For this kind of human dilemma of chaos and death as soon as it is managed, Zhu Youzhen naturally has no immediate solution. Even in later generations, this is a long-standing and difficult problem, and only through continuous education and system creation can we promote the progress of society little by little. To put it bluntly, it is just a headache and a foot pain.

After thinking about it for most of the night, Zhu Youzhen finally decided not to punish Lu Jiude and the shipyard managers, but he chose a punishment method that made them more uncomfortable. Under his personal supervision, the shipyard carried out a campaign of criticism and self-criticism from the lowest team to shipyard managers like Lu Jiude.

Bao Zhiqing, the craftsman who raised the question, was appointed by Chongzhen as the head of the shipyard's quality supervision and was responsible for presiding over the compilation of a manual of specifications and regulations used by the shipyard. Not only that, Zhu Youzhen also left him a mailing address and encouraged him to write to tell him if he had any trouble.

The emperor's closeness to Bao Zhiqing made Lu Jiude, who hated Bao Zhiqing, and others dare not act rashly.

Because of this unexpected incident, Zhu Youzhen stayed in the shipyard for an extra day, and only continued his trip north the next day.

The northbound railway stopped in front of the Chaohe River, and after crossing the river by ferry, the railway meandered towards Tangshan. It took two and a half days for Zhu Youzhen and his entourage to finally arrive in Tangshan.

The journey of more than 250 miles took so long that Zhu Youzhen felt a little tired. If it is a high-speed rail in later generations, this distance will probably be less than 2 hours.

However, Zhu Youzhen thinks that this journey has taken too long, but for other people who have walked this distance, the speed of this journey has been reduced by nearly half compared with the past.

Out of Tangshan Station, Zhu Youzhen and Hai Lanzhu took the same carriage and went to the Tangshan Iron Smelting Base. Near a hill near the iron-smelting base, Jiang Dejing ordered the convoy to be stopped, and together with several stewards of the ironworks, he came over and invited the emperor to climb the mountain to see the panorama of the ironworks.

Zhu Youzhen naturally readily agreed, and when he got off the carriage, he looked at Hai Lanzhu who was sitting in a daze in the carriage, and couldn't help asking: "Do you want to go to see the appearance of the iron factory together?" ”

Hai Lanzhu, who has been suffocated on the train for a long time these days, immediately agreed happily. Although at first, she thought that the train was much more comfortable than riding a horse, but after sitting for a long time, she realized a flaw in the train. Once on the train, the train cannot stop at will, but can only reach the destination, which is a regrettable defect.

Hai Lanzhu, who stepped out of the carriage, once thought that this was another beautiful city like Tianjin, but before she started to climb the mountain, she realized that her conjecture might be wrong.

It is the season of late autumn, which is originally the most colorful time of the northern forest, the leaves turn from green to dark green, then to brownish red, and then to yellow and wither, and the layers of color are like a colorful picture.

Hailanzhu, who lives near the Great and Small Khing'an Mountains, has such a memory of this season. But in this place that the emperor attaches great importance to, what she saw was not a picture-like landscape, but a filth stained with countless black particles, and even the air she breathed made her throat itch and cough incessantly.

Hai Lanzhu had to take out a silk handkerchief to cover her mouth and nose to make herself feel better. But what made her feel strange was that Chongzhen, who was walking in front, was intoxicated by such air, as if he was enjoying it very much, even if he kept coughing.

Hai Lanzhu felt that she was a little better, so she trotted forward, handed the silk handkerchief to Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty, if you cover your nose with this, you won't cough like this." ”

Jiang Dejing, who was accompanying him, explained to Chongzhen with a little embarrassment: "The air in the iron factory is still good, but the minister didn't expect the smoke and dust around the iron factory to be so serious, he knew this, and when the minister came out, he brought some masks over..."

Zhu Youzhen waved his hand indifferently and said, "It's nothing, I think this kind of air is good, have you smelled anything from the air?" ”

The people around the emperor all sniffed hard, except for the faint smell of rotten eggs, they didn't smell anything, so they didn't understand what the emperor said was good, where it was, some people were drumming in their hearts, thinking that the emperor was talking the opposite.

Just when they were suspicious in their hearts, Hai Lanzhu couldn't help but ask Chongzhen, "There doesn't seem to be anything in the air, right?" Your Majesty, what do you smell? ”

Zhu Youzhen stopped, turned around and glanced at the entourage behind him, before winking at Hai Lanzhu and saying, "Didn't you smell it?" It is the taste of civilization. ”

Without waiting for everyone to react, Zhu Youzhen walked towards the mountain again. Hai Lanzhu, who couldn't understand, glanced at the people around her uneasily, and found that they were also confused, and her heart suddenly settled down. As she walked, she thought that she was not the only one who could not understand the emperor's words.

After spending nearly half an hour, Zhu Youzhen finally climbed to the top of this mountain called Xiaoheishan, standing on the open grassland at the top of the mountain, the Tangshan iron smelting base built from the foot of the mountain along the river to the north was unabashedly displayed in front of him.

There are dozens of chimneys in the base, large and small, and the smoke billowing out of the nearby sky is gray. Many wharves were built along the side of the ironworks, and the boats on the river lined up in long lines to unload their goods on the wharves in order. The range of ironworks that Chongzhen had seen last year seems to have at least nearly doubled today.

