Great Ming: I, Zhu Di, Declare My Intentions to Seize the Throne from the Start!

After the first negotiations broke down.

The next day.

Zhu Biao received the news.

Zhu Di accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang in a low-key manner, took the train south, left Yanjing, and went to Medan Island to observe the rubber industry and fierce oil mining in Medan Island...

Zhu Biao didn't say anything about this.

But anyone can feel that the air pressure on Zhu Biao's body is very low.

Everyone also understands the reason for this.

Zhu Di's move undoubtedly showed that he did not care about the success or failure of the Grand Cross Railway project.

At least, compared to the Ming Dynasty.

Yanhua showed no urgency.

…

Until half a month later.

Zhu Di accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang back to Yanjing.

Fang Xiaoru, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, immediately came to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on behalf of Zhu Biao.

Xie Jinguanfang.

Jie Jin personally poured tea for Fang Xiaoru, sat down, and waited for Fang Xiaoru to take a sip of tea and put down the teacup before he smiled and said, "I feel bad for Brother Xizhi."

"When you are not needed, if you say anything, you will be worried about others labeling you. At this time, Prince, why don't you do it yourself?"

Fang Xiaoru's mouth was bitter.

"As the chief minister of the cabinet, our ministers must be the first to negotiate with each other. It is reasonable and reasonable for me to come to see Minister Jie."

Jie Jin shook his head: "What about Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai? They are the ones who are talking loudly. Now that we want to restart negotiations, why don't they come?"

Fang Xizhi really wanted to sign the Grand Cross Railway project.

At the same time, he is too humble and a gentleman.

That's why I get bullied and always take over such bad things.

Fang Xiaoru smiled, changed the subject, and asked: "Minister Xie, the prince is back. When can we restart negotiations?"

Xie Jin did not continue the question just now.

He just admired Fang Xizhi's character and talent, was a fellow minister, and felt unfair for Fang Xizhi.

Then he said: "As long as the court, no, to be precise, the prince is sincere and the conservative forces of the Ming Dynasty can adjust the positions of both parties, we can restart negotiations at any time. However, Brother Xizhi must tell his colleagues in the Ming Dynasty, similar to the first The unrealistic conditions and Huang Zicheng’s arrogant and domineering attitude in this negotiation must not happen again.”

"One thing cannot be the same. If in the next negotiation, your attitude is still arrogant and unable to recognize the reality, we will terminate the negotiation completely."

"Your Majesty wants to build the Grand Cross Railway for the Central Plains. The fundamental reason is not to use this big project to digest Yanhua's huge steel production capacity, but to fulfill his filial piety. I hope that Your Majesty will be able to sit on Ming Dynasty's own train and watch His Majesty's hand during his lifetime. Conquered the country!”

"Other interests are just incidental to this main starting point. In essence, our cabinet hopes to achieve a win-win situation for both of us on the basis of our filial piety in helping the prince."

…

He knows it very well.

The prince spent more than two years in the Research Department working with researchers to develop steam locomotives.

Just to fulfill your filial piety.

If it hadn't been for the prince's later actions of stealing, shelling Tuqiao Village, and the navy approaching Penglai.

To be honest, he estimated that the prince would agree to some harsh and rude requests made by the court for this Grand Cross Railway project.

As for digesting the huge steel production.

The Grand Cross Railway was not the only road built for the imperial court.

After the Strait of Malacca was opened.

Going further west for sea trade.

According to forecasts from the Economic Research Division, maritime merchants' demand for sturdier ships will increase rapidly.

A fully armored ironclad ship is definitely impossible.

First of all, it is impossible to fully liberalize military technology for civilian use.

Moreover, the price is too high and maritime merchants may not be able to afford it.

But there will definitely be a surge in demand for semi-armored low-speed steamships in one or two years.

As long as the steel mill persists for one or two years, the situation will change.

As for whether the steelmaking plant has the ability to persist for one or two years?

In this regard, everyone at Yanhua is very confident.

The overall economic situation in Yanhua is very good. There is no problem in supporting the three steelmaking plants for one or two years.

The prince was under great financial burden during ten years of rural construction.

Promote the construction of the third joint steelmaking plant.

In fact, it was not at all intended to meet the demand for steel for rural construction.

The essential reason is for the Grand Cross Railway project.

The prince hopes that with sufficient supply of raw materials, a railway can be built before His Majesty leaves!

In essence, their cabinet knew that the third joint steelmaking plant was built by force.

At that time, the cabinet had already analyzed and demonstrated how to digest the huge steel production once the Grand Cross Railway plan could not be realized.

And, response plans have been made.

Now, members of their cabinet are willing to actively promote negotiations with Ming Dynasty.

It's not because Yanhua has no way out.

