Chapter 69: Competition

During the ten days that Ye Tao ordered the repair in Yicheng, the midshipmen went to the grassroots level, learned all kinds of military knowledge from veterans and veteran officers, established closer relationships with the soldiers under their command, and sent some vanguard troops to prepare for their own return journey. Also stationed in the barracks of the Yicheng City Defense Army or the Yicheng Water Division, everyone can feel the atmosphere of other detachments that are both colleagues and opponents sharpening their knives and striving to win. And this atmosphere makes everyone's preparations more hard and solid. A unit that has been in the army for less than a month has actually shown a steady and down-to-earth temperament in this special environment.

Before the return journey of the Fire Qi Army and the Fierce Blood Army had set off, a series of resolutions and disposal methods about what happened along the way and Ye Tao were transmitted back to Danyang. The decision on the location of the camp, the construction of the barracks, etc., will naturally be implemented through Princess Zhaohua's Mansion, through Guan Haishan and others, but Ye Tao's words and deeds along the way have been noticed by some well-intentioned people in the court.

In the study room in Gao's mansion, Gao Zhen threw a stack of papers on the desk, and looked at the table clock placed in the corner of the desk in a daze.

With the Gao family's lofty status in the field of Dongping craftsmen and the huge and complex technical system, they could only sigh at the grandfather clock, and they could only buy four grandfather clocks from Tissot Watch Shop and place them in different rooms in Gaofu.

The one in the inner study is now the most high-end of the range of table clocks launched by Tissot Watch Company. Behind the black hands is a transparent dial made of crystal, through the dial, you can see the precise gear set that is constantly running in the table clock, especially for people like Gao Zhen who know some technology want to exhaustively investigate what makes this clock run so precisely and accurately. The gilded pendulum always swings in that rhythm. It never stops. Every hour, the somber bell does not suddenly startle the person who is immersed in thought, but it seems to be able to gently tug at the heartstrings and remind that time flies, and there is really not much time to spend on fantasy.

The door to the study was opened, and Gao Zhen's son, Gao Zhuo, walked in and closed the door casually.

"Father, what are you thinking?" Gao Zhuo asked softly.

"Have you read this report?" Seeing Gao Zhuo nodded. Gao Zhen sneered and said: "I really didn't expect that Ye Tao actually had this scheming, just such a salty and indifferent move, and said those uninteresting words, the two armies of 6,000 people, even if they were controlled by him." ”

Gao Zhuo frowned and said, "Father, what is going on with this Ye family?" Isn't it for our Gao family? ”

Gao Zhen shook his head. said: "That's not it, the Ye family really made a fortune, that is, after Her Royal Highness Princess Zhaohua left Yicheng." Her Royal Highness the princess found out about the Ye family, which may be unexpected. Otherwise, accumulate with the Ye family's land. Even if we could have the situation today, it would have been ten or twenty years from now, and that would be without us interfering. What I don't understand is why Her Royal Highness the princess, who has always been cold. is so compatible with Ye Tao, although there is no resolution and no explanation, it seems that Her Royal Highness the princess marrying Ye Tao is already a sure thing. ”

Hearing his father say this, Gao Zhuo snorted, a little angry.

"What? You're not too young anymore. There are also a lot of beauties around, aren't you really moved by the princess who can't give birth? Gao Zhen scoffed.

"Father, that's not the case, it's one thing for me to really like Her Royal Highness the Princess, but it's another thing to have a hopeful wife snatched away from her love." Gao Zhuo said helplessly, "Didn't you also say that if I could marry Her Royal Highness the Princess." Even though the princess can't give birth. But is it still a great benefit to my Gao family? Her Royal Highness the Princess is in charge of the management of the Inner Palace, both in terms of talent and authority. and the influence on the lord and the crown prince, all of which are incomparable. ”

"That's so, but our Gao family has almost monopolized the production of weapons in Dongping over the years, and if we expand the authority of our Gao family, probably the whole court will have some trouble sleeping. For now, I am thinking about how to let the Ye family not steal too much of our business. Our Gao family started as craftsmen, and it is quite commendable to reach the current height in just a few generations, and it is not a good thing to have a competitor. Gao Zhen said, he paused, and said: "Even if it is deliberately suppressed, as long as it is not really killed, it is not a bad thing." ”

Gao Zhuo snorted coldly: "Father, you just have too much heart. You regard the Ye family as a competitor, but in my opinion, the Ye family doesn't take us seriously at all. ”

Gao Zhen hurriedly asked, "How do you say this?" ”

