In August, Li Qi inspected Yanzhou, and there was an accompanying visit to the Confucian Temple, but he was not allowed.

and Zhifeng Fu, changed Feng Fu County to Tai'an, and promoted it to a state.

On August 23, he went along Mushui to Laiwu Prison.

Laiwu Iron Prison, with a long history, Laiwu Prison is located in the north of Mushui.

Upstream of Mushui, a barrage dam is being built, and on both sides of the riverbank, a new steel plant covering a large area is rising from the ground.

Reservoirs, iron works, including Lushan in the south, and several iron and coal mines are also under construction at the same time.

The Laiwu Iron Works is one of the eight steel bases planned and built by the empire.

The Laiwu area, since the Han Dynasty, has been an important iron-producing area, and according to Li Qi's memory, the coal and iron reserves here have exceeded hundreds of millions of tons, which is very suitable for the development of the steel industry.

Although many industries in China have been slowly opened to private businesses, the steel industry is still in the form of government-run enterprises and has not yet begun to implement the shareholding system reform. If this kind of basic industry relies on its own development, the speed is too slow, and it has to be promoted from top to bottom.

Due to the growing domestic demand for steel, steel production is far from meeting the demand, and has been in a state of short supply. Because of this, the state-owned iron works have been prosperous and profitable, and the elders and nobles of the DPRK have been pushing for its shareholding reform.

"As His Majesty can see, the construction and renovation of the iron plant, learned from the director of the Gujiao Iron Works, not only rely on water power to drive, in the planning, most of the equipment is already ready to be driven by steam engines. The first two iron-making blast furnaces to be built in the plan are more than six zhang high. Shaofu Jian and a group of officials from Chongzhou, Qizhou and Laiwu accompanied Li Qi to visit the construction of the iron factory.

In front of Li Qi is the most important equipment of the steel plant, two iron-making blast furnaces that are under construction and are about 20 meters high. This kind of blast furnace is made of steel as the outer wall, and the interior is made of refractory bricks. In addition, large blowers, which were originally driven by hydropower, have now been replaced by more convenient steam engines.

Due to the application of the steam engine, the mining efficiency of coal and iron ore has been greatly improved, and the output has also increased several times, which is enough to meet the raw grain needs of the iron and steel plant.

In Datang, the center of steel production has slowly spread outward from the surrounding area of Taiyuan.

At present, the steel output around Jinyang, plus Wuzhou, still accounts for half of the domestic steel production, but after the completion of eight steel bases in Hancheng, Cizhou, Xingyuan, Qijiang, Daye, Wuyang, Laiwu and Pingzhou, the domestic steel output will increase several times, which can basically meet the current domestic production and living needs.

"In the future, steel is the country!"

This is the word inscribed by Li Qi for the Laiwu Iron Works.

……

This is the third time that Li Qi has visited the Gukou camp, which can also show the importance he attaches to the construction of the water division.

Coming to Gukou Port again, Li Qi can already feel a huge change.

The wharves, sailor camps and shipyards of Gukou occupy almost a large part of the harbor on the south bank of the Haihe River, and on its periphery, based on the Gukou wharf, has formed a sizable town.

After Li Qi arrived in Gukou this time, he directly changed this town called Nigu Village to Tianjin Wei.

The Gukou shipyard is undergoing a large-scale renovation, mainly due to the continuous introduction of various steam-powered carpentry or iron-striking machinery from Jinyang by Liu Jiang, the shipyard, which is building a small steelmaking plant of its own for the production of parts. After completing the initial renovations, the shipyard now has three slipways and is capable of building six warships per year. Among them, slipway No. 3 is the largest, and it is capable of starting to build warships of more than 1,000 materials (400 tons).

This was the best news Li Qi had ever heard, and at this rate, he would be able to organize a fleet of dozens of warships by the year after that.

As soon as he arrived at Gukou, Li Qi heard that the No. 3 slipway had begun to build the first large ship with thousands of materials, so he rushed to the shipyard to visit with great interest without taking a break.

"You have been in charge of the ship for the past two years, and you have done a great job! At this rate, in two years' time, we will have a naval division capable of conducting operations in the open sea! Looking at the warship on the slipway, which was more than 70 meters long and under construction, Li Qi said to Liu Jiang with a happy face.

"These are all things that students should do, and students should do their best." Liu Jiang, who was following Li Qi's side, said respectfully.

Li Qi smiled: "You must be complaining in your heart that I am partial, and gave He Quan the task of trying to build a steam locomotive." Your sea and land are the most important thing, we have a strong cavalry army on this land, in fact, I still value the sea more. I have high expectations for you, and this worry is heavy. ”

"Yes, the student keeps in mind His Majesty's entrustment." Liu Jiang bowed and said.

"I haven't seen you for a few months, this face is quite tanned, and in normal times, you need to pay more attention to your body, which is the capital of your career." Li Qi smiled and said, "Oh, by the way, I want to separate this shipping supervisor from the ordnance supervisor and form a separate department, and take the time to draw up a charter and report it to the imperial court." ”

Liu Jiang looked at Li Qi with some confusion: "I don't know what Your Majesty means?" ”

"It's the ship's business changed to the ship's administration, and it is tied with the nine temples." Li Qi said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your attention!" Liu Jiang said with joy on his face.

This shipbuilding was upgraded to one of the nine temples, and he was able to rank among the nine kings and become an important minister in the court. These are of secondary importance, mainly because personnel and finances are no longer under human control.

Accompanied by Liu Jiang, Li Qi visited a warship that was about to be built on the No. 1 slipway, and listened carefully to the explanations of the technical officials and craftsmen on the structure and control of the warship. He is a pure layman when it comes to shipbuilding, but some of his opinions can still be instructive.

In addition, Li Qi told Liu Jiang that it was necessary not only to build warships, but also to pay attention to the construction of civilian merchant ships. The development of the shipyard should be mainly civilian, supplemented by warships.

Leaving Gukou, Li Qi continued northward, inspecting the Yuguan Naval Division Camp and the shipyard, and then visited the Shanhaiguan Military City, which was being expanded.

After Yuan Xingkai served as the envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, he sent more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians to rebuild the Shanhaiguan customs city and city tower. According to the plan of the capital temple, the city was built on the mountain, and several forts were built on the mountain, which was thought to be horns.

At this time, the new Shanhaiguan has begun to take shape and has become an important pass to control the entry of the North China Plain from the northeast.

With the completion of Shanhaiguan, Qinglong Pass and Luanhe South Pass, coupled with the implementation of the military tun Shibian, the increase in garrisons and population in Pinglu and Youzhou, the Khitan and Xibu have basically been blocked outside the pass, and it is easy to go south......

Read the URL: