Song Chenglian, who sent Feng Yukuan on board and saw him off at the port, kept wavering. From a work perspective, it was a good thing to get out of here. In addition, Song Chenglian was quite grateful for the key points of the Japanese campaign given by Feng Yukuan.

Farewell to Feng Yukuan, Song Chenglian returned to the office with some emotion. The people sent by Hojo were already waiting in the office. I thought Hojo would come to the office to talk about things, but Hojo asked Song Chenglian to go to Yoshihara again.

Song Chenglian had to go, but he didn't expect that Hojo arrived first this time, and there were still a few people next to him. After introducing each other, one of them looked like he was from the Nijo family.

After chatting for a while, the person from the Erjo family asked Song Chenglian, "Your Excellency Song, can you see your sword?"

Although Song Chenglian didn't understand what was going on, he did not refuse. The people from the Erzhao family drew their swords and saw the cold light flashing in the house. The sword of the Huaxia Dynasty was not an iron sword, but a steel sword. Song Chenglian also knew that he needed to maintain it. The sword body was bright and flashed under the lights.

In China, it is not illegal to wear swords. However, swords do not exist as a semi-jewel. People who carry them with them must have some acceptance reasons, such as soldiers.

In fact, Japan is similar. The samurai is the samurai. Ordinary people will have trouble with these things. In terms of overall proportion, there are much more samurais in Japan than in China.

After reading it, the people from the Nijo family returned the sword and asked, "Is the steel used to make the sword produced by the Ming Dynasty?"

Song Chenglian didn't even think about it and immediately replied: "Of course."

The people from the Nijo family replied happily: "May I ask, can you sell these irons to us?"

Such a question made Song Chenglian not answer immediately. Putting the people of the Nijo family aside, Song Chenglian first looked at Hojo Keiichiro. Then he saw that Hojo seemed to be fine and lowered his head to drink. This reminded Song Chenglian of Feng Yukuan's description of the Japanese, which was really that everyone was not sticking to the pot.

If it is in China, the head of a certain department sits on the spot and someone says something about the field. Needless to say, this is to let the participants understand that someone is surrounded by this matter and can talk boldly.

According to Feng Yukuan's description of the Japanese, doing this in Japan can certainly be understood as someone above. But the Japanese side cannot believe that it is true. Because in order to protect themselves, the Japanese in charge can do anything.

Thinking of this, Feng Yukuan felt that Nijo could not be deceived, "Hojo Sun, has the shogunate decision on the import of steel?"

Edo Mingguo Trade pursued Hojo Kaichiro's brows slightly frowned when he heard Song Chenglian's question, "Song Sang, isn't the Ming Dynasty sold iron ore?"

As a business scope, Song Chenglian is very familiar with it, "We only have steel and don't sell iron."

"Song Sang will discuss with Hojo Sang." Hojo began to beat the ball.

Seeing that these birders were like this, Song Chenglian started to watch the fun. Since the Japanese were going to do this, it would be better to play with them. Turning around, Song Chenglian talked to Nijo about the export of iron and steel in the South Barbarians.

After a while of conversation, Song Chenglian unexpectedly discovered that the people of the Nijo family were actually an expert in casting knives. He had a very deep understanding of the iron ore in the "China" area of ​​the Nanman Iron and the Maori family of Japan.

According to people from the Nijo family, Japan initially cast samurai swords, using high-purity magnetite ore in China, which is located in Japan for iron smelting. In the past two hundred years, fleets from Europe also brought the "Nanban Iron".

Song Chenglian was very puzzled and asked why he did not import iron ore from China. This question made the Japanese silent for a moment. The Japanese spoke very implicitly. Song Chenglian also savored it carefully for a while and suddenly understood the ridicule of Nijojia towards Chinese iron ore exporters.

In the eyes of Nijojia, it is said that Chinese exporters a hundred years ago still knew what high-quality iron ore was. By the Qing Dynasty, the sea ban for nearly a hundred years was intermittent, and the Qing Dynasty traders responsible for exporting Japan had a slump in their understanding of iron ore. Those people could no longer understand what high-quality iron ore was.

Although the Qing court was ridiculed, Song Chenglian was still angry when he heard it.

