With the help of the steelmaking blast furnace, the cost of steel was compressed to the extreme, which made Zhao Xin very satisfied, I thought that the limit was about seven or eight Wen, which was basically the price of steel compared to later generations, but who knew that it would be so low.

Zhao Xinjue, on the one hand, is the labor cost of this era, which is relatively low, and on the other hand, I am afraid that it is the role of this catalyst.

This seems simple, but lost in the history of the catalyst, actually has such a great effect, in the simple, just the initial steel blast furnace under the premise, can reach the level of 4 Wen, in the future, with the improvement of technology, for example, a one-time 1000 tons, or even 2000 tons of large open hearth, for example, the use of oxygen blowing roof, or even the converter process, that does not mean that the price will be lower.

Zhao Xin doesn't know much about steel, but Niu Dali knows it very well, and under his simple introduction, Zhao Xin found that it is not so simple.

Compared with the blacksmith table, the blast furnace has a huge improvement, and the cost can be reduced to a very low level, but the blacksmith table is still indispensable.

The reason is very simple, the blast furnace has a large output, about 100 tons at a time, which is natural, and it cannot be refined to a certain link, at most, it is made of various types of steel plates, steel ingots, and rebar and pipes as Zhao Xin said.

In addition, it is a little difficult to process those delicate things, or semi-finished products, like a blacksmith's table.

But the biggest problem has been solved, in the future, is to use simple steel bars, ingots, rebar, pipes like the existence, these are bulk uses, as for the processing of small daily necessities, you can choose the right ingots, and then process, the blacksmith table can save a lot of processes, for example, the source of raw iron and steel.

In this way, it may be a little more cumbersome in the process, but it is acceptable relative to the price, and the cost will be reduced by three-quarters, which represents an increase in profits.

In Niu Dali's view, Zhao Xin should stabilize the price, and even increase the price a little because of the improvement of steel quality, but he didn't expect that Zhao Xin was ready to reduce the price.

This year's price, along with the contract has been signed, ready to remain the same, once into next year, when the contract is renewed, the price of various steel, will drop by half, that is, from the current average of about 35 Wen, reduced to 17 Wen, which is close to the previous cost price.

It's not that Zhao Xin is very generous and doesn't make money when he sees it, in fact, with the current situation in the Northern Song Dynasty, this money can be earned casually.

However, his goal is not to become a rich man, in fact, with a blacksmith workshop, soap, and alkaline noodles, he can already become the richest man, with a net income of 30 million yuan per year, which is really a rich country, or a country like the Northern Song Dynasty with a prosperous economy and huge income.

In the case of a small family like the Ming Dynasty, when the fiscal revenue was at its most prosperous, it was only a few million taels, which was very different from the Northern Song Dynasty.

He hopes to change the destiny of the Chinese nation, and iron and steel are one of the foundations.

In terms of climate and geography, coupled with living habits, there is a huge difference in physical fitness between farming people and nomadic people.

The Northern Song Dynasty wants to train a cavalry, whether it is a horse, or the cost, or long-term training, the cost is huge, to ensure the horsepower, you must give the horse good feed, sometimes, a horse's food, than a person, and more expensive.

In this way, the trained cavalry is only qualified, except for a few talented people, the rest, compared with the ordinary cavalry of the nomads, there is a huge difference.

The reason is very simple, nomads are called people on horseback, the vast grassland, the rich pasture, so that they spend almost on horseback from birth, just like eating and walking, this is a habit.

When a skill is formed into a habit of life, the mastery of the skill is not terrible, let alone the chaotic Black Forest system on the steppe.

The winner is king, there is no complete system, there is no stable kingdom, the law of the jungle is pursued on the grassland, and whoever has the big fist will be justified.

In this case, the combat strength and physical strength of the individual, combined with the natural advantage of cavalry, caused the strength of the nomads.

Before the musket did not change the world, before the mature musket could not be applied to the war on a large scale, steel was the only thing that could increase the heritage of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Why is there only 800,000 forbidden troops in the Northern Song Dynasty, why is it not equipped with a large number of strong bows, and a large number of foot armor, the reason is because of financial problems, 800,000 forbidden troops are already a terrible consumption, this consumption, even the Northern Song Dynasty can not bear it, and now the appearance of Zhao Xin, like a heart booster, has entered the blood of the Northern Song Dynasty.

400 million iron materials, has far exceeded the daily purchase volume of the Northern Song Dynasty, not to mention these, whether it is to enter the military field, or something else, in general, will increase the potential of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Nearly 10,000 sets of fine iron step armor, plus more sophisticated ordinary step armor, the total number of step armor has increased by at least more than 100,000.

