The next day at dawn, Zu Dale led all the Liaodong reinforcements to the north and return to Shanhaiguan to take over You Shiwei as the general of Shanhaiguan. Li Xiao led a group of generals to see him off in person.

Before leaving, Zu Wan'er hugged her father and cried for a while, but refused to let go for a long time. Finally, she was comforted by Li Xiao and she shed tears and parted with her father, Zu Dalei.

The Liaodong Army then led troops out of the fort and went east. After a long distance, Zu Dale held the horse's hooves and his thick right hand gently patted Li Xiao's shoulder while seeing him off, and said softly: "Sending off thousands of miles, there will be a farewell, Li Xiao, you go back. I just hope that you can take good care of Wan'er for me, love her well, and love her."

"Don't worry, sir, I will definitely care for Wan'er like I protect my eyes. General Zu, please don't worry too much. I hope sir will take care of you all the way." Li Xiao bowed and said.

Zu Dale nodded, his face full of relief. He lowered his voice and said, "Li Xiao, if there is anything in the future, if I can help, I can send someone to Shanhaiguan to send a message."

"Li Xiaoming, thank you for your kindness."

Zu Dale looked at Li Xiao who was dealing calmly, with a very complicated look on his face. He sighed softly: "My son Zeyan, if you are half as capable as you, Li Xiao, I, as a father, will feel at ease even if I die."

"Sir, how can Li Xiao defeat him?"

Zu Dale showed a faint bitter smile on his face, and he stopped talking. After saying goodbye to Li Xiao and others, he led the army and left.

After bidding farewell to Zu Dale, Yao Wenchang's tribe and Du Shaoru's tribe also bid farewell to each other.

Before leaving, Yao Wenchang thanked Li Xiao for his generous and heroic spirit and life-saving grace. At the same time, he once again expressed that after Li Xiao returned to Shandong, he had something to do with him, so he spoke even though he spoke. Seeing Yao Wenchang repeatedly showing kindness to him like this, Li Xiao smiled and agreed not to mention it.

However, the Qiang General Du Shaoru led a group of soldiers away from the fort with a dark face. Looking at the back of this man, Li Xiao sneered and did not make any more conspiracy with this villain.

Only the captain Xu Mao and others greeted Li Xiao and bid farewell to him. Li Xiao comforted them a few words and waved goodbye to him.

After saying goodbye to these large numbers of soldiers, the Jinjiazhuang Fort was much empty. The autumn wind was bleak and the vast fields were vast, which made people feel a little more missed.

However, Li Xiao did not have so much leisure to watch the autumn scenery at this time, and a more grand goal was waiting for him to create.

This goal is Jintang City.

Li Xiao summoned a group of generals to come to Qianhu Official Hall to discuss matters and discuss the establishment of Jintang City.

The participants were Tian Wei, Duan Shiqian, Guan Yi, An Qian, Chen Houzi, An Monk Shang, Wu Zhuang and others. These people are all the most core members of Li Xiao’s current Jinjiazhuang Fort.

Wei Zhenfu An Qian, who had been stripped of Li Xiao's subordinates, was very happy and glad that he had followed the Mingzhu. Now he had the opportunity to enter Li Xiaojun's core circle, An Qian was even more excited.

"Everyone, I have a big deal to call you all. I want to discuss with you. Please give me more suggestions to help Li do this." Li Xiaocheng said sincerely.

"I wonder what the lord wants?" Tian Wei asked.

"I think that in the area of ​​nearly thirty square miles of our army's management, a city will be expanded with the Jinjiazhuang Fort as the center, and it will be an important stronghold and commercial base for our army on Xuanzhen North Road."

Li Xiao gave his inner plans to the generals and officials who he felt the most reliable.

As soon as Li Xiao said this, there was an uproar below and everyone was talking about it.

"Oh, but I don't know how big a city you want to build this Jintang City?" An Qian asked.

"I think that Jinjiazhuang Fort is the inner city and with this as the center, the outer city wall is built into a square city with a circumference of 16 miles, so as to prepare the city plan in one step and save the trouble of future expansion." Li Xiao said in a deep voice.