But no matter how angry she was, Song Chenglian had to continue listening. Fortunately, the people of the Nijo family did not go too far, and the criticism was enough. At the end, Song Chenglian understood a little and asked, "Since the Japanese samurai sword needs to be used to cast such good Southern Barbarian iron, why should we ask us?"

This was actually a bit annoying. Unexpectedly, the people from the Nijo family replied readily: "Your sword is a very good steel casting. I would like to ask what the price of the export of steel from the Ming Dynasty."

Did you still want to use cheaper steel? Song Chenglian finally figured out what was going on. He understood that the Japanese were not unreasonable, but his resentment could not be eliminated. Song Chenglian couldn't help but mocked: "The samurai sword of your country is very sharp, I think it is because of the exquisite craftsmen of your country. Any iron can turn decay into magic..."

"Please don't joke!" The people from the Erzhao family seriously interrupted Song Chenglian's nonsense, "Song Sang, if you really respect weapons, please don't say that."

Song Chenglian was moved by the seriousness of Nijo's family and put away his sarcasm. After a few more words, although the two sides failed to reach a consensus, they agreed to meet the next day. They should have a good understanding of the difference between the samurai sword and the steel sword.

The next day, the people from the Nizhao family arrived as promised. They brought several knives and transported more than a dozen rolls of straw.

Without saying nonsense, he started to test the sword with Song Chenglian. He saw the samurai sword slashing horizontally, and the grass roll was cut horizontally. This power shocked Song Chenglian. Unexpectedly, the samurai sword was quite sharp.

The young people in the office became angry and wanted to compare it with the samurai sword. However, the hand-to-hand combat of the Chinese army was a bayonet, and the long sword combat was not mainstream from the beginning. The long sword that was too sharp was easy to hurt itself every day, so they could only sharpen the sword in front of the battle.

Unexpectedly, the Japanese did not even mock the slightest bit of ridicule, but instead looked at the copy like this. This made the young Chinese soldiers feel a little better.

After sharpening the sword, he cut it across with one sword, and the grass roll was also cut off.

Later, the Nijo family increased the number of grass rolls, and the sharpest samurai sword could cut eight grass rolls with one knife. After being sharpened, the broadsword of the Chinese army was four and a half volumes.

This comparison is a verdict. The young people of the Chinese army rolled their eyes, but they were angry, but they didn't know how to react. The dignified Chinese sword was actually not as good as the Japanese samurai sword, which really made the young people very unhappy.

"Please let us help your country polish the sword blade." The Nijo family made a strange request at this time.

The young Jinyiwei were so angry that Song Chenglian did not refuse. Although he was also angry, Song Chenglian decided to see what mysterious things the Japanese side wanted to do.

When Erzhao's family took out the tool to sharpen the knife, Song Chenglian was no longer angry. The young Jinyiwei, who was originally angry, soon stopped getting angry. There was a difference between the whetstones on both sides just by looking at it.

It’s not that young people don’t have face. When the gap between the two sides exceeds a certain level, normal people will no longer be angry, but will start to admire them.

The whetstone in Japan is very well made, and it is even more in the fixture mode. It is a small tool to fix the sword and then grind the blade.

Compared with the way of sharpening knives in Japan, the sharpening knives of the Jinyiwei showed the way of sharpening knives in the village. Everyone simply pressed the sword and grinded them in a simple reciprocating mode of sharpening scissors and slimming kitchen knives. Compared with the two, it was really not suitable to get angry.

After being polished by Japan, the broad sword used by the Jinyiwei barely cut off eight grass rolls with one sword.

Song Chenglian completely put down his underestimation at this time, and he didn't think that the Nijo family was looking for trouble. Since the other party was also an expert, he had to give them respect.

With the basis of negotiation, the requirements of the Nijo family were also correctly understood. It turned out that someone from the Nijo family made swords, and the iron of the Southern Barbarians was indeed too expensive. Since the swords on the Ming Dynasty were so sharp, I think there was high-quality iron ore.

The trade between the Ming Dynasty and Japan was truly renewed again. The purpose of the Nijo family was not to make any trouble, but to simply hope that the Ming Dynasty could continue to provide high-quality iron ore as two hundred years ago, so that the Nijo family's knife casting matter would continue to develop.

