When the New Year of the sixth year of Xuanhe of the Great Song Dynasty passed, the city of Xuzhou, an important industrial, commercial and financial town located on the corner of the Central Plains, was a prosperous and lively time.

This city, which was buried in Chinese history, has finally got its due opportunity and has become the premier industrial and commercial town of the Great Song Dynasty.

Compared with Kaifeng Prefecture, which is 600 miles away to the west, Xuzhou's geographical location and resource advantages are too prominent.

The Grand Canal connecting the Central Plains and Jiangnan flows through Xuzhou, and the neighboring Haizhou is the largest port in the north. The nearby Liguojian was the center of the iron smelting industry in the Great Song Dynasty at this time, and the capitalist mode of production appeared here very early. Xuzhou's coal resources are also abundant, and it is still the southeast coal capital after a thousand years. The ceramics industry was also thriving due to cheap coal, and the products were transported to Haizhou through the Xuhai Canal and then sold all over the world. Moreover, there is still grain left around Xuzhou, which can be continuously transported into this emerging industrial and commercial city and the surrounding handicraft town through developed water transportation.

Unlike the fading color of the prosperity at the feet of the Emperor of Kaifeng Mansion, the prosperity and liveliness of Xuzhou are full of vitality.

At the advent of the industrial era, a city close to the sea, rich in coal and iron resources, with a vast inland market and a developed inland water transportation system, surrounded by a boundless and grain-rich plain, was simply the pride of heaven!

It's a pity that the original history did not choose Xuzhou. When the germ of capitalism just appeared in Xuzhou, the collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty took away the opportunity of history.

However, the history of this time and space has given Xuzhou, a large city in the southeast corner of the Central Plains, enough opportunities.

In the past ten years, with the help of the Iron Smelting Institute in Haizhou and charcoal from the Great Zhou Goryeo Province, the iron smelting industry of Li Guojian has ushered in another era of great development.

The masters of the Iron School have realized that some substances in the coal are extremely harmful to the quality of iron, and have begun to look for ways to overcome them.

In the process of searching for the method of "iron slag removal", several master iron-smelting masters from the Western Xia Kingdom of God introduced the more mature crucible iron smelting method into China - there was a crucible method in ancient China, but there was still a certain gap compared with Tianzhu, which could produce Uzi steel.

Using the crucible iron smelting method introduced from Tianzhu, the craftsmen of the Iron Smelting Institute not only learned the carburizing method, but also explored the lime slag removal method. In this way, they can also use coal and Liguo ore to smelt high-quality iron - although the cost is still a bit high, but when the supply of charcoal in Korea is interrupted, they can still maintain production!

In addition, in the process of exploring the ironmaking of coal, the iron-smelting institute also discovered coke...... However, because there is no furnace that can withstand the high temperature of coke, coke ironmaking is not yet possible.

In addition to making a breakthrough in the iron-smelting process, the craftsmen of the Iron Smelting Institute also designed a variety of "water hammers", which greatly improved the efficiency of forging ironware, and it was already very easy to create large pieces of iron - this is a necessary technology for making plate armor!

At the same time, abundant, cheap and high-quality pieces of iron were necessary for the manufacture of arquebuses!

The ultra-high carbon steel (snow charcoal iron) produced by crucible carburizing technology can be used to make drill bits for cutting iron, making it easier to cut and polish gun barrels and barrels.

If nothing happens, the era of muskets will soon come!

By the way, the technology now mastered by Xuzhou Iron Smelting Industry has the same backup in Tianjin-Xuande Iron Industry in the north. On both sides, you chase me, you copy what I stole, no one dares to lag behind!

In addition to the great development of the iron-smelting industry, the Xuzhou Zhucheng project presided over by Pan Xiao'an also greatly stimulated the development of Xuzhou's marl and red brick industries.

On the edge of the canal outside Xuzhou City, there are many "ash kilns" and brick kilns at this time, which are smoky all year round, and the marl and masonry produced are exported to all parts of the southeast.

The four industries that have crossed the threshold of capitalism, such as iron smelting, marl, masonry and porcelain, are not all of Xuzhou. Inside the impregnable 24-cornered fortress in Xuzhou, there is also a Great Song Bank that controls all evil money!

This bank has the largest vault in Da Song! Mountains of gold, silver and copper coins were deposited in it, which supported the credit of the Great Song Dynasty Bank Bills and were the backbone of finance along the entire southeast coast.

In addition to the treasury, the bank also owns the largest and only mint in the Great Song Dynasty - Xuzhou Money Supervisor! Qian Jian used the technology improved by Xuzhou's local coal and iron smelting institutes, as well as copper and lead mines collected from all over the country, to produce white money known as "Xuanhe Tongbao" day and night. This is a kind of inferior small flat money, although the money is inferior, but it can still pass the world. It will be a copper coin that can compete with the Republican Tongbao, and it will not be melted into copper by others.

In short, Xuzhou, which was in the sixth year of Xuanhe of the Great Song Dynasty, is such an emerging industrial and commercial city full of vitality and upward momentum, and it is also the center of the Great Song Dynasty's finance, which may still be the hope of the Great Song Dynasty......

