In June of the first year of Jingtai, Yanzhou Mansion City, General Military Mansion.

The ministers of the Military Department, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Investigation Department, the Praise and Painting Department, and Si Cheng all gathered together, and Zhang Xiaojun, Yan Hu and other battalion generals also came.

Liu Juntao convened everyone to start holding a semi-annual meeting.

Since Liu Juntao moved to the capital of Yanzhou, he has made a lot of regulations, one of which is to hold a comprehensive meeting every six months.

At the meeting, the ministers of the departments and the generals of the battalions prepared a lot of topics, which were put forward in turn at the meeting, and Liu Juntao also led everyone to discuss and approve them one by one, which was quite a bit of a conference in later generations.

At the meeting, faced with more than a dozen issues, Liu Juntao paid the most attention to the issues of the Ministry of Military Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce.

The topics raised by Hu Dexing, minister of the military department, were the report on the production situation of the Yushan Town Military Bureau and the report on the recruitment of new recruits by the Recruit Division.

The topic raised by Tang Yu, Minister of Commerce, is that not long ago, he went south to Nanzhili to discuss cooperation with many bigwigs.

Therefore, Liu Juntao first worked with everyone to finalize the topics raised by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Investigation Department, the Praise and Painting Department, and the generals of each battalion.

After that, they began to discuss the two topics raised by Hu Dexing, the minister of the military.

"The head town! Dear colleagues, By June, after three months of intense production, the Yushan Town Military Bureau, the Xuzhou Military Bureau, and the Dongpingzhou Ordnance Institute had now filled all the shortages in the military equipment after the expansion of each battalion. Now it is working overtime to continue production, and it is expected that the arsenal of Yushan Town and the arsenal of Yanzhou Mansion will be filled in two months! ”

Hu Dexing first talked about the production of the Yushan Town Military Bureau, the Xuzhou Military Bureau, and the Dongpingzhou Ordnance Institute, and then began to report on the artillery production of the Yushan Town Military Bureau.

"The head town! Dear colleagues, The artillery built in batches by the military department this time was named by the general calm: Jingtai first year style Shenwei General Cannon! The cannon weighs 1,100 catties, the cannon weighs 8 catties, and the firing range is two miles, which is very powerful! Moreover, the cannon adopts a fixed style, coupled with the excellent casting of the cannon and the extremely fast rate of fire, which can completely ensure the continuity of firepower! ”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaojun, Yan Hu, Chen Ziping, Gao Ran, Sun Xu, and Zhou Zongsheng were all excited, and each battalion was going to be equipped with its own mass-produced artillery, which was a great joy!

In the future, when the army fights in the field and attacks the city, it can bombard the opponent with fierce firepower, which can greatly reduce the casualties of the soldiers of each department!

After introducing the basic situation of artillery, Hu Dexing said excitedly: "According to the latest army structure of the military department, the number of artillery pieces equipped by each battalion is currently 20, and in addition to the iron cavalry, the total number of artillery pieces to be equipped with by the 6th Army and 12 battalions in Yanzhou Town will reach 240!" ”

"At present, the Yushan Town Military Bureau has cast 129 qualified artillery pieces in three batches, and all of them have passed the test firing test! The fourth, fifth, and sixth batches of artillery are being cast. ”

"Good!"

Everyone couldn't help but applaud when they heard it, and even Liu Juntao was overjoyed.

Looking at the Ming Dynasty at this time, an army can have the firepower of forty guns, which can be called the first!

Even the proportion of firearms and equipment in the three major battalions in the capital can't catch up with Liu Juntao's soldiers and horses!

Liu Juntao also put forward some requirements to Hu Dexing, limiting the artillery gaps of each battalion to be filled before the autumn, and starting to cast artillery for stock after the beginning of spring next year.

Hu Dexing immediately patted his chest and responded, and then began to report on the specific work of the Recruit Division.

"The head town! At present, the Recruits Division has trained four batches of recruits, and the shortage of the expansion of each battalion is still less than about one-third. ”

"Now the Yushan Town Recruit Battalion is stepping up the training of the fifth and sixth batches of recruits, the number of each batch of recruits is 6,000, and it is expected that these two batches of recruits will end the drill at the end of the month!"

Liu Juntao made a rough calculation when he heard this, and said: "That is to say, after these two batches of recruits complete their training and enlistment, the vacancies of soldiers in each battalion will almost be replenished, right?" ”

Hu Dexing nodded and said, "The head town is very right! ”

"Good!"

