The city of Beijing has already bloomed in spring, and all kinds of novel flowers are blooming in the back garden of the regent's palace.

Dolgon sat under a peach tree in full bloom, and there was a thick stack of various materials on the desk in front of him, and if you looked closer, the "Yangzhou Semi-Monthly" was also among them.

Fan Wencheng sat on the side, picked up all kinds of materials and kept looking at them.

"Mr. Fan, it seems that Yangzhou has changed a lot in the past six months, but many practices in Yangzhou are new, and this king is a little unclear, I don't know what you think?" Dorgon said as he watched.

"Returning to the regent, the minister thinks that his actions have deep meaning, but the minister can't see his intentions yet." Fan Wencheng replied.

"Mr. Fan can be casual. You see, the governor of Yangzhou actually let the workers of his glass factory go on strike, and this information says that he is the biggest proprietor, I don't know what it means? "Dolgon didn't think that Luo Jian did this because his head was in water, there must be a deep meaning in it, but he couldn't figure it out for a while.

"The minister thought about this, and thought that it must be to pave the way for the future, so that the later merchants would not treat the workers harshly, and he should not be underestimated that he cared so much for the coolies!" Fan Wencheng said.

"Well, these things are used to buy people's hearts, and it is difficult to achieve results quickly, but Mr. Fan, you come to see this, in less than a year, Yangzhou actually built another steel mill in Wuhu, and made some steamboats, which can sail without sails, and recently another big warship was launched, we can't help but guard against it." Dorgon said, pointing to the latest information from Suppilon.

"Yes, now there is only one big warship in Yangzhou, if there are more in the future, it will be difficult for us to defend in the northeast." Fan Wencheng looked far ahead, and directly pointed out the threat of the fleet to the Manchu base camp.

Listening to Fan Wencheng's words, Dolgon gasped.

"Mr. Fan, the craftsmen invited back by John Tang from the West have already arrived, but they are also puzzled that the muskets of the Yangzhou army can hit so far and break through three layers of armor, we must get a firearm like theirs to crack it now, you can arrange this later."

Fan Wencheng agreed, and the two continued to discuss the information on the table, and before they could finish their discussion, someone came to the palace to send a recital.

Dorgon opened the fold in his hand, and his brow tightened.

"Mr. Fan, take a look, the Yangzhou army has locked our throats this time."

The "Throat Lock Operation" was determined after Luo Jian and Shi Kefa discussed.

This action has long been in Luo Jian's plan, and there is a reason why it has not been implemented until now.

The "Operation Lock Throat" was to block the canal and block the grain routes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Since the opening of the canal, the Yangzhou army has not embarrassed the Manchu grain teams that transport grain from the canal, these grain teams are all in the name of caravans, and the Southern Ming court and the Yangzhou army also know it, and everyone knows it.

The decision to block the grain route was only now due to the fact that it was the time when the green and yellow crops were scarce, and the pressure on the Manchus was greatest at this time.

Luo Jian knew that no matter how much he blocked the grain route, it would not be possible to starve the Manchu army, after all, the area it occupied was already large enough, and even if the canal was blocked, the grain could be transported by land, but the cost was greatly increased.

Luo Jian also knew that this would have a great impact on the people under the rule of the Manchus, but in order to force the Manchus to open up trade, he had to ruthlessly implement the "Operation Lock Throat".

"Xinghua, do you think we can force the Manchus to open up trade this time?" Shi Kefa is still a little worried.

"It's hard to say, it depends on how determined Dolgon is to take over the world, and if he is very big, he must think about the lives of the people under his rule, so that he is more likely to compromise." Luo Jian calmly analyzed.

Since the second return of the merchant ships, the huge profits obtained have caused a huge sensation in Yangzhou, the factories are now operating at full capacity, due to the use of steam engines, the efficiency has also been greatly improved, because of this, even Yangzhou is preparing to organize the fleet to go to sea for the third time, but the production of goods is still a lot of backlog.

The Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce, which had just been established not long ago, had repeatedly requested the Metropolitan Governor's Office to ask the Yangzhou Army to open the Manchu trade channels as soon as possible, which was also one of the reasons why Luo Jian was in a hurry to implement the "Throat Lock Operation".

Although the price of rice in Beijing had risen to more than three taels of silver a stone, Dolgon was not prepared to give in.

Although he had not studied political economy, Dolgon knew that if trade was opened, Yangzhou would benefit greatly, which was exactly what Dolgon did not want to see.

Besides, Dolgon's energy has been focused on the general prison for a period of time, because the secret agents sent by Kong Youde to Yangzhou have figured out the secret of the Yangzhou rifle.

The reason why the Yangzhou rifle hit far and accurately turned out to be so simple, which made Dolgon a little unexpected.

Just engrave rifling in the barrel of the musket and use a lead bullet with a dimple in the back, which is the news reported by the secret agent.

Despite the painstaking efforts of the musket-making craftsmen in the city of Beijing, Dolgon was overjoyed to have a few rifled muskets.

When he heard this, he hurried to the prison guard, picked up the musket that had been made, looked at it repeatedly, and felt that it was not very different from the previous shotgun, so he had to let someone try it first.

