Chapter 180: Building a Steel City

Holding Empress Zhang's hand as they walked out, Zhu Youxiao's gaze swept over the ministers kneeling on the ground.

He walked to the front of Xu Guangqi and Bi Maokang, reached out and gently helped Xu Guangqi, who was kneeling on the ground, to his feet, and said with a warm smile: "All my beloved ministers, no need for formalities."

After everyone had stood up, Zhu Youxiao casually took Empress Zhang's small hand again and said to Xu Guangqi with a smile: "My beloved minister, you found time to come over today?"

"In answer to Your Majesty, today is my rest day, and since there was nothing to do at home, I came over to the Hundred Crafts Institute to take a look. Things are being done quite well here—Bi Maokang has done an excellent job, and everything is in perfect order. I believe results will come soon." Xu Guangqi said with a smile, his face full of satisfaction and admiration.

As for Xu Guangqi always running over to the Hundred Crafts Institute, Zhu Youxiao knew this clearly in his heart—it was something he was happy to see.

However, there was one matter he needed to be concerned about, and that was Xu Guangqi's health.

One had to know that Xu Guangqi was no longer young. Busy all day with matters of the Ministry of Revenue and the Grand Secretariat, and still finding time to run over to the Hundred Crafts Institute, Zhu Youxiao truly worried that Xu Guangqi might not be able to handle both responsibilities.

So Zhu Youxiao, with a look of concern on his face and a trace of worry in his tone, said: "My beloved minister must still pay attention to his health. Court affairs are numerous and complex, and I cannot do without you, my beloved minister. You must take good care of yourself."

The matter of Zhu Youxiao's rewards to Shen Tingyun had already spread throughout the court and the realm, and Xu Guangqi naturally knew about it as well.

Now hearing Zhu Youxiao's words of concern, Xu Guangqi was slightly moved in his heart, then said with a smile: "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. This old minister understands."

Zhu Youxiao nodded, then turned his head to look at Bi Maokang, who was standing on the other side.

In front of Xu Guangqi, Bi Maokang's seniority was relatively shallow, his status relatively low, and his official rank nothing to speak of, so he had been obediently standing at the side and rear, watching Xu Guangqi and Zhu Youxiao converse.

Of course, a thought had also arisen in Bi Maokang's heart—that one day, he too would speak with His Majesty just as Xu Guangqi did.

Previously, Bi Maokang would not have had such a thought, because he knew that both his ability and his seniority were insufficient.

Having been at the Hundred Crafts Institute for such a long time now, although Bi Maokang's seniority was still lacking, his abilities had been developed to a very great extent.

At the same time, Bi Maokang had also come to recognize one thing—that his abilities could push him forward a bit further.

So Bi Maokang naturally came to have such a thought.

"Take me over to have a look!" Zhu Youxiao said with a gentle smile, nodding at Bi Maokang.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang was delighted in his heart. After acknowledging the order, he quickly turned around and led the way in front.

Zhu Youxiao held Empress Zhang's hand, and after passing through a courtyard filled with all sorts of large tools, a very spacious open plaza suddenly leapt into everyone's view.

Bi Maokang pointed at some old traces on the ground and said: "Your Majesty, this is where the iron-smelting works used to be."

Zhu Youxiao nodded.

Zhu Youxiao knew this place, because it was the earliest production base established by the Hundred Crafts Institute.

As a person who came from a later era, Zhu Youxiao knew very clearly in his heart that industry—especially heavy industry—was built on the principle that all things are based on steel.

If steel smelting was not up to standard, then nothing else could even be discussed. To put it broadly, the materials industry was what supported all other industries.

No matter how exquisite your design was, if you did not have sufficient materials to support it, you simply could not produce it.

In the Great Ming, steel was an extremely, extremely important industry.

In fact, in this era, the Great Ming's steel industry was already very developed. Whether in output or quality, it held a world-leading position, especially in output.

Perhaps the smelting of a small amount of high-end steel was still lacking, but in the overall quality of steel, the Great Ming was definitely the best in the entire world.

For example, something like Damascus steel was certainly better than the Great Ming's steel, but it was difficult to forge, had extremely high requirements for iron ore, and its output was very low—it had no value for large-scale use.

Something like Damascus steel did not actually hold much significance for a nation.

Of course, at specific times it would have specific uses. Things similar to Damascus steel also needed to be developed, but not now.

Looking around, Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "It looks like this place has already been mostly demolished."

"In answer to Your Majesty, indeed it has been mostly demolished. The things that needed to be moved have all been moved away. Your servant has already had people select a site to build a new steelworks, which will entirely adopt the newly developed techniques from this time." Bi Maokang's eyes were filled with hope, and also with eager anticipation.

Zhu Youxiao nodded, turned his head to look at Xu Guangqi on one side, and asked: "Does the Ministry of Revenue have that much silver?"

One had to know that building an entirely new steelworks required spending a great deal of money—this point Zhu Youxiao understood very clearly in his heart.

From site selection to construction, and then to putting it into production, every single step required burning money. Without a massive investment of funds, it absolutely would not work.

The method of smelting steel that the Hundred Crafts Institute had come up with this time was, in fact, the blast furnace of later generations. Of course, it was not as sophisticated as later generations—it was only an earthen blast furnace.

