New Han Dynasty 1834

At 8:00 AM on the 25th day of the third month of the second year of the Tai'an reign of the Han Dynasty (1834), in the Wuying Hall of the Weiyang Palace in the Forbidden City of Jingzhao.

Emperor Liu Yulong of the Han Dynasty entered and took his seat.

More than fifty people gathered together, including the chief officials of the main departments of the Han Dynasty, the governors of the various governorates, the military advisors of the military councils, the directors of the various departments of the Institute of Natural Sciences, the Grand Secretaries of the Institute of Natural Sciences, and the secretaries of the cabinet.

They are the most powerful and influential people in the Han Dynasty today, and they are now bowing and paying their respects to the young emperor behind the imperial desk.

Liu Yulong raised his hand, gesturing for everyone to rise and take their seats on the chairs on either side of the main hall. The first high-level meeting before the Emperor since Liu Yulong regained his memories officially began.

Liu Yulong looked around at everyone present, making sure he had a vague recollection of them all and that there were no strangers there. Then he began to ask the questions he wanted to know:

"How's the Institute of Natural History doing? Any progress or gains in the past few days?"

Zheng Fuguang, who was in charge of iron smelting, immediately stepped forward. He appeared slightly agitated, but tried his best to maintain a calm demeanor.

"Your Majesty is wise beyond compare; everything is as Your Majesty has said."

"As of yesterday afternoon, the Gewu Institute had completed further improvements to the vulcanized rubber and steel-frying methods."

"We followed His Majesty's instructions and successfully solved the problem of rubber deforming and becoming sticky when exposed to the sun."

"More importantly, it solved the problem of steel being generally hard and brittle when frying, and also solved the problem of air bubbles appearing in steel ingots caused by blasting."

"His Majesty's guidance has brought our Han Dynasty's steelmaking techniques to a high level of perfection."

"The steel plant can now directly cast high-quality steel in large quantities, and this high-quality steel has better performance than European crucible steel."

"In the future, however much pig iron the blast furnace can produce, that much refined steel can be obtained immediately, and the production cost of refined steel will not exceed twice that of pig iron."

"From now on, all tools, machines, weapons, and agricultural implements needed by the court can be made of refined steel."

"The research and production of all large machines in the Institute of Geology will no longer be hindered."

When the surrounding soldiers and court officials discovered that Liu Yulong had specifically asked about the situation at the Academy of Natural Sciences, they instinctively began to speculate about the power dynamics involved.

Many people are analyzing whether the emperor's choice implies a certain bias, and what the new emperor's attitude towards the Academy of Natural History will be...

But after Zheng Fuguang replied with a few words, the people around him completely forgot about their previous speculations.

What does it mean that the cost of refined steel is no more than twice that of pig iron?

The cost of producing pig iron in the Han Dynasty was extremely low, less than ten coins per pound. However, the fine steel needed to make high-grade weapons cost several thousand coins per pound, which is equivalent to several taels of silver.

The price difference between the two is hundreds of times.

Now the people from the Gewu Academy have come forward and said that they have reduced the price of fine steel to less than twenty coins, a reduction of several hundred times!

What's even more terrifying is that it can directly cast steel objects just like casting pig iron.

During the Qianlong era, European crucible steel began to be exported to the East, which even led to the decline of the local steel industry in Guangdong.

Crucible steel cannot be mass-produced, but it is cheaper than hand-forged, hundred-chain steel.

The craftsmen of the Great Han Institute of Geology learned how to make crucible steel, but Liu Desheng regarded it as a "foreign technology" and banned it.

Now that Liu Yulong has lifted the ban on foreign technology, the alkaline converter steelmaking method has also matured, so crucible steel can be abandoned.

After everyone understood what Zheng Fuguang meant, the Wuying Hall fell silent for a moment, and then bursts of barely suppressed astonishment and discussion arose.

