"Wei Qing" finally arrived at the sea off Haizhou on the morning of the fourth day, looking at the Yuntai Mountain in front of him, Luo Jian clearly remembered that the future port would be built here.

The "Wei Qing" slowly moored more than 100 meters offshore, and Luo Jian, Zheng Chenggong and others went ashore on a small boat.

"The Huaguo Mountain mentioned in "Journey to the West" is there." Luo Jian pointed to the highest peak in the distance, Jade Girl Peak, and said to everyone.

"This place is really a good place to build a harbor, Metropolitan Governor, we have to build the harbor of Haizhou as soon as possible." Zheng Chenggong carefully observed the terrain and said.

"Hehe, it's not right now, our transportation from Yangzhou to Haizhou is still very underdeveloped, and it is still very troublesome to transport materials from Yangzhou to here, and when the railway is repaired to Haizhou, we will build a big seaport here." Luo Jian said with a smile.

After Fang Yizhi and others drew a detailed topographic map, everyone returned to the "Wei Qing" in a small boat.

When the "Wei Qing" returned to the temporary military port in Jiangyin, the sailors in Jiangyin were ready to greet it, and the firecrackers that kept being set off also showed that the trial voyage was going well.

Luo Jian returned to Yangzhou on the sailor's steamship, and Shi Kefa was extremely happy to hear that the trial voyage of the "Wei Qing" was very smooth.

Yangzhou has prepared a large number of goods, waiting to organize merchant ships to go to sea again, "Wei Qing" smooth sea trial also means that the merchant ships to go to sea is fast, various factories and merchants are excited, even Nanjing has many merchants to Yangzhou, asked to take Yangzhou's merchant ships to the sea, Luo Jian all agreed.

The fleet was quickly prepared, and it was going to sea in two days, and this time everyone was not nervous, and there was an escort by the "Wei Qing", and all that was left was to look forward to it.

Luo Jian and Shi Kefa didn't go to see them off again, this kind of going to sea will become more and more dense in the future, if they go to see them off every time, it's really not necessary.

Both Luo Jian and Shi Kefa went to Guazhou because Liu Weimin's research had made significant progress.

"Chief, Inspector, nitric acid preparation is no longer a problem, now I am facing industrial production, I need silver." Liu Weimin was also very happy to see that both of them were coming, and said directly to the two.

"How much do you need?" Shi Kefa asked anxiously.

"One and a half million taels." Liu Weimin said dryly.

Shi Kefa gasped when he heard this.

"Didn't you say before that it was only a million taels? Why is it rising again now? Shi Kefa asked anxiously.

"Inspector, I used to only think about the production of military materials, but now I want to produce fertilizer at the same time, you can't come out, right?" Liu Weimin said with a smile.

"As soon as the fertilizer comes out, the people will no longer have to worry about hunger, and it will be worth the investment." Luo Jian said on the side.

"Out! Go out! Let's give you this money. Listening to Luo Jian's words, Shi Kefa said repeatedly.

"Chief, I have a bag of urea that has been synthesized here, please take it and try it first, the rice has not been planted for a long time, and it is just enough to do the test." Liu Weimin pointed to a large brown paper bag in the corner of the wall and said that there were about fifty or sixty catties of urea in it.

"How does this work?" Shi Kefa walked up to the bag, took out a handful of urea from it and asked.

"It's very simple, just spread it evenly on the field, but the amount of this thing can't be too large at one time, and the crops will be burned to death." Xiao Liu then explained the use of urea to Shi Kefa in detail, and Shi Kefa asked people to write it down one by one.

"Chief, Brother Mao, they have already started to build a synthesis tower, and the corresponding equipment is estimated to take half a year to be completed, and they have to be assisted by Wuhu Steelmaking Plant." Xiao Liu said to Luo Jian.

"You let it go, and we will use our greatest strength to ensure the investment in the later stage." Luo Jian said firmly.

"After we get it, won't we use black huo medicine?" Shi Kefa asked.

"It's not so fast, it will take a while, industrial production and laboratory preparation are completely different things, and there are some things I still have to explore." Xiao Liu scratched his head and said.

After listening to Xiao Liu's words, Shi Kefa asked people to put the bag of urea on their backs and couldn't wait to go back to Yangzhou.

Shi Kefa and the others did not enter the city, but found the paddy field closest to Yangzhou.

The paddy fields here belong to Zhang Laohan's family, and all the rice in the field has been planted, and when you stand on the stalks, these rice trees have obviously taken root, and it is the best time to fertilize.

Zhang Laohan was patrolling the field with a hoe, and when he saw Shi Kefa leading a few people over, he hurriedly ran over, and was about to kneel down to salute, when he suddenly remembered that Yangzhou had banned kneeling and bowing, so he put down the hoe and bowed to Shi Kefa and others.

Shi Kefa waved his hand, signaling that he didn't need to be polite, and said, "This field belongs to yours?" ”

"If you go back to the master, it's from the small family." Zhang Laohan was a little nervous, and he didn't know what Shi Kefa meant by asking, although he knew that the official in front of him was the supervisor.

"Oh, that's right, I have a bag of fertilizer here, I want to try it in this field of your family, if the yield of this field is lower than other fields in the future, Yangzhou Government will make up for you, if the yield is high, it will all belong to you, what do you think?"

When Zhang Laohan heard this, there was such a good thing, of course he couldn't ask for it.

Shi Kefa asked people to re-measure the area of this field, just one acre and five points, and carefully asked Zhang Laohan what kind of seeds he used, and when he was done, Shi Kefa asked people to find a dustpan, weighed part of the urea and poured it in, and took off his shoes and socks with the dustpan to go to the field.

