The search for iron ore was very smooth, and in just over ten days, Bo and others found the ore.
The nickname of Grassland Steel City is not a false one. Modern Baotou is dozens of iron ore of all sizes, and iron ore can be found in the city.
What surprised Chen Bing was that Bo and his group actually found saltpeter, sulfur, limestone and other minerals that were urgently needed in the north... In fact, there are other mines in Jiuyuan, such as copper, coal, gold, oil, etc. Modern time here. 74 kinds of mines were discovered.
But Bo and others didn't even notice it, but they didn't know it.
Chen Bing immediately planned a large industrial area downstream of Jiuyuan City to prepare for the construction of iron smelting, cast iron workshops, and textile workshops.
Among them, the textile workshop is to produce textiles for Jiuyuan City self-sufficient... Jiuyuan does not compete with Yunzhong County for the textile industry, but Jiuyuan City will have at least a population of more than 100,000 in the future. The clothes problem of these people You can't just transport them from Yunzhong County, of course, this is a huge waste of transportation capacity.
On the other hand, in the future, Jiuyuan City will develop towards the silk export direction, and naturally also need textile workshops.
In short, Jiuyuan focuses on iron smelting, horses, gunpowder, grain and other military strategic materials, as well as silk exports. Yunzhong County focuses on textiles to make money from the Central Plains.
Fatty Tun had some questions about Chen Bing's plan, and he was mainly puzzled by the fact that Chen Bing had planned hundreds of iron smelting workshops downstream of Jiuyuan.
Fatty Tun said:
"General, iron tools are mostly used in agricultural tools, and the transaction volume is small and the profit is low."
"When I look at the Iron Workshop in Yunzhong County, it is even more incoming. Why do we still need to build an Iron Workshop in Jiuyuan?"
No wonder Fatty Tun asked this question.
The new iron method is even the highest secret in the Northland. Only the blacksmith himself, Shen Bing, Fusu and others know that even Wang Ben and Wei Ji only say that the new iron is selected from the ironwork workshop.
Fatty Tun didn’t know the existence of Xintieng, and when he was keeping accounts in Yunzhong County, he found that the ironwork workshop was almost profitable.
Chen Bing did not explain much, just answered:
"There are still many defects in the quality of the iron tool at this time."
"Only by doing more smelting can we refine it as much as possible for military preparation."
Fatty Tun said "Oh" and left without understanding.
Fusu also said in confusion after leaving Fatty Tun:
"Busu thinks Tun is right."
"If iron smelting is not enough to make ends meet, why don't we specialize in textiles and reduce iron smelting?"
Judging from the economic account, Fusu is correct.
Textiles make much more money than iron smelting, and from the current point of view, the demand for iron in the North is not large. At least the iron smelting workshops in Yunzhong County are enough to have iron tools demand in the North.
Under this circumstance, if a large area of iron smelting workshops are spread out in Jiuyuan, isn’t it too much supply?
At the same time, new iron cannot be sold, and the only thing that can be sold is inferior iron.
At that time, so many inferior irons will be shipped to Zhongyuan for sale... Not only is the transportation difficult and the price is not good, but it will really be ineffective at that time.
But Chen Bing replied without thinking:
"We waited for iron smelting not to make money, but to support people."
Fusu couldn't help but say:
"Support people?"
Chen Bing nodded:
"Support people!"
To be precise, it is to raise blacksmiths, skilled blacksmiths.
Iron smelting itself is not difficult, even new iron is the same.
The difficulty lies in maintaining a large number of skilled technicians in the Northland.
As long as these technicians are there and iron ore, it is possible to do it in a short time when you want to equip new iron in large quantities or even replace the entire army's bronze equipment with new iron.
On the contrary, if there are no technicians, there will be unexpected troubles when making them, and even if the master takes the apprentice to teach them for a few years... Craftsmanship is not something that can be done in one day or two days in a short period of time.
This technology includes iron smelting and iron making tools.
Therefore, many modern military factories are actually operating at a loss but still need to maintain this for this.
Once the military factory cannot be maintained, these skilled technicians and talents will be poached by other factories and even other countries. One day, it will be difficult to build the factory again... This is definitely not a matter of money, but
It is difficult to achieve talent reserves and cultivation without decades.
At this time, for the North, these iron smelting, cast iron and making equipment craftsmen were military workers.
There is an iron smelting workshop in the process of retaining, cultivating and absorbing talents... There are work in the north, not only high rewards but also stable, but also various benefits. Craftsmen are certainly willing to go to the north.
Otherwise, if, as Fusu and Fatty Tun thought, the iron smelting workshop would be less profitable than it would be, what could these craftsmen do when they came?
Even if they come to the north, they will probably have their hands done if they don’t do their jobs for a few years.
Moreover, the demand for railways in the Northland is much more than what Fusu and Fatty Tun imagined.
At this time, because the bronze ware has not been completely eliminated, one day the new iron can be produced without any scruples... All arms, including armor, will be made of iron.
In addition, there are agricultural tools, daily necessities, building materials, industrial production, etc., which require a lot of iron.
So this does not need to be considered. Even if you lose money, Shen Bing must maintain the scale.
After understanding these principles, Fusu sighed:
"The general is far-sighted, and Fusu admires it."
"With the general here, why are you afraid of Zhao Gao and his villains secretly causing trouble?"
Shen Bing just smiled and didn't answer.
Fusu still underestimated Zhao Gao and Li Si. He had no idea that these villains could do more than just cause trouble, they could take Fusu's life to establish a new emperor.
Just as Shen Bing and Fusu continued to plan Jiuyuan, Ren pushed the door and reported:
"General, King Yan Xi has surrendered, and the Mengwu army has drawn troops to encircle the deceased."
This was expected by everyone. At this time, Yan State did not have the power to resist Qin. It was good that he could hold on with the Qin army for more than a month and hold on until now.
If Yan State is destroyed, it will be even more difficult to rely on Yan State Dai State.
Sure enough, Zhao Wangjia went out of the city to surrender in just two days.
Yan and the two countries were destroyed in this way, and there was only one Qi country left in the Central Plains.
In fact, Qi State is not long-lasting.
In history, Qi State was only more than Yan, and Daiduo survived for more than half a year... The next year, the Qin army surrounded the Qi State's King Jian.
At that time, the soldiers and people of Qi did not even dare to resist the Qin army.
Because the Qin army's unification of the Central Plains was no longer stopped, it was too late to fight with the Qin army and it was meaningless.
So in the end, King Jian of Qi also surrendered under the persuasion of the prime minister.
These do not require Shen Bing to consider.
What Shen Bing needs to consider is that Yan is destroyed, and the people who were moving to the north as Ying Zheng said would arrive.
It can be imagined that this will not be a small number.