"How does the county prince think the battle situation in the Central Plains will evolve?" Wei Duan couldn't bear it at first.

This is related to the attitude of the Guanzhong Imperial Court towards the Central Plains Domains, Daliang is now tight, the Jin army is offensive, Nanyang and Caizhou are also stabbing from behind, can Daliang still hold on?

What is Xuzhou's attitude?

In the past, Xuzhou was unable to draw a hand to conquer Pinglu, but now Pinglu is not to be said, and Xuzhou has the help of the Pinglu army, will it intervene in the Central Plains war?

"Brother Wei means that Xuzhou will intervene in the Central Plains war, right?"

Jiang Feng also knew that this question could not be avoided, what was the purpose of Guo Tao's coming, I am afraid it was to figure out the future trend of Xuzhou.

He felt that Guo Tao seemed to be reluctant for Xuzhou to join the battle.

Hou Chen had already reported to him what Guo Tao meant along the way, defending the north and attacking the south, laying a solid foundation, and accumulating strength, he also thought, the question is will the Shatuo people give him this time?

Previously, Xuzhou's internal views were also fiercely disputed, and Jiang Feng had not made up his mind, but with the participation of Nanyang and Caizhou in the war, the fall of Daliang was already an irreversible trend, which can also be known from the news from Shouzhou.

A large number of Liang officials, eunuchs, gentry and merchants migrated south, and transported almost all the household goods that could be moved south by boat.

During this time, the wharf outside the city of Xuzhou is also the same, the number of fleets from the Bianhe River through Meng Zhuze has increased greatly, this waterway was not too busy, but since the end of last year began to be unusually busy, of course, it still can't be compared with Shouzhou, but this is enough to explain many problems.

This shows that the hearts of the people in Liangdi have been dispersed, maybe the army is still fighting hard, but the officials, eunuchs, gentry and merchants in the rear have lost confidence in defeating the Shatuo people, otherwise it is impossible to explain why these people will secretly transport the gold and silver of Bianliang and everything that can be transported south, Shouzhou and Xuzhou have become the first choice for these people, especially Shouzhou.

Thinking of this, Jiang Feng also felt sad for the Liang army who was still fighting on the front line, when the bureaucrats, gentry, and businessmen behind you were all thinking of escaping, how could you expect these people to provide much support and help to the soldiers fighting on the front line?

"The imperial court is very worried that the war in the Central Plains will turn into an uncontrollable situation, so ......" Wei Duan glanced at Yu Chi Yanxia and said hesitantly.

Both of them can only represent their respective families, have no official status, and cannot represent the imperial court.

"Is the imperial court worried that Xuzhou's intervention will make the situation uncontrollable, or does it think that Xuzhou will become uncontrollable if it does not intervene?" Jiang Feng asked with a smile.

Yu Chi Yanxia frowned, "The county prince, I won't tell you that the princes of the court are worried that Xuzhou will stand by and ignore it, but they are also afraid that the county prince will intervene and start a fight, so ......"

Hmm, limited involvement?

Jiang Feng also found it interesting, could this be what Guo Tao meant, or was it the private thoughts of these sons of ministers?

"Second Brother Wei Chi, Brother Wei, you don't know much about the situation in Xuzhou, maybe you only see the good side, but the difficulties are actually hidden below. Jiang Feng said slowly: "The envoy of the Great Jin Dynasty has already come to Xuzhou, invited a certain to attack the Great Liang together, and opened a very good condition, but at that time, a certain was busy with the war in Pinglu and had no time to look west, even now, Xuzhou is still very weak, but a certain is indeed very willing to contribute to quelling the war." ”

It's all nonsense, and there will be no clear attitude, but it can't help but say.

Everything needs to be based on changes in the situation, Xuzhou can't make a decision right now, Cao Pu and the two states must be controlled, this is basically determined by Jiang Feng.

Zhu Mao's Tianping Army was the first to complete the change, whether it was a horse lance or a ring knife, or an armor, they were the first to be guaranteed, followed by the Ziqing Army and the Wuning Army.

The completion of the iron-smelting center in Xuzhou provided enough confidence for Jiang Feng to compete for the Central Plains.

If there is no miscalculation, Xuzhou Iron Smelting Center has built two iron-smelting shaft furnaces and two open-hearth furnaces, according to the current production capacity, only two shaft furnaces produce pig iron according to one furnace per two days, each furnace can get 6,000 catties of pig iron, a total of 12,000 catties, that is, six tons.

At this level, more than 1,000 tons of pig iron can be produced in a year alone, half of which is used for open-hearth steelmaking, and the rest for other wrought iron.

This alone is equivalent to one-third of the current steel production of the entire Tang Empire.

You must know that in the Yuanhe period, the steel output of the Tang Empire was only more than 5,000 tons, and later after the Huangchao Rebellion and the chaos of the feudal town, the steel output of the empire decreased sharply, and it is estimated that the steel output of the entire empire is now about 3,000 tons.

