After sending Zhang Tang away, Liu Che sent for Cen Mai, the young master's order.
After Cen Mai arrived, Liu Che asked about the installation status of the water truck.
Cen Mai then simply reported the specific situation to Liu Che.
Now, the water tanker in Shanglin Garden has basically been installed, and all the expenses of the inner treasury account of the Shaofu have been removed without any difficulty.
However, outside Shanglinyuan, the promotion of this waterwheel has become very difficult.
The Chinese people have never let go of the eagle until they see the rabbit.
Before you see the benefits, not many people will believe you no matter how many promises you make.
Even Liu Che offered the so-called "tax rebate" as a carrot, and even set a tax rebate amount that could be used to offset taxes and provide preferential policies for purchasing government-made iron farm tools at affordable prices.
For example, many new agricultural tools improved and developed by Moyuan, such as plows, shovels, and soil fertilizers, can only be purchased through tax rebates.
However, these things are all new, and their appeal to the public is limited to that.
Just like the waterwheel, if you want people to flock to it, I'm afraid you have to wait for a year and a half, waiting for the people to see the power of these things and experience the benefits firsthand, and there must be a strong contrast before they will be enthusiastic.
Before that, I'm afraid most of the people just watched the excitement and enjoyed it for fun.
It's extremely difficult to get them to come up with real money!
Only in Xinfeng County, where Zhang Tang is in charge, the promotion was relatively smooth because Zhang Tang was well organized or the big players in the county wanted to hug him and flatter him.
After listening to Cen Mai's report, Liu Che also sighed.
He moved his fingers for a moment, and then said: "Thank you, Mr. Cen, for your hard work. Let's leave it like this for now..."
This is also something that can't be helped.
If the people are not willing, Liu Che can't force the cow to drink water. Moreover, with the demonstration of Shanglinyuan, there should be progress next year in the water tanker and related tax rebates.
It only takes about a year, but Liu Che can afford to wait for this little time!
"Ai Qing, how many craftsmen are there in the Young Mansion now who have mastered the technology of building blast furnaces?" Liu Che changed the subject and asked about the topic he was most concerned about.
"Reporting to your Majesty, in accordance with your Majesty's edict, I dare not relax for a day, and devote all my efforts to training relevant craftsmen. However, there are too few places in Guanzhong where blast furnaces can be built, and coke is difficult to find. So far, the Shaofu only has thousands of
Everyone knows how to build a blast furnace..." Cen Mai said, kneeling down and worshiping: "Your Majesty, please punish me!"
Liu Che stood up quickly and said, "Please, please get up. Your fault for this matter is not yours!"
Guanzhong naturally also has many coal resources.
However, it is not an easy matter to dig coal and then build a blast furnace.
The blast furnace built by Liu Che consumes a lot of energy, pollutes a lot, and causes serious damage to the environment.
Not to mention the young master, even Liu Che cannot bear the responsibility of destroying the environment in Guanzhong!
Today, the Shaofu has built about a hundred blast furnaces in Shanglin Garden.
But last month, Liu Che ordered that the operation of 60 of them be stopped.
Because these blast furnaces cause too much damage to the environment.
If a place like Guanzhong were to make steel in the Daxing blast furnace, the entire Guanzhong would turn into a smoky hell in less than ten years.
Moreover, blast furnaces require large amounts of high-quality coking coal.
In Guanzhong, if you want to get qualified coking coal, you have to go to the mountains to continuously dig coal and prepare coal. This will seriously damage the vegetation in Guanzhong.
Although it is said that industrialization will definitely damage the environment and cause serious consequences.
If humans want to industrialize, they must bear these consequences.
But China is not Europe.
There are only a hundred small blast furnaces in Shanglin Garden. The maximum monthly output of iron is a hundred tons, which makes the nearby mountains and forests a mess, and there are almost no fish or shrimps in the nearby rivers.
This is just the beginning.
If it continues or even expands in scale, Shanglinyuan may not be able to live in...
Based on this consideration, Liu Che has given up any plans to build a new blast furnace in Guanzhong. Similarly, the original candidate area of Hedong has also been abandoned.
Hedong County is in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. If the environment in Hedong is destroyed, it will probably harm future generations.
Moreover, Hedong County only has coal and lacks iron ore.
It is not suitable as an industrial base.
Therefore, Shu County and Nanyang County came into Liu Che's sight.
After many choices, Liu Che finally decided to build Nanyang County into the iron and steel industry center of the Han Dynasty.
Because Nanyang County has greater advantages than all other places.
First, the local area is rich in human resources. The thirty-five counties in Nanyang have a population of nearly two million. This is an extremely densely populated area in the world.
Second, Nanyang also has a lot of coal mines and iron ores, which at least can support the initial demand for steelmaking.
Third, Nanyang has developed transportation and abundant water resources, which are essential conditions for an industrial center.
The most important thing is that Nanyang has a rich history of iron smelting, and the local area is accustomed to the existence of iron smelting workshops. Even if it damages the environment, Nanyang's endurance is stronger than other places in the Han Dynasty.
Liu Che sent Zhang Tang and Ning Cheng to Nanyang not only to clean up the local powerful and official circles, but also to pave the way for Zhang Tang and Ning to become their future plans.
As long as Zhang Tang and Ning Cheng control the situation in Nanyang, the Shaofu will immediately go to Nanyang to carry out large-scale blast furnace construction work.
However, Liu Che still needs Zhang Tang and Ning Cheng to further investigate this matter in Nanyang and obtain more detailed data before he can start preparations for implementation.
