Li Guodong deliberately blamed Chongzhen for poisoning the gentry. Anyway, Zhang Shuheng, the commander of the Jinyiwei, took the blame for him and used it to divert hatred. Zhang Shuheng also said in a very good manner: "Grandpa, be careful of his words! The officials are also responsible for the emperor's orders and cannot help themselves."

"Bah, the eunuch!" A shopkeeper at the dinner table cursed in his heart.

Li Guodong and Zhang Shuheng both regarded it as if they had not heard it. Li Guodong continued: "Dear shopkeepers, we started Guangdong Steel Company to colonize overseas for use. In the future, we need a lot of weapons to expand our territory overseas, which requires steel. In terms of the current output of the entire Guangdong steel industry, it is not enough for us to expand our territory in the Ming Dynasty. The output needs to double. So I hope that all shopkeepers can expand their reproduction."

If Guangdong is deducted, the current steel production of the Ming Dynasty is not enough. Take the construction of battleships as an example. The naval gun required for an 80-grade third-level battleship would cost 400,000 kilograms, and the guns, armor, swords and guns used by the army all require a large amount of steel.

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the steel production reached its peak, reaching an astonishing 75 million kilograms a year. However, in the late Ming Dynasty, due to years of war, the annual steel production dropped to less than 35 million kilograms. Among these 3500 kilograms, most of the steel was produced in Huizhou and Foshan.

If Guangdong was removed, the annual output of the Ming Dynasty steel was only a pitiful seven million kilograms. Among these seven million kilograms, Li Guodong's Tawau Steel Plant accounted for half, while Fujian Zheng Zhilong's Fujian iron accounted for a small half. The annual output of the iron in other parts of the Ming Dynasty was so pitiful that it could be ignored.

In the past, except for Foshan and Huizhou, Jinxian, Jiangxi, Guangping, Huguang Xingguo, Shuntian Zunhua, Yangcheng, Shanxi, Longzhou, Sichuan and other places were all major iron producers. However, now, Jiangxi Jinxian Iron Factory was destroyed by the Qing army, and Sichuan Longzhou Iron Mine was in the hands of Zhang Xianzhong, and the other major iron producers were controlled by the Qing army.

Therefore, controlling Guangdong's steel industry has important strategic significance for Li Guodong.

Li Guodong's words finally dispelled the doubts of the shopkeepers of various iron stores. Since he wanted to set up a large-scale steel company, it means that the Duke of the State had to use his own people, and at least his head could grow safely around his neck, so he didn't have to worry about being taken away by the Jinyiwei.

As long as the guy who was eating on his head was not taken away by the Jinyiwei, how to cooperate with the Duke of the Kingdom, everything is easy to say. As long as the Duke of the Kingdom should not let himself lose too much, that would be great.

Merchants can take risks for profit, but they can only take risks for profit if they can make money. But if they don’t cooperate with the Duke, not only will they hand over their heads to the Jinyiwei, but they will even give all the property of the family to the Jinyiwei. Not to mention, the smiling Jinyiwei leader in the hall is sitting in front of him. Looking at Zhang Shuheng’s smiling face, every shopkeeper was chilling: This is simply a smiley tiger!

It is said that when this devil-like Jinyiwei kills people, he always kills people with a smile. Even if he cuts off hundreds of heads at once, he has a smile on his face.

But Luo Yuanfeng plucked up his courage to stand up. He already knew that his head would not be in the hands of the Jinyiwei. His businessman's essence was exposed at once. For the sake of money, he should be more courageous.

"This shopkeeper, what are your objections to what my country's official said about establishing a steel plant?" Li Guodong asked.

Luo Yuanfeng made up his mind and asked boldly: "The Duke of the State wants to build a steel factory. Who will pay for this money? How large is it? How many people are needed? How many profits are shared?"

Li Guodong replied with a smile: "This major shareholder is naturally our Xinyuantang. Our Xinyuantang will naturally pay the most money. Choose a factory site, build an iron smelting plant, and build a coke iron smelting blast furnace, which can save a lot of charcoal costs. We will also build a coke factory to use coal transported from Annan to coke."

"Master, what is coke?" Luo Yuanfeng asked.

"Coke is a kind of charcoal made of coal, which can replace charcoal and iron smelting. Because it is made of coal, the cost is much lower than charcoal. Moreover, when refining coke, you can also get gas that can be used to make fire, and get coal tar and other items." Li Guodong replied.

Coal tar is a treasure, which can be used to produce various chemical raw materials such as benzene and phenol, and can be used to make explosives, artificial resins, dyes, plastics and other chemical items. Unfortunately, Li Guodong did not study chemicals in his previous life, so coal tar can only be used as lamp oil for lighting lamps or as tincture oil for battlefields when he was in his hands.

However, once the coke factory is built, the cost of refining steel can be greatly reduced, and low-priced steel can be refined.

As for the construction of the steel plant, Li Guodong could still invite Song Yingxing and Fang Yizhi as consultants. Not to mention that the ancients were not as smart as modern people, Fang Yizhi and Song Yingxing were well aware of steelmaking technology. These two people were rare science and engineering talents in this era.

"You have occupied a large share, so what about us?" Luo Yuanfeng asked again. What he didn't expect was that the Duke of the State actually took out the money to build a factory by himself! He originally thought that the so-called combined shares would not pay any money, so he united all the iron shops in Huizhou to build an iron factory, and then distributed it to the Duke of the State to a share. Unexpectedly, the Duke of the State paid out of his own pocket.

"You can discuss it among yourself. Those who have money pay for money, and those who don't have money pay for money. We need skilled blacksmiths." Li Guodong said.

As soon as this sentence was spoken, it caused a stir among the shopkeepers. In this era, the technology of craftsmen was kept confidential. Each craftsman was only passed on to his son, and it was passed on to men but not to women. If there was no son, the technology would be passed on to the closed disciples, and then the closed disciples would be called as son-in-laws. In this way, the technology would be passed on from generation to generation and would never be passed on to outsiders.

Li Guodong's approach is to let those craftsmen use their skills to share with outsiders. How can this be done?

Hearing the shopkeepers' discussions, Li Guodong laughed and pointed at the two Confucian scholars dressed by him and said, "Dear shopkeepers, these two are officials brought by his Duke. This is Song Changgeng (Ying Xing) Song Prefect; this is Fang Mizhi (Yizhi) Fang Hanlin, they are both geniuses of iron smelting. Although these two are court officials, to be honest, in terms of iron smelting technology, they will not be worse than any of you craftsmen."

The shopkeepers looked at each other, but they really couldn't believe that the two officials who were well-read about the books of sages were still proficient in the ways of smelting iron. The sage's books did not teach people how to smelting iron.

Li Guodong was not in a hurry to recruit these shopkeepers to invest. He believed that he had good things in his hands. As long as he took out the good things for these merchants to show them, he believed that these merchants would volunteer to invest. If they were too late to invest, they would be too late to regret it.

"Everyone, in this way, my Duke will give you three months to consider. Within these three months, my Duke will build a coke factory and several blast furnaces. Then you can see the effect. If you feel satisfied, you can decide whether to invest." Li Guodong's face was filled with a confident smile.

"Dude, can I invest in advance?" Luo Yuanfeng heard Li Guodong say the three-month period and saw Li Guodong's confident smile. He had estimated that the Duke must be holding something good in his hand to be so confident. As an excellent businessman, seizing business opportunities is the most important thing, and everything must be ahead of others.

Li Guodong nodded with a smile: "Of course it's OK, but Li doesn't know the name of the shopkeeper?"

"The surname of Duan Zun is Luo and his name is Yuanfeng."
Chapter completed!