In the middle of May of the ninth year of Orthodoxy, Yushan set, the camp of the guards.

On the empty field, almost all of the more than 600 young men in Gao Ran's department passed the test of the "Heaven Road", and at this time, they were forming a formation to listen to Liu Juntao's lecture.

"In three months, more than 2,000 brothers of my Yushan Guards have all passed the training, and from today on, our Yushan Guards will be reborn and will be invincible!"

Liu Juntao stood on the podium and ended his lecture with these passionate words, and the more than 600 young men of the escort team below all shouted and cheered hard.

And just after the whole training of the Yushan Ji Guard Team was over, Gao Ran led the young Zhuang of the department to continue to guard the Yushan Group, and sent Chang Hongdao to immediately lead the young Zhuang of the department back to the Yushan Workshop.

At this time, the brewing and glass workshops on Yushan are making final preparations before the start of construction, and the materials that need to be reserved for each process are accumulating, and it is officially at a critical juncture that needs to be closely guarded by the guards.

Liu Juntao didn't pay too much attention to the Yushan Workshop, not that Liu Juntao didn't pay attention to it, but that there were more urgent things to deal with at this time!

Liu Juntao came all the way to the blacksmith shop in the village, at this time Zhang Baigui was busy with his twenty or thirty blacksmiths, and everyone was not building swords and spears, but developing firearms!

I saw that Zhang Baigui and other blacksmiths were following Liu Juntao's guidance to make the barrels of the fire guns with wrought iron.

Liu Juntao also came to the spirit when he saw this, you must know that this gun tube is the core component of the fire gun, as long as this difficulty is overcome, then it will not be a problem to build the fire gun!

It's a pity that Liu Juntao took a closer look and found that none of the dozens of blacksmiths, including Zhang Baigui, could create a qualified gun.

Liu Juntao also saw that in the backyard of the blacksmith shop, there had been a pile of half-person-high gun pipe waste, which showed that Zhang Baigui and others still did not overcome this difficulty.

At this time, Zhang Baigui noticed that Liu Juntao was coming, wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead, and said: "Juntao, it can't go on like this, the consumption of iron is too great, this is a waste of silver!" ”

Liu Juntao also frowned, originally thinking that with the insight and knowledge of later generations, he could pull up an army of firearms that would win all battles in a short period of time and realize his ambitions.

But the reality is always very skinny, although he has pulled up a not weak escort team, but everyone's equipment is still cold weapons such as big swords and spears, and the research and development of firearms in Yushanji has never made any progress!

"Although I know a lot of firearms knowledge, the basic skills are not up to par, and the rest is just a pipe dream!"

Liu Juntao sighed secretly in his heart.

Moreover, Liu Juntao also understands that the escort team under his command may be invincible, but if he can easily win against the Chen family's horse team and archers in the future? In the future, will they be able to retreat from the north of Varat and Tatar?

"The Chen family is okay to say, but if it is against the Mongolian Tatars, an infantry army that is only equipped with cold weapons and lacks war horses can only be beaten passively!"

Thinking of this, Liu Juntao strengthened his confidence in the development of firearms!

"Master Zhang, I won't say anything else, one sentence: firearms must be developed, even if it costs 10,000 taels or 100,000 taels of silver!"

"However, none of these blacksmiths under my command now know how to make firearms, and it's okay to make some spears and broadswords for the escorts, but firearms really can't be made!"

Liu Juntao nodded, and then said, "Master Zhang, I've been thinking about one thing these days, didn't I propose to expand the blacksmith shop into a war bureau before?" I don't think it's too late, let's hire a craftsman tomorrow! ”

Zhang Baigui couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, but he didn't expect Liu Juntao to turn to the military war bureau and said: "Now there is no vacant land in the village, where is this military war bureau built?" ”

"Escort camp west! I'm going to set aside a lot of land over there and build a big yard! ”

Zhang Baigui suddenly smiled, and the troubles about firearms just now disappeared in a blink of an eye, and his mind was full of the three words of the war bureau.

However, before Zhang Baigui was happy for too long, Liu Juntao continued: "However, it will take some time until the military battle bureau is completed. During this period, the blacksmith shop can't be idle, since the firearms can't be made for the time being, let's build armor! ”

After speaking, Liu Juntao handed over the two drawings to Zhang Baigui as if by magic.

