Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 153 Gives Dang Xiang’s ministers a little shock
The next day, Li Yixing naturally waited respectfully at the development zone early in the morning. After a while, he saw Zhao Guangmei arriving belatedly surrounded by people in front and behind, and then hurriedly stepped forward to greet her.

Zhao Guangmei waved her hand casually and said, "You don't have to be polite, Lieutenant. Have you eaten? Didn't you eat a piece?"

"Well... it's my honor."

In fact, he had already eaten, but he just didn't mind having another meal with Zhao Guangmei.

In his opinion, His Highness the King of Qin is a high-ranking, extremely intelligent man...a psychopath.

You have to be careful with me.

Then with a confused look on his face, Zhao Guangmei took out a small piece of paper-wrapped stuff from his sleeve and handed it to him: "Here, eat this, let's eat while we're walking."

"Uh... yes."

Eat while walking!
I have actually eaten it!

His Highness the King of Qin is indeed a lunatic!
"Eat, try it. This is my specialty of Song Dynasty. I guarantee you have never eaten it before."

"Uh, yes."

Then, Li Yixing had no choice but to quickly open the paper bag and start eating, only to find that the thing was extremely hard. He instinctively took a big bite, but he didn't bite it off.

It felt like chewing on a brick.

He glanced at Zhao Guangmei in surprise and couldn't help but feel a little angry.

Even judging from his status as a court official, he was still the military envoy of the Dingnan Army, and he was the Taiwei of the court.

In fact, he was granted the title of King of Xiping in the previous dynasty, and the title difference between that of Zhao Guangmei and Zhao Guangmei was only half a rank. However, things have changed now, and the Later Zhou Dynasty has been destroyed. He, the king with a different surname in the previous dynasty, is also I won’t mention it anymore.

But you can't bully people like this.

There must be some respect.

He saw Zhao Guangmei taking out a piece of the same thing from his pocket, and then started eating it in small bites. While eating, he reminded him: "Stop stuttering, take your time, bite slowly, don't rush." , actually it tastes pretty good.”

When Li Yixing saw that Zhao Guangmei was also eating, he became more and more sure that His Highness the King of Qin was not in a normal state of mind, so he had no choice but to accompany him to eat. He also found that this thing was really chewable and the taste was not very good. , but it’s not too unpalatable.

"Eat slowly, drink some water, come here, give him some water."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Li Yixing didn't feel thirsty, but he still took a sip out of politeness, and then he couldn't help being stunned.

"Huh? How come..."

"how?"

Li Yixing became more and more excited. He looked at the dry food in his hand and then at the water bottle in his hand. He quickly gritted his teeth and took a big bite. Then he quickly went to drink water. After a while, he was Cover your stomach.

"What...what is this? Why are you so full?"

Zhao Guangmei couldn't help but feel extremely proud: "This thing is called compressed biscuits. Is it delicious? I invented it myself and made it myself. Hahaha, it's delicious. My craftsmanship is so good. With this thing, the cavalry will fight in the future. It will be convenient when you are here, don’t you think so? Do you want it? I’ll give you the entire tens of thousands of stones when I go back, and treat it as a specialty here in Kaifeng, hahahahaha.”

Zhao Guangmei is so proud, so proud. After all, although he has actually led many inventions since coming to the Song Dynasty, only this compressed biscuit is the real invention, which he figured out bit by bit by himself. .

Who told him that he was a cook in his previous life?

The effect of this thing on the army, especially the cavalry unit, is naturally self-evident. It is no exaggeration to say that if his army can provide this thing in large quantities, I am afraid that its combat effectiveness will be doubled.

"This...how is this thing made?"

Zhao Guangmei said proudly: "It's useless to tell you. The main raw materials of this thing are flour, salt, grease, and a lot of sugar. To be honest, even a year ago, if the Song Dynasty wanted to make this thing, the cost would be as high as Extremely high, mainly because sugar seems to be too expensive.”

Li Yixing looked confused: "Could it be that... sugar is cheaper this year?"

