stubborn thief

Chapter 411 Loom
The person who really helped Wang Ziyong make up his mind was not Liu Chengzong, but Zhang Tianlin.

Liu Shizi used words to paint a picture of the Marshal's Mansion controlling the Western Regions and Beiting through the two Protectorate Mansions. Wang Ziyong was still hesitant, but Zhang Tianlin, who was sitting by the side drinking, was full of passion.

The guy slapped the table and said, "Marshal, if Monk Wang doesn't go, let me go and let him get immigrants for me!"

Zhang Tianlin is willing to go to Tianshan to be the protector of Beiting.

Not to mention that after 800 years, Beiting Heshan was re-opened, and it is a certainty that the first Duhu will be recorded in the annals of history.

The point is that this job is almost non-dangerous. Liu Shizi has already broken down the whole strategy. The Northern Court of the Western Regions is connected as one piece. The two guard houses are taken out separately, and any rebellion will be lost in the wind and sand. up.

If something happened, the road was far away and the desert was thousands of miles away. The headquarters of the Marshal's Mansion must not be able to provide enough support. Even if the support arrived, the army would already be short of food.

But as long as Beiting can hold Oirat in the first place, and use Beiting as a springboard to enter the Western Regions, in turn, the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains can provide support for each other.

Even after the situation is stabilized, another fulcrum can be established in Hami, Turpan, with three-party support, the northwest of the Marshal's Mansion will be impenetrable.

What's more, what is a guardian?It is the general guardian representing the emperor in the frontier.

Zhang Tianlin wondered if he was standing on the frontier, and the leaders of the various tribes in the territory counted one by one, and they all held up their sabers to swear allegiance to the Grand Marshal for generations. What reason is there for him not to go?

Wang Ziyong himself was not willing to go to Tianshan Mountain, but Zhang Tianlin jumped out to grab the job, so Wang Ziyong was worried about gains and losses.

Because if Zhang Tianlin goes, Liu Chengzong just asks himself to recruit the Gansu frontier army, which he cannot refuse.

Under such conditions, it seemed that he was busy making a wedding dress for Zhang Tianlin as the guard of the North Court.

Why!
Wanting to understand this matter, Wang Ziyong didn't hesitate anymore, and the question they discussed directly became when to leave.

Liu Shizi was very satisfied with the result, so the candidates for the commander of the Tianshan Guard were decided in this way. When the Tianshan Guard was really established in Oirat, and his brother led the garrison to the south to capture the Western Regions, two capital guards could be established in the north and south of Tianshan Mountain.

Liu Chengzong had a good drink in Haixi County, stayed for two days, and chatted with Wang Ziyong about the specific responsibilities and precautions of Shanwei.

Then I received the news that Shi Cheng and I had arrived at the Naval Yamen with a full set of equipment made by the Marshal's Mansion, so I bid farewell to Wang's personal use and set off to return to the Naval Yamen.

When he came back, he met Shi Cheng and me first, and inspected all kinds of equipment shipped from the arsenal.

Waist knives, hand knives and spears, chain mail cotton coats and leather jackets, and cloth armor worn by officers. Some of these weapons and armor pieces are refurbished from old equipment captured, and some are brand new equipment currently in service in the commander's mansion. The quality can be guaranteed to pass the test.

What Liu Chengzong wanted to check was mainly firearms, but Shi Cheng and I did not bring a [-]-jin cannon.

The musket is a three-coin matchlock gun directly transferred from Xiningwei. Because the ammunition is lighter, its power and range are slightly weaker than that of Oirat's original musket. The advantage is that it is lighter.

What he brought was a [-]-jin iron cannon. In fact, the [-]-jin light cannon and the [-]-jin heavy cannon were both cast by the Marshal's Mansion. The cannons of these two specifications were matched with the most standard one-jin, Seven catties of shells.

They are exactly the same as the [-]-jin light artillery and the [-]-jin heavy artillery currently in service in the Marshal's Mansion in terms of bore length, caliber, ammunition weight, range and power.

The weight difference between the two specifications of the cannon is not a matter of craftsmanship, but of material and thickness.

The Marshal's Mansion uses two types of lighter artillery, which are cast copper cannons, which are thinner in appearance, and are designed to be fired [-] times without exploding.

The two heavier cannons are cast iron cannons, which are thicker in appearance, and are designed to be fired [-] times without exploding.

The arsenal of the Marshal's Mansion also cast two cast iron cannons in the past. Because there was not enough copper material at that time, iron was used instead, so they are very familiar with these crafts.

Shi Cheng and I also brought good news to Liu Chengzong. After a year of preparations for the arsenal in Xincheng, the preparatory work for remodeling and making lathe equipment has not been in vain, and the output of various weapons has been greatly improved.

In fact, the arsenal under the jurisdiction of the Arms Bureau is completely different from the past. Now the Ordnance Bureau is in charge of each ordnance factory, and each ordnance factory is in charge of each workshop, and the management is more detailed.

