Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 46: Planning for the Future
"Fight to support war, one gains while the other loses..."

Zhang Huairong murmured these eight words, his eyes lit up: "Keep talking!"

"Yes!" Liu Jilong nodded, then walked to the east wing of the hall and took out a map.

He spread the map on a table, then moved the table in front of Zhang Huairong, pointed at Shandan on the map and said:

“Although Shandan is vast and sparsely populated, we are united and have one heart.”

"Although Liangzhou has many soldiers and generals, it is leaderless. Each section chief only cares about occupying the five cities of Liangzhou and enjoying himself."

"Liangzhou is different from Ganzhou. Liangzhou is a populous province. In addition to the population in the five cities, there are also many nomadic tribes outside the cities."

"If we can form a group of elite cavalry, concentrate horses for their use, and continue to plunder the herds and population of the bandits, we will achieve the effect of one gaining while the other loses."

"By doing so, we can not only weaken the military strength of Liangzhou, but also strengthen the strength of Shandan."

Faced with Liangzhou, which was stronger than Ganzhou in population and strength, Liu Jilian came up with this idea to strengthen Shandan and weaken Liangzhou.

This method is not uncommon in history, but the regimes that can pull it off are all those with strong cavalry.

Therefore, Liu Jilian’s prerequisite was to have sufficient horses, otherwise it would be easy for him to be dragged down by the Tibetan cavalry rushing in from all directions after the battle, and eventually die in Liangzhou.

Zhang Huairong naturally thought of the premise that Liu Jilong could think of, so he said calmly:
"There are 684 horses in the stable, but half of them are draft horses, not suitable for riding or military use."

"After winter comes, you will select some of them. In addition, you cannot transfer the troops of the first and second regiments. The remaining three regiments are for you to choose from."

"We can still gather 200 horses from these three regiments, including military horses and steeds. You can take care of them yourself."

He supported Liu Jilian very much. Even Liu Jilian did not expect that he could choose soldiers from the three regiments at will.

Without any hesitation, Liu Jilong directly reported the people, money and food he needed.

"The Shandan Third Regiment was reorganized from the Shazhou Thirteenth Regiment, and I am most familiar with the people there."

"If we want to avoid being bitten by the bandits in Liangzhou, we must have at least three horses per person, so I need six hundred horses."

"The current number of horses is far from enough, but it will take half a year to train the third regiment into a cavalry."

"In the next six months, I want to change the food standard of the Third Regiment to three catties of rice and two cents of oil per person, and one catty of mutton every five days."

"Of course, if there are brothers from other groups who are dissatisfied, they can challenge anyone from the third group, and the winner will take over!"

Liu Jilong increased the treatment of the Third Regiment by a large margin, but he also knew that doing so would definitely cause dissatisfaction among some people, so he gave them the qualification to challenge.

This qualification is not just a qualification, the more important thing is that they will all become Liu Jilong's soldiers in the future.

If this continues, at least half of the people in the third, fourth and fifth regiments in Shandan City will be soldiers led by Liu Jilong, and this is exactly what he wants.

"Are you sure this cavalry can achieve the results you said?"

Faced with such a huge investment, Zhang Huairong couldn't help but question Liu Jilong.

Liu Jilong nodded confidently: "I can do it. If not, the expenses for the past six months will be deducted from my salary year by year."

"Your salary is just a few dollars..." Zhang Huairong shook his head with a wry smile, but his tone still told Liu Jilong not to feel burdened.

The two chatted for a while until the soldier from the yamen said that Jiu Juyan was looking for him, and then Liu Jilong went out.

As soon as he walked out of the yamen, he saw Jiu Juyan in military uniform waiting at the door with a horse.

Seeing Liu Jilong coming out, he quickly dismounted, walked up to him and bowed: "General, I have checked everything. There are enough supplies to defend the city."

"Let's go and take a look at the craftsman's workshop." Liu Jilong nodded and motioned him to follow.

