The spring was bright, and by a small river near the iron prison, Du Zhongxiao and Jingxi Road transfer envoy Chen Zonggu and Ruzhou Zhizhou Wu Yu were sitting and chatting, and the governor Guo Jian was accompanying him. It is the place where the two southbound backbone railway lines of Xijing Luoyang and Tokyo Bianliang meet, and in the past two years, it has become a common meeting place for officials on Jingxi Road. Du Zhongxiao and Chen Zonggu came here to discuss this spring's affairs, and they had nothing to do and took a tour of the surrounding area. Wu Yu's Ruzhou was on Chen Zonggu's way back to Luoyang, and the two took the same bus and stayed together for a few more days.

Picking up the cup of Ruzhou Guanjiao, and taking a sip of this spring's Ming Qian tea, Chen Shigu said: "Since Changping came to Jingxi Road, in just a few years, Yexian, an inconspicuous small county, has become a rare big town in the world. If you don't see it with your own eyes, where will you believe it? In recent years, Baiting has been the first in Jingxi Road, and it has surpassed Henan Mansion, which is really unexpected. ”

Wu Yudao: "With the iron supervisor here, it will inevitably be so." How much iron does the Iron Supervisor produce in a year? How many machines? How many rails? The three divisions only transfer a lot of goods here every year, otherwise, the commercial tax will be more. ”

Chen Zonggu nodded again and again: "Yes, yes, it's all money to open a factory and produce machines." Now it seems that growing crops in the field is really a few dollars. Money and grain, money and grain, now money is heavier than food. ”

Speaking of this, Chen Zonggu asked Du Zhongxiao: "Last year, Chang Ping Si issued money, how about the states of Nanlu to use it?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's very convenient. In the past few years, whether it was the business or the shopping mall under Changping Division, they were suffering from a lack of cash and it was difficult to do business. With paper money, many things are easier to do. Because of the lack of cash, the shopping mall owes many village communities for goods, and the people are deeply resentful, and their business is difficult to do. With banknotes, everything is cash, and it is booming again. ”

"The shopping mall is a good thing, there is communication, and it is convenient for the yamen to collect taxes, which is much better than the previous Yaren Guild." Under Wu Yu's rule, shopping malls were opened in all counties, and after the advent of paper money, it was more convenient to collect taxes, and I was deeply touched by this. As an important minister for a while, Wu Yu used to be an official in many places and knew that it was not easy to collect taxes. After the counties set up shopping malls, the commercial taxes there were always paid in full and on time, and the state became more prosperous.

Speaking of shopping malls, Chen Zonggu also became interested. Luoyang is a big city, and it is a place where all directions meet, there are several shopping malls in the city, and there are almost all the goods in the world. Since he went to Jingxi Road as a transfer envoy, Chen Zonggu has developed a habit of visiting several shopping malls when he has time.

Du Zhongxiao and Guo Jian were on the side, and neither interjected. Wu Yu was an important minister of the imperial court and had been a ruler, but because of his poor health, he went to Ruzhou to be an official in the near country. Chen Zonggu is the second son of former Prime Minister Chen Yaozhi, with a prominent family background, and Du Zhongxiao and Guo Jian are not talking about some topics.

Guo was born as a scholar and was strong in ingenuity, and often invented some novel products. Because he designed many weapons and was proficient in mathematics and machinery, when his mother was relieved, he changed from a civilian official to a military position. Now the officials of the DPRK and China, in addition to Du Zhongxiao and Su Song, are all Guo Jian familiar with the iron prison. He has been an official here for more than a year, and most of his time has been spent on familiarizing himself with technology, except for official business.

Unlike Du Zhongxiao, Guo Jian is more daring to think and do, and has an unusual interest in weapons. Recently, I designed an invincible thunderbolt car, kept trying, and I took Du Zhongxiao to see it two days ago. Du Zhongxiao saw it and was speechless for a while. The so-called invincible thunderbolt car actually used a steam mechanism to come out on its own, not using wheels, but with tracks. The car was equipped with a cannon, which was a simple self-propelled gun.

Guo Jian tried countless times, and felt that it made sense everywhere, that is, when the cannon was fired, the body moved badly, and it couldn't be changed well no matter what. Du Zhongxiao read it and thought of a lot of ways before he explained the principle of recoil to him. It's not impossible to pull the gun with a car, it is necessary to change it to a towed gun, where is there the technology of recoilless guns in this era? Du Zhongxiao couldn't even think of it.

