"The edict of the Son of Heaven, the king of Shu, Wang Jian, conspired to rebel, and the heart of the thieves and thieves rebelled against me, and I can't tolerate it. Since Wang Jian's entry into Sichuan, he did not obey the Son of Heaven, did not abide by the laws of the Tang Dynasty, arbitrarily behaved, acted tricks, provoked himself, and made public criticism. With a special notice to the world, Yu Xiaoran handled this matter in the imperial court, which is really benevolent and righteous; And the Shu King Yumeng provoked, which was extremely unreasonable, and it was difficult to tolerate it again.

Feng Xiao promised to be the generalissimo of Pingxi and conquered Xichuan Wang Jian. The Son of Heaven Haoen, all the soldiers of the Mabu Army served the country, landed on the ground and rewarded the fallen soldiers, and were compensated according to their household registration.

I hope that all the soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty, thousands of people, assist the Wang Division, and follow the dispatch. ”

"Command!" Xiao Nuoyan knelt down respectfully and thanked him.

"Congratulations to Marshal Xiao, congratulations to Marshal Xiao. Your Majesty named you the Generalissimo of Pingxi, and I hope you will live up to expectations and exterminate Wang Jian's rebels as soon as possible. His Majesty said that a celebration banquet would be held in the capital, waiting for Marshal Xiao's triumphant return. The eunuch put away the holy decree, and said with a spring breeze on his face.

Xiao Nuoyan got up: "Thank you to the inner officer, this marshal will fulfill his duties and live up to His Majesty's trust."

The rice paper eunuch said a few more polite words and said goodbye with the two palace people.

The horse infantry was boiling, the soldiers cheered, and the emperor personally issued a decree to reward him. Now, with the surrender of the Xichuan Army, the Mabu army has reached 20,000 people.

Li Ji also sent Linghu Yunlong to lead another Praetorian Guard army of more than 30,000 cavalry troops from Huazhou through the northeast of Xichuan to attack Xichuan in two ways.

In the Jin Palace, the imperial court sent people again, but it was still too often Shaoqing Jiao Cheng.

Unlike last time, Li Keyong and his subordinates held a grand welcome ceremony.

Jiao Cheng was a little flattered, he was an honest man, and Li Keyong didn't receive him like this last time.

"Lord Jiao came to the Humble House again, it was really brilliant. Last time, this king was seriously ill and lost his welcome, and I asked for forgiveness and forgiveness. Liket said apologetically.

Jiao Cheng finally understood that you were pretending to be sick last time: "The King of Jin is in good health, but it is the luck of the Tang Dynasty." Xia Guan came this time to convey His Majesty's message to King Jin. ”

When Li Keyong heard this, he hurriedly knelt down to greet him.

Jiao Cheng hurriedly helped him up: "King Jin doesn't need to be polite, even if it is an oracle, there is no need for so much red tape." His Majesty told his subordinates that the King of Jin was the pillar of the court. The imperial court's crusade against Wang Jian was not aimed at any feudal town. It was Wang Jian's rebellion, and His Majesty had no choice but to send troops to fight. Your Majesty also said that as long as these feudal towns fulfill their duties, the imperial court will not embarrass you. ”

Li Keyong was worried that the imperial court would have zero tolerance for the feudal towns, and was ready to raise troops to reduce the feudal domains. Unexpectedly, Li Ji actually said that this crusade was only aimed at Wang Jian, and had nothing to do with other vassal kings. As long as you guard your own one-third of an acre of land, the court will not trouble you.

Li Keyong was overjoyed: "Since Your Majesty said so, this king will be relieved." Lord Jiao, please return to Your Majesty, please rest assured, I, Li Keyong, will always be loyal to my Tang Emperor! ”

Jiao Cheng was very satisfied: "Well, Your Majesty said that among all the vassal kings, only King Jin is the most loyal."

Li Keyong knew very well in his heart that the imperial court was sending people over at this moment to appease his vassal kings. Then send a signal to himself that the court does not cut the feudal domain, and Wang Jian is completely because he rebelled.

"Oh, thank you for your trust, and I am willing to smear your majesty's liver and brain."

In Luoyang City, spring ploughing began.

"Attention to all households, the seeds for spring ploughing distributed by the imperial court are according to the land register of each household, and those who have more land will receive more." The village chiefs are distributing the seeds of the imperial court, including rice, corn, peanuts, potatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, cowpeas, kidney beans, cabbage, rape, and wheat seeds that have been planted in winter.

Luoyang City covers tens of thousands of acres of land in the surrounding area, all of which are planted with new crop seeds, and Han E printed tens of thousands of crop planting guides and distributed them to the village level, where literate people in each village teach the people how to plant.

In autumn, it is not a lie that the grain output of Luoyang City can feed half of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Ji is very powerful, he got a good thing, "On the Practicability of Soil Method Iron Smelting".

This book is given systematically, and with this, Datang Iron Smelting Industry can step up to a new level.

A method of continuous production of liquid pig iron from iron ore and fluxes (limestone, dolomite) in a vertical reactor - a blast furnace. It is an important part of modern steel production.

Modern blast furnace ironmaking is transformed and developed by the ancient shaft furnace ironmaking method.

Although many ironmaking methods have been researched and developed in various countries around the world, blast furnace ironmaking is still the main method of modern ironmaking due to its relatively simple process, large output, high labor productivity and low energy consumption.

In addition to blast furnace iron smelting, there is one more thing that is indispensable, cement.

If cement can be made, then the city wall should be indestructible, and the cement production is relatively simple, nothing more than grinding limestone and clay into flour, and then calcining the mature material. Grinding with clinker and slag left over after ironmaking is cement.

