Holding Empress Zhang's hand and walking out, Zhu Youxiao's gaze swept over the courtiers kneeling on the ground.

He walked in front of Xu Guangqi and Bi Maokang, stretched out his hand and gently helped Xu Guangqi, who was kneeling on the ground, and said with a warm smile: "Everyone, please be exempt." ”

When everyone stood up, Zhu Youxiao quietly took Queen Zhang's little hand again, and said to Xu Guangqi with a smile: "Aiqing, do you have to come here today?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, today's minister Mu Xiu, there is nothing to do at home, so come to the Baigongyuan to have a look. It's also done very well here, Bi Maokang is doing a good job, everything is in order. The minister believes that the results will be soon. Xu Guangqi said with a smile, his face full of satisfaction and appreciation.

For Xu Guangqi always running to the Hundred Works, Zhu Youxiao knew it clearly in his heart, which he was happy to see.

However, there is one thing that needs to be cared about, and that is Xu Guangqi's body.

You must know that Xu Guangqi is not young anymore, he is busy with the affairs of the household department and the cabinet all day long, and he has to run to the Baigong Institute in his spare time, Zhu Youxiao is really worried that Xu Guangqi will be a little unbearable to take care of both ends.

So Zhu Youxiao said with concern on his face, and with a little worry in his tone: "Aiqing still has to pay attention to her body." The court is complicated, I can't do without Aiqing, Aiqing must take care of herself. ”

The matter that Zhu Youxiao rewarded Shen Tingyun has spread all over the government and the opposition, and Xu Guangqi naturally knows about it.

Now hearing Zhu Youxiao's words of concern, Xu Guangqi was slightly moved in his heart, and then said with a smile: "Your Majesty Xie cares, and the old minister knows." ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded, and then turned his head to look at Bi Maokang who was standing on the other side.

In front of Xu Guangqi, Bi Maokang's qualifications are relatively shallow, his status is relatively low, and his official position is not on the stage, so he has been standing obediently behind the side and watching Xu Guangqi and Zhu Youxiao talk.

Of course, Bi Maokang also had an idea in his heart, that is, one day, he would also talk to His Majesty like Xu Guangqi.

In the past, Bi Maokang would not have had such an idea, because he knew that his ability and qualifications were not good.

For such a long time in the Baigong Institute, although Bi Maokang's qualifications are still not good, his ability has been greatly developed.

At the same time, Bi Maokang also recognized one thing clearly, that is, his ability can push himself forward a little more.

So Bi Maokang naturally had such an idea.

"Take me over and have a look!" Zhu Youxiao smiled gently and nodded to Bi Maokang.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang was happy in his heart, and after agreeing, he hurriedly turned around and led the way in front.

Zhu Youxiao took Empress Zhang's hand, and after passing through a courtyard full of various large tools, a very empty large square suddenly jumped into everyone's eyes.

Bi Maokang pointed to some old marks on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, this was an ironworks before. ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded.

This place is known to Zhu Youxiao, because this is the earliest production base established by the Baigong Institute.

As a person from later generations, Zhu Youxiao knows very well in his heart that industry, especially heavy industry, is that everything is based on steel.

If the steel is not up to par, then there is no need to talk about anything else, and to put it more broadly, it is the material industry that supports other industries.

No matter how subtle your design is, you can't make it without enough material to support it.

In the Ming Dynasty, steel was a very, very important industry.

In fact, in this era, the steel industry of the Ming Dynasty was already very developed, and it was in the leading position in the world in terms of output and quality, especially in terms of output.

It may not be possible to refine a few fine steels, but in terms of the overall quality of steel, Daming is definitely the best in the world.

For example, like Damascus steel, it is definitely better than Daming's steel, but it is difficult to forge, the requirements for iron ore are extremely high, and the output is very low, so there is no value for large-scale use.

Damascus steel is not very meaningful to a country.

Of course, there will be a specific role at a certain time, and something like Damascus steel will also be developed, but not now.

Looking around, Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "It seems that this place has been almost demolished." ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it is indeed almost demolished. Everything that should be moved has been moved, and the minister has already asked people to prepare for the construction of a new steel plant, all using the newly developed process this time. "Bi Maokang's eyes are full of hope, but also with the eagerness to try.

Zhu Youxiao nodded, turned his head to look at Xu Guangqi on the side and asked, "Does the household have so much silver?" ”

You must know that it takes a lot of money to build a brand new steel plant, which Zhu Youxiao knows very well in his heart.

From site selection to construction, and then to production, everything is to burn money, and it is absolutely impossible to invest a lot of money.

This time, the method of smelting steel made by the Baigong Institute is actually the blast furnace of later generations. Of course, it is not as sophisticated as later generations, but it is just an earthen blast furnace.

But it will greatly improve the output and the quality of steel, the specific technology Zhu Youxiao did not see, but it is definitely the crystallization of science and technology of the entire Ming Dynasty, which concentrates all the high-precision and cutting-edge technologies in the steel industry, and at the same time has the exclusive technology developed by the Baigong Institute itself.

