Daqin Engineering Corps

Whoever wants to kill Ying Zheng, then Ying Zheng will definitely kill him first!

Zhao Gao guessed right.

Before that, Ying Zheng had always suspected that Shen Bing was an expert sent by the immortal to help him.

At this time, the formula of the gunpowder made by Shen Bing also contained alchemy ingredients, just like what Ying Zheng said... Shen Bing came up with a few recipes at his fingertips and used them to defeat the Huns, so he became more convinced and Of course he thought that Shen Bing would make the elixir of life.

The excitement in Ying Zheng's heart!

He can't wait to recall Shen Bing back to Xianyang to make alchemy for him immediately.

But after thinking about it, right and wrong, the immortal has his own arrangements, so don't be impatient.

Since the immortal had arranged for Shen Bing to be by his side, he intended to give him the immortal medicine. If he insisted again... one would not disobey the immortal's will, but it would be a bad thing.

Moreover, Yingzheng has just passed his thirties, and the matter of alchemy will be long in the future.

It is better to take a long-term view on this matter.

So this is the heart of recalling Shen Bing to Xianyang.

Ying Zheng thought about it, and wrote letters to Shen Bing and Fu Su respectively.

Shen Bing was greatly praised, not only promoted Shen Bing to another level, but also sent a lot of silk, gold and other property.

The letter to Fusu is to ask Fusu to follow the general to practice well, especially similar to the "thunderbolt fireball" formula, which must not be let go, and he must bow down and report back truthfully.

His words were so harsh that Fusu wondered if his father had sensed that something was hiding from him, and he was quite frightened.

Chapter 338 Development

Of course, Shen Bing didn't know what Ying Zheng was thinking, he only knew that the reward Ying Zheng gave was a little different this time.

In the past, he was only promoted according to the laws of the Qin Dynasty... In fact, after becoming a noble, it includes rewards, such as greater power, more land, and more house land. Now Shen Bing has a fief in his hometown and can independently collect taxes.

That is to say, if Shen Bing retires one day and returns to his hometown, he only needs to rely on these taxes to support himself.

However, this imagination is very beautiful, but the reality is that all of this is just passing by... Without power, you will lose your head at any time, and you still want to live?

This time rewarding the title is a matter of course, defeating the Huns and killing the Huns Shanyu is almost equivalent to the battle of destroying the country.

After being promoted to another level, Shen Bing was already Zuo Shuzhang.

Shen Bing didn't know what rank Zuo Shuzhang was, but he only heard that before Shang Jun's reform, Zuo Shuzhang was the top of the nobility... After that, only the royal family could be the right Shuzhang.

After the reform of the Shang monarch, they were transformed into titles so that non-royal families could also hold them.

In addition, there are twenty bolts of silk and a hundred catties of gold... Shen Bing didn't know until now that Qin Shi's so-called "gold" refers to copper.

This is actually very easy to figure out.

There were not so many metals in Qin Dynasty. To be precise, the ancients did not know how many metals, so they collectively referred to all metals as "gold".

For example, there are gold, platinum, red gold, and evil gold... respectively referring to the current gold, silver, copper, and iron.

Iron is called evil gold because it is brittle and easy to whiten.

Therefore, it is said in history that "Qin Shihuang received the soldiers of the world and cast them as twelve golden men"... The "gold" in this is of course not gold, but metals including copper, bronze, and iron.

Of course, copper in this era is still quite valuable, and it can be used directly as currency, so the hundred catties of "copper" bestowed by Ying Zheng is quite valuable.

The more valuable ones are actually those silks.

If this thing is plain brocade, that is, silk with no pattern or lace, it's fine. About eight or nine horses can buy a horse.

But what Yingzheng bestowed was the one with lace and patterns, which were all hand-stitched one by one, and some of them took years to make, so one horse could be exchanged for one or even two good horses.

That is, these twenty bolts of silk... are enough for Shen Bing to equip two dozen cavalry.

What are the prices and how valuable are these things? Shen Bing is not very concerned.

But silk still aroused Shen Bing's interest.

In fact, Shen Bing's interest is not silk itself, but the development of Jiuyuan.

