open sea

Chapter 1114 Trial
The most difficult thing before Emperor Wanli was the iron and steel that his empire had never lacked.

Such a situation would leave any ruler wondering that the empire should not be short of iron.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there has been no shortage of iron. In the early years, the government-run iron factory was established and iron smelting was established, and 800 million catties of iron were smelted for the imperial court a year. All free.

The price of iron among the people is also very cheap. Regardless of whether it is a stone, carpenter or even a porter, the daily wages are around five to seven cents, while an ax or a hoe only costs three cents. Working as a part-time worker during the slack season, not only can you gather a full set of farm tools, but you can also bring a cow home.

Of course, there is a premise that the society is stable. Once a small thief turns into a big thief or starts a rebellion, and the normal production around is interrupted, everything will definitely not be like this.

Even the increase in military steel consumption after the establishment of Nanyang Guard has no effect, and even the private iron is not only not less in the statistical sense, but also more - the iron used by the Nanyang Guard Armament Bureau comes from the private development of the guards and civilians From the income from the mine, the imperial court could not receive a single iron lesson from it.

The consumption of gun barrels and artillery is much less than that of shells, but this cannot constitute pressure.

In Guangdong this year, there are a lot of waste iron for making guns and shells, and the mountain miners are happier during the slack season; consumption will increase further next year, and more people will see that this business is profitable, and iron production will further increase.

Everything is gradual.

"Until the establishment of the Steam Bureau, the workpieces were apportioned to the provinces to build and transported by the government. Steel monsters that cost thousands of catties. Over the past few years, the Steam Bureau has produced 340 Huode Xingjuns, 980 and eight of them, and 46 catties. Up to [-]."

"Even with such a huge amount, the consumption of iron is only 200 million catties. If it is scattered to various provinces, the apportionment is only tens of thousands of catties a year, not to mention profitable."

Xu Guangqi spread his palms and talked eloquently in the military room of the Palace of Qianqing in the Forbidden City.

In front of him was not only the emperor, but also Zhang Juzheng, the chief assistant who held the highest authority in the empire.

The emperor entrusted him with two missions, but that would have to wait for Jin Yiwei to complete the investigation of the farmland owned by King Baoding. Therefore, when the emperor encountered a problem, the first thing he thought of was to ask Xu Guangqi to do this little thing—to help him figure out why Daming would Iron deficiency.

Why Iron Deficiency?
Xu Guangqi felt that this was obvious, so he went back to the Steam Bureau, copied a copy of the accounts of Huode Xingjun, who has been registered since the establishment of the Steam Bureau, and went to the Beiyang Military Bureau for two days. The capital of giving lectures to the emperor.

He knew that the emperor liked to display data, so he did his special homework, and this homework was mathematics.

Ironically, his way of learning mathematics is to read "Elements of Geometry", which was translated by him in another time and space.

After Xu Guangqi said the previous figures, he spread his hands and said: "This time, the provinces can only average out 200 million catties for the construction of rails and wooden rails. If you can’t save money, the original iron production will be insufficient.”

The serious negative effect of Daming's size is that it is difficult to find shortcomings in the progress.

If it was another small country, according to the progress brought by Chen Mu in Ming Dynasty, an earth-shaking productivity revolution would have occurred long ago, and technological progress has always been brought about by demand.

In the face of external threats, you have to build cannons, and you need iron to make cannons. What to do if you don’t have enough iron, dig deeper—this is a normal situation.

But in Daming, you want to make cannons, and you need iron to make cannons. What if you don’t have enough iron?Cover the mine with earth and wait—the merchants will bring in the mine that was dug up in the next county.

Even the track is not needed, because there are endless manpower. Compared with the progress of mining and metallurgy technology, the imperial court cares more about the livelihood of the people. If there is no livelihood, it will rebel.

No problems were encountered in shipbuilding, gun-making, or steam engines, until the war made the little emperor want to build railways.

In fact, it is not without problems, but the problems encountered are not the problems of raw materials and technology, but the problem of lack of money.

But when it came time to build the railway, the imperial court finally found that iron production was insufficient, and any shortage would be a big gap.

The emperor wanted to build it from Beiyang to Beijing, and then from Beijing to Daning, with a total length of thousands of miles. He used Beiyang Ye Mengxiong to add two-way wooden-bottomed iron-clad tracks from both sides of the official road. Xu Guangqi calculated the cost and it was not expensive.

The price is only 75 taels—it’s really not expensive.

The railway track proposed by Ye Mengxiong not only saves half of the iron used in the railway that Chen Mu intends to build in Dadongyang, but also proves in the experiment that the existing [-] to [-]-jin steam locomotive can move forward effectively. Works well to share the weight of the rails.

The problem is that Daming cannot produce so much iron, and even building railways in Daming is more difficult than building railways in Asia, much more difficult.

Even though Daming has a lot of iron, many craftsmen, and has all the conditions to achieve everything, the local area also has limitations. The people, the government, and the army all use iron.

Aborigines in Asia used to be able to live well without iron, but now even with iron, eight catties out of ten catties can be put into construction. Can Daming do it?Twelve catties have to be refined in the local area to be able to use one catty.

Zhang Juzheng interrupted Xu Guangqi by raising his hand, and said, "You know what you said. Since His Majesty wants you to build an iron factory, you can go there. Dongyang Chen Shuai said that there are mines everywhere in Beizhili. Go explore and find out where to use them." mine, send a message to His Majesty, and no one can stop it."

In fact, he understands what the railway means better than the emperor. The imperial chief minister is not the emperor who was imprisoned in the Forbidden City and went to Tsinghua Garden to feel that he was celebrating the new year. Moreover, he has a deeper connection with Ye Mengxiong because he is the Beiyang Minister of the Ming Empire.

Not only did he go to Beiyang to see the railway with his own eyes, he even almost boarded the flying fish.

The crazy Ye Mengxiong has now repaired the railway from Beiyang to Tianjin Wei, and specially made a six hundred-jin iron horse, a steam-driven iron horse with wooden wheels, and a steam engine behind the seat, half stuck in the The wheels on the track are almost toppled as soon as they stop due to the weight of the car body, and they run faster than real horses on the track.

It was because Zhang Juzheng was frightened by the iron horse on the track that he forcibly suppressed the restlessness of wanting to board the flying fish. At the same time, Shen Zhongnian decided that he would never try any equipment that Beiyang had not put into use without authorization in his lifetime.

There is no brake on the iron horse. Although the track has no sharp bends, there is no straight line in the Beiyang-Tianjin section. It is full of large arcs that are close to a straight line. The only braking device is the air release valve next to the pedal. Still there, the wheels slid so badly on the track that almost threw Zhang Gelao flying.

It was so exciting, Zhang Juzheng felt that he had passed the age of toys.

In comparison, he is more optimistic about those Huode Xingjun who are large and stable, and can pull carts on rails.

Just because he knew it, Zhang Juzheng believed that it was useless for the emperor to ask Xu Guangqi to open an iron factory. The imperial court lacked too much iron, which could not be made up by one or a few iron factories.

In contrast, Zhang Juzheng paid more attention to the Tianshi monk who led Buddhist disciples into India.

There is no way, Chen Mu is used to it... the middle-aged god will also learn to look to the outside to find solutions to the problems encountered in the country.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)