On the westernmost side of Chang'an City, there is a closed market. There are troops guarding the market around it. Ordinary people cannot enter, and the people inside cannot go out at will. Some people living in this market have never left this market in their lifetime.

Because the market lives in the craftsmen, they have another name, called craftsmen. Once they become craftsmen, they will be locked in this narrow area for generations to work for Daqi, passing father to son and son to grandson. There is no special opportunity, and there is no chance to get rid of such a fate.

Because the people in this market produce weapons and equipment from Daqi.

Since the rise of the Ming Dynasty, it swept across the battlefield with various new weapons and brought huge damage to the armies of various countries, the fate of these craftsmen has suddenly become even more miserable. Emperor Cao Tiancheng of the Great Qi Dynasty transported the Ming Dynasty's weapons and equipment seized from the battlefield, and ordered the craftsmen here to dismantle and imitate it.

There were many smart people among the craftsmen in Qi. With samples, it was not difficult to reversely understand the manufacturing process and imitate it. Soon, they created a batch of crossbows and thunder fires. When these things were just copied, both Emperor Cao Tiancheng and the military were overjoyed.

The first large-scale confrontation of the Ming Qi army ended with a crushing defeat. Tens of thousands of troops were killed or captured by the Ming army, but the Qi army never thought that their combat effectiveness was inferior to that of the other party. It was precisely the one who decided the victory or defeat of the war, which was the first time that appeared in front of them.

Now, they also have the same weapon, which naturally makes them full of confidence, believing that the next time the two armies meet again, they will definitely have the upper hand.

But what is unexpected is that these imitated weapons are all pretty goods and cannot be used for a long time. They seem to be brand new equipment, and they have not even passed the test shooting level, and they have all failed one after another.

Emperor Cao Tiancheng was furious and thought that these craftsmen did not do their best at all, but were perfunctory. The emperor was furious and naturally needed human life and blood to fill it out. A group of master craftsmen and ordinary craftsmen were questioned and imprisoned, and in the end they all died of unlawful life.

The craftsmen began to imitate again with fear, but the result was exactly the same every time. When they finally concluded that the quality of the steel made could not reach the strength and toughness required for these weapons, a large number of excellent craftsmen had already died.

Then it was the turn of the craftsmen who smelted iron and steel to bleed.

Over the years, Qi State craftsmen have paid countless lives and blood. Under high pressure, they have indeed increased the quality of steel by a large margin, but obviously, they are still insufficient to the height they want. This situation continued until Cao Tiancheng fell, Cao Yun came to power, and after he fully began to imitate the Ming Dynasty, the situation finally changed greatly.

The closed market was opened. Although there were still troops guarding it, the people in the market were free to enter and exit. The craftsmen in the market were also lifted from the chains of craft slaves, and their descendants could choose to do business, farm, or even study and become officials like ordinary people.

Countless craftsmen walked out of this area that locked their lives for the first time and saw a brand new and completely different world outside. They were grateful to the new emperor Cao Yun.

Even though the lifting of the ban was only half a year, it inspired endless passion of the craftsmen. Various fantasies began to burst out under the stimulation of policies. The problems that had plagued them for several years seemed to be solved inadvertently. The use of coking coal, the invention of converter, and the birth of the steel-fighting method made the Qi State's iron and steel smelting technology a qualitative leap. Although the imitation of the Ming State crossbow machine, the thunder fire and other weapons were not yet at the level of the Ming State, they could barely be used on the battlefield.

One by one, the once lowly craftsmen, turned into officials because of these technological breakthroughs, received a large bounty, walked out of this market, purchased houses and land in other areas, and became rich from extreme poverty.

As the Ming Dynasty implemented this policy, various new technologies emerged in an endless stream, Qi State finally came to this point. The path taken by pioneers provided great encouragement for latecomers. As long as there was a little breakthrough in technology and a new thing was invented, their own destiny would change drastically. For the first time, these craftsmen felt that the opportunity to change their destiny was finally in their own hands.

The weather in July is not quite hot, but in a corner of this market, there are heat waves rolling, and dozens of blast furnaces are thick smoke. Even if the craftsmen are wearing only a pair of shorts, they are still sweating profusely. Today, there are countless high-ranking officials in the Great Qi Dynasty. Standing among them, the one who is Emperor Cao Yun of the Great Qi Dynasty.

Cao Yun was not afraid of heat waves, but his face was still flushed. For him, the best-quality steel meant sharper weapons and stronger armor. He had been suppressed by the Ming people for many years, and now he finally saw hope of transcending.

