"No! There is no way to reduce money and food, but this ordnance is too expensive, hundreds of millions of ordnance, we will go bankrupt! ”

Ma Qiang shook his head and asked everyone, "Can we make iron and make ordnance by ourselves?" In this way, the price can be much lower. ”

In ancient times, the price of metals was always high due to low productivity.

But compared with the price of iron, the price of iron finished products is even more outrageous, because striking iron is a handiwork, and it needs to consume a lot of fuel, the quality of ordnance is very high, nature and agricultural tools can not be compared, which requires better craftsmen and better iron, ordinary iron ingots can be purchased for only twenty yuan a catty, and the ring head knife is only two or three catties, but it costs eight hundred yuan, Ma Qiang thinks about it and feels a loss.

"Making your own iron? It is necessary to find iron ore and then open the furnace for smelting, plus the time to build ordnance, I'm afraid it's too late, and there are not so many craftsmen, iron is not farming, and there are not many people who know how to do it. Yue Liang shook his head and said, "If the war starts in the spring of next year, it is necessary to give the sergeants three or four months to familiarize themselves with the ordnance and the military formation, and now it is almost July, that is, the ordnance must be prepared before the end of the year, and it is really difficult in just six months." ”

"Yes, Ma Lang, let's buy ready-made ordnance, Youzhou is a border state, and it is not difficult to purchase ordnance." Lin Huan also persuaded.

"Six months..."

Ma Qiang touched his chin and thought about it, five thousand people would not ask for 100,000 catties of iron in the future, which would only be fifty tons in the future, and some trucks that could overturn the elevated highway to pull them away were embarrassed to say that they were overloaded.

Fifty tons... It's not much, as long as you can find a mine, the gunpowder will blow up, not to mention 50 tons in half a year, but 100 tons can be made.

Then again... Since they are ready to make their own iron ore, then why do you have to strike iron by pure manpower, although you can't make a hydraulic hammer, the hydraulic hammer is not fragrant, although you can't directly hit the ordnance, but it is also a great saving of manpower.

As for gunpowder... It's all made of soap, and the gunpowder is still far away... And not black powder, but nitroglycerin.

Thinking of this, Ma Qiang made a decision.

To save money... No, for the sake of the industrial development of Dahan, find iron ore to make iron and build ordnance by yourself!

As for why not make a thermal weapon since there is nitroglycerin ...

Nitroglycerin is used as a thermal weapon, not to mention the seamless steel pipe needed for thermal weapons, what kind of black technology is it in this era, buddy... Are you trying to kill yourself... That thing really says it's fried, and it's unreasonable.

What is really suitable for making thermal weapons is black powder or smokeless gunpowder, that is, nitrocellulose.

No, TNT is fine.

Forget it, these are too far away, Ma Qiang shook his head, he still doesn't want to do this, and if he doesn't have enough strength, it's better not to appear in the hot weapons of the future generations, otherwise he may be a locked up craftsman leader in the future.

"As long as you can find a mine, the method of making iron quickly is recorded in my sect's secret book, and half a year is enough." Ma Qiang looked at Yue Liang and asked, "I wonder if there are iron mines and coal mines near Changping?" It's okay to be smaller. ”

"There is indeed iron in Changping, and in Niujieling, it is only a day's walk from our Dasong Village, but we have never seen iron seedlings near our village."

The ancients have summed up a set of prospecting methods in many years of experience, and the place where there are traces of iron ore is called iron seedlings, and this trace is generally the color of some special plants or mountain stones, because the ancient Chinese use is basically hematite, so it is believed that if there are red stones in mountains and rivers, and there are magnet sand, there is iron ore.

"Can you buy this iron ore then?" Ma Qiang asked.

Ma Qiang used to think that the Han Dynasty had always been a monopoly on salt and iron, and only after serving as a county magistrate in Jixian County for a period of time did he know that the monopoly of salt and iron was actually not always implemented in the Han Dynasty, for example, the Eastern Han Dynasty also implemented a strict monopoly on salt and iron in the early years, and then it was liberalized, but an iron supervisor was set up to collect taxes.

This is probably why the three brothers of Liu Bei can get a large amount of iron to build their own weapons.

"I'm afraid it's difficult, since ancient times, salt and iron profit is the greatest, this Niutiling iron mine is Changping several generations of family joint management, if you want to buy, there is no 100 million money, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get it."

Yue Liang is very familiar with the iron market in Changping, and he knows how much interest this Niutiling has.

Just think about it, the profit margin of iron products is so high that it is frightening to death, as long as there is iron ore, whether it is to build agricultural tools or blades after iron smelting, it is in short supply in this era.

In ancient times, families paid attention to heirlooms, and they were extremely disgusted with the sale of ancestral property, and no one would generally sell it unless it was time of life and death.

"I don't have any cash... But I can give them shares. Ma Qiang said to Yue Liang, "Uncle Yue, we must have our own iron mine, otherwise we can't get so many ordnance in such a short time, in this way, please contact those families in Niuteiling to see what price they want, it is best to let us have technology shares, I can guarantee that as long as they hand over the iron ore to me, I can let them get more than twice the money they have now, if not, three times!" ”

"Triple the profit... Then I'll give it a try. ”

"Then it's time to recruit people, Uncle Lin, this matter will trouble you, within half a year, our Red Star Camp will have at least six thousand young people."

Now there are more than 6,000 people in the Red Star Battalion, of which more than 3,000 are young and strong, and these people will naturally not let go, except for the workshop that cannot be stopped, everyone else has to participate in military training.

Military training during the slack period was a tradition that began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, so no one would object to it.

"It's easy to have people, so you have to buy more land."

"If we recruit people like this, I'm afraid we won't have enough money." Yang Wanli looked at Ma Qiang and said.

"Uncle Yang, how much money do we have?"

Yang Wanli had an account in his heart, and opened his mouth to say, "Now the cash is less than six million." ”

"So little?" Lin Huan was taken aback.

Yang Wanli sighed and said, "We are going too fast, the advance payment we received before was almost spent on buying land, collecting displaced people everywhere, and buying clothing materials, and now we sell soap and other things every month, removing our various expenses, and we only have a balance of three or four million." ”

This money is a lot on one person, but for the Red Star Battalion, it is almost always walking on the verge of bankruptcy.

Yang Wanli looked at Ma Qiang and said, "Ma Lang, is our expenditure reduced, do you see which master outside eats meat for the tenants every day." ”

It is said to eat meat, but in fact it is just some shredded meat, and it can already be slapped on the table and scolded by the mother in the restaurants of later generations, but for this era, it is already an excellent food.

In order to reduce expenditures, Ma Qiang deliberately did not allow the direct use of money in the Red Star Camp in order to concentrate funds on the outside world, but the Red Star Camp was built from scratch, and everything costs money, especially in food, the crops planted and the livestock cubs need time to grow up, and every day so many people eat horses and chew from the pockets of the camp.

After staying with Ma Qiang for a few months, Lin Huan and others found that Ma Qiang made a lot of money, and he spent money even more.

"No, these homeless people are already weak and need to be nourished... I'll figure out how to make money. ”

The meeting was stuck on the money, Ma Qiang walked out of the conference room, looking at the night sky... How to make money?