After all, industrial location selection is also very important.
For example, the Hanyang Steel Works in the late Qing Dynasty was still half-dead due to the wrong location selection.
Cen Mai didn't know this, so he was naturally a little frightened.
Liu Che sighed: "A thousand people..."
Craftsmen of this scale are obviously far from enough for the planned large-scale iron and steelmaking center with an annual output of one million kilograms or even several million kilograms!
Without 20,000 to 30,000 skilled craftsmen and corresponding other workers, do you want to talk about industrialized iron smelting?
Undoubtedly a dream!
Liu Che hesitated for a moment, and then said: "In this way, when you return, you will arrange for more craftsmen to learn from the existing workers. Didn't I order the sixty blast furnaces to stop smelting iron? You will arrange for them to go to those sixty blast furnaces.
At the blast furnace, let skilled craftsmen lead the team, teach and train them. If it didn't work, the sixty blast furnaces were demolished, built, and demolished..."
There is no other way but to throw money at it.
The only good news is that these blast furnaces are not expensive to build.
The cost of building a blast furnace, which can only last for twenty or thirty gold, is even cheaper than the pavilion that Emperor Taizong wanted to build back then!
Cen Mai bowed deeply: "No!"
After sending Cen Mai away, Wang Dao took the information about Xiu Yiwei and began to report.
After listening to this, Liu Che also laughed: "This master is really smart!"
What Wang Dao reported was the situation of Master Luoyang's family who had just been escorted by Tingwei and forcibly moved to Maoxiang, the address of Lingyi settled by Liu Che, and became the first resident of Lingyi.
The Master family is actually lying on its back.
Liu Che had no intention of touching it.
But who asked Zhidu to report their families?
To the emperor, wealthy businessmen like the Shi family were just like ants, and they were basically too lazy to pay attention to them.
Now that Zhidu has reported it, Liu Che will naturally not undermine Zhidu's face. Zuomaoxiang needs a large number of people and powerful people to fill it.
In the past sixty years, the Han Dynasty has been using this method. On the one hand, it weakened the powerful and powerful merchants in the world, and on the other hand, it used this method to forcibly create another economic hotspot in Guanzhong.
Just like Taizong's Baling, it was like this. It was transformed from a remote and barren country into a prosperous city with a population of nearly 10,000 households.
Moreover, it can also be used to bribe all classes in Guanzhong.
As long as those local powerful and wealthy businessmen who forcibly migrated to Guanzhong entered Guanzhong, they would be the food of the powerful and powerful families in Guanzhong.
In Guanzhong, the most profitable industry is not loan sharking at all, let alone doing business.
But eat the big ones.
A large family in Guandong has a family fortune of at least millions. Once entering Guanzhong, at least half of the family property will be divided up by forces from all aspects.
Moreover, those from all walks of life are confident that they can afford to be rich.
For example, a wealthy businessman was moved to Guanzhong.
Do you want to buy land? Do you want to buy a house in Chang'an City?
The vast majority of people will choose to do it.
In this way, land prices in Guanzhong and house prices in Chang'an will naturally rise.
Selling an acre of land for 20,000 to 30,000 yuan is just like playing. It is normal for land close to Chang'an to sell for 40,000 to 50,000 yuan per acre.
As for the houses in Chang'an City, those in better locations, such as Shangguanli, can easily sell for hundreds of thousands for a small courtyard.
Just like that, it's often not available for purchase.
In addition, the wealthy and powerful businessmen from Guandong who entered Guanzhong must have wanted to integrate into the upper class society.
Therefore, many people will choose to marry into powerful families in Guanzhong.
They usually marry their legitimate daughter to the descendant of a powerful or important figure.
As a result, a large dowry will have to be paid.
Of course, you can also choose not to do this and be a miser.
However, the rangers in Guanzhong and local subordinates will soon let you know that the consequences of not paying the protection fee are very serious.
In the past few decades, the wealthy families in Guanzhong have relied on such methods to continuously draw blood from the wealthy families in Guandong and become stronger.
In comparison, things like loan sharking, buying high and selling low, etc., seem less important.
As far as Liu Che knew, the wealthy families in Guanzhong were already gearing up and waiting for the feast to begin.
But the master family...
Very smart!
According to Wang Dao's report, the Shi family had just been released by Tingwei officials in Maoxiang and placed in the house prepared by Liu Che. The head of the Shi family, Shi Dan, immediately took out 10 million yuan and sent it to Princess Taichang's mansion.
superior.
Who is Guantao?
Everyone in Guanzhong didn't know that this princess was famous for taking money to do things, being honest and trustworthy, and her reputation was very guaranteed.
After taking the money from the master's family, Guantao immediately spoke out.
It is said that her son Cheng Xi took Shi Dan's legitimate daughter as his concubine.
In this way, the master's family embraced a golden thigh.
If this is the case, the master is not considered smart, at best, he is just clever.
But then, the Shi family used Guantao's gold sign to travel among the big families in Guanzhong, spreading a lot of money and promises, and married their remaining daughters to the Tian family and the Anling family respectively.
As well as Wang and other local gangsters in Guanzhong, they also spent a lot of money to recruit more than a dozen famous rangers in Guanzhong to act as diners. Well, they were the kind of empty diners who were paid but did not need to work.
After paying so much, the master actually managed to find the best of both worlds and bought a thousand acres of land in Maoxiang at a reasonable price, and also bought a large house in Shangguanli.
This means that the Shi family has officially been recognized by other powerful people in Guanzhong and has become one of them. (To be continued.)
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