The five-inch gun was a test product of the First Arsenal of the Republican Army. Shang Wu's intention was to propagate such a weapon through this war, and Shang Wu had decided to have such a weapon advertised in the newspaper Xindao. Then export the warehouse on a large scale. In this way, it can be exchanged for more materials that Shangwu needs, such as food.

The five-inch gun was very powerful, mainly because of its caliber, as well as new shells. He is equipped with a new style of **. A large number of artillerymen learned trigonometry, and a considerable part of them accumulated it on their own experience, because they simply could not tell what the difference between cosine was. This is a very normal situation, because most of the artillery is like this.

However, they first had to push the cannon to move, because of the metalworking, Shangwu still did not have too good master-level engineers to cast the cannon to improve the special alloy of the cannon. This requires rare metals such as chromium, nickel, or rare earths. He knew that Russia's artillery technology was due to the development of rare earths, and as long as a small amount of rare metals was added, their cannons could be used for thirty years, or even today. But Shangwu lacked such material resources. The only place where this resource can be obtained is in the Hetao area, where Shang Wu knows that there are large rare earth resources, as well as Liangzhou. That area could provide more coal to Shangvu, as well as chromium-nickel ore. It can be said that the war against the north and the west is not only to solve the food problem, but also to metal resources.

The backwardness of metal technology led to the fact that the cannon had to be cast rather heavy. This limited Shang Wu from further improving the mobility of the artillery. But there is no way around it, and many things have to have a result. In other words, they must have a whole set of solutions on their own, and only in this way can many things develop greatly. It's an inevitability.

Inside the War Department.

"Jingshi Luoyang also needs coal. We can export coal there. Jia Xu took a trade report and handed it to Shang Wu and said. The telegraph sped up their ability to process information. The problem is that they need to be busy. A large number of reports, paper appeared, and their reading volume increased a lot, of course. There are still many things that need to be worked out.

"Hmm. Very good. We can also export some coke. Because what I do know is that it can increase their iron production. Shang Wu said.

"What? Such technology also needs to be exported? Jia Xu looked at Shang Wu in surprise, in ancient times, iron was an important strategic resource, especially the nomads in the north, they needed iron weapons to solve all their military problems.

"Yes. Such things must be exported, and if we want to accelerate our development, we need a lot of iron. But if you look at our gun mounts, the wheels of our guns, they are still made of wood, for us. It's too bad. We need a material that can withstand our development. Obviously, the production of iron must rise to an astonishing yield, and I feel that if such a technology is exported, it can exceed the total amount of iron in any previous period in a relatively short period of time. It is possible to produce 100 million stones a year. It should be a small number. Shang Wu said.

"But why don't we produce it that way?" Jia Xu asked. He knows that Shangwu thinks more long-term than himself, this is the long-term gap between the times, the gap between Shangwu and them is that he knows that many places need steel resources, and Jia Xu believes that this is still an important strategic resource, and restrictions should be taken to reduce exports, but Shangwu is to encourage exports, and even technology exports. It's a madman way of thinking.

"Because it will consume more resources, and for a long time, we may not be able to produce our own iron to meet our own needs, so we need to import, process into the products we need, and then export again because we have a technological advantage. And the primary products like iron, coke, should be produced by themselves, you know, for every stone of iron, we need to spend about 20 stone of coal, and about 10 stone of coke. This ratio is very unreasonable. Shang Wu said. Shang Wu has read such a report. For technical reasons, the quality of the coke is not very high. Similarly, the efficiency of iron smelting is not much, and in the area north of Handan City, there is a miasma of black smoke everywhere. It has become the largest producer of iron smelting and coking, and the air pollution is extremely serious, because in order to smelt iron, Shangwu can only sacrifice environmental pollution, many nearby villagers have become workers, and a large amount of coke and coal production continues to rise. The cost is also significant. This is a backward mode of production, but it is the most suitable mode of production for the Republican Army at present, which is ironic, but helpless. Therefore, Shangwu tried to transfer such technology, so as to achieve his own industrial technology upgrade.

"My idea is that these things don't need too difficult technology to produce, and these things will be cracked by others sooner or later. We might as well take the initiative to cooperate with them, carry out technical cooperation, let them produce such products in large quantities, we import such products, and then upgrade our technology and export again, so that we can earn a considerable difference. Shang Wu said.

"Merchant. You're simply a businessman. Jia Xu said to Shang Wu.

"There's no way. The food problem in our base areas cannot be solved, and there are many, many resource base areas that do not have them. The living environment is really bad. We have no money, no food, and we have developed almost nothing. Faced with such a dilemma, we can only do this. Shang Wu said. Jia Xu nodded. Coking, as well as soil iron smelting, is not very difficult. Through the method of technology patenting, about 100 villages around Handan have joined the army of iron smelting and coking. There was no possibility of development in those villages before.

Their land has been massively concentrated in the hands of a few, and the number of jobs available is very limited. Running transportation, the demand is reduced, and there are some people who are not suitable for this kind of work. But coking. Iron smelting has brought more and more people to join it. Each village began to establish its own iron-smelting center. For a time, the production of iron increased on a large scale. The price of iron ore is rising.

"Let's not talk about that. We also have to upgrade the technology, I think, for those who smelt coke by the soil method. Iron ore, of course, can increase our production, but we should note that their competitiveness is not very strong, we should form a kind of enterprise with our own advantages, and then develop into a situation that we need the most. Shang Wu said.

"What do you mean?" Jia Xu asked Shangwu in confusion. He didn't know what Shang Wu had in mind. In short, his head thinks about a lot of things, many things that people like them can't figure out.

"My idea is very simple, which is to find a way to expand such a situation." Shang Wu said.

"The village built itself. can only be counted as a way to earn a living from their management. The production method and product quality cannot be effectively guaranteed, that is, everything about them is still relatively backward. Such a production method, for the time being, does meet our needs, but the problem is that this method does not meet our current situation in the long run, and the price of coal may rise or fall in the future, and they will suffer from cost squeezing. Add to that the fact that once our needs are reduced, it will have a huge impact on them. The impact can be catastrophic. And their competitive advantage is not very large, if there is a cheaper coal resource to mine on the side of the imperial court, what will be the result? Shang Wu asked.

"We're going to be in a much worse situation." Jia Xu said.

"Yes. It's very bad for us, and we can't watch this situation continue, so what else can we do? So, the only and best way at the moment is to take the initiative to upgrade them, and I think we should build a steel-centric enterprise and co-opt them. Cooperation that can be cooperated, mergers and acquisitions that cannot be carried out, or reorganization. In short, we need to build a larger enterprise, so that the competitiveness of the enterprise can be promoted to a more favorable position for us. Shang Wu said. Shangwu needs an enterprise, not a simple small individual. Or they are relatively large village enterprises in a flexible way, because their units may still be primitive workshops. Such processing is only a demand at the beginning, but in the long run, they are not competitive. From the very beginning, Shangwu had the idea of seeking a bigger business.

"It's just that more funding is needed. Where does this money come from? Jia Xu said worriedly.

"Branch. Separate a part from the military factory, for example, provide the raw materials, separate it, and set up a separate factory. Or the processing of parts and components, separated, in this way, the operating costs and management of military factories will be greatly reduced. Specializing in the provision of such a material allows them to provide more accumulation of business technology. In short, it's a powerful way for everyone. The emergence of such a way will make our enterprises more competitive. Shang Wu said.

"Hmm. I think, yes, that's it. In this way, our business will develop better. Yes, business. It's a new vocabulary. Jia Xu said.

"Yes. Enterprises, what we need is enterprises, more enterprises. Shang Wu said.