Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 316 Tai Chi Starting Line: The Restoration of Liaodong (Part 1)

In the Qinling Mountains, Zhang Xianzhong's rebels were fleeing in disarray.

On the north bank of the Hun River, it seems that the Jurchens under Huang Taiji's command are also secretly fleeing.

After returning to Liaodong, the Jurchen cavalry seemed to have no rest. They even used warhorses to pull their wives, children, and elderly relatives, and used horse-drawn carts to carry their valuables directly north to the Horqin Grassland.

They didn't dismantle the pontoon bridge over the Liao River either. Every day, countless Jurchen cavalrymen led their wives, children, and belongings northward in long lines. Even the Khorchin tribe sent many horse-drawn and ox-drawn carts to pick them up. The procession stretched for dozens or even hundreds of miles and was so long that even a blind person could see it.

Sun Chuanting had arranged many hidden sentries north of the Hun River. They could detect the Jurchen cavalry running past, so they naturally spotted the Jurchens fleeing with their families immediately.

At this time, the total number of Jurchen men, women, and children was less than 500,000. Even if each of the 70,000 to 80,000 warhorses carried two elderly people, women, and children each time, that would still be 150,000 to 160,000. Three trips would then carry nearly 500,000.

If we also take into account the 70,000 to 80,000 Jurchen cavalry themselves, as well as the Jurchens who were killed or captured in Liaoyang City, Dingliao Right Guard, Haizhou Guard, and other places, these guys could take all the people to the Khorchin grassland in just two trips!

The Jurchens are clearly running away. Should they give chase?

Sending chariot troops to chase after him now would be too late, because his 200,000 chariot troops were forming a defensive formation on the north bank of the Hun River to protect the newly built city, while the rest were scattered on the south bank of the Hun River for defense.

If he wanted to send troops to pursue immediately, it seemed that the only option was to send cavalry.

The problem is that at this moment, the Liaodong cavalry and the Jingying cavalry combined only number 50,000, while the Jurchen cavalry number 70,000 to 80,000. Even if he sends his cavalry to chase after them, he might not be able to defeat them.

More importantly, this could also be a scheme by Huang Taiji to lure the enemy.

At this moment, the cities built on both the south and north banks of the Hun River were guarded by chariot troops as if they were iron barrels. In addition, there were 50,000 cavalrymen patrolling behind the chariot troops for defense. Huang Taiji had no chance at all. If he sent out his cavalry to ambush them and they got into an ambush, he would definitely have to send chariot troops to rescue them. At that time, the defense lines on the south and north banks of the Hun River would become a mess, and Huang Taiji's opportunity would come.

After receiving the news, Sun Chuanting was extremely conflicted, wondering whether to pursue the matter or not.

After hesitating for a while, he decided to personally make a trip to the capital to consult the current emperor.

At this moment, Zhu Jue is considering laying tracks across the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

The convenience of land transportation after the laying of railway tracks in the capital is obvious to all. If all the major cities in the Ming Dynasty could be connected by railway tracks, land transportation would be even more convenient than water transportation.

Of course, this convenience is relative to ordinary people.

After all, steamships weren't for ordinary people; they carried goods for the imperial court, not for the common people.

Nowadays, the common people of the Ming Dynasty can only travel by rowboat. Not only is it slow, but they can't go very far in a day. It's considered good if an ordinary rowboat can travel a few dozen miles a day.

If tracks were laid, it would be a different story. Not to mention steam trains, even horse-drawn railcars could travel hundreds of miles a day.

However, laying out the railway tracks in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty was not so simple, nor could it be done simply by issuing an imperial decree; there were too many issues involved.

Around 9 a.m. that day, after hastily reviewing the memorials, he ordered all the ministers of the inner court, several fathers-in-law of the emperor, including Lu Xiangshan and Wei Zhongxian, to be summoned.

When Wei Zhongxian saw this scene, he was extremely excited. The emperor hadn't summoned him for so long, and he thought he had fallen out of favor. He thought the emperor was going to punish him.

Who would have thought that this time the current emperor would summon him as a trusted confidant.

Those present here are all the most trusted confidants of the current emperor.

Zhu Jue certainly didn't want to punish Wei Zhongxian. Since he ascended the throne, Wei Zhongxian had not only not done anything bad but had also helped him a lot. He had long since decided to let bygones be bygones.

The reason he didn't summon Wei Zhongxian during this period was simply because he had nothing else to do and asked Wei Zhongxian to handle it.

Seeing Wei Zhongxian's excited expression, he couldn't help but smile slightly and say, "Zhongxian, you'll have to work hard again this time."

That's great! I was just worried you wouldn't let me work so hard. I don't want to become a useless piece of trash.

Wei Zhongxian trembled with excitement and said, "Your Majesty, just give the order, and I will go through fire and water for you."

Yes, Not Bad.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue nodded slightly.

Everyone was a little confused by what they saw.

Why did Your Majesty summon them here?
They weren't like Wei Zhongxian, idle and with nothing to do; they were all very busy.

His Majesty even said that Wei Zhongxian would have to work hard again.