"The adult plan is big enough, which makes me open my eyes. I think our army is in Tielong City, Dan County, Shandong Province, with a circumference of 12 miles, which is already a huge scale. Now we want to build this Jintang City, with a length of 16 miles, and each wall is 4 miles long. I wonder if it is necessary to build such a big city?"

Duan Shiqi's resonance resonated with everyone. Guan Yi, Tian Wei and others all believed that this plan was really big and unreasonable.

Li Xiao smiled and explained to everyone: "Everyone, the positioning of Tielong City is different from this Jintang City. Tielong City only has a single steel production and processing, and there is no other industry. The 12 miles around the ancient city is enough. However, in this Jintang City, the industries that I plan to build in the city include coal, sulfur, wool processing and other industries, so the more capacity the built city can have, the better."

As soon as Li Xiao said this, Guan Yi took the lead in changing his opinion. He nodded and said, "Mr. Li's plan is quite reasonable. The situation on Xuanfu North Road is also different from that in southern Shandong. The land here is barren and useless and difficult to cultivate, so it is mostly occupied without any defense. Unlike Dan County, where there are lands that can be cultivated, but you have to plan carefully."

An Qian asked with some doubts: "If you want to build such a big city, you're afraid it's a lot of money."

"Of course there are quite a lot." Li Xiao replied: "However, our army now has all kinds of seizures last time, as well as the silver exchanged by the head level now. All the gold, silver, and silk combined, a total of nearly 130,000 taels of silver. Without wrapping bricks for the time being, it is enough to build the city."

"How do you plan the city you are going to build?" Wu Zhuang, who had not spoken, asked softly.

"I think that Jintang City has two city gates, the East Gate and the North Gate. This can reduce the city gate's defense force and help concentrate troops to defend. The second is convenient for transportation, because outside the East Gate is adjacent to the official road, while the North Gate is convenient for transporting sulfur, coal and other minerals from the junction of the border mountain and the Tangquan River, and for communicating with Mongolian ministries, which is also convenient for communication." Li Xiao said jokingly.

"There are also all things like the urn city, the city moat, the corner tower, the fort tower, the pheasant wall, the horse road, etc., this Jintang City has also been built." Tian Wei also asked.

"That's natural. Both city gates need to build another urn city. Then, water is drawn from the Tangquan River and poured into the dug moat. The width of the moat must be more than ten steps and the depth is more than five steps, so as to greatly increase the city's defense."

"Sir Li is willing to spend money. If he recruits all kinds of craftsmen from the nearby Forts, the construction of this city will be quick. Including various city wall defense buildings, more than 60,000 taels of silver is enough without bricks." An Qian's mind was quick and he immediately estimated the approximate cost.

Li Xiao nodded and said, "An Zhenfu calculated it very quickly. If the city wall is built, then quickly start building factories and residential buildings in the city to ensure that Jintang City is put into use as soon as possible. You can discuss with me how to plan in Jintang City."

Everyone was excited by Li Xiao’s words and made suggestions. In the end, Li Xiao agreed with everyone that the final Jintang City plan was as follows.

In the inner city, which is the current Jinjiazhuang Fort, Li Xiao classified it into three places, two-thirds of which are military camps and various military facilities, and the other thirds are divided into two parts, half of which are used to build various office offices, and the other half is used to build various silver and money and silk warehouses.

In the outer city, like Tielong City, it is divided into four districts with the inner city as the center point. However, the area of ​​each district is much larger than Tielong City, with a circumference of 16 miles.

Among them, in the southwest, many huge special warehouses were established as storage places for coal mines, coke, sulfur, wool, wool products, and various items transported from the south. In the southeast, large coking plants, sulfur extraction plants, wool degreasing plants and other factories were established.

Because this type of factory is seriously polluted and the smell is also unpleasant. Since Jinjiazhuang Fort often blows westward and northward winds, it is built in the south, but it is the most suitable choice, which can reduce the stimulation of air pollution to the human respiratory tract as much as possible.

The Northeast District has built the entire district into a huge wool textile production base, such as spinning mills, weaving factories, etc., which are all built in it.

