Day and night wax and wane, winter turns to spring, glaciers thaw, everything revives, and it is the mating season for animals again.
The herdsmen drove the livestock with their hungry bones exposed from the cowsheds and other places and began to chase the lush water and grass. The farmers also began to use cattle and horses to cultivate the fields to prepare for the most important sowing every year. Last year, the Huns invaded the Northland.
Although many fields and ditches were destroyed, Xu Chao led his people to work hard for more than a month and repaired the ditches.
After County Magistrate Xu was promoted to the position of Minister of Household Affairs and Minister of Industry, in addition to dredging the Yellow River Diversion Canal near Lian County, he also focused on inspecting Pingluo County and Yongning County on the west bank of the Yellow River, and inspected the areas to be reclaimed and re-cultivated.
Planning was made. As soon as spring began, he put forward the big plan of "managing the Yellow River" and lobbied Yan Zhong and Yang Qiu. He even specially described the construction of buildings on both sides of the Yellow River to Zhao Yun, Lu Fang, Xu Wen and others.
It was a beautiful scene behind the dam, but it was a pity that no one was interested in his plan, or even though they were interested, they were immediately frightened and lost interest as soon as they heard about the money and food that would be spent.
In order for this year's spring plowing to proceed smoothly, Chen Cheng asked the craftsmen under the Ministry of Industry to stop making swords and spear heads and instead make iron plows and distribute them to various counties in the North. As for those further away,
There was nothing he could do about Shuofang County and Wuyuan County. He could only let the people there find their own solutions.
Although a lot of coal and iron ore can be dug out from Helan Mountain, the smelting technology these days is very backward. Without adding more manpower, it is impossible to get more steel. Chen Cheng has many good ideas, all of which are in
While watching Xinwen Lianbo, he learned it from those "earth workshops" that were severely hit by the iron fist of the People's Government. His major was originally related to chemistry, and after checking the information, he was able to understand the relevant processes.
However, although these technologies are relatively simple, it will still take some time to transform them and realize local grafting and transplantation.
Fortunately, Shuofang County and Wuyuan County also have coal and iron mines. As long as the people there work harder, their demand for steel can still be somewhat satisfied.
Just when the Beidi side started to get busy, the battle situation in Hanyang County changed again. Han Sui repulsed Ding Yuan's army, regained Shanggui, and pushed the front back to the position it had in October last year.
Therefore, it is not because Han Sui made many saddles and stirrups and nailed horseshoes to many of his cavalry that he was able to achieve such results. Because these technologies also spread to the Guanzhong area, and the cavalry under Lu Bu also
With the iron shoes on, the mobility becomes stronger.
The main reason why Ding Yuan was repelled was Dong Zhuo from Bingzhou. Most of the generals under Ding Jianyang came from Bingzhou and had various connections with the powerful people in Bingzhou. Dong Zhuo went on a killing spree in Bingzhou, killing more than sixty powerful people, which shocked the people.
The whole world was also shocked by Ding Yuan's soldiers.
The soldiers were worried about returning home, and there were many Dong Zhuo's old troops in Guanzhong. These people restricted Ding Yuanyang in many ways, making it impossible for Ding Yuan to stand in Hanyang. He fought several battles with Han Sui's new cavalry outside Shanggui City.
After several battles, Ding Yuan's army had a mutual victory or defeat with the enemy on the opposite side, and then took the initiative to withdraw from Shanggui, and the army returned to Chang'an City.
After inspecting the blast furnace where the explosion occurred, Chen Cheng had just returned to Lian County when he received a military report from the Shangshu Province.
"I don't care if Han Sui dies!"
Chen Cheng said impatiently: "As long as Ji County is not captured, this kind of military situation can be handled by the Shangshu Ling and the Ministry of War."
The explosion of the blast furnace not only wiped out the construction results of the previous month, but when the molten iron splashed, it killed more than a dozen workers and soldiers on the spot, and injured twice as many people. This can be regarded as a major production accident.
Chen Cheng, who was quite familiar with the situation, rushed over immediately. After cleaning up the scene, he discovered that among the people who died on the spot, one of them was proficient in arithmetic.
Not only did that man finish "Primary School Mathematics", he was also studying "Geometry" and "Secondary Mathematics" by himself. Chen Cheng had high hopes for him and planned to promote him to Minister of the Ministry of Industry after the blast furnace could be put into normal operation.
He died in such a confused way, which left Chen Cheng feeling depressed.
