"Do you want so much equipment, do you have so many soldiers?"

In the imperial study, Li Shimin was condescending, staring at Li Chao with a frown. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoThe Li family actually has twenty-eight titles and sixty-seven thousand soldiers, and Li Shimin was shocked to find out this number. When he thought that one day, Li Chao really had more than 100,000 troops, and he couldn't help but feel numb on his scalp.

"The minister is ready to recruit, there are many children of the minister's family, there are many feudal territories, the border situation is not safe, in order to fulfill the duties of the Ping Domain, the minister is willing to take out more money to recruit the lord's guard to defend the Tang Dynasty."

"It's not easy to recruit soldiers and horses in the border areas, right?" Li Shimin asked.

"The minister is going to recruit those people."

There are many Tibetan people in the Tang Dynasty, such as Turks, Qiang, Di, Slang, Shanyi, etc., and even the Sogdians, Tocharians, Persians, etc. in the Western Regions.

But the more this is the case, the more Li Shimin is secretly frightened.

"The Li family has many feudal children, but so far, only King Zhao and Luo Guogong have been able to personally receive the fief, and the rest of the children have been sealed before they are minors."

Li Shimin took this out to talk about things, you didn't even seal it, what soldiers do you recruit and what horses do you buy.

"Besides, Liuqiu, Zhao Guoling, Liaobei Ling, Dawan Ling, Wolf Mountain Ling, and Luo Guoling are all safe, and there is no threat around."

"Your Majesty, be prepared. Such as the Wolf Mountain Ridge, located outside the Wolf Mountain, is an important barrier outside the Tang River Loop, the north is the Mobei Tiele Division, although the Tiele is subject to the Tang Dynasty, but the grassland khanate, rebellion is not frequent, and the imperial court's control over Mobei is also very small. No one can protect it, and one day Xue Yantuo invades the south. In addition, there are many horse thieves in the grassland, and if the territory is not guarded by soldiers and horses, it is also vulnerable to attack. ”

Li Shimin couldn't listen to it, he was full of thoughts that only the Li family now has so many territories and so many soldiers.

"Wen Yuan, the production capacity of the Ordnance Supervision is limited. In this way, I issued an edict and asked the ordnance supervisor to give priority to the Li family with a batch of ordnance. ”

"Thank you."

Li Chao returned to the ordnance prison, and Xu Jingzong had already obtained the emperor's will.

"1,000 sets of half-body armor, 2,000 sets of armor, and 3,000 sets of leather armor."

"10,000 spears, 10,000 swords, 10,000 bows, and 500,000 arrows!"

Li Chao smiled and nodded, "What else?" ”

"King Zhao, that's all." Xu Jingzong winked at him helplessly. The imperial court's ordnance supervisor has many military workshops, and the speed of production is very fast, just like the plate armor with the best protection at present, there are full-body armor and half-body armor, as well as simple breastplates and helmets, which represent the most advanced steel smelting process in the Tang Dynasty, as well as the best armor manufacturing capacity.

Good equipment, high technology, high production capacity.

Although the price is not bad, the Beiya Forbidden Army of the Tang Dynasty has been changing plate armor in batches every year. It has been achieved that each person has a breastplate armor, and even the generals of the forbidden army are equipped with more half-body armor. The emperor also spent a lot of money to build a fully armored heavy cavalry.

Even the twelve guards of the Nanya are also successively equipped with plate armor, and the plan of the military department is to achieve that all the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty can have a chest armor in their hands in the next ten years. Even let one-tenth of the government soldiers have half-body armor.

And the forbidden army not only had to equip them with plate armor, but also issued them all with a rope armor.

In short, the plan of the Ministry of War was ambitious, the Privy Council commanders fully supported it, and the emperor had the money to support it.

The Ordnance Supervision has also continued to expand the military workshop, and the production capacity has been greatly increased, and the Li family's iron and steel plant has continuously provided superior steel materials to ensure that the supply of materials is sufficient.

In this case, the emperor only gave Li Chao 1,000 sets of half-body armor, and said that there was no material, which Xu Jingzong was embarrassed to say this nonsense.

To put it bluntly, the emperor deliberately found a reason not to equip Li Chao.

It's good to be able to give these.

"Where's the warhorse?"

"This has to find the Taifu Temple, they are in charge of the pasture and the war horse." Xu Jingzong was helpless.

Li Chao estimated that if he went to buy a horse, he would definitely not be able to buy much. In fact, Li Chao has no shortage of war horses, and there is no shortage of war horses in the entire Datang Dynasty now, and there are many excellent horse ranches. Good horses can be easily bought, and you can train them yourself. It's just that the court also has a ban on this, and the lords' war horses can only be bought in the court, not privately.

"What about muskets, artillery?"

"This court has no inventory." Xu Jingzong spread his hands.

Liar, the imperial court now has only one divine machine army equipped with firearms, and the imperial court has a special firearms supervisor, how can there be no inventory.

But it doesn't matter.

He opened his mouth today, but in fact, he didn't even think about getting tens of thousands of sets of weapons, and he didn't even think about recruiting tens of thousands of troops.

If Li Chao really wants to recruit troops, he can recruit and train overseas like his Nanyang Navy, and there is no need to be so high-profile.

Even if it is a weapon, Li Chao does not need to count on the imperial court to buy it, he already has a set of military industrial system in Nanyang, from artillery muskets and plate armor to horizontal knives and spears, which can be completely self-produced.

Don't forget, the Li family is the largest steel producer in Datang, with good steel and good iron, are you afraid that you won't be able to build equipment? The plate armor manufacturing process of the imperial court is all the technology provided by the Li family.

Today is but a temptation.

Look at Li Shimin's attitude.

He first asked for a price, and then waited for Li Shimin to bargain, and then he accepted.