Shi Kefa's recent move startled Zhang Laohan, and he hurriedly came over and said, "Don't be a supervisor, just come with a small one." ”

Shi Kefa thought about it for a while, handed the dustpan to Zhang Laohan, and explained to him how to fertilize.

After fertilizing Shi Kefa almost every day, he had to go out of the city to see the field of Zhang Laohan's house, and Luo Jian met him at the gate of the mansion several times, which made Luo Jian a little funny, and said to Shi Kefa: "This fertilizer is no problem, and there is no need for Brother Xian to see it every day, right?" ”

"This fertilizer is really good, and in just a few days, the rice in that field is obviously growing much better than other fields." Shi Kefa said.

"This is the time to apply phosphate fertilizer, and if you add some more phosphorus fertilizer, it will definitely grow better." Luo Jian reminded.

"Can you use phosphate fertilizer again? Isn't there a phosphate fertilizer plant now? I'm going to have to get someone to get a bag, and I'm going to see what the yield will be with these fertilizers. Shi Kefa said.

Although there is a phosphate fertilizer factory, but this kind of thing has not been promoted, everyone is still skeptical about these things, phosphate fertilizer is mainly to help the growth of plant rhizomes, and the application of phosphate fertilizer alone does not have much effect on improving yield, Luo Jian did not forcibly promote.

This year's weather is very warm, and there is a lot of rain, and the whole area of Yangzhou has been precautioned in advance, and the relevant water conservancy facilities have been improved before the winter, but the damage is extremely slight.

More than half a month has passed, this field of Zhang Laohan's house has become a field to visit, more than ten miles away people have heard that there is an experimental field outside Yangzhou City, the rice in the field grows much better than other fields, and the people who came to see it for a time were endless.

The rice in this field is half a head taller than that in other fields, and it does look different, Shi Kefa is extremely excited, and urges Luo Jian every day to let Liu Weimin hurry up and get the fertilizer out.

"This is not in a hurry, the entire production equipment is extremely demanding, if it is made in a hurry, it will be very dangerous, I ask Xiao Liu They must be safe, Brother Xian can't urge it here." Luo Jian patiently explained the production process to Shi Kefa, which made Shi Kefa stop.

Now Guazhou's power has basically been replaced by a steam engine, which has almost doubled the efficiency.

But the output of steel still dissatisfied, the production of the steam engine itself consumes a lot of steel, and almost all the rest is used to produce Yangzhou type one rifle, and the production of civilian tools such as farm tools is not taken care of now.

More than a dozen steamships are already sailing on the canals and the Yangtze River, carrying supplies such as coal and steel back and forth.

Shi Kefa came to Luo Jianfu today, and he was talking about farm tools.

The reason is that the Guazhou steel mill once produced a batch of agricultural tools, although the quantity is not large, but its good quality has gradually become famous.

Later, because the production of steam engines began and the production of steel was insufficient, these were stopped, Luo Jian and Shi Kefa forgot about it, but the farmers did not forget.

This time, when looking at the rice in the field of Zhang Laohan's house, many people mentioned the matter to Shi Kefa again and asked the Yangzhou government to provide everyone with high-quality farm tools again.

"Xinghua, take out some of it to produce some farm tools, it shouldn't be a big problem, right?" Shi Kefa knew that the production of the steam engine and the production of the Yangzhou Type 1 rifle were at a critical juncture at this time, so he asked with some hesitation.

"Brother Xian, I don't think it's a way for us to tear down the east wall and make up the west wall like this, let's solve the problem fundamentally." Luo Jian thought for a while, and did not directly answer Shi Kefa's question.

"Xinghua, how to solve the problem fundamentally?" Shi Kefa didn't understand what Luo Jian meant.

"The reason for the shortage of steel now is that our industry is developing too fast, not only our steam engine and military production need a lot of steel, but also some other industries have an increasing demand for steel."

Seeing that Shi Kefa was listening carefully, Luo Jian continued:

"Let me give you an example to Brother Xian, for example, the cement plant, which used to be all petty fights, but now because the steam engine provides power, it solves the problem of gravel grinding, and now several cement factories are ordering steam engines, and in the future, cement factories will be everywhere, how many steam engines do you say? Aside from the fact that the steam engine itself requires a lot of steel, there will also be a lot of steel in the factory. Some other factories have a similar situation, in short, in the final analysis, our steel production is still seriously insufficient. ”

Luo Jian finally came to a conclusion.

"Xinghua, you mean let's build another steel plant?" Shi Kefa asked suspiciously.

"There's no need to rebuild, it's too expensive, and I want to expand." Luo Jian said.

"Expansion? Does it mean to build another blast furnace at the Guazhou Steelmaking Plant and the Wuhu Steelmaking Plant? Shi Kefa asked.

"I think this time we will do it in one step, we will expand one in Guazhou, and we will simply expand two blast furnaces in Wuhu Steel Mill, Brother Xian, what do you think?" Luo Jian thought for a moment and said.

"Isn't that too much investment?" Shi Kefa was a little worried.

"Hehe, did Brother Xian ignore a problem?" Luo Jian said with a smile.

"What's the problem?" Shi Kefa asked quickly.

"Our previous steel mill was almost all for our own use, which is not profitable, and now a large part of our steel is used to sell for money, do you think this investment is worth it?" Luo Jian was not in a hurry, and said slowly.

"Oh, look at my head, it's almost imprisoned now, let's start doing this." Shi Kefa patted his head and said happily.