Among them, each workshop also built a large number of waterwheels to carry out work in accordance with Liu Chengzong's requirements. Of course, not every workshop can benefit from this. Among the more than 100 workshops under the jurisdiction of the Military Weapons Bureau, more than half of the workshops do not need water conservancy. mechanical.

Shi Cheng and my response to hydraulic machinery was not as good as Liu Chengzong imagined. He said, "Marshal, we built a waterwheel with seventeen wheels on Huangshui. A hundred acres."

Liu Chengzong didn't believe it, he shook his head and said, "It doesn't make much sense, you said that the output of all kinds of ordnance in the Ordnance Bureau has been greatly improved?"

"The commander-in-chief doesn't know that water power is useful for blowing wind, sharpening knives, and smashing ore, but fine processing can barely make up for it, but it loses money. I still think that if the commander-in-chief wants to promote water power, it is better to use Baigong Bureau."

Shi Cheng and I shook our heads and said, "The Ordnance Bureau has a fixed monthly production quota. The flow of Huangshui is not fixed when the water is transferred to the car. Depending on it, the production will change when the season changes. How can it be possible, not to mention that the craftsmen also have concerns."

"Maybe Xining will also be dry at some point, and the water will stop flowing, and the water hammer waterwheels that cost a lot of money will be abandoned. Therefore, the current hydraulic equipment of the Military Weapons Bureau can be connected to two sets of shafts, one set depends on the waterwheel, Another set relies on big mules."

Drought is indeed a lingering fear, and Liu Chengzong did not object to this point of view, but he heard that Shicheng used the animal power I used, and said with a smile: "It's not bad to spend some forage in a day...Then you say the increase in production, where is the increase? "

"Back to Commander, mainly in the division of labor in each workshop, muskets, armor, helmets, the more parts there are, the greater the increase in production."

As Shi Cheng said, he counted these pieces of equipment one by one, and said: "The output of waist knives is about the same as in the past; but the output of heavy guns and guns is much higher, such as flintlock heavy guns, which cost 45 workers per shot. It takes thirty workers."

When it came to the assembly line, Shi Cheng and I couldn't hide the radiance on my face, and said emphatically: "Now that the workshop is divided, the copper faucet and trigger maker can make twenty pieces a day, which is enough for the entire gun factory. The extra people will go to drill the barrel."

"The most important thing is that each workshop can do small and large tasks. One craftsman can see three or four workshops. More than 70 master craftsmen can figure out how to make weapons better and faster. Now there are 340 drill tubes. The big and small workers can produce ten heavy guns and one heavy gun every day."

Liu Chengzong blinked: "Every day?"

"Yes, every day, just a little bit more. There are only two people in the gun assembly workshop. They are so busy that they can assemble a dozen or so guns a day."

Shi Cheng and I nodded heavily, and said: "This is still because the arsenal has not recruited people. There were 72 master craftsmen and 320 craftsmen in the past. In fact, less than [-] workers, big and small, have been working in the workshop for three months, and they are all skilled craftsmen. "

Shi Cheng said to me: "Commander, not to mention other factories, the gun factory can be expanded. Now Hehuang's copper and iron are coming in continuously, and there is no shortage of materials."

"There is a new workshop built over there, and there are enough craftsmen here, and another [-] workers, big and small, will be recruited. Let the craftsmen lead them to work for three to six months, and then switch to the new workshop. Thirty guns can be produced a day, and three guns can be carried. , a month is worth a year."

Isn't that... Liu Chengzong calculated in his heart: "Can we produce [-] muskets a year?"

3 muskets, Liu Chengzong remembered that Cao Yao told him that Zhang Daojun in Shanxi spent a year and a half and 2000 taels of silver in the reign of Emperor Tianqi to build more than 1 Franglers and more than [-] three-eyed guns. That is in Shanxi.

Zezhou, Lu'an Prefecture, Shanxi, is a very important steel production base in the country, with a mature iron industry and a large number of skilled craftsmen.

As long as you have power and money in your hands, being there is almost as easy as picking up weapons.

As for his Xining Mansion, Xiningwei's own production capacity is only 150 pairs of armor per year, and [-] muskets, which is a huge improvement from scratch.

If it was before, Liu Chengzong would still have some concerns about the huge increase in weapon production. After all, the arms and handicraft industry used to be enough for him, and it would not make much sense to manufacture more.

But now it is different, now Liu Shizi met the bold Batuer Huntaiji.

"Let's expand." Liu Shizi said lightly: "Don't just expand the firearms, the cannon factory, the sword factory, the armor factory, and the quilt factory that makes cotton and leather clothes. How many people and how much money do you need to recruit?"

This really frightened the excited Shi Cheng, I hesitated to speak and said: "Big, handsome?"

He thought Liu Chengzong was talking ironically.

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong didn't care about it: "What's the matter, how many people and how much silver do you need?"

