The location of the Zunhua Iron Works changed three times in the Ming Dynasty, all due to the increasing depletion of iron ore resources.
It is now located in Baiyezhuang, also called Baiye City, which is near the Tiechang Town of Zunhua in later generations.
Baiye City, as the name suggests, there is a city wall here, and it is also a stone city! The fastest updated mobile version::
The city is not big, square, with a side length of only one mile. However, the city wall is two feet high and one foot wide, and the foundation is made of nine layers of tamped dust. This damn castle is an extremely strong one.
This city was built specifically to protect the iron works. Steel, weapons and troops were stored in the city, and the people and craftsmen could only live outside the city.
The leaders of the garrison in the city had been raped by Wang Chong, and were temporarily in charge of the officers from the Baofang. The leaders of the iron factory had also been changed.
Ling Xia pointed to the map on the table and said: "We take it too much for granted in the capital. It is impossible to build the railway to the iron factory, otherwise your and my grandchildren can build it."
Wang Chong smiled bitterly: "After arriving at the iron factory, just looking at the terrain, I knew that it was not so easy to build over the mountains and ridges."
Ling Xia drew a line on the map: "Build a railway from the iron factory to Baiye River, which is about five or six miles away. Steel can be shipped by water to Jizhou. We can then build a railway from Jizhou to connect to Beijing in the west. In this way
, only need to build more than 100 miles of railway, and the mileage is shortened by one-third compared with the original plan."
From the Zunhua Iron Works to Jizhou, direct water transportation was possible in the Ming Dynasty. Later, due to the construction of the reservoir and the Tangshan earthquake, the river was completely cut off.
Wang Chong nodded and said: "That's not bad."
Ling Xia asked: "How is the situation at the iron factory?"
"We need a large number of iron smelting craftsmen, at least 10,000 people must be mobilized." Wang Chong was quite troubled.
The iron factories in the Ming Dynasty were divided into official and private ones.
The government-run iron works were purely a planned economy. Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that when the imperial court needed steel, it would allocate quota tasks to each iron factory. When the imperial court did not need steel, all official iron factories would stop working.
This led to the long-term shutdown of government-owned iron plants in the era without large-scale wars. During the Hongzhi period, government-owned iron plants across the country were in ruins.
Don’t blame Zhu Yuanzhang for being petty? Because the steel output at that time was too terrifying. The annual output of the national government-run iron plants was as high as 18.47 million kilograms (including pig iron). The furnace was opened in the 25th year of Hongwu? In three years, 37.43 million kilograms of steel (including pig iron) were smelted.
?The government’s steel warehouse is full, how can it continue to produce?
Take the Zunhua Iron Works, the largest iron smelting base in the north, with only about 2,500 iron smelting workers, who often go on strike for several months every year. In Foshan Town, Guangdong, there are as many as 30,000 iron smelting workers.
Moreover, they are working day and night, and the vitality of private enterprises is much higher than that of government enterprises.
What is even more disgusting is that the Zunhua Iron Works uses a large number of criminals to smelt steel. They frequently beat and torture them. The quality of the steel produced is worrying, and the mortality rate of iron smelting workers is very high.
When the court required strict smelting tasks, they used charcoal for smelting. When the court's requirements were not high, they used coal to fool them. There were also some powerful people who used their hands to let workers do private work for themselves. They smelted large quantities of wrought iron and sold it secretly.
Wang Chong said: "One mile (559.8 meters) of railway consumes at least 40,000 to 50,000 kilograms of steel. With the output of Zunhua Iron Works over the years, the wrought iron produced in a year can only build seven or eight miles of road. So? I still want to
Ten thousand iron smelting craftsmen, 10,000 miners and 5,000 charcoal burners are needed. The iron-making furnaces here do not need to be modified? The fried wrought iron is used for railway components. Thirty new steel-making furnaces will be built? All of them will use the teacher's crucible.
Rails are cast using the steelmaking method.”
Ling Xia was shocked: "You want 20,000 to 30,000 people with just one mouthful? Not to mention? How much money and rations will be needed to get enough people?"
"Otherwise, a railway would have to be built until the end of the Year of the Monkey." Wang Chong had no choice.
A letter from Wang Chong was sent to Beijing, and Wang Yuan went to Haoshanyuan to see the emperor. The state machine immediately started to operate:
South Zhili dispatched 3,000 blacksmiths, Guangdong dispatched 3,000 blacksmiths, Zhejiang dispatched 2,000 blacksmiths, and Fujian dispatched 2,000 blacksmiths. They immediately took a boat to land in Tianjin, then took the Ji Canal directly to Jizhou, and then took the Baiye River to the iron factory. The whole journey was by water.
, can arrive in one month.
Jiangxi will mobilize 5,000 miners, and Huguang will mobilize 5,000 miners. They will take the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal to go north, and then transfer to Ji Canal after reaching Tianjin.
The charcoal-burning workers were apportioned to each province and sent to Zunhua as quickly as possible.
Local officials along the way must provide food and accommodation. Those who do not entertain guests well will be recorded in the emperor's notebook.
The few remaining batches of grain from Nanyang did not need to be transported to the capital, but were directly transferred to Jizhou via Jiyun Canal to be used as rations for miners, charcoal burners, blacksmiths and railway workers.
At the same time, the inner treasury allocated 300,000 taels of silver to purchase various supplies, including food when there was not enough. There was still a lot of gold sand from North America, and gold and silver from the Inca Empire were also shipped in last winter.
