When the New Year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty was about to pass, it was the time for prosperity and lively in Xuzhou, a major industrial, commercial and financial city located on the corner of the Central Plains.

This city, which was buried in Chinese history, has finally got the opportunity it deserves and has become the leading industrial and commercial center in the Song Dynasty.

Compared with Kaifeng Prefecture, 600 miles away to the west, Xuzhou's geographical location and resource advantages are really outstanding.

The Grand Canal connecting the Central Plains and the Jiangnan River flows through Xuzhou, and the nearby Haizhou is the largest port in the north. The nearby Liguojian was the center of the iron smelting industry in the Song Dynasty at this time, and the capitalist mode of production appeared here very early. Xuzhou's coal mine resources are also extremely rich, and it is still the southeast coal capital after a thousand years. The ceramic industry driven by cheap coal is also very prosperous, and the products are transported to Haizhou through the Xuhai Canal and then sold to all parts of the world. Moreover, there is still food left around Xuzhou, which can be continuously transported into this emerging industrial and commercial city and the surrounding handicraft town through developed water transportation.

Unlike the prosperity that is fading at the feet of the Emperor of Kaifeng Prefecture, Xuzhou's prosperity and liveliness are full of vitality.

When the industrial era came, a city close to the sea, with rich coal and iron resources, a vast inland market and a developed inland water transportation system, and is surrounded by an endless and large plain of grain-rich food. It is simply the chosen one!

Unfortunately, the original history did not choose Xuzhou. When the budding of capitalism just appeared in Xuzhou, the collapse of the Northern Song Dynasty took away the opportunities of history.

However, this history of time and space has given Xuzhou, a big city in the southeast corner of the Central Plains, sufficient opportunities.

In the past ten years, with the help of the Iron Smelting College in Haizhou and the charcoal from the Goryeo Province of Dazhou, the iron smelting industry in Liguojian has ushered in another era of great development.

The masters of the Iron Smelting Academy have realized that some substances in carbonite have great harm to the quality of iron and have begun to find ways to overcome them.

In the process of finding the method of "removing slag from iron materials", several iron smelting craftsmen from the Western Xia Kingdom of Catholicism introduced the relatively mature crucible iron smelting method into ancient China. However, compared with the Indians, which can produce wuz steel, there is still a certain gap.

Using the crucible iron smelting method introduced from Tianzhu, the master craftsmen of the Iron Smelting Academy not only learned the carburizing method, but also found the lime slag removal method. In this way, they can also use carbide and Liguo mine to refine high-quality iron with high quality. Although the cost is still a bit high, they can at least maintain production when the supply of charcoal in Goryeo is interrupted!

In addition, while exploring the process of shaping carbon steel, the Iron Smelting Institute also discovered coke... However, because there is no furnace that can withstand the high temperature of coke, coke iron shaping cannot be achieved yet.

In addition to making breakthroughs in iron smelting technology, the master craftsmen of the Iron Smelting Academy have also designed various "water conservancy hammers", which greatly improves the efficiency of forging iron tools. It can be easily created. This is a necessary technology for making plate armor!

At the same time, a large number of cheap and high-quality iron sheets are also necessary to make a mesh rope gun!

Ultra-high carbon steel (Xueming Carbon Iron) produced by crucible carburizing technology can be used to make drill bits for cutting iron materials, making it easier to cut and grind the barrel and gun barrel.

If no accidents occur, the era of muskets will soon come!

By the way, the technology mastered by Xuzhou Iron and Steel Industry now has the same backup in Tianjin Xuande Iron and Steel Industry in the north. You chase each other and you copy and steal it. No one dares to fall behind!

In addition to the great development of the iron smelting industry, the Xuzhou Zhucheng Engineering under the leadership of Pan Xiao'an also greatly stimulated the development of the sludge and red brick industries in Xuzhou.

On the side of the canal outside Xuzhou City, many "gray kilns" appeared at this time. Brick kilns were smoky all year round. The mud and bricks produced were sold far away from all over the southeast.

The four industries that have entered the threshold of capitalism, including iron smel, marl, bricks, and porcelain, are not all in Xuzhou. Inside the indestructible 24-cornered lever, there is also a Song Bank that controls all evil money!

This bank owns the largest treasury in the Song Dynasty! It contains mountains of gold, silver and copper coins, which support the credit of the Song Dynasty banknotes and is also the pillar of the entire southeast coastal finance.

In addition to the treasury, the bank also owns the largest mint in the Song Dynasty and the only mint in the Song Dynasty. The money surveillance uses the technology improved by the local Carboniferous and Iron Smelting Institute in Xuzhou, as well as the copper and lead ore collected from all over the country, to produce white coins called "Xuanhe Tongbao" day and night. This is a kind of low-quality small flat coins. Although the money is inferior, it can still pass the world. It has become a copper coins that can compete with the Republic of Tongbao, and will not be melted into copper materials.

In short, Xuzhou, in the sixth year of Xuanhe in the Song Dynasty, was such an emerging industrial and commercial city full of vitality and rising momentum. It was also the center of the Song Dynasty's finance. It may still be the hope of the Song Dynasty...