"If we expand according to this scale, we need to recruit at least 400 more large and small workers, and the quilts are in the Baigong Bureau, and there will be another 900 people recruited there. Calculated at [-], the annual cost of work and food will increase by two dollars." One thousand nine hundred taels."

"And the scale has doubled, and the output of our own iron factory is not enough. Hehuang can buy it, but the cost is higher than that of Shuaifu's own iron factory. I am afraid that the annual expenditure alone will increase by 6 taels."

Shi Cheng, I finished the calculations, paused, and persuaded: "Well, commander, why don't we take it step by step?"

Liu Chengzong thought carefully for a moment, sighed softly, and shook his head: "Don't take it one step at a time, just expand it in an all-round way. We still need to train more skilled craftsmen, and this management system must continue to improve."

The annual increase of 6 taels of expenditure is not a small amount, and it is even very dangerous for the unstable financial resources of the Marshal's Mansion.

Because they have a lot of income and a lot of expenses, seven of the thirteen battalions in the commander's mansion are combat battalions that pay both rations and salaries.

The military salary alone is more than [-] taels a year.

And their taxation policy in Hehuang is to equalize grain and buy taxes. The commander-in-chief buys grain at the official price. To maintain credit, it must buy at a par price, at least one tael per stone. This can raise a lot of grain for them. But it is also necessary to temporarily invest a large amount of silver taels.

Even if a large amount of commodities were put in from the market, such as goods from the Baigong Bureau, or salt, and the silver was taken back, it still required the commander-in-chief to be able to produce the silver.

You can't wait for the common people to bring up the food, Liu Chengzong has a big face to give the common people IOUs.

But on the other hand, Liu Chengzong thought it was worth taking the risk, because their precious development time was running out.

If everything develops according to my father's prediction, and the frontier troops in Yulin, Ningxia and other places are freed up, the development of the rebel army in the Central Plains will fall into a low ebb, and the second war between Liu Chengzong and the Ming court will begin.

At that time, he didn't know if he had a chance to usher in short-term peace.

"The craftsmen in the arsenal are not only for the present, but also go to Lanzhou, Hanzhong, and Xi'an."

Liu Chengzong said: "They are the seeds of the military industry in the future. Once the war starts again, it will be difficult to stop. We can't always expect military weapons to be transported from Xincheng to Lanzhou, or even to Xi'an. At that time, we will definitely deploy manpower to build a new military industry." arsenal."

I also fought with Shi Cheng, and traveled to many places. I can understand what Liu Chengzong said. Hearing the words, he nodded and said cautiously: "Since the commander-in-chief has made a decision, I will start recruiting craftsmen when I go back... by the way, commander-in-chief." , and there is good news."

"Well, what happened?"

"Although the water wheel is not very useful for the manufacture of military weapons, the Baigong Bureau has used it. All the craftsmen of the Baigong Bureau were born in Pingliang. They are master craftsmen in the palace. They have used and made many locomotives."

Shi Cheng said to me: "This time the commander asked me to make a water machine. They first made a complete set of machines for producing cotton cloth, from the seed remover, cotton gin, cotton spinning machine, three-spindle spinning machine to the cotton loom. The Baigong Bureau is not very useful."

This was expected by Liu Chengzong, and he nodded with a very flat expression: "However, it is a good thing that they have made it. It can be promoted to the five towns of Hehuang. All township security can make these looms, and the cotton cloth can also be purchased by the government."

In the next few years, no matter how much the cotton loom improves, it will not mean much to Liu Shizi.

He didn't have that much cotton at all.

Shi Cheng and I nodded, and then waved our hands and said: "Not only this, this is not very useful to Hehuang, but they first made a six-spindle spinning wheel for spinning wool, and then they made a twelve-spindle large spinning wheel, with animal power and water power. You can spin camel's hair and cashmere, and six women can spin sixteen catties of wool yarn in six hours."

"Sixteen catties?"

Liu Chengzong's eyes widened, his expression changed.

The wool of cashmere is different from that of cotton cloth. Liu Chengzong is the person who has the most pasture land in China in this era.

Cashmere is a very precious material, especially in this era, it is fine, light, soft and warm, and is the best textile material.

The herdsmen use their fingernails to pick out the cashmere along the growth direction. Camel hair is more precious than cashmere. This kind of plush can only be threaded for a poor day, but only a penny worth of cashmere can be obtained.

A pound of white cashmere is worth three silver coins; a pound of fine wool and camel hair is worth seven silver coins; a pound of wool is worth nine silver coins.

A garment made of cashmere is worth at least one tael of silver. This thing is almost equal to wealth.

"Heh, heh, well done!"

Liu Chengzong couldn't help but smirked, and performed a fly rubbing hand for Shi Cheng and me.

At this moment, he could no longer care about his manners, and he only had one question on his mind: who will soon be the person with the most cashmere in the world?
Batur Hun Taiji ah!
　good afternoon!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)