It can be said that this time period is an excellent opportunity for the Chinese Empire to replace the United States in later generations and become the world's largest steel power!

Feng Yunshan knows that it is precisely because of the backwardness of technology that although the acid converter steelmaking technology invented by the British technician Besmer a few years ago seems to be advanced, it has not been applied on a large scale. The reason is that this steelmaking method has a lot of defects, unable to remove impurities phosphorus, and the iron ore in Western Europe is very high in phosphorus, so that the quality of steel smelted by this method is very poor, resulting in these countries in Western Europe, especially the United Kingdom, are still unable to produce steel by this converter steelmaking method. This is why the annual production of pig iron in the UK has reached millions of tons, but the steel is still more than 100,000 tons.

Now, since Feng Yunshan has decided to show his strength in the steel industry, he is ready to make Western countries unable to clean up with one shot. Thinking of this, his mind had already flown to the steel, plus the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the result was almost certain, so Feng Yunshan directly announced: "In view of the shortage of steel rails, I have decided to postpone the full start of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, but the southern line of the Trans-Siberian Railway from Lanzhou to Ili in Xinjiang and even to the Kazakh region until it reaches Orenburg through the Aral Sea must start construction as soon as possible."

Guanlan, you inform Yan Aiqing of the Ministry of Finance and Taxation and ask them to allocate 150 million holy yuan to Cheng Aiqing and their Railway Department first. ”

Speaking of this, Feng Yunshan looked at Cheng Hengsheng again and said: "Cheng Aiqing, your Railway Division will form a team as soon as possible, and use all the 30,000 tons of steel rails that the Railway Division originally prepared to build from Lanzhou to Yili, and transport them to the front line of railway construction, ready to start!" ”

Zeng Guanlan and Cheng Hengsheng hurriedly bowed down, and Cheng Hengsheng hesitantly reminded: "Your Majesty, but these 30,000 tons of steel rails can only be built 300 kilometers long, at most a little west of Ganzhou, not even the territory of Suzhou Mansion." Once the construction really begins, tens of millions of people and horses may lay these rails in less than half a year, and then the railway workers will have no rails to build, so they can only disband again, which will cause great losses. ”

Feng Yunshan said: "How long will it take to use up the 40,000 tons of steel rails that Xi'an repaired to Chengdu?" There are some other stocks, can you squeeze out one or two hundred thousand tons of rails if you collect them all over the world? ”

Cheng Hengsheng replied: "Your Majesty, the railway from Xi'an to Chengdu and then to Kunming is now halfway through construction, because it crosses the Qinling Mountains and the mountains of northern Sichuan, which are difficult to walk on the mountains, either to open the mountain or to build a bridge, and the cement and manpower required are very huge, so the progress is very slow. It is estimated that only a maximum of 25,000 tons of steel rails will be consumed in a year.

In other warehouses of the Ministry of Public Works, as well as in the supply and marketing cooperatives, it is estimated that 15,000 tons of steel can be remelted into rails. ”

Feng Yunshan smiled: "That's easy to do!" At most, we will waste some coal and manpower, and pull all the other 15,000 tons of steel rails and the 15,000 tons of steel from the Ministry of Public Works to Gansu by train, and all of them will be used to build this new railway line to Xinjiang under the Ministry of Railways.

As long as the rails of these two major new railways survive a year, there will be no problem. A year later, I believe that the rails of the Chinese Empire no longer have to worry!! ”

Speaking of this, Feng Yunshan laughed happily, and after solving the matter of railway construction, Feng Yunshan directly asked the ministers to leave, he just left Zeng Guanlan and Fan Ruzeng, and by the way, sent someone to call Zeng Yuheng, Minister of Public Works, to prepare for him to arrange for him to vigorously develop the steel industry.

Fan Ruzeng is because he has a separate important report: "Your Majesty, Weichen is here to report to you, from the United States to capture that Qin Rigang and release him back to China, now he has been imprisoned for more than three months, exactly a hundred days later, that Qin Rigang can't bear it, and he has been begging to see His Majesty in the water prison for the past few days." Your Majesty, you see? ”

Feng Yunshan then remembered that Fan Ruzeng went to the American mainland, and as a result, he not only led some spies to arrange that amazing thing and changed the course of American history, but also brought back to China the biggest traitor and the most tenacious prince of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Qin Rigang.