Cao Yun always believed that with the level of the craftsmen of the Great Qi, there is no reason why they cannot compare to those craftsmen of the Ming people. All they lack is motivation. Eating big pot rice together, doing it well and doing it badly, will never change their destiny anyway. Living is just for living, and life without any hope. Of course, it is impossible for the craftsmen to do their best to make them do their best. They just need to open a hole for them to see the passage of progress. They catch up with the Ming people or even surpass them. That is a natural thing.

The facts made him very happy. Everything was as expected. After only half a year of unblocking the ban, the beautiful scenery he hoped was approaching step by step. Technical problems were solved one by one, and new inventions emerged one after another. Although many of them were chickens, he saw the powerful driving force for craftsmen to desire change.

Today is the first time that the latest steelmaking technology has been put into actual use, and Cao Yun personally came to inspect the results.

"Open the furnace!" With a command, several shirtless men pulled a thick iron bar hard, and the closed furnace door slowly opened. The bright red steel squirmed and slowly flowed into the mud molds from the inside.

An hour later, a light green steel ingot was placed in front of Cao Yun, and next to it, another steel ingot was placed. One was made by Qi State, while the other was obtained from the Ming State through some abnormal channels.

"Let's start!" Cao Yun stared at the craftsmen who were already ready to do a comparison experiment.

Strength, toughness, and tests one by one, the joy on the craftsmen's faces became stronger and stronger, and Cao Yun's smiles were getting more and more. Although there was still a gap between the two, they were no longer as desperate as they used to be. At least, they had reached the most basic standard, which means that Qi State finally overcomes the bottleneck in the future in the manufacturing of weapons and armor, and they will also have what the Ming State has.

The manufacturing technology of weapons such as the crossbows, crossbows, and thunder fires of the Ming Dynasty have long been mastered by the craftsmen of Qi. When the problem of tampering with their materials was solved, the rest is no longer a problem. With the countless excellent mines in the huge territory of Qi, they will sooner or later surpass the Ming people in this skill.

Cao Yun had no doubt about this. Last year, after using the captured Ming spies to exchange the Ming people's cement manufacturing technology, in just half a year, countless cement manufacturing workshops have spread all over Daqi. In terms of current output, it is almost up to the Ming Dynasty's output.

Forests, fortresses, fortresses and cities such as Changning County, Luzhou and other major border towns are undergoing large-scale transformation, and the buildings with steel and concrete structures are upgrading the border fortresses of Qi. Even the thunder fire of the Ming Dynasty, the fortresses and fortresses of these steel and concrete structures are just a waste of time.

After completing these military transformations of important border towns, the next step is to use cement manufacturing technology to significantly transform the domestic transportation network. Cao Yun ambitiously formulated a series of road transformation plans. During the six months of his visit to the Ming Dynasty, he saw the smooth flow of the Daming road network, with well-connected roads connecting all parties. What is convenient is not only the daily walking of the people and the acceleration of the circulation of goods, but more importantly, the military mobilization will be several times faster than before, and rain and snow will no longer be an obstacle to the march.

Although Qi State cannot make rail cars like Ming State, the road must be taken step by step and the meal must be eaten bit by bit. Cao Yun firmly believes that as long as there are a few more years, Qi State will definitely undergo earth-shaking changes.

Rail cars are actually not a very difficult technology. What is more important in building rail cars is actually a large amount of capital investment. According to the information obtained by Cao Hui's ghost, most of the rail cars in the Ming Dynasty are in a loss state until now, and require a large amount of funds to be invested by the state to subsidize.

More importantly, a large number of rail cars in the Ming Dynasty, except for a few main lines, were invested and built by the huge merchants and tyres of the Ming Dynasty. These branch rail cars and main roads together constitute the Ming Dynasty's rail transit. The farthest one is from the Ming capital Yuejing City to the border Taoyuan County. His existence allowed the Ming army to quickly deploy the most elite central war zone troops stationed in Yuejing City, Shayang, Zhengyang and other places in a very short time to the border.

Qi obviously does not have such strength yet. The wounds of the coup are still recovering slowly. The old gentry was knocked to the ground. The giant merchants that the new Cao Yun had expected have not yet grown up. Qi is still feeling the stones across the river. Many of the Ming people's effective policies were not as easy to imitate.

Cao Yun is now facing the same dilemma as Qin Feng at the time, which is lack of money. He lacks a lot of money and is now in a country with explosive growth. Because of his lack of money, many things have to be put aside.

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Chapter 1651: Qi Kingdom Reborn from the Cocoon (Part 1) (Page 1/1)
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