Pei Chengdong, the commander of the Rear Army Commandery, seemed to have suddenly thought of something very exciting, and stood up abruptly, shouting excitedly at Zheng Fuguang:

"What did you just say! If the price of refined steel is no more than twice that of pig iron, and ironworks can directly cast steel, wouldn't they be able to provide armor for the entire army?!"

Liu Yulong couldn't help but frown slightly when he saw the situation before him.

The master of ceremonies, responsible for maintaining order at the meeting, also came to his senses and immediately began to reprimand the attendees:

"Silence! What is the Rear Army Commander's intention?"

The surrounding chatter immediately fell silent.

Pei Chengdong was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized that he had just been disrespectful before the emperor, so he subconsciously bowed to the emperor to apologize:

"Your Majesty, I have lost my composure and beg for punishment..."

Such matters can range from minor to major. When the emperor is not prepared to take any action, a reprimand is usually all that's needed. However, if the emperor intends to target a particular minister, he might seize the opportunity to cause trouble.

Liu Yulong simply said with a stern face:

"Shouting like this is unbecoming; this is not to be repeated."

Pei Chengdong immediately expressed his gratitude:

"Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty."

Liu Yulong warned Pei Chengdong, and then began to explain his stance:

"Now that the steel-making method has been perfected, the imperial court is indeed capable of providing armor to all regular soldiers."

"However, at the same time, the imperial court also had to cast steel cannons, steel muskets, and other various weapons on a large scale."

"More importantly, we need to build steel rails that run through the east, west, north, and south of the country, connecting important cities and military strongholds."

"With steel rails and steam locomotives, it only takes one day to travel from Beijing to Jiangnan, and only two days to travel to Guangzhou."

"At that time, the transmission and transportation of military intelligence, orders, and supplies will be accelerated many times over."

"If the steel rails are laid to Heilongjiang, Baihai, the Western Regions, Myanmar and other places, the imperial court will be able to launch large-scale military operations even in such remote and desolate border areas."

"Then the Han army will be able to easily defeat the barbarians in these places."

"But to achieve all this, the key is to continuously and rapidly smelt massive quantities of high-quality steel..."

Liu Yulong paused briefly to observe the reactions of the officials present.

The officials on site have now realized that simply having the entire army in full armor is actually a minor matter.

With artillery and muskets now fully deployed, armor is no longer as important as it used to be.

Ordinary soldiers only need a helmet and a breastplate; what's more important are artillery, rails, and locomotives. The latter, in particular, can change the course of the world.

After the officials realized what was happening, they all cooperated and showered the officials with compliments:

"Your Majesty is wise..."

Seeing that the officials had given their approval, Liu Yulong began to explain the more specific arrangements:

"The Metallurgical Department and the Machinery Department of the Academy of Geology, listen to my order: organize personnel as soon as possible to go to Fengyi to expand the coal and iron mines in Qian'an, Luanzhou, Kaiping and other places, and select suitable locations to build large-scale machinery plants and steel plants."

"The Central Military Governor's Office shall, upon your command, transfer the militia command offices of several nearby prefectures and counties to the jurisdiction of the Institute of Natural Resources, assist the Institute in building steel mills and machinery factories, and then allocate 50,000 slave laborers in batches to work in factories and mines."

The Fengyi Commandery of the Han Dynasty mainly encompassed the area of ​​Tianjin, Tangshan, and Qinhuangdao, which are familiar to modern people.

Tangshan is less than 200 kilometers from Beijing. It has abundant coal and iron ore reserves, and importantly, the distance between them is not far.

Such resource endowments made this place the most suitable location in northern China for launching the industrial revolution and building an early coal and steel integrated industrial base.

Since the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty, people had been mining coal in the Kaiping area of ​​Tangshan. After Liu Desheng occupied Jingzhao, he arranged for craftsmen to carefully explore, expand and renovate the local mines to supply coal and iron ore to Jingzhao City.

On the surface, what Liu Yulong needs to do now is to provide more manpower so that the Gewu Institute can use new technologies to build a large steel plant in the local area.

