I Build an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty

"Hahaha, messenger Mao, if I say that Queen Xiaozhuangwen can marry our general, that is her blessing. You don't know how many beautiful women in Jiangnan have no chance to marry our general."

Liu Hansan laughed and joked, saying that Mao Wenci's face was flushed, and he was obviously angry. If it weren't for the fact that the physiques of the two sides were not at the same level, maybe Mao Wenci would have started.

The civilian officials in the Wu army were more restrained, and they didn't make fun of them.

However, they no longer mention the matter of peace talks, because Wu Changqing's attitude is already obvious, that is, no peace talks.

If there is any willingness to negotiate, it is impossible to put forward such outrageous conditions.

Of course, this is what they have in mind, and some people don't.

Xue Guiren's thoughts at this time have already reached how to capture Empress Xiaozhuang Wen alive. Maybe others think that Wu Changqing is deliberately making things difficult for Mao Wenci, but he doesn't think so.

In his opinion, if Wu Changqing didn't really like Empress Xiaozhuangwen, why would he have to make this request, directly ask for 10 million taels of silver, or ask Dorgon to commit suicide?

Since Wu Changqing made this request, at least it means that in Wu Changqing's eyes, Empress Xiaozhuangwen is worth this price, and Wu Changqing can get it at the price of peace talks.

He thought he had figured out Wu Changqing's mind, and found a shortcut to promotion, which was to capture Empress Xiaozhuangwen alive.

Of course, this difficulty is beyond the sky, and he has no clue. The only thing that can be done is to find a way to be the vanguard when attacking Beijing in the future.

In the ridicule of everyone, Mao Wenci temporarily withdrew from the Governor's Palace.

However, he did not leave Nanjing immediately, and he still wanted to make the last effort.

For example, you can go to see Hong Chengchou, use Hong Chengchou's family in Beijing as a bargaining chip, and let Hong Chengchou go to Wu Changqing to say a few words for the peace talks.

Or go to Man Dahai and persuade him to do something for the Qing court. Or go to other high-ranking officials and send money to send beautiful women...

In short, even if there is little hope, he will give it a try.

In fact, none of this will work. He will also stay in Nanjing for a few days, take a good look around Nanjing, and find out the most real information about Nanjing.

The next day, Mao Wenci began to act.

Unfortunately, he encountered a setback in the first step, and Hong Chengchou did not meet him at all.

One is to avoid suspicion, and the other is that Hong Chengchou is really busy right now, and there are many important things that he needs to worry about.

For example, the rising cost of steel plants.

Due to the expansion of the steel plant, the iron ore and coal that can be provided in the surrounding area can no longer meet the needs of the Jiangnan Steel Plant. After all, there are no large-scale minerals around Nanjing.

In order to meet the production capacity, Jiangnan Steel Plant must purchase iron ore and coal from other places, which will inevitably lead to an increase in costs.

Moreover, the increase is not just a little bit. Buying iron ore and coal from other places increases the cost of steel manufacturing by at least 50%.

During this period, the transportation conditions were poor and the transportation cost was extremely high.

Fortunately, it is still close to the Yangtze River and can rely on relatively cheap water transportation. If it is all land transportation, the cost will have to be doubled.

One of the important reasons why the Industrial Revolution took the lead in the development of Britain is that Britain is rich in coal and iron ore. This allows them to use machines on a large scale, the cost of coal is relatively low, and the cost of steelmaking is also very low, and the steel they produce is competitive in the international market.

Cost is the biggest problem. The so-called industrial revolution is actually a revolution that reduces costs. The textile industry has existed as early as one or two thousand years ago, but it has never been able to develop, because its cost cannot be reduced.

It was not until the appearance of the Jenny loom, the emergence of factories, that mass production became possible.

Today, there are two options before Hong Chengchou, one is to build a railway, and the other is to build a new factory in another place.

Ma'anshan, not far from Nanjing, is rich in iron ore. If you set up a steel branch in Ma'anshan, at least iron ore can save the cost of transportation.

As for coal, there is no good solution. The entire south is short of coal, and China's coal mines are all in the north and northwest.

In the south, only Panzhihua and Pingxiang in Jiangxi have large coal mines, but unfortunately they are too far from Ma'anshan, so it is better to use coal from the north.

The nearest large coal-producing area to Ma'anshan is Huainan in Anhui, where there is a large amount of coal that can be transported to Ma'anshan via the Huaihe River, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Yangtze River.

In short, the cost of setting up a new factory in Ma'anshan can be reduced by 20-30%. When the output becomes larger and the time is accumulated, the cost of 20% to 30% is also very considerable.

Another solution is to build a railway from Ma'anshan to Nanjing, so that iron ore from Ma'anshan can be transported to Nanjing very cheaply.

However, this solution is very risky, because no one knows when a practical locomotive will be invented.

Although the steam engine project team has been researching and improving day and night, the current progress does not seem to be particularly smooth.

Hong Chengchou couldn't understand the pressure resistance of those high-pressure boilers. All he knew was that the project was relatively unpredictable.

If it can't be researched all the time, the steel mills can only use iron ore shipped at high freight rates.

Another point is that the initial investment in laying the railway is also very large. At present, Nanjing needs a lot of money, and there is no money to lay the rails.

After comprehensive consideration, Hong Chengchou came up with a formula,

My own analysis and opinions are written in the booklet, and I hope that subsequent steel plants will be built in Ma'anshan.

Wu Changqing approved the proposal after simply reading the book. After all, he vaguely remembered that there was a very famous steel factory in Ma'anshan in later generations, which showed that building the steel factory in Ma'anshan was a very correct choice.

Because Ma'anshan's iron ore reserves have reached 1.6 billion tons, and the mineable amount has reached 1 billion tons.

In this day and age, this number is terrifying, almost supplying the world for decades.

Moreover, as Wu Changqing lived in Nanjing for a long time, he did not want those heavily polluting factories to be built near Nanjing.

It’s just starting out, and the workers here are rich in resources. There is no way but to let those factories build here. When conditions are met, these highly polluting factories will have to be moved to other places.

The pollution problem caused by the first industrial revolution was also a very serious problem. Historically, London was called the foggy city. Because too much coal was used, the atmosphere of the entire London was polluted.

After decades of governance, this environmental problem was solved.

For many long-term considerations, building a steel plant in Ma'anshan is the best option.