How much steel can Kongshan produce in a day? Zhu Di asked impatiently.

Zhu Gaoxian raised a finger and smiled without saying a word.

Zhu Di asked with some suspicion: "A thousand catties?" ”

The figure of 1,000 catties is already very high. After all, the quality of the steel produced by Kongshan belongs to the highest, and the better the steel, the higher the time and cost of casting.

Zhu Gaoxian said calmly: "No, it's 10,000 catties!" ”

His Majesty the Emperor gasped, he really wanted to pry King Qi's head open to see what was inside!

10,000 catties!

Zhu Gaoxian really didn't brag, Kongshan Steelmaking Plant has five steel-making furnaces, one furnace has a daily output of 2,000 catties, and if the steelmaking plant continues to expand, this output will be even higher!

Of course, if you want to expand the steel plant, you must expand the coal mining, coal washing and coking, and the purchase of iron ore, which is an assembly line project.

Zhu Di asked again: "Can Kongshan's steelmaking technology be implemented in other steelmaking plants?" ”

What the old man cares about is not the amount of steel produced by Kongshan, what he cares about is whether Kongshan's steelmaking method can be popularized.

Since the edict of the 28th year of Hongwu: "The edict to stop iron smelting everywhere, so that the people can mine and smelt by themselves, and the annual loss course will be taken from two out of every 30 points", the number of government-run iron mines has decreased, and the number of private iron mines has increased, and the tax rate of private iron mines is one-fifteenth.

Although the annual output of iron and steel has increased several times and the income of the state treasury has become much richer, it also means that the government has weakened, and the court has gradually lost control of steelmaking. Zhu Di was a visionary emperor, and he knew this very well.

In fact, it is precisely the case that in the first year of Yongle, the tax amount of private iron ore was 80,000 catties, and in the ninth year of Xuande, the tax amount of private iron ore was 560,000 catties. According to the calculation of the tax rate of iron, the output of private iron ore in the first year of Yongle was 1.2 million catties, and that of Xuande in the ninth year was 8.33 million catties.

By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the government-run iron ore has been fully backward, the rapid development of private iron mines, contributing to the production of iron and steel, the private iron ore in Yangcheng County, Shanxi Province has a tax of 50 to 600,000 catties, and the output is 8 million catties, which is only a county's iron production, which is equivalent to the total output of private iron ore in the country during the Xuanzong period.

By the time of Jiajing, the taxation of private iron mines could already be offset by silver, and the national pig iron tax was 5 million catties, equivalent to an output of 75 million catties.

If Kongshan's steelmaking method can be popularized, it only needs to be popularized to the government-run system first, so that the government-run and private enterprises can reach a balance to the extent that the impact of the private system can be contained. The government-run system does not need to cover the whole country, as long as it can become the leader of the private system, and it is enough for the imperial court to have a monopoly on steelmaking.

This is the reason why Zhu Di values Kongshan Steelmaking Plant!

In the old man's expectant eyes, Zhu Gaoxian slowly spoke: "Yes!" Kongshan steelmaking plant can be popularized! ”

The steelmaking technology of Kongshan Steelmaking Plant, in fact, is not too difficult, whether it is coal washing, coking, or steelmaking, the most difficult technical links, the Ming Dynasty has a good foundation, which is why the Ming Dynasty steelmaking technology can be far ahead of Europe for three or four hundred years!

It's a pity that such a rich heritage was completely abandoned by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty did not want to forge ahead, relying entirely on the technology left by the Ming Dynasty to eat the old capital, and even regressed!

During the Jiajing period, the steel output was 90 million catties. But in the Qing Dynasty, iron mines were further privatized, many iron mines were abandoned, and the output of iron in the Qing Dynasty was 40 million catties, which was 50 million catties less than that of the Ming Dynasty!

At the same time, Britain in the nineteenth century had already completed the industrial revolution, and after hundreds of years, it finally caught up with the steel production of the Ming Dynasty, and drove steel warships to open the Qing Dynasty's national gate with artillery.

What kind of thing can be done by people?!

Zhu Di couldn't help but take a deep breath of excitement when he thought of the prospect of Daming steelmaking in the future.

But he quickly calmed down: Kongshan's steelmaking technology was not his, it was King Qi's.

This also made Zhu Di love and hate King Qi, love King Qi's talented fairy idea, and even the wasteland of Kongshan can be turned into treasure and create unlimited benefits.

But what makes Zhu Di scratch in his heart is that King Qi is disobedient, very disobedient!

Zhu Di almost couldn't help but burst out of his bandit nature in his bones, and directly ordered to snatch Kong Shan, he is the best at doing this kind of business. If you ask who is the biggest bandit in the world, it must be Zhu Di, who robbed his younger brother's Duoyan Sanwei and his nephew's Daming Jiangshan.

However, Zhu Di finally suppressed the bandit thoughts in his heart, and his reason told himself: If he dares to rob King Qi's Kongshan, he will think of letting King Qi do things for him in the future!

King Qi and Kong Shan, which is more important, Zhu Di still has points in his heart.

