Shengjing, Cabinet.

Li Hongzhang, the newly appointed vice premier of the cabinet, came to the cabinet office every day before dawn to start handling state affairs, but he also enjoyed it.

Nowadays, the operation of the entire Chinese empire has entered a period of stability, but even so, hundreds of pieces of music are still sent out from all over the country every day, arriving in Shengjing. Because of the successful laying of telegraph lines on a large scale and the extensive establishment of telegraph offices in various places, today's report can be described as extremely convenient and fast, and it is no longer necessary to send letters in the form of manual express horses such as 600 miles of expedited, but directly through the telegraph office to the government office of the Shengjing Telegraph Office, which is a telegraph agency specially set up by the Shengjing Telegraph Office to accept and send imperial decrees, and similarly there are military affairs offices, commercial offices and other telegraph agencies that specialize in receiving and sending corresponding telegrams. The administrative office will organize personnel to decipher the telegram received in it within half an hour, and then immediately send it to the cabinet for the cabinet members to read.

Recently, Emperor Feng Yunshan lived in the palace and did not show up for nearly ten days, looking like he had handed over all the imperial government affairs to the cabinet, which made the five cabinet members both moved and cautious.

After checking the five movements, Li Hongzhang suddenly felt a little strange, and he looked back at the previous five movements, three of which were related to the development of steel.

Ding Baozhen, the governor of Henan, reported that they had discovered a large iron ore mine in Tieshan Temple in Wuyang County, Nanyang Prefecture, with reserves of tens of millions of tons, and that Henan was preparing to build a Wuyang Iron and Steel Company by Wushui, and requested that more than 10 engineers from the Shengjing Iron and Steel Company or the Nanyang Iron and Steel Company be transferred to help Wuyang build the factory.

Fujian Governor Shen Guifen reported that Fujian had discovered a large iron ore mine in Longyan Prefecture next to a village called Makeng, with reserves of tens of millions of tons, and had mined tens of thousands of tons of fine iron ore. Therefore, Shen Guifen pleaded with the cabinet to help Fujian build a passenger and freight railway from Tingzhou and Longyan to Zhangzhou, or directly connect Longyan with the Jiangxi-Fujian railway, so that the Makeng iron ore mine in Longyan Prefecture can be transported out smoothly.

And Hunan Governor Mao Changxi is even more simply, directly reported that they found a Shitan Chong iron ore at the junction of Xiangtan and Xiangxiang in Changsha Prefecture, the reserves are unknown, they directly organized mining and established an iron-making blast furnace for smelting, which has been put into production, producing more than 5,000 tons of iron and nearly 100 tons of refined steel per month, and asked the cabinet to allocate funds for expansion, and also wanted to build a freight railway to load coal and other iron-making raw materials and transport out the smelted iron.

Li Hongzhang had a smile on his face, he knew that the report he sent through the cabinet a few days ago had worked.

To vigorously develop the iron and steel industry, it is necessary to mobilize the forces of all provinces and localities, especially in the period when he and a cadre of the cabinet are newly appointed, the emperor entrusts the state affairs to himself and others, and this kind of grace cannot be repeated, and the cabinet members must try their best to repay the emperor's favor and do their best to do a good job. Among them, the development of industrial industry is the top priority. What's more, he was added as the head of the cabinet, precisely because His Majesty valued his ability to promote Jiangsu's industry during his tenure as governor of Jiangsu, and among the industries, the iron and steel industry was the leader, so Li Hongzhang knew that he must seize this opportunity, even if he overcame some difficulties by surprise, he also wanted to promote the iron and steel industry.

Since he was appointed governor of Jiangsu, Li Hongzhang's eyes have been opened. He never imagined that the world was so big, there were so many powerful countries in the West, and how weak the original Manchu Qing was, if it weren't for the strong rise of the Chinese Empire, he was afraid that the land of China would be invaded and occupied by Western powers just like India. And the strength of this country, such as the Kingdom of England, is precisely because of the vigorous development of industry and commerce, and the prosperity of the country through industry and commerce. Among them, the industry is dominated by steel, and the so-called strong steel industry is strong industry. Now, after Li Hongzhang took office in the cabinet, he can deeply understand how important the changes that industry has brought to a country and a nation in this era, and how important steel is to industry, so he wants to spend a few years to develop the steel industry in order to be worthy of the emperor's trust and favor.

Continue to look at the recital, it is the recital of Wang Youling, the governor of Zhejiang.

"Yuhang County, Hangzhou Prefecture, has pioneered the construction of small blast furnaces for ordinary people who are not workers in steel mills, and has achieved great results! In just half a month before the deadline, Yuhang County has invested 10,000 people to build a total of 524 small blast furnaces, and a total of 500 tons of fine molten iron have been refined in the past 10 days. The Hangzhou government invested 30,000 people to build 1,200 small blast furnaces in a few days, and they have also begun to be put into operation, with a daily output of hundreds of tons. According to this estimate, if the entire Hangzhou government puts all its labor into steelmaking, it will be able to smelt 900,000 tons in the remaining seven or eight months of this year! The entire Zhejiang Province can produce more than 3 million tons of steel, or even 4 million tons! Therefore, in order to strengthen the imperial iron and steel industry and prosper the entire industrial system, Youling suggested that the practice of Yuhang County, Hangzhou Prefecture should be promoted nationwide, and the national steelmaking movement should be set off, so as to make efforts for our Chinese empire to surpass Britain and become the world's largest steel country! ”

Li Hongzhang was stunned, and then became excited!

Li Hongzhang is still very familiar with Wang Youling, this is not an exaggerated person, he is a real person, he is a real person, and even Li Hongzhang himself feels a little inferior to him. At this moment, Wang Youling took the initiative to say that more than 500 small blast furnaces had been built in Yuhang County, a subordinate of Zhejiang, and more than 500 tons of molten iron were smelted within 10 days of operation, and Hangzhou had built thousands of small blast furnaces in a few days, which is true.

Originally, Li Hongzhang was still thinking about how to develop the iron and steel industry, and he had a headache for the large iron mines he discovered and how to build a steel plant. Originally, all the iron and steel companies were built by relying on those large iron mines, but because of this, there was a shortage of engineers and technicians in the steel industry, so Li Hongzhang was also very troubled, but now with this Zhejiang experience, it seems to be solved at once!

This small blast furnace soil method steelmaking, it seems that everyone can make steel, the most important thing is that the effect is very fast, easy to promote. As long as there are manpower, it can develop on a large scale. And, most importantly, it can quickly increase the steel production of the entire empire, allowing the steel industry to develop to new heights at once. What excites Li Hongzhang the most is that after this year, the steel output of the Chinese Empire will surpass the United Kingdom in one fell swoop and become the world's first! And all this was achieved after he became the deputy prime minister of the cabinet, which is also a good explanation for His Majesty, who values himself! It can be regarded as a little achievement made by himself.

Thinking of this, Li Hongzhang nodded secretly and couldn't help laughing.

At this time, Luo Zenan and Wu Chongyao happened to step into the cabinet room, and when they saw Li Hongzhang laughing alone, they couldn't help but be curious, Li Hongzhang told the two about Zhejiang's steelmaking, and Luo Zenan and Wu Chongyao were a little surprised.

Wu Chongyao looked happy and congratulated Li Hongzhang: "Congratulations Premier Li, with Zhejiang's method and popularization, it can make the country's steel development to a new height." ”