Iron Age

The soldiers of the death camp each received 40 taels of fine silk ingots, each of which was of good quality, five taels a piece, a total of eight fine silver ingots.

Everyone was happy, thanks to General Liu. These soldiers were originally from poor families. How could they have seen so much money? Now they can go to Xuzhou Mansion to spend a lot of time, and when the war stops for a while, trust us Customers send some money home. Of course, most of them left home thousands of miles and came to the iron factory. Going home is already an impossible dream. Staying in the death camp is the best choice. This is a high-paying job.

The establishment of the death camp is currently: three infantry teams, one cavalry team, each team has 100 people, and the organization is a company. directly under the class.Squad leaders and platoon leaders are all elected by the soldiers themselves.

The four company commanders were Zhamuhe, Anthony, Duncan, and a Henan man named Zhong Shouyong, and Liu Ziguang also served as a company commander.

Most of the cavalry companies are Mongols, Turkic people, all of them are proficient in bows and horses, and Zhamuhe's company commander is also expected by everyone.

Most of the companies led by Anthony were Xixia people, and they were also of mixed ethnicity, including Uyghurs, party members, Romans, and Arabs.

Most of Duncan's company were prisoners of war from the south: there were Annan people, some sailors from the Zheng family in Fujian, Miao people from western Hunan, and some students from Taiwan and Java.

Most of Zhong Shouyong's subordinates were from the Central Plains, and most of them were the backbone of Zheng's army. After Zheng was destroyed by the Ming Dynasty, these people became prisoners of war. Many of them practiced martial arts since childhood, and their kung fu is not weak.

The company under Liu Ziguang's personal command was also in chaos, including some water bandits from Weishan Lake, postmen from the Shaanxi Rebellion, prisoners of war from the Eight Banners of the Han Army in the Qing Dynasty, and sailors from Koryo.There are also Raksha people from the extreme north.

It’s really the Legion of Nations. The common language in the battalion is of course Chinese, and the clothing and armor are unified. The infantry wears fish scale armor and bowl helmets, while the cavalry wears mountain-patterned armor and shrimp tail helmets with face shields.The portable weapons are free to choose. These people are veterans, and they have their own weapons that they are used to. Fortunately, the warehouse of the iron factory has everything, such as Western Region machetes, maces, maces, flails, Western epees, and Japanese swords.The mandatory unity of long weapons and long-distance weapons, the cavalry uses a ten-foot-long lance, and is equipped with a composite Mongolian short bow. A longbow.

Zhong Shouyong's chariot team has ten bicycle crossbows, each equipped with five crossbowmen, maneuvering in a horse-drawn carriage, and equipped with a self-defense Zhuge Liannu. In addition to the cart crossbows, the chariot team is also responsible for the transportation of the entire army. There are fifty carriages.

The company commanders and Liu Ziguang’s close-fitting horses are also equipped with a limited edition body protection weapon from the iron factory, a six-shot spring-loaded revolver. Although this thing does not have strong penetrating power, it has a high rate of fire against enemies with weak armor. , The lethality is large, and it is still very effective.

These equipments are expensive. As the employer, the iron factory can only provide part of the weapons obligatoryly. The extra crossbows, war horses, and equipment are all deducted from the 56 taels of silver owed to the death camp.

The 2 taels of silver were distributed, but what about the remaining 56 taels?It turned out that the cunning old man Peng pushed the triangular debt to Liu Ziguang, and he relied on Liu Ziguang to collect the 100 million taels of weapons owed by the Ministry of War to the iron factory. The original sales work was in charge of Yu Hualong, and now Yu Hualong has been imprisoned. Luan ran away, and the job of evading debts was given to Liu Ziguang. As long as he could get it back, in addition to the 56 taels owed, he would give Liu Ziguang a personal reward of 2 taels of silver.Sounds like a tempting deal.

Isn't it just to be a debt collection company? It's easy. It's a matter of course since ancient times. For the sake of brothers and money, I did it!

Liu Ziguang took Ding Libin to the account room to get the account of the Ministry of War, followed by five horsemen wearing soft armor and carrying a goose feather sword. He is now serving as the prime minister of the account room, and several managers are carefully accompanying him. Now General Liu But the factory owner's celebrity is still the immediate boss, and he can't afford to offend him. He didn't need to come to pick up the account book in person, but thinking that there is an old acquaintance in the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion, Liu Ziguang came over in person, and the accountant assistant was still the one who made things difficult After passing Liu Ziguang's assistant, when he saw a group of people coming, he crawled out early and stood obediently with his head down.The story of Liu Ziguang breaking the serial horse is very popular, and he has shown it to others many times. My eyes have been beaten by General Liu. "Signatures and seals are still complete, right? If not enough, the Prime Minister will make up on the spot."

The assistant said with a mournful face, "Your Excellency, don't be joking. In the past, that bastard Ren Dafeng confessed to make things difficult for the general. The little one has been convicted."

Of course Liu Ziguang would not make things difficult for the assistant, he is not the kind of narrow-minded person.

A total of ten account books and a box of receipts stamped by the Ministry of War recorded the quantity, specifications, and delivery time of the knives, spears, halberds, crossbows, armor, arrows, bicycle crossbows, etc. sold to the Ministry of War. , the time of receipt, the seal of the recipient, and the storage document.The biggest deal was 60 sets of steam crossbows. Together with the supporting steam engines and pipelines, the design and installation cost was a total of [-] taels of silver.

