Chapter 94 Cement Industry
He Xi said: "The Marquis of Jiangyin thought wrong. In fact, there is no need to recruit too many people." He Xi gestured down, and someone immediately brought out something that looked like a stone.
He Xi asked Wu Gao to watch.
Wu Gao's first impression was that it was a piece of stone and there was nothing interesting about it. But He Xi asked him to look at it, and he had to observe it carefully, but soon Wu Gao was stunned. Looking at the regular traces on it, he didn't think that this stone was naturally formed.
Wu Gao looked at He Xi in surprise and said, "This-----"
Liu Jing said: "Is this the legendary cement?"
Liu Jing is much more powerful than Wu Gao. During this period of time in Liaodong, Wu Gao devoted himself to the army. Inspect everywhere. Explore everywhere. After more than half a year, I dare not say that I have completely mastered the Liaodong Army. At least he has the most basic prestige in the military. But apart from things outside the military, I don’t know much.
But Liu Jing is different.
Perhaps Liu Jing needed to establish Liaoyang Mansion from scratch. He had conducted an investigation into the situation in Liaodong. Cement was found among them.
Also mentioned before.
Cement is not new. Even early on.
But the cement formula has a process from immaturity to maturity. From the beginning, there were all kinds of problems. It was fine at first, but over time it would fall apart. So far, although there are still various problems, in He Xi's opinion, it is enough.
Other problems can be gradually improved with use.
He Xi said: "Exactly." He paused slightly and said: "This thing is artificially fired. It only needs to be mixed with sand, stones and water, and within ten days, it can solidify like a stone. , there will be no problems for at least ten years. If maintained regularly, it can last longer. The process is very simple. There is no need to recruit too many manpower."
He Xi also thought about it before deciding to release the big killer weapon of cement. Of course, the cost of cement was not too high. But the cost of building a house is still higher than that of ordinary people. It can be said that for a long time, it was impossible for cement to enter the homes of ordinary people.
But if it is not used, it will never be possible to mature the process and reduce costs.
He Xi thought about it a lot before deciding to build a series of port cities in Korea and even Japan. As the Ming Dynasty's control over the newly occupied areas, by the way, there is another big project, which is the palace and city of His Royal Highness the former King of Lu in the Ming Dynasty and now His Royal Highness the King of Goryeo.
If the people were recruited, ramming earth and burning bricks would require a lot of manpower and material resources. As Wu Gao said, in such a place where people's hearts are not attached to them, large-scale conscription of labor may seem to have no cost, but it will pay a lot of hidden costs.
And if cement is used in large quantities. It will reduce a lot of engineering workload. No more conscription, but money. That's something else. Although this item is estimated to cost one million taels, it is still unaffordable. But when a large amount of money or banknotes flow into the people. It will naturally drive consumption in other industries. More importantly, it also regained the hearts and minds of the local people in Goryeo.
From then on, I dare not say that all the people of Goryeo were optimistic. But a considerable number of people benefited from the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, I no longer think about rebellion.
Wu Gao pondered for a moment and said: "Sir, in my opinion, the Goryeo side is not important, the Tatars are the most important. Changchun Fort hangs alone outside. Ping'an can be regarded as a general, but the army closest to Ping'an, It is also a hundred miles away. In my opinion, the earthen ramparts left behind when the canal was built before can be built into cities. This is the most suitable thing. I have city walls all over Liaodong. There are many places that need to be built. Isn’t that right?”
After hearing this, He Xi couldn't help but smile and said, "You can tell us later in the report."
In any case, with so much money flowing through, He Xi will naturally give some benefits to Liaodong. In particular, the huge agricultural plan to turn Liaoze into fertile farmland requires astronomical amounts of funds, not to mention developing the three northeastern provinces. It is an extremely huge investment.
Compared with these, Wu Gao's small request is simply not worth mentioning.
He Xi said: "In general, the situation is like this. We will discuss the details below. It is estimated that the things from the court will not arrive until next spring, but we cannot do nothing in the past six months. Yang Shiqi, come and make some plans for Liaodong My family’s financial resources have probably already invested in these projects.”
As soon as these words came out, many people's eyes lit up.
To be honest, they all know the opinions of the imperial court on the disposal of funds. Now it is just a principle. Not to mention, when this matter was decided. There is no room for negotiation. But it's different down there. These are real pennies.
Liaodong’s balance this year is still small. But there are still quite a few.
In addition, with such a heavy task next year, how much can be divided is very important.
Principles are unshakable. But the details can still be adjusted.
Seeing this, He Xi listened to Yang Shiqi reporting on Liaodong's family fortune, how much silver they had, how much bank notes they had, how much grain they had, how much coal they had, etc. But it's a bit far-fetched.
On the one hand, He Xi didn't want to be so detailed. He couldn't control the details. Everyone had their own ideas about the following situation. He Xi could only listen to their arguments. Let’s see who makes more sense. On the other hand, He Xi has already determined the general principles. I'm not afraid of what tricks they will do.
In He Xi's mind, he only had two thoughts at the moment.
In his opinion, if these millions of taels of funds can be digested next year, or even the year after that, the entire Liaodong industrial system will probably be completed. I dare not say that it will be self-sufficient in the future, but the productivity of Liaodong, except for agriculture, may not be matched by the entire north, or even the entire Ming Dynasty combined.
Because this large amount of money has paid for the construction costs of many industrial systems. For example, cement plants will be built on a large scale in the future. For example, it is very likely that the Liaodong Artillery Factory of Shenyang Iron and Steel Works, the expanded Lushun Shipyard, and the textile base with Yingkou as the core will be separated.
Of course, maintaining this system is also difficult.
The industrial system that has begun to rotate is like a glutton, constantly devouring everything in the world. Once there is nothing to eat. He will disintegrate himself and turn into a big crisis. However, the system established by He Xi is still very fragile. We cannot bear such a crisis.
What’s the next step?
He Xi was a little confused. But one thing is certain. With the whole of Liaodong behind him, He Xi had the courage to return to Nanjing and compete.
Whether it is military or political, strength is fundamental. And the strength that He Xi felt was industrial productivity.
And He Xi also has to fight for it, because in many things, if you don't advance, you will retreat. Find a market and a future for this glutton. This is what He Xi wants to do, even if it is very likely that this glutton will get out of control in the future. Now, He Xi could only lead this Taotie away like this.
Although the future is not perfect, it is better than the current world.
He Xi's other thought was that he would go to Goryeo to meet Fu Youde. No matter what Zhu Yuanzhang thought, this large amount of money was military expenditure. In many aspects, Fu Youde's nod is needed. Of course, He Xi found it easy for Fu Youde to nod.
The reason is simple. Fu Youde has probably never fought such a wealthy battle in his life.
Just get whatever you want?
But He Xi cannot disrespect Fu Youde. He Xi always has to discuss with Fu Youde so that he can make adjustments according to Fu Youde's ideas.
However, He Xi didn't know that just when He Xi was thinking about Fu Youde, she was also thinking about him hundreds of miles away. In terms of preparation, I was not thinking about He Xi, but thinking about the money in He Xi's hands. After all, the expenditure of millions of taels is simply shocking to the world.
If there had been no customs taxation, if Zhu Yuanzhang had not carried out large-scale war purges and even ransacked homes and exterminated clans, and if it had not been for He Xi who saved the court huge expenditures in many places, such as ordnance, the court would not have accumulated so much money.
But the problem is that it is unbelievable to many people to spend so much military expenditure to attack a small Japan. Many people think that with so much money, one trip to the grassland is enough.
It just so happened that there was a person in Peiping who thought the same way.
Not someone else. It was Feng Sheng.