I just want to help the prince fulfill his filial piety.

…

Fang Xiaoru was silent listening to Xie Jin's words.

…

Two days later.

Foreign Affairs Hall.

Same negotiating location.

The second negotiation between the two parties started again.

Zhu Di and Zhu Biao each led their ministers and stood opposite each other across a long table.

The two brothers looked at each other.

Zhu Biao hesitated and stretched out his hand first. Zhu Di also extended his hand almost at the same time. The two brothers shook hands and took their seats first.

Everyone also sat down.

Zhu Biaohan said with a smile: "Fourth, in the first negotiation, you guys politely asked us to state our plan first. This time, you should state your plan first."

Zhu Di didn't refuse, smiled and nodded, looking at Jie Jin who was sitting next to him on the right.

Xie Jin opened the plan book, looked down at it, and said: "First of all, as the deputy leader of the Yanhua negotiating team for this negotiation, I would like to thank the Ming side for their courtesy..."

Huang Zicheng glanced at Jie Jin, who was looking down at the plan, and the corners of his lips twitched.

hypocritically!

Xie Jin didn't even look at the expressions of everyone on the Ming side. After thanking them, he continued: "Our plan mainly focuses on a few points."

"1. In the future construction of the Grand Cross Railway, we will provide a full set of technical conditions for terrain survey and track laying, as well as experienced engineers and steel. Based on the construction experience in the central Luzon region, we will quote a construction cost per kilometer, Calculating two thousand taels of silver..."

On the court side, Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai and others' faces instantly darkened when they heard the quotation.

Two thousand taels per kilometer?

Construction mileage of the Grand Cross Railway.

At least eight to nine thousand kilometers.

This means that the imperial court has to spend at least 20 million taels of silver?

Yes, in the past few years, since the establishment of rural village communities and the opening of the sea, the imperial treasury has been full.

Emperor Zhu was also a diligent and frugal emperor.

But the treasury's surplus is only more than 30 million taels of silver!

Don't talk about Huang Zicheng.

When Zhu Biao heard this quotation, he was shocked at first, and then curled his fingers slightly.

Somewhat angry.

However, he suppressed his anger and continued to listen.

…

"In the plan to build the Grand Cross Railway, 80% of the steel consumption will be provided by us, and 20% will be provided by the Ming Dynasty court. To ensure that the Ming Dynasty can meet the steel supply for construction needs, we will provide the imperial court with a larger smelting Iron blast furnace, the initial plan is to provide eight 20-ton iron-smelting blast furnaces, and provide supporting equipment, three small steel-making converters with an annual output of 10,000 tons of steel, and supporting engineers to help the Ming Dynasty train technical workers and improve Production Process."

…

"Build a steam rolling steel production line for Daming."

"Build a carriage manufacturing factory with an annual production capacity of twenty carriages."

"Help Daming build a steam locomotive assembly factory."

…

"All the above-mentioned aided factories are equipped with technical support until the church."

Say it.

Xie Jin raised his head and looked at Zhu Biao and the Ming side, "This is our plan. I wonder if you have any objections to this plan?"

The reformists headed by Fang Xiaoru and Lan Yu had smiles on their faces.

Although the cost per kilometer is a bit too expensive.

However, I believe the cost issue is negotiable.

There are more than 30 supporting factories built with the help of Yanhua!

In the steam locomotive assembly factory alone, in addition to some high-precision parts provided by Yanhua, there are as many as seven or eight other supporting parts production factories.

Although, these supporting factories are all factories with low technical content, such as cylinder screw and bolt processing factories, connecting rod casting factories, etc.

But it is enough to show Yanhua's sincerity.

You have to eat the food one bite at a time, and you won't become a big fat man after one bite.

Those, such as boilers, cylinders, rubber sealing rings and other high-precision processing and manufacturing.

Even if Yanhua hands over the technology to them.

Can the imperial court do it well?

It is better to start training and cultivating talents in these low-tech supporting processing, step by step, down to earth.

Especially Yanhua solemnly promised.

He will teach the workers who are assisting in the construction of the factory step by step and master the production process.

It turns out.

Process technology during the production process.

Also very important!

And this is precisely the most backward link in the development of the imperial industry. Zhu Biao and everyone on the Daming side communicated and discussed in low voices for a while.

Huang Zicheng wrote down the results of the discussion one by one.

He raised his head and said: "First of all, your cost is too high. As far as we know, your cost includes Yanhua's labor cost, and this cost accounts for at least half of your total cost. We in Ming Dynasty do not have this item cost."

There was no corvee system in Yanhua.

The infrastructure of the Yanhua court was built by spending real money and employing people.

Moreover, Yanhua's population shortage has exacerbated Yanhua's labor costs.

But the imperial court was different.

