Xiangyang belongs to the capital of Jingnan Road, and Jingnan Road has jurisdiction over Xiangzhou, Suizhou, Yingzhou, Fangzhou, Junzhou, and Guanghuajun. Xiangyang is located in the Jianghan Plain, with the continuous Daba Mountain Range in the west, the Tongbai Dabie Mountain Range in the southeast, the Nanyang Basin in the north, and the Hubei Great Plain in the south. Xiangyang is the gateway to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River basin from the north to the south, passing through the Jianghan Plain, entering Xi'an Luozhou (Shangluo) in the ancient Qin region to the northwest, and entering the Central Plains from Nanyang in Deng County. Since ancient times, it has been a battleground for soldiers. All dynasties have stationed heavy troops in Xiangyang.

The northern army has always had only two routes for attacking in the south, one is to open up the two Huai in the Central Plains and attack along the canal. The other was to attack south from the Jianghan Plain through Xiangyang. Today, Bianjing Kaifeng was occupied by the Jin State and became the capital of Liu Yu of the puppet Qi. The year before last, Li Cheng was defeated and surrendered to the puppet Qi, and Liu Yu became Liu Yu's general.

In December of the second year of Shaoxing, Zhao Gou ordered Li Heng, the envoy of Song Xiangyang, to join Zhai Cong, the envoy of Henanfu, Meng, Ru and Tangzhou, and sent troops north to attack the puppet Qi. Li Heng and Zhai Cong's army were not regular troops of the Southern Song Dynasty, lacking armor and food, and their equipment was extremely poor. Dong Xian, Zhang Yuan, Dong Zhen and other armies defected to Zhai Cong, which made the Northern Expedition of the Song army more and more vigorous, and won many battles. Li Heng's army successively recovered Ruzhou, Yingchangfu, Tangzhou, and Xinyang (now Ruzhou, Xuchang, Tanghe, and Xinyang City, Henan); Zhai Cong's army captured a vast area from Zhengzhou in the east to Jingzhao (present-day Xi'an) in the west, and executed Yin Meng Bangxiong in the south of the puppet Qi River, forming a situation of pincering Tokyo from the west and south.

In March of the third year of Shaoxing, Liu Yu, the puppet lord of Qi, sent an envoy to beg for aid from the Jin Dynasty in order to save the defeat. Jin Zuo's deputy marshal Wan Yan Zonghan ordered Marshal Zuo Du Jian Wan Yan Zongbi to lead reinforcements to counterattack tens of thousands of troops for the puppet Qi general Li Cheng, and defeated Li Heng and other troops at Yangchigang near Tokyo. Liu Yu took advantage of the emptiness of the defense in the Song Xianghan area and ordered Li Cheng to lead the army to attack south. After the beginning of spring this year, with the support of the Jin soldiers, Li Cheng led 20,000 infantry cavalry to attack Li Heng.

But at this time, after Li Heng's defeat at Yangchigang, only the remnants of the army remained, and the main force of the Song Dynasty, the four generals of Zhongxing, Zhang Junbu, Yue Feibu, and Han Shizhong, were busy suppressing bandits, Liu Guangshi was in Chizhou and did not move, and Wu Jue was guarding Luoyang, the gateway to Huichuan. There was no one to support them.

Attack from Nanyang and attack Xiangyang. In March, Li Cheng defeated the 5,000-strong Shenwu Left Deputy Army in Xiangyang, which was commanded by Li Heng, and captured Deng County, which had 3,000 defenders, and in April Li Cheng continued to attack Xinye, but Li Heng, the commander of Xiangyang, no longer dared to send reinforcements, and soon Xinye, which was only garrisoned by 2,000 people, was also lost. The two barriers in front of Xiangyang were all lost. In May, Li Cheng attacked Xiangyang.

A few days ago, my mother received a letter from my third uncle, saying that the city of Xiangyang was broken, and it had only been defended for less than two months, and the defenders had retreated to Suizhou. He retreated to Jingzhou via the Han River by water.

The third uncle, Gao Shixiang, Huizong Shaosheng 23 years of Jinshi, Jin Fenglang, Qipin official, equivalent to the old Jilu official after the line of the outside Lang, left and right divisions. He served as the salt and iron envoy of Xiangyang Prefecture. Since the early year of Jianyan in 1127, he has been serving in Xiangyang. This time, he was accompanied by low-level clerks who followed him under his rule, hundreds of craftsmen and their families, and nearly 2,000 people. The third uncle told the family that these people are now homeless, and he hopes that the family can be prepared to settle these people, which is also his duty. In the Song Dynasty, the monopoly of salt and iron, in order to better control it, even the household registration and family members of these salt blacksmiths were placed under the management of the central government, and the central commissioner was responsible for the management. This is also what the third uncle said, and the local government will not care about these people. Besides, these are skilled and experienced craftsmen, but they are treasures.