Dolgon's triess were overjoyed again, and thirty paces away, a two-inch plank had been pierced by the shotgun.

"Try again, try again! Try again with a three-layer armor. Dorgon was a little impatient.

This time the target was moved to a distance of fifty paces, and although it took many shots to hit, Dolgon personally went to the target and took a closer look, and saw that all three layers of armor had been penetrated, and his heart was reassured.

Dolgon turned around and said to Fan Wencheng, who was still in charge of the prison: "Mr. Fan, the other muskets will not be made for the time being, and all of them will be made of this kind of musket." ”

Unexpectedly, Fan Wencheng said with a bitter face: "Qiqi Regent, it is extremely difficult to manufacture the barrel of this musket, if you make all of this musket, I'm afraid you won't be able to make a few in a month." ”

"Then why can Yangzhou produce in large quantities?" Dorgon asked, confused.

"I don't know what method they used, and the agent's report doesn't mention it." Fan Wencheng replied helplessly.

Without waiting for Dolgon to investigate the reason, several Manchu ministers found the general to be the prisoner.

"What's the matter?" When Dolgon heard that this musket could not be made in large quantities, he was upset when he saw several ministers coming to him, and asked with a calm face.

"Qiyu Regent, the price of grain in Beijing has skyrocketed, it has reached four taels of silver and a stone, and if it continues like this, there may not be a few people who will starve to death, please ask the regent to transfer grain as soon as possible, and it will cause a civil uprising sooner." University scholar Ganglin stepped forward and said.

"Didn't you let Hong Chengchou quickly transfer grain from Hubei to the north? Why hasn't there been any news yet? Dorgon said with a frown.

"Mr. Fan, you ask those Westerners to think of more ways, this kind of musket must be made in large quantities, please Mr. worry more about this matter." After Dolgon finished speaking, he hurriedly returned to the Wuying Hall with a few Manchu ministers.

"Didn't Curb Pilon negotiate with the Southern Ming Dynasty?" Dolgon asked, just as he sat down.

"I have negotiated, but this time the Yangzhou army is a grain ship detained in the name of investigating bandits, and the Southern Ming Dynasty court is also unable to." Ganglin said beside him.

"Then we can only agree to Yangzhou's request?" Dorgon said hatefully.

"Regent, the minister thinks that opening up trade is not necessarily a bad thing, although the goods in Yangzhou have entered my Qing Dynasty, as long as the court orders, the gentry and the people are not allowed to buy, and it is difficult to sell their goods, and my Qing Dynasty can send more people to Yangzhou in the name of merchants, and you can also learn some of its production methods, I don't know what the regent wants?" Sony's suggestion was clearly made after much thought.

Listening to Sony's suggestion, Dolgon fell into deep thought, Fan Wencheng's words just now still ringed in his ears, how could this same thing become so different when it arrived in Yangzhou? What method did Yangzhou use to make musket barrels in large quantities?

There is also the glass, since the glass of Yangzhou entered the Qing Dynasty, many merchants of the Qing Dynasty also began to try to manufacture, but the things that came out just didn't work, I don't know what tricks there are in this, well, it is time to send more people to learn.

It's just that he was forced to do this by Yangzhou, Dolgon was really unwilling, and after thinking for a while, he said: "Yangzhou goods enter my Qing Dynasty, and they must be heavily taxed, and the benefits can't be all let go." ”

Sony hurriedly responded, turned around and was about to go back to arrange.

"Wait, the businessmen who enter Yangzhou, you arrange more people from the Fan family in Shanxi, they are loyal to me in the Qing Dynasty, they are all Han Chinese, and they are also quick to learn technology." Dorgon confessed to Sony.

"I understand." Sony turned around and went out to make arrangements.

"Xinghua, the Manchu court has compromised!" Shi Kefa rushed to the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion to find Luo Jian.

"Brother Xian, come and see, things are not as simple as we think, there are still people in the Manchu court who are very clear-headed." Luo Jian was holding a folder in his hand, and the information was collected by Lai Fu's security department.

Shi Kefa took the folder, opened it and looked at it carefully, and after reading it, he also frowned.

"So what do we do? The Manchus had to impose heavy taxes on the goods that came under their rule, so would our merchants still be willing to do business? Shi Kefa said worriedly.

"Don't worry about this, as long as there is profit, businessmen will not give up." Luo Jian's concern was not this, but that the Manchu court had actually made a Mini gun, although it could not be mass-produced now, but it had already been made after all.

"Brother Xian, our technical secrecy must be strengthened, if the Manchu Qing Dynasty steals some key technologies, we will be in big trouble." Luo Jian said.

Luo Jian refers to some manufacturing techniques, such as the technology of making gun barrels, although it is difficult, but as long as you grasp the know-how, although it is slower, it can always be produced. In this way, once the Manchu army was equipped with a certain number of mini guns, the threat to the Yangzhou army was greater.

"Xinghua, what are you going to do?" Shi Kefa listened to Luo Jian's words and was also very worried.

"The Ministry of Security must intensify its work, and our other departments must also work together to strengthen the review of the personnel of various key departments, and the key departments must use the most reliable people, so please worry more about this matter." Luo Jian said.