Li Zicheng asked Shen Dao to attend the meeting, just to expand the army, now that the food is sufficient, the silver is rich, and he has the conditions to expand the army, he glanced at Shen Dao, "Let's talk about military matters, Shen Dao, are there enough soldiers in the reserves?" ”

"Sufficient, sufficient," Shen Dao said busily: "Xining, Lanzhou, as well as Suzhou and Ganzhou, there are tens of thousands of reserve soldiers who are registered and have participated in basic training on weekdays. ”

Li Zicheng nodded, "The second battalion, the seventh battalion, and the newly formed eighth battalion are all stationed in Sichuan, and the required food and salary are all deducted from the taxes paid by Sichuan Province, that is to say, the soldiers of these three battalions do not need the original Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion to bear the food and salary, so I am preparing for a new round of army expansion, the third battalion, the fourth battalion, the fifth battalion, and the sixth battalion, respectively, to expand the army by 5,000 households, and the salary is not a problem, Wencheng, how about the grain?" ”

"There is no problem with the grain, it is all fine grain," Liang Wencheng hurriedly said: "With the headquarters of General Liu in the first battalion, there are about 45,000 soldiers in total, and based on the calculation of five stone of grain per soldier per year, it will take 225,000 stone, plus the consumption during transportation, no more than 300,000 stone, and the grain handed over by Lanzhou Mansion and Xining Mansion is more than enough!" ”

"That's good!" Li Zicheng's face finally bloomed with a smile.

"Zicheng, after the expansion of the army, what are your plans?" Liang Wencheng said: "Will the Mandate of Heaven Army go east to Longyou and take Xi'an?" ”

"Let's talk about the training of recruits as soon as possible," Li Zicheng said: "I also have to see the reaction of the imperial court, the Mandate of Heaven army went south to Bashu this time, and its strength was completely exposed in front of the imperial court, let's take a look first, however, I estimate that a large-scale battle will soon be ushered in!" ”

Shen Dao said with a sad face: "Metropolitan Governor, the four battalions have expanded the army by more than 20,000 soldiers at a time, and the rifles are not enough......

Li Zicheng frowned and said, "How many rifles are in stock now?" Where are they? ”

"Back to Dadudu, there are about 6,000 in stock, half of which are in Lanzhou and half in Xining!" Shen Dao noticed the change in Li Zicheng's expression, and hurriedly said carefully: "The Firearms Bureau in Xining can only produce more than two hundred rifles per month......

"In the past, there was a lack of pig iron, and there was a lack of remuneration for workers, but now there is no shortage of anything, and the scale of production will be expanded immediately," Li Zicheng paused, and then said: "By the way, now the direction of the Mandate of Heaven Army's operations, mainly the Eastern Front, in order to reduce the mileage on transportation, immediately relocate the Xining Firearms Bureau to Lanzhou as a whole, and I will ask Mr. Tang to prepare the land for the Firearms Bureau." ”

Shen Dao arched his hand and said: "Yes, Metropolitan Governor, his subordinates will do it immediately!" ”

"Shen Dao, the expansion of the army is a big deal, during this time, you have to work harder, in addition, since the rifle is not enough, for the time being, the fourth battalion Li Jibu and the fifth battalion Zhou Bin will be expanded, both of which are five thousand households."

"My subordinates know."

For some reason, Li Zicheng had a hunch that a large-scale battle would soon usher in between the Mandate of Heaven and the imperial court.

"Zhou Bin's troops are temporarily stationed in Xining, and the new auxiliaries are borrowed from the rifle training of the soldiers; Li Ji withdrew all the soldiers stationed in Suzhou and Ganzhou to Lanzhou, concentrated on drills and training, and combined them into the first regiment, with Li Ji concurrently serving as the head of the first regiment, and the new 5,000 households were combined into the second regiment, and after basic drills and training, they were loaded with rifles as soon as possible...... What position does Liu Zongmin have in the third battalion now? ”

Shen Dao hurriedly said: "Back to the Governor of Dadu, Liu Zongmin is in the third battalion of Qin Danian's department to serve as a thousand households!" ”

Li Zicheng frowned again, this Qin Danian, the person he personally confessed, is only from a thousand households until now, maybe it is because after Liu Zongmin joined the fourth battalion, the fourth battalion has not participated in the battle!

He only remembered that in the history of later generations, Liu Zongmin was brave, resourceful, and loyal, no matter what, he was promoted first, and then he said, as for his military exploits, let's talk about it on the battlefield later, "Immediately transfer Liu Zongmin to the fourth battalion, serve as the commander of the second regiment, and lead the rank of a thousand households!" ”

Shen Dao hesitated and said: "Metropolitan Governor, there is no problem in transferring Liu Zongmin to the fourth battalion, but Liu Zongmin has no combat merits, and he has to be promoted to the commander of the second regiment and the official ...... of a thousand households."

"The regiment commander is generally a guerrilla general, because Liu Zongmin lacks military merits, so he received the rank of a thousand households, and he will be promoted after he has military merits in the future," Li Zicheng said: "Shen Dao, this is an extraordinary period, and the expansion of the army will inevitably produce more officers. If there is a vacancy for officers, how can soldiers be trained? I have a feeling that the army of the imperial court will come over soon......"

