"Mr. Zhuang, it is better to teach people to fish than to teach people to fish, our Great Zhou is a big country, if we are inferior to the Xiyi people in these aspects, and even surpassed by our surrounding people such as the Japanese people and even the Koreans and Annamite, then where is the face of our Heavenly Empire? And these technologies are even used to make the country's heavy weapons, the Xiyi people are thousands of miles away, it's okay to say, but like the Japanese and Annan are all around us, and the Renchen and Japanese rebellion have only been ten years, and Annan and Dongwu are still harassing our borderlands, if they can use their own firecrackers to deal with us, and we can only use ordinary firearms, what should we do? Do you want us to send the Great Zhou soldiers to death? ”

Feng Ziying's anger was a little heavier, "The Japanese people and Annan and Dongwu are all diseases of ringworm, what if the Jurchens also master these things?" What are we going to do? ”

Zhuang Limin didn't seem to believe it, "Lord Feng, this is a bit alarmist, those savages who can't even make armor also want to make firearms?" ”

"Mr. Zhuang, what year are you old Huang Li, the Jianzhou Jurchens are not Mongols, they are barbaric and rude, but they are also cunning and good at fighting, especially good at learning and absorbing, not inferior to our Great Zhou, if we don't pay attention to it, then we will only pay a greater price, I don't want to see my father's loyal subordinates suffer heavy losses under the Jurchens' bows and crossbows,......" Feng Ziying said coldly.

Only then did Zhuang Limin think that since the other party's father was appointed as the governor of Jiliao, he must have a deep enough understanding of the biggest enemy in Liaodong, so it was naturally impossible to be alarmist.

"Lord Feng, I just have some ideas to discuss with you when I come here." Of course, Zhuang Limin will not just make a trip to the matter of the firecracker, since the last time Feng Ziying proposed that the imperial court wanted to promote the development of the iron smelting industry in the north and introduced him to a group of Jin merchants, Zhuang Limin also understood.

As the leader of Foshan's iron smelting and arms manufacturing industry, Zhuang Limin is certainly not a simple businessman.

Many years ago, he got on the line with Xiao Daheng, but what disappointed him was that the important ministers of the imperial court, including Xiao Daheng, paid serious attention to weapons such as firearms, and the manufacturing and production of cold weapons such as swords were basically monopolized by the imperial court's own military bureau, and the lack of demand for firecrackers made it difficult for Lao Zhuangji to make a big breakthrough in this area.

When Xiao Tycoon stepped down and left, Zhuang Limin thought that his business should come to an end, without Xiao Tycoon's care, he would not even be able to get the follow-up payment of the thousands of firearms that had been put into production, but he didn't expect that this Jingshi and his party gave him an unexpected gain.

The new governor of Jiliao, Feng Tang, the new dark horse, has sprung up, the key is that Liao Dongfang attaches far more importance to firearms than anyone in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and he ordered such a large number of firearms from himself in one go, which simply made Zhuang Limin feel incredible.

Of course, Zhuang Limin, such a big pillar, wanted to hold onto it, so at first he came to deal with the Feng family and his son like befriending Xiao Daheng.

But with the contact with Feng Ziying, Zhuang Limin found that his initial judgment was wrong, originally thought that this should be the governor of Jiliao who was the leader, but after contact, he learned that the real trader was actually Feng Tang's son-Xiao Feng Xiu.

However, for him, it doesn't matter who is in charge, the key is whether he has the ability to do it.

Soon, Zhuang Limin was impressed by Feng Ziying's vision and insight, as well as his determination, and when the bird guns he purchased from Japan were sent to Liaodong, he received an invitation to participate in the Beidi Coal and Iron Development Consortium project with Jin Shang.

Only then did he know that the purchase of the Japanese bird gun was an investigation, and he could only participate in such a development project that was said to be quite large if it was successfully completed and satisfied with the Liaodong side, although this project was still in a rather loose preparatory stage, but with Haitong Yinzhuang, Jin Shang and himself joining in, Zhuang Limin estimated that such a somewhat strange hybrid would soon come out.

"Speak, please." Feng Ziying actually had a rough idea of Zhuang Limin's intentions, not for the firecracker, that is, for the coal-iron complex project.

This is also a major event that Feng Ziying has been operating.

Haitong Yinzhuang has capital, Jin Shang has strong contacts and basic manpower in the north, and Zhuang Limin has technology and talent and sales, if they join forces, it seems that this should be a very perfect cooperation party.

Of course, Feng Ziying also knows that if you want to do such a thing, you can't just rely on a few words orally or a written plan, but also need a lot of complicated and cumbersome preliminary preparations, and in addition to Haitong Yinzhuang, these people also have a lot of problems on the Jin Shang side, and Zhuang Limin's side should also be suspicious, and they all have to repeatedly run in and learn.

He originally planned to sort out this matter after he got married, so he took advantage of the fact that there was nothing to do in the Hanlin Academy.

Unexpectedly, Zhuang Limin was so eager to come first.

"Lord Feng, today was originally your great joy, so you shouldn't say much about it, but you will be very busy in the next few days, so I think it's better to talk about it now." Zhuang Limin saw Feng Ziying nodding and was not polite, "What is the progress of the site selection in the Northland that you talked to me about last time?" I'm very interested, you said that you need the people and property that we need to prepare, I have already prepared them, but there seems to be little movement on the Jin Shang side. ”

Feng Ziying said calmly without much hesitation: "Indeed, the progress of their side is a little slower, but it is expected that there should be a result after the beginning of the year, mainly because there is some controversy over the site, some people hope to settle in Shanxi, which is close to their hometown, has stronger connections, and has sufficient manpower, so it can be built faster, but I don't agree with it, one is that the quality of the ore over there is not very good, but Shanxi is difficult to transport, so I suggest that they put it on the side of Beizhi, and they have basically agreed with my opinion. We are stepping up site selection on the Beizhi side,......"

Beidi to engage in coal-iron complex project, can only be in Beizhi, other places are not very suitable, to put it through the Shuntianfu, Yongping Mansion is the later Tangshan area is the most suitable, there is no shortage of coal to make up for the shortage of iron ore, mining is convenient, and close to Jiliao, Xuanda and Jingshicheng, it can be said that the raw material production area and consumer market are all occupied, there is no reason to choose Shanxi.

As for the other reasons, it doesn't matter.

"Then Lord Feng, it is not fashionable to use coal to make iron in our south, but there is a lot of coal in the north, and this is not a difficult technology, but it is said that the iron made from coal in the north is very poor, I don't know if Lord Feng knows this?"

Zhuang Limin is most worried that this Xiao Feng Xiu is a pat on the head, but he thinks that he can do this, so he wants to do it, if he intervenes too much, then this kind of thing may end up being a mess.

"This point is up to you, Mr. Zhuang, to discuss, but as far as I know, there is already some experience in the north, that is, the charcoal is roasted first, so that its quality is improved into processed coal, and some people in the north call it coke, and coke smelting iron, it is said that the effect is especially charcoal,......

There is indeed coking in the north, but Feng Ziying has carefully understood that there is basically no standardized or systematic coking system technology, or some scattered behaviors, and there is no real coal coking as a breakthrough technology to summarize and process, let alone popularize.

This is also Feng Ziying's most regrettable, of course, now that he has this opportunity to change all this, then coal coking is not a problem, and this technology itself exists, but it needs some technical improvements and optimization.

"Oh?" Zhuang Limin obviously doesn't know much about this, after hearing this situation, he was very excited, the biggest problem of iron smelting in Beidi is the lack of charcoal, and if Beidi wants to burn charcoal, the cost will be greatly increased, if it is really as Feng Ziying said, this charcoal can be roasted into "coke", and "coke" can greatly improve the effect of iron smelting, it would be great.

"I wonder if Master Feng's charcoal roasting and refining technology can be used on a large scale?"

"Of course you can, but there may be some experiments to explore in terms of the quality of carboniferous in various places to achieve the best results, but these should be details." Feng Ziying is still very sure of this.

The key is that many people are plausible in this principle, and the quality of coke produced by this coking method is not consistent, so it will never form a correct system.

"Well, today is Lord Feng's big day, I won't delay Lord Feng, well, I don't know if Lord Feng has considered that once this matter is done, who on your side will be responsible for unifying all the parties?" This is also what Zhuang Limin is most concerned about.

"It's okay, I originally said to wait until after my marriage to invite everyone to meet together, since Mr. Zhuang is also here, and there are a few Jin merchants here, it is better to let you meet first and familiarize yourself, this person on my side has already been in contact with the representative and Jin Shang in the early stage,......" Feng Ziying shouted: "Baoxiang, you go and call Mr. Gu Dengfeng Gu for me." ”

Gu Dengfeng is Feng Ziying's choice to represent herself, and to a certain extent, she also needs to represent Haitong Yinzhuang.

In the future, Haitong Yinzhuang will play a big role in the entire coal coking, coke iron smelting, iron products and other flow industry chains, and the loans issued will be 100,000 or even millions, and at present, Haitong Yinzhuang still has enough talents to supervise such an investment project, so to a certain extent, Gu Dengfeng will have to bear it.

In the early stage, Gu Dengfeng was there to maintain and deal with the follow-up relations of some officials in Nanzhili, and only entered Beijing in October, and then was sent by Feng Ziying to get acquainted with Haitong Yinzhuang first, and then to negotiate with the Jin merchants about opening mines and building factories in the north.

At first, Feng Ziying also wanted not to participate in such things, and let the three of Jin Shang, Zhuang Ji and Haitong Yinzhuang cooperate on their own, but he soon found that he was thinking too simply.

Without his own appearance, none of these three parties believed anyone, and the cooperation between Haitong Yinzhuang and Jin Shang alone had a lot of mistakes.

Although the Jin merchants have agreed to open an account in Haitong Yinzhuang, the distrust in their bones is still deep-rooted, and now they want to cooperate in opening mines and building factories, which involves not only Jin merchants to contribute, but also to borrow from Yinzhuang in the future, so it is also quite complicated.

If you want to bring in Zhuang Ji, who is a person with skills, it will be even more complicated, there is no role with strong coordination ability and practical work to carry it, Feng Ziying herself is not down-to-earth, so Gu Dengfeng is the most suitable person.