After finishing it, Hojo was only on the stage again. However, Song Chenglian did not go to Yoshihara this time, but invited Hojo to the cafeteria opened by the office for dinner. The early spring of 1732 was not particularly cold, and everyone sat around the copper pot and ate the hot pot. The slices of meat in the double pot were ripe. After eating it, Hojo made a satisfying request. He hoped that the "Ming Dynasty" could restore iron ore exports, especially high-quality iron ore exports.

The news came to Linzi, which was already late in spring 1732. When the Ministry of Revenue Trade Department heard this request, he was a little embarrassed. Huo Chong agreed very much.

Japan has poor resources, so it has its own iron ore and coal mines, and is still a high-quality iron ore importer. Therefore, this requirement is not only too much, but rather natural.

But the guys from the Trade Department complained: "Governor, we are not enough for ourselves, so there are so many iron ore for Japan."

"No, no, no. I don't think there is a lot of iron ore exported to Japan. We just need to sell pig iron and ripe iron directly. After all, Japan is not going to engage in the iron smelting industry, but metal processing." Huo Chong suggested.

After all, they received training, and the Trade Department could clearly distinguish between iron smelting and metal processing. After hearing these two terms, they suddenly realized. So someone asked what the "Nanman Iron" that the Japanese people were thinking about was.

Huo Chong first explained what the "Japanese pirates" was. The Ming Dynasty did not lack high-quality iron ore, and the invasion of the Japanese pirates also led to the Ming Dynasty's unwillingness to export iron ore and other metallurgical materials to Japan.

Just think about it, if Japan obtains high-quality iron ore, will it not be able to produce more powerful Japanese swords?

Moreover, everyone has a general misunderstanding that the reason why Japan's Japanese swords are good is that Japan has extremely high-quality iron ore. In fact, this is not the case at all.

When the guys from the Trade Department heard this, they all hesitated. Huo Chong knew that these people were not easy to relieve the misunderstanding, so he waited for a while before continuing to talk.

In terms of production technology, the samurai sword is indeed built with an attitude similar to ten years of sharpening a sword. However, it does not take that long, but it requires extremely high humidity, dust, ore and fire temperature in the air. The real Japanese ancient sword is made of three-layer steel, and it is not completely cooked iron. The heat is also very critical. Pig iron is early and too soft to be too soft. It is not what many people think is that it is tempered into steel, but it needs to be forged to a hardness between the two.

There are many stages in the creation of a samurai sword. The real process is to use three different steels to synthesize a knife. The back, blade and body of the knife are made of metals of different materials, and then use embedded soil to fit. The complexity is unimaginable.

However, no matter how exquisite the craftsmanship is or how great the skills are, the materials are the fundamental reason that determines the quality of the Japanese sword.

In the mid-16th century, that is, during the Warring States Period, Japan's metallurgy industry began to use imported ores, mostly sold by Portugal and Spanish people, commonly known as Nanman Iron.

In fact, this red-Russian is also making money from the Japanese. The Japanese always think that these iron ingots are from the West, but in fact they are Indian Uz steel and Malay iron. These steels were once the raw materials for the world's fast-blade Damascus knife.

But before that, Japan adopted pure magnetite ore produced locally. In the 16th century, it was replaced by a melting pot to pursue an increase in production. Until the entry of the Southern Barbarian Iron, Japan immediately chose better iron and easily gave up its own traditions.

In the end, Huo Chong made a summary according to what he knew, "What the Japanese inherited was the technology of casting knives. As for materials, they used whatever they were good. They did not insist on using some materials in particular. Of course, some of them were better than good. What do you think?"

Faced with such a question, the comrades in the Trade Department thought for a moment, and someone had already answered: "It's just cheap and good, is it cost-effective?"

Huo Chong nodded happily. It is indeed a very important progress that the concept of cost-effectiveness can begin to be deeply rooted in people's hearts.

But a few days later, the Commerce Department quickly came to Huo Chong to complain, saying that the Metallurgical Department of the Ministry of Industry refused to leave.

As soon as the Business Department sued, the Metallurgical Department came to sue the Business Department for a random mistake. When the director met Huo Chong, "Teacher, what are the people in the Business Department saying? We have no ore exports here. Do we want us to export steel and cooked iron?"

"Can't it work?" Huo Chong felt that his students were overreacting.