Zhu Youxiao doesn't know much about this aspect, but he has seen the data after it was put into production.

According to the design of Beacon, this will be a 50,000-tonne-per-year steel plant.

Zhu Youxiao calculated that the annual steel output of the Ming Dynasty is about 18 million catties, and the catties here refer to the catties of the Ming Dynasty, that is, 16 taels, which is about 14,400 tons when converted to the unit of measurement of later generations.

The steel plant to be built by Bi Maokang has an annual output of 50,000 tons.

What does this mean?

This means that once the steel mill is completed, the amount of steel produced will be more than three times the national output of Daming in a year.

When Zhu Youxiao saw this plan, he almost didn't drop his jaw.

Of course, there is no way to compare this with later generations, because the annual output of later generations is often one million tons, but when is this?

This is an absolutely remarkable presence in the contemporaries!

In order to solve the problem of transportation, Bi Maokang directly proposed to build where there were iron mines and coal mines.

At the same time, Bi Maokang also developed the desulfurization technology of coal, which is not very mature, but it can barely be used.

In addition to this, charcoal is used when the steel is smelted.

In short, what Bi Maokang provided to Zhu Youxiao was a perfect and feasible plan, and he needed to invest millions of silver in the first phase.

Once this steel mill is built, it will be a rebuilding of the city, and it will bring together a large number of people, whether they are here to work or to do business.

This is simply the steel city of the future.

In this era, the technology is not developed, and many things need to be done manually, so this large steel mill will inevitably use a very, very large number of people.

When he saw this plan at that time, Zhu Youxiao was silent for a long time, and then sent Bi Maokang to Xu Guangqi.

The result can be imagined, Xu Guangqi, the little old man, agrees with and supports this plan very much.

In Xu Guangqi's words, once the imperial court could refine so much steel, it could be used to make more weapons and armor, and at the same time, it could also make more agricultural tools.

This is a good thing for the whole Ming Dynasty, and it can also promote the development of mining industry.

If you sell these steels to make money, you can also increase the income of the imperial court, which is a double thing.

At the same time, under the guidance of Zhu Youxiao, the Baigong Institute also made a hydraulic stamping machine, which used a hydraulic stamping machine to forge armor, and the effect was very good.

Today's steel is not up to standard, and more steel produced by steel mills is needed to complete a stamping.

It's not that the steel forged today is not good, but it's not flexible enough to be stamped, and if you want to stamp, you need to readjust, which is more troublesome than building a new steel plant.

It was at that time that Zhu Youxiao saw for the first time the plate armor created by Daming, which was made of hydraulic stamping.

In the end, Zhu Youxiao heard a sentence that talking about defense aside from weight is a hooligan.

However, plate armor does have better defense at the same weight. The key is that it can be mass-produced on a large scale and quickly by means of a hydraulic press, which is incomparable to ordinary armor manufacturing.

The same is true for swords, guns, swords, halberds, all of which can be stamped and formed at one time, and the manufacturing speed is still very fast.

After getting such a result, Zhu Youxiao was a little unstoppable, and this policy was supported by Xu Guangqi.

By the time Zhu Youxiao had done everything, Xu Guangqi had already submitted this policy to the cabinet, and then he got Sun Chengzong's support.

Under such circumstances, the policy was passed by the Cabinet.

Now that it has been demolished, the site has been selected for the construction of a new steel plant, and the specific site has not yet been decided.

However, Zhu Youxiao estimates that there are only a few places, and there are not many places with iron and coal near Beijing, but there are actually a lot.

You can look at Hebei Province, Hebei Province in later generations, anyway, Zhu Youxiao thinks that Xu Guangqi will definitely choose a good place.

Zhu Youxiao naturally supported this matter, and what he had been worried about was the problem of silver.

You must know that the expenses of the court are not small, although some time ago I got some silver by stealing my house, but the further I go, the greater the expenses.

Whether it is Liaodong or Northwest, it will become a very large money-burning area.

"Back to Your Majesty, the silver in the household department is enough for the time being." Xu Guangqi said.

However, Xu Guangqi had some hesitation, and he was afraid of stimulating Zhu Youxiao when he wanted to say something, so he didn't continue to speak, looking like he wanted to say something and stopped.

Looking at Xu Guangqi's appearance, Zhu Youxiao himself smiled first, looked at Xu Guangqi and said: "Aiqing has something to say, but it doesn't hurt to say it, although I don't dare to call myself Mingjun, but this humble advice can still be done." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Listening to Zhu Youxiao's words, Xu Guangqi seemed to have made up some kind of determination, and said with a serious face: "Your Majesty, the state is insufficient, and there is a shortage of money in all parts of the imperial court. The capital is training a new army, Liaodong is also spending money, natural disasters are frequent in various places, and the imperial court is the time to use money. Do you think you should stop the construction of the palace? ”

After saying this, Xu Guangqi stopped speaking, bowed his body and stood motionless with his head down.

After this sentence came out, all the people present stopped squeaking, as if they were choked by an invisible hand, and they seemed to be frozen in place in an instant.