Throughout the 889 Tiance Mansion, transportation and water conservancy undertakings were the majority, which also affected the flow of resources in the entire northwest. After repairing the existing irrigation channels in the Guanzhong area, the huge construction corps of more than 100,000 people of the logistics department of the Tiance Army lined up, and after busy with spring plowing and water conservancy, it began to use cement and other new building materials to widen and deepen all the eight major irrigation roads in the Weihe Plain, such as the Zhengguo Canal and the Yongji Canal, which are seriously affected by soil erosion, so that they can not only be irrigated but also used for shipping, and the Jingwei water system will be completely opened up and become the hub of transportation in the Guanzhong area.

The re-establishment of these facilities has also promoted the development of shipbuilding in the Guanzhong region, but for the shipbuilding industry in the Yellow River region, it is still very different from the eastern and coastal areas, and the flat hull is similar to what was seen in Yan'an and other places in previous lives.

The newly established Datang Industrial Manufacturing Group began to build a Northwest shipyard in Weinan and began to manufacture inland shipping vessels, but unlike the wooden ships used in this era, the newly established Northwest Shipyard was actually an iron-hulled ship, which was a shocking news.

It's just that now the proprietress of Datang Industrial Manufacturing Group is still in Chang'an and is going to see Weinan on the spot, which was originally intended to build a shipyard temporarily, because Li Xuanqing wants to see in advance if he can take advantage of the inland river network of the Jingwei water system and the connection of the Yellow River to develop a little water division in advance. Of course, it is only to accumulate a little manpower and experience, after all, the development of sailors in the northwest region is tantamount to a dream. But after Qiaoxi heard the news, he thought about how to develop the shipbuilding industry, and prepared to build iron-hulled ships as soon as he came up.

"Qiaoxi, do you have enough technical reserves? Although the displacement of inland waterway vessels is relatively small, is it too difficult with the current steelmaking technology and your forging technology? Li Xuanqing was taken aback by Qiaoxi's words, and hurriedly got up to stop it.

"I'm going to try, and big brother, don't you want to develop heavy industry, shipbuilding and transportation are the support of heavy industry, and now the railway has let the rail factory produce rails, and Brother Yang Yi also promised that he would mobilize sufficient strength to lay it at that time, I feel that the railway is no problem." Now if the shipbuilding industry has a new beginning, then the big brother your industrial empire will basically have the momentum, and then you can use these two industries as a leader to pull all the surrounding spare parts or branches to bloom everywhere, so that the foundation for the development of heavy industry will also be there. Qiaoxi shook his head at Li Xuanqing's question, and said with a smile: "Besides, even if you can't build an iron-hulled ship, you can build a hybrid ship." ”

Li Xuanqing was laughed at by her witticism, but he also thought carefully about the Tao in it. The economic situation now is that light industry and commerce are developing very well, and even the mining industry is making rapid progress because of its own encouragement and promotion in the early stage, but no one is willing to ask or even invest in this kind of precision manufacturing and processing industry. Thinking of this, Li Xuanqing nodded and said, "In that case, I'll also go and take a look, and by the way, see if I can help." ”

Qiaoxi saw that Li Xuanqing was also going to go, and suddenly her starry eyes completed the crescent moon, took Li Xuanqing's hand and walked towards the outside of the palace, saying as she walked: "Big brother, don't worry, I pulled Sister Feixue to invest together, she asked me not to tell the third brother Murong, saying that if I earn money in the future, it will be my dowry." ”

Li Xuanqing naturally saw Murong Feixue's careful thoughts, but he didn't say anything, and said with a smile: "This girl is worthy of being from a big family, and she knows how to calculate people's hearts at all times." Forget about her, let's go. Baixin, are the guards ready? Li Xuanqing hugged Qiaoxi to the back of the jade lion and shouted to Baixin in the distance. This Baixin has just returned from visiting relatives in the grassland, and Tashi is now in the grassland to form his army, and he is very satisfied with Baixin's performance by Li Xuanqing's side.

The personal guards have now expanded to 2,000 people, half of whom serve as palace guards, and half go out with Li Xuanqing and others. Baixin heard Li Xuanqing's voice and hurriedly beckoned his team to assemble quickly, and followed Li Xuanqing out of the palace quickly and headed east.

