After staying outside for another ten days and getting to know the shipyard and salt field thoroughly, Zhu Youxiao returned to the capital.

Generally speaking, the situation in the shipyard is not optimistic. Although there are a large number of skilled craftsmen, and the modification and design of clipper ships have made breakthrough progress, there is a serious shortage of raw materials. Before the large timber sent from Liaodong two or three years later was dried in the shade,

, the shipyard was probably completely ruined. After producing the three Galen ships, which were made of thousands of materials, work was completely stopped.

After despairing about his own production of raw materials, Zhu Youxiao set his sights on the south, or Luo Sigong to be exact, hoping to get enough wood when he ransacked his house, otherwise his idea of ​​extending his power to the ocean would be completely ruined.

.

Zhu Youxiao stayed in Tianjin for five days, and then transferred to Changlu Salt Field to inspect the work. This was the hen he was currently laying golden eggs on, and there was absolutely no room for any mistakes. After the emperor left the port, the whole of Tianjin again

Things started getting busy. Yes, the shipyard is not working now, but that doesn't mean there is nothing to do.

The port has been trimmed, but there are no fortifications, especially the forts. There is no one. After the incident in Ningbo, Zhu Youxiao attached great importance to the security of the port, so before leaving, he issued an order to build

fort.

Fortunately, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not just do business. In order to guard against threats from the sea, several forts were set up here, such as Dagu. Now it is much easier for Zhu Youxiao to rebuild them.

After leaving Tianjin, Zhu Youxiao came to Changlu Salt Field. Now it has changed a lot. It has completely become a place where salt mountains are accumulated. On the vast and flat land, there are salt drying fields everywhere, and the white salt is like a hill.

Pile.

Now the Changlu Salt Farm is on the right track and has been placed under the jurisdiction of the Production Department of the Internal Government. It is dedicated to drying salt and does not care about anything else. As for sales, it naturally goes to the sales department and is assigned by the local Tiangong firm to set prices. Salt merchants from all over the country are in Changlu

Signed an agreement with Lu's Tiangong firm to compete for agent qualifications.

Zhu Youxiao abolished the traditional salt introduction system and adopted an agent system. At the county level, each county bid for an agent. The agent paid the money to purchase the goods at Tiangong Store, and then took the receipt and arrived at the store.

The salt farm picks up the salt, transports it back to the county, and sells it at the price agreed upon.

In this way, there is no distinction between official salt and private salt. All people buy salt from salt merchants, and the government no longer interferes at all. The profits of the entire salt industry are completely in the hands of Zhu Youxiao. Although it has just been put into production

However, salt merchants from all over the country have already paid three million in agent competition fees. This alone has almost covered Zhu Youxiao's expenses in the first half of the year.

"Okay, very good." After learning about the operation of Changlu Salt Farm, Zhu Youxiao laughed loudly. Such a rich report made his heart completely settled. With the successive integration and operation of several salt farms there, as long as it is not

Opening ten legions at once, with his financial reserves and income, he almost doesn't have to worry about running out of money.

"Such a lot of money must be spent." After he was happy again, this question came to Zhu Youxiao's mind again. Although he had no financial knowledge, he still knew some things he had learned in politics classes. Government finance was not

The more money, the better. Money spent is called money, otherwise it is just scrap metal.

In the northern provinces supplied by the Changlu Salt Farm, the competition fee has been paid. In the next two years, Bi Tai may earn 3 million taels per month, but depending on the consumption of salt, he will still earn 600,000 to 700,000 taels per month.

Moreover, as the selling price of salt decreases, more and more salt will be consumed until the price and sales volume reach a stable point.

In other words, six to seven hundred thousand taels per month is not the peak, and it will continue to grow slowly in the future. As for the extent of the growth, this is not what Zhu Youxiao can predict. And in the country, it can be compared with Changlu Salt District.

There are three more. Of course, the Liaodong Bay Salt District has not yet been developed, and there are only three in the country. One is Wang Wenyan’s target this time, the Huai Salt District, and the Laizhou Bay Salt District in Shandong, which Liu Bin has begun to reorganize.

Judging from Zhu Youxiao's estimate, if the four major salt areas, oh no, the three major salt areas are all integrated, and Sichuan's well salt is added, the entire country's salt industry revenue is estimated to be between 20 million and 30 million taels.

Around, this is a huge income.

In the next period of time, Zhu Youxiao will only spend money as much as possible.

"Let me think about it, where should we expand investment?" After returning to the Forbidden City, Zhu Youxiao was counting his fingers every day, thinking about how to spend the money. If he didn't spend it, Ming Dynasty would soon have currency.

Tightening, he has gathered 30 million taels of silver in his hands. Who knows how much more silver can be circulated in the world.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao was horrified. Only then did he realize that he seemed to have accumulated too much money. "When you spend money, you must spend money."

"Iron and steelmaking need to be expanded, as well as the gun factory, cement production, and shipbuilding. Now let's buy the wood to dry in the shade, and then wait for three years to build it like crazy." Zhu Youxiao planned to expand the western suburbs.

A steel industrial city will be completely built next to the city, and the huge amount of iron smelting will be used to feed agriculture.

