Li Qi adjusted in the manor in Xinzhou for a few days, and did not return to Jinyang, but first went to the ironworking workshop in Gujiaocheng.

Nearly 400 tons of steel were used to make a 30-cubic-meter cast steel-walled iron-making blast furnace, and the cost of materials for such an iron-making furnace alone exceeded 100,000 yuan, plus labor, which was equivalent to the original Jinyang's tax revenue for a year. If it weren't for Li Qi's insistence, no one would have spent such a huge amount of money on the manufacture of an iron-making furnace.

After more than two years of manufacturing, the iron-making furnace, named "No. 1 Blast Furnace", was finally completed and put into operation in mid-August. It's just that Li Qi went to Baishuiluo at that time and didn't catch up with the official commissioning ceremony of the blast furnace.

Li Mao, the chief steward of the ironworks, and the craftsmen of the iron-smelting workshop firmly believed that the knowledge of the Son of Heaven came from Taoist immortals, and spared no expense in casting the outer wall of the iron-making blast furnace, and carved many Taoist legend patterns in the mold, and finally made the appearance of the iron-making blast furnace look like a Taoist pagoda.

This thing is more than six zhang high, but it is much thicker than the average temple pagoda, and the eaves of the tower are spiral, because it also serves as a gangway for the Venerable Master. However, from a distance, it also looks like a snail-shaped pagoda, which is also a scene. After the furnace is put into operation, the daily output capacity can reach about 12 tons, and excluding the furnace shutdown time, the annual output will exceed 3,000 tons.

The large hydraulic volute blower and the huge red brick chimney with a height of more than 30 zhang have greatly improved the ventilation conditions of the blast furnace, making the efficiency of iron smelting greatly improved, and it used to take about 24 hours to smelt a furnace of iron, but now it can produce iron in about 6 hours. More importantly, the coke consumption of the iron smelting furnace in the past has been reduced from eight to one to less than three to one.

That is to say, only less than three catties of coke can be used to smelt one catty of pig iron, which greatly reduces the production cost.

Only when the annual production of steel reaches a certain standard, the price is reduced, and steel replaces wood as the main raw material in the manufacturing industry, will there be an opportunity to trigger the industrial revolution. In another time and space, the British Industrial Revolution began with an annual output of 170,000 tons of steel, and Li Qi estimated that due to the large population and huge demand in China, in order to meet this standard, the annual output of steel should reach more than 300,000 tons.

After inspecting the production of the Gujiao Iron Mill and then starting to build the No. 2 blast furnace with a larger capacity, Li Qi returned to Jinyang after snowfall.

As soon as he returned to Jinyang Palace, Li Cunba, the great Zongzheng, entered the palace, told him that Mrs. Yang had died of illness, and asked Li Qi if he had visited him in person.

Zongzheng Temple is an institution that manages the affairs of the royal clan, and after Li Qi ascended the throne, he appointed the second uncle Yongwang Li Cunba as the great Zongzheng, in charge of the clan roster, clan titles, education, rewards and punishments, weddings and funerals, and other affairs.

It may also be because Zhuangzong Li Cunqiao is too strong, and Yongwang Li Cunba's personality seems a little cowardly, which can be regarded as a name that is so domineering.

Li Ke, the king of Jin, received more than 100 righteous sons in his lifetime, most of them from the Shatuo tribe, and there were also many children of the Han family in the Central Plains. According to the convention, these righteous children are also counted as clan relatives and belong to the management of Zongzheng Temple, although Li Qi does not like this practice, but he still follows the old practice and does not change it.

Mrs. Yang is the step-room of Li Sizhao, the former Zhaoyi Festival envoy, Li Qi can be called by his aunt, if he is in Jinyang during the New Year's Festival, although he is the Son of Heaven, he also needs to visit the palace.

Li Sizhao's sons are also the same as Li Qi, they are all successors.

Li Sizhao's original partner was Li Qi's cousin, Princess Changhua, the daughter of Li Kerou, the former Zhenwu Jiedu, and Ren Yuan. However, the sons born to Princess Changhua, Li Jitao, Li Jida, etc., all died because of rebellion or fratricide, and now it is Mrs. Yang's Li Jineng, Li Jixun and Li Jizhong who survived.

Mrs. Yang was born in a wealthy merchant family, good at management, and also took advantage of Li Sizhao's long-term service as the envoy of the Zhaoyi Festival, and accumulated a family fortune of 10,000 yuan, which is one of the famous wealthy families in Jinyang.

In another time and space history, Shi Jingtang started from Hedong, and it was from Li Jizhong that he borrowed 200,000 yuan of money and grain to enter the world.

Li Sizhao was loyal all his life, and unfortunately died in the battle under the city of Zhenzhou. After Wei Bo's mutiny, Li Siyuan was able to become bigger, on the one hand, it was related to Zhuang Zong's trust in eunuchs and servants, which made his generals feel cold, and on the other hand, it was also due to the fact that Li Sizhao, Zhou Dewei, Li Cunzhang, Li Cunxian, and other famous generals of the Jin army whose status was above Li Siyuan withered one after another, otherwise, Li Siyuan would not have been able to sit in the position of the head of the Fan Han Ma Bu Army.

Although Li Si is also regarded as a prominent military achievement, because he has no culture, his status in the Jin army has always been lower than that of these famous generals. Who would have thought that because of the rebellion of Zhang Wenli of the Chengde army, under the city of Zhenzhou, the Jin army would kill four generals Shi Jianjiao, Li Sizhao, Yan Bao and Li Cunjin one after another, which can be said to be a bad omen for the chaos of the later Tang Dynasty.

After Zhuang Zongping destroyed the Liang Kingdom, it turned out that Li Ke, the king of Jin, used the famous "Thirteen Taibao" under his subordinates, but in the end only Li Siyuan survived, and because no one was able to contain it, it eventually became a disaster.

Now that Mrs. Yang has died of illness, since Li Qi is in Jinyang, it is inevitable that she will go to mourn in person to show her grief after death. After worshipping the old lady, Li Qi specially instructed Li Jineng and others that the housework also involved the Zongfu and could not be disposed of privately, and it must be reported to the Zongzheng Temple for approval.

He did it for a reason.

Because Mrs. Yang left behind a lot of assets after her death, Li Jineng suspected that his mother's maid in charge of the property had swallowed up the family property, and abused lynching to kill the maid. As a result, the maid's family accused their brothers of rebellion, and Li Siyuan took the opportunity to kill Li Jineng and Li Jixi's brothers, and used Shi Jingtang as the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, basically completely eliminating the hidden danger of Li Sizhao's influence in the Zhaoyi army.

Li Qi is not afraid that these brothers will rebel, but that he is afraid that this guy will cause trouble again, and it will be difficult for him to deal with it when the time comes.

Although this family is bound by the law, if he really wants to cause trouble, it is unlikely that he will really be ruthless and strictly enforce the law. Otherwise, to alienate these families would be to damage the very foundation of their rule.

The so-called prince who broke the law and committed the same crime as the common people is indeed just a wish.

Unless the situation is big, extremely bad, and has a great impact, it is not enough to kill the people.

Most of the time, Zongzheng Temple deals with it, and it is also a big thing and a small thing.

When the water is clear, there are no fish, and there are no friends when people are observed, this is the way of the king, and many times they can only pretend to be confused, and the things they do under their hands, as long as they are not out of line, do not pursue them.

If you really require your subordinates to be honest and honest, there are almost no people available.

This thousands of miles of being an official is only for money, and there is no profit, how can he be motivated? It's just that don't go beyond the rules in everything, don't go too far in some things, just treat it as a welfare......