There is coke in Huangling Mountain, but the problem is that there is no ball milling equipment. This is difficult for the hard-working and intelligent people of the Tang Dynasty, and if there is no ball milling equipment, there is no ball mill. Instead, limestone, clay, iron ore powder, etc. are filtered out through a fine sieve, and then the mature material is calcined, and finally the clinker and gypsum are mixed together to form cement.

But in this way, the cost has increased significantly, first of all, this cement can not be popularized on a large scale. It can only be used as a building luxury, which is expensive and not affordable for ordinary people.

However, even though it was so expensive to make cement, Li decided to start building a cement factory. Among other things, cement is versatile. For example, water conservancy, roads, military emergency repairs, etc.

The blast furnace ironmaking furnace foundation is made of aluminate cement, and the blast furnace is made of steel plate as the furnace shell, and the shell is lined with refractory bricks. The blast furnace body is divided into five parts: throat, body, waist, belly and cylinder. Due to the advantages of good technical and economic indicators of blast furnace ironmaking, simple process, large production capacity, high labor production efficiency and low energy consumption, the iron produced by this method accounts for the vast majority of the world's total iron output.

In the production of blast furnaces, iron ore, coke, and slag fluxes (limestone) are loaded from the top of the furnace, and preheated air is blown from the air outlet located at the lower part of the furnace along the furnace perimeter. At high temperatures, the carbon in the coke is combined with the carbon monoxide and hydrogen produced by the combustion of oxygen in the air, and the oxygen in the iron ore is removed during the rise in the furnace, so as to reduce the iron to obtain iron. The molten iron is released from the iron mouth. Unreduced impurities in iron ore combine with fluxes such as limestone to form slag, which is discharged from the slag port. The gas produced is discharged from the top of the furnace and used as fuel for hot blast stoves, heating furnaces, coke ovens, boilers, etc. after dust removal. The main product of blast furnace smelting is pig iron, as well as by-products blast furnace slag and blast furnace gas.

Another advantage of coke blast furnace iron smelting is that it can generate pig iron and cement clinker, so Li Ji has to make great efforts to build steel plants.

In Hanyuan Palace, Li Ji was discussing with his ministers about building a steel plant.

"I am determined to set up a blast furnace steel department, and I order to collect 100,000 people, and it must be put into production within half a year!"

100,000 people, this is a huge project, 100,000 people just money and food is an astronomical amount.

"Your Majesty, the war ahead is urgent, and the soldiers' salaries, food, and grass are all a lot of money. If the imperial court built a steel division at this time, is it a little inappropriate? Prime Minister Dugu asked.

Fortunately, this time he didn't attack directly. Li Ji's imperial power became more and more concentrated, and now every word he said was rarely vehemently opposed by his courtiers.

Because the ministers gradually discovered that every decision of the emperor was extremely correct. Every time the courtiers thought that something was not feasible, it would be perfectly implemented by the emperor. And in the end, they found that every decision made by Li Ji was a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people.

From building schools to rehousing displaced people. Glass factories, greenhouses, crop seeds, gunpowder research and development, open curfews, countless signs show that the Son of Heaven is right.

So Li Ji proposed to build a steel plant this time, although the cost was unprecedentedly huge. In particular, the blast furnace iron plant mobilized 100,000 people, which is a major event to mobilize national strength. If you do a good job, you will benefit the country and the people, and if you don't do it well, you will be the next Yang Guang, and it is easy to pull the egg when you take a big step.

If it is a prosperous year, let alone the collection of 100,000 people, even if it is 200,000 or 300,000 people, the court can withstand it. The key problem is that the war is going on now, and at the moment it seems that the imperial court has an absolute advantage, and in case of an accident in the war ahead, the imperial court will have to fill it with countless money and grain. When the time comes, all the money and grain will be used to build steel plants, and there will be no money for war.

"What's wrong?" Li Ji deliberately asked in a loud voice.

Sure enough, Zhang Laoxuan stood up and only heard Zhang Wenwei say: "Your Majesty, the war ahead is tight, and the grain and grass alone will be transported to the front line no less than 200,000 stones. His Majesty has no objection to what kind of steel he wants to build, but can he make a decision after recovering Xichuan? ”

"Yes, yes, what Master Zhang said is reasonable, please think twice about Your Majesty!" Yu Shi Cui Yuan also said.

"Well, you Aiqing has a point." Li Ji nodded, he is now learning to be obedient, and he doesn't face the courtiers: "But steel is the soul of my Tang nation, without iron, there is no soldier, and without soldiers, you can't fight." Can any of you tell me what we will do if the enemy comes to the door? Bite with your teeth or spit with saliva. Only by refining more steel can we have swords, guns, swords, halberds, and only then can we pick up the weapons in our hands and fight back at the enemy. I might as well tell you that I am not putting the cart before the horse. With Xiao Nuo's gunpowder equipment, if I send 50,000 troops and can't take Xichuan, our battle will simply not be fought. I also know what you will say, there is no victorious general. Don't worry, you don't have to be anxious about the Xichuan War, the imperial court will win. At the moment, the most important thing we should consider is iron smelting! ”

"But our current iron tools can still supply the army, why is Your Majesty in such a hurry to make steel with such fanfare?" Even Prime Minister Kong Lin was puzzled.

Li Ji picked up a book on the table: "This is a strange book I got from overseas, which records the method of smelting iron from a blast furnace. In this way, I can not only make steel, but also artillery and muskets! You don't know what a musket is. Let me tell you this, with muskets, the soldiers of our court will have many fewer casualties. With artillery, cutting the feudal domain is just a matter of effort! ”