Chapter 472: Progress
Chapter 472: Progress
After returning to the camp, Pei Wen'an whispered to Xiao Xia: "Your Highness, it is better to teach people how to fish than to give them fish. Instead of asking the court for fish, it is better to ask the court for fishing!"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that it would be best to bring back all the former Southern Dynasty craftsmen. We only have a hundred high-quality blacksmiths now. If the number of blacksmiths increases to a thousand, 20,000 lance blades can be made in four months."
Xiao Xia nodded, "I want to have my cake and eat it too. Let's give it a try first! Let's see if the emperor will agree!"
Xiao Xia was unsure, as he had made too many requests recently and his father might not be willing to grant them.
However, he has a trump card, which is Liaodong. If everything goes towards conquering Liaodong, there might still be a glimmer of hope.
After returning to his official residence, Xiao Xia immediately wrote a memorial to the emperor and handed it to Fang Xuanling, who sealed it in a special memorial cover and sent it to the newly established Jinzouyuan in Luoyang.
Officials in the Jinzouyuan would decide whether to submit the memorial to the imperial court or directly to the emperor based on the color and style of the memorial cover.
Xiao Xia asked Fang Xuanling again, "Do I have any important plans recently?
Fang Xuanling looked at the records and said, "Sixty-four officials from Jiangnan will come to Jiangdu to report. The first batch will arrive tomorrow and needs to be received by Your Highness. Then the recruitment of soldiers has begun. Your Highness asked me to remind you. Then the second batch of coal should arrive in the next two days. The fleet from Jiangling will also arrive in the next few days. By the way, Your Highness said that he would inspect the salt business in the next two days."
There were so many things waiting for him, Xiao Xia could only sigh helplessly and said, "Then let's do it in February! Remember, I will go to inspect the Megan Prison and Yetang Prison in early February, and at the same time inspect the salt shops in Wu County and Piling County!"
In the afternoon, hundreds of cargo ships loaded with coal arrived at Jiangdu Coal Terminal. As the number of terminals continued to increase, Jiangdu now had dedicated salt terminals and coal terminals.
Xiao Xia brought a group of officials to the coal dock. The chief steward Zheng Rong came forward and bowed, "Your Highness!"
“Is the dredging of Coal Mine Creek finished?”
"Half of it was completed last year, and it will be finished in three months in the spring of this year. I have established a business in Pengcheng County and recruited seven managers, each of whom has his own duties. The dock and warehouse are under construction, and everything is progressing very quickly."
"How is the coal mining situation?" Xiao Xia asked with a smile.
"Reporting to Your Highness, the biggest problem now is that there is too much coal to be transported. The cargo ships in Pengcheng County are not willing to transport the coal because they think it is dirty. It was very difficult to find a fleet of cargo ships, and they even doubled the shipping fee before they reluctantly agreed."
Xiao Xia frowned and turned back to ask Liu Wenjing: "Do we have any extra ships to form our own coal transport fleet?"
Liu Wenjing shook his head: "I don't know either. The management of ships is quite chaotic now. It is said that there are many idle ships in various counties. There were hundreds of ships before, but they were later borrowed by the salt companies."
Xiao Xia said dissatisfiedly: "Don't the Yanhang have more than a thousand ships? What other ships do they need?"
"The key is who is in charge. They say it is under the jurisdiction of the Property Office, but they say they only manage fixed assets, such as houses, land, and farmland, and they have no control over ships and carriages.
They said it was under the jurisdiction of the military, and they only managed horses, carts and military ships, saying civilian ships had nothing to do with them. In the end, the salt company wrote an IOU and threw it on my desk, and they drove the ship away.
At this point, Liu Wenjing said helplessly: "Your Highness, the necessary management agencies are still needed. We cannot do nothing for the sake of frugality. In the future, there will only be more and more ships, the river will be blocked, and the docks will be in chaos.
Also, how many official ships do we have? The account books say that the government has dozens of 10,000-stone merchant ships, but we haven't seen even one. Who owns these 10,000-stone ships? It is said that there are still many official ships in Jiangling and Xiangyang, but they have borrowed them and never returned them. "
Xiao Xia waved her hand, interrupting Liu Wenjing's complaints, "I understand. We will set up a Transportation Bureau immediately. The most urgent task is to put together a coal transport fleet!"