"That's right, sugar in Song Dynasty has become cheaper this year. One of my men named Pan Mei, in Hunan, and Xue Juzheng guided the soldiers to plant sugar cane, and the sugar cane was simply pressed and processed into sugar cane. It is turned into syrup, and the syrup is transported to Kaifeng, and then a large amount of white sugar is separated through the centrifuge newly manufactured by the company. The cost and output of this sugar production are no longer the same as in the past."

Li Yixing was shocked and said: "Could this be the benefit of His Highness's business?"

Zhao Guangmei nodded: "Yes, but this is only a very small part of it. Come on, let's chat while walking. Oh, by the way, I'll introduce you to some friends. This is my secretary Xiao Chuo. The daughter of Xiao Siwen from Liao Kingdom is the representative of Liao Dynasty. The country came to eavesdrop on our secrets."

Li Yixing: “…………”

Your Highness is indeed ill, isn't he?

Xiao Chuo gave Zhao Guangmei a big roll of his eyes. Since they became a man and a woman, she got along with Zhao Guangmei much more casually, and she became more and more tolerant of Zhao Guangmei's crazy behavior.

To put it bluntly, he is still confident and has nothing to fear from him, a spy of the Liao Kingdom. Even today, he clearly let himself listen in and told the Liao Kingdom that the Song Dynasty has formed an alliance with Li Yixing. Bah, yes. The Dingnan Army was already loyal to the Song Dynasty.

But where did he get such confidence?

You know, party people are always hedging their bets, being double-dealing, and being flexible.

As the saying goes, marry a chicken, follow a chicken, marry a dog, follow a dog. Since marrying Zhao Guangmei, Xiao Chuo has gradually learned to be shameless. He smiled and said, "I have met Jieshuai. Li Jieshuai is also an old friend of ours." Yes, we are still close friends with my father. Jieshuai, you haven't been to Daliao for a while to visit my father. My father always talks about Jieshuai. You can't favor one person over another. You will definitely come to Daliao in the future. I’m a guest.”

Pa, Zhao Guangmei slapped Xiao Chuo hard on the butt: "Get out of here, you said that in front of me, it looks like he is like Qin Muchu on both sides of the head, you are not letting Tai Are you in trouble?"

Li Yixing: “…………”

I... am I really old?

I can’t keep up with the thinking of young people.

I have been playing politics all my life, and suddenly I feel like I have been played.

Then Zhao Guangmei put on a smiling face again and said to Li Yixing: "Don't mind, Lieutenant, this bitch needs to be beaten again. She is a woman. She hasn't been beaten for three days."

"........."

"By the way, let me introduce these two to you. I don't know if you know them. This is Zhe Deke from Fuzhou, and this is Yang Chongxun from Linzhou."

"........."

Li Yixing almost wanted to turn around and leave.

Although it is indeed the first time for him to meet these two people, as party nobles, we have been fighting for more than 100 years. Do you think we know each other?
The Dingnan Army has always been relatively independent, and has always had a good relationship with the Liao Kingdom. However, Linzhou and Fuzhou are more dependent on the Central Plains Dynasty, and they can be called loyal to generations, so... Could it be that the Song Dynasty wanted to be a peacemaker and mediate the conflicts within their party?

Seeing that Zhe and Yang's expressions were gloomy and not very good-looking, they nodded to him one after another. Immediately, they clasped their fists and said "Longyanjiangyan" without a smile.

"Okay, enough nonsense, let's go into the park to visit. You are lucky. This development zone is newly built. Many areas have just been opened. They were even rushed out overnight to entertain you."

Everyone didn't know why, and they certainly didn't know what entertaining them had to do with the development zone.

"Come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come, here, this is the location of my Da Song Royal Commercial Bank Steel Plant. In the main plant area alone, there are more than 2 steel-making workers. If you include family members and auxiliary plants, , the residential area is home to a population of 8 to 4 people. Counting other factories upstream and downstream, as well as other people who serve these populations, this area together has approximately [-] to [-] people. Come on, let's go in and take a look. Take a look."

Li Yixing asked instinctively: "Are all the 4 people related to steel?" "Yes, all related to steel. This does not include the main urban area of ​​Kaifeng. The old factories in the original courtyard will be replaced in the next few years." Inside, I plan to move them out, so the population of this steel area may reach 30 to [-] people."