As we all know, Jiuyuan is an important node of the ancient Silk Road.

And the production and production of silk is monopolized by the Central Plains, so the Central Plains can use silk to exchange almost everything they need from outside the region, and it is very cheap...Silk is very expensive, and other things are very cheap in comparison.

It is said that when silk was introduced to Rome, Roman soldiers needed to save money for seven years without eating or drinking to buy a pound.

As a result, a large amount of property and species flowed into the Central Plains along the Silk Road.

On the other hand, Shen Bing knew from the modern knowledge system that the two cities under his jurisdiction should not form a competitive relationship but should complement each other.

For example, Yunzhong County is suitable for the textile industry, but it is not suitable for Jiuyuan to develop the textile industry.

This is not to say that Jiuyuan does not make money in developing the textile industry.

In fact, because Shen Bing has technological advantages and uses water power to save a lot of labor costs and reduce the price of cloth exponentially, even Jiuyuan can make money by developing the textile industry.

The problem lies in the inherent advantages of Yunzhong County in developing the textile industry compared with Jiuyuan:

Yunzhong County is closer to the market. No matter what kind of cloth Jiuyuan produces, it is destined to be transported to the Central Plains... The Huns are used to wearing fur, and they still have a lot of cow wool, so there is not much demand for cloth.

Therefore, if Jiuyuan develops the textile industry, the transportation cost will be [-] kilometers more than Yunzhong County, which is not a small sum in ancient times.

The geographical advantage of Jiuyuan is that it is located close to Houtao, and Houtao goes west across the Hexi Corridor to the Western Regions... that is where there is a huge demand for silk.

It is true that the Western Regions also need cloth.

But the road to the Western Regions is difficult, and it is obviously more cost-effective to transport silk than cloth with the same capacity... This is one of the reasons why the Silk Road mainly transports silk. Silk has the advantages of light weight, small size, convenient transportation, and high price. advantage.

So don't think about it, Jiuyuan is doing foreign trade business as a silk production base.

In addition, Shen Bing did not forget that Jiuyuan is nicknamed "Grassland Steel City". There are iron mines everywhere, as well as various non-metal mines... The development of the iron smelting industry here is to complement Yunzhong County.

So Shen Bing did not hesitate, and immediately called Bo and other prospecting teams to Jiuyuan.

Of course, agriculture is also indispensable, farming, planting ramie, etc. These are the self-sufficiency and the basis of survival in the Northland.

At this time, there is basically no need to worry about the land. The area surrounded by [-] kilometers from Jiuyuan to Yunzhong County is all available land.

Although some areas are deserts, as long as the water conservancy facilities are perfect, they can become fertile fields in time.

In addition, the horse farm can also be expanded near Jiuyuan.

The land in Yunzhong County is limited, so if we relocate the horse farm to the Jiuyuan area, then let it gallop.

But before doing all this, Shen Bing thought that a road from Jiuyuan to Yunzhong County should be built first.

The straight-line distance from Jiuyuan to Yunzhong County is actually only over 100 kilometers.

However, it is necessary to bypass deserts, mountains and other areas, so it will be increased to [-] kilometers.

If the curve can be cut and straightened, it is possible to shorten the distance to 150 kilometers.

The reduction of [-] kilometers may seem like nothing, but its impact is not small when calculated carefully.

The first is military interests.

Fifty kilometers is one day's march for cavalry, and two days for infantry.

If it can be shortened by [-] kilometers, it means that the connection between Yunzhong County and Jiuyuan County has been strengthened, which means that it can be defended with fewer troops but safer.

On the other hand, with this road, troops can also pass through it to quickly reinforce each other back and forth.

The second is commercial interests.

The two cities can exchange supplies and even save a lot of freight when transporting raw materials from the Central Plains to Jiuyuan.

Among them, silkworm cocoons and silkworm silk are especially... Northland is located in the north with a relatively cold climate, which is not suitable for growing mulberry and raising silkworms.

If you want to do silk business, it is necessary to import raw materials from the Central Plains.

So Shen Bing did not hesitate, and immediately sent people to Yunzhong County to recruit labor.