With the success of the first round of iron-smelting shaft furnace and steelmaking open-hearth furnace tests, a new round of furnace construction projects has been fully rolled out.

This time, the government affairs department also made a big deal and built ten shaft furnaces at one time to increase the output of pig iron to 15 tons per day.

Due to the limited technical level, the iron-smelting yard does not dare to build a larger-scale iron-smelting furnace, so it can only increase the number.

There will also be eight new open-hearth stoves, which are also limited by the technical level, and they still need to be explored step by step, and they can only grow in number.

Fortunately, there are many displaced people in Xuzhou now, and the iron-smelting yard and forging workshop have attracted a large number of strong laborers, and these laborers have undergone preliminary screening, and Nighthawk now also regards the iron-smelting yard and forging workshop as a key place to prevent leakage.

According to Jiang Feng's idea, in the next year, as the iron-smelting yard and forging workshop process become more and more familiar, and skilled workers are also trained, then they will consider trying to expand the scale of shaft furnaces and blast furnaces, so as to lay a good foundation for the next step to build Xuzhou, a smelting and forging center, into the empire's premier steel base, he estimates that the pig iron output of this smelting center will be increased to 50 tons per day in one year, and the output of steel will reach 300 tons per day, and the scale will strive to reach 300 tons of iron and 200 tons of steel per day in three years。

This figure may seem a bit appalling compared to the current steel production of the empire, but it is nothing compared to the later Song dynasty.

The steel output of the Song Dynasty has reached an annual output of 150,000 tons, which is equivalent to a daily output of more than 400 tons of steel, of course, that is the output of the entire Great Song Dynasty, but Jiang Feng wants to create this legend in Xuzhou.

With enough steel, in order to really stimulate the development of the economy, whether it is agriculture or industry or war needs, the demand for steel is too great, after solving the problem of steel production, the transportation capacity will be greatly improved, the problem of cavalry equipment can be solved, the level of weapons will also be greatly improved, this will be the key to the farming people to win the war against the nomads.

The explosion in steel production will also lead to countless jobs, such as the construction of agricultural tools, the improved production of horse-drawn carriages, and the use of iron components in the construction of ships that cannot be solved by wooden components, so to speak, a huge industrial chain will emerge around the explosion of steel production, and their development will in turn stimulate further growth in steel production.

If he didn't have this confidence, Jiang Feng would not easily intervene in the Central Plains battle, even if he received the Pinglu cavalry, but in the face of the Shatuo Iron Cavalry, the Xuzhou army still did not have any advantages, only in the local and specific environment, his infantry could give full play to its characteristics, so he needed to accumulate more advantages.

"In what way does the county prince plan to express it?" asked Yu Chi Yanxia hesitantly.

"Now I can't be sure, Da Liang, alas, where does the Great Jin plan to go?" Jiang Feng said leisurely: "The King of Jin proposed to a certain person, but has this been approved by the imperial court?

The faces of the people are a little ugly.

Indeed, Li Cunhou's envoys promised Liu Tong, Yuan Huaihe, and Jiang Feng undoubtedly that they had not consulted with the imperial court, and perhaps promised Wang Shouzhong, but Pinglu Town had been destroyed, and this kind of action was the biggest offense to the imperial court, but so what?

Now the power of the Shatuo people is in full swing, and once the Great Liang is destroyed, who will dare to take it lightly?

Seeing that everyone, including Li Jin, was staring at him, Jiang Feng sighed, "I would like to ask the imperial court to coordinate, although the power of the Great Jin is strong, it also needs to respect the will of the imperial court, of course, the imperial court must also consider the ideas and wishes of the Great Jin." ”

"The imperial court has sent an envoy to Luoyang, presumably the king of Jin should have an attitude. Wei Duan's voice became thicker, "But the county prince should know that the Hu people are not retreating, they only look at their strength, so the county prince still needs to show his strength before he can have a bigger voice to speak." ”

"This is Xuzhou City?" The majestic horse was a head taller than the horses ridden by the attendants around him, and the green-eyed and straight-nosed young man looked at the flags fluttering on the city wall with some curiosity, his fair skin showed his foreign blood, "Hey, in addition to the banner of the Pengcheng County Duke, there are other flags, what is that?"

"Hmm, that should be the banner of the royal family of the Tang Empire, I heard that a delegation came from Guanzhong, maybe they also happened to be in Xuzhou. The old man who accompanied the young man squinted his eyes with some hesitation and looked at the head of the city wall, where there were obviously more sergeants, and the gate of the city seemed to be more strictly checked.

He only left here two months ago, and it wasn't so strict.

At that time, the situation in Xuzhou should be more tense, now Jiang Feng has defeated Pinglu, Wang Shouzhong has been captured, the Pinglu royal family has disappeared, and this Pengcheng County Prince, who is in charge of the land of thousands of miles from north to south, has become the most important partner of the Tuyuhun people, yes, it is the most important partner, unimaginable.