Chapter 887 Jizijuan Difficult Transaction

 This means that she doesn’t want to give herself so much, and Feng Ziying knows it.

“Brother You, there are actually more than that, but the main purpose is to provide logistical maintenance and support for the camps in Jizhen, right?” Feng Ziying asked with a smile.

"Ziying, brother Yu is no longer hiding in front of you. It is true that there are still seven or eight hundred households. It is also true that there are two or three hundred households in Liaodong. But you also know the situation here in brother Yu. Every time There are a lot of things in this area before and after the war and before and after training. Brother Yu doesn’t dare to leave all the people to you. The Xingzhou Right Tun Guard is different from the Kaiping Middle Tun Guard. They directly face the camps, except for the reclamation. , and more importantly, I have to bear the responsibility for the guarantee and maintenance of the vehicles, weapons and armor, all of which are given to you. Once something happens, Brother Yu will not be able to play any more."

You Shigong is telling the truth. Before and after every battle, the replenishment of armors and weapons, the repair and maintenance of vehicles, these are not trivial matters. It is quite a huge project. There is also consumption in daily training, and these craftsmen are also needed. to produce and maintain.

If you want to remove all the craftsmen's households, the Xingzhou Youtun Guard will really become a pure guard. No wonder You Shigong has difficulty agreeing.

 But Feng Ziying does need this group of craftsmen, which involves the construction of a coal-iron complex that has entered a substantial preparatory stage.

According to the introductions of Guo Dengfeng and Zhuang Limin, they have currently selected as many as three sites in Yongping Prefecture, all of which are centered on the iron ore mines that are easier to mine. At the same time, they need to take into account the location of the coal mining areas and their main distribution. In the northeast of Qian'an near Jianchangying, there is one on the outskirts of Lulong County, and there is another in the jurisdiction of Kaiping Zhongtunwei, not far from the Acropolis.

Of course, the first choice is the northeastern part of Qian'an, which is the easiest to mine, while the Lulong part is the most suitable in terms of transportation conditions. The location in Kaiping Zhongtunwei is slightly remote, and the advantage is within the jurisdiction of Tunwei, so it is used as a alternatively.

The goal of Feng Ziying and others is to build a full-process complex project from coking coal to coking iron, then making steel from iron, and finally converting iron and steel into steel products.

The final product is not only steel and iron materials, but also military supplies such as firecrackers, artillery, plate armor, swords, and iron wires, as well as iron pots, iron needles, kitchen knives and hatchets, plowshares, hoes, and pickaxes. , shovels, shoes, iron bars for carriages and other types of civilian supplies.

Feng Ziying is even considering launching local cement.

This production process is even simpler, and the resources in this area are more abundant in Yongping Prefecture, which is available in almost every county.

In the future, once the iron production reaches a certain level, it may be possible to build a railway track from the iron production area to the port, and it can be built along the camps within the border wall, which can greatly improve the transportation capacity of the entire army and materials. Of course, this is just a long-term plan.

 Such a huge project plan cannot be promoted quickly without sufficient manpower or even sufficient skilled labor.

Even if he can recruit more refugees in the future, going from an ordinary farmer who has never been in this industry to a skilled craftsman are completely different concepts. This will greatly slow down the progress of the entire project, so Feng Ziying cannot accept it. This situation.

He must get these craftsmen, and he must also find a way to bring back all the craftsmen who have been displaced to Ningyuan and Guangning. This will become his most important cornerstone in Yongping Mansion.

"Brother You, do you know why I want these craftsmen?" If the argument continues like this, it will be a bit hurtful, so Feng Ziying plans to change the angle.

You Shigong is also very curious. When it comes to the disharmony between the army and the land, the issue of craftsmen households is definitely not the main reason. The main reason is that both he and Feng Ziying know that it is mainly the refugees who fled into the areas under the jurisdiction of the garrison and gradually evolved into the people of the settlement.

Not only have they been freed from labor, but they are not military households, and the food they need to turn in to guard and reclaim wasteland is lower than that of farmers in various counties. The only sequelae is that once the war starts, they need to take on the responsibility of serving as husbands for the army. This In fact, it is a disguised military household, but as long as there is no war, it is much happier than ordinary civilian households.

“Ziying, I’m also very curious about this. What do you do with these craftsmen? There are also hundreds of craftsmen in Lulong, right?”

Feng Ziying did not hide her curiosity about You Shigong: "Brother You, I plan to open a mine here in Yongping Mansion..."

"Opening a mine? You are the magistrate of the government, so you shouldn't be involved in these things, right? Besides, the mining tax is paid to the Ministry of Industry's Jieshen Treasury, and your government office can't get a penny from it. Does Zhu Zhiren still plan to compete with the emperor for this money? ?" Everyone knows that there are many mines in Yongping Prefecture, but the enthusiasm for mining is not high. You Shigong also knows this very well.

"Of course, mining alone doesn't make much sense, and we don't need so many craftsmen. I want to integrate mining and iron smelting, and then the smelted iron will be used to make various iron products, such as firecrackers, cannons, and plate armor. and swords and weapons, as well as iron pots, iron needles, plowshares, hoofs, hoes and picks, which are in short supply.”

