When Shi Kefa heard the good news, he stared at Liu Weimin with wide eyes, with an expectant look on his face, and Liu Lan picked up the feather duster on the table again.

"Chief, don't our steel mills use coal for coking? I made a small amount of picric acid from tar, and if I want to make it in large quantities, I have to build a special factory for this coking, and I can also collect some ammonia, and the problem of nitric acid manufacturing can be partially solved, and these need special equipment. ”

"Have you considered direct ammonia synthesis? Don't we have the technology to do this? Luo Jian asked.

"Chief, it's not enough to have technical information, there is no foundation at all, not even a storage tank, let alone a pressure vessel, I still want to get the picric acid out first, solve the urgent need, and then consider synthetic ammonia when there is a certain industrial base in the future, what do you think, chief?" Xiao Liu thought for a while and said.

"But I think the progress is still quite big, now the glass thermometer has been made, and I have also refined the measurement in Guazhou, and everyone is gradually accepting it, but there is a lack of talent!" Xiao Liu sighed and said.

"Xinghua, what's picric acid?" Shi Kefa listened in a daze, and waited for Xiao Liu to finish speaking, and then asked.

"Hehe, Brother Xian, do you remember the power of the grenade explosion?" Luo Jian said with a smile.

"Huh? Okay, it's this bitter acid inside? Shi Kefa asked in surprise.

"No, but almost." Luo Jian replied simply.

"If we get it, we can use it in our shells, and the power will be multiplied." Luo Jian also wanted to get it out in a hurry, but the preparation of nitric acid has always been a bottleneck, and he can only spend a lot of money to get it at present.

"You have to get as much silver as you want, and with this thing, our Yangzhou army can fight it." Shi Kefa hurriedly said.

"How much does it cost?" Luo Jian asked.

"Chief, this is a systematic project, it takes at least 100,000 taels to build a coking plant, and the steelmaking furnace must be rebuilt, as well as supporting auxiliary equipment, including the development process, but there is no accurate number, if it goes well, it can be estimated that it can be produced with an investment of one million taels."

Xiao Liu's words made both Shi Kefa and Luo Jian gasp.

"Brother Xian, the million taels that Xiao Liu said are not only created by this thing, but also the value that comes with it is incredible." Luo Jian thought for a moment and said.

"Yes, Inspector, the chief is right, there will be other things produced in this process, these things are useful, and in the process of development, it will also promote the development of basic industries a lot, I think this investment is worth it, and it is not a one-time investment of so much." Xiao Liu explained on the side.

"In the final analysis, there is still a lack of talents, chiefs, supervisors, I want to recruit some scholars, let them go to Guazhou, I study and teach them at the same time, so that I also have helpers, and I can gradually bring out some people, what do you think?" Liu Weimin thought for a moment and then said.

"Okay, that's a good thing, I fully support it, Liu Lan, what's wrong with your newspaper? You can put a notice on it and spread it out. Luo Jian turned around and asked Liu Lan.

"It's coming, I guess it'll be about the same in another week." Liu Lan replied.

Shi Kefa has been thinking about Yangzhou's financial problems, and when he saw them talking about this, he said: "Xinghua, our Yangzhou's finances are still tight, and the imperial court may be stuck in our necks one day, you can also consider this problem." ”

"Yes, I have also considered this problem, our Yangzhou existing army has six divisions and nearly 100,000 complete troops, according to the calculation of 20 taels of silver per person per year, this is 2 million taels, and the consumption of grain and grass is estimated to be this number, plus the consumption of military production in Guazhou, it is estimated that there will be 1 million taels a year, plus the income of officials at all levels, at least 6 million taels a year, the imperial court can pull down about 3 million taels a year, and the remaining 3 million taels have to be solved by ourselves, which is not a small problem."

Luo Jian calculated a detailed account for everyone, and the financial income of the Hongguang Dynasty was only seven million taels a year, and Yangzhou almost spent the entire imperial court's money in a year.

"Xiao Liu, how is the production of artillery now? Can production be increased? Luo Jian asked.

"Brother Mao was busy with the miniaturization of seamless steel pipes some time ago, and this is not too tight, so far, only twelve doors have been produced, chief, do you have a new idea?" Xiao Liu saw that Luo Jian went directly from finance to artillery, and knew that he had new ideas, so he asked.

"I want to add artillery to the battleship, our overseas trade must be carried out, without a strong escort, the merchant ship can only go to sea to deliver food to others. Liu Lan, you put the newspaper in advance, get the Jenny machine out first, let's build our own factory, the technology must be kept absolutely secret, we will sell all the products overseas, and make money later. Luo Jian made up his mind.

"Can the sailor's boat go to sea?" Xiao Liu asked.

"This is not clear, if we can't build it, if these problems are not solved, we will have no way to make money, once the court gets stuck with us, we will not be able to live." Luo Jian said, speaking of which, Luo Jian was even more determined to take Huai'an as soon as possible.

"Brother Xian, in Yangzhou, we must encourage the vigorous development of industry and commerce, we can't take food from the mouths of farmers, that will not be able to meet the development of Yangzhou in any case, and let the people live too hard."