But Liu Yulong had another idea in mind. The group most suitable for dividing and limiting the power of the army was the craftsmen of the Gewu Academy and the factory.

The existing military and militia systems operate around the land, while industrial development will attract a large number of urban residents who are no longer engaged in agricultural production. The industrial system can absorb a large number of people from the militia system.

Industrial development can provide weapons and equipment for the military. The existing military system will not instinctively oppose this arrangement, but in the future, the industrial system can limit the military by controlling the military's logistical supplies.

Liu Yulong ordered the Governor's Office to transfer militia from several counties to work at the Academy of Natural History. None of the nobles in the Governor's Office saw anything wrong with this arrangement, and they immediately rose to accept the order along with the staff of the Academy of Natural History.

"I obey your decree."

Liu Yulong then looked at the other military officers and inquired about the status of their current work.

The troop deployment and war preparations both take time, and there won't be any significant progress in just four days.

When Liu Yulong asked the questions, the governor and his advisors gave a general account of the preparation of documents and the deployment of personnel.

Liu Yulong told them not to rush, and that the army and combat should prioritize stability. He then looked at the officials of the various departments of the imperial court.

Minister of Justice Qiang Ying was the first to step forward and submit a specially prepared memorial:

"Your Majesty, yesterday an urgent report came from Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, Jiangsu Province. The anti-drug police in Shanghai County cracked a large-scale opium smuggling case after the New Year."

"A total of more than three shi of opium were seized, and five British opium merchants were arrested, along with a total of thirty local merchants and their associates involved in the smuggling and distribution."

"Given the large number of people and the amount of opium involved, the officials below dared not act on their own initiative. After clarifying the facts of the case, they urgently sent the case to the capital for Your Majesty's decision."

After Liu Desheng ascended the throne and became emperor, he originally planned to open up trade on a large scale.

In one fell swoop, more than a dozen cities in coastal and border regions were selected as ports for foreign trade and were placed under the jurisdiction of the Maritime Trade Office, allowing foreign merchants to reside and do business for a long period of time.

However, Liu Desheng soon discovered that it was too difficult to control smuggling at this time, as there were no good people among the merchants and sailors who participated in ocean trade in this era.

They will use any means at all to smuggle and evade taxes, only paying taxes when absolutely necessary.

More importantly, most European goods had no market in the Han Dynasty, so much so that more and more merchants began to sell opium.

Liu Desheng was forced to change his trade policy, closing and shutting down most of the ports open to trade, leaving only two open.

These are Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, Jiangsu Province, and Bao'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province.

Special anti-drug and anti-smuggling patrols were established in these two treaty ports to severely crack down on smuggling and drug trafficking activities.

The captain beside Liu Yulong stepped forward and took the memorial. He would carefully check the memorial to make sure there were no problems before handing it over to Liu Yulong for his personal review.

Before even reading the memorial, Liu Yulong instinctively asked a question while listening to Qiang Ying's report:

"How much did you say? Three shi? That's three hundred jin?"

Since Liu Desheng had a technical fastidiousness, he could not possibly use the modern metric system established by France. Instead, he created his own localized metric system.

First, one foot is defined as one hundred millionth of the Earth's circumference, and one foot is equivalent to forty centimeters in modern terms.

Then, the capacity of a box with a length, width, and height of one foot each is defined as one hu, which is equivalent to 64 liters in modern times.

Finally, one shi was defined as the weight of one hu of ice water, which is equivalent to 64 kilograms in modern terms.

One shi (石) equals one hundred jin (斤), and one jin is equivalent to 640 grams in modern terms, which is very close to one jin during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.

These three shi of opium are equivalent to two hundred kilograms.

According to modern sentencing standards, this would be enough to sentence more than a hundred people to death.

When Minister of Justice Qiang Ying heard Liu Yulong's unexpected question, he replied with considerable emotion:

"Your Majesty, it is indeed three hundred catties. I was quite shocked when I saw the report. These merchants are truly shameless..."