At this time, Zhang Baigui took the drawing in a daze, and his scalp was numb after just looking at it.

"Jun Tao! You're going to rebel! ”

It turned out that Liu Juntao's two drawings were painted on the improved infantry armor imitating the armor of the Illuminated Army.

The first drawing shows the armor worn by the young men of the Guard. It is said to be armor, but it is actually a cloth cuirass common in the Ming army, which is directly inlaid with patches on the cotton cloth for protection.

(It is not cotton armor, cotton armor is made of cotton and water beaten and compacted, inlaid with iron sheets, and finally made of cotton cloth into armor.) ）

And the second drawing is a real iron armor!

The style of the iron armor was also improved by Liu Juntao, which was similar to the mountain pattern armor equipped in the Ming army, but only the cuirass of the upper body, which was a simplified version of the mountain pattern armor.

Looking at Zhang Baigui's excited expression, Liu Juntao didn't explain much, but said lightly: "Master Zhang, these armors will not be shown when they are created, and they will only be used according to the situation when the escort team is out in battle." Moreover, with these armors, the brothers of the convoy can die a lot less! ”

I don't need too many words, just this last sentence: the brothers of the escort can die a lot less! Zhang Baigui was convinced, but he was still very worried.

Liu Juntao didn't continue to persuade, but asked directly: "Master Zhang, these armors shouldn't be difficult, right?" My request is that each of the young and strong guards has a pair of cloth armor, and each of them has a pair of iron armor. How long does it take you to complete? ”

Zhang Baigui obviously hadn't recovered from the shock yet, and it wasn't until Liu Juntao called himself again that he began to calculate the time, and finally said: "These blacksmiths in the blacksmith shop and I are making armor for the first time, and there is a serious shortage of manpower, so I can't guarantee the time at all!" ”

Liu Juntao pondered for a while, and then said: "It's okay to do it slowly for the first time, as long as the quality of the armor is guaranteed, you can do it proficiently after a long time." As for the shortage of manpower, this is not a problem, I will send someone to inform Tang Yu in a while, and immediately recruit craftsmen in Zhang Qiu Town and Anshan Town! ”

Zhang Baigui stared at Liu Juntao for a while, then sighed heavily and said, "Juntao, how can I feel like walking on thin ice now!" ”

"Master Zhang, don't worry, as long as I am here, our Yushan set will be as stable as Mount Tai!"

After leaving the blacksmith shop, Liu Juntao immediately sent someone to deliver a letter to Tang Yu, asking him to rush back to Yushanji immediately.

Since Tang Yu was in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Commerce, after the New Year, he kept running between Zhangqiu Town, Huakou Town, Anshan Town, and Yushanji, taking care of the business everywhere. At this time, Tang Yu was dealing with things in Ansan Town.

Three days later, Tang Yu, who had received the order, rushed back to Yushanji.

As soon as they met, Liu Juntao said: "Two things! One: Immediately recruit craftsmen and start building a military battle, and the specific matters will be implemented according to this plan! ”

Tang Yu took the plan handed over by Liu Juntao, and before he had time to take a look, he heard Liu Juntao continue: "The second thing: communicate with Master Zhang to see what kind of subordinates he needs, and then immediately recruit craftsmen and fully support the blacksmith shop to build armor!" ”

After listening to Liu Juntao's two orders, Tang Yu was also a little confused, but he didn't expect to receive these two burdens as soon as he came back.

After thinking for a while, Tang Yu said: "It's not a big problem to build a military war, after all, now the business of the Ministry of Commerce is on the right track, and there is plenty of money and food. However, this matter of recruiting craftsmen is a bit more difficult. ”

"What's the difficulty?"

Tang Yu explained: "Mr. Lian, our blacksmith shop has expanded its manpower several times before, and the blacksmiths and craftsmen around our Yushan set have been recruited, where can we still find manpower?" ”

"What about Ansan Town and Zhang Qiu Town? Can't recruit people either? ”

Tang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "There is probably no drama over there in Anshan Town, so I'll go to Zhang Qiuzhen to see the situation." ”