But it would still greatly increase output and the quality of the steel. Zhu Youxiao had not looked at the specific technology, but it was absolutely the crystallization of the entire Great Ming's current scientific and technological knowledge, concentrating all the high-end technology of the steel industry, while also including proprietary technology developed by the Hundred Crafts Institute itself.

Zhu Youxiao was not very knowledgeable about this aspect, but he had seen the data from after it went into production.

According to Bi Maokang's design, this would be a steelworks with an annual output of fifty thousand tons.

Zhu Youxiao had calculated that the Great Ming's current annual steel output was roughly 18 million jin. The jin referred to here was the Ming dynasty jin, which was 16 liang. Converted to the measurement units of later generations, that was approximately 14,400 tons.

And the steelworks Bi Maokang wanted to build would have an annual output of 50,000 tons.

What did this mean?

It meant that once this steelworks was completed, the amount of steel it produced would be more than three times the Great Ming's entire national annual output.

When Zhu Youxiao first saw this plan, he almost dropped his jaw in shock.

Of course, this could not compare with later generations, because in later generations annual output was often in the millions of tons. But what era was this?

In this same era, this was absolutely an extraordinary achievement!

To solve the transportation problem, Bi Maokang had directly proposed building it in a place where iron ore and coal mines were located.

At the same time, Bi Maokang had also researched a coal desulfurization technique. Although it was not very mature, it could barely be used.

In addition, when smelting the finished steel, charcoal was used.

In short, what Bi Maokang provided to Zhu Youxiao was a complete and feasible plan, requiring an investment of a million taels of silver in the first phase alone.

Once this steelworks was completed, it would essentially be building a brand new city, drawing in a huge number of people—whether those coming to work here or those coming to do business here.

This was simply a steel city of later generations.

The technology of this era was not advanced, and many things required manual labor, so this large steelworks would inevitably require a very, very large number of people.

When he first saw this plan back then, Zhu Youxiao was silent for a long time, and then he sent Bi Maokang over to Xu Guangqi.

The result was predictable—this little old man Xu Guangqi was extremely approving of and supportive of this plan.

In Xu Guangqi's words, if the court could smelt this much steel, it could be used to forge more weapons and armor, and at the same time could also manufacture more farming tools.

This was a good thing for the entire Great Ming, from top to bottom, and could also promote the development of the mining industry.

If this steel were sold to make money, it could also increase revenue for the court—this was killing two birds with one stone.

At the same time, under Zhu Youxiao's guidance, the Hundred Crafts Institute had also developed a hydraulic stamping press, which was used to forge armor with excellent results.

The current steel was not up to standard—more steel produced by more steel mills was needed to complete a single stamping.

It wasn't that the steel being forged now was bad, but rather that its flexibility was insufficient, making it unsuitable for stamping. To perform stamping would require readjustment, which was more troublesome than building new steel mills.

It was around that time that Zhu Youxiao saw for the first time the plate armor forged by the Great Ming, produced through hydraulic stamping.

Finally, there was a saying Zhu Youxiao had heard: discussing defense while ignoring weight was nothing but hooliganism.

But plate armor did indeed offer better defense at the same weight. The key point was that it could be mass-produced rapidly on a large scale through hydraulic stamping presses—something ordinary armor manufacturing could not match.

Swords, spears, sabers, and halberds were the same—all could be stamped into shape in a single pass, and the manufacturing speed was extremely fast.

After obtaining such results, Zhu Youxiao could hardly hold himself back, and this policy received Xu Guangqi's support.

By the time Zhu Youxiao had finished handling everything, Xu Guangqi had already submitted the policy to the Grand Secretariat, where it then gained Sun Chengzong's support.

And so, under these circumstances, the policy was passed at the Grand Secretariat.

The site here had already been demolished, and outside, they had begun selecting a location to build new steel mills, though the specific site had not yet been decided.

But Zhu Youxiao estimated it would be one of a few places—there were not many locations near Beijing with both iron and coal, though in truth there were quite a few.

One could look further afield to Hebei Province—the Hebei of later generations. In any case, Zhu Youxiao felt that Xu Guangqi and the others would surely choose a good location.

Naturally, Zhu Youxiao also supported this matter; what he had always worried about was the question of silver.

One had to understand that the court's expenditures were by no means small. Although he had obtained some silver from the household confiscations a while back, the expenses would only grow larger as time went on.

Whether it was Liaodong or the northwest, both would become enormous money-burning regions.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue's silver is sufficient for now," Xu Guangqi spoke up.

But Xu Guangqi seemed somewhat hesitant—as if he wanted to say something but feared provoking Zhu Youxiao, he did not continue, wearing an expression of wanting to speak yet holding back.

Seeing Xu Guangqi like this, Zhu Youxiao laughed first, looking at Xu Guangqi and saying: "My dear minister, speak whatever you wish without reservation. Though I dare not claim to be a wise sovereign, I am still capable of humbly accepting remonstrance."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Upon hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, Xu Guangqi seemed to have made some kind of resolution, and said with a solemn expression: "Your Majesty, the state's coffers are insufficient, and every part of the court lacks money. The capital is drilling new troops, Liaodong is also spending, natural disasters are frequent across the land—this is precisely when the court needs funds. Your minister wonders whether the construction projects in the palace should be halted for a time?"

After saying this, Xu Guangqi no longer spoke, standing in place motionless with his body bowed and head lowered.

Once these words came out, everyone present fell silent, as if strangled by an invisible hand, or as if instantly frozen stiff where they stood.