Since the decree was issued, Li Hongfei rarely worked in the prefect's yamen, and spent almost all of his time in the barracks outside the city for a week, and even spent two days directly in the barracks because of the late weather. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The outside world speculated that Li Hongfei had to hurry up to train because of too much pressure from the saints, and the people were overjoyed by this.

For ordinary people, if the prefect can really train a strong army and save Suzhou City from the disaster of swords, it is indeed a great blessing.

For those businessmen, the prefect devoted all his energy to the army, so he definitely didn't have time to toss business, and finally he didn't have to worry about it every day, worrying that one day when he was doing business, a group of officers and soldiers would suddenly break in and look for trouble.

It seems that Li Hongfei has indeed tossed this group of businessmen in Suzhou very lightly.

However, these speculators really couldn't have imagined that the reason why Li Hongfei was so desperate was not because Zhu Youzhen put pressure on him, but because he was tortured by Chen Yuanyuan in the house.

As a young man with strong blood, every day in the face of a beautiful woman who can be seen but not eaten, it is uncomfortable to rest on anyone, and he will inevitably go crazy, Li Hongfei simply respects Chen Yuanyuan, and at the same time holds his breath in his heart, hoping to lead troops to the battlefield as soon as possible and kill Wu Sangui in one fell swoop.

On this day, Li Hongfei had just left the yamen and was about to go to the military camp outside the city, but was stopped by Zhou Furen, who rushed over.

"Lord Li, the address of Suzhou Heavy Industry has been selected, and it is in Baoshan Town, Jiading County." Zhou Furen got straight to the point.

Baoshan Town is not only the Baoshan District of Shanghai in later generations, but also one of the important iron and steel industry bases in China, at this time Baoshan Town has not been assigned to Shanghai County, belongs to the jurisdiction of Jiading County, is the mouth of the Huangpu River and the Yangtze River confluence, and is the gateway of Shanghai County.

The waterway transportation here is very developed, there are very rich metal mineral resources in the territory, and it is adjacent to Changshu County, which is rich in coal mines, and it can reach Baoshan Town in half a day by transporting coal mines by waterway.

It can be seen that it is no accident that this place can become an important steel industry base in China in later generations, and Zhou Furen's vision of site selection is also very unique.

"Oh? It is close to Chongming Island, and the industrial base is located there, and the security aspect is .........." Li Hongfei hesitated.

The place is a good place, but it is a strategic front, and if you are not careful, the Qing soldiers will fight it, which is an investment of millions of taels of silver, and if it is destroyed because of the war, it will be a big loss.

"But my lord, the smelting industry in Baoshan Town is relatively mature, only by selecting a site there, it is possible to build an industrial base in a short period of time and put into production, if you choose other places, the formation of production capacity is estimated to be after next year." Zhou Furen spoke about the problems he is facing.

This time he invested a huge amount of money, if there is no output in a short period of time, the entire Zhou family will not go bankrupt, but the position of the richest man in Suzhou is estimated to have to be given up.

Choosing Baoshan Town is risky, but it's worth the effort.

"If you choose Baoshan Town, when will it be put into production at the earliest?" Li Hongfei asked.

"Many smelting industries over there are ready-made, many of which are still my Zhou family's industry, as long as the adults settle down, the old decay will spend money to buy that piece of land, if the speed is fast, within ten days, you can produce agricultural tools, cold weapons and other products, as for firearms, if there are drawings and skilled workers, within a month, you can produce." Zhou Furen analyzed.

Of course, it is impossible to complete a heavy industrial base in a month, but it can be built and produced at the same time.

The iron-smelting industry in Baoshan Town is already very well-developed, and it is only necessary to spend money to buy these small workshops and install professional equipment for the manufacture of firearms, and the Ordnance Bureau can start work again.

Here, the Ordnance Bureau is manufacturing firearms and cold