Treasury, Zhu Houzhao now has a lot of money. The Ming Emperor has never been so rich.
This series of orders caused a huge stir and attracted joint opposition from the imperial court and local governments.
If the opposition is ineffective, the emperor just wants to build the railway!
…
Beijing, Yangzhai.
Yang Tinghe called his son Yang Shen over: "Shen'er, you also interact with the School of Physics on weekdays. How much do you know about trains and railways?"
Yang Shen said: "It is said that it can transport thousands of kilograms of cargo at a time and travel thousands of miles a day without stopping. This is just one train. If ten trains start at the same time, it will transport tens of thousands of kilograms of cargo at a time."
The first generation trains could only pull two to three tons of cargo, and their speed was also very slow.
The good news is that this kind of train does not have high requirements on railways, and the high-quality wrought iron produced by the steel frying method can be used to lay rails.
Even this kind of poor transportation capacity shocked Yang Tinghe. He thought: "If ten trains are running, tens of thousands of troops can be transported at one time, and they can appear thousands of miles away the next day. And it doesn't take too much.
For grain transporters, just let the train transport grain and grass!"
"Exactly." Yang Shen said.
Yang Tinghe suddenly realized: "So that's it, that's it! Your Majesty allocated three hundred thousand taels of silver in one breath, and Wang Ruoxu stuffed several ministers of the Railways Department into it. They all saw the future of railways and trains. Such a good Wang Erlang, actually
With the creation of such magical artifacts and the gold and silver transported back from the Far East, the railway will inevitably be laid farther and farther. Even if the mountains are too high to be climbed, it can be built at intervals and the railway will be laid all the way to the grassland. Decades later, side events will
No worries!"
Yang Shen smiled and said: "If the railway can really be laid to the grassland, Wang Erlang will be a famous minister through the ages."
Yang Tinghe added: "There is also water transportation. Every year, four million stone and rice are transported to Beijing, and tens of millions of stone are consumed on the way. If the railway can be laid to the south of the Yangtze River, tens of millions of stone can be saved every year in food expenses, and it has not been destroyed.
Risk. It is a great good thing for the imperial court and the people of Jiangnan. It means that the millions of canal workers can be properly arranged."
Yang Shen added: "We must leave some Cao workers and Cao troops. From Beijing to Jiangnan, there are many rivers and mountains, and I am afraid it will be difficult to lay railways in many places. This requires transshipment, and leaving one hundred thousand Cao workers should be enough."
Yang Tinghe sat down slumped. He was very smart and instantly thought of the countless uses of trains and railways. This was a new thing that could change the entire country.
After sitting there for a long time, Yang Tinghe said: "Call Dun'er."
Yang Shen immediately went to find his younger brother and captured Yang Dun from Wenhui.
"Why is the father calling his son?" Yang Dun asked.
Yang Tinghe ordered: "Find a time to visit Wang Ruoxu and ask for an errand from the head of the chemical industry department."
"Father, my son is a little confused." Yang Dun was confused when he heard this. He is now a sixth-grade Beijing official, and the head of the Industrial Department is a seventh-grade foreign dispatch officer. This kind of transfer is at least equivalent to a two-and-a-half-level demotion.
Yang Tinghe could only explain patiently: "The Railway Department of the Ministry of Industry will do great things in the future. My father's health is also getting weaker and weaker. He gets sick every now and then. I am afraid he will not live for a few years. From now on, Wang Ruoxu will control the court. You should do it as soon as possible."
Go and join him. Wang Ruoxu's eldest son, Wang Ce, has already studied under your brother, and the relationship has been forged. Wang Ruoxu will definitely be happy if you join him."
Yang Dun wondered: "But there is no need to be the head of the branch. My son is now a sixth-rank imperial official."
"Confused!"
Yang Tinghe enlightened: "Wang Ruoxu wants to develop the railway, and the Zunhua Iron Works must be the top priority. The head of the Zun Chemical Industry Department is the person in charge of the Zunhua Iron Works. How can a seventh-grade official hold him down? In less than three to five years, Zunhua Iron Works will
The head of the Department of Chemical Engineering must be of the same rank as the head of the Sixth Department. So what if he is demoted and transferred to another department? Since my father is taking care of me, and I will have Wang Ruoxu to support me in the future, do you still care about these two levels of official rank?"
Yang Dun quickly said: "My son understands."
Yang Tinghe added: "You don't need to deliberately curry favor with Wang Ruoxu. Help him get things done with peace of mind. It is more useful than any flattery. When you go to the Zunhua branch, don't embezzle a penny. Spend a hundred thoughts on it."
The iron factory is properly managed!"
"Yes." Yang Dun said.
"Go." Yang Tinghe waved.
Just like Zhang Yong, Yang Tinghe is already old. No matter how ambitious he is, he still has to consider his posthumous affairs.
Yang Tinghe's current intention is to outlive Zhu Houzhao. He wants to survive until the emperor's death, and then lead the reform of elite troops and streamlined administration, abolishing a large number of eunuchs, imperial guards, imperial guards and soldiers in the capital, and at the same time, he will take action on those nobles who are too arrogant.
This kind of reform is a targeted attack, and the civil servants applaud it with both hands. It will definitely leave a mark in history and will be of great benefit to the country.
After finishing this job, Yang Tinghe should retire, which can be called the perfect curtain call for a generation of wise prime ministers.
As for how Wang Yuan carried out reforms, Yang Tinghe had nothing to do with him becoming an official!