How much steel can Kongshan produce in a day? Zhu Di asked impatiently.
Zhu Gaojie raised a finger and smiled without saying a word.
Zhu Di asked suspiciously: "A thousand catties?"
The figure of one thousand kilograms is already very high. After all, the quality of the steel produced by Kongshan is of the highest quality. The higher the quality of the steel, the higher the time and cost of casting.
Zhu Gaojie said calmly: "No, it's ten thousand catties!"
His Majesty the Emperor gasped and really wanted to pry open King Qi's head to see what was inside!
Ten thousand kilograms!
Zhu Gaojie is really not bragging. The Kongshan Steelmaking Plant has five steelmaking furnaces, each with a daily output of two thousand kilograms. If the steelmaking plant continues to expand, this output will be even higher!
Of course, if you want to expand the steelmaking plant, you must expand the coal mines, coal washing and coking, and the purchase of iron ore. This is an assembly line project. If there is an imbalance in any link, the remaining links will be affected. The fish pond will be affected.
Zhu Di asked further: "Can Kongshan's steelmaking technology be implemented in other steelmaking plants?"
What the old man cares about is not Kongshan's steel production, but whether Kongshan's steelmaking method can be popularized.
Starting from the edict issued in the 28th year of Hongwu's reign: "The iron smelting in all places was stopped, and the people were allowed to mine and smelt on their own, while the yearly training course was to be divided into two parts for every thirty cents." The number of government-run iron ore mines decreased and the number of private-run iron ore mines increased. , the tax rate for private iron mines is one-fifteenth.
The opening up of private iron ore mining has increased the annual steel production several times, and the revenue of the state treasury has also been much abundant, but this also means that the government industry has weakened, and the court has gradually lost its focus on steelmaking. control. Zhu Di was a far-sighted emperor and he knew this very well.
In fact, this is exactly the case. In the first year of Yongle, the tax amount of private iron mines was 80,000 catties. By the ninth year of Xuande, the tax amount of private iron mines was 560,000 catties. Based on the iron tax rate, the output of private iron mines in the first year of Yongle was 1.2 million jins, and in the ninth year of Xuande it was 8.33 million jins.
By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the government-run iron mines had completely fallen behind. Private iron mines developed rapidly and contributed to the main force in the production of steel. The taxable volume of private iron mines in Yangcheng County, Shanxi Province was 500,000 to 600,000 kilograms, and the estimated output was 800 Ten thousand kilograms is just the amount of iron produced in one county, which is equivalent to the total output of private iron mines in the country during the Xuanzong period.
By the Jiajing period, the taxes levied on private iron mines could be deducted with silver. After conversion, the national pig iron tax amount was 5 million jins, equivalent to an output of 75 million jins.
And if Kongshan's steelmaking method can be popularized, it only needs to be spread to the government-operated system first, so that the government-operated and private operations can reach a balance, and the impact of the private system can be contained. The government-run system does not need to completely cover the whole country. As long as it can become the leader of the private system, it is enough for the imperial court to have a monopoly on steelmaking.
This is why Zhu Di values Kongshan Steelmaking Plant!
In the old man's expectant eyes, Zhu Gaojie slowly said: "Yes! Kongshan Steelmaking Plant can be popularized!"
The steelmaking technology of Kongshan Steelmaking Plant is actually not too difficult. Whether it is coal washing, coking, or steelmaking, the Ming Dynasty already has a good foundation in the most difficult technical aspects. This is why The reason why the steelmaking technology of the Ming Dynasty was three to four hundred years ahead of Europe!
It's a pity that such a rich heritage was completely abandoned by the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. The Qing Dynasty did not want to make progress, and relied entirely on the technology left by the Ming Dynasty to rest on its laurels, and it was even going backwards!
The steel output during the Jiajing period was 90 million catties. But in the Qing Dynasty, iron ore mines were further privatized and many iron mines were abandoned. The output of iron in the Qing Dynasty was 40 million catties, a decrease of 50 million catties compared with the Ming Dynasty!
At the same time, Britain in the 19th century had completed the Industrial Revolution. After hundreds of years, it finally caught up with the Ming Dynasty's steel production, and drove steel warships and opened the Qing Dynasty's country with artillery.
Is this something that humans can do? !
Zhu Di couldn't help but take a deep breath with excitement when he thought about the prospects of steelmaking in Ming Dynasty in the future.
But he quickly calmed down: Kongshan's steel-making technology was not his, but King Qi's.
This also made Zhu Di love and hate King Qi. He loved King Qi's talent and his magical ideas. Even the wasteland of Kongshan was able to turn waste into treasure and create unlimited benefits.
But what irritated Zhu Di was that King Qi was disobedient, very disobedient!
Zhu Di almost couldn't help but burst out his bandit nature, and directly ordered to snatch Kong Shan over. He was the best at doing this kind of business without capital. If you ask who is the biggest bandit in the world, it must be Zhu Di. He stole his brother's Duoyan Sanwei and his nephew's Ming Dynasty.