Fortunately, the wounded could survive as long as they persisted until he rushed over. Otherwise, the losses would have been even greater this time.
Although the indigenous steelmaking method has its own character, compared with the steel plants of later generations, it has various shortcomings such as large investment, low output, and serious pollution. However, compared with the current "bowl-type" furnace, it is already considered high-tech, and it is very difficult to operate.
The requirements for personnel are relatively high, and it doesn't mean that just finding someone can be good.
Chen Cheng sat under the eaves of the corridor and thought to himself: The two levels of "engineering" are still a little bit boring. How about finding a place to kill more people and raise the level of "engineering" a little bit?
It's not like he doesn't know how to kill people. When he thought of this, a slightly ferocious look appeared on his face.
When I used to play games, I had to charge money to become stronger. Now there is no place to charge money, but you can become stronger by killing people, which is also a shortcut. You have to work hard to make plans, level the land, build factories, and cut down wherever you want.
How many people can have knowledge simply pop out of their heads?
If two levels of "engineering" are not enough, then go to level three. If level three is not enough, go to level four. As long as you kill enough people, it will eventually work. But then, doesn't you become a demon king? Going into battle to kill people doesn't count.
What, but killing people to gain power and knowledge? Forget it, I haven't fallen to this level yet.
Chen Cheng figured out the key, sighed, and thought to himself: The best thing to do is put other things aside and focus on this. Even if the steel problem is not solved now, it will still be faced sooner or later in the future.
Liu Qian came back from school and saw Chen Cheng sighing in the courtyard, so she walked up to him and said to him: "Master, don't be upset, let me sing you a song!"
Chen Cheng forced a smile on his face and said, "Are you new to this?"
"Yes!" Liu Qian held Zi Jia'er with her left hand and Ma Yunlu with her right hand, and said plainly: "We learned it together!"
Ma Yunlu is Ma Teng's daughter and Ma Chao's sister. After being sent to Lian County, she became familiar with Liu Qian within a few days. The three of them went to school together and went out to play together. When Liu Qian went to Yacheng, she gave birth to a child
When the children were in class, they also went there with them.
Among the three, Ma Yunlu is the most popular girl. She has been dancing since she was a child. Her martial arts skills are only slightly worse than Liu Qian's, but much better than Zi Jia'er. However, part of the reason for this is that she is the oldest.
Liu Qian took her two friends and sat down on the wooden board, and then sang, "Chile River, under the Yin Mountain, the sky is like a dome."
"Huh?" Chen Cheng couldn't help but be a little surprised. He only read these words in Yinshan last year, and they were compiled into a tune so quickly? He put aside his worries about the blast furnace, relaxed his mind, and listened to the sweetness of the girl.
The sound floated in the air.
The singing does not contain any distracting thoughts, only innocence and clarity. When you close your eyes, it is like seeing the ice and snow on the peaks of Helan Mountain melting, flowing along the gaps in the mountains, and flowing into the streams. After singing, Chen Cheng
I just feel that the irritability in my heart has calmed down a lot.
He stood up, smiled and said: "You sing very well, you go and play."
"Really?" Liu Qian said happily: "Then when I learn music again, I will sing it to Master."
"good!"
After the three little lolita went to the stable to feed the horses, Chen Cheng immediately called the tooth soldiers and ordered: "Quickly summon Yang Qiu, Minister of War."
Ya Bing took the order and left. After a while, Yang Qiu, who was in the yard next door, rushed over. During this period of time, Yang Qiu was quite interested in stopping the manufacturing of weapons and turning to steel for the production of agricultural tools.
I criticized it, but because of what happened before, it is not easy to express strong opposition now, so I have been unhappy these days.
After receiving Chen Cheng's summons, Yang Qiu thought he was trying to bring order to the chaos. As soon as he came in, he said excitedly: "Master, do you want the craftsmen to go back to making weapons? I told you a long time ago that you can farm wherever you like.
Just scatter a few handfuls of seeds in the ground, why do you need so much steel? It’s a complete waste!”
Chen Cheng asked back: "Who told you that I would ask craftsmen to rebuild weapons?"
Yang Qiu was stunned and asked: "If this is not the case, then why did the lord call me here?"
Chen Cheng said: "Do you still remember what I told you before about the silver mines in the mountains to the west?"
"of course I remember!"