Hearing this, Li Yixing couldn't help but feel a little envious.

Lingzhou and Yinzhou are both relatively poor, with vast territory and sparsely populated areas. It would be difficult for him to draw 30 to 30 men, let alone the population of [-] to [-] people gathered together to make steel.

The land of the Central Plains is indeed unique and enviable.

Then, when Zhao Guangmei took them into the factory, these old haters from the party were completely shocked.

"Then...that...what is that."

Li Yixing asked with difficulty, pointing to a behemoth that was more than twenty meters tall.

"Well, the blast furnace for steelmaking is actually similar to the previous blast furnace, just a little bigger. I improved the air supply problem. Using coke to make iron, the output can be greatly increased. Hey, you don't know, Just to build this stove, I spent more than 3000 yuan, and more than [-] craftsmen worked and thought day and night. Alas, it’s not easy.”

Human beings are instinctively shocked when faced with big things. Naturally, Li Yixing and others were not surprised. For a moment, they looked a little stupid when looking at this thing.

"This... how much iron can this thing produce?"

"Is this a furnace? Under extreme conditions, that is, if it works day and night, it can produce about [-] kilograms a day. Of course, it is impossible to use the furnace like this under normal circumstances."

"Twenty thousand kilograms a day? This... this is really, really terrible. With such a large amount of iron production, how could the Song Dynasty's military equipment not be powerful?"

Zhao Guangmei quickly explained: "Oh no, you misunderstood. Twenty thousand kilograms a day is just the output of this furnace. Currently, the iron plant has three furnaces, and one is under construction. Our goal is to build eight furnaces within ten years. A stove like this.”

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Zhe Deqing asked instinctively: "What does the Song Dynasty need so much iron for?"

Zhao Guangmei smiled and said: "How much? I still don't think it is enough. Of course, it is definitely not possible to use it all in the army. It should still be based on civilian use. Only if the people have enough and good enough ironware can their lives be happy. "

"........."

When everyone heard this, they were all speechless for a while.

Xiao Chuo couldn't help but turn pale.

Although she had always known that the company had a large steel output and employed many people, she really had no idea that there were so many. Moreover, if she just looked at the data, the shock would be far inferior to seeing the real thing.

'The trading houses of Daliao must be built. If we don't build them, we will be further and further left behind by the Song Dynasty. '

I heard Zhao Guangmei continue to talk: "Of course, this furnace is still too primitive. It uses pure oxygen for blasting, so the iron produced is very brittle and almost unusable."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Iron must be stirred before it can be used. This stirred iron is actually similar to stir-frying. It is an advanced version of stir-frying, but it is very dangerous, tiring and labor-intensive. Our factory stirs iron workers. The salary offered is much higher than that of other workers.”

"........."

"Come on, come on, look here and look here. I won't show you the iron stirring. The main reason is that the temperature over there is too high, and the stirring is all molten iron. It is really too dangerous. Let's go directly Head to the foundry."

"This side is the casting workshop, and the other side is for civilian use. Currently, the main castings are standardized iron pots, and a small number of kitchen knives and farm tools. Whether they are for civilian use or not, we basically don't touch them."

"Look here, look here, look here, what is being cast is military supplies, and this is an assembly line for casting arrowheads. Directly pour molten iron into the mold, and you can easily get a large amount of iron embryos, and then No matter how refined it is, it’s better to open the front.”

"Of course, as we all know, the most difficult thing about making arrows is the arrow shaft. The arrow shaft must be straight. If it is crooked, it will not shoot accurately. Generally, even experienced masters can make up to thirty arrows a day. As for the trading company, based on my creativity, they invented a pedal-operated machine tool, which is specially used to sharpen arrow shafts. It ensures that each arrow shaft is straight and will never be deflected. Each machine tool can produce about six to seven hundred arrow shafts per day. A straight arrow shaft can be operated by two workers. This machine can be used as much as our current arrow output in Da Song Dynasty... Well... Anyway, it can be as much as it is needed. It can't be used all, it can't be used at all. "

Everyone was numb when they saw this, and Li Yixing couldn't help but trembled: "This machine, this machine... are you selling it?"

