Due to the lack of strength, Xia Lin, the proposer, only maintained a minimum of attention to this matter, and tried his best to ensure that the position of Minister of Industry, which was closely related to him, fell as much as possible on the person who was favorable to him.

The left minister, the Minister of Industry, the Minister of Education, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, these three ministerial positions and the official offices under them represent a new power, and also represent the lack of power of the palace minister, although the actual position of the right minister and the palace minister are the same, but the change of power and status will naturally make the vested interests dissatisfied.

I think that Empress Dorothea must have suffered a lot of splints between the Fosk Palace Minister and the Chief Chamberlain of Babbitt during this time, but judging from the successful transfer of the position of Chief Attendant by the Empress, Chief Chamberlain Babbitt should have made a compromise with the Empress.

"No, honorable Viscount Xia Lin, you should take care of me."

Naturally, Fes Louis would not be rude to a viscount, but also an influential viscount who was popular in front of Her Majesty the Empress, and his posture was standard, and he bowed respectfully to Xia Lin and said.

"Please sit down, Squire of Fez, during this time you follow Viscount Charin to learn more about the concept of 'industry' he proposed, and when that matter is decided, you will be the Minister of Industry."

Empress Dorothea nodded and said to Fez Louise, but the meaning of her words made Xia Lin's mind move slightly.

So at this young age, probably in his twenties, Fes Louis will soon be one of the top figures in the empire?

Coupled with his father, who might be about to become the Left Minister, this is a double minister, and Empress Dorothea is so fond of this Louis family? Or was the power in the hands of Babbitt's chief attendant enough to make Dorothea make such a big concession?

Thinking like this, Charin paid more attention to Fes Louigne.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness!"

Hearing Empress Dorothea's promise, the Chamberlain of Fez showed just the right amount of joy on his face, and then sat respectfully in the chair beside him, and without saying a word, he put on a posture of listening attentively.

"If the Chamberlain of Fez is about to take up the post of Minister of Industry, then I do have a very important matter that I need his cooperation."

Xia Lin's mind was full of emotion, and he continued to speak.

"Oh? What's the matter? ”

Empress Dorothea and the Fez's attendants on the side all had curious expressions on their faces.

"Specifically, it's about expanding steel production in steel mills.

If the army is to be expanded, it is necessary to equip the newly recruited soldiers with sufficient rifles and artillery.

A rifle requires two kilograms of steel, while one artillery requires four hundred kilograms of steel, six thousand men plus 12,000 men of the 2nd Guards Division, at least 18,000 Type 2 rifles and forty 80mm breech guns, plus the need to build shore defense batteries on both sides of the Seine, that is, almost sixty breech guns, a total of sixty tons of steel.

At present, the daily output of our steel mill is only 15 tons, and most of them have essential uses, such as rail clad steel, equipment steel, construction steel and so on.

Only a small amount, about four to five tons, will be allocated to the gun factory for the production of guns, and at this rate of production, the equipment may not be equipped to keep up with the training of the new recruits. ”

"Is that so? Then Viscount Xia Lin only needs to add a few more electric arc furnaces, right? ”

Dorothea asked curiously.

"Of course, it's not just this problem, Your Majesty, the electric arc furnace steelmaking is not iron ore, but pig iron and wrought iron or scrap steel, our current output has actually reached the limit that the imperial iron market can bear, and if you want to continue to add electric arc furnace to expand production, you must take into account the problems of raw materials and transportation.

Therefore, I need your majesty's support and leadership to gather the strength of the chambers of commerce that own iron and coal mines in the Blue Lagoon Mountains to establish a coal and iron consortium near the Blue Lagoon Mountains.

This coal-iron consortium adopts the form of coal-iron joint venture, industrial and mining integration, and its main business includes mining, coking, and ironmaking.

Through this consortium, the steelmaking mills in Xinglan Industrial Park can obtain enough pig iron raw materials, and at the same time, it can also increase the development and utilization of the mines by the participating chambers of commerce, so that everyone can earn more profits than before. ”

Seeing that Dorothea didn't seem to realize the importance of this coal-iron complex, Xia Lin continued:

"According to my plan, we need to select an area of about 30 square kilometers, that is, about 20 al, near the Blue Lake Mountain to carry out the construction of three factories and blast furnaces in the early stage, with an initial investment of 2,000 gold lundes, and it is expected that more than 600 employees will need to work and live in it, with a daily output of 100 tons of coke and 100 tons of pig iron."

"Wait, what are you talking about? A hundred tons of pig iron per day?! ”

Dorothea listened quietly at first, but then she realized that something was wrong, isn't this number a little too big? According to the table of metric units given to her by Xia Lin, one ton is almost equivalent to three hundred pounds of imperial units, so that at the end of the day, it is thirty thousand pounds of pig iron?

If it is used to make weapons and farm tools, how much can it be made? But after thinking for a moment, the look of surprise on Dorothea's face suddenly retracted.

I almost forgot that Xia Lin had built a steelmaking mill that could produce fifteen tons of high-quality steel a day, and now they have invested a lot of money and manpower to build a coal-iron complex, and it seems that it is not a big deal to produce a hundred tons of pig iron a day.

"If that's the case, I'll get Fez to fully cooperate with you, and you can just talk to him about any support you need!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Fez Louis also seemed to have a certain understanding of what he might be responsible for in the future, at least he understood the meaning of the one ton in Xia Lin's words, and his face was full of surprise, but when he heard Dorothea's command, he immediately recovered and obeyed.

"This matter still needs some preparation, and during this time, I will ask the Filth Attendant to do a lot of work to investigate and contact the chambers of commerce that have coal and iron minerals in the Blue Lake Mountains. In addition......"

Xia Lin took out a few glasses of good quality from the wooden box that the court attendants beside him helped to move into the study, and showed them to Dorothea:

"Your Majesty, this is a new product from the industrial park, a new material called glass, this kind of thing is similar to crystal, but the cost is much cheaper, I am going to use this to cooperate with the Harrison family to sell all kinds of goods made of this material, I hope that Her Majesty can take the lead for the two of us."

"Glass?"

Dorothea picked up a pale green glass and looked at it with interest:

"Viscount Charin, how low can the cost of such a cup be?"

"About half a silver mar? This batch of products is of better quality selected by me, and after the workers are skilled, about 20 copper bis can produce one.

In the future, I will also have people explore how to make this glass into large pieces of flat glass and attach it to the window, which should have the same effect as crystal. ”

"Then this is a big market!"

Empress Dorothea quickly realized the prospect of glass from Xia Lin's price, which fell below her psychological offer, and said in surprise.

"Yes, in return, I am willing to sell 20% of the shares to the royal family at a price of 50 gold lundes per 1% of the shares, and at the same time I hope that Your Majesty will communicate with the Grand Duke of the South to see if there is currently a chamber of commerce in the South that is in the business of planting something called the 'Sole Tree'.

The New Leaf Chamber of Commerce is willing to enter into an agreement with these chambers of commerce at a high price to purchase the sap products secreted by the sole tree! ”

(End of chapter)