Iron Dynasty

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Qingzhou.

After intense disputes, Li Wei angrily signed a trade agreement for one thousand naval cannons.

According to the agreement, each cannon was priced at twenty thousand taels, totaling twenty million taels for all one thousand. This twenty million taels would be paid with three hundred large merchant ships, two hundred medium merchant ships, and twenty thousand slave craftsmen from shipyards. Qingzhou would assign personnel to select these ships and craftsmen.

After meeting with Li Wei last time, Xiao Ming had drafted this agreement. Li Wei immediately sent messengers to Lin’an with urgency, covering eight hundred li.

Then the Chu King sent word, instructing Li Wei to firmly negotiate but ultimately accept Xiao Ming’s terms. Naturally, Li Wei informed Xiao Ming of this bottom line.

Thus, the quarrel between the governor and Li Wei was merely a performance staged by Xiao Ming and Li Wei for the Chu King’s sake. After receiving the agreement, perhaps out of distrust, the Chu King specially sent the manor’s steward to oversee matters.

“Envoy Li, this time we have suffered losses. If not for the fact that we are all subjects of the Great Yu Empire, we wouldn’t have signed this agreement. After all, one thousand cannons will severely impact our own artillery production,” Pang Yukun was still acting the part.

Li Wei snorted coldly, “Large merchant ships cost thirty thousand taels each, medium ones ten thousand taels each. Qingzhou really knows how to bargain. Selling ships at these prices is a loss for us. Humph, we’re leaving.”

Saying this, Li Wei strode out of the governor’s mansion with great momentum.

After Li Wei left, Pang Yukun suddenly smiled and looked at Xiao Ming who had been sitting quietly in the inner chamber. “Your Highness, how did I do with the act?”

“Not bad, not bad. The Chu King shouldn’t be able to see any flaws now,” Xiao Ming said with a smile as he stepped out from the inner room.

Pang Yukun continued, “Now that the agreement is signed, it’s time for Li Kaiyuan to bring the merchant ships back. With so many merchant ships now, the guild has no more reason to complain about a shortage.”

“That may be so, but we cannot be complacent. These five hundred ships are less than a tenth of the Chu King’s fleet. We must keep working hard. Besides, I’m replacing the merchant ships to free up the shipyards to build warships. Without warships, no matter how many merchant ships we have, we won’t sail far.”

The more Xiao Ming thought about it, the more he realized how weak his own strength was. In the modern era, the Dutch at their peak in the 16th century had 15,000 merchant ships, often with 2,000 docked at the ports.

Compared to these maritime powers, his own resources were barely a crumb.

Because of this, Xiao Ming was frantically gathering shipbuilding craftsmen from all over the Great Yu Empire. He intended to turn Dengzhou into a new global shipbuilding center.

Pang Yukun nodded. The Dutch rampaging at sea was not good news for Qingzhou. The guild was planning to transport goods to the south via sea routes, but now that the Dutch had cut off these routes, Qingzhou’s trade was also affected.

“Li Wei said the Dutch have twelve warships, all three-deckers. Including those we are building, we now have fifteen warships. Numerically, we should be able to win, right?”

“I wouldn’t dare be sure of that,” Xiao Ming frowned. The Dutch had rich naval combat experience. He was not certain if Yue Yun could lead the fleet to defeat them.

However, one advantage he had was his knowledge of naval tactics for this era. He would not make the same foolish mistakes as the Chu King.

Moreover, this sea battle was just one part of the war. More importantly, he would send Qingzhou troops to land on Ryukyu Island to expel all the Dutch there.

Once Ryukyu was occupied, the Dutch fleet, cut off from supply, would basically be finished.

After all, the Dutch had traveled thousands of miles from their homeland relying on colonial supply points. Without a supply base, they would starve aboard their ships.

Now the war preparations were underway, only waiting for all the galleons from Dengzhou shipyards to be completed.

After chatting casually with Pang Yukun, Xiao Ming left the manor and headed toward the workshops outside the city.

His current focus was on the development and refinement of foundational industries. Without fine industrial classification, producing even one industrial product would become exponentially harder.

The most practical example was the flintlock musket. If one craftsman made a musket from start to finish, it would take two months. But by subdividing production into barrels, stocks, and firing mechanism parts, the final assembly of a musket took only an hour.

Therefore, as the types of industries increased, Xiao Ming needed to refine industrial categories even more.

He went to the workshop district to settle this matter with Chen Wenlong — separating the machinery department and the steel workshop.

“Your Highness.”

Chen Wenlong had been waiting in the workshop district for some time. He had gathered the supervisors there, awaiting Xiao Ming’s orders. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Xiao Ming nodded and said to Chen Wenlong, “Since you are here, let’s talk about refining our industries. From now on, the steel workshop will focus only on steel production. Springs, coal stoves, iron pots, and so on must be produced by specialized workshops. Your machinery department should assign craftsmen skilled in these technologies to move in. Don’t turn the steel workshop into a mess of everything. Long term, that would harm product quality.”

Chen Wenlong nodded, and with the other supervisors, recorded Xiao Ming’s instructions.

After a pause, Xiao Ming continued, “You choose the lathes needed by each workshop. For example, the spring workshop will get spring steel directly from the steel workshop, then process it into various springs. The same goes for gears and connecting rods. If you need specific steel types, negotiate directly with the steel workshop.”

“As for the steel workshop itself, it also needs refinement. Each steel type should be produced by specific craftsmen. Don’t have one craftsman handling five or six different tasks; specialize.”

“…”

Xiao Ming spoke carefully, while everyone busily took notes. This was a big transformation. The old workshop district was like a mother body; now it was to be divided into branches.

Besides the important steel workshop division, Xiao Ming spoke about splitting the glass workshop. Products like mirrors that required later-stage processing should be independent. The chemical industry, especially dealing with strong acids and alkalis, was ordered to split up quickly.

These chemicals were very dangerous, and mixing them only increased the danger.

While ordering the division of workshops, Xiao Ming also delineated the workshop district: chemicals, steel, and light industries would be located in different zones. Workshops must hang signs outside stating their product categories, and all workshops would be registered and managed uniformly by the government office.

Within the workshops, management systems must be established. Each workshop must build its own research room to continuously innovate and update products. They must also send personnel regularly to Bowen Academy to study related knowledge.