By August of the eighth year of the Jingkang era, the Song Dynasty already possessed at least 150,000 firearms.
The enormous demand for military production, coupled with the emperor's personal oversight of the fortifications, led to the rapid development of firearms manufacturing in the Song Dynasty within just a few years.
From pure handcrafting to mold making, and then to complete standardization, the prototype of an assembly line began to emerge after standardization.
Furthermore, the imperial court purchased a large area of land in the suburbs and built a massive military factory there, relocating both the East and West Wards there as well.
According to Sima Junru's intelligence reports, the Jin Dynasty had begun manufacturing firearms.
The Jin Dynasty had a complete military-industrial complex, inheriting all the legacy of the Liao Dynasty.
A state like the Liao Dynasty was no longer the nomadic people of the north.
The Liao Dynasty had a well-established political system and mature craftsmanship.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, a large number of Han Chinese who fled north due to war developed large-scale crafts there, including weapons manufacturing and even gunpowder production.
Therefore, Zhao Huan was not confident that if the Song Dynasty could do it, the Jin Dynasty certainly couldn't.
The Jin dynasty also had a large number of talented Han Chinese, and a solid foundation.
They stole some muskets from the Song Dynasty, essentially standing on the shoulders of giants.
This is an unavoidable problem.
However, the number of firearms in the Jin Dynasty was certainly no match for that of the Song Dynasty.
After all, dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of guns can be built up by manpower.
But what about tens of thousands?
This requires large-scale production workshops. The Song Dynasty has been working on this for almost five years before achieving its current modest success.
It would take the Jin Dynasty at least twenty years to reach the size of the Song Dynasty today.
The reason is simple: during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, iron smelting and mining were already highly developed, with abundant iron reserves and relatively mature technology.
This is something that neither the Liao Dynasty of the past nor the Jin Dynasty of the present can compare to.
This is a true contest of comprehensive national strength. From Zhao Huan's perspective: I am not worried about you stealing my technology. I cannot stop you from doing so. The reason I am not worried is that true comprehensive strength must be built up over a considerable period of time.
Moreover, the Jin Dynasty's economy and industry were in a terrible state, and the Jin court simply could not afford the cost of large-scale military development.
If Wanyan Zongpan insisted on developing military capabilities, Zhao Huan would naturally be happy to see it.
During this period, Zhao Huan received the most information from Xu Churen regarding the progress of mine development across the country.
Now, gunpowder has been planted in several major mines of the Great Song Dynasty, and the mountains are being blasted every day.
In the present Song Dynasty, there are three major state-run steel mills.
First, there's Chang'an Steel in Jingzhao Prefecture.
Secondly, there is Taiyuan Iron and Steel in Taiyuan Prefecture.
Third is Hanyang Steel on Jinghu North Road.
These three state-run steel mills were essentially transportation hubs, and their geographical locations were carefully chosen to cover the most important areas of the Song Dynasty.
Of course, the imperial court began encouraging private steel production four years ago.
In the Song Dynasty today, there are more than two hundred steel smelters of varying sizes that are recorded.
Furthermore, due to the court's enormous demand, the number of steel mills continued to increase.
The application of gunpowder and steam engines further improved mining efficiency, allowing merchants to make money even faster.
This is a positive cycle.
Steel was being replenished continuously, and the first railway track of the Song Dynasty was completed.
The railway tracks were made of wood, with only two rails made of steel.
It was a bulky monster that ran at about the same speed as a person walking.
Because the speed is too slow and the consumption is too great, the court officials have been debating whether to abolish the railway recently.
The court was divided into two factions over this matter: one was the abolition faction, led by Grand Chancellor Xu Churen.
The other faction was the conservative faction, led by Yu Yunwen.
People were surprised to find that Yu Yunwen, who had just taken office this year, had become the Minister of the Navy of the Song Dynasty, a rank only half a level lower than that of the Imperial Chancellor.
He is definitely a candidate for future prime minister.
Keep in mind that Yu Yunwen was only 23 years old that year!
He was able to speak out in the court and quickly gained a faction; it was clear to everyone that the emperor intended to support him.
This is a new political development.
These two factions argued fiercely in the imperial court.
Xu Churen believed that the railway had not played a practical role, while Yu Yunwen believed that the railway could transport a large amount of goods at once, which was incomparable to horse-drawn carriages, and that the Song Dynasty needed to build more railways.
As for the speed, let the Academy of Sciences figure that out.
Yu Yunwen was a young man who spoke with great energy and vigor in the court, and maintained an optimistic attitude and a desire to explore everything.
The old guard, including Xu Churen, almost entirely opposed the continued construction of railways.
With a living example before them, the railway was a failure; the input and output were so poor that even the emperor couldn't refute it.
After a period of back-and-forth, there was still no resolution.
So Zhao Huan started to have a headache.
The government is clearly unwilling to carry out railway construction and has a strong resistance to it. Xu Churen prefers to lay a dense network of highways throughout the country.
On this point, the emperor and the prime minister disagreed.
Railways were the most important factor in Zhao Huan's rise to power in the Song Dynasty.
After much deliberation, the emperor announced the establishment of a new government office called the Railway Bureau.
The Railway Bureau was fully responsible for the future railway construction of the Song Dynasty.
The Sibi Prefecture was one rank lower, and was concurrently held by the Minister of the Navy, Yu Yunwen. Moreover, the Railway Bureau reported directly to the Emperor, bypassing the Council of State Affairs.
This is very sensitive information; the emperor is stripping some power from the Council of State.
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