This means an increase of 100,000 heavy infantry.

Regardless of the military evaluation of the Northern Song Dynasty in later generations, the Northern Song Dynasty Burenjia has always been the core of the Northern Song Dynasty, and it is an important barrier against the nomadic heavy cavalry.

At an average price of about 35 Wen, the Northern Song Dynasty can buy so much, if it is reduced, it is reduced to 17 Wen, that is, the original money of one pound of iron, it has become two catties, even if it is finally ordered, discounted, and increased by 50%, the combat effectiveness of the Northern Song Dynasty will be stronger.

It is not easy to have a thermal weapon, even if you have steel, you have the recipe of black powder, or even you have nitric acid, which is a very important thing in such a gunpowder, but it is not easy to cross this boundary.

It may be a few months, or a year or two, or even ten years, and during this period, it is these forbidden armies of the Northern Song Dynasty that really serve as a barrier to the country.

In addition to the military, the use of steel, civilian use is a vast field.

Everyday necessities can facilitate the lives of ordinary people, but the use of steel tools will improve the efficiency of all walks of life, especially in agriculture.

The Northern Song Dynasty lacked horses and large livestock, so it was natural that this labor force was pressed on the ordinary people.

On the one hand, it is because of the political economy, the theory of great unification, since Qin Shi Huang unified China, the theory of great unification has become the common knowledge of people, even in the era of division, every emperor also longs for unification and becomes a real emperor, not an emperor of one side.

In this way, there will be a lot of strife, and when there is division and war, there will be constant wars, but once a unified dynasty is formed, the development of the dynasty is very rapid.

In general, in dynasties of more than 200 years, the population will explode until the land can no longer bear it.

The land represents food, and sufficient food output is the key to the stability of the dynasty, and everything else is the end, which is the foundation at the beginning of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

If a person wants to live, he must eat whole grains, he must have something to eat, so that he can live, and if he does not eat for a day, he will be hungry and panic, and if he does not eat for seven days, he will die.

In the later period of the dynasty, those peasant armies that rose up, from the Yellow Turban Army, to the Yellow Nest, to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the late Ming Dynasty, from the beginning, they were really unarmed.

What sustains them, fighting against government forces armed to the teeth and far outnumbering them, is not a faith, let alone ambition, just an instinct to survive.

can't live anymore, either starve to death, or rise up, princes and generals, rather have a kind, since Cheng Sheng Wu Guang said this sentence, this has also become, the vast majority of dynasties, at the end of the period, can not avoid reincarnation.

Where the food comes from, the land, the more, the land that can be used for the crops to grow, this is fundamental, in principle, the more land there is, the more people can be fed.

When the land is constant, the planting technology becomes the most fundamental source of improvement, which includes the planting technology of the crops themselves, such as selecting good seeds, cultivating better ones, topdressing and watering, weeding and harvesting.

On the other hand, the use of tools, good tools, can improve efficiency, for example, in the cultivated land, the most laborious plough is the same, the generation of ploughs, so that the efficiency is improved, to the Song Dynasty reached an extreme.

However, most of the ploughs are made of wood, which is cheap, but not durable, and inconvenient to use, and there is not enough iron, so only the tip can be used, which is not very efficient.

If the price of iron is greatly reduced, the popularization of steel tools can definitely greatly improve labor efficiency and reduce labor intensity.

Chinese, the biggest difference with other races is hard work, without hard work, there will be no brilliant Chinese civilization, no hard work, there will not be so many people, as long as the price of iron tools falls, it will definitely bring about the improvement of cultivated land efficiency, farmers can go to cultivate more land, increase the area of cultivated land, at the same time, improve efficiency, will also increase food production.

At this current juncture, there may be a century-long Xiaoice climate in the future, which may be intermittent, and may cause greater floods and droughts, but the massive use of iron can definitely make the Northern Song Dynasty have more heritage, and the Northern Song Dynasty, which is full of disasters and difficulties, Zhao Xin feels that any method to increase the foundation is appropriate.

Zhao Xin's thoughts, he has not communicated with anyone, and there is no need to communicate, in the Dinghai Navy, he is the only king, as long as he does not revoke the position of the Dinghai Navy, he can handle everything casually, even life and death can be autonomous, let alone simple commodity pricing.

The construction of the steel mill was handed over to Niu Dali, as well as those masters who came from the Daimyo's Mansion, with the previous experiments and experience, there would be no problems, and his thoughts, more, were placed on the Dinghai Navy.

Before, it was just a co-ordination and the overall situation, but now, to get down to the basics, he has to find it, he urgently needs to do things, and then, as if breaking through the key points, he will deal with these first, and then, let it go with the flow, just like a steel plant.