These laborers will be divided into several parts and start building roads at the same time under the protection of the Qin army.

Shen Bing even made up his mind to build fortifications along the road at important nodes to prevent the Huns from harassing them again.

Once this road is repaired, it is almost equivalent to building a line of defense against the Huns.

At that time, it will be difficult for the Huns to go south.

Chapter 339 Talent

The search for the iron ore went smoothly, but within ten days, Bo and others found the ore.

The nickname "Grassland Steel City" is not false. Modern Baotou has dozens of iron mines, large and small, and iron mines can be found even in the urban area.

What surprised Shen Bing was that Bo and his party actually found saltpeter, sulfur, and limestone, which are urgently needed minerals in the Northland... In fact, there are other mines in Jiuyuan, such as copper, coal, gold, oil, etc., all of which are here in modern times. 74 types of ores were found.

It's just that Bo and the others didn't notice it or even didn't know it.

Shen Bing immediately planned a large industrial area in the lower reaches of Jiuyuan City to build iron smelting and casting workshops, as well as textile workshops.

Among them, the textile workshop is to produce textiles for the self-sufficiency of Jiuyuan City... It is true that Jiuyuan does not compete with Yunzhong County in the textile industry, but Jiuyuan City will have a population of more than [-] in the future. It can't all be transported from Yunzhong County. Of course, this is a great waste of transport capacity.

On the other hand, if Jiuyuan City will develop towards silk export in the future, it will naturally need textile workshops.

In short, Jiuyuan mainly focuses on the export of strategic military materials such as iron smelting, horses, gunpowder, and grain, as well as silk.Yunzhong County mainly focuses on textiles to make money in the Central Plains.

Fatty Tun has some doubts about Shen Bing's plan. He is mainly puzzled by the fact that Shen Bing has planned hundreds of iron smelting workshops in the lower reaches of Jiuyuan.

Fatty Tun said:

"General, ironware is mostly used for agricultural tools, and the trading volume is small and the profit is low."

"From the perspective of the ironware workshop in Yunzhong County, there is even a tendency to make ends meet. Why do we need to build an ironware workshop in Jiuyuan?"

No wonder Fatty Tun would ask this question.

The manufacturing method and even the existence of the new iron are the top secrets of the Northland. Only the blacksmith himself, Shen Bing, and Fusu know about it. Others, even Wang Ben and Wei Wei, only know that the new iron is selected from the iron workshop.

Fatty Tun didn't know the existence of Xintie, and when he kept accounts in Yunzhong County, he found that the iron workshop hardly made any money.

Shen Bing didn't explain much, just replied:

"There are still many defects in the quality of ironware at this time."

"We have to do more smelting to make it better for armaments."

The fat man let out an "oh", and left with a vague understanding.

After Fatty Tun left, Fusu also said doubtfully:

"But Fusu thinks what Tun said is right."

"If iron smelting cannot make ends meet, why don't we focus on weaving and reduce iron smelting?"

From an economic point of view, Fusu is right.

Weaving makes far more money than iron smelting, and from the current point of view, the demand for iron in the Northland is not large. At least the iron smelting workshop in Yunzhong County is enough for the ironware demand in the Northland.

Under such circumstances, if Jiuyuan spread out a large area of ​​iron smelting workshops, wouldn't the supply exceed demand?

At the same time, new iron cannot be sold, and only inferior iron can be sold.

At that time, so much inferior iron will be shipped to the Central Plains for sale... Inferior iron will not only be difficult to transport, but also the price will be bad, and it will really be difficult to make ends meet.

But Shen Bing replied without thinking:

"I wait to smelt iron not to make money, but to support people."

Fusu couldn't help but wonder:

"Nursing people?"

Shen Bing nodded:

"Nurture people!"

To be precise, it is to raise blacksmiths, skilled blacksmiths.

Iron smelting itself is not difficult, even new iron.

The difficulty lies in maintaining a large number of skilled technicians in the Northland.

As long as there are these technicians and iron mines, whenever you want to equip large quantities of new iron or even replace all the bronze equipment in the army with new iron, it is possible to do it in a short time.