If the business department is a training person, the Ministry of Works is a real student. Huo Chong spent a lot of effort on modern science education. At least the Ministry of Works Metallurgy Department is a guy with real knowledge of modern chemistry, physics, and mathematics.

It can be seen that this person from the Ministry of Works also fully agrees with such a teacher. "Teacher, you asked us to move the base to Lanling last time. Now the production task is so heavy, so how can we sell so much steel to Japan?"

"No need to have too many, there are still more than ten tons, right? Haha!" Huo Chong said later, looking at the expressions of the science and engineering men, he couldn't help laughing out loud.

The science and engineering man replied angrily: "No! Really no! So many parts need to be replaced at the moment, and Sister Qian has scolded us several times."

When Huo Chong heard this, he felt that Qian Qing was a bit too much. The Ministry of Works and Qian Qing had a fight over the pump. At that time, Qian Qing asked for accessories, but the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Works had not solved the problem of various crankshafts and gears, so he played a trick, saying that it would affect the overall pump production, so he forced Qian Qing to fight back.

Although these guys from the Ministry of Works are science and engineering men, before they entered the school, Qian Qing followed Huo Chong to learn mathematics, physics and chemistry. Qian Qing was engaged in military command not because she did not understand technology, but because military command needed people more.

Later, Qian Qing figured out what was going on, but he remembered the tricks of the science and engineering men. After encountering things, he would inevitably mention the past to attack the science and engineering men.

The men of science and engineering know that the reason is in the wrong, and they dare not refute it too much. However, the men of science and engineering were also very unhappy about this matter.

After hearing what Huo Chong said, the science and engineering men immediately said, "Teacher, we think it's good to go to Lanling when you mentioned the coal-iron and iron complex. But after getting there, there is a lot of steel, and there is really no one. There is not a ton."

Huo Chong had no choice but to ask about the announcement of the relocation of the Metallurgical Department to Lanling.

Speaking of Lanling, in addition to the Lanling King wearing a mask, there is also Lanling wine. Li Bai wrote a poem to praise: Lanling wine, tulips, and jade bowls hold amber light. But the owner can get drunk and don’t know where it is a foreign land.

However, there is a place in Lanling that is more famous, which is Zaozhuang. Huo Chong does not like this name, just as he does not like the names Zhumadian and Shijiazhuang.

Can Zaozhuang be called Lanling, and Shijiazhuang be called Changshan? What's the matter with the creation of "Shijiazhuang Zhao Yun"!

Moreover, Zaozhuang is very suitable for early coal-iron complexes. The annual runoff of rivers in Zaozhuang City is 1.07 billion cubic meters, and the surface water resources are the largest in Tengzhou City, with a runoff of 325.3 million cubic meters, and the smallest is Taierzhuang District, with a runoff of 102.8 million cubic meters. Groundwater resources are medium and rich, and the main supply comes from atmospheric precipitation, followed by water storage projects such as reservoirs and ponds and dams and river runoff. The water sources have been proven to be Shiliquan, Dingzhuang, Dongwangzhuang, Yangzhuang, Jingquan, Qingliangquan, Thunderkou, and Yicheng, all of which are mainly karst water and pore water. The annual groundwater resources in the city are 660 million cubic meters.

The coal ownership in Zaozhuang City was 1717.71 million tons and the iron ore ownership was 41.78 million tons. Shandong Zaozhuang Mining (Group) Co., Ltd. was formerly the "official kiln" of Shandong Zhongxing Mining Bureau founded in the fifth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1878). It was known as the three major coal mines in China at that time, along with Kailuan and Fushun. Zaozhuang Mining Bureau was established in 1956 and reorganized into Shandong Zaozhuang Mining (Group) Co., Ltd. in 1998.

The reason why Zaozhuang is famous is that the local economy has made important contributions to the development of China's coal industry, especially in the era of coal shortage, which played an important role in ensuring the supply of coal in East China. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was named "Daqing-style enterprise".

In 1732, Shanxi, which was rich in coal mines, was still in the hands of the Qing Dynasty. Huo Chong was even more unlikely to import coal mines from Australia or Southeast Asia. It is more suitable for a coal-iron complex, Zaozhuang with enough water sources.
Chapter completed!