How much did the things Wei Zhongxian was able to accomplish have to do with them?
Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Zhu Jue simply pointed to the map on the table and said, "I plan to lay railway tracks in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty. All the major cities will be connected by several loops of tracks, just like the capital, to facilitate the travel of ordinary people. Furthermore, the cities will be connected by tracks, just like the capital and Haihe New City." Oh, so he was planning to lay railway tracks in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

This is no small task.

The Ming Dynasty was so vast that its railway tracks could easily stretch for thousands or even tens of thousands of miles.

How many rails, how many sleepers, and how many people would be needed to lay them?
Upon hearing this, everyone's faces turned solemn.

Zhu Jue slowly scanned the area, then asked, "Yuan Jiu, what is our current steel production like, and what about rail production? How many steel ingots and rails have been stockpiled in Jizhou Town?"

How do you say this?

After thinking carefully, Song Yingsheng cautiously said, "Your Majesty, our current steel production is only about five million catties a day, and the production of rails is still uncertain."

This is because we have too many types of tracks, and from the end of last year to the beginning of this year we have been renovating and building new factories. The original factories for casting tracks have been converted into factories for casting boilers, and the newly built factories have only recently started production.

We've stockpiled nearly 300 million jin of steel ingots, but we haven't stockpiled much railroad track; all the various types of track combined only amount to about a thousand li.

Five million jin and three hundred million jin sound scary, but in reality, five million jin is only about two thousand five hundred tons, and three hundred million jin is only a little over ten thousand tons. In later generations, the steel production of major countries was measured in tons, and an annual output of hundreds of millions of tons was nothing.

At this point, the entire Ming Dynasty could only produce a little over two thousand tons of steel a day, and a few hundred thousand tons a year, which was still far from enough.

As for the 300 million jin of steel reserves, that won't last long. Currently, their freight tracks weigh about 100 jin per zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) each. If four tracks are laid side by side, that's 400 jin. If each li (approximately 500 kilometers) is 150 zhang (approximately 750 kilometers), that's 60,000 jin. If each li is 100 kilometers, that's 6 million jin. If each 1,000 kilometers is 60 million jin. 300 million jin is only enough to lay 5,000 kilometers!

This is just a single-section freight car pulled by horses. If it were a freight car pulled by a steam train, the rails that are ten feet long would probably weigh at least three or four hundred pounds.

In other words, their current steel reserves are only enough to lay a little over a thousand miles of standard track, while their daily steel production is only enough to lay twenty or thirty miles of standard track.

He originally thought that the tracks between cities would be laid according to the standard track, so as to save the steam train from having to be reworked after it was developed.

Now it seems that he was being a bit too idealistic. If they were to lay the tracks according to the standard method, even if all their current steel production were used to lay tracks, they could only lay a few thousand miles a year. It would take ten years to connect all the cities in the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, steel has other uses; it's already quite impressive that they can salvage ordinary steel to cast rails.

Current steel production is far from sufficient; he needs to increase steel production as soon as possible.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "Yuan Jiu, is it a problem to increase steel production to 10 million catties per day this year, and to 20 million catties per day next year?"

Uh, this is a huge problem!

Song Yingsheng thought about it carefully before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, this is probably very difficult, because steelmaking requires too many people. From mining to refining iron ingots and then transporting them to the city to be refined into steel, a large number of people are needed in the process."

We can now refine 20 to 30 pounds of pig iron from 100 pounds of iron ore, and 10 pounds of pig iron can be refined into 2 to 3 pounds of steel. In other words, 100 pounds of ore can roughly produce 5 pounds of steel.

Currently, we have recruited over 100,000 able-bodied men to mine iron ore, plus over 100,000 to mine coal, and then there are those who transport goods and those who smelt steel. In total, we have over 300,000 craftsmen and able-bodied men, which is enough to guarantee a daily output of 5 million catties of steel.

If we want to increase steel production to ten million catties, we would need at least six hundred thousand able-bodied men and artisans, and we would also need to build several cities and many steel mills.

The key issue is that the mines in Jizhou Town are already almost fully staffed. If production capacity is doubled, there probably won't be enough room for all the workers. If production is increased to 20 million jin per day, even if the mines are fully packed with people, it probably won't be enough.

This is a real problem. Mining and steelmaking are too labor-intensive, especially when mining is done manually. It would be better if there were mining machines.

The problem is, these mining machines can't be developed in just a day or two, or even a month or two.

How to do it?

As Zhu Jue was pondering this, Fang Zhenghua suddenly strode in, cupped his hands, and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Lord Sun requests an audience."

Lord Sun?
At this moment, it seems that Lord Sun is Sun Chuanting.

Why did Sun Chuanting come back?
By the way, there are many coal mines and iron mines in Liaodong.

Perhaps he could consider developing Liaodong, since the waterways there are very convenient, and the land routes are also connected by rail.

He paused for a moment, then said loudly, "Why are you stopping him? Quick, announce it!"

Uh, don't you have something important to discuss?
Upon hearing this, Fang Zhenghua quickly bowed and took his leave, then hurried away.

(End of this chapter)