To build the Grand Cross Railway, those stupid people must serve as corvees!

"Secondly, we provide 20% of the steel demand, which is too low, at least 50%. Since we do not have this production capacity, Yanhua must provide assistance to build a large converter steelmaking plant with a capacity of 100,000 tons..."

After hearing this, Xie Jin, Ye Mao and other members of the Yanhua cabinet suddenly wanted to laugh and curse.

Even though he knew that his production capacity was insufficient, he still demanded at least 50% of the production capacity.

What's more, it requires assistance in building a large-scale converter steelmaking plant with a capacity of 100,000 tons.

Every word reveals an aura of poverty and poverty!

When Fang Xiaoru, Lan Yu and others heard this, they bowed their heads in shame.

This is something that the conservative forces must add to the discussion just now. Although they opposed it, they did not realize it.

These conditions are the result of mutual compromise between the reform and conservative factions.

The reason for their opposition is simple.

It's too big a step.

Prior to this, the imperial court did not even have a real steelmaking plant.

Even with the small-furnace steelmaking method, the yield is very low.

Is it really good to launch a 100,000-ton class all at once?

They all visited Yanhua's 100,000-ton steelmaking plant.

In addition to King Yan taking them there, later, during the free visit, they spent a long time to visit and understand it carefully.

The number of technical jobs involved in the production of a 100,000-ton steelmaking plant is frightening.

They believe that the imperial court's hasty launch of the 100,000-tonne project is too difficult and the step is too big, and the gains may outweigh the losses.

"For this reason, the 100,000-ton steelmaking plant does not need to be included in the construction assistance sequence. We can spend money to purchase it, but it must be 100,000-ton level!"

traitor!

Huang Zicheng said, cursing secretly.

Spending money to buy this clause was added at the request of the traitors of the reformists.

Isn’t this giving money to Yanhua and Zhu Silang?

After secretly cursing, he continued: "Finally, we require that in the supporting factories for locomotive assembly, we add factory assistance and technical support for boiler manufacturing. We must master the technology of producing boilers on our own, and the boilers are huge. , transportation is inconvenient, and your assistance in building our boiler manufacturing will be beneficial to both you and us.”

The imperial craftsmen supervised those wastes.

Let them imitate Yanhua's first-generation 66 steam engine and build a steam engine.

How many years.

Even the most primitive boiler cannot be cast.

They are all a bunch of trash!

Huang Zicheng was very dissatisfied with these improvement conditions, but he did not dare to get angry with Yanhua. He was worried that Zhu Di would directly interrupt the negotiations again, and he could only act like a resentful woman.

While proposing conditions for improvement, he cursed secretly.

After a moment, he stopped and said, "This is the improvement conditions proposed by us based on Yanhua's plan. We have shown our utmost sincerity. We hope Yanhua will seriously consider it and seize this opportunity!"

The next sentence is a summary that I think is quite tough and oppressive.

Huang Zicheng stopped.

His eyes secretly looked at Zhu Di.

Zhu Di smiled, glanced at Huang Zicheng, and looked at Zhu Biao, "Brother, are you sure the court wants a hundred thousand tons?"

Zhu Biao's lips moved, subconsciously wanting to say, sure.

But when the words came to his mouth, he saw Zhu Di's helpless smile, swallowed them again, and looked at Zhu Di.

Zhu Di said helplessly: "There is no problem with Yanhua in helping the imperial court build a 100,000-ton steel-making plant. To be honest, we are not afraid of technical leaks at all. A large-scale converter steel-making plant with a 100,000-ton level is the most important thing in the world." "

Technologies involved in a 100,000-ton steelmaking plant.

Apart from constantly purchasing complete sets of equipment from Yanhua, it was impossible for the imperial court to imitate them.

"Furthermore, in the production practice of a 100,000-ton steelmaking plant, the process technology involved and the supporting technical workers required require the quality of workers dozens of times that of a 10,000-ton steel plant..."

Providing three 10,000-ton small converter steelmaking plants to the imperial court was actually decided based on the actual situation of the imperial court.

Even so, Yanhua had to send a large number of skilled workers to teach him step by step for a long time.

It cannot be done by just a few engineers.

What's more, it's 100,000 tons.

"The 100,000-ton level has high requirements in production, and even higher requirements in maintenance. Each maintenance, with the current quality of Yanhua's technical workers, takes at least seven days, and at the same time, at least a thousand people are required to participate..."

…

Zhu Biao looked at Zhu Di, and he could tell from the expression on the fourth child.

It seems that Lao Si does not want to provide the 100,000-ton class, but sincerely believes that the 10,000-ton class is more suitable for the court.

This is consistent with the views of Fang Xizhi, Lan Yu and others.

Can……

One hundred thousand tons like Yanhua is so enviable.