Since the craftsman's workshop was only a hundred steps away from the yamen, the two men did not ride horses but walked to the door.

The two soldiers at the door were very familiar with them, and after they bowed, they let them pass. The two walked into the square, and the sound of knocking and banging continued.

The rule in the workshop is that the craftsman is the leader and does not need to perform formalities, so the craftsmen in the workshop are busy with their own tasks.

Liu Jilong walked around and found that the workshop was not very big, only about two acres in size, one acre of which was used as a warehouse for storing wood and iron ore.

When Wang Zhibai in the alley saw Liu Jilong coming, he hurried forward and bowed to greet him.

"I didn't know that General Liu would be here. Please forgive me for my impoliteness."

"No problem." Liu Jilong said nonchalantly, his eyes fixed on the iron ore piled in the warehouse.

"How much iron material does this iron ore produce every day? Is it enough?"

"Reply, General." Wang Zhibai thought for a moment and then replied, "There are now fifty miners at Longshoushan Iron Mine, who can dig out two thousand kilograms of ore every day and smelt about seven hundred kilograms of iron."

Wang's straightforward words made Liu Jilong stunned, because after careful calculation, a miner could only dig 40 kilograms of iron ore a day, and could only smelt a dozen kilograms of iron.

In the era when gunpowder was not used for mining, mining was indeed a laborious and time-consuming job.

Liu Jilian remembered that the highest output of iron smelting by the government in the Tang Dynasty seemed to be only more than 2 million jin, and the highest output of iron smelting by officials and civilians was only 10 million jin.

By the Ming Dynasty, when gunpowder was used in mining, the output of Shanguanying reached more than 18 million kilograms.

Apart from sighing that technology is productivity, Liu Jilong really doesn't know how to describe this situation.

Unfortunately, the sulfur needed for gunpowder is hard to find in the Hexi Corridor. At least in this era, no one has discovered it yet.

Liu Jilong has been searching for clues about sulfur since the first day he settled in Shandan, but until today no one has heard of where sulfur is.

Without sulfur, gunpowder would be dead in the womb.

With a sigh in his heart, Liu Jilong walked to the iron smelting place.

The place where iron is smelted is a clay furnace that is one person tall. Charcoal is burning inside, and from time to time, craftsmen can be seen pouring crushed iron ore into it.

Although the craftsman's workshop is not big, as long as there is enough iron ore, it can still produce two thousand kilograms of iron every day.

Of course, nowadays it can only produce 1,500 to 1,600 kilograms of iron a day, which can be used to make armor and weapons, and can at most meet the equipment needs of more than 20 people.

However, it is not easy to make armor. The twenty armor-making craftsmen in the workshop can only make 200 sets of armor at most in a year, which is just enough to equip a regiment.

"How is the output of the craftsman's workshop?"

Liu Jilong took a general look and asked Wang Zhibai.

"Every month, we can produce 15 sets of armor, 200 swords and spears, 20 long and short bows, 5,000 arrows, and store 18,000 kilograms of iron."

"Most of this iron must be sent to Zhangye. Although Zhangye also has iron, the demand is too great."

Wang answered directly and truthfully, and Liu Jilong felt somewhat relieved.

If trade routes are smooth in the future, Shandan can still make a living from iron, which is good news.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong remembered the purpose of his coming to the craftsman's workshop, so he asked Wang Zhibai for paper and pen, and quickly drew a few drawings and noted the key points.

He blew the ink off the paper and then handed it to Wang Zhibai.

"These are all the equipment needed to defend the city. Send someone to recruit carpenters in the city to make them. Don't be stingy with the materials. Make twenty of each. They will be very useful."

"Yes..." Wang Zhibai didn't even look at the equipment on the drawing. He just followed the orders.

Liu Jilong didn't have time to chat with him. After giving him instructions, he took the wine and left the workshop.

(End of this chapter)