There is another reason for not massively equipping firearms at this time, the lack of iron.

The combined annual output of Langhu Iron Mine and Shilu Iron Mine is only more than 100 tons, and the quality of Langhu Iron is not good, and it is too reluctant to make firearms.

All the steel used to make firearms comes from Shiroku iron ore.

The musket had a wooden butt, and one gun required four pounds of steel. Even if he used all the stone and iron to build guns, it would be less than 20,000 a year at most.

One artillery piece needs 500 catties or even two or three thousand catties of iron, and 1,300 catties of artillery can make more than 70 guns.

He asked Yuanqiu to build fifty cannons this time, and almost exhausted the reserves of previous years.

If you want to gather enough weapons to fight the world, even if you use all the steel to make weapons, it will take you five years.

But if all the steel is used to make weapons, will there be no more civilian aspects? How can the people live without iron tools?

Besides, hot weapons need gunpowder, where does saltpeter come from? The problems are far more complex than you think.

Therefore, whether it is from the aspect of literature or from the aspect of martial arts, it is not suitable to fight the world in a short period of time.

Faced with the above problems, Wen Yi made three plans after returning to Mengqi City.

He first found Zhang Hong, the new waiter of the Ministry of Works, and said, "How is the situation in Shilu Iron Mine?" ”

Zhang Hong heard the song and knew the meaning of elegance, and immediately guessed what he meant, and said:

"With Luzon, Unon and Mao slaves, the mining rate has more than tripled, and the total output this year is expected to exceed 300 tons."

"Three hundred tons?" Wen Yi was very dissatisfied, and said: "Five hundred tons, I don't care what method you use, I want to see five hundred tons of steel at the end of the year." ”

"Remember it's Shilu Steel, don't fool me with inferior products from other places."

Zhang Hong looked bitter and said, "This ...... Doing so could kill a lot of slaves. ”

Wen Yi said: "If you die, catch a new one, you don't have to worry about whether there are enough slaves." ”

"But keep your hands and feet clean, and don't leave a trace of the corpse when it's burned, let alone have a written record."

"I'll let the Guards investigate, and if they find any clues, you can consider where to retire."

Zhang Hong was shocked in his heart and said: "Yes, the minister understands, and he must do things without leaving any flaws." ”

Wen Yi said with satisfaction: "Go ahead." ”

300 tons is actually quite a lot, far exceeding the national output.

Don't think it's an exaggeration, the national steel output in the early Tang Dynasty was only more than 400 tons, and the peak just exceeded 1,000 tons.

At the peak of the Song Dynasty, it reached 4,000 tons, the highest in the world.

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the smelting technology was even more backward, and it would be good to have 100 tons of steel output in the country.

Some people may wonder, what is 100 tons of iron enough for? You can't even make a few farm tools, can you?

Making farm tools out of iron? It's so beautiful to think bro.

Most of the iron in this era was in the army, and a small number were in the homes of the powerful and powerful, and there were very few people who flowed into the people.

Most of the knives and farm tools in ordinary people's homes are made of copper, and there are very few iron farm tools. It is common for several families to share a metal knife, and the cooking pot is actually a clay pot.

Metal pots? That's something that only rich people use.

Even the rich people use copper kettles, which are with three or four legs and thick walls similar to tripods.

But it's not a tripod, a tripod can only be used at least at the princely level, and those who are not qualified enough will be killed by the whole family.

The appearance of the iron pot is similar to that of the copper kettle, but the one that can use the iron pot is counted as one, and all of them are powerful and powerful.

The question arises again, with an annual output of about 100 tons of iron, is it enough to build a few weapons?

The data is not calculated in this way, the iron produced in previous years will not disappear out of thin air, and the total amount of iron on the market is still a lot after year.

But the so-called more is the result of concentrating most of the iron in the army, and if it is divided equally among the people's homes, it would be good if each family could get a kitchen knife.

This is also the reason why Xian Hui pulled Wen Yi for half a day for ten catties of iron, which is really rare.

Why is Tang the richest country in the world?

It can be seen from the number of iron products owned by the people, every household has at least one iron knife, a large iron pot, and seven or eight iron farm tools.

It can be said that Wen Yi gave priority to the supply of two-thirds of the iron to the people, and the rest was sent to the army.

Tang Kingdom's current steel production has been equal to that of other countries combined, and if it can reach 500 tons, it will really be unique in the world.

Wenyi's envisioned army of steel...... Even then, it is estimated that it will take at least five years.

Unless he can find more iron ore, or mine it with gunpowder?

Forget it, let's wait, no hurry.

The production of gunpowder was so low that he didn't want to waste it on mining. Anyway, there are enough slaves, so let's take our time with stupid methods.

Besides, the artillery technology is not mature enough, and making a large number of cannons is just a blind toss, and it is enough to cast a hundred and ten supporting scenes first.

Speaking of gunpowder, he asked people to find Jin Rushan again: "Contact Sect Master Du, just say that I am researching a new drug and need a large amount of saltpeter, and let him use Taoist power to help buy it." ”

"It's a long-term business, you can pay him a deposit in advance."

Saltpeter? Jin Rushan muttered secretly in his heart.

Tang Guo began to buy unlimited saltpeter a long time ago, and now every household has a wall of soil that splashes urine and a pot of boiling nitrate.

Sometimes that smells ...... Don't mention it.

Anyway, for the people, compared to making money, what urine smell is not worth mentioning.

Although the production of saltpeter is not high, but the accumulation of a lot, the number of purchases over the years should be a lot, why buy?

What research drugs, who believes who is a fool.

This question is not only strange to him, but also curious about many people.

But it's still the same sentence, this is what Wen Yi is personally responsible for, and no one dares to ask why.

Therefore, even if Jin Rushan had questions, he could only pretend that he didn't know anything, and contacted Du Zigong as quickly as possible.

Why did Wen Yi buy saltpeter through Taoism?

Quite simply, in this era saltpeter had only two effects, cooked skin and medicine. For Taoism, saltpeter is also a common medicine for alchemy.

The Taoist acquisition of saltpeter does not attract much attention. Even if someone pays attention, they will only think that they have researched some alchemy prescription, and will not have other ideas.

As for whether Du Zigong will help, Wen Yi is not worried at all.

Because Du Zigong would never have imagined his real purpose of buying saltpeter, not to mention that the cooperation between the two sides has always been very pleasant.

The last time the Xiaoice River period was reincarnated, but it really helped him kick open the door and officially became a national teacher.

He claimed that he had entered a state of sympathy between heaven and man, obtained a great secret of heaven and earth from the god Haotian, and then threw out the Xiaoice River period reincarnation.

At first, he was scoffed at by the world, but it really can never be faked.

When one record after another is revealed, more and more evidence is put in front of you, and no one can help but believe it.

And then there's the world boiling.

Even if some people are skeptical, they dare not easily deny the existence of the Xiaoice River reincarnation.

With such a general trend, he officially became a national teacher.

In this case, Du Zigong has no reason to refuse to cooperate with him.

Having solved these two things, Wenyi started the third plan:

Write a book.