After a brief meeting between Zhou Huai'an, Wang Poxian, a big businessman who was full of gratitude to Dade, and Liu Zhiqian, the representative of the Guangfu Tea Shop, who patted his chest on the spot and vowed to do his best; I also took the opportunity to check the recent corresponding production reports and income and expenditure accounts.

At present, in addition to grain and related crops, the production capacity of the Taiping Army in all aspects is still constantly superimposed, but a large part of it has been diverted, absorbed and digested by various needs within the system and the expansion of large-scale reproduction;

Therefore, whether it is under the rule of recuperation, the market potential that is gradually recovering; Or the corresponding foreign trade channels and revenues, but it is not far enough to reach a critical point of saturation.

It's just that what is more glaring among them is a bottomless deficit project. That is, the military production and R&D related to the Taiping Army have long been said to be net expenditures, and compared with the logistics production system of both military and civilian convenience, there is a serious lack of stable sources of realization and direct feedback.

Therefore, a few days ago, when the place had not been completely pacified and the manpower and material resources were relatively tight, we still allocated troops and horses to open up the Wuguan-Jinshang Road, so as to seize the opportunity of Huangchao to go north to the Central Plains, and strive to expand the market of the Guannai and the Kwantung Righteous Army.

This is also the only force and camp that can sell military products in large quantities and obtain relatively rich returns and long-term influence. Of course, according to the charts listed on the report, the best selling items nowadays are not those durable swords, guns, swords, and halberds, but bows and crossbows and their matching arrows.

That's right, it's bows and arrows, especially the various crossbows that are relatively easy to use; Whether it is a single crossbow, a horn bow crossbow, a wooden single crossbow, a bamboo pole crossbow, or a large wooden single crossbow that requires two or even several people to work together, a large bamboo pole crossbow, a Fuyuan crossbow, and even a large winch crossbow and so on.

The reason is also very simple, this is a long-term consumable project in a sense. Judging from the accounts of the East China Sea arsenal of the Han Dynasty unearthed in later generations, there are only 30,000 bows and 450,000 crossbows in a county. This is not accidental, but represents a spare parts base that has to be maintained despite relatively high losses.

On the one hand, the relatively complex components of crossbows greatly increase the cost of mass manufacturing and maintenance, and also reduce the adaptability and fault tolerance to various environments.

On the other hand, after it was distributed to the soldiers, a stable and effective long-term management, maintenance and maintenance system was not formed. Often, in a battle, it will be overused, damaged, or abandoned in fairly objective proportions.

At that time, today's Taiping Army was also different, although it was still the model of traditional cold weapons developed to the extreme, but in terms of corresponding materials and standards, it has tried its best to move closer to the level of primary industrialization in later generations.

Therefore, unlike these "monkey versions" that simplify export sales, the bows and crossbows that the Taiping Army is now equipped with are all planned industrial products produced by assembly lines in large hydroelectric factories; Large proportions of cast iron components and even small parts of forged steel are used to ensure the corresponding overall strength and lethality.

Therefore, at one time, some soldiers reacted, directly using this crossbow to block the sword and chop, or after being thrown in the mud and trampled repeatedly, they picked up the examples that were still usable under adjustment; The corresponding production and maintenance costs are even much cheaper than the traditional crossbow production areas such as Xuanrun, Huaiyang, and Lingnan.

This is the reality and long-term bonus of the power of steel brought about by the large-scale industrial output; Perhaps in the near future there will be more than enough gunpowder to smash the amount of chemical power of the castle and the knights.

You must know that now the monthly output of iron products in Nanhai County, near Guangfu, has reached 11.4 million catties; Among them, there are 2.78 million catties of various colors of steel and ingots; The various finished ordnance products produced by this part alone are enough to arm a full standard military order, which is more than enough.

In addition, the iron and steel factories expropriated and taken over in Guizhou, Lianzhou, Shaozhou, Chenzhou, Tanzhou, Hengzhou, Ezhou, Hongzhou and other places in other places probably have a monthly output ranging from one million catties to millions of catties;

It is only slightly inferior to Nanhai County in terms of fineness and technology, and only a small part can be used as qualified military materials, and it is mainly oriented to the civilian market and internal supply and marketing system with low requirements and low production costs.

After all, although the Taiping Army promoted the transformation and construction of various hydraulic workshops and workshops in various places, it still inevitably left a large number of handicraft factors. There is no way around it, after all, not everywhere seems to be built with hydraulic transmissions.

In addition, even hydroelectric factories are affected by the rise and fall of the tides in the four seasons, and they have to recruit a large number of people during the dry season, or use animal power to maintain a sufficient scale of operation.

At least until one of the key nodes of the primary industrial incubator, the steam engine technology, which uses fossil fuels such as coal, is fully developed, it will only be a simple half-mechanical, half-manual one.

Therefore, these productions together may seem like a lot in this day and age; But when converted into the tonnage of later generations, it seems a little pitiful, and even one of the "five small industries" in the sixties and seventies that the government rectified and closed down is far less than it.

But in any case, these factories and mines, outside the traditional agricultural economic system, absorb and accommodate a large number of social idle labor, on the one hand, reduce the cost of maintaining social security;

On the other hand, it is also cultivating and maintaining a large number of potential soldiers who have a certain military mobilization foundation and organizational degree through the run-in of collective life and production cooperation. The skilled workers gradually selected from it are the basic conditions for industrial upgrading, which is indispensable for quantitative change to qualitative change.