Weinan is more than 200 miles east of Chang'an, is the first city to the east of Chang'an, and militarily acts as the acropolis and outpost of Chang'an City, with a small population. After Tiance Mansion entered Guanzhong, because Weinan is located at the confluence of the Jing River and the Luo River, and is the first stop out of the Yellow River, it began to be busy after the completion of the water conservancy hub in Guanzhong, which is also the reason why Qiaoxi decided to set up a shipyard here.

Li Xuanqing and his entourage set off from Chang'an Palace City and came all the way east along the Weihe River, only to see that there were already merchant ships coming and going on the surface of the Weihe River. Some also put up the flags of their respective businesses on the bow of the ship.

"Big brother, you see, if the shipyard can be successful, you can set up a shipping company, and when the scale is done, you can open the exchange in advance, and sell these companies so that you can drive other assets into new industries, right?" Qiaoxi saw Li Xuanqing staring at the merchant ship on the river and was silent, knowing what he was thinking, and smiled.

Li Xuanqing nodded, "Don't say that your thinking seems to be much better than my forced promotion from top to bottom, sure enough, this kind of economic field still needs guidance, and administrative orders are still undesirable in the end, and sometimes they will be counterproductive." But coincidentally, according to your thinking, maybe our family will become the richest family in Datang in the future, these calculations are all white money. ”

"That's it, big brother, you are in charge of the world's major affairs, and I take care of the family's affairs." Qiaoxi patted her little chest and said with a proud face.

"Okay, I don't care about these things in the future." Li Xuanqing shook the reins, the jade lion let out a long roar, and suddenly sped up and galloped towards Weinan. At noon, he easily crossed more than 200 miles to appear at the site of the shipyard in Weinan.

This is a river beach vacant land, but now it has become a large factory, the newly dug dock has gradually taken shape, because Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi do not know whether the Tang Dynasty already has a dry dock, so simply go directly to the horse, only to see that there are already three large dry docks in this wide open space, and the workers are busy in it, it seems that they are ready to set up machinery and equipment.

Li Xuanqing nodded, asked Baixin and them to dismount and settle themselves, and then went into the completed forging workshop with Qiaoxi on the side. This forging workshop is completely designed and built in accordance with the factory standards of later generations, without the chaos of the factory workshop of this era, but simple and bright, not worthy of coordination. Li Xuanqing said as he walked: "Qiaoxi, did you dig a master from somewhere, these things and buildings are good." ”

"That's the credit of Brother Hu, one of their leaders of the Xuanying Guard was injured and retired and was dug by me to take charge of the shipyard." Qiaoxi himself was also surprised by the general office of this shipyard, and said with a smile: "I just talked to him in general that day, but I didn't expect his comprehension ability to be so strong, and it was basically built in just one month." ”

"My subordinate Zhang Qiang has seen the lord and the Qiaoxi Niangniang." Just when Qiaoxi was talking about his right-hand man, someone in front of him also saw Li Xuanqing and his party, and suddenly a middle-aged man about thirty years old with his clothes drooping and his left arm empty hurriedly walked over and saluted Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi. It's just that he called Li Xuanqing the lord, and the whole Tiance Mansion basically called it that, but Qiaoxi's title made Qiaoxi awkward for a while, but Li Xuanqing saw Qiaoxi's blushing appearance, waved his hand at her and smiled: "Zhang Qiang, you were the leader of the Xuanyingwei branch in charge of Shannan Province before, right?" ”

"Yes, my subordinate was originally the head of the Shannan Provincial Branch, and he was injured in the left arm by a cold arrow during the battle with the Shence Army, but fortunately, I was sympathetic to my mother, so that I, a waste person, could also enjoy such good treatment, and my subordinates should do their best to help Niangniang build the shipyard." When Zhang Qiang saw Li Xuanqing tell his resume, he couldn't help but have red eyes, and knelt down with a plop.

Li Xuanqing helped him up, and also sighed: "Fighting on the battlefield, it is helpless to be injured, but you have not done a bad job after retiring, Qiaoxi, this shipyard was built by you very well, very lawful, and very fine, and you have put your heart into it at a glance." ”

Qiaoxi also followed at this time: "Brother Zhang, don't call me Niangniang in the future, this is not good, it will be discussed." ”

Zhang Qiang looked up and saw Li Xuanqing staring at him with a thick approving look in his eyes, and suddenly knew that his efforts had been affirmed, so he hurriedly made a promise, and he didn't know whether to respond to Li Xuanqing's words or Qiaoxi's words.