Liu Wenjing agreed: "I will first take back the hundreds of ships from the salt company. If they don't have enough, they can rent civilian ships. We can't take all the official ships away."
Liu Wenjing gave a few instructions to an official, who then left in a hurry.
Xiao Xia then came to the dock, where people were busy unloading coal. The captain of the coal-carrying ship had a worried look on his face. Although he had earned double the ship's fare, the ship was dirty inside and out. How could he transport goods for others?
Xiao Xia saw coal dust all over the ground. He then looked closely at the unloaded coal and found that it was basically coal slag and coal dust, with not many large pieces of coal.
He turned back and asked Zheng Rong curiously, "I remember that the coal last time was mostly large pieces, why is it all broken coal and pulverized coal this time?"
Zheng Rong said quickly: "Your Highness, this ship of coal is actually the last ship. When loading, basically the lump coal is loaded first, and the remaining pulverized coal and crushed coal are loaded last." "I see, I thought the coal quality has become finer and finer."
Liu Wenjing laughed and said, "Your Highness, this kind of pulverized coal is no longer usable!"
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "How can it not be useful? Have you forgotten how we make the Three Treasures Cake in Hexi?"
"Your Highness, do you mean to use water to mash them into cakes and then dry them?"
Xiao Xia shook his head. "Water alone is not enough. We need to add some yellow mud to increase the viscosity. The ratio of coal to mud should be about 20:80! We can knead them into coal balls as big as eggs and sell them to the people for burning. Then people won't have to buy firewood anymore!"
Liu Wenjing's eyes lit up. "This is a good idea. Firewood is expensive in Jiangnan! A bundle of firewood costs dozens of coins. In the future, everyone will burn coal, and the mountains will not be cut into bald trees."
"We need to take our time with this. Currently, coal production is low and it is mainly used for boiling salt, boiling saltpeter and smelting. Even if we make coal briquettes, we must first consider military use. We can consider civilian use when there is enough coal!"
What Xiao Xia was thinking about was of course honeycomb coal. Its appearance will greatly change people's lives, making the use of fire safer, more efficient and economical, and enabling people to move from the firewood era to the coal era.
But honeycomb coal was actually invented during the Western Han Dynasty, but for some reason it was not popularized, perhaps due to the low coal production.
.........
In the next few days, Xiao Xia was very busy, meeting with officials. The Jiangling fleet also arrived and was anchored along the coast of Jingkou opposite Chang'an. The military officials registered them one by one, and the three official shipyards began a comprehensive renovation and maintenance of the military ships.
That morning, Xiao Xia came to the gunpowder department. This was a temporary arrangement on his part. Wang Pu, the director of the military equipment department, sent a notice that a gunpowder test would be conducted this morning.
Shao Fa, the gunpowder craftsman, has seven apprentices. Since the saltpeter was delivered at the end of last year, the eight of them have started to study day and night, boiling saltpeter, preparing medicine, conducting repeated experiments and summarizing their experience.
Gradually they figured out some patterns.
The Gunpowder Bureau is located to the west of Jiangdu City, thirty miles away from the city, close to a mountain, covering an area of 100 acres. It consists of government offices, research institutes, warehouses and test sites.
When Xiao Xia arrived at the research institute, the master craftsman Shao Fa came to greet him, "Your Highness!"
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "I heard that you have figured out something. What is it?"
"Your Highness, we have discovered the relationship between sulfur and charcoal."
"How to say?"
"The saltpeter is fixed at 70%. If more sulfur is added, it will be explosive. If less sulfur is added and more charcoal powder is added, it will not explode, but will shoot the bamboo tube into the sky. We call it rocket powder."
"Not bad!"
Xiao Xia praised: "They actually made propellant. Do you have any firearms that have been developed?"
"I have something fun to show Your Highness!"
Shao Fa took a bamboo tube in two pieces, walked to the open space outside, put the bamboo tube on the ground, lit the fuse, and a moment later, "bang!" The bamboo tube flew into the air, several feet high, and then "pop!" There was a loud noise, and the bamboo tube exploded in the sky.
Xiao Xia laughed out loud, this is a firecracker! They actually invented it.
(End of this chapter)