The northwest area is half of the area used as an extension of the textile base to build more spinning mills and gauze factories. The other half of the area is built as a living area for residents. The people who moved out of Jinjiazhuang Fort, the workers recruited from outside, and the families of military soldiers in the fort all live here for unified management.

As for shops, Li Xiao also plans to build them all on both sides of the official road outside the city, just like Chifeng Castle and Tielong City, and they must not be built in the city to avoid secrets leaking.

Li Xiao was very satisfied with this preliminary plan.

After everyone had no objection to the size of the city planning, Chen Houzi asked again: "Sir, I have heard from Song Dayuneng and others about mining coal and sulfur. But what is going on with the wool processing? Where do we get the raw materials? Could it be that we still have to raise sheep?"

Li Xiao smiled and said loudly: "Do you have to raise sheep by yourself to have wool? To the west of this Jinjiazhuang Fort are all Mongolian tribes. If the trade route is opened, the wool will be like sea water and will be inexhaustible. Why worry about the raw materials being unable to be supplied?"

When Wei Zhenfu An Qian heard this, he asked in a hesitant way: "Mr. Li, now the court has clearly ordered that the Mongolian tribes should not trade with each other. Is it inappropriate for our army to do this?"

As soon as he said this, Monk An immediately expressed his objection: "Fuck him! Why do we have to obey such words in the imperial court? Now, the generals and merchants in the border areas are not secretly doing business with the Tartars. Why can't our army do it? And we still have to say so?"

An Qian looked embarrassed, and he lowered his head and stopped making a sound.

"An Qian, you are too worried. I have also carefully read the imperial edict of the court. The court's meaning is that it does not want strategic items to come out of seclusion, which will help the growth of the Mongolian Tartars. There is a principle that can be grasped when the transaction between the Mongolian Tartars, that is, never sell strategic materials such as cooked iron, cloth, grain, and medicinal materials to the Mongolian Tartars. The items sold in the future are just living utensils made of pig iron and some luxury goods such as silk and tobacco, so that they can not only make money from the Mongolian Tartars, but also do not give them the opportunity to grow rapidly."

Li Xiao's patient explanation made An Qian's doubts disappear. He hurriedly said, "Since Lord Li has such thoughts, the old man is too worried."

When Li Xiao saw An Qian's cautious appearance, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart that although the current Mongolian tribes had generals and merchants resold materials in the Ming Dynasty, in fact, in general, it was still a huge market that had not been completely developed. If he did not seize the opportunity and used the benefits of trade here to fully develop and strengthen himself, but followed the rules and followed the so-called imperial court metaphor and did not dare to take a step forward, it would be truly unattainable.

After all, according to real history, if the Ming Dynasty is completely destroyed in just ten years, I will not seize the time to grow and grow, which will lead to the land of China falling into boundless darkness and barbarism, the real sin is beyond redemption.

Those who achieve great things should not be limited to small matters. History only appreciates the smiles of the winners, but does not sympathize with the tears of the losers. As a time traveler who came from later generations, Li Xiao naturally understood the truth better.

Li Xiao thought about the wool processing and production industry, but it was actually carefully considered.

In the 16th century, the wool textile industry in Britain, the Netherlands and other countries was very prosperous and had become a national pillar industry. According to statistics, in the 16th century, in the total value of Britain's exports, the export volume of woolen made of wool accounted for 81.6% of the total value of Britain's exports, reaching nearly one million pieces, which is a terrifying number.

The huge profits brought by the wool business have caused the demand for wool to surge, and raising sheep and fetching wool has become a very profitable business. British landlords have changed their careers, encircling their own land and public land with fences to herd sheep, and forcibly occupying farmers' land. Farmers have lost the land that relies on to support their families, helped the elderly and the young, and wandered to strange places. Most of them eventually became urban poor and cheap labor. This is the famous "sheep eaters" movement in the history of bloody capitalism in the British history of making a fortune.

Due to the prosperity of wool textiles, Britain was nicknamed as an empire made by wool.

But unlike the UK's beginning to make a fortune by wool textiles, in the Ming Dynasty, the industry that weaved wool textiles into various types of wool wool wool has been unrest. Most people wore clothes woven cotton and ramie. In addition to ordinary fabrics, rich people also had high-end fabrics such as silk and other high-end fabrics.

