Western Regions, exacerbating the turmoil in the Western Regions, and naturally they would be able to quickly settle down and restore order.

Perhaps Ma Chao should be transferred away. It is normal for the Xianbei people to have concerns with Ma Chao blocking the road.

Therefore, when they went on an expedition to Hehuang to capture the living Qiang people, they had to send Ma Chao along as well to alleviate the Xianbei people's concerns.

As he was thinking, the black bear walked further and further away.

Fa Zheng and others also mounted their horses one after another and followed, walking along the ridgeline towards the fortress camp at the mouth of the ravine.

(End of this chapter)