When he first heard that Qin Rigang had returned to China, Qin Rigang had been scolding Feng Yunshan, and the swear words were ugly, so Feng Yunshan did not go to see him, but asked Fan Ruzeng to detain him in a water prison on the edge of Xuanwu Lake, and now just after a hundred days, Qin Rigang couldn't stand it anymore and asked to see him.

To be honest, Feng Yunshan has nothing to say about Qin Rigang. He originally wanted people to quietly execute Qin Rigang, but when he thought about it, after all, Qin Rigang was also a peaceful old man, and he was executed in such a muffled manner, maybe the future generations would say that he had cut off heresy, and there were not many old people in the previous Jintian regimental camp, especially a person like Qin Rigang who was ranked sixth. Therefore, Feng Yunshan still decided to meet Qin Rigang, after all, the original Yan King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has come to this day, and many of the reasons are promoted by him Feng Yunshan. Moreover, whether Feng Yunshan was willing to admit it or not, in fact, from his inner subconscious, he did not have the idea of showing his achievements to his old friend Qin Rigang, although he did not show it too much. Maybe he didn't expect that with his achievements and so many winds and waves, he didn't care why, but in front of Qin Rigang, a special person, just like a developed local tyrant in later generations, if he has the opportunity to meet his old classmates, he will inevitably show off, let the other party know and not walk at night.

It's just that Feng Yunshan himself doesn't know this subconscious idea of himself.

"Then bring him and see him! I haven't seen this old brother in the mountains for ten years. It's good to meet, and seeing can make him feel at ease. Feng Yunshan muttered.

Fan Ruzeng immediately understood what the emperor meant, and even said that he would obey the order and hurry to make arrangements.

As soon as Fan Ruzeng left, Zeng Guanlan was left alone in front of the entire hall, and after Feng Yunshan asked a group of guards to avoid it, he said, "How many years has Guanlan followed me?" ”

Zeng Guanlan was a little stunned when he heard the emperor's tone, and even I didn't claim to be here directly.

Feng Yunshan didn't wait for Zeng Guanlan to answer, and then took over the words to himself: "Since the midsummer of the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, I went to Zeng Yuzhen's house in Dachong to be a tutor, and I began to know you and the people of the Zeng family, and it has been 18 years since I intersected. Nowadays, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are monarchs and ministers, but their essence is brothers. Guanlan, how do you treat your brother? ”

Zeng Guanlan didn't understand why the emperor would talk to him about this, and hurriedly replied: "Back to Your Majesty, Your Majesty treats Weichen as kind as a mountain, and has always regarded Weichen as his younger brother, and helped Weichen's Zeng family to get their grievances adressed, and Weichen is unforgettable!" ”

Feng Yunshan sighed: "I should treat you well. Your Zeng family has made great sacrifices and contributions to my Feng Yunshan, and I remember them all. And you, Guanlan, have always followed me, loyal and loyal, and I see them all. It's just that now, forget it, they are brothers, there is no need to be so suspicious and worried, let me just pick it out, how about I want you to change your position in Guanlan? ”

Zeng Guanlan's face was calm, and he was not too surprised, and he agreed: "Wechen is sorry for Your Majesty's kindness and support, and he did not do a good job in the position of prime minister. Wechen should completely obey His Majesty's will and have no complaints. In fact, Wechen has long wanted to resign from His Majesty as Prime Minister, but Wechen's talent and experience are insufficient to be responsible for the normal operation of the entire empire today. ”

Seeing Zeng Guanlan answer like this, Feng Yunshan couldn't hold his face a little, according to his understanding of Zeng Guanlan, he was a loyal person, and he was extremely loyal to himself, so naturally he would not complain about himself, but he was so simple that he didn't even mention the slightest question, and he didn't even ask what he arranged for him to go, and he completely accepted it calmly, which still made Feng Yunshan a little emotional and unbearable.