The struggle of the reborn prince

Chapter 130 Busy

"Do you know the details of the battle?" Zhao Tang hurriedly asked after finally getting some news.

"My lord, I just heard a few words from the merchants on the sea, and I really don't know the details." Cheng Xishou shook his head and said.

"Oh, now that Liaodong is in turmoil and the land route is cut off, it is difficult for Korean ginseng, beizhu, and kite eagles to enter our country. You can go to Korea when Fusang returns. The poor Jurchen will definitely trade in Korea, and the price will be very cheap. , let's buy some, as long as it can be shipped back, it will be more than ten times the profit." Zhao Tong was a little disappointed, but he also saw a business opportunity.

"My lord's order, next year when we return to the voyage, we must charge more." Cheng Xishou was also overjoyed. Although this lord is young, it seems that he is not a layman in business.

"I'm afraid it will be too late at that time. When you go, you can send people to Korea to buy what you need first. When you return from Fusang, the goods there will be ready and you can return home quickly. Otherwise, it will be delayed until July and August, and there will be a storm at sea. That would be dangerous, and it would be better not to do this business," Zhao Tong said with a smile.

"What the lord said is that the little one has been taught," Cheng Xishou hurriedly replied.

"Don't be cautious, I don't know much about these things, and I need you experts to make arrangements. It's just that next year our fireworks workshop will need a lot of sulfur. You must bring some back from Fusang. If the price of copper is right, you can also buy some back." , In addition, arrange for people in Korea to inquire about the situation in Liaodong, to see how they win or lose, and we can also make a little money from it," Zhao Tong said with a smile.

Then Zhao Tang asked about the fleet and business, and Cheng Xishou also talked about his experience in foreign countries, and the atmosphere became warmer, "See you, bring me the things I prepared for shopkeeper Cheng."

"Yes, my lord," he agreed upon seeing Xixi, and took out an exquisite box and handed it to Zhao Tong.

"Shopkeeper Cheng, you have been walking on the sea all year round, and these two gadgets may come in handy." Zhao Tong opened the box, took out the items inside and said, "This is a binoculars, which can look at distant scenery, and this is the north needle. , can identify the direction" and handed it to him.

"Thank you, my lord," Cheng Xishou said flattered, he took it and said, but he didn't know how to use it after playing with it.

"Xifu, take Master Cheng out and teach him how to use it." Zhao Tang smiled and called Xifu, and asked him to lead Cheng Xishou to learn. It's not very hard work. When Cheng Xishou came back, he knelt down when he entered the room, "Thank you, my lord. Thanks, these two things can be said to be life-saving treasures, and the little one will be loyal to repay the prince."

"Shopkeeper Cheng, you don't need to be too polite. I have already ordered three big boats worth two thousand hu to be ordered. You can go to sea in a new boat next year. As long as you do your best, I won't treat you badly." Zhao Tun helped him up and said.

"It's hard to repay the lord's kindness to a young man who is broken into pieces. I heard that the lord's mansion has opened a school, and my two boys have reached the age of school. I would like to ask the lord to take them in so that they can grow up." Cheng Xishou said, the lord said everything Speaking of this, I have to reassure the prince no matter what, so I simply sent my son here as a hostage.

Next, Zhao Tong met with the leaders of the three caravans, Sun Erqian, Liu Song, and Zhang Que, respectively. Based on their performance, they should be scolded. They set out tasks for next year, and they must use all means to bring back [-] horses that meet the standards of war horses to the mansion, and they cannot take those who have undergone neutering operations.

In the next few days, Zhao Tong was busy meeting with the owners and managers of the shops and restaurants scattered all over the place, organizing them to visit and study, so that they could see the good situation in the mansion, understand the current task, understand the painstaking efforts of the prince, and finally eat together Only after the reunion dinner did they let them go back.

After dismissing these peripheral personnel, it is already the 28th of the twelfth lunar month. There has been a regulation in the mansion. Everyone in the mansion has already received welfare bonuses. In previous years, the members of the society who were responsible for maintaining law and order were also on vacation this time, and were taken over by the personal guards of the palace.According to the usual practice, Zhao Tong went to various Zhuangzi to visit the poor and poor, visited the scholars, hermits, and veteran cadres who lived here, and sent them condolences.

After finishing all this work, it was New Year's Eve, and all the people in the palace gathered together to celebrate the Spring Festival, but this year there was more He Qufei's family.These days, as the prince's teacher, he has attended almost all the meetings and participated in various activities in the mansion. As the person in charge of the mansion, watching him direct and manage all the affairs in the mansion in an orderly manner, is not like a man at all. He is a child, and everyone dare not treat him as a child. Now he sees his students playing and playing with the servants, servants, and even the children of the servants in the mansion, and he suddenly feels uncomfortable. Knowing how to look at the prince, he thought about Huang Jingchen's conversation with him, and felt that he had understood a lot. It seemed that he should put himself in the right place, and the way of education should be adjusted.