Gao Zhong knew about this and said that it was a good thing, these craftsmen belonged to him, and he was of great use. For this reason, the mother was counted, saying, Gao Zhong has no heart and lungs, and the third uncle's territory is gone, which means that the official is lost. When will I get a new real position, I don't know when, the current Song Dynasty lost a large amount of land, and many of the original officials are waiting for candidates.

A few days later, the third uncle arrived, accompanied by a fleet of dozens of large ships. The fleet is parked at a dedicated dock in its own shipyard. A large row is very spectacular, which shows the strength of the third uncle.

Gao Zhong followed the second uncle to pick up the third uncle. Seeing the exhaustion in the third uncle's eyes, he was very embarrassed to escape this time. But when I saw the search fleet, in addition to the people, I heard that all the iron-smelting equipment and tools that I could bring were brought, as well as various strategic materials such as nitrate that I had prepared in the last letter to him.

The third uncle has been in charge of Xiangyang for nearly six years, and he has come back once after his father died in the war, and has been in Xiangyang with his family. The third uncle went home to talk to his brother and uncle, and the Gao family did not mention all kinds of equipment and items for the accompanying fleeing army.

Moreover, in the Song Dynasty, the salt and iron tea alum was monopolized, and officials from all over the country had target tasks every year, and there were also tasks for all kinds of salt and tea introduced sold every year. Historical records record that he was demoted or dismissed for failing to complete his tasks. It seems that as early as the Song Dynasty, there was a project task responsibility system, and this advanced management method is not unique to modern times. This responsibility system and mission goal are also available in Tongling. For the salt and iron officials in Tongling, the allocation task of the official family must be completed. Some time ago, the second uncle was responsible for the weapons task, encountered a difficulty, the difficulty is that the iron factory does not have iron to do, although the Tongling salt and iron officials and the Gao family and the second uncle have a good relationship, that is also principled, although the iron factory in Tongling is somewhat large, but you think that the average annual production capacity of each iron factory in the entire Song Dynasty is only about 3,000 catties, and the annual iron production of the entire Great Song Dynasty is about 2 million catties, and the two years are less than 1.7 million catties, about 850 tons. Therefore, the task of letting the second uncle complete this weapon is really heavy, and it can be said that it is almost impossible.

In the evening, Gao Pet carried the newly made wine from the winery, made an appointment with the second uncle, and went to find the third uncle.

"I haven't seen you for a few years, my darling has become a descendant, this child grows up fast!" The aunt let Gao Zhong and the second uncle into the house. The third uncle came out of the room. "I haven't cleaned up when I just got home, second brother, darling, sit, sit casually."

"Third uncle, I got some new wine for you to taste for the old age."

"We drank the wine you sent over last time, it's really good wine, I've never seen such a good wine, but it's all run away, and we haven't drunk much. This time I go home, I have to drink more. ”

"Third brother, if you want to drink, you can do enough, and it is a top wine, you want to drink and let the second brother accompany you." The second uncle Shilu remembered that a person had no energy to drink, and although the amount of alcohol was good, he usually didn't drink, this Shixiang came back, and he just had an opponent, and he was energetic when he talked about this wine.

"Third uncle, this time my nephew sent you is not the kind last time, but a newly developed wine brewed from five kinds of grains: corn, rice, sorghum, glutinous rice, and buckwheat according to the new process. I named it 'Wuliangye 1133'. "This is a mellow new liquor made with high-temperature block koji, 52°, Gao Zhong has tasted it, and I think it has a bit of a modern Wuliangye taste.

"Let your aunt get a few more dishes, and our uncle and nephew will drink together." Once drunk, you will rest. ”

Gao Zhong came over with the second uncle, but he actually wanted to discuss with the third uncle about the Gao family's iron factory. The third uncle is an expert in ironmaking, and since he has been in charge of this salt and iron monopoly, the official policy is also very clear.

"Third uncle, your nephew and I have also studied this iron for a long time, I think that our current steelmaking and ironmaking output cannot be improved, the quality does not meet the requirements, and it is difficult to make good steel."

"If you have any ideas, please say." The third uncle also knew that there must be something wrong with these two coming.

