The carriages and horses had traveled all night, and by daybreak they had walked on the edge of a great river. At this time, Ren Yijiang had already changed to a war horse and marched forward side by side with Chen Dexing. He seemed to be very familiar with the situation in Nanfen County, and pointed out: "This is the Taizi River, which was known as Yanshui, Daliang River, and Liangshui in ancient times. Because Yan Prince Dan once fled here, it is called Taizi River. There are two branches at the source of the Taizi River, the southern branch is the Caomao Mountain in Nanfen County, and the northern branch is the Pingding Mountain in Fushun County. The lower reaches of the Taizi River lead to the Liao River and connect to the sea. With this Taizi River, Nanfen, Fushun, Xiangping and the Liao River can be connected into a line. Now the trees cut down on the mountains of Nanfen and Fushun are tied into wooden rows and put down from the Taizi River. If the king comes over in summer, the wooden rows in the river will be connected one after another, and they can be connected for more than ten miles! ”

Chen Dexing said: "Who are the people who cut down the trees? ”

"Slaves, all slaves, there are Mongols, there are also Semu people, and there are some unruly barbarians of all colors, all chained, and they are logging and mining in Nanfen and Fushun counties."

The Northern Ming Dynasty did not allow private slaves, and all slaves were official property, and the source was prisoners of war. They were under the jurisdiction of the Secretary for Administration and the Department of Military Affairs, and the slaves under the jurisdiction of the Secretary for Administration were mainly responsible for the construction of large cities such as Mingdu Mansion and Liaoyang Mansion. The slaves under the jurisdiction of the Military Affairs Department were all concentrated in Nanfen and Fushun counties. Engaged in logging and mining. The timber cut down will be used for the construction of Liaoyang Mansion and Shenyang Mansion. Now tens of thousands of Shijue Granges have been sealed here in Liaodong, many houses need to be built, and there are also a large number of state capitals and counties to be built, so the sales of timber are very good. Therefore, it was a good business to cut down trees near the river and put them in rows, and the military affairs department made a lot of money cutting down trees with slaves.

Chen Dexing said: "You can't just think about making quick money and Fushun's coal. Nanfen's iron is fundamental! ”

Ren Yijiang said: "The minister understands, but looking for iron ore and coal mines is not an overnight thing. Although Fushun and Nanfen produced coal and iron when they were in Liaojin. But after all, decades have passed, and the original mine has long since disappeared. You have to be patient to find it. ”

Chen Dexing, who has lived and studied in Dalian for several years, how did he not know Fushun Coal and Nanfen Iron? It is the pride of Liaoning's old industrial base, where Liaoning's largest open-pit coal mine and open-pit iron mine are located. And it's also quite high-quality coal and iron. The coking coal of Fushun Coal Mine and the low-phosphorus pyrite of Nanfen are second to none in Asia! Especially in the 13th century, when China's ironmaking technology was still quite primitive, desulfurization and phosphorus removal was always a problem. And the best solution is nothing more than to use coke to smelt low-sulfur and low-phosphorus iron ore to solve the problem at the source.

Chen Dexing said: "Now that good coal and iron have been found, the logging business can be stopped, right?" ”

Ren Yijiang smiled. "Why don't you wait for the autumn harvest to end, and then you go to the four kings of the Mongolian host to catch tens of thousands of slaves? As long as there are slaves, the Department of Military Affairs will be able to take care of both. ”

"How did you become a slave owner?"

"Big brother, do you think I'm willing?" Ren Yijiang blew his beard and said, "Do you know how difficult those Mongolian slaves are?" Or...... You have killed all these Mongols! ”

Mongols! It's all captured by the Eight Banners, how can you be willing to be a slave? Even if they pretend to be tame, Ren Yijiang doesn't dare to rest assured. Therefore, these Mongol slaves were prepared with iron chains and shackles, locked up, and then guarded by soldiers to go up the mountain to cut down trees. Work in the mines. Trembling, it's really troublesome!

But it's all a joke or something, it's a joke, population. In Liaodong, this place is more precious than gold, how can you be willing to kill it?

Chen Dexing smiled and said: "They are still of great use!" After a while, the Mongol slaves will no longer belong to your military affairs department. ”

Ren Yijiang shook his head and said, "It's not ours?" That Fushun coal. What should I do with Nanfen Railway? There are no slaves...... What do you want me to use to mine and make iron? ”

"There are no slaves and no merchants!"

"Merchant?" Ren Yijiang sneered, "Where are they willing to come to Fushun and Nanfen?" And. Even if they are willing to come, they will have to ask for slaves. Otherwise, who will do the work? ”

Chen Dexing smiled and said, "Aren't there already people who do the work?" As he spoke, he raised his horsewhip and pointed to Deng Ming'an and Deng Mingli, who were sleeping in the carriage behind him.

"Just the two of them?"

Chen Dexing nodded and said, "Just the two of them!" There is a folk song on Zhoushan Island that says: Eighty percent of Deng, two percent of Shen, and one percent of ten thousand people. Although I took their land, they still have the power to stay in Zhoushan. Ascend to the heights, and the prestige of tens of thousands of servants is still there! ”

Ascend and shout, tens of thousands of followers! That's not a good word!

When the last sentence came out, the two Deng family members who were sleeping soundly trembled at the same time, and their foreheads were sweating like pulp!

