Imperial meeting in Qianqing Palace.

A resource map is placed in front of every official's desk.

Su He pointed at the resource map and said: "The term of the cabinet is five years. Today we will discuss the five-year industrial plan.

This plan is a test for the cabinet and the young government.

To achieve the goals of the five-year industrial plan, all relevant officials were promoted.

If the goals of the five-year industrial plan are not achieved, the Metropolitan Procuratorate will investigate in detail whether officials have committed malfeasance in their duties.

The five-year industrial plan is the overall goal of national development. With goals, there is a way forward.

Industrial development is inseparable from workers and raw materials.

The map in front of you is the national resource map.

Workers can be trained gradually, but the distribution of raw materials determines the layout of the national industry."

Prime Minister Wang Zhongce and Shaofu Commander Lin Wenjing, upon hearing Su He's request, immediately focused their attention on the resource map.

His Majesty made it very clear and established a five-year industrial development plan.

This is the assessment of the cabinet's governance.

If the cabinet achieves this goal, cabinet officials can stay in office for another term or be transferred to other departments.

If the cabinet fails to achieve its goals, all officials will be affected and there will be no hope of promotion.

Wang Zhongce's understanding of industry is very simple, but he can also see the overall industrial layout of the country from the map in front of him.

Most of the iron ore and coal mines that are the most important industries are located in the northern region.

Among them, Baotou in Hetao Province has a large iron mine, Ordos has a large coal mine, and Shenmu County in Shaanxi Province has a large coal mine.

Coal mines have been detected in most of Shanxi Province.

Wei Shiming, the governor of the Hetao, was a steel-making professional. His main task in going to the Hetao was to develop Baotou's coal and iron industry.

The Shaofu established Baotou Steel, a coal and steel complex company.

A large coal and iron mine was also detected in Tangshan Prefecture, Shuntian County.

In the south, only the southwest region has detected several large minerals.

In the southeast region, only the Shilu area of ​​Qiongzhou Prefecture has detected large iron mines, and there is a lack of large coal mines.

After Wang Zhongce read the resource map, he suggested: "Your Majesty, our prospecting team goes to various places to detect minerals based on the mining situation of the gentry of the Ming Dynasty.

The Central Plains and southeastern regions have just been recovered, and many areas have not yet been explored.

Is it unfair to these regions to discuss the five-year industrial plan now?"

Su He listened to Wang Zhongce's suggestion and replied: "The minerals detected now are enough.

Our workers and funds are limited, and we can only establish at most five large heavy industry centers and a dozen large light industry centers.

Heavy industry is mainly based on steel and machinery, which is related to the security of the country, and mainly depends on the investment of the government.

Light industry refers to industries such as the textile industry, which mainly guides private investment."

Su He looked at this resource map. Except for Baotou and Qiongzhou, it was he who asked the prospecting team to specifically explore.

The mineral resources in most places are preliminary summarized based on the data from the Ministry of Industry of Ming Dynasty.

This resource map can already reflect the distribution of minerals across the country.

In his memory, apart from Ma'anshan, there are no large-scale, easy-to-exploit iron mines in the southeastern region.

Businessmen in the southeastern region are more flexible and are more suitable for developing light industry.

Lin Wenjing, the commander of the young master, said: "Your Majesty, based on the current capabilities of our young master.

I suggest building heavy industry centers in Baotou, Tangshan and Foshan.

A series of supporting industries will be built around these three places.

Baotou's heavy industry center can radiate to the northwest.

Tangshan's heavy industry center can radiate to the northern region.

Foshan's heavy industry center can radiate to the southern region.

Of these three heavy industry centers, except Tangshan, they need to be rebuilt.

Baotou and Foshan only need to expand the scale of local steel groups."

When Cabinet Minister Li Zhisheng heard the suggestion from Shaofu Ling Lin Wenjing, he immediately retorted:

"Your Majesty, only building three large steel plants does not meet the actual needs of the country.

Could it be that the iron farm tools and steel used by farmers in Henan need to be transported from other places?

The current transportation cost is very high, which will inevitably cause the price of agricultural tools to soar, which is not conducive to the stability of the people."

When Lin Wenjing heard Li Zhisheng's rebuttal, he said helplessly: "Our Shaofu has calculated the costs and the country can only build a large steel group.

Only by concentrating our efforts can we ensure that the steel output and quality are up to standard, and the country will not lose money."

Li Zhisheng retorted: "That's because your Shaofu is overstaffed and the management costs are too high."

Su He watched their quarrel and did not intervene.

Government-run companies will definitely lead to high management costs for the company.

Government-run companies control the lifeblood of the country, and they are not aiming to make profits.

Su He saw all parties quarreling and raised all the issues.

He made the final decision: "As a heavy industry center, just as the Shaofu said, we will build three heavy industry centers: Baotou, Tangshan, and Foshan.

Other heavy industry centers will wait until the scale of trained workers is sufficient before expanding.

All provinces and governments allow the establishment of government-owned companies.

In addition to paying normal taxes, the company's other income can be used for government expenditures.

Each province will set up some small and medium-sized steel plants according to its own conditions to meet some local private steel needs.

The three major steel plants mainly supply the steel needs of arsenals and machinery plants."

Su He opened the steel production reports reported by the Shaofu and the Cabinet.

"Last year, our total steel production with Daming was 130,000 tons.

In five years, iron production will reach 200,000 tons and steel production will reach 50,000 tons.

Do the cabinet and the government have the confidence to achieve this?"

Lin Wenjing responded confidently: "Your Majesty, as long as the cabinet issues corresponding policies and cooperates with our Young Master.

There is no problem in achieving His Majesty’s goal within five years.”

Wang Zhongce thought for a moment and responded: "Your Majesty, this is the total steel production, not the Shaofu's steel production.

The cabinet is confident that this goal can be achieved."

Wang Zhongce felt that the imperial court provided policies to allow government-owned enterprises in various places to produce steel.

This will definitely lead to a massive increase in steel production.

Steel is very valuable now, and running a steel plant is a sure-fire way to make money without losing money.

As long as the provincial government, governor and prefect have the conditions, they will definitely not let this piece of fat go.

The quality of the steel may be poor, but the output will definitely increase dramatically.

Su He said with a smile: "The summary now is the national steel production, and the goal I mentioned is definitely the national steel production."

Zhang Dezhi, minister of the Ministry of Industry, asked: "Your Majesty, are private businessmen allowed to get involved in the steel industry?"

Su He thought about this issue for a long time.

The salt and iron monopoly has been implemented since the Han Dynasty, which is conducive to the stability of the national finance and the people.

The steel industry is also a highly monopolized industry.

Su He has decided that industries that are naturally monopolistic will not be open to the private sector.

“Private people are not allowed to engage in the smelting of minerals such as steel plants.

But they are allowed to enter the mining industry and machinery industry."

Suhe decided to open the mining industry to the private sector.

The mining industry is extremely dangerous now. In the past, the main personnel working in high-risk mines were prisoners and criminals.

Now that the war is over, there is no large source of prisoners.

As the country's situation gradually stabilizes, the number of vicious criminals will also decrease.

In order to improve the efficiency of mining, in addition to developing various mining tools, the most effective method in the mining industry is to use slaves.

The kind of slave whose average life span is only one or two years.
To be continued...