Liu Juntao continued: "However, after the completion of the training of these two batches of recruits, the recruit division must not slack off, and must continue to recruit new recruits, the number of recruits in each batch is tentatively set at 5,000 for a period of three months, as the reserve strength of each battalion, and the drill must be carried out regularly, and must not be slack!" ”

Hu Dexing couldn't help but be stunned for a moment when he heard this, and asked tentatively: "General Town, in this way, the strength of our Yanzhou Town will exceed 100,000 in a short time, and these reserve troops will also be paid silver and rations, which is too much of a burden!" ”

Liu Juntao said with a smile: "Don't worry, now we have silver!" ”

Hu Dexing looked at Liu Zi'an and Lan Siqi next to him suspiciously, and asked, "Zongzhen, do you mean that we are going to fight again?" ”

Liu Juntao waved his hand and said, "Don't think about it, I'm just preventing the outer one, isn't it still peaceful in the area of Datong Town and Xuanfu Town?" ”

Hu Dexing, Liu Zi'an, Zhang Xiaojun and others all looked at each other when they heard this, and everyone's faces were filled with a trace of excitement.

After discussing the affairs of the military department, Liu Juntao said to Tang Yu: "Okay, let's talk about it next." ”

Tang Yu said in a deep voice: "Total Town! Dear colleagues, Some time ago, I took people south to Nanzhili and negotiated with eleven bigwigs in Nanjing City, Hangzhou Mansion and other places. Without exception, these bigwigs are very interested in the various businesses of our Yushan Town and ask for shares and cooperation. ”

Everyone was overjoyed when they heard this, after all, the wealth of Nanzhili is famous all over the world, and Yushan Town can earn more than 70 million taels of silver by selling production licenses in Shandong, so how much silver can be earned by cooperating with the eleven bigwigs of Nanzhili?

Everyone estimated in their hearts that when the deal was negotiated, Yushan Town would be as rich as the country!

However, Tang Yu poured a basin of cold water on everyone and said, "But after some contact, I broke off the negotiation and rejected the request of the eleven bigwigs!" ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, but Liu Juntao seemed to have expected it and was not too surprised.

Tang Yu continued: "Don't be surprised, this business was not negotiated this time, not because the Ministry of Commerce was too greedy, but because those bigwigs in Nanzhili were too bullying and put forward very harsh conditions!" ”

Liu Juntao said: "Let's talk about it in detail! ”

Tang Yu began to speak:

"One: Eleven Nanzhili bigwigs have been asking ~ to halve the price of the production license purchased, and it is a one-time payment, refusing to stipulate a specific validity period;"

"Second: Eleven Nanzhili bigwigs asked to intervene in the caravan of the Ministry of Commerce of Yushan Town and the business of the ticket number of Yushan Town; Moreover, these bigwigs are willing to give very little money, and even two families and one eldest son are unwilling to come out, and they propose to use their own roads and networks to enter the dry shares! ”

"Third: Eleven Nanzhili bigwigs proposed that after purchasing the production license, the relevant goods produced by Nanzhili can be sold everywhere, but the similar goods produced in Shandong cannot go south to Jiangnan, and asked our Yushan Town to restrain the rest of the merchants in Shandong!"

After Tang Yu finished speaking, everyone present was furious, and immediately discussed loudly, and there was no lack of cursing between the words.

Guo Yongzhong also sighed and said to Tang Yu: "This refusal is good!" What's the point of such a business? Are all those big guys in Nanzhili stupid? actually regarded our Yushan Town as a soft persimmon for others to handle! ”

At this time, everyone looked at Liu Juntao, and after Liu Juntao pondered for a while, he said: "Minister Tang did the right thing!" There is nothing polite to say about these insatiable people! ”

However, Tang Yu was a little worried, and said: "Zongzhen, although those big guys in Nanzhili are short-sighted and bullying, they are indeed rich and powerful, I am afraid that they will retaliate against us!" ”

"Humph!"

Liu Juntao snorted coldly and said, "Revenge? How can they retaliate? Don't worry, the soldiers will just cover the water! ”

Then, Liu Juntao thought for a while, and then said to Tang Yu: "Send news to the merchants and Haoqiang in Shandong who have purchased production licenses, and say that my Yushan Town is ready to go south to Jiangnan to fight the world, let them prepare enough goods as soon as possible, and follow us to dump goods in Jiangnan provinces!" ”

Tang Yu was taken aback when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "General Town! Is this going to war with those bigwigs in Nanzhili? ”

"Instead of waiting for someone to knock on the door, it's better to be the first to strike!"

Liu Juntao said loudly: "Jiangnan is rich! This time, I took what the big guy of Nanzhili did as an opportunity to bring the heroes and businessmen of the entire Shandong to the south of the Yangtze River! ”