Now that Liu Ziguang is a general, of course he no longer has to deal with these boring data books, so he asked the accountant to choose two assistant managers who are proficient in the Ministry of War to deal with the entanglement in account affairs.Ren Dafeng was still working in the accountant, and the factory owner was benevolent, but he confiscated his property and demoted him to an apprentice, serving tea and cleaning for the accountant's masters.

Liu Ziguang politely thanked Ren Dafeng who came over with tea, looked at Ren Dafeng who was full of shame and said: "It's good to know that you are wrong, and then start from the grassroots, and you will have a bright future... I am optimistic about you. "The words are high-sounding, but I also know that it is too difficult for Ren Dafeng to get ahead. With Ren Dafeng's ability, he can work as the head accountant in any company. Keeping him here as an apprentice is a disguised punishment.

There is always a price to pay for doing something wrong.

***************************************************** ***************************************************** ***************************************** Fireworks March.

The chief accountant of the Iron Works, the deputy general of the iron guard, the leader of the death camp mercenary organization, Mr. Liu Ziguang is going to Nanjing to ask for a million in arrears, and the accompanying personnel include black Duncan, his attendant Ding Libin, two assistant managers of the accountant, and Twenty carefully selected soldiers from the death battalion acted as attendants, and they brought original military contracts, account books, receipts and signatures, etc., as well as several large boxes of gifts for dredging and sorting, all of which were special products of the iron factory. The armor, the sharp hundred-refined sword, and several tightly packed large brocade boxes, I don't know what it is.

The eldest lady Peng Jingrong was also accompanying her. According to the owner of the factory, the eldest lady has several good sisters in the capital and is a little familiar with the officialdom. go to.

The old man wanted to help his daughter create opportunities, Liu Ziguang thought maliciously, he was very happy, his chest was flushed red, and he vowed to guarantee the safety of the eldest lady and at the same time promise to recover all the debts.

Everyone took the train to the pier of the canal. The steamer of the iron factory had already lit a fire. The factory specializes in water boats traveling to and from the south of the Yangtze River.There is a huge paddle wheel on each side of the hull, driven by a steam engine, and it is said that the speed is much faster than that of ordinary sailboats.The coal and food had already been loaded on the boat, and the boatmen in blue shirts lined up on the trestle to greet them.

The owner of the factory Peng personally led the team to send it off, and said the polite words of success soon. Liu Ziguang was surprised to find that there was no Peng Jingwei in the send-off team. He heard that this little girl insisted on going to Nanjing with her sister, and was reprimanded by the factory owner. They were all crying, maybe they lost their temper, Liu Ziguang thought.

The factory owner was still talking to the eldest lady, and Liu Ziguang watched boxes of gifts being carried aboard by the servants, and a cage of carrier pigeons, which the servants said was for communication.

Still using carrier pigeons?It's the age of trains and there is no telegraph. It's a bit unexpected. Who invented the telegraph?Dell?Bell?Morse?Liu Ziguang thought hard, I can study it, the communication power has been greatly enhanced, the military mobilization, and the transmission of government orders have been greatly improved.

The future scientist's train of thought was interrupted, and Ma Bian reminded him that it was time to say goodbye and board the ship.

Liu Ziguang hurried over to bid farewell to the factory owner and all the brothers in the death camp, and returned as soon as they said they would go, the brothers just waited for the money.

The moment he was about to board the boat, Liu Ziguang stopped suddenly and said to the owner Peng: "If you install the rails on the wheels of the iron cart, you will not be afraid of any complicated terrain." After speaking, he left the confused old man Peng on board.

When the boat came, the whistle blew, the paddle wheel fluctuated and the water splashed, and the ship slowly left the pier and headed southwest. Years of slave life, I have been to Xuzhou Mansion as far as I can, now I can take a good look at the world, look at the south of the Yangtze River, look at the capital with tigers and dragons, look at the Qinhuai River, look at the Confucius Temple, Liu Ziguang standing on the boat My hair was in a daze, looking forward to the trip to Nanjing, the bow of the boat broke through the emerald green river and moved forward quickly, and the stern set off large groups of white scorpions. This boat is really fast.

The boat was far away from the pier, and Peng Jingrong walked over from the stern with a full face of melancholy. It seems that the ancient people attached great importance to traveling. The distance of 21 miles in ancient times was just a distance of a few hours in the [-]st century.

Peng Jingrong took the cloak from the maid and put it on Liu Ziguang, and said softly: "It's windy on the boat, be careful if you catch the cold." She looked concerned.

This big girl cares so much about me, it seems that the shared hardships some time ago have established an immortal image in her heart, um, take advantage of this journey to push the young lady down.

Of course Peng Jingrong didn't know about Liu Ziguang's dirty mind, she just stood quietly with him and watched the sprouting trees on both sides of the bank and the endless farmland.

What's the point of the same field, Liu Ziguang's evil hand quietly stretched out to Peng Jingrong's waist...

"Okay, what are you guys doing sneaking around here?" A delicate question came to mind behind her back, and Liu Ziguang's hands retracted like lightning. The two looked back, and it turned out that it was the second lady, Peng Jingwei, who was dressed as a sailor. looking at them.