He wanted to be able to tame King Qi and let this kid be his son honestly, but obviously this is impossible, King Qi is like a snow-white lotus flower on the cliff of the peak, which can only be watched from a distance and cannot be blasphemed, if Zhu Di wants to use power to make King Qi forcibly submit, it is not impossible, but that means that the last bit of family affection between father and son is completely broken.

King Qi: "You can get my body, but you can't get my heart, what can you do but make me spit?" ”

What Zhu Di needs is the whimsical wisdom in King Qi's mind, not the shell of a walking corpse, he can't use too rough methods against King Qi, he can only trickle down and slowly fool.

So this situation appeared: the emperor wanted to fool King Qi, and King Qi also wanted to fool the emperor, you fooled me and I fooled you...... Flickering and flickering, King Han is gone.

"Say, what do you want?" Zhu Di was a little hoarse in his voice, and he was trying to suppress the excitement in his heart.

Zhu Gaoxian said righteously: "What does my father mean by this, the monarch wants the ministers to die, the ministers have to die, the father wants Kong Shan, how can the sons and daughters ask for returns?" ”

Zhu Di scolded the little beast in his heart, but on the surface he said with relief: "You have this filial piety, and I am very relieved." But how can there be a reason in the world for a father to rob his son's things, if you don't say what reward you want, then I can only give it to you forcibly. ”

Zhu Gaoxian sighed, revealing his fox tail: "The son wants to ask his father for a piece of land, I don't know if my father can allow it?" ”

"Huh? Where do you want? Zhu Di was a little curious, "You say, as long as it's not the capital, I can give it to you." ”

Zhu Gaoxian said with a smile: "Wa Guo." ”

Zhu Di hesitated: "Do you want to listen to what you are talking about?" ”

You call this asking for a piece of land?!

Zhu Gaoxian also confessed: "As long as my father promises to hand over the governance of the Wa Kingdom to my sons, my sons will hand over fifty percent of Kongshan's shares to my father!" ”

Fifty percent shares!

These fifty percent of the shares, of course, are deducted from Zhu Gaoxian's shares of Kongshan, so that Kongshan's shares will become fifty percent held by the emperor, two percent each held by the British government and the Chengguo government, and one percent held by the Qi Wangfu.

The founder of Kongshan, the Qi Wangfu, became the least shareholding in the end.

But Zhu Gaoxian thinks it's a good deal, even if he holds ten percent of Kongshan's shares, what benefits can he get by holding this steelmaking system in his hands?

It's nothing more than a little gold and silver, without the support of the imperial court, the upper limit of Kongshan is also locked, and if it is supported, it can bring more than 100,000 taels of income to Zhu Gaoxian every year, is the Qi Wangfu short of this bit of silver?

But if you trade these fifty percent shares to the emperor, the benefits you can get are more than just these hundreds of thousands of taels!!

After the emperor takes control of Kongshan, with the support of the imperial court, Kongshan will usher in a soaring promotion, and with a dividend of one percent, it can bring at least hundreds of thousands of taels of income to Zhu Gaoxian every year!

From the very beginning, Kong Shan was just the capital that Zhu Gaoxian planned to launch to negotiate with Zhu Di.

"This Wa Kingdom, it's not that I don't want to give it to you, it's just that ......" Zhu Di hesitated for a moment and said, "It's not that you don't know, although the Wa Kingdom bows down to my Ming Dynasty, but the Wa Kingdom is not within the scope of Ming rule." ”

The Ming Dynasty and the Wa State were the relationship between the tributary states and the tributary states in the early days.

The trade relations between the Ming Dynasty and the Wa Kingdom were extremely complicated due to the harassment of the Wa Kou. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, several emperors had pinned their hopes on suppressing the invasion of the Japanese through diplomatic channels, so they implemented a policy of restraint on the Japanese state, and granted them to Kanhe, allowing them to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

However, due to the different understandings of "tribute" between the two sides, the Ming Dynasty wanted to use it as a means of "restraint" to eliminate the "provocation"; However, the Wa Kingdom saw it as an opportunity to make profits, and even pinned some of the funds on tribute. Therefore, the major names and temples of the Wa Kingdom often competed fiercely for the tribute of the Ming Dynasty, and finally caused a fighting incident in Ningbo - "Battle for Tribute".

After that, the Ming Dynasty changed its policy on trade with the Japanese state, boycotted the market, and broke off the trade relations with the Japanese state, resulting in the harassment of the Japanese in the southeast coastal area, which is the so-called "Jiajing and Japanese trouble". After the Japanese plague was basically pacified, although the Ming Dynasty announced the opening of sea trade in Zhangzhou Yuegang, it still implemented a strict prohibition policy on the Japanese state, and in the end of the Ming Dynasty, the two countries did not resume normal trade relations.

To put it bluntly, Zhu Di actually doesn't have any good feelings about the Wa Kingdom, this is an immature wolf cub, he has long wanted to send troops to attack and destroy this small country of ants. But to start a war, it depends on the benefits, if the benefits of the war are lower than the cost of starting a war, is this still a fart?

And Zhu Di did not see any interests worthy of sending troops to the Wa State.

(End of chapter)