Zhu Cijiong said: "I don't know how long the battle of naturalization will last." ”

Xu Yingwei said: "If the battle of naturalization can last for half a year, the Khalkha Mongols, Chahar Mongols and even the Dzungar Mongols will definitely not sit idly by, and they will definitely intervene in the war." ”

"I believe it." Chongzhen said, "But it's hard to say who will help whom." ”

Xu Yingwei said: "The Holy One means that the Khalkha Mongols, Chahar Mongols and Dzungar Mongols may not necessarily be in the pseudo-obedient camp? Rather, it may fall to Jiannu? ”

Chongzhen said: "The Khalkha Mongols are estimated to stand in the Pseudo-Shun camp, but it is difficult to say that the Chahar Mongols and the Dzungar Mongols are now bordering the Pseudo-Shun, but there is a gap between the Jiannu and the Dzungar Pseudo-Shun and the Khalkha Mongols. ”

Although Chongzhen's is just speculation, there are countless historical facts as a basis.

In fact, the envoys of Jiannu had indeed found the Khalkha Mongol and Dzungar Mongol tribes, and were engaged in a fierce diplomatic war with the envoys of the puppet Shun.

As for the Chahar Mongols, the pseudo-shun is no longer playful.

Dorgon had greatly strengthened his control over the Chahar tribes.

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "To be honest, I can't see the prospect of the naturalization battle clearly, but one thing is certain, that is, it will definitely not end in a short time." ”

Xu Yingwei said: "In other words, we have enough time to use troops against the southwest. ”

Yan Yingyuan said: "Since ancient times, the Central Plains Dynasty has been extremely cautious about the use of troops in the southwest, because the southwest road is dangerous, it is extremely difficult to transport grain and grass, and the local climate is also extremely harsh, so it must be fully prepared. ”

Xu Yingwei said: "What Brother Wan Heng said is that it is indeed necessary to make full preparations for the use of troops in the southwest, one is the troops, which needs to collect a sufficient number of troops, the second is the grain, at least enough to transport enough grain to maintain the army for a year, and the third is the strategy, it is necessary to determine in advance the Tusi policy after the pacification of the Shadingzhou Rebellion, otherwise, the Yunnan Tusi is easy to rebel, and the imperial court will fall into the predicament of no work, and the southwest will also become a burden." ”

Xu Yingwei's words can be said to be to the point.

Zhu Cijiong said: "Yunnan Tusi must change the soil and return to the stream." ”

Yan Yingyuan said: "Not only Yunnan toast, but also western Hunan and Hubei toast and Sichuan-Guizhou toast must also be changed, but the minister thinks that changing the land and returning to the stream is a long-term process, and you must not be in a hurry." ”

Chongzhen said: "Wan Heng's words are the words of Lao Cheng to seek the country. ”

Xu Yingwei said: "There is no problem with the strength of the troops in the southwest, only the new army is enough, not to mention that the saint is also preparing to recruit Tusi soldiers in western Hunan and Hubei and eastern Sichuan, then there is no problem, the only thing the minister is worried about is logistics, from Wuchang to Yunnan The road is long and the mountains are high and the water is blocked, and there are large and small Tusi along the way." ”

"These toasts may not have the courage to raise troops to rebel, but they can't guarantee that they won't sneak attack the imperial court's convoy."

"Especially the Tusi in Yunnan, because of the Shadingzhou Rebellion, there will always be more or less different intentions, so it will be extremely difficult to guarantee the logistics supply channel."

Zhu Cijiong said with deep contemplation: "The army has not been transported, grain and grass go first, if the safety of the logistics supply channel cannot be guaranteed, the more troops gathered on the front line, the more dangerous it is." ”

Yan Yingyuan said: "So we need to have an elite army to ensure the safety of the grain road." ”

Chongzhen said: "As long as there are five thousand flintlock guns, it is enough to ensure the safety of the supply line." ”

After a pause, he said, "Speaking of flintlock pistols, the iron-smelting workshop in Hanyang has been built, and it is said that the first molten iron was smelted three days ago, so let's go to the workshop now to have a look." ”

Zhu Cijiong, Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan gladly accepted the order.

At that moment, Chongzhen crossed the river and came to Hanyang under the escort of Yiding.

After Wu Jinxi received the news, he brought people to the riverside in advance to greet him.

He also took Chongzhen and his entourage to the Hanyang Iron Smelting Factory at the northern foot of Guishan.

I saw that rows of dirt houses have been built between the northern foot of Guishan Mountain and the Han River, not to mention thousands of houses.

The entire iron-smelting workshop was surrounded by a five-foot-high wall, and there was a watchtower every fifty paces, on which the new army was already standing, and there were patrols of the new army patrolling back and forth inside and outside the wall.

Therefore, this is not only an iron-smelting factory, but also a large barracks, and a big prison.

"Holy Lord, this area is a detention area, and after work in the evening, all the laborers will be escorted back here to facilitate centralized care." Wu Jinxi first stretched out his finger and pointed to the rows of dirt houses, and then pointed to the northern foot of Turtle Mountain in front of him and said, "The smelting factory is at the foot of the mountain in front, covering an area of tens of thousands of acres. ”

After walking for almost half an hour, I finally came to the foot of Turtle Mountain.

Chongzhen saw two earth mountains at a glance, one was brown and the other was black.