"I am a person who has always been rewarded for my merits and punished for my mistakes." Chen Cheng said: "Yang Shangshu has been working hard and supporting our work in Liangzhou since he took office. Therefore, after careful consideration, I decided
If you don’t, let’s take out this silver mine and develop it together with Yang Shangshu. Well, there will be some other people who will join in.”
Well, I thought about it for about ten minutes. Most of the time, I was still thinking about how to build a more effective and safer blast furnace. The real time I spent thinking about the silver mine was about thirty seconds. Other counties
The soldiers are managed by the governors of each county, but Xu Rong's troops stationed in Manbai, the Ya soldiers, and the Imperial Army guarding Lian County are directly responsible for the prefecture and animal husbandry. The monthly rations, the two winter coats issued last year,
Weapons, armor, arrows, fodder, coal, etc. all cost money.
Even the other princes in Liangzhou knew that they should take care of their elite soldiers and horses. How could Chen Cheng not understand this?
Yang Qiu was a little confused. He asked doubtfully: "Take out the silver mines and develop them together? What does this mean?"
Chen Cheng explained to him: "We work together and the income is distributed according to the proportion of shares."
"Obtaining shares?"
One question leads to another question, and one concept leads to several other concepts. Chen Cheng explained it for a while before Yang Qiu understood what he meant. He felt that teaching people is much harder and more difficult than killing people, so he explained this
If you know kung fu, not to mention one Yang Qiu, even ten Yang Qiu will be hacked to death.
Yang Qiu was very excited after understanding what Chen Cheng meant. Developing a silver mine is simply picking up money, right?
Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "Guan Shan Hai", salt and iron official camps have been the mainstream in China and one of the main sources of income for the imperial court. Instead of iron plows, wooden plows can be used to cultivate the land, but people can't help but eat salt! So!
Salt merchants in the past dynasties have produced very rich men, but how can the profits from selling salt compare to those from directly smelting silver?
If a silver mine is discovered somewhere, let alone a silver mine, even if it is a copper mine or an iron mine, it must be taken over by the government. Where will it be the turn of private individuals to mine it? Secretly mining it in private is another matter.
, it is well known that everyone would never dare to do it. Of course, in this era, let alone the princes of Liangzhou who are mining minerals on their own, even the scholar-bureaucrats in the Central Plains regard national law as child's play.
Yang Qiu thought he heard it wrong. After confirming it twice, he laughed so hard that the corners of his mouth almost split.
"Please rest assured, my lord, I will send people from Fuping over immediately!" Yang Qiu patted his chest to confirm, "I promise to handle the matter properly and there will never be any mistakes!"
He also made a further request, "My family has enough manpower, money and food, so why don't you bother other people?"
Gold and silver are natural currencies, but currency is not necessarily gold and silver.
Chen Cheng smiled and said: "The government accounts for 30%, and the military generals at all levels account for 20%. Of the remaining 50%, Yang Shangshu accounts for 20%. In addition, Cheng Yi and Ma Teng each account for 10%."
Yang Qiu immediately understood that this was used to win over the powerful princes and military generals in Liangzhou. He brought Beidi County to serve, so he accounted for 10% more than Cheng Yi and Ma Teng. Cheng Yi was the triangle
As a link in the alliance, giving him 10% is considered meaningful. Ma Teng is selling his daughter for glory...
However, he quickly discovered a loophole, so he asked: "This is only 90%, where is the remaining 10%?"
Chen Cheng said: "The remaining 10% should be given to Her Royal Highness the Princess."
Silver and so on are just an introduction. After the amount of silver mining increases, there will be a series of follow-up plans. For example, casting silver coins, opening banks, etc. Chen Cheng thinks that sometimes, Chi Guoguo's force is very good
It's useful, but sometimes, you can still get what you want without using force, and the effect will even be better.
Of course, before that, force is still needed as a guarantee. If he can form a few aircraft carrier formations, he can also suck blood all over the world.
After Yang Qiu left, Chen Cheng immediately said again: "Send orders to Zhao Yun to transfer Xia Xi and Zhong Zhen over."
These two young men were also very talented in arithmetic, and were two of the smartest among the orphans. The blast furnace explosion killed and injured so many trained workers and a good young man who was proficient in arithmetic. Of course, this made
Chen Cheng was very heartbroken, but no matter how heartbreaking it was, he still had to continue doing it.
In this era and for a long time to come, steel is the backbone of a country. Even if the number of casualties increases several times, we will still have to continue to work against the scalp.