Feng Ziying's words made You Shigong look solemn, "If this is the case, there will be a huge demand for plate armor, firecrackers and artillery in the army, but the Ministry of War..."

You Shigong thought that Feng Ziying came up with this idea because he valued the demand for weapons and armor in Jiliao Town.

"Fire guns, artillery, swords and armor are just one aspect. Foshan Zhuangji is cooperating with Shanxi merchants to set up a gun workshop here to make fire guns and cast cannons, and also invite and recruit a group of Western craftsmen to make them. Even including the giant cannons needed for the Navy fleet, we will find a way at the Ministry of War. Then we will compare with the Military Warfare Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau to see who has better quality, longer range and cheaper price. I I believe that the Ministry of War will make a rational choice, but I am more optimistic about the demand for iron among the people. For iron pots alone, there is a huge demand in Nanyang, Japan, and North Korea. Foshan's output is in short supply for Nanyang. , and our internal demand for these civilian ironware is also very large, so this area is very promising..."

Feng Ziying's words made You Shigong come back to his senses, "Ziying, you are going to use these craftsmen to help you build such coal and iron mines, and even use them to set up various workshops and make guns." Cannons, weapons and armor, and by the way, we can also make folk iron tools. Ziying, you, a colleague, are too dedicated, aren't you?"

"How about Brother You, let's talk about the problem of local refugees fleeing to your guards and camps in Ji Town to avoid taxes and servitude? I have a definite handle on this. It involves Xingzhou Youtunwei and Kaiping Zhongtunwei. This number But there are quite a few. Should Ji Town return these people to the local government? Yongping Prefecture has not paid enough taxes in recent years. Do these people have some influence?

This can be regarded as the main reason for the discord between the military and the local people. A large number of refugees flowed into Kaiping Zhongtunwei and Xingzhou Youtunwei, and gradually evolved into foreigners escaping from tax and service. Yongping Prefecture and Jizhen have also been at odds with each other. times, but to no avail.

Hearing Feng Ziying mention this, You Shigong smiled, "Ziying, I admit that this kind of situation does exist, but I'm afraid it's not our fault, but these refugees escaped on their own, and we can't help." Your Yongping Prefecture has the obligation and responsibility to clean up the fugitives..."

“Brother You, this is wrong. They escaped on their own, but without the help of the two guards to cover and provide them with land, how could they survive here?” Feng Ziying retorted.

You Shigong also knew that the army was at fault in this matter. They were all under the rule of the Zhou Dynasty. Although the escape had nothing to do with the garrison, didn't the garrison help these people find a way to stay? The local government came to search. Didn't the garrison deliberately create difficulties and obstruct it?

If this kind of thing continues, it will hurt the feelings again. You Shigong decisively stopped: "Ziying, we have the responsibility for this matter, but cleaning up the escaped households is indeed a difficult matter. Under this situation, we still have to do it." We have to deal with the invasion of the Chahar people, so I can't agree to anything for the time being, so let's talk about this craftsman's household. Since you have said so much, do you have any plans?"

Finally, he forced the other party to join in. Feng Ziying also knew that when dealing with the army at the local level, it was difficult for him to gain much advantage. This was because of his special status. But even so, if he could not give the other party enough benefits to make a deal, , even if you can temporarily take a step forward, it will be difficult to maintain it for a long time.

"Brother You, if not, please hand over the two to three hundred craftsmen households to me first, and then hand over the remaining craftsmen households to me after the response to the Chahar invasion is over..." Seeing You Shigong Frowning, Feng Ziying continued: "I will not make it difficult for Brother You. The repair and production of the ordnance of the various camps are still left to these craftsmen. You can compare it to the situation in previous years. These maintenance and production are still left to these craftsmen to complete, but The remaining time is left to us to arrange, and it is limited to three years. After three years, I will return these craftsmen to you, what do you think?"

This is a verbal promise that is not very binding. Logically speaking, You Shigong does not have to accept it, but he can also see that Feng Ziying has made up his mind to use these craftsmen for a few years. It has something to do with what he is going to do now.

"Ziying, you know my difficulties. I also know that it is not easy for you when you first come here. Now that you have talked about this, what else can Brother Yu say? In this way, I will give you four hundred households in Xingzhou Youtunwei first. Yes, there are one to two hundred folk craftsmen in the Zhongtunwei side of Kaiping. To be precise, they fled to Kaiping over the years and were brought out together with the craftsmen in the Youtunwei side of Xingzhou. They can also be regarded as craftsmen. , and leave it to you, and the rest will be as you said, wait until after the Chahar people incident, and then worry about it. As long as we can deal with the Chahar people's invasion, everything will be easy to deal with, what do you think? "

Feng Ziying was moved by You Shigong's frankness. In any case, the other party was very supportive of him. Although he did not agree to hand it over, he came from a different angle. This is what it should be. If he really wants to agree readily, he The commander-in-chief of Jizhen failed.

"Okay, Brother You, it's a deal!" Feng Ziying was satisfied. With this group of skilled craftsmen, whether it was building a new coal mine, building a furnace for coking, or opening a furnace for ironmaking, it would be much easier.

 (End of this chapter)