"Holy Lord, please see." Wu Jinxi pointed to the two dirt mountains and said, "The brown is mineral, the black is coal, all of which are mined from nearby mines, and there are a lot of mineral deposits under the ground of Wuchang Mansion and the surrounding counties, not only iron ore and coal, but even copper ore, etc., but it is difficult to screen the good and the bad." ”

Chongzhen is very clear about this situation, and the domestic metal ore holdings are generally not high.

For example, iron ore is almost almost 40% rich ore in China, while most of the iron ore grades in Australia are 60%.

What's more, Australia's iron ore is almost all shallow, unlike the domestic iron ore that is very difficult to mine deep underground, to be honest, such a rich land finally became a sinful place for Ansar exile criminals, which is really a waste, so in this world, Chongzhen will never tolerate such a thing happening again.

When we got closer, I saw a team of laborers using chicken carts to transport ore and coal from the wharf on the Han River to the top of the mountain.

From the riverside to the workshop, there were new troops standing guard all the way.

After turning the two dirt mountains, towering refining furnaces suddenly appeared in front of him, and they were smoking.

There were also teams of laborers, bare-chested and barebacked, standing in front of the bellows in front of the furnace, blowing the wind with all their might.

"Holy Lord, please look here." Wu Jinxi brought Chongzhen to a blast furnace, "This is the newly built iron-making furnace, each furnace can smelt 20,000 catties of ore, a furnace every six hours, each furnace can produce 6,000 catties of iron, such an iron-making furnace can produce 12,000 catties of iron in one day." ”

Chongzhen carefully circled around the iron-making furnace.

This thing doesn't look like an earthen blast furnace from a certain era.

In a certain era, the earth blast furnace has caused great damage to the environment, especially the irreparable damage to the forest cover, but in this era, there is no need to consider environmental protection.

Even the industrial age has not officially opened, what is the environmental protection?

Chongzhen carefully observed the building process, and it was built quite elegantly.

This is enough to prove that the ironmaking process of Daming is actually very mature, whether it is building a blast furnace, refining coke, or frying steel, and filling steel.

To Chongzhen's surprise, Daming actually already had a coking process.

At this time, for example, piles of coke are piled up next to the iron-making furnace.

Seeing Chongzhen's eyes staring at the coke, Wu Jinxi immediately explained: "Shengshang, there are too many coal sludges near Wuchang, which is really not good, even if it is refined into coke, it is not as good as coke from Shanxi, because of this, the quality of the iron smelted is not good, not to mention that it is not as good as Fujian iron, even Guangdong iron is not as good." ”

The iron material of the Ming Dynasty is the best Fujian iron, which is made of charcoal.

Under the Fujian iron, it was the turn of Guangdong Iron, which was refined in the area of Foshan, Guangdong.

Chongzhen said helplessly: "But now Shanxi is under the control of the establishment, not to mention that the road in Shanxi is far away, and it is impossible to transport Shanxi's coal to Hankou, so what can I do?" ”

If you have entered the industrial age, you can build a railway.

But the problem is that now even the verification machine of the steam engine has not been built, so what is the use of building the railway?

Wu Jinxi said: "Naturally, it is impossible for coal from Shanxi to be transported to Hankou, but the coal from Shizhouwei can be transported to Hankou through Yishui and Lishui, and the iron ore in Shizhou is also better than the iron ore in Wuchang." ”

Speaking of this, Wu Jinxi said again: "So please open a mine in Shizhouwei." ”

"That's fine." Chongzhen agreed, "As long as you think it is necessary, you can do it." ”

"Including the 100,000 servitudes, it is also at your disposal." Speaking of this, Chongzhen continued, "As long as you guarantee one thing, I will produce 20 million catties of iron a year!" If you can't do it, I'll ask you. ”

"20 million catties is no problem at all." Wu Jinxi pointed to the iron-making furnace and said, "It's just this furnace, as long as the ore and coke can be supplied in full, it can produce four million catties of iron a year." ”

"It only takes five such iron-making furnaces to be built, and 20 million catties of iron can be produced in a year!"

"That's pretty good." Chongzhen happily asked, "How many iron-making furnaces like this have been built?" ”

Speaking of this, Wu Jinxi showed embarrassment on his face, and said with a light cough: "Back to the saint, ten iron-making furnaces like this have been built, but it is rare to refine one furnace in three days. ”

Hearing this, Chongzhen understood that the problem was not in the iron-making furnace.

Building a steel mill is a systematic project, and it is not just a matter of finding a place to build an iron-making furnace.

You have to have iron ore, you have to open a mine, you have to transport it, you have to transport it to the iron-smelting plant, and then you have to mine and transport the coal, and you have to coke it.

There was so much to do to go from nothing to a large ironworks.

It is not easy for Wu Jinxi to build a workshop and smelt the first furnace of iron in such a short period of time, and he can't be more demanding of him, I have to say that Daming is actually not short of talents.

There is no shortage of people who lead troops, there is no shortage of people who manage government, and technical officials are also full of talents.

However, no matter how many talents there are, they still lose to land annexation, which is really embarrassing.

At that moment, Chongzhen said: "Wu Qing, don't be too anxious, this year, you only need to build the field first, and then straighten out all the links, and from next year, I will ask you for enough iron." ”