Zhao Guangmei smiled and said: "Why, the Dingnan Army wants to place an order with the trading house? It's easy to talk. Let's talk later. This machine is not expensive. I'm just afraid that if I sell it, it will fall into the hands of the Liao Kingdom. Of course, I'm not afraid if it does. That’s it.”

After saying that, Zhao Guangmei glanced at Xiao Chuo provocatively and said: "Anyway, with their technology, this thing can't be copied. Don't underestimate the technical content of this little thing."

Xiao Chuo was confused. After a while, he gave Zhao Guangmei a meaningful look and ignored him.

She's used to it.

The sense of urgency is just a little stronger, I'm really used to it.

Later, Zhao Guangmei took them to see the new tank production line, the new armor forging workshop, and the new large sword production workshop. They were amazed by the production workshops. There was no intention to hide any of these military secrets.

In fact, this is not considered a military secret. It is purely used to suppress others. The nearly unlimited supply of arrows alone is enough to make the Liao Kingdom drink a pot, and there is almost no solution. It is useless to know it. pull.

Apart from further strengthening Xiao Chuo's sense of crisis and making her extremely flustered, it actually had no positive value.

"Of course, there is also the more important firearms production department. It is almost completed now, and many things are about to be put into large-scale production. I won't show you the details of this, but this time the expedition to Shu should be able to provide Just listen."

"Okay, now that the tour of the military factory is over, I will take you to visit the civilian factory. Come on, here are the soy sauce factory, sugar factory, soap factory, brewery, candle and perfume factory, and there is also a glass glass factory under construction over there. The factory, hey, I’ve burned it several times and I’m still not satisfied. The temperature is still not enough. It may take a long time to officially put into production. Come on, come on, no matter how much it is, I’ll give you a tour first.”

In this way, Zhao Guangmei led them around from morning until night, and finally walked around this development zone, which was less than half built.

The densely packed factories made all of them feel numb.

At the same time, everyone has a very absurd idea in their mind: This is the development zone that has just been built half way. If the remaining half is built, the Song Dynasty will be unstoppable.

"Mom, I'm exhausted. This development zone is so big. My legs are so tired from walking around here. Look, am I doing well in my friendship as a landlord? So, you guys have to do this My enemy of the Song Dynasty, or my friend of the Song Dynasty?"

Zhe Deyi and Yang Chongxun immediately knelt on the ground, expressing their unwavering loyalty to the Song Dynasty. Since the time when the Zhe family and the Yang family fought against the Tang Dynasty, they have been loyal to the Central Plains Dynasty for generations. Although they are party members, they have long been loyal to the Song Dynasty. They all speak Chinese.

Yang Chongxun said, isn't my eldest brother still serving as a commander under you? I heard that you have your trust.

Upon seeing this, Li Yixing hesitated for a moment, then immediately knelt down on the ground and said loudly: "What your Highness said is different. The Dingnan Army is the Dingnan Army of the Song Dynasty. I, Li Yixing, was a minister of the Song Dynasty in life and died in the Song Dynasty." He is a ghost of the Song Dynasty. He is loyal and loyal, so how can he be called a friend? As long as His Highness has a destiny, the official family has a destiny, and the Song Dynasty has a destiny, let alone a mere six-grain Tubo, even if he is..."

He glanced at Xiao Chuo.

"Even if it's the Khitan, the Dingnan Army is willing to be a great vassal of the Song Dynasty and will fight to the death without retreating!"

Xiao Chuo: "..."

She glanced at Zhao Guangmei with resentment, but simply glanced at him without expressing her stance at all.

He has said hypocritical diplomatic rhetoric no less than eight hundred times, but this time, he chose not to say it.

Anyway, no one believed it.

"Let's go, I'm hungry. Let's go to Fanlou to have a delicious meal. I'm almost showing off my muscles. It's time to talk to you about the benefits. It's definitely right to follow me, Da Song, um... Yanyan, you Do you want to come with us and eavesdrop on our military secrets?"

"Humph!"

Xiao Chuojiao snorted, and then followed him shamelessly.

"Just listen, just listen."

(End of this chapter)