"Let's just say that the steel of the iron factory, because there are no good refractory bricks, every time a furnace of steel is fried, the furnace has to be rebuilt, and the second furnace is fried, and the furnace will be scrapped, we all know the reason, that is, we do not have more refractory bricks. Now the problem of refractory bricks has been solved, and the factory is about to be ready to produce bricks. But this kind of brick is an acid brick (silicon, aluminate bricks are acid bricks, Gao Zhong explained this again). He is suitable for blast furnace ironmaking, but not steelmaking. It is not difficult to make refractory bricks suitable for steelmaking, and there are materials, and there is dolomite in Chaoxian on the opposite side. This dolomite is not only used as refractory bricks for steelmaking, but also to remove some impurities in the steel flux and protect the furnace lining. ”

"The second is that the heat of the furnace can't go up, there are two reasons why the heat can't go up, one is that there is no good fuel, the charcoal we use now, there are also some factories with coal, and the other is that our blast technology is not good, although some factories use bellows but the air supply volume is still too small. I have found a better fuel alternative to charcoal and coal, and that is coke, which has less impurities and has the least impact on the quality of the steel we make, and our coking plant is now out of coke and is going to be used to make our own glass cement. For the time being, we can use the bellows group to supply air without the need to use the air again, which is often discontinuous each time the air supply is used. ”

"Normally, when we make iron, the cold air is drummed in, which also has a great impact on the heat in the furnace, and if the drumming in is hot air. The third uncle knows its effect, that is, the iron tapping time is faster, the fuel is more economical, the furnace heats up faster, the response is more sufficient, and the efficiency is higher. This technology is to preheat the air from the hot air discharged from the furnace mouth, and build a regenerative chamber for each furnace. ”

"The third one I call it concentrate technology. The lump material we use now has less iron in the lump and more impurities, and if we use concentrate powder, we can save fuel and smelt higher quality iron. Then this concentrate beneficiation technology is actually not difficult, crush the iron ore, then the ore and gangue will be separated, we just find a way to separate it. How to divide it? The ore is heavier than the gangue stone, with the gravity separation method, that is, the method of my gold grazing, we can choose a more refined concentrate, the selected concentrate can also be selected by magnetic separation, iron ore is generally magnetic, if the ore after touching a rotating magnet is not able to suck him out? Of course, this is also a kind of knowledge. I also have other beneficiation methods, but for iron ore, these two beneficiation methods are basically enough. ”

The third uncle and the second uncle stared at Gao Pet, this nephew's head really wanted to open it to take a look, but the second uncle had seen a lot of this strange thing, and it was no longer strange, but the third uncle had also been immersed in this ironmaking and steelmaking for more than ten or twenty years, and he was like a child who had just entered private school in front of Gao Pet. At this time, the food has already been served. The third uncle opened the 'Wuliangye 1133', smelled a mellow fragrance straight to his head, and unconsciously took a deep breath, so fragrant and mellow!

"Such a good wine, my wine worm came up again, we drank and said, your second uncle just came back and couldn't hold too many things at once, you have good things in your stomach, the family knows, and we will do this cup first." The third uncle monkey was in a hurry, and when he saw the food coming up, he couldn't wait.

"Okay, let's drink, the darling is terrible, and the third uncle is lagging behind. Cheers! ”

They drank and talked about things.

"Now the darling is training the new army, because of the lack of iron and no weapons, not only is he on fire, but I am even more on fire. We have the technology, but we can't move it. This time, your third brother came back to find you to find a way. ”

"The matter of steelmaking is a big deal, and the people can't touch it. But there are many ways to do it. The common people don't touch it, and the Gao family can't touch it, but it's not that I, Gao Shixiang, can't touch it. I now represent Xiangyang, and I can still smelt this iron and steel. Now the official family is at war with the Jin State and the puppet Qi, and a few days ago, our Great Song Dynasty just lost the important town of Xiangyang. We can't practice in Xiangyang, we can borrow a place to practice. The second brother and I will go with me to see Luozhi County and the salt and iron envoy here, just borrow a place. Just like the darling said, if you have the technology and high output, just turn in a little bit to complete the task. Where is it appropriate, our uncle and nephew have to sum it up. ”

Gao Pet's biggest headache, the third uncle came back and solved it without much effort. Gao Zhong no longer mentioned this steelmaking, and toasted the two uncles one by one.

According to Gao's plan, Tongling will build its own base camp, and in order to prevent all kinds of accidents and facilitate the defense of the family business, these factories will be built in the ravines of Tongguanshan and Shishan districts. The iron ore of Fanchang Taochong was mined by the third uncle, and according to Gao Chong's proposal, the ore was mined and refined into concentrate in the local area and then transported back, which also saved a lot of transportation skills. To make steel, the dolomite in Chaoxian County must also be mined, and the mining area is not more than 120 miles away from Tongling, and it is not far away.

When the third uncle came back, Gao Pet saved a lot of things, and he had experience in managing enterprises and mining. With so many technologies brought, many things can be carried out immediately, and specific things can be done by letting the third uncle go.