……

After the Spring Festival, Zhao Tang first went to Beifu to personally preside over the ceremony of awarding guns to the recruits, and then sent them all to the wild field in the northwest of the racecourse for live ammunition shooting and equestrian training. Now that there are too many people, training in the mansion is not enough 'Wolf' recruited, besides, there are many people now, and secrecy is also an important aspect, and he doesn't want them to be exposed in the open.Gao Chong is now studying literature with the prince every day, and his buttocks are so itchy that he can't sit still anymore. Zhao Tang simply gave him the title of head coach of the club, and went to train the club. He came from a family of generals, and he followed He Qufei to learn With a full stomach of theory, it happened to teach the members of the agency to form troops, which was considered an internship.

Zhao Tong took the time to take stock of his belongings. Now he has accumulated nearly 5 million guan in gold, silver, copper coins and fixed assets, and more than 500 shi of grain. He is considered a rich man.But he went into his private warehouse and turned around, and came out with a gloomy face. The military workshop only produced more than 50 guns in more than a year, and he scrapped more than [-] guns when he trained the seed troops, and the rest happened to be all The equipment has been given to the recruits, the inventory is almost zero, and the ammunition accumulated is only more than [-] rounds. After the training of the recruits, it is estimated that they will bottom out.

After the formation of the pro-guard team, Zhao Tuo also made a report, requesting that weapons and armor be distributed according to the establishment, and the Ministry of War was not bad, and allocated weapons and armor for him according to the highest configuration, but Zhao Tuo was discouraged when he saw it. It's a good thing, but it's a pity that I can't use it.Weapons are both long and short. The short ones are mainly ring-headed long knives and short axes. The long ones are mainly big spears, iron axes, iron rods, and iron hammers. Of course, long-range weapons are mainly bows and crossbows. There are more styles of arrows. Tamarin didn't realize it.Armor is infantry armor, that is, scale armor. It is made of iron. It is strong enough and not light in weight. It weighs more than 50 kilograms. You have to wear it to chase the enemy. If you can’t run ten miles, you don’t need to be beaten by the enemy. You are tired It's no wonder that the Song Dynasty's victories were so many defeats, and it was rare to completely wipe out the enemy.The harness was not given at all, and the Imperial Army and the Majun had no horses to ride, and that thing was out of stock.

Looking at these things, Zhao Tun was discouraged, the clothes were still wearable, and the matching of armor and saddles was seriously lacking now, and buying from here and there was only enough to maintain the normal training of one city, and the quilts and hats needed for the follow-up were also insufficient. Not a small amount.It is necessary to build a leather quilt factory, so as to ensure the supply and accumulate.The production of refined iron in the smelter has reached a bottleneck, which seriously affects military production. If it is supplemented by purchasing, it is worried that the quality will not meet the standard, which will affect the quality of munitions. The subsequent production of short weapons and sabers will require a large amount of refined iron. We also have to expand and increase manpower. We can't wait any longer. Who knows when the war will break out.

In addition, bullets also need a lot of copper, sulfur, and fire nitrate. These are things that cost money, and they must be purchased in large quantities, and a certain amount of inventory must be maintained, at least to withstand the consumption of a medium-intensity war... Do you want cannons? Whether to make machine guns, special forces should also be formed, and intelligence personnel should be trained. Zhao Tang has a long list of things to do, everything must be done, and it must be done.

The military is the top priority at the moment, just like the "military politics" in North Korea. Zhao Tang and the general managers of the two major companies held a meeting to give priority to the supply of gun workshop production materials while maintaining normal production. The outstanding craftsmen of the workshop dispatched a batch of reinforcements to strengthen the production force of the gun workshop, and the vacancy here was filled by the students who graduated from the school.At the same time, the revolver that the gun shop had been trial producing began normal production, and then found a few masters from among the craftsmen to assist the prince in developing new weapons.

As for the relatively simple production process of bullets, they are mainly produced by the fireworks workshop. Zhao Tuo asked them to reach an annual production capacity of 20 rounds of bullets to ensure training and inventory needs.The tannery also immediately put on the agenda, building a factory to recruit workers, requiring production in the middle of the year, and producing [-] pairs of saddles and leather armor by the end of the year for the use of the guards.

Of course, the economic aspect cannot be relaxed. This is a strong guarantee for the military. Due to the emergence of the 'cottage version' of agricultural machinery, the products of the agricultural machinery workshop are unsalable. Zhao Tian decided to change the strategy and adopt the method of price reduction and promotion to regain the market. , to squeeze out those counterfeit products.

The glass workshop improves the process, appropriately increases manpower, and uses mold blowing, which can not only simplify the process, but also reduce the dependence on technology, and can greatly increase the output, but strictly control domestic sales, most of the products are used for export trade, and maintain high profit.The liquor in the distillery is not worried about selling now, and it is necessary to increase production, and use these two profit-making products to subsidize the loss of the workshop, maintain military production, and feed his seed army.

During the day, he had to attend classes, and at night, he had to hold meetings to arrange and supervise the production and deal with the big and small things in the mansion. He also had to review the recruit training plan, worry about their military training, and train the guards. Zhao Tuo kept spinning like a perpetual motion machine. Sometimes he really wanted to He hid in Beifu and had a good rest for a few days, but seeing the increasingly chaotic situation, he could only lament: Time is waiting for me, we must work hard.