"Most of the Metropolitan Governors are teaching that their subordinates are too stubborn...... Shen Dao hurriedly apologized, "After the meeting is over, the subordinates will do it immediately!" ”

Li Zicheng suddenly turned his head and said: "Xiaomi, after the meeting, go and ask Lord Shen for five hundred personal soldiers, you don't need to choose from the soldiers of various departments, just choose from the reserve soldiers, people must be honest and loyal, and then handed over to the army for immediate training!" ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!" He Xiaomi is overjoyed, the pro-soldiers of the metropolitan governor have increased to ten hundred households, and he is a veritable pro-soldier of the government of a thousand households......

"Also," Li Zicheng looked at Shen Dao, "the seventh battalion went south to Bashu, and there were countless expeditions, the ammunition consumption was very large, and the rifles were also damaged, but they were only replenished once, and they were replenished as soon as possible." ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!" Shen Dao hurriedly bowed and agreed.

Li Zicheng handed over the money, food, military, and financial matters to Liang Wencheng, Shen Dao, and Cui Wenxuan respectively, and his heart was stable.

In the afternoon, Li Zicheng was fine, but when he thought that the Xining Firearms Bureau was going to move to Lanzhou, he had to choose an address, so he took his soldiers to check in the city.

Considering the potential safety hazards of the Firearms Bureau itself, it is not suitable to stand in crowded places, near residential areas, market squares, schools, and industrial areas, and finally found a piece of land in the southwest corner of the old city, that is, the location of the combination of the old city and the new city.

The houses on the land have long since collapsed, only some remnants remain, let the soldiers inquire, it turned out to be a piece of terra nullius, the original owner died of banditry, the house was left unattended, and after a long time, it was eroded by the rain, and it collapsed.

The land is not small, but it is a little farther away from the city gate, and it will take a lot of trouble to test the artillery outside the city in the future, but on the whole, it is still good, it is not too far from Lanzhou High School, and it is also very convenient to carry out technical exchanges in the future.

Just choose it, but you need to rebuild it.

Li Zicheng thought of the renovation of the Xining Firearms Bureau, so he simply did it in one step, so as not to renovate it frequently and delay the production of guns, and it happened that the construction team for the renovation of the old city of Lanzhou was still there, so he asked them to refer to the construction drawings of the Xining Firearms Bureau and build the Firearms Bureau in Lanzhou as soon as possible.

When Li Zicheng returned to Ximen Street, he was about to go back, but suddenly heard a bell of Qingyue, and unconsciously looked up, it turned out to be a low-level official of Lanzhou Prefecture, who was riding a bicycle along the street to transmit messages.

His heart didn't move.

Among the industrial products produced in Xining and Lanzhou, they are basically consumer goods, and only bicycles can promote the development of commerce, circulation and even social life.

It's been so long, I don't know if the production cost has come down, the last time I asked Wang Zheng to study the grinding machine, I don't know if it has been successful, and to what extent it has been developed.

It happened that it was still early, so Li Zicheng took his soldiers out of the new city along West Street, turned Lanzhou Road, and came to the Lanzhou Bicycle Factory in the industrial zone.

The young factory director Jiang Chen was busy behind the factory, and when he heard that Li Zicheng was visiting, he hurriedly threw away the work in his hand, trotted over, and bowed to the ground, "The governor is here, and the grass people are far away to welcome ......"

"Okay, okay, don't miss the distance, hurry up," Li Zicheng waved his hand, "Jiang Chen, how is the bicycle production?" ”

After Jiang Chen got up, he bowed slightly and said, "Metropolitan Governor, the factory is in normal production, it's just ...... It's just that the grinding machine that the Metropolitan Governor said was not successfully studied, so the cost is still high......"

"High? Now to produce a bike or two, how much does it cost? What is the factory price? ”

Jiang Chen took out a blue book from his pocket and said: "According to the method taught by the Governor of the Majority, the grass people have calculated the cost of one hundred taels of bicycles, including the factory, the cost price of each bicycle is more than fifteen yuan, and now the factory price is twenty-two yuan!" ”

Li Zicheng calculated, the ex-factory price is twenty-two yuan, through the hands of the merchant, at least two percent to add, it will be almost thirty, even if there are conditions to establish direct # sales, ordinary people still can't afford it, only long-distance businessmen, will have the desire to buy.

Only through technological innovation, taking the road of large-scale production, and greatly reducing production costs, can bicycles be oriented to the public!

But does Lanzhou now have such conditions?

Li Zicheng thought about it, or felt that he was too anxious, now it is still an agricultural society, the development of technology is extremely slow, the lack of long-term technology accumulation, can produce bicycles, and because of the existence of Wang Zheng, otherwise, even balls and bearings may not be produced.

He didn't blame Jiang Chen, but said lightly: "In terms of production process, is there anything that needs to be improved?" ”

"According to the teachings of the Dadu Governor, the grass people used the assembly line for production, and also poured a lot of molds, the production speed is fifty percent faster than the original, and the cost has also decreased to a certain extent......," Jiang Chen said, and suddenly thought that these were all the guidance of the Dadu Governor, and he, the factory director, seemed to have done nothing......

Li Zicheng was overjoyed, patted Jiang Chen's shoulder, and said: "Jiang Chen, you see, the principle of production has not changed, but after the process is improved, the production efficiency will increase, and the cost will decrease...... If you continue along this line of thinking, one day, as the cost of production falls, bicycles will eventually enter thousands of households, which is the power of science and technology, and it is also the reason why I opened a science and technology university."

"The grass people understand," Jiang Chen also had to dance happily, and there was no longer the same restraint as before, "Dadu Governor, the grinding machine that Mr. Wang is working on is also part of the power of science and technology, once it is successful, the production cost of the bicycle will drop ......"