Although the love between children in Suzhou is something that makes people linger, it is actually meaningless to stay in Suzhou.

The officials here are so capable and are absolutely loyal to Hou Xuanyan, so they can do nothing to implement the orders of the court.

In Jinling, where Hou Xuanyan was personally in charge, the attack was so strong that it was more powerful. Its relatives and old subordinates, Hou Xuanyan continued to set off and headed to Songjiang Prefecture.

Songjiang Prefecture is the smallest mansion in Yingtian. It is not very prosperous at this time, at least it is incomparable to Suzhou and Jinling. Two hundred years later, this place will be the world-famous foreign market, of course that is a story later.

After getting off the boat, the scene that caught his eye dazzled Hou Xuanyan. There were busy people everywhere, shirtless men, and towering chimneys. If these people hadn't had long hair and scarves, Hou Xuanyan would have thought he had arrived in the factory area of ​​later generations.

Zhang Mingzhen came to greet the officials of Songjiang and navy generals. This place was completely different from the previous prefectures and prefectures, and everyone looked very pragmatic.

Hou Xuanyan followed the local customs and directly avoided politeness. He asked enthusiastically: "What do these workshops do?"

Zhang Mingzhen laughed and said, "The Xiaguan has been with the Navy for a long time. Yao Yiyao is responsible for these matters. The Duke of the State can ask him."

Hou Xuanyan and the officials present all cheered him up together. It was not clear where it was, it was not worthy of not taking away the credit for subordinates.

Yao Yiyao is still the same, but today, officials of all sizes and big and small have arrived in this formal occasion, so he is a little more serious.

"Please look at the Duke of China. There is the Shanghai Iron Factory over there and the Arsenal over there." After saying that, he pointed to the east and said, "The shipyard is concentrated in Wusong River Station and Baoshan Station, and it is not easy to be attacked by other naval troops on the sea."

When Hou Xuanyan heard about it, there was also an iron factory and his interest doubled.

Yao Yiyao shook his head and explained to him that it turned out that the Ming Dynasty had already had its own iron plant. The Zunhua Iron Factory at that time was the largest iron plant. The Zunhua Iron Factory was the largest iron plant in the official iron smelting scale and the longest production time. It is located in Zunhua County, Jizhou, Northern Zhili, and is under the Ministry of Industry.

The iron furnace was 12 feet deep and had iron rises four times sunrise. In addition to raw iron, the products also had steel. In its heyday, the annual iron smelting amount was 200,000 kilograms, and by the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, it reached a maximum of 300,000 kilograms. At that time, it could be said that the technology had reached a very high level, but unfortunately, the iron plant was closed because of the fight between the emperor and the civil servants.

Emperor Wanli took Zunhua Iron Plant into the inner court and was supervised and operated by eunuchs. The Ministry of Works did not get any benefits from it, and also had to bear the huge expenses for iron ore mining and iron plant operation. So, amid the bombardment of officials from the Ministry of Revenue, Emperor Wanli was disturbed and closed the iron plant in anger.

The closure of Zunhua iron ore and iron plant was a major loss for the iron smelting industry in the north of the Ming Dynasty. After the closure of the iron plant, these craftsmen who originally relied on iron smelting for their livelihood were unable to live in food and clothing, and gradually lost the 2,000 craftsmen had only one ability, lost the stage of display, and gradually became ordinary people. Moreover, from then on, the use of iron in the north was almost entirely driven by transportation from the south. They were mainly purchased from Foshan, Guangdong, the iron smelting industry center in southern China at that time. The journey was long and the price was expensive. The military level in the north also began to decline, and qualified weapons and armor began to be insufficient.

Hou Xuanyan was stunned when he heard this. Emperor Wanli and the civil officials in the court jointly murdered Zunhua Iron Factory, which was leading the era for their own interests. He was really a foolish monarch and mediocre minister, and he was very short-sighted.

Yao Yiyao continued: "Whether it is armor or weapons, it requires a lot of steel. Especially muskets and cannons, the requirements for steel are very high. If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your weapons. I think these mines and smelters are more important than arsenals and shipyards. Unfortunately..."

Hou Xuanyan immediately asked, "What a pity? What a pity? Just say that I will support you with all my strength."

Yao Yiyao smiled treacherously: "Hehe, it's a pity that the money is a bit insufficient."

Hou Xuanyan pondered for a while and said, "How much do you want? Make a list to explain in detail the use and number."

When Zhang Mingzhen heard this, he immediately took out a list from his sleeve and said, "We had expected that the National Guild would say so long ago, and the list was already opened in advance."

Hou Xuanyan rolled his eyes and cursed with a smile: "All I go along, you Songjiang Mansion is the most treacherous."

Yao Yiyao smiled and said, "This is nothing to do. The other rich people in the country naturally don't have to ask for money from the Duke. Only Songjiang, who invests all the money in building ships and cannons, can these things not be sold."

Songjiang Prefecture is the navy station and the port where the sea goes to sea. Its own income should not be low. However, their investment is indeed too high, and the firearms cannot be sold. They are all equipped to various battalions, and there is basically no profit.

Thinking of this, Hou Xuan spoke: "You are allowed to keep Gong Zifang's income for your own use and you don't have to pay it back."

When the officials in Songjiang heard this, they all looked happy. Now Gong Zifang is like the God of Wealth. With Hou Xuan's words, the finance available to Songjiang Mansion instantly reached several levels.

Next, Hou Xuanyan followed Zhang Mingzhen, Yao Yiyao and others to go to the docks in various places, and took a walk around the arsenal. In front of the Wusong River Station, dozens of brand new warships were anchored here.

Hou Xuanyan led people to board the largest warship, with a black cannon barrel on it, which looked very majestic. Lu Zhenming, the head of the Military Weapons Bureau, introduced in detail to him the advantages and disadvantages of these cannons and how to use them.

Hou Xuanyan was surprised to find that his warship had the ability to sail far away. This also showed Yao Yiyao's vision. When his main enemy was still the Qing Dynasty, which was not as good as the navy, he had already focused on a further future.

After inspecting the semi-industrial Songjiang Mansion, Hou Xuanyan was satisfied. When the sun sets, Hou Xuanyan came to his house with Yao Yiyao.

The lazy yellow dog at the door wagged his tail and rushed forward, but was kicked away by Hou Xuanyan.

Xu Jinfeng has not seen each other for a while and has become much tender, which shows that being an official wife is very suitable for her. She said happily: "Why is Mr. Hou free to come to Songjiang today?"

"I'm here to pay attention to Songjiang and visit you."

The little fat Xu Yuanbao has been arranged by Hou Xuanyan as a mining supervisor and has returned to running around.

When Hou Xuanyun saw him, he was overjoyed and stepped forward and bowed, "Brother."

Seeing that her improvement was obviously much better than in Suzhou, Hou Xuanyan joked: "Haha, the water and soil of Songjiang Prefecture are still nourishing people. Our Hou family's food is not as sweet as the Xu family."

Hou Xuanyun's face turned red and he said shyly: "Brother will joke..."
Chapter completed!