The ferocious steel beast, he was awakened by the steel beast that appeared in his dreams several nights during this period.

…

"Okay, this one will be implemented according to Yanhua's plan." Zhu Biao hesitated and struggled for a long time, and finally decided to accept Zhu Di's suggestion.

Huang Zicheng opened his mouth, then swallowed the words as they reached his lips.

Zhu Di continued: "Half the cost price is unreasonable..."

"Fourth!" Zhu Biao directly interrupted Zhu Di, "I think this is very reasonable. If we cut it in half, it is not without purpose. According to our understanding, among the construction costs of your construction of the Central Luzon Railway, the labor cost is indeed Occupies half of it.”

Even if it is cut in half, it will still cost one thousand taels of silver per kilometer.

Eighty-nine thousand kilometers equals eighty-nine million taels of silver!

"Prince." Ye Mao, sitting behind Zhu Di, suddenly interrupted, "The prince also said that what you know is the construction cost. Our Yanhua court plans to build the Grand Cross Railway. Once the construction is successful, the court will be able to economically and militarily How much profit?”

"What we are negotiating now is commercial cooperation. We are doing business with the imperial court, not relieving the imperial court. We always have to make a profit. Therefore, the imperial court cannot ask us to help the imperial court build railways at cost prices. This is not business."

Zhu Biao frowned slightly, "But among your construction costs, in addition to labor costs and material costs, such as steel consumption, you have given enough profits to the steelmaking plant in your procurement. Now, the imperial court also pays according to Yanhua's purchase price. It gave Yanhua Steelmaking enough profits..."

Ye Mao smiled bitterly.

The prince may know something about business, but he obviously doesn't know much.

Then he explained, "Prince, the commercial entity that built the railway for the imperial court is Yanhua's railway construction company. Yes, the imperial court purchased Yanhua's steel and gave the steelmaking plant enough profit. It can be calculated based on cost, and there was no profit for the railway construction company." ah."

"Railway construction companies also have a series of construction technologies. If the imperial court builds railways and uses these technologies, it must pay for these technologies..."

These technologies are not obtained for free due to strong winds.

It was all summed up during the construction process, which consumed a lot of engineers' brainpower, many construction workers, and even their lives.

For these construction workers who sacrificed their lives.

It is the responsibility of the railway construction company to compensate and support the wives and children of the construction workers.

…

Zhu Biao's face felt a little hot.

Zhu Di raised his hand to stop Ye Mao.

Said: "Brother, it is not a problem to carry out construction according to the cost of labor, or even to assist in the construction of boiler technology. However, the court must agree to one condition."

Zhu Biao frowned slightly.

He felt that this condition must be very difficult for him to accept.

Because the fourth child’s sudden concession was too great!

Zhu Di held out three fingers and said, "In the next ten years, the imperial court will provide Yanhua with three million relocations!"

"Furthermore, when the imperial court is recruiting corvees during construction, even if it does not pay the people wages, it must at least take care of the people's daily diet."

The corvee system was too harsh on the people.

Railway construction is also very intensive labor.

He could not change the court's corvee system.

However, I want to gain some benefits for the people.

For example, stop asking people to carry their own food.

He had been a farmer and participated in corvee labor, and he knew how much of a burden it was on the people to do corvée labor without earning a penny and having to bring their own food.

Zhu Biao frowned.

He didn't care much about providing food for the people.

This consumption of the imperial court's food reserves over the years is not a burden at all.

Can……

Three million immigrants!

The faces of Hu Weiyong, Lu Ben and others were also very dignified and embarrassed.

population!

This is the biggest restriction on the development of Zhu Silang Yanhua.

You know, even now, the total population of Yanhua is just over four million.

Once I give him another three million.

Within ten years.

Depending on Yanhua's medical conditions, the total population may exceed 15 million!

Zhu Di knew that this condition would be difficult for Zhu Biao to accept, and continued to increase the pressure: "Once corvees are recruited and young laborers leave, it will inevitably have an impact on agricultural production. To solve this problem, Yanhua can provide free services to the villages where corvees are recruited. A batch of animal-powered seeders and combine harvesters will be provided, and the people who participate in the construction of the railway will have priority to relocate to Yanhua!"

"Your Majesty..." Ye Mao said, this condition is too favorable!

Zhu Di raised his hand to stop Ye Mao.

Keep your eyes on Zhu Biao...

Will eldest brother agree?

It doesn't matter whether he makes money or not, as long as the eldest brother is willing to agree and give him three million relocation quotas.

Even if he was to undertake the construction of the Grand Cross Railway project for Ming Dynasty for free, he dared to agree.

The reason why I didn't say this bottom line directly was because I was afraid of scaring my eldest brother, which would make him suspicious and shrink back.