Not to mention self-propelled guns, Du Zhongxiao also thought about building tanks. It's not that it can't be built, it's just that it's clumsy and heavy, the off-road performance is not good, and the most important thing is that there is no use in this era. The financial resources of the Great Song Dynasty could not support the large-scale tank troops. And one car and two cars, and it does not play a decisive role on the battlefield. The most important thing is that battlefield support and maintenance are too complex to support in this era.

Du Zhongxiao's view of the army is a system. From the bottom to the top, the composition of the organization, command and communications, training and support, and even conscription and mobilization, demobilization and demobilization are all closely linked. Guo Jian is a typical literati who understands military affairs, and other literati believe that they have an incomparably ingenious art of war, strict and neat military discipline, and if they learn it, they will be invincible in the world. Guo Jian is a weapon winning theory, as long as you have any powerful weapons, you can be invincible on the battlefield and invincible. After arriving at the Iron Prison, he combined the knowledge he had learned, designed several strategic weapons, and seriously submitted a letter to the imperial court, as long as the army used these weapons, Beifu Youyan was as easy as a finger. The Privy Council also wrote to ask Du Zhongxiao's opinion, and Du Zhongxiao could only praise these weapons, plus the reply that fighting a war does not depend on one or two weapons to determine the outcome of the war.

Of course, the front is not nothing, Guo Zheng improved the large car used in the army, unified the chassis with the gun carriage, and was light and durable. However, his mechanical genius idea, Du Zhongxiao could only refuse. It was Guo Jian who could make the iron supervisor produce so many small steam engines, where did Du Zhongxiao find such battlefield maintenance and support technicians in the army. If there is a breakdown on the front line, there is no need to fight.

After Guo Zheng's rectification, the products of the Iron Supervisor are now more serialized and generalized, and they are on the right path of industrialization. This is his natural ability, and he has an innate intuition for mechanical products and industry.

After chatting for a while about the changes in the past year, Chen Zonggu said: "Now the iron supervisor makes countless money every year, and the number of households under his rule is more than 300,000, and most of them are concentrated in the yamen and factories. It's really inappropriate to look at it in the next state. I have written to the imperial court many times to change the iron prison to a state, and the imperial court also has this intention. It's just that the iron supervisor here, the most important thing is the factory, if the officials who come don't understand, it will be a bad thing. The difficulty now is where to find so many officials who understand this kind of thing. It is really rare to be like Guo Zhijian, who was born as a Jinshi and is proficient in this way. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "There is no other way but to learn." Yun envoy, it's better to write to the court together, recruit people for the exam among the technical officers of the iron supervisor, and give them background, what do you think? ”

Chen Zonggu said: "This is a way. However, even if they were born and avoided being a priest, they still could not serve as iron supervisors. ”

There were two basic management systems for officials in the Song Dynasty, one was the tenure system, which left office at the end of the term and could not be re-elected unless specially approved by the imperial court. Another is the recusal system. The recusal system is very wide-ranging, and if you are a local official, you and your relatives are not allowed to have property under your rule. This article is a road for officials to abuse their power for personal gain and use their power for personal gain. Du Zhongxiao was changed from a transfer judge to Chang Ping, first of all, he asked his family to sell the industrial and commercial property, just because he wanted to avoid his authority. There are also magistrates, who have to be hundreds of miles away from their hometowns, and although there are changes, they are basically required to be farther and farther away. It is a special honor to be able to return to my hometown as an official. Ding Wei took political participation as the envoy of the Pingjiang Military Festival, and built the festival hometown, which was thought to be a grand event at that time. It is a false duty, especially if it is a priesthood. Most of those who go to their hometown or neighboring places to serve as governors are favored by the imperial court in order to support their parents. There is also a rule, that is, relatives are not allowed to serve in the relevant yamen with interest, including parents, oneself and his wife, and relatives of children, so as not to be suspected of being under the melon field. The last article was punished by a number of officials.

Du Zhongxiao thought for a while and said, "There is another way, which is to let the new jinshi come to the iron prison to be a supervisor and an official, and if he is familiar with it, he can be the chief official." ”

Wu Yudao: "Jinshi was born, not derogatory, who wants to be a prisoner?" Or don't think about it. ”