Gao Zhuo sat down, glanced at the beautiful table clock, and sighed: "Ye Tao is so shrewd, he is too honest, after all, I am a subordinate of the Ministry of Industry." Ye's workshop undertook a batch of 20,000 arrows order, but the result was delivered in less than five days, I asked the old man of the Ye family to review the facilities of the workshop to make arrows, guess what I saw? …… In Ye's workshop, the most troublesome arrow shaft is not sharpened by human hands at all, no wonder it is so fast. They set up a water wheel drive by the river, used a rolling planer to process the arrow shaft, sawed the wood into strips, placed them on the top of the feed, rolled them into the planer one by one, and when the wood rolled out from below, it was already a long strip of wood with almost no difference in thickness. Then cut it to the right length. It is countless times faster than the apprentices in our workshop who have to work hard to sharpen the shaft, and the materials are also much saved. …… Not to mention the new catapult or something, you must know that these things were not made by Ye Tao in order to invite pets, they were all invited by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War to Ye Shi to try to make them. Let's put it this way, if the Ministry of War decides to use Ye's kind of catapult, then our catapult workshop can be closed directly. Do you know what the old man Ye Laogen said? He said that the schedule of the weapons workshop was already very full, and he couldn't arrange it. He actually took out the drawings directly from Ye Tao's workshop and handed them to the military department...... Today, it was the Ministry of War that summoned me to ask me if the Gao family was willing to build these catapults. What a shame. ”

"Did you say yes?" Gao Zhen hurriedly asked.

“…… I didn't say yes, I didn't refuse, I said I'd come back to see how the workshop was going. Gao Zhuo said.

"That's good, don't get along with money. If you go back tomorrow, you will say that my Gao family has taken over this batch of orders. In addition, if you go to Ye Laogeng again, it is best to let the Ye Workshop send some more experienced craftsmen from the Ordnance Workshop to guide our craftsmen, so as not to make things out of specification, it will be a big shame. Gao Zhen commanded.

Seeing that Gao Zhuo was about to run away, Gao Zhen smiled understandingly and said, "I know, once we let the Ye family's craftsmen guide the people under us. This face is indeed very unsightly. …… But if you want to overpower the Ye family, first of all, you can't let them be wary of us from time to time, and there is no harm in lowering your figure. Learn what you can learn. The Ye family is no longer purely a craftsman's path, Ye Tao made a military chess game, and brought the mentality of the young children of Dongping to join the army and support the army, which is more important. You'll know why. But in any case, the foundation of the Ye clan is still on the side of the workshop, and the Ye clan's technology is not stronger than ours. Do you still need to worry about your ability to be an official and the foundation of my Gao family for many years? Even if the princess marries Ye Tao, he Ye Tao is just an idle colt, and what about you? You can't expect to be an official in your twenties and a forty-year-old. There is no hurry. ”

After a pause, Gao Zhen said again: "You also have to remember that if you want to suppress Ye Tao, you will either directly suppress it to the end." There can be no fluke. Although Ye Tao refused to enter the government by himself, in fact, it was only a matter of time before he became an official. However, the two armies inspected the mansion, which really gave Ye Tao too many opportunities to make friends with the children of various families and establish relationships with various families. Once the blow misses, it won't be fun to wait for Ye Taodi's relationships to start playing a role and start fighting back. You understand this officialdom better than I do. It's good that you remember. ”

Gao Zhen's reminder made Gao Zhuo suddenly understand the key, and he immediately nodded and fell into deep thought again.

However, what the Gao family father and son didn't expect was that the Ye family, whom they regarded as a strong enemy, had actually set a trap on them.

For the local Gao family, which has many workshops, although the workshops scattered in various places bring a lot of profits, the expenses are also very huge. They don't have a choice in their business, unlike Yip's Workshop. Now focus on the business place. Whether it is Yizhan Building, Tissot Watch Store or IKEA, they are actually high-tech products and conceptual products of this era. The profit margins are extremely high. For the Ye family, they don't need to use the construction of catapults as an opportunity to form a good relationship with the military, nor do they take too seriously the business that the country may need to renew more than 2,000 catapults.

Unlike the Gao family, the Gao family, who has been operating in Dongping for several generations, has weapons workshops all over the country that can supply the military nearby, and compared with the Ye family, which now only has two core workshops in Yicheng and Danyang, the cost of logistics, later maintenance and training is lower than that of the Ye family. And the Ye family has no plans to open their own workshops all over the country now, and may not have such plans in the future. Compared with Ye's current extremely profitable business, the profit margin of the military's orders for large ordnance is really not high, and it is not worth Ye's huge investment to build such a network.

In addition, that is Ye's consistent self-confidence. Although the drawings were the same, after Ye pondered up and down, everyone agreed that even if they got the drawings, it would be absolutely impossible for the Gao family to produce something that could be compared in terms of accuracy and range. Yip's technology in this area is not only the design of catapults, but also a whole technical system. The first thing Yip's Workshop needs to do in the production of catapults is to calculate the density of the wood, and then make precise adjustments to ensure that the center of gravity of the catapult is in the center, and also to ensure that the counterweight of the gravity pendulum is appropriate. The wood used to make the catapult is soaked in a special formula of Ye's potion to strengthen the toughness of the wood while giving the wood a certain fireproof characteristic, at least the general rocket is launched on the catapult, which is usually extinguished after a few shakes, coupled with the processing accuracy of Ye's current unique in the world, to ensure that the catapult can maintain an accuracy of less than five meters at the maximum range of about 600 meters, which is a very remarkable achievement in this era. However, in the absence of these important technologies, the Gao family does not know what kind of performance indicators the catapult can have. Although the difference is not very far, there is no trivial matter in military affairs, as long as there are people who are interested in listing these gaps and fabricating a crime at will, it is enough for the Gao family to drink a pot.