However, Zhu Di finally suppressed the bandit thoughts in his heart. His reason told himself: If he dared to rob King Qi's Kongshan, he would never think about getting King Qi to work for him in the future!
Zhu Di still had some idea of which one was more important between King Qi and Kong Shan.
He really wanted to tame King Qi and let this boy be his son honestly, but obviously this was impossible. King Qi was like a snow-white lotus on the cliff of a high peak, which could only be viewed from a distance but not played with. Yes, it's not impossible if Zhu Di wants to use his power to force King Qi to surrender, but that means 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 else can you do besides getting me covered in spit?"
What Zhu Di needs is the unconstrained wisdom in King Qi's mind, not the body of a walking corpse. He cannot use too rough methods on King Qi, he can only trick him slowly and slowly.
So this situation occurred: the emperor wanted to deceive King Qi, and King Qi also wanted to deceive the emperor. You deceived me and I deceived you... After deceiving and deceiving, the king of Han was gone.
"Tell me, what do you want?" Zhu Di's voice was hoarse and he was trying to suppress the excitement in his heart.
Zhu Gaojie said righteously: "What does the father mean by these words? If you want your ministers to die, they have to die. If your father wants Kongshan, how can you ask for anything in return?"
Zhu Di scolded the little beast in his heart, but on the surface he said happily: "I am very happy that you have such filial piety. But there is no reason in the world for a father to steal his son's things. If you don't say what reward you want, then I will I can only give it to you by force."
Zhu Gaojie sighed and showed his fox tail: "My son wants to ask my father for a piece of land. I wonder if my father will allow it?"
"Huh? Where do you want it?" Zhu Di was a little curious, "Just tell me, as long as it's not the capital, I can give it to you."
Zhu Gaojie said with a smile: "Japanese country."
Zhu Di hesitated for a moment: "Do you want to listen to what you are saying?"
Do you call this asking for a piece of land? !
Zhu Gaojie also confessed: "As long as the father agrees to hand over the governance of the Japanese country to the son, the son will hand over 50% of Kongshan's shares to the father!"
Five percent of the shares!
These 50% shares are of course deducted from the shares of Kongshan held by Zhu Gaojie. In this way, the emperor holds 50% of Kongshan's shares, and the British government and the Chengguo government each hold 20%. , Prince Qi’s Mansion holds 10%.
Prince Qi's Mansion, the founder of Kongshan, ended up holding the smallest shareholding.
But Zhu Gaojie thought it was a good deal. Even if he held 100% of Kongshan's shares and tightly held the steelmaking system in his hands, what benefits would he get?
It's nothing more than a little gold and silver. Without the support of the court, Kong Shan's upper limit is also locked. If it is exhausted, it can bring Zhu Gaojie an income of more than 100,000 taels every year. Is Prince Qi's house short of this little silver?
But if you trade these 50% shares to the emperor, the benefits you can get are not just the hundreds of thousands taels! !
After the emperor takes control of Kongshan, with the support of the imperial court, Kongshan will usher in a rapid improvement. Just a 10% dividend will bring Zhu Gaojie at least hundreds of thousands of taels of income every year!
From the beginning, Kong Shan was the capital that Zhu Gaojie planned to use to negotiate with Zhu Di.
"It's not that I don't want to give it to you, it's just..." Zhu Di hesitated and said, "It's not that you don't know that although Japan bows its head to Ming Dynasty, it is not within the scope of Ming Dynasty's rule."
In the early days, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese state was that of a tributary state and a tributary state.
The trade relations between the Ming Dynasty and the Japanese became extremely complicated due to the harassment by Japanese pirates. In the early Ming Dynasty, several emperors had placed their hope in suppressing the intrusion of Japanese pirates through diplomatic channels, so they implemented a policy of restraining the Japanese, granting Kanhe permission to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.
However, because the two sides had different understandings of "tribute", the Ming Dynasty wanted to use it as a "restrictive" method to eliminate "quarrels"; but the Japanese saw it as an opportunity to make profits, and even raised certain funds All rely on tribute. Therefore, the major names and temples of the Japanese country often competed fiercely for the tribute of the Ming Dynasty, and finally led to a fighting event in Ningbo - the "battle for tribute."
After that, the Ming Dynasty changed its trade policy towards the Japanese countries, stopped shipping, and cut off trade relations with the Japanese countries. As a result, the southeastern coast was comprehensively harassed by Japanese pirates, which is the so-called "Jiajing Japanese pirates". After the Japanese invasion was basically put down, although the Ming Dynasty announced the opening of sea trade at Yuegang, Zhangzhou, it still implemented a strict prohibition policy against the Japanese. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the two countries never restored normal trade relations.
To put it bluntly, Zhu Di actually didn't have any good impression of the Japanese country. He was just an immature wolf cub. He had long wanted to send troops to attack and destroy this small ant country. But launching a war depends on the benefits. If the benefits obtained from the war are lower than the consumption of launching the war, what is the point?
Zhu Di, on the other hand, could not see any benefit in the Japanese country that was worthy of sending troops.
(End of chapter)
