On 27 November, Liu Yunshui returned to Xining with more than 180 taels of steel carts brought from Ganzhou.

Li Zicheng got the message and asked Ren Erxi to take over the three new Xiaoqi soldiers, place them in the barracks, temporarily belong to him, and strictly train them according to the standards of the Xining soldiers.

He didn't care too much about the soldiers, but went to the craftsman's workshop.

Entering the courtyard gate, there were more than ten carts parked horizontally and vertically, Liu Fang and the craftsmen were disassembling one of them, and on the other side, several craftsmen were nervously polishing, it seemed that the second set of molds for the rifle had not yet been completed.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, Liu Fang raised his head and saw that it was Li Zicheng, so he hurriedly threw the work in his hand and bowed to the ground, "My lord!" The rest of the craftsmen also knelt on the ground.

"No need to be polite, you are busy with your work, the work is important," Li Zicheng laughed, and asked the craftsmen to go their own way, but left Liu Fang alone, "How about it, is the steel on these carts still easy to use?" ”

"It's easy to use, it's easy to use," Liu Fang said in a loud voice, and then showed some regretful eyes, "My lord, these big iron lumps are quite fine food, if they are...... If it is put in the craftsman's workshop in Xining, I am afraid that it will not be able to be built, so it will be disassembled, it is really ...... It's a pity! ”

Of course, Li Zicheng knew that these big iron carts, whether they were used as equipment to deal with cavalry or to transport grain and grass materials, were much more durable than wooden carts, but unfortunately the entire Xining area was the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and a large number of mountains and rivers blocked various roads.

Unless official roads are built in all directions.

However, the construction of the official road requires manual tamping of the foundation soil, which is extremely slow, and costs a lot of silver, and it is difficult for large vehicles to pass on rainy days.

Unless......

Li Zicheng shook his head, this way of building roads, the speed may be greatly accelerated, but it also requires a lot of silver, and he also needs to build bridges over the river, he doesn't have enough silver for the time being, and he doesn't have silver or manpower, just think about it.

In a region like Xining, which is more hilly than hills, the wooden car is still lighter, and the big iron car still plays its important role as planned!

"Liu Fang, don't think about these now, what Xining lacks most now is a rifle, and when there is enough pig iron in the future, we will concentrate manpower to build some exquisite and comfortable large iron cars, which can also be used by businessmen!"

"Yes, sir!" Liu Fang also said that he was purely from the perspective of a craftsman, thinking that it was a pity that the cart was disassembled, so he didn't care about the transportation of grain and grass, and cast rifles on a large scale, so that he could make money!

The craftsmen went their own way, Li Zicheng walked around the courtyard casually, and found that the soil on the surface of the courtyard wall may be due to disrepair, sun exposure and night dew, and then through the cold snap and a freeze and a blow, infinitely soft, like upside-down fish scales, piece by piece, piece by piece, with a touch of hand, a large piece of soil fell to the ground like sand, and the micro end was fluttering with the wind, floating out of the courtyard over the wall.

The walls of the house and the courtyard wall are similar, and the lime on the surface has emitted a faint yellow, and when it is touched by the bright light armor, a large patch of pink and white dust is sprinkled.

In addition to the roof, the entire craftsman's workshop house shows a kind of twilight obsolescence, Li Zicheng's heart is sour, no wonder the original craftsman's workshop is useless, and there are only a dozen craftsmen who can't find a way out and are relatively unfamiliar with their skills.

Do great inventions have to be born in a very simple cowshed and horse pen?

It seems that the entire craftsman's workshop, including the fence, will be completely renovated, and in the future, the craftsman's workshop, the R&D department will be separated from the production department, and a new batch of workers will be recruited to expand the production capacity.

Sooner or later, the Xining rifle will become the main force on the battlefield, and some people with ulterior motives will definitely focus on the production of rifles, and the craftsman workshop at that time will become the highest military secret of the Xining Army, and it must be protected by permanent soldiers.

However, these works can only wait until after the beginning of spring, and now they are frozen, and it is impossible to build houses on a large scale.

Back to the back office, Li Zicheng first sent a message to Wang Anping, asking him to put the main rangers in the Longyou area, giving early warning for the defense of Xining, and then informing Wu Ermao in Xining City, and asked him to put all the people in the shadowless gate to Gansu Town, Gansu Town has just changed hands, and the people are not attached, they don't have to do anything, they just need to wander around every day, understand the people's feelings, and also include military and political officials at all levels, as well as the ideological dynamics of soldiers.

Li Zicheng did not raise the Shadowless Gate to the same power as the imperial court Jinyiwei, which was about equivalent to the "wind collector" of the Han Dynasty, only the right to secretly investigate and know, and then report to himself when he turned back, and they did not have the right to dispose of it.

The information reported by the shadowless door must be justified and well-founded, and there is no need to engage in "rumors and rumors" and the like, the speech officials of the Ming court, since the beginning of its establishment, are synonymous with cracking down on dissidents and framing political leaders, which is almost equivalent to the cancer cells in the political system of the Ming Dynasty.

Li Zicheng himself was considering matters related to the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Office, gradually improving its system and institutions, and once Xining broke with the imperial court, it would be the day when the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion was opened.

Three days later, the craftsman workshop cast more than ten rifles, but the second set of molds has been polished, the casting speed will be greatly accelerated, Li Zicheng asked He Xiaomi to take eleven rifles from the craftsman's workshop, handed them over to the personal soldiers for training, and arranged a small flag first.

Because Ren Erxi was training the three new small banners of the soldiers, Li Zicheng's side, only Lei Wanjun, the small flag officer, was left, Lei Wanjun took the craftsmen to search for iron ore in various parts of Xining for several months, without any clues, basically gave up, and he returned