Chapter 52: Ginger is Spicier When It's Old (Second update, seeking subscriptions)

In the administrative system of the Tang Dynasty, the territories were typically divided into three levels: circuits, prefectures, and counties, which can be compared to the provinces, prefectures, and counties of later eras. In terms of military hierarchy, the top commanders were collectively known as Superintendents-General. A Superintendent-General was equivalent to a Viceroy in later times, though the specific prefectures and counties under their jurisdiction varied. In particular, the Superintendent-General of Bingzhou (later changed to Viceroy) commanded the military affairs of twenty-four prefectures surrounding Bingzhou.

At the tender age of youth, Chen Ying was appointed as the Superintendent-General of Lingzhou, with concurrent command over the military affairs of six prefectures. In reality, however, this was a massive trap. The Fengzhou referred to by the Tang Dynasty was not the Fengzhou in Fujian (Jin'an Commandery), but rather Southern Hengzhou established during the Eastern Wei dynasty (located in Udan Town, Ongniud Banner, Inner Mongolia), which was later renamed Fengzhou. However, ever since it was swallowed up by the Tujue at the end of the Sui dynasty, it was not brought back within the territory of the Great Tang until Li Jing launched a night raid on the Yin Mountains in the fourth year of the Zhenguan era.

At present, Fengzhou jurisdiction comprised Jiuyong and Yongfeng counties. Shenzhou governed Herbin and Yulin counties. Xiuzhou governed Shuofang, Dejing, and Ningshuo counties (all located within the borders of present-day Jingbian), while Yinzhou governed Zhenxiang, Kaiguang, and Rulin counties. As for Suizhou, although it nominally governed eleven counties, and Huazhou governed seven, it mattered little, as those regions were still under the domain of Liang Shidu.

Looking broadly at the thirty-four counties across the seven prefectures nominally assigned to Chen Ying, the forces he could actually command were merely the five counties of Lingzhou (while Huaiyuan remained in the hands of the Tujue). The rest were either controlled by the Tujue or by Liang Shidu. In truth, Chen Ying had merely been handed an empty title.

Upon hearing Li Yuan grandly announce his intention to heavily reward Chen Ying, only for the reward to take this form, Li Gang did not spare Li Yuan an ounce of face; he simply closed his eyes and kept his mouth tightly shut.

Hearing this, Li Crown Prince Li Jiancheng trembled with suppressed fury. Yet, his self-restraint was truly commendable, or else he would have erupted on the spot. Nevertheless, Li Jiancheng now came to a sobering realization: his royal father was genuinely wary of him; otherwise, he would not have treated a mere Chen Ying with such harshness.

Li Jiancheng turned his body away, not daring to meet Li Yuan’s gaze directly, fearing that if he lost control, he would end up clashing head-on with Li Yuan.

"Your Imperial Father, this move is ill-advised!"

Director of the Department of Affairs and Prince of Qin, Li Shimin, suddenly spoke up, saying, "Father, Lingzhou has been a battleground contested by strategists since ancient times. Now, the Lingzhou Superintendents-General office oversees the military garrisons of six prefectures, yet it possesses only three subordinate garrisons, mustering a mere thirty-six hundred soldiers. I fear this is scarcely sufficient to defend Lingzhou!"

Li Yuan nodded and said, "What Shimin says is entirely correct. Lingzhou commanding the troops of only three garrisons is indeed far too few. Therefore, let the Crown Prince’s Right Guard of the Palace be reorganized on the spot into the Dingyuan Army, governing six garrisons, with Chen Ying serving as the Grand Superintendent-General of the Cavalry and Infantry for the Dingyuan Army. The troops under the Lingzhou Superintendents-General Office shall be increased from the original three garrisons to six. As for the Crown Prince’s Right Guard... select men of good families in Chang'an to rebuild the Right Guard!"

Hearing this, Li Jiancheng’s body shook violently, and he almost stumbled and fell. He finally understood Li Yuan’s true intentions at this moment.

It turned out to be the formidable army led by Chen Ying! Using the four garrisons and sixteen regiments of troops from the Crown Prince’s Right Guard, Chen Ying had defeated the Tujue in four consecutive battles, beheading over twenty thousand enemies and capturing more than thirty thousand Tujue prisoners, among whom were seven to eight thousand soldiers belonging to Liang Shidu. It was simply because Chen Ying and the Right Guard had performed with such dazzling brilliance.

Faced with such terrifying combat capability, Li Yuan truly dared not keep this uncontrollable army tucked right beside his pillow in the city of Chang'an. He feared not the ninety-nine percent, but the one percent; should Li Jiancheng harbor malicious intentions and dispatch troops in a counter-raid, the twenty-five thousand soldiers of the Left and Right Martial Guards guarding the inner palace (at full establishment, though usually commanders were dispatched on campaigns, leaving the actual establishment incomplete) would genuinely be unable to hold them off.