However, fortunately, the three basic elements of the original steam engine: a fuel source with high calorific value (Jiaozhou open-pit coalfield), pipes and bearing materials of sufficient strength (Nanhai forged steel), and heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant sealing means (eucommia gum and palm and sisal fibers); At present, the first signs of this are already being seen in laboratory conditions.

Therefore, from the time the experiment is formed to the sample put into use, it is only a long process of continuous trial and error and calculating the maximum trade-off, and finally deriving the optimal ratio and design scheme.

Therefore, the current time is not to participate in the chaos in the north, but to first complete or complete its technology tree points, and prepare for the upgrading of military equipment and tactics.

Of course, being able to get in touch with Meng Kai was a complete surprise. Although there were many people in the previous rebel army who secretly exchanged money with the Taiping army, most of them were in a relationship of interests. And most of them gradually distanced themselves and disconnected after entering the Central Plains and the Huangchao army gained momentum.

After all, the relationship maintained by interests will eventually change with the passage of time in the environment, but the relationship maintained by a certain potential common idea and goal can be operated and supported for a relatively long time in the context of the situation.

- I'm the dividing line -

At this time, Meng Kai, who was far away in Chang'an City, known as the "Jinwu" of Daqi, also seemed to feel that he couldn't help but sneeze fiercely; Then I couldn't help but be stunned when I looked at the somewhat gloomy sky.

Because compared with the Jingxiang area, where the weather is still warm, the place in Guannai has now entered the coolness of late autumn. Most of the rebel troops at the forefront had not yet prepared complete winter clothes and tent blankets, but could only turn to the south to buy.

And the battle in the Guannai was also often unsmooth, although the defeats that were constantly sent back from the front always claimed that as long as they worked harder, they could defeat the official army in the next moment; But in fact, whether it is Fengtian or Dasanguan, the remnants of the imperial court continue to hold on to it majestically.

However, even in the relative comfort of Chang'an City, Meng Yan's mood full of worries did not improve much. Don't look at the enviable and feared Jing Zhao Yin and the patrol ambassador of the gates, but he misses his days of fighting in front of the battle even more.

After all, after the initial novelty and heat, most people are left with only numbness and slackness day after day; Because as the subordinate of the city patrol envoy, he has to deal with a large number of trivial affairs every day.

Most of them are trivial things like stealing chickens and dogs, quarrels and brawls. The most serious thing was that the two rebel generals were jealous in Pingkangli, and each called his subordinates to stage an all-military march that stretched several streets during the day.

In addition, there are endless rumors and rumors against the rebels, which are always banned in the streets and alleys; Although it has been repeatedly mentioned that this is a conspiracy of the remnants of the imperial court, it is not allowed to be hunted and killed indiscriminately; But with Captain Shang, he was gradually losing patience and began to exert pressure.

Meng Kai knew how to save time and worry when he was in Guangfu. Because most of the trivial things and chores are undertaken by the "virtual monk" and other selected people, as a left-behind envoy, as long as he accepts the final result and decides the corresponding rewards and punishments.

But here, almost everything has to be started all over again. Relying only on the manpower arranged and assigned by the rebels, there is still some certainty in going into battle to kill the enemy, but it is a bit narrow to bury your head in doing things, and you don't even know what to do or where to start;

However, relying on the officials and old officials who were originally retained in the yamen, it is not very easy to use their hearts; Or simply those who are afraid of virtue have a lot of strength, but they can't drive three or four points of ability. Adding insult to injury is the influx of refugees.

The huge land of Guanzhong, after years of famine and today's war, seems to be a bleak situation with no harvest. Although Chang'an City is still known to have a lot of reserves, it is more distributed and used in all aspects; At the same time, many hungry people who had suffered from the disaster poured into Chang'an to find something to eat.

Therefore, in order to compete for the quota of losses from Chang'an, there have been some rebellions and filthy things among the peripheral rebels in some garrison areas. Some people even began to propose at the court meeting that the town guards who stayed behind in the Kanto region have made up their minds.

Just last month, there was an incident in which Huang Wang's new southeastern camp commander Yu Hou Zhu San, because the equipment he was preparing was robbed halfway, brazenly broke through the Luyang Pass, a key point in the traffic between Heluo and the Nanyang Basin, and defeated thousands of people from the Yanxuan Division, which also belonged to the Great Qi.

And in the face of this gradually grim situation, the one who was also affected by the south and openly communicated with it, obviously there was also Liu Tang, the envoy of the Great Qi Imperial Court. However, he also acted more justifiably and openly.

Therefore, after sending away those literati and scholars who wander the streets all day long and have nothing to do, only to sell public opinion and make noise; He had already begun to take precautions to recruit the poor households in the city and the young and strong among the refugees, so as to confiscate the workshops and craftsmen in the government and the palace, and settle the labor for his livelihood.

In the next step, it is intended to restore the system of separate camps for men and women in the rebel army since the ridge; However, this plan was met with strong opposition and resistance from the old and new vassals led by Cui Miao;

Although this matter had the support of Zhao Zhang, the Taishi and the servant, the other party also persuaded Taiwei Shang to stand on their side. Therefore, when the Yellow King couldn't handle it, he denied this plan in disguised form on the grounds of avoiding the intensification of contradictions in the court.

This couldn't help but make Meng Wei even more worried, because after the righteous army entered this Chang'an City and established the Great Qi, from the Yellow King to the bottom of the big guys, there were many changes that people didn't know about the good and bad trends.

(End of chapter)