You know, in the countryside at this time, many places did not even have an iron rake, and they could only use stone or wooden rake during spring plowing.

"I still need more prisoners. Thirty thousand Jurchen prisoners of war have been put into iron ore mining in Qian'an without any splash. With so many people, they can only barely supply the consumption of the steel plant. Mining efforts must be increased.

, I still need more prisoners. And prisoners require more troops to capture them."

Just like that, after returning to the Forbidden City, the young emperor, who was stimulated by the huge money, was immersed in the pleasure of spending money. Under the stimulation of this pleasure, he wrote one plan after another in succession, all kinds of

Various plans almost filled his study room.

Until Xu Guangqi's report woke him up.

"Your Majesty, please take care of the body of the dragon. The country, the country, the country, and the country are all related to your majesty. Don't ignore it." Xu Guangqi frowned and looked at the emperor's face that was flushed with excitement. He walked forward and involuntarily gathered all the manuscripts and stacked them up.

Let him watch.

While tidying up, Xu Guangqi shook his head. He had some understanding of the emperor's experience these days. He thought it was an exaggeration, but he didn't expect that the facts were more serious than the rumors. The emperor was almost obsessed with making various plans. If he hadn't practiced martial arts before

Taking advantage of my foundation, my body collapsed long ago.

It was also because of this that he hurriedly completed his idea, and after the modification experiment was successful, he immediately came to see the Emperor. Only the emergence of some new technologies could drag the Emperor out of this abnormal state.

.

"Your Majesty is getting older, it's time to find him a wife. In such a huge palace, Your Majesty doesn't even have a woman. It's no wonder that he can't spend his lonely time. He can only do government planning, which is all suppressed." Xu Guangqi

Sighing, he secretly remembered this matter in his heart.

There is still a lack of a queen in the palace!

Xu Guangqi, who was packing up the manuscript papers, did not know the weight of the papers in his hands. The plan written on these papers took the entire Ming Dynasty a full hundred years to complete after Zhu Youxiao's death. This was a real centenary plan.

Almost everyone in later generations is very curious about how the Holy Emperor of Tianqi used this person to write this amazing century-old plan in just ten days.

This is another unsolved mystery. After generations of people have studied it, they can only attribute it to the head of His Majesty the Holy Emperor that is different from ordinary people.

"You mean, there has been a breakthrough in the open-hearth furnace for steelmaking?" Zhu Youxiao closed his eyes tightly and lay on the soft couch with a flushed face. His forehead was covered with veins, and these veins were jumping at the moment, which made him feel uncomfortable.

There was a dull pain in his head.

Perhaps she could see his discomfort. A maid stepped forward boldly, stopped pressing her hands, and began to massage him. With regular bursts of compressions, Zhu Youxiao finally felt much better, but she still couldn't help it at this moment.

Thinking about it, he just felt that his head was empty and there was nothing in it.

He himself didn't know what he had done in the past ten days. When he was awakened by the news of Xu Guangqi's breakthrough in steel-making method, he was stunned. He never expected that the manuscripts on the floor and table in front of him were all written by himself.

Until now, his right hand was still twitching unnoticeably, and a wave of pain surged from there.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to use this hand for a few days." Zhu Youxiao, who knows his body well, made this judgment.

"Yes, Your Majesty, after the veteran's research and some improvements, we were finally able to successfully refine a furnace of high-carbon steel." Xu Guangqi said with a red face. He knew how important it was to be able to refine steel in batches.

Yes, there are so many meanings in it that I can’t even explain them clearly.

"Oh, how did Aiqing do it?" Zhu Youxiao asked curiously. Anyway, he couldn't figure out how to solve the problem of steelmaking under this adjustment.

"It's like this, Your Majesty. After the pig iron comes out, those with lower carbon content are selected as the main materials, and then put into the open-hearth furnace. The materials along with them are iron ore, coke, and limestone." Xu Guangqi looked at the aftertaste.

He said, obviously thinking back on his experience while working on the problem.

"If the pig iron is melted with coke, it will become too brittle, so some iron ore is used to neutralize it. Then, the old man made a hole in the top of the open-hearth furnace, placed a bearing in it, and then connected a hydraulically driven transmission shaft.

, The end of the transmission shaft is equipped with a rootless wrought iron rod, which is used to stir the pig iron when it melts. At the same time, an additional fan is added to increase the agitation of the wind..." Xu Guangqi described his idea in detail, although

There are many steps, but without exception, they are all used to decarburize or neutralize the carbon content in pig iron.

For Zhu Youxiao, who is familiar with these steelmaking materials, these are easy to think of. Unexpectedly, Xu Guang used so many methods to achieve it. From this point of view, he really understood and absorbed Zhu Youxiao's ideas.

The theory of elements!

Compared to the breakthrough in steelmaking, Zhu Youxiao was more pleased with this.

"Congratulations Xu Aiqing, you are one step closer to the way of heaven." Zhu Youxiao said his blessing lightly, but his sudden words interrupted Xu Guangqi's speech.

"Oh..." After the other party was interrupted, he was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized and burst into laughter.

[Author's digression]: Thank you, Uncle Da... This name is really a bit of an advantage.
Chapter completed!