As the saying goes, ginger grows hotter the older it gets. Li Yuan was still a move ahead after all, effortlessly stripping these four garrisons of elite troops from Li Jiancheng’s grasp with just a few casual words.

Due to communication delays, Chen Ying was unaware of what had transpired in Chang'an. At that moment, Chen Ying was busy playing with mud every day alongside a group of artisans. After more than half a month of repeated experiments, Chen Ying finally discovered this type of clay beneath a heavily weathered volcanic rock face. Although there were no chemical instruments to analyze its detailed composition, after calcination tests, this refractory brick showed excellent performance. Chen Ying guessed that it was a stroke of sheer luck to stumble upon soil naturally containing high silica content, thus accidentally manufacturing high-silica refractory bricks.

Having resolved the issue of refractory materials, Chen Ying ordered the construction of a blast furnace to commence.

Blast furnace steelmaking is a revolution in industrial history. During blast furnace production, iron ore, coke, and slag-forming fluxes (limestone) are loaded from the top of the furnace, while preheated air is blown in through tuyeres located around the lower part of the furnace along its circumference. At high temperatures, the carbon in the coke (some blast furnaces also inject auxiliary fuels such as pulverized coal, heavy oil, and natural gas) burns with the oxygen blown into the air to produce carbon monoxide. As it rises within the furnace, it removes oxygen from the iron ore, thereby reducing it to obtain iron. The molten iron produced is discharged from the iron notch. Unreduced impurities in the iron ore combine with fluxes like limestone to form slag, which is discharged from the slag notch. The generated gas is led out from the top of the furnace, and after dust removal, is used as fuel for hot blast stoves, heating furnaces, coke ovens, boilers, and the like.

Before construction of the blast furnace even began, Yang Ze sought out Chen Ying and said, "Superintendent-General Chen, this iron-smelting workshop must absolutely not be built outside the city!"

"Then, in the opinion of Senior Secretary Yang, this blast furnace must be built inside the city?" Chen Ying asked with a chuckle, "Is there even enough space inside the city?"

"There is, and if there isn't, there will be! We can mobilize the commoners to relocate!" Yang Ze said righteously, "The Tujue are inherently short on iron. If the iron workshop is built outside the city, it will inevitably invite the covetous eyes of the Tujue. If the Tujue can obtain large quantities of steel from an iron workshop outside the city, it will surely be like adding wings to a tiger!"

Hearing that the blast furnace should be built inside the city, Chen Ying broke out in cold sweat. What kind of mind could possibly conceive such a "brilliant strategy"?

During iron and steel smelting, a large amount of toxic gases would be produced, such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, manganese and its compounds, chromium and its compounds, benzene and its related compounds, carbon monoxide, trichloroethylene, sulfuric acid, cyanide compounds, coal tar, and asphalt. These could potentially lead to contact dermatitis, chemical skin burns, and poisoning from lead and its compounds. For workers operating blast furnaces long-term, they were extremely susceptible to silicosis and various skin diseases.

If the blast furnace were built inside the city, it would mean that the entire population of the city would live in an environment of high dust, high temperature, and high noise. In other words, this was treating the lives of all the citizens in the city as a joke. Furthermore, steelmaking required not only massive amounts of coal but also vast water resources. The water supply in Lingzhou City relied mainly on karez systems and underground wells, which was sufficient to meet the domestic water needs of the citizens, but could never supply the demands of massive smelting operations.

Of course, even if water resources could be met, long-term smelting would also destroy the quality of the groundwater, causing heavy metals to seriously exceed safety limits. Not to mention the people currently living in the city, even the next generation of infants would be affected.

Chen Ying smiled and said, "Steelmaking consumes massive amounts of water and coal. The transportation alone every day would make carts and wagons stream endlessly through the city, severely affecting the travel and daily lives of the commoners. It would be better to select a site outside the city to build it."

"But once the blast furnace is built, and the Tujue come in full force, what then?"

Chen Ying laughed dismissively, "With this Superintendent-General here, what is there to fear?"

"Superintendent-General Chen, you are the Right Guard of the Crown Prince, and your substantive duty is primarily to guard the safety of the Eastern Palace!" Yang Ze said. "If the imperial court summons you and your personal troops back to the capital, what will become of Lingzhou?"

Chen Ying instantly fell silent.

He was the Right Guard of the Crown Prince, belonging to the Ten Guards of the Eastern Palace. Leading troops temporarily to reinforce Lingzhou was an exceptional case to begin with. He was bound to return to Chang'an eventually. If he undertook major construction projects in Lingzhou, he feared he would merely be making wedding garments for someone else in vain.