It is the most important part of the ordnance battalion, the Smelting Department.
As the name suggests, the smelting department is a place where various metals are smelted and forged.
The person in charge here is none other than the famous swordsmith, Tian Xuantian Mo Mei.
When Li Chengqian came over, Tian Xuan was directing a group of people to pour materials into the huge smelting furnace.
It was also the first time for Li Ke to see this scene.
Looking at the huge smelting furnace, Li Ke was a little lost.
He looked back at Li Chengqian and said, "This... is this the place where iron tools are produced?"
"It's not iron, it's steel."
This was not said by Li Chengqian, but by Tian Xuan.
He had already noticed the arrival of the two of them, and immediately came to them after directing everyone to do things.
Tian Xuanzhi saluted the two of them and said, "Your Majesty, please see your two highnesses."
"No need, no need!"
Li Chengqian waved his hand casually, then looked at the smelting furnace and said, "How much steel can be produced every day now?"
Tian Xuan said without thinking: "It weighs about five thousand kilograms."
In future generations, five thousand kilograms of steel may be nothing.
But for this era, five thousand pounds is already a huge number.
After all, they haven't completely mastered this smelting technology yet.
Even the forged steel is far from as hard as later generations.
"Five thousand kilograms of steel means about five thousand guns."
"Our Tang Dynasty has a total of one million soldiers, which means that it will take a full twenty days to produce enough steel for the weapons used by the entire army."
Li Chengqian murmured: "If we add in the forging time, it would take nearly a month for Datang to produce one million guns."
"Slow, too slow..."
Li Chengqian shook his head, then looked at Tian Xuandao: "Is there any way to speed it up?"
"Yes, yes."
"but……"
later If so, Tian Xuan did not say it.
"but what?"
Li Chengqian asked directly.
Tian Xuan said: "But it will take a lot of manpower and material resources to do it."
"What exactly does it mean?"
Li Chengqian was a little confused and asked: "Should we replace the stove or need more people?"
"No."
"It's about more stoves."
Tian Xuan looked back at the furnace and said, "I heard that there is a smelting method in Bingzhou. They use a small furnace for smelting."
"Although the iron produced in our large furnace is much less than that in our large furnace, the heat produced in the small furnace is higher, and the iron produced is more durable."
"So, we can build this little stove."
"Then, the small furnace is matched with the large furnace, and the large furnace is used for preliminary smelting, and then the small furnace is used for final finishing."
"In this way, the speed will inevitably be greatly improved."
What he means is nothing more than spreading the work around.
And this working mode was very common in later generations.
At that moment, Li Chengqian thought about it for a while, and then asked: "Then how much investment do these furnaces cost?"
"this……"
Tian Xuan pursed his lips and said, "We need to build a new factory and a new group of craftsmen."
"I don't know exactly how much it will cost. I just know that I need these."
This is how Tian Xuan does things.
He won't care how much you spend, he will only tell you what he needs now.
And Li Chengqian didn't hesitate for too long.
He said directly: "Okay, put this on the agenda. Tomorrow you go to Liu Min to explain the matter. Just tell him what I said and let him do what you said."
After hearing this, Tian Xuan also bowed and saluted: "Thank you, Your Highness, for your trust."
"What is trust or distrust?"
Li Chengqian waved his hand and said, "If I don't trust you, who can I trust?"
"But you have to listen to me."
"If you want money, I can give you money. If you want people, I can also give you people." .??.??
"But you must increase the output for me. At the very least, you must ensure that 30,000 kilograms of steel are smelted every day."
"I don't care how you do it, and I don't care how many stoves you use."
Li Chengqian looked directly at Tian Xuan and said, "I only want this number, do you understand?"
"clear."
Tian Xuan nodded and said: "As long as the small stove is in place, this number can be easily achieved."
"Okay, I feel relieved with your words."
Li Chengqian hugged his shoulders and stared at the smelting furnace for a long time.
The more resources used and the amount of energy consumed can best prove whether an era is prosperous or not.
Today's Tang Dynasty is not even a bit worse than those of later generations.
Not to mention energy, just smelting steel took Tian Xuan two full years to develop.
But it was just the beginning for Datang.
There are more things waiting for them to do in the future.
Now, for the first time, Li Chengqian feels that his time is not enough.
Similarly, for the first time, he felt that in an era, one person's influence on an era was too small.
Even if you are a prince, even if you are an emperor, you cannot completely dominate the will of all living beings...
Thinking of this, Li Chengqian couldn't help but sigh.
He waved his hand to Li Ke and said: "Stop being in a daze, let's go!"
After hearing this, Li Ke, who had been in a daze, finally came to his senses.
He didn't hesitate much, and immediately followed Li Chengqian out of the Smelting Department.
When he came outside, Li Ke looked at Li Chengqian and said: "You should Is this why you first applied for taxes with your father?"
"if not?"
Li Chengqian sighed softly and said: "Developing weapons is the most expensive thing."
"For this ordnance camp under your feet, from the beginning to now, the imperial court has invested almost a whole year's tax revenue from the whole country."
"But you also saw that despite this, there are still many things missing here."
"And the investment that follows is almost astronomical, and it's not even something you can imagine."
Hearing this, Li Ke curled his lips.
He couldn't have imagined it at the beginning.
So after walking around here, he already had some basic understanding of this place.
"I know."
"I can imagine that too."
"But for the sake of peace and the future, no matter how much money you spend, it is worth it."
Li Ke said: "Furthermore, the Tang Dynasty is considered wealthy at the moment and can support this expenditure."
Hearing this, Li Chengqian couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
He turned back to look at Li Ke and said with a puzzled face: "This is not what my brother said."
"Then what do you think your brother should say?"
Li Ke also raised his eyebrows and looked at Li Chengqian.
"I think my brother should be like Zhang Liang and jump out to stop me."
Li Chengqian clasped his hands behind his back and sighed as he said, "They say I'm being militaristic, that I only know how to do things that waste people and money."
"But I didn't."
"I can see your thoughts, and I can also see your layout."
Li Ke shook his head and chuckled, and said: "And I also know that you are right."
Hearing this, Li Chengqian couldn't help but be stunned again.
Immediately afterwards, he also laughed out loud.
After he stopped laughing, Li Chengqian pointed at Li Ke and said: "This trip with you can make you grow so much, so your brother's hard work is not in vain..."