"Don't worry, Xinghua, I will support you, I have read a lot of books, and my concept has changed a lot." Shi Kefa said with a smile, Luo Jian had mentioned this to him before, and he thought that encouraging industry and commerce would make everyone profit-seeking, and the social atmosphere would be out of control.

"By the way, Xinghua, Wang Xiuchu has already invited Lu Zhenfei over, I have already met him, are you going to meet him too?" Shi Kefa remembered another question.

"Why don't you invite Brother Shi Ze and Yuan Gong and a few of them to me, we can just discuss the development of the entire region." Luo Jian agreed.

"Okay, I'll have them invited." Shi Kefa said.

A few people chatted for a while, and after a while, all three arrived.

Everyone was polite to Lu Zhenfei, and then they all sat down.

Luo Jian introduced the situation that a few people had just analyzed to the three of them, and a group of people began to carefully discuss Yangzhou's development plan.

Yuan Jixian and Lu Zhenfei's thinking was not rigid, but they could quickly understand the new ideas and methods proposed by Luo Jian, and they especially admired Luo Jian's idea of not increasing the burden on the peasants.

Several people said that it was getting dark, and finally a unified line of thought was basically formed, that is, to take agriculture as the foundation, strengthen the rule of officials, encourage industry and commerce, and do a good job in education.

Although the finances were very tight, Shi Kefa gritted his teeth and allocated 200,000 taels of silver from the seizures of Zuo Mengeng and Liu Liangzuo and handed them over to Liu Weimin.

With ideas and methods, Luo Jian was in a much better mood, and everyone was very happy to have a meal in the evening.

Early the next morning, someone from the Junken Farm asked Luo Jian to say that the sweet potatoes had matured to the harvest period, and asked the Metropolitan Governor to go.

Luo Jian was very happy when he heard this, and asked people to call Shi Kefa and a few Futai Chongjun to reclaim the farm.

Ren Minyu knew about sweet potatoes, Yuan Jixian and Lu Zhenfei were a little puzzled, the crops were ripe, what did they call them to do.

Soon arrived at the military reclamation farm, Luo Jian saw that the Teng pages of the sweet potatoes were already yellow, and it was indeed the harvest period.

In order to calculate the yield, Luo Jian specially asked people to measure out one acre of land, and he took the lead in digging the ground.

There are many people with great strength, and soon the sweet potatoes of an acre of land were dug up, and they quickly let people weigh them, more than 3,200 catties, and this output frightened Shi Kefa and several mansions.

Luo Jian knew that because these plots were well maintained because of sufficient fertilizer and careful maintenance, ordinary people did not have so much fertilizer, and it was impossible for them to have such a high yield.

"Hurry up and boil it in a big pot for everyone to taste." Luo Jian said with a smile.

"Please come over, just to let you bring some seeds back and vigorously promote this crop, although it can't be used as a staple food, but with these, the people will not go hungry." Luo Jian said to Yuan Jixian and Lu Zhenfei.

Only then did the two understand Luo Jian's intention of letting them come, and they were very moved in their hearts.

A large pot of sweet potatoes took some time to cook, and a group of people were working in the fields and talking.

Seeing the staff of the farm bring a large pot of sweet potatoes over, Luo Jian picked one up first, and said while peeling the skin: "I haven't eaten it for a long time, it's so fragrant!" ”

"Xinghua, you're such a loser, isn't this skin also delicious? Why peel the skin? It's fragrant and sweet, it's so delicious! Shi Kefa took a bite directly, praised and scolded Luo Jian for being a loser, and Luo Jian laughed when he heard it.

"However, remind you, this sweet potato is extremely fertilizer-intensive, and ordinary people can't grow such a high yield, so you have to be mentally prepared for this, otherwise you will blame me for lying to you." Luo Jian said with a smile.

"I'll be satisfied with a yield of 1,000 catties per mu, you may give me more of this kind of child." Lu Zhenfei said while eating.

Yuan Jixian was the same next to him.

"That's it, so many people on the farm also have to be fed, but it's not okay to give it for free, 100 catties of sweet potatoes for 10 catties of rice, what do you think?" Luo Jian said, this is in Luo Jian's memory, this is how the family changed when he was a child.

"Alright, alright, alright, but you'll have to send someone to teach you how to plant." Lu Zhenfei and Yuan Jixian both said.

"This is no problem, spring potatoes will not be bred until late January, it's still early, you can change them back to store them first, and start promoting them in the spring of next year, do you think it's okay?"

A few days later, all the sweet potatoes were harvested, and more than 1,200 acres of military reclamation farms harvested more than 4 million catties of sweet potatoes, which made Shi Kefa, Luo Jian and others breathe a sigh of relief, no matter what the climate is next year, these sweet potatoes can withstand for a while.

In the end, Shi Kefa made a decision that the sweet potatoes could be tasted enough today, and all of them would be stored tomorrow, most of which would be used for breeding, and some would be used as military rations.

Luo Jian wanted the farm to run a pig farm, so he used sweet potatoes to feed the pigs, but was scolded by Shi Kefa again as a loser, so that Luo Jian didn't dare to speak.

Just after the celebration meeting, a news came that surprised Luo Jian.

PS: I wanted to divide it into several large volumes, but I didn't dare to change it when I passed it on, for fear of messing up all the chapters, and I was depressed