Jiang Wan'er said calmly, "That girl's longing for you has penetrated deep into her bones. Look at how she looked just now. As her sister, what else can I say?"
Zhao Hao took two steps forward and said softly, "I'm glad your Majesty doesn't blame me."
Jiang Wan'er rolled her eyes at him: "In your eyes, do I get angry so easily?"
Zhao Hao couldn't help but laugh dryly: "How could that be!"
As he said that, he quickly changed the subject: "Your Majesty, is there anything else you want to know about the smelting workshop?"
Jiang Wan'er said, "Sit down and talk."
After Zhao Hao sat down, Jiang Wan'er continued, "You said in your letter that the smelting workshop is already on the right track. A total of twelve blast furnaces were built, but only three are currently in use?"
Zhao Hao nodded: "If we want to activate the remaining nine, we have to do it step by step, which will take a long time."
Jiang Wan'er was a little puzzled: "Why is this happening? Is it because the mining speed is too slow, or is it because the operation is too difficult?"
Zhao Hao said, "Both, but in terms of mining speed, when using thunder bombs, the speed can barely keep up."
After all, there are three mines of different sizes, and they use thunder bombs to mine, so the mining speed is acceptable.
"The reason why we have to start using it gradually is mainly because there are not enough experienced smelting craftsmen."
“This takes a little bit of nurturing.”
Jiang Wan'er nodded slightly, paused, and said, "If all twelve blast furnaces are put into use, how much steel can your smelting workshop alone produce every year?"
Zhao Hao said softly: "If all are activated, conservatively speaking, it will be no problem to exceed 300,000 kilograms."
Hearing this, Jiang Wan'er's eyes suddenly flashed, and she immediately asked in surprise: "How much did you say?"
Zhao Hao was startled: "Three... three hundred thousand jins..."
Jiang Wan'er took a breath and said, "There are so many?"
Zhao Hao couldn't help but let out a breath, he thought it was not enough.
"Your Majesty, this is just the most conservative estimate. If the mining speed can keep up and there are more smelting craftsmen, it would be normal to reach 400,000 to 500,000 kilograms."
Jiang Wan'er stood up suddenly and slapped the desk with her delicate hands.
"Just tell me how many people you need and how much money you need, and I'll give you everything!"
"I only have one request, to put all the smelting blast furnaces into use as soon as possible!"
Zhao Hao was startled and said, "Your Majesty, there is no need to be so anxious, right?"
Jiang Wan'er rolled her eyes at him and said, "Do you know what increasing steel production by so much means to me?"
"With this steel, how many farm tools, weapons, and arrows can we make?"
"This is unimaginable for the improvement of national strength!"
Of course Zhao Hao knew it, but he didn't expect that the royal sister would be so excited.
After thinking for a while, he said, "Your Majesty, if this is the case, the annual investment in the smelting workshop cannot be less than one million guan..."
Hearing this, Jiang Wan'er exclaimed again: "What?"
Zhao Hao was startled again and said weakly, "This is still a relatively conservative number."
To increase production, not only the mining area needs to add people, but also the smelting workshop needs to add people.
The number of miners and smelters will basically double.
At least more than 50,000.
With so many people, the wages alone would be an astronomical figure.
In addition, there are charcoal, coal, bombs, various tools, and the workers' food, clothing, housing and transportation, all of which cost money.
One million strings of cash may not be enough.
Jiang Wan'er's expression changed over and over again. She gasped and said, "One million strings of cash. This is too much!"
Zhao Hao smiled bitterly and said, "That's why I said that we should proceed step by step, at least until we pay off the debt owed to Shu."
Jiang Wan'er shook her head helplessly: "It's too much, and the court is implementing the policy of pacifying the barbarians, which also requires some investment."
“There are so many places to spend money!”
Zhao Hao nodded gently: "So, we can proceed step by step. We can use this time to gradually train smelting craftsmen."
"We will also train a new group of blacksmiths to forge weapons."
"We have steel now, but there are still too few blacksmiths, which seriously restricts the speed of weapon forging."
Jiang Wan'er glanced at him and asked, "Since you knew there were few blacksmiths, why did you send a thousand of them?"
Zhao Hao shrugged: "That can't be helped. Since they don't want to stay, I can't force them to stay!"
"After all, a forced melon is not sweet."
Jiang Wan'er's beautiful eyes flashed: "If someone else said this, I wouldn't think it was a big deal, but when you said it, why do I feel it's so wrong?"
Zhao Hao was speechless for a moment. He wanted to say something in rebuttal, but it seemed that he couldn't quite refute it.
Seeing his deflated look, Jiang Wan'er couldn't help but smile softly.
"Okay, take a few days' rest, then write a detailed memorial to me."
Zhao Hao nodded: "Yes!"
Jiang Wan'er said, "Okay, it's getting late, let's go back first."
But Zhao Hao didn't move, his eyes went straight to Jiang Wan'er.
Seeing that he didn't leave, Jiang Wan'er couldn't help but frown and asked, "Why don't you leave?"
Zhao Hao touched his stomach and said weakly, "Your Majesty, it's already this late. I'm a little hungry. There's no food to eat when I get home."
"I want to have a meal with you..."
Jiang Wan'er was startled and glared at him: "Since you have made such a great contribution this time, I will reward you with a meal!"
When Zhao Hao heard this, he immediately said, "Your Majesty, you can't say that. I have done such a great deed, is it just worth a meal?"
Jiang Wan'er snorted, "Do you want to eat?"
Zhao Hao quickly said: "Eat, eat, eat, of course!"
Jiang Wan'er called out to the outside and Eunuch Qu walked in immediately.
Jiang Wan'er said, "Send some midnight snack."
Eunuch Qu agreed and went away quickly.
Soon, the midnight snack arrived.
A few side dishes.
Jiang Wan'er stood up, washed her hands, came back and sat down, then looked at Zhao Hao.
"What are you doing sitting there like an idiot?"
"Aren't you hungry?"
Zhao Hao immediately stood up and walked over: "Without your grace, we wouldn't dare to move!"
Jiang Wan'er rolled her eyes at him and said, "I've never seen you so obedient."
With a chuckle, Zhao Hao moved a chair and sat opposite the desk.
Jiang Wan'er served a bowl of rice porridge and Zhao Hao quickly reached out to take it.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Jiang Wan'er served herself another bowl and said, "Eat quickly, and go back to rest after you're done."
Zhao Hao didn't even bother to pick up the spit, and instead asked, "Your Majesty, what happened to Duan Youde after he was escorted to the Imperial Capital?"
Jiang Wan'er's eyes moved and she asked, "Why, do you still want to use this person?"
Zhao Hao quickly shook his head: "No, I was just asking casually."
After a detailed investigation by Qinzhou officials, they did not find any evidence of corruption or bribery on the part of Duan Youde.
However, such a large-scale corruption occurred in the entire Qinzhou officialdom for such a long time.
As the top leader of Qinzhou, he, as the governor of the province, naturally also has serious crimes.
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