Li Hongzhang, who was left behind, had a gloomy face, and said angrily to Wu Chongyao: "Lord Wu, look at this Lord Luo, alas, why can't you understand our hard work!"

Alas, Lord Wu, tell me, will this Lord Luo really go to His Majesty to complain and ask His Majesty to come to the Holy Judgment to stop the steel development plan? ”

Wu Chongyao said: "What Lord Luo said is just angry words, it won't be so unwise!" What's more, His Majesty invited a group of engineers and technicians to carve out a large area from the palace, saying that it was to build some kind of royal academy of sciences, and he was so busy that he had no time to pay attention to the government affairs, so he left all the government affairs to us, the cabinet members. Lord Luo also knew very well that if it didn't reach the level of a major situation, he would not bother His Majesty. ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "Since this is the case, then this large-scale steelmaking plan will be distributed to all parts of the country in advance, and some provinces will implement it first." Let's make a time difference, wait for the ironmaking action in some provinces, and the results are about to be released, and then officially issue a notice, Lord Luo, they want to oppose it, and there is no reason. Where are the results of the Great Iron and Steel Production!

The Cabinet also arranged for the Ministry of Public Works to send several inspection teams to various places to inspect and supervise, and at the same time to help various localities build iron-making blast furnaces and technology.

In fact, I also know that the allocation of too much labor to make steel may have some impact on agriculture, but we can explain it to the local government and let them pay a little attention. These are small details, as long as the results of large-scale steel making, even if there are some losses in agriculture, the growth of steel output value is enough to make up for it, and this sacrifice in exchange for the explosive development of the steel industry is also worth it.

I hope that through this steelmaking campaign, our steel industry can be upgraded to a big level! For the strength of the empire's industry and comprehensive national strength, let's make a contribution as soon as possible! ”

Soon, the temporary resolution of the cabinet on launching a large-scale steel smelting campaign passed through the Shengjing Telegraph Office, and the general order was issued to some provinces across the country, but all this was known only to Li Hongzhang and Wu Chongyao.

Li Hongzhang was indeed afraid that Luo Zenan would report directly to the emperor and interrupt his steelmaking plan. He is ready to wait for the first few pilot provinces to start first, and then officially issue them in full force after they have the results.

.........

Shandong Jinan Prefecture, Zhangqiu County. In the fields on the northern outskirts of the county, the green wheat that was originally planted is now a mess, and most of it has been trampled away.

On the field, there is a platform built with simple wooden planks, and Chen Wanxin, the magistrate of Zhangqiu County, looked at the wheat fields that were wantonly destroyed under the stage, and felt a little distressed, but his face was indifferent, and he shouted to the thousands of people in the audience: "Two days ago, the imperial court issued a resolution to carry out a large-scale steel-making movement. Our Zhangqiu County has also held a mobilization meeting to all townships and towns, our Zhangqiu has been a large population county since ancient times, but the minerals and resources are relatively poor, only the north is not far from the Zhangqiu Mountain on some coal and bluestone, and there are two or three small copper mines in the south and east of the city. But coincidentally, now a small iron mine has been found next to this field, which is an opportunity for our Zhangqiu people! The large-scale steel-making movement that the imperial court wants to carry out is exactly suitable for a place like Zhangqiu, which has no resources but has labor, and with our diligence, we can make up for the lack of resources.

We must seize the favorable opportunity to start the battle of Zhangqiu's great steelmaking, and overshadow Yuhang County, Hangzhou Prefecture in the south! Therefore, in the name of the magistrate of Zhangqiu County, I announced: The 400,000 people of Zhangqiu County will carry out a large-scale steel-making program for the whole people, and require 200,000 people, that is, half of the people, to go into battle together and work together to make a surprise attack, and quickly set off a grand upsurge of large-scale steel production. The ironmaking production task assigned to us by the prefect in Zhangqiu County this year is 20,000 tons, but we can't just be satisfied with completing the task, we must strive for 30,000 tons and strive for 50,000 tons! ”

After a pause, Chen Wanxin shouted again: "Folks, Shangfeng asks us to fully mobilize you people to carry out the activities of loud shouting, big release, big conference, and big announcement, so that you can fully understand the importance of the national steel smelting!" Here, I want to tell you that we must carry out large-scale steel smelting in order to bring about the development of the steel industry, in order to better improve everyone's life, so that everyone can have meat to eat and clothes to wear; Only by making steel can the country be rich and the people strong.

Therefore, today we held a swearing-in meeting to set up our Zhangqiu Steelmaking Corps, with myself as the corps leader, and our entire Zhangqiu County is divided into 6 large steelmaking corps.

Mingshui is 1 regiment, which is composed of 5 townships and towns: Mingshui, Lijiabu, Chengguan, Jiujun and Ningjiabu; Pingling is 2 regiments, composed of 5 townships and towns: Henghe, Dangjia, Caofan, Shanhouzhai and Pingling; The stone shed is 3 regiments, which are composed of 6 townships and towns: Huangjia, Lujiazhai, Gaoguanzhai, Zuyingwu, Xianggongzhuang and Yangguanzhuang; Tianzun Monastery is 4 regiments, which are composed of 4 townships and towns: Changsanxing, Xinzhai, Diao Town, and Hudi; Puji is 5 regiments, which are composed of 5 townships: Beidazhai, Yanjiayu, Shuizhai, Guanzhuang and Puji; Bucun is 6 regiments, which are composed of 5 townships and towns: Nandazhai, Wenzu, Guanying, Bucun and Duozhuang; All the officials of the county government, including the own officer, are the battalions directly under the regiment and are responsible for supervising the production of each regiment.

Each regiment has a mining battalion, a transportation battalion, and a smelting battalion, and each iron and steel corps is equipped with full-time personnel such as regiment commanders and deputy regiment commanders to strengthen the supervision of steelmaking. If someone cheats and cheats and sabotages the iron-making task, it will be dealt with according to the military orders of the army! ”

With the announcement of the county magistrate Chen Wanxin, the large-scale steel-making movement in Zhangqiu County officially began.

In the first 10 days of the campaign, the steel-making corps implemented the principle of "small, soil, and group" in Jinan Prefecture and county, and built a total of 3,820 small blast furnaces of various sizes, with 120,000 people participating in the campaign, ranging from children in their teens to the elderly over 60 years old, both men and women, participated in this iron-making activity.

Every time a small blast furnace is built, iron ore, coal, firewood and other raw materials are quickly pulled, and soon after the furnace is ignited, a lot of molten iron is really obtained.

Chen Wanxin, the county magistrate, was pleased to find that although the small blast furnaces built according to the standard are of different sizes, they are still not much different from the standard volume on average, and each small blast furnace that produces molten iron can produce 80 kilograms of molten iron every day on average. He is also proficient in algorithms, and together with these regiment commanders, he happily calculated, just the 3,800 small blast furnaces that have been built so far have all been put into operation, and they can produce about 300 tons of molten iron per day, so that they can produce about 100,000 tons in a year!

100,000 tons! This number frightened Chen Wanxin and others! He couldn't imagine how many iron hoes and sickles, as well as how many iron pots and tongs could be produced from this astronomical amount of steel.

Even according to the price of scrap iron, one pound of scrap iron can be exchanged for more than 5 catties of grain, and the 100,000 tons of steel are equivalent to 500,000 tons of grain! It is enough to feed 800,000 people for a year, and the entire county of Zhangqiu has a population of only 400,000, that is to say, these 200,000 people make iron for a year, even if they are sold as scrap, it is equivalent to the county's rations for 2 years! What an achievement!

Chen Wanxin and the other township mayors, as well as all the iron-making legions, are even more motivated!