Just as Chongzhen was looking at the iron factory at the foot of the mountain, Jiang Dejing, who was standing next to him, also introduced the plans for the next few years of the blast furnace and iron factory that were newly built in the iron plant this year.

“… According to the existing blast furnace production capacity, the pig iron output of Tangshan Iron Plant this year can reach about 70,000 tons, and the crucible steel can exceed 800 tons.

According to the latest plan of the iron plant, the annual output of pig iron in the iron plant will reach 300,000 tons in the next five years..."

After Jiang Dejing happily introduced the current situation and prospects of the iron factory, he couldn't help but say to the emperor with some worry: "But Your Majesty, now the annual iron output of 70,000 tons of Tangshan Iron Works alone is enough to build a 3,000-mile-long railway every year.

Not to mention the annual output of 120,000 tons of pig iron of Xishan Iron Works, the annual output of pig iron of Shanxi Zhutie Works is not less than 35,000 tons a year, the output of pig iron in traditional ironmaking centers in southern China such as Wuhu and Foshan is about 50,000 tons a year, and the sporadic output of other provinces is between 15,000 and 20,000 tons, plus the iron plants in Shandong and Wuhan that will be put into operation one after another this year and next year.

Chen estimated that the country's pig iron output will be more than 170,000 tons this year, and next year it will not be less than 240,000 tons. Although the price of iron in the market has risen from 49 yuan per ton to 65 yuan per ton, this is also based on the construction of railways in the north.

Once the construction of the railway in the north was completed, the price of iron fell. These young and strong workers who have gathered to work in the iron works have lost their jobs, and I am afraid that they will become a hidden danger in the local area. ”

Zhu Youzhen naturally laughed at Jiang Dejing's worries, but for an ancient person who grew up in an agricultural society, it was impossible to imagine how steel was widely used in the industrial revolution.

Just the annual output of pig iron may exceed 200,000 tons, and even scholars like Jiang Dejing, who are willing to accept new things, have begun to worry about whether pig iron will not be used in the future.

However, for Zhu Youzhen, such an annual output of pig iron is probably not enough for the consumption demand of a county in later generations. And this is only the most basic pig iron, and the steel with better performance is now only a few thousand tons a year.

If Jiang Dejing had understood that China's steel production and consumption in later generations were calculated in 100 million tons, perhaps he would have deeply doubted the reality of this world.

However, Chongzhen could not be completely indifferent to Jiang Dejing's worries, he could only try to explain to Jiang Dejing: "I think Jiang Qing is too pessimistic about the future of pig iron consumption.

Let's talk about the construction of this railway first, according to the railway operation for more than a year, we found that the 5 kilograms per meter of rails on routes that carry heavy loads and are used too often are too easy to break.

Therefore, after the test, Wensi Institute decided to readjust the production standard of the rails, which are divided into two standard rails: 9 kg per meter and 12 kg per meter. The latter is used on the main road where ore and timber are loaded, and the former is used on the general trunk line. As for the old rails, they were either gradually replaced, or used in short-distance feeder lines.

Therefore, the use of iron will be doubled for the same length of railway construction. In addition, the imperial court also planned to try to build an iron bridge over the Luan River. If it can be realized, in the future, on the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, the Qiantang River, and the Pearl River, we will all build strong bridges that can allow vehicles to pass...

Think about it, just for these purposes, not to mention hundreds of thousands of tons of pig iron a year, it is millions of tons, or even tens of millions of tons, and we can also consume them. ”

Regarding the painting cake drawn by the emperor, Jiang Dejing and the stewards of the iron factory did not show any excitement, but looked at each other. The future depicted by the emperor is indeed beautiful, but how much does it cost? Can Daming's treasury really hold up?

Zhu Youzhen seemed to realize that the reaction of the people around him was not as expected, so he said from a different angle: "Tangshan Iron Works has produced 70,000 tons of pig iron this year, not counting the output value of crucible steel, these pig iron are also worth 4.55 million yuan."

The annual output of Ueda in the Gyeonggi area is only 2 yuan per mu, which means that the output value you have created this year is equivalent to the output of more than 2.2 million mu of fertile land. Try to think about how many workers there are in the ironworks, and how many times more output each person produces than the farmers..."

Just when Chongzhen explained the importance of the production of the iron factory with Jiang Dejing and others, Hai Lanzhu, who had been in a good mood since leaving Beijing, looked at the huge buildings and the endless stream of workers at the bottom of the mountain, but her face became a little melancholy.

In the Horqin tribe, the herdsmen have an iron pot that they will treasure as a treasure and use it carefully. And in the Ming Kingdom, just this smoke-filled monster factory at the foot of the mountain can produce a mountain of pig iron that the Horqin Department has never seen in his life, and according to the people around him, this kind of output is just the beginning.

A country with such a huge manpower, with such a rich city, and with all this steel in front of you. Hai Lanzhu was convinced that the longer the war between the Later Jin and the Ming Kingdom dragged on, the more the victory would favor the Ming Kingdom.

If the Korqin tribe is on the wrong side in this war, then what will the future of the Horqin tribe be?