……

"What? Want to borrow 100 million? Wasn't it still 50 million years ago? ”

In the center of Xuzhou Dalene Fort, a four-story building with a large roof, Su Shizheng, who has been holding up the Great Song Bank for many years, is looking at his brother Su Chi with surprised eyes.

Only a year later, the amount of loans borrowed by the Great Song Dynasty surged from the original 50 million yuan to 100 million yuan......

Is this going to war or burning money?

Su Chi sighed, "Isn't this the East Thief attacking by the river and Jingdong?" You also know that those martial artists in my dynasty only have money in their eyes, and there is no word loyalty at all. When they didn't fight, they didn't have a chance, but now that the opportunity has come, can they still be polite to the court? Hebei wants 20 million, and Jingdong East Road needs 10 million...... This is still the first period, and I don't know how much it will cost to fight again? Therefore, the imperial court decided to raise 100 million first, and if it was not enough, it could be added.

Zhong Nan, is it difficult to have 100 million? ”

100 million......

Now there is it in the vault of Dasong Bank!

However, it was a reserve of bank bills deposited by various banks, which could not be used to pay for military expenses. Otherwise, the bank bills on the market will collapse, and the Great Song Dynasty will blow the lamp and pull out the wax.

"This ......" Su Shi just shook his head.

"Can't borrow it?" Su Chi looked at his brother with some pain.

"It's not ...... either"

"Can you borrow it?" Su Chi took a breath, "Is the interest too high?" ”

"It's not a matter of interest...... Su Chi shook his head, "If you lend money to the imperial court, if you really can't pay it back, the principal will have to be lost, and what kind of interest do you say?" ”

"Is that going to work?" Su Chi was a little annoyed.

"Big brother," Su Shi said, "there is 100 million...... There are rich people in the southeast of the Great Song Dynasty. Xuzhou can raise 100 million! ”

Of course Da Song is rich! Richer than Da Zhou!

Xuzhou and Haizhou alone can be as tall as Tianjin.

The industrial and commercial strength of the "Suzhou-Hangzhou-Xiuming-Yue" in the south is also not below that of Xu Hai and Tianjin.

Quanzhou and Guangzhou are also a center, and the strength of industry and commerce in the two places is comparable to that of Tianjin, a rising star.

In other words, there are at least three "Tianjin"-level industrial and commercial centers in the Great Song Dynasty!

Moreover, among them, "Suzhou-Hangzhou-Xiuming-Yue" and Guangquan Erzhou are old industrial and commercial centers, and the wealth accumulated over hundreds of years far exceeds that of Tianjin in terms of stock.

Now with such a financial hub as Dasong Bank, it is completely possible to mobilize the wealth of these local stocks. Raising hundreds of millions of dollars in military spending is not a problem at all.

The problem is just ...... The capitalists of the southeast coast will only offer loans with political conditions!

"If the imperial court allowed Xuzhou, Xiuzhou, Mingzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yuezhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou to follow the example of the East China Sea...... To practice autonomy, let alone 100 million, even several hundred million can be borrowed. ”

Donghai Country is the vicinity of the county seat of Jiaqu Mountain, Jingdong City, plus Yuzhou Island and several islands near Yuzhou.

This land is now Zhao Kai's feudal state, which implements autonomy similar to that of Tianjin, and is very popular with industry and commerce. Therefore, the wealthy businessmen of "Suzhou, Hangzhou, Xiumingyue" and Xuzhou and Guangquan are very envious and want to learn from them.

If the imperial court is willing to delegate power, a loan of 100 million yuan is really not a problem.

"How is that possible?" Su Chi looked at his younger brother, "How is it possible...... Eight states! You are crazy to dare to mention such conditions! ”

"It's just autonomy," Su Shi said, "how much tax should be paid...... Big brother, nothing is impossible now! Without 100 million, can the imperial court stop the violent Zhou? The Storm Week is coming, will the merchants of the East China Sea Kingdom and these eight states not be able to get the autonomy they want? Violent Zhou was originally a republic of industry and commerce and military households. The wealthy merchants of the Eight States and the East China Sea Kingdom can donate a noble status, and then vote for the parliament, and can also elect the senators. It is estimated that it will not cost 100 million!

If the imperial court does not give in and delegate power, when the Zhou State takes the peninsula of Jingdong East Road, the industrial and commercial tycoons in the land of Xu and Hai will immediately fall to the Zhou State. If Xu and Hai are lost, can the Huai River still be held? If Huainan is lost, how can Jiangnan be preserved? At that time, the Great Song Dynasty will be an avalanche. ”

Although the Great Zhou had the advantage at sea, the navy of the Song Dynasty was not completely non-existent, although they could not defeat the Zhou navy in the artillery battle in the open sea, but they had a lot of flat-bottomed sand boats, which could occupy some advantages in the offshore and inland rivers. Therefore, it is difficult to conquer the eight industrial and commercial states and the East China Sea Kingdom by sea.

By sea, 10,000 troops will be transported to the sky at a time. It is difficult to say whether this amount of troops can capture an industrial and commercial city with a new army to garrison and a fortress to rely on. If there is a mistake, the gain will outweigh the loss.

Moreover, once Zhou's Beiyang fleet was used for expeditions, there was no way to transport the large forces of Liaodong to Shandong, so it was the safest way to capture Shandong first, and then go south to Xuhai, and push it over steadily.

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