The intrigue in the court has nothing to do with Zhang Yang, the Northern Expedition is imminent, Zhang Yang has no heart to brag with the governors and governors of various states and counties, everyone is still governing the states and counties according to the previous habits, at least in the short term, Zhang Yang has no intention of changing the governing habits of the officials of the Great Song Dynasty.

But as the chief official, Zhang Yang can't always ignore the officials in the counties under his rule. After all, China is a secular society, and the same light as the dust is the common pursuit of everyone.

But it takes too much time to inspect county by county, and what Zhang Yang lacks most now is time! Therefore, Zhang Yang simply asked all the magistrates of each county to come to Chuzhou, everyone ate and drank together, and then chatted about the situation of each county, and gave each other some local 'small specialties' to enhance their feelings.

Because he will be very busy in the future, he will not have much time to spend with his wife and children, so Zhang Yang can only grit his teeth and spend a large sum of gold to send his wife and children back to modern society.

Well, it's not because of the lovely maids who serve people around you...

"Fugui, the port construction and cement shipyard here in Chuzhou will be handed over to you to be responsible."

Li Fugui has been following the shopkeeper Li and participated in the construction of the port and shipyard throughout the process. The inland river port on this side of Chuzhou and a shipyard that only builds small boats of a few tens of tons are not much of a problem for him.

"No problem, sir."

Li Fugui was very excited, and Zhang Yang's assignment of this task to him fully demonstrated that Zhang Yang attached great importance to him.

Because the Grand Canal is nearby, the future northward Zhang Yang will definitely choose the waterway! Water transport is not only more capacious, but also more economical. But the cycle of building wooden ships is too long, and the timber for shipbuilding in this era is drying for several years! Zhang Yang waited there, even if Zhang Yang's timber drying factory in Haizhou was used to process wood, the cost of building a ship would not be low.

So Zhang Yang decisively chose the cement ship! There are no winds and waves on the Grand Canal, and the cement ships are not only low in cost, but also have a short construction period.

Cement ships have been popular in New China for a long time, although the carrying capacity can not be compared with steel ships, but the low cost and very short construction period can be used to destroy other ships.

As long as the keel and frame are built with steel bars, pasted with cement, and then waterproofed, the construction period is even only one or two weeks!

Of course, a heavy cement ship is certainly impossible to sail on sails, it must be powered! It is unrealistic to engage in internal combustion engines in the Great Song Dynasty, that thing has too high technology content, and people in this era can't play it at all. But a rudimentary steam engine is fine.

As early as when Zhang Yang was the magistrate of Shuyang County, he deliberately cultivated a group of science talents, and now this group of teenagers follows Ma Han all day long, learning to manufacture, repair, and maintain steam engines.

Zhang Yang chose the horizontal two-expansion steam engine commonly used in steam trains, which is simpler and easier to use than the three-expansion steam engine used in ships.

This big guy with a boiler weighs two tons, but it only has a meagre 200 horsepower! In modern society, any family car can blow him up! But it is already a proper high-tech in the Great Song Dynasty. It is enough to drive a fully loaded cement ship of only fifty tons.

The cement ship designed by Zhang Yang has a full load displacement of only 50 tons, and the maximum load is only 20 tons, and the horsepower of 200 horsepower can make it reach a speed of 12 knots.

With the steam engine, Zhang Yang's factory naturally changed its guns, and the factories that used water power before were limited by the river, but now all the new ones in Chuzhou use steam engines, and the output will naturally increase.

Even the Fu ship built in Haizhou is also equipped with two steam engines, and when the light load is downwind, the Fu ship with 400 horsepower can run at an ultra-high speed of 14 knots!

This measly 200 hp steam engine instantly became 'General Dynamics'!

Zhang Yang's intensive work finally ushered in the fourth year of Xuanhe.

"Master, the Zhang Jiajun has been successfully expanded to 20,000 people, and the recruits have completed the first phase of training." Zhang Long Machinery reported the progress to Zhang Yang.

"Well, that's good." Zhang Yang nodded with satisfaction, although Zhang Long was an old T-800, he was still very resolute in carrying out the order.

"Immediately arrange the second phase of live-fire training, and each person must shoot at least 100 rounds of ammunition per day! The third phase of training began a month later. ”

"Yes, sir."

After the Lantern Festival, the year was over, and the civil and military officials of the Great Song Dynasty also began to work. As the top priority of the fourth year of Xuanhe, the monarch and ministers began to discuss matters related to the Northern Expedition.

The date of the Northern Expedition was handed over to the Qin Tianjian, and the result was that there was an auspicious day of the zodiac in April. After the date was set, there was a big debate over the choice of the commander of the Northern Expedition.

Tong Guan, Cai Jing, Gao Yu, and Li Gang are all candidates with high demand, especially Cai Jing, because of his meritorious recruitment, Zhao Ji naturally likes him more.

"Weichen believes that although Lord Cai has meritorious service in recruiting An, he is not familiar with military affairs, and Master Tong leads troops all year round, and he is familiar with Western Xia and Daliao, so he is the most suitable candidate."

"Lord Liang's words are wrong, Lord Tong has limited achievements in quelling the chaos in the south, and his true level is clear at a glance, according to the official's opinion, only Lord Li is the most suitable."

"You're just an afterthought, even the lord of the general species sighed that this battle must be difficult after seeing the power of the divine thunder, and you are also barking wildly here!"

"Liang Zimei, his mother also!"

"You old puppet..."

There was a sudden uproar in the court, and Zhao Ji slapped the table several times with a dark face before he stopped the ministers. After combining the opinions of all parties, Zhao Ji finally decided that Tong Guan would take the lead, and Cai Jing would be responsible for checking and filling in the gaps.

After determining the date and candidates, Zhao Ji ordered the Ordnance Institute to step up the production of divine thunder and artillery!

Limited by the steel technology at this time, the artillery forged by the ordnance was very heavy! At the beginning, the ordnance institute was cast in full accordance with the parameters of the artillery presented by Zhang Yang in surveying and mapping, but a serious explosion accident occurred during the test of the gun! After learning a lesson, the Ordnance Institute had to choose the method of thickening the pipe wall to solve the problem of exploding, and as a result, the weight of the gun increased significantly.

Han Shizhong, who was in charge of receiving the artillery, discovered this obvious flaw, and it was useless to find someone from the ordnance station, and they had no way to reduce weight in a short time.

In desperation, Han Shizhong had no choice but to write a letter to Zhang Yang, the words in the letter were very numb, and Zhang Yang had goosebumps that were about to fall to the ground after seeing it, and he secretly despised Han Shizhong in his heart.

How could the cunning Zhang Yang do something that lost money and made money? He also replied to Han Shizhong, saying that the landlord's family had no surplus food! Steel is expensive, why don't you trade horses for artillery?

Han Shizhong, who was excited, immediately told Tong Guan the news, and Tong Guan naturally had no opinion, so he agreed to this suggestion with a smile.