In fact, China had invented a relatively primitive wool spinning machine at that time. The prototype of this textile machine was recorded in "Tiangong Kaiwu". The most fundamental reason why wool products were not popularized in China was that the Han people in the Central Plains at that time did not master the simple and easy-to-use wool degreasing technology, which made the wool textiles wool, because they were not degreased and greasy, could not be used as clothes, but could only be used as carpet raw materials. Therefore, wool textiles have not been promoted on a large scale.

As the main production area of ​​wool, the Mongolian tribes, as the main production area of ​​wool, were able to weave primary wool without degreased fishy smell and greasy, directly into crude wool felts. As a result, except for the poor wearing them to keep warm, the nobles were disdainful of such crude fabrics.

The fact that the Chinese did not wear wool clothes was recorded by Dai Glenn, a missionary who came to China during the Wanli period. In his journey, he recorded in a surprising tone that the Chinese in the Ming Dynasty did not defat and worsted wool clothes and the living customs of not wearing wool clothes.

The missionary lamented that fortunately the Chinese did not find the gift of wool, otherwise, with their huge population, the woolen wool produced in Europe would not be enough to wear.

The personal views of this missionary have been criticized by economists later. Friedrich wrote in a brief history of economics that only short-sighted and stupid people will not be sad but still feel lucky after losing the huge and rare business opportunities.

The industrial production of wool textiles in China actually started in the late 1870s. At that time, in order to supply military supplies, Zuo Zongtang opened the Lanzhou Weaving General Administration and used wool to produce military uniforms. This was the first industrial textile factory in China in the true sense.

It was not until the founding of New China that wool textiles became popular in China. From the production of only 130,000 wool spinning spindles in the country during the Republic of China period, it changed to 700,000 ingots in the 1980s.

Now, for this industry that is still sleeping, Li Xiao is very glad that he can become the first person to take the lead.

Li Xiao can be sure that if the woolen fabric is successfully made from Mongolian ministries, then the whole of China will become its own woolen dumping place. Due to the good warmth and comfortable wearing experience, it is in a monopoly sales position. Its price is definitely above most fabrics, and it is estimated to be the second most expensive fabrics after silk!

The sales price of silk cloth in Shandong and other places depends on the quality, about ten to twelve taels per piece. If your own woolen fabric can reach a sales price of more than 8 taels per piece, even if it can only produce 20,000 pieces per year in the initial stage, excluding the labor and raw material costs, it will be a net profit of nearly 150,000 taels per year!

It can be seen that wool textiles alone are enough to support a considerable number of troops in this Jintang City.

Li Xiao was still thinking that if the trade routes were expanded in the future and could be exported to Southeast Asia, Japan, North Korea and other places, the price would probably double, and the profits would be even more shocking.

If you don’t grasp such a golden business opportunity well, it will be a waste of resources!

After Li Xiao briefly talked about the prospects of wool production with everyone, everyone was happy to show it.

Monk An slid his fists and slammed his sleeves, shouting loudly: "Damn it! Lord Li's plan really made me look old An open! But I didn't expect that this little wool would have such profits. Damn, if I don't find a way to get it done, I'm simply the most stupid guy in the world!"

Seeing that everyone agreed, Li Xiao was very happy.

Li Xiao knew that in modern China, the main wool production area in Inner Mongolia, and the northeastern wool produced has the best softness due to its good climate and is suitable for use in the textile industry.

In his previous life, he became famous in the local area and created a famous wool brand called Ordos.

To the west of Jinjiazhuang Fort is Xitumot, bordering the Ordos tribe, which was famous in later generations, and is a famous wool production area.

Perhaps, soon, I, Li Xiao, will also create an equally famous wool brand...

"When Jintang City was built, it immediately began to establish relations with the Mongolian Tartars, establish business roads, and ensure that the supply of wool raw materials is sufficient and in place. Jintang City must be made the number one wool textile production base in the Ming Dynasty." Li Xiao ordered at the end.
Chapter completed!