Li Shimin thought that he had compromised and could temporarily settle down.

This can be regarded as a psychological offensive, if Li Chao builds a private army of 10,000 people at the beginning, the emperor is only afraid of being uneasy. But if Li Chao began to say that he would build a private army of more than 100,000, and finally promised the emperor to build only 10,000, then the emperor felt different in his heart.

10,000 people, divided into various territories, in fact, there are not many.

Li Chao does not plan to change the military situation in the current territory for the time being, with a small number of mercenaries and a large number of militia. In peacetime, the militia cultivated and produced, and trained in the slack time, and the territory had the power to protect itself, and it was not easy to cause excessive concern to the imperial court.

A small number of mercenary guards, enough for the time being.

A few thousand sets of armor are a few thousand sets of armor.

"Well, when will these armors be delivered?"

"Delivered in three months."

Li Chao shook his head.

"The delivery will be clear within half a month, and the payment will be paid in full on time. I already understand your difficulties, you can't still trick me, can you? ”

Xu Jingzong gritted his teeth and nodded, "Then it will be delivered within half a month, as for the price, it is all set by the imperial court, and I can't help it, I hope King Zhao can understand." ”

"I understand, I understand, I understand, a set of half-body plate armor, your cost is at most twenty yuan, but you go to sell me two hundred yuan, it's really wronged by me. Fortunately, you only sold me 1,000 sets, and if you sold me 50,000 sets, it would be 10 million sets. ”

Xu Jingzong sneered.

"Plate armor is the best armor, and the surrounding countries don't have such ability. With this plate of armor, the barbarians are helpless against our soldiers. Don't say that one Han is worth five hu, even if it is ten hu, it's no problem. Definitely great value for money! ”

Plate armor is indeed a good thing, but the most expensive cost of this thing is steel, but this steel court still buys it from my family. When the imperial court bought my steel, it didn't say how good the steel was, but the price was very low.

This means that the Li family is rich, 1,000 sets of half-body armor, 200,000 guan, and they don't blink an eye. For other nobles, that's a lot of money.

200,000 yuan, many nobles do not necessarily have so much net worth.

In the textile factory, a young girl worker always gets money a month, and skilled workers only get two or three dollars. A set of armor is 200 times, and they have to work without eating or drinking for ten years.

"King Zhao, if you want to say something, there is actually no need to buy so many ordnance and recruit so many soldiers. The cost of buying ordnance and raising troops is huge, and it is easy to make taboos, and the gains outweigh the losses. Xu Jingzong reminded his old boss.

"What you say is very reasonable, but if the vassals want to defend their territory, they must screen the imperial court, and they can't do it without soldiers. The frontier is not as good as the Central Plains in the interior, don't look at it now, it seems that the Quartet is surrendering, but the situation is changeable. Taiping is not sent by others, but earned by ourselves, once we do not have the force of self-protection, one day, by the invasion and attack of the Tibetans, then the loss of the territory and the loss of the noble title is small, the safety of the Tang Dynasty is the most important. ”

Xu Jingzong nodded, but obviously didn't listen much.

Li Chao wanted to say, I am telling the truth, and there is another sentence that I have not said, if the nobles do not have their own arms, how will they play with the central court in the future?

How can I guarantee my status, and how can I ensure that I will not be centralized by the central court in the end?

Lords without soldiers and horses, fiefs are also empty, and they are just castles in the air.

Only with territory, then with arms, and then with the parliament of the court and the central government, these trinities can ensure the rights and interests of the nobles and maintain the balance of the Tang Dynasty.

It not only restricts the imperial power, but also maintains unification, and at the same time guards the frontier for the central court and expands the territory.

How many of you know about my hard work?

・・・・・・・

Reliability collar.

The upper reaches of the Xindu River, the Five River Basins.

Adjacent to the northwest border of the Ring of the Japanese Kingdom, a large river meanders across the plain, and this river is called the Xiangquan River by the Tang lords who have been divided into it.

It is an important river that originates on the Tibetan Plateau and eventually joins the Xindu River.

On both sides of the river, there is fertile land.

On both sides of the river, there are also castles of the Tang Dynasty lords.

A group of knights galloped with red flags.

"Enemy, the Japanese army is coming!"

When the lord of the castle heard this, he hurriedly asked the knight to enter the city. After asking, he turned his head with a heavy face and shouted at his subordinates, "Hurry up and light the beacon fire, spread the news to the back, and let everyone withdraw into the castle and prepare to meet the enemy!" ”

Smoke up!

Not far from the plain, another lord's castle dozens of miles away also rose wolf smoke.

One by one, two, three, and one castle after another rose wolf smoke.

Wisps of wolf smoke soared into the sky.

The smoke was everywhere, and the Tang lords from all over the country, who had already heard that the Japanese country was going to invade the army, also ordered to light the wolf smoke, and at the same time sounded the alarm bell, so that the people outside the city would withdraw into the castle, and all the grain and livestock that could be brought back were sent to the castle.

"Gather the generals and militia, and the day has finally come."

"Master Hou, what should we do now?" Home will ask.

"Naturally, according to the strategy we set when Wang Duhu convened everyone to discuss before, we will now lead the troops and horses of the territory to assemble at the predetermined location according to the original plan."

The soldiers will block, and the water will flood.

Since the lords of the Tang Dynasty dare to come, they are ready to fight. They have already done drills, and once the enemy attacks, everyone will not panic.

What should come will always come.

"Don't panic, everyone, our Xindu is protected by Wang Xuance, don't worry about quitting the Japanese army. Wang Duhu, that is King Zhao's personal disciple, followed King Zhao to fight in the south and north, what kind of big battle has he never seen? This time, let's just teach these dogs a hard lesson! ”