Steel Dynasty - Chapter 766

[Chapter 765 Inspection of Laiwu]

A warm wind poured into the imperial study from the window.

Xiao Ming, who was playing with his pipe, frowned and asked, “Is this Brandon really stupid or fake?”

With the painful historical memory of modern times, Xiao Ming is naturally very wary of opium. Once addicted to this stuff, it is difficult to eradicate.

If Brandon had just sent opium, which is what is now called “Wuxiang” in Great Chongqing, he would still be able to accept it. After all, this stuff is also a medicinal material that can be used for anesthesia and analgesia.

But what is the intention of this girl who just sent a big smoking gun over? Perhaps Asian countries do not understand the dangers of opium smoking because of their low cultural level, but Europeans who have been dealing with opium for more than a hundred years cannot not know it.

“Sure enough, there is a needle hidden in the cotton, and a knife hidden in the smile.”

Xiao Ming sneered. If he was not from modern times, he would probably fall into the hands of Brandon and live a life of lying in bed and puffing away smoke.

But thinking about the trend of this era, he was a little unsure. After all, many Asian royal families liked this thing at this time. Maybe Brandon was following his fancy.

Shaking his head, Xiao Ming stopped thinking about it for the time being. Whether Brandon did it intentionally or unintentionally, it was normal. The exchanges between countries were always about smiling on the surface and stabbing each other behind the scenes.

And because he knew the dangers of this black fragrance, he would not smoke it, but this incident provided him with a way to control Goryeo.

Perhaps he could use casinos and opium to control the officials in the Goryeo court, and even the King of Goryeo.

As far as he knew, the origin of this kind of black incense is basically in Ryukyu and Southeast Asia. If you want to get this kind of thing, you can only get it from these places.

And he now not only controls Goryeo’s maritime trade, but also cuts off Goryeo’s possibility of obtaining Wuxiang from land.

As long as the important ministers of Goryeo are addicted, they must obtain it from Dayu. At that time, some conditions will be easy to negotiate.

Although this method is somewhat disgraceful, politics is often darker than this. Compared with the frequent massacres, his method is already very gentle, and this is only to deal with those Goryeo officials who are not good at all.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ming felt that it was necessary to expand the cultivation of black incense in Ryukyu. After all, whether these things would be used as weapons against the West or as medicinal materials in the future.

At the same time, he will issue a ban in the Great Chongqing State, explicitly prohibiting the people of the Great Chongqing State from getting involved in this thing.

With a calculation in his mind, Xiao Ming picked up the pen at hand, which he had asked the craftsmen of the Equipment Department to make not long ago.

Overall, this pen has the appearance of a modern pen. The only drawback is that it must be dipped in ink to use.

Because there was no rubber, the craftsman in the Instrument Department could not make the straw, but even so, he was very satisfied.

As the number of writing things increased in the past few years, he increasingly felt that the brush could not meet his requirements when dealing with government affairs, and it also affected him from turning the knowledge in his mind into books.

Now that he has a pen, his work efficiency is much faster. After using it for a period of time, he plans to first promote writing with pens in the government system and end the history of calligraphy ruling the country of Chongqing. For him, this is also a big step. A point in Chongqing’s transition to pragmatism.

After writing down the prohibition clauses eloquently, Xiao Ming put away his pen and stood up.

Upon seeing this, Qian Dafu came in and said, “Your Majesty, the carriage is ready. The officials who came to Laiwu this time have also arrived. It’s time to set off.”

Xiao Ming nodded, and he called a young eunuch to ask him to The ban was given to Pang Yukun to be implemented in Dayu, and then he walked out.

After the successful operation of the steam locomotive, the reform was pushed to a climax. The magical locomotive made the scholars of Dayu realize that a drastic change was taking place.

For those who had already participated in the reform, this was even more of an incentive. The craftsmen in both the glass shop and the steam engine shop were very enthusiastic.

Xiao Ming naturally couldn’t sit down at this time. It was not easy for him to bring a country of Chongqing, which was far behind the West in technology, to where it is today.

However, the success of steam engines and locomotives not only did not satisfy him, but instead gave him a sense of urgency.

Although the Golden Horde, Goryeo, Tubo and other feudal dynasties are threats to the Great Chongqing Kingdom, these countries are still in feudal society after all, and it is relatively easy to deal with them.

But it is not so easy to deal with the West, which has made a comprehensive leap in thinking and technology. Because of this, he dare not relax even a little bit.

This time he went to Laiwu for one of the most important resources of the Chongqing Kingdom – steel.

The construction of the Qingzhou Railway first extended two lines. The first one was the route to Chang’an. On this route was a large open-pit coal mine.

These coal mines did not require complex mining techniques, and the coal seams on the surface were enough to support the first industrial revolution.

The second route is to go south to Laiwu for the large iron mines here.

After these two lines, the railway will be extended to other places.

His main purpose of going to Laiwu this time was to inspect the steel mill here. When the reform was announced, he was asked to build the Laiwu Steel Mill.

In the future, Chongqing’s steel production will mainly rely on Laiwu Steel Mill and Kaiping Steel Mill.

When he arrived at the door, Xiao Ming saw a four-wheeled carriage parked at the door.

Different from the two-wheeled carriages of Dayu, he specially asked the Equipment Department to produce this four-wheeled carriage, and also installed spring shock absorbers on the wheels.

This carriage was specially ordered by him to be produced, and it was also the first four-wheeled carriage in Dayu. His purpose was very clear, which was to make the people of Dayu familiar with four-wheeled things.

At the same time, this is also paving the way for the birth of the car. A country that only knows two wheels will not have the idea of producing four-wheeled cars.

After getting on the carriage, Xiao Ming headed south under the protection of his guards. After four days of running around, he and the officials in charge of the mines and workshops arrived in Laiwu.

Unlike Qingzhou, on the way to Laiwu, Xiao Ming saw poor people everywhere. At this moment, he suddenly felt that it would be a very difficult task to govern such a populous country like the West, which has always been wealthy. For this, he needed Just occupy more resources in the world.

Just as he was thinking about it, his carriage gradually came to a stop. At this time, Xiao Ming got off the carriage and saw an iron mine being mined. Next to the iron mine was the Laiwu Iron and Steel Works.

“Your Majesty, this is the Laiwu Iron and Steel Factory. It is said that it will be put into production soon.” Qian Dafu said with a smile.

Qian Dafu used to be in charge of the mine. Now when he arrived at the mine, he suddenly felt a long-lost sense of intimacy and talked more.

Xiao Ming was in a good mood after seeing the bustling mine. He walked towards the busy mine, ready to see how the steam engine was being used in the mine.

(End of chapter)