...

"What? Want to borrow 100 million? Wasn't it still 50 million a year ago?"

In the center of Xuzhou Daling Castle, four-story high and with a hip-mounted roof, Su Shi, who has been holding the Daling Bank for many years, looked at his brother Su Chi with surprise.

After just one year, the number of loans borrowed by the Song Dynasty increased from the original 50 million to 100 million…

Is this going to fight or burning money?

Su Chi sighed, "Isn't this the Eastern thief by the river? Is Jingdong's attacking a large-scale attack? You also know that the martial artists in our dynasty only have money in their eyes, and there is no word "loyalty and righteousness at all. When they didn't fight, they didn't have the chance. Now that the opportunity has come, can they still be polite to the court? Hebei requires 20 million, and Jingdong East Road costs 10 million... This is still the first time, and I don't know how much it will take if I continue to fight? So the court decided to raise 100 million first, and if it is not enough, you can add it.

Zhongnan, is there any difficulty for 100 million?"

One hundred million...

Now there is a vault in the Dasong Bank!

However, it was the bank coupon reserve deposited by various banks and could not be taken out to pay military expenses. Otherwise, if the bank coupons on the market collapsed, the Song Dynasty would have to blow the lights and remove waxes.

"This..." Su Shi hesitated and just shook his head.

"Can't you borrow it?" Su Chi looked at his brother in pain.

“Not…”

"Can you borrow it?" Su Chi took a breath, "Is the interest rate too high?"

"It's not a matter of interest..." Su Chi shook his head, "If you lend money to the court, you really can't pay it back, and the principal will be ruined. What's the interest?"

"Can it work?" Su Chi was a little annoyed.

"Brother," Su Shi said, "There are 100 million... There are some rich people in the southeast of the Song Dynasty. Xuzhou can raise 100 million!"

Of course, the Song Dynasty is rich! It is richer than the Zhou Dynasty!

Xuzhou alone can match Tianjin.

The industrial and commercial strength of the "Suhang Xiumingyue" in the south is not inferior to Xu Hai and Tianjin.

Quanzhou and Guangzhou are another center. The strength of industry and commerce in the two places is even better than that of Tianjin, a rising star.

In other words, there are at least three "Tianjin"-level industrial and commercial center areas in the Song Dynasty!

Moreover, the "Suhang Xiumingyue" and Guangquanzhou are old-fashioned industrial and commercial centers, and the wealth accumulated over hundreds of years is far greater than that of Tianjin in stock.

Now with a financial hub like Dasong Bank, it is possible to mobilize the existing wealth in these places. Raising hundreds of millions of military spending is not a problem at all.

The problem is...the capitalists on the southeast coast will only provide loans with political conditions!

"If the imperial court could allow Xuzhou, Xiuzhou, Mingzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yuezhou, Quanzhou and Guangzhou to implement autonomy... let alone 100 million, even hundreds of millions of dollars can be borrowed."

Donghai Kingdom is the near Jiaqushan County, Jingdong Market, Yuzhou Island and several islands near Yuzhou.

This land is now a vassal of Zhao Kai, and it is a self-government similar to Tianjin City and is very popular among industry and commerce. Therefore, the wealthy merchants in "Suhang Xiumingyue" and Xuzhou and Guangquan are very envious and want to follow suit.

If the court is willing to delegate power, a loan of 100 million yuan is not a problem.

"How is that possible?" Su Chi looked at his younger brother, "How is it possible... Eight states! You are crazy, dare to propose such conditions!"

"It's just autonomy," Su Shi said, "How much tax should be paid and how much tax should be paid... Big brother, there is nothing impossible now! Without 100 million, can the court stop the Breaking Zhou? Breaking Zhou is here, will the merchants of the Donghai Kingdom and these eight states not get the autonomy they want? Breaking Zhou is originally a country of business and military republic. The rich merchants of the Eight State and the Donghai Kingdom can donate a noble status, and then vote for the parliament, and can still elect veterans. It is estimated that it will not cost 100 million!

If the court does not give in and delegate power, when Zhou State takes over the peninsula on Jingdong East Road, the industrial and commercial wealthy people in Xu and Hai will immediately fall to Zhou State. Once the two states of Xu and Hai are lost, can the Huaihe River be still protected? How can Jiangnan be preserved? Then the Song Dynasty will be avalanche."

Although the Great Zhou had the advantage of the sea, the Song Dynasty's navy did not exist at all. Although they could not defeat the Zhou navy in the far-sea artillery battle, they had many flat-bottomed sand ships that could gain some advantages in the near-shore and inland rivers. Therefore, it was difficult to conquer the eight industrial and commercial states and the East China Sea countries by sea.

By sea, you can drive tens of thousands of troops at a time. It is hard to say whether you can capture an industrial and commercial city with new troops stationed or bastioned. If you make any mistakes in one thousand, it will be more than worth the loss.

Moreover, once the Beiyang fleet of Zhou State was used for an expedition, there was no way to transport the large troops of Liaodong to Shandong. The safest way was to capture Shandong first, then go south to Xuhai, and push it over steadily.

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Chapter completed!