"Alright, let's show us your shipyard, by the way, I have a few questions for you." Li Xuanqing also smiled slightly when he saw his embarrassment, and changed the topic.

When it came to the shipyard, Zhang Qiang suddenly became energetic, walked in front of Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi, and talked eloquently, introducing the use and use of the machinery and equipment in front of him.

Li Xuanqing stopped the surrounding workers from saluting him, and asked as he walked: "I want to know how to complete the tenon joint of your iron-hulled ship, and how do you plan to splice the steel plates of the hull structure?" Is it with rivets? ”

Maybe it's because he is used to doing the work of the secret guard, except for being a little emotional just now, Zhang Qiang is basically a board and a glance for the rest of the time, not smiling, hearing Li Xuanqing's question, he replied: "The tenon joint is according to the mother, according to the lady's explanation to prepare the test rivets, we have also specially produced a small machine tool for processing rivets, and the splicing of the hull structure is also with rivets." ”

"How thick can you produce with your current technology? Or can the steel plate from the steel mill meet the requirements when it is sent? Li Xuanqing knew the role of rivets, so when he heard him say that he was preparing for the test, he didn't speak again, but changed the question.

"The subordinates of the steel plant have already investigated, and at present, there is a problem with the thickness of the steel plates they forge, and we can't use them directly." Speaking of this, Zhang Qiang continued: "We have set up a forging workshop by ourselves according to the instructions of our wife, and we plan to use the group's new machine to carry out secondary forging, and then cut it, build it into the dock for riveting. ”

Li Xuanqing saw what he said, nodded and smiled: "It seems that Qiaoxi has found the right person, I don't have to worry about you doing things." As for the problem at the steel plant, I'm going to figure out a way, you build the test ship first, by the way, I almost forgot to tell you, how did you design your oars? ”

"Oars? This was added later! Zhang Qiang didn't understand what Li Xuanqing meant, and replied nahe.

"Brother Zhang, the oars can be designed to look like a runner, and made into a paddle wheel and placed on the left and right sides, so that the boat can be rotated by manpower in the bilge in the early stage, and it can also be used as a power propulsion in other ways in the later stage." As soon as Qiaoxi heard it, he knew that Li Xuanqing was going to copy the appearance of the first steamship in the later generations, so he explained it carefully.

In this era, it is not much of a problem to build a runner, the main problem is that it is too difficult to polish the rotor in the center of the runner, and it is not realistic to polish a qualified rotor by hand, but Li Xuanqing did not ask to really be comparable to the rotor of later generations, and handed over the problem to Zhang Qiang and asked him to find a mechanic to find a way.

"Zhang Qiang, you have one more thing you need to keep in mind besides shipbuilding." Li Xuanqing saw that Zhang Qiang had kept the design of the bright wheel in mind, and remembered another thing, and his face became serious.

"We should take advantage of this opportunity to summarize a set of industry standards for the construction of the shipbuilding industry." Li Xuanqing sounded all kinds of industry standards in later generations, and explained: "All kinds of commonly used spare parts should be given accurate dimensions, and the size of the ship is the same. Li Xuanqing patted him on the shoulder and said, "I heard that you haven't been home since you came to the Industrial Manufacturing Group, I have arranged for someone to go to your hometown, let them pick up your wife and children, and have a good reunion for a few days. ”

Li Xuanqing's words also reminded the former subordinate in front of him of his hometown in Fengxiang, but then he heard Li Xuanqing say that he had asked his wife and children to come to Weinan, and he immediately choked up, and hurriedly bowed to Li Xuanqing and said: "Zhang Qiang thanks the lord for his love, he will definitely work hard to run the shipyard well, and he will definitely not embarrass the lord and his wife." ”

Qiaoxi smiled at Zhang Qiang, followed Li Xuanqing to other places, and began to talk carefully about the appearance of the steamship in the memory of the two of them, and modified the loopholes in the construction process of the shipyard, and at the same time, Li Xuanqing also felt the prototype of industrial development for the first time.