Ren Yijiang raised his horsewhip at this time and said: "King, Nanfen County is coming, just go through this forest!" ”

A moment later, a sturdy castle appeared in front of Chen Dexing. The outermost part of the castle is a ditch nearly three feet wide, and the water in the ditch is only half discharged, and the exposed edge of the ditch alone is enough to be a man high, and rows of sharpened wooden trees can be faintly seen under the water. Behind the ditch was a solid fort made of rammed earth in the shape of a triangle, and behind the fort was a wall 500 paces long. There is a plank road between the high wall and the solid fort to communicate with each other. At either end of the high wall, there are two protruding prismatic bunkers, which are connected to the high wall. In front of the triangular solid fort, there is also a drawbridge that has been lowered.

"Hey, is this the county seat? The defense is about to catch up with the Mingdu Mansion! ”

Ren Yijiang scratched his head, "Isn't this the fundamental place?" There are also several camps around where Mongolian slaves are held, and if you are not careful, there will be something in the future, and the disaster will be great! ”

"That's ......," Chen Dexing nodded, "The ironworks are in Nanfen, if the Mongolian slaves are beaten down, maybe they can get hundreds of thousands of catties of steel at once, and if they want to build weapons and armor, the trouble is not a little bit." Therefore, you can't use Mongolian slaves to dig iron and coal, otherwise you have to worry about death! ”

"Where do you want them to go without the Mongols opening mines?" Ren Yijiang shook his head, "What can these grandsons do well except kill people and set fires?" ”

"Then let them continue to kill and set fires!" Chen Dexing looked at the fortress built by Ren Yijiang with Mongolian slaves, paused for a long time, and muttered: "There are too many people to kill in this world, who can surpass the Mongols in this matter?" They've killed half of the old world in thirty years! ”

"What? Killing half the world's people is not enough? Big brother, do you still want them to kill? ”

Chen Dexing nodded seriously and said, "There are still many people who need to be killed in this world, if you don't kill a little more, how can you make Xia Jun Yimin?" So these Mongols are still valuable! ”

"That'...... Do you want them to cut down trees and dig coal now? ”

Chen Dexing snorted coldly: "Of course I want to!" If you don't suffer a little more, how do you know how terrible my Chen Dexing is? Yidi beasts are also afraid of power but not virtue! I can do it, how should you rectify them, and how can you rectify them, you don't have to think about grace! ”

At this time, there was a commotion on the other side of the moat, and then a group of knights rode out from behind the triangular solid fort (the gate was hidden behind the solid fort), and the first was Qi Ta, the head of the smelting and iron bureau of the military affairs department, the eighth of the twenty-two brothers in Qionghualou.

Zita turned over and dismounted, and arched his hand: "Big brother, I can look forward to you!" ”

Chen Dexing also got off the horse and laughed: "Old eight, your place is so remote and tight, so tired that the lonely king has walked for a day and a night, and he hasn't even closed his eyes!" ”

Zita laughed, scratched her head and said, "Big brother, isn't that even worse?" The whole family is nested in this ravine, and one nest is a year, and they have never even been to Mingdu Mansion once. ”

Chen Dexing stepped forward, patted his old brother on the shoulder, and said, "It's really hard, but who made you my brother?" I used to be a blacksmith, and the matter of smelting iron is so important that you can only take care of it. ”

Although Chen Dexing does not know much about steelmaking and ironmaking, he has never stopped his efforts to find high-quality steel smelting methods. He also told Zita all the metallurgical knowledge he knew, such as reverberatory furnaces, refractory bricks, coke ironmaking, iron-frying method, crucible steel-making method, the effect of sulfur and phosphorus on iron, and so on. also allocates a large amount of funds every year, so that this Qi Laoba recruits many blacksmiths to study the art of iron smelting. Only now, it's finally time to make a profit!

"Fortunately, my little brother finally took out something this time!" Zita made a gesture as he spoke, and invited Chen Dexing into Nanfen County.

Entering the city, Chen Dexing first followed Zita around. There are almost 1,000 households in the city, except for those who have followed all the way from the Song Kingdom, who have military status, and now they are all sealed as the blacksmith mansion of the Shijue. It is part of the grange outside the city on the bank of the Prince River and the house of the Eight Banners. In addition, there are the official offices and rows of warehouses built along the walls of the northern city. There are no blast furnaces for iron smelting and wrought iron workshops in sight.

Chen Dexing asked: "The stove and workshop are not in the city?" ”

"It's all outside the north wall, built next to the Prince River, in order to use the Prince River to build a waterwheel."

Chen Dexing's eyebrows jumped: "Oh, the hydraulic hammer and the hydraulic blower are all available?" ”

Zeta smiled: "It's finally up to its mission...... However, these two things were not invented by ourselves, although you came up with the idea, big brother, but we craftsmen don't know much about the mechanism, so we asked my colleagues from the shipbuilding bureau to get it. ”

"Good!" Chen Dexing nodded, "Let's go, let's go and have a look first, and then eat after reading it...... Eighth child, you have to treat my brother and me to a good meal. ”

"Okay, I asked a few of my mothers-in-law to cook by myself...... Nanfen this place, although a little stuffy, but there are a lot of food, there is game in the mountains and forests, there are fish in the Taizi River, and we also raise cattle and sheep. ”

"Okay, good," Chen Dexing turned around and waved his hand and said with a smile. "I'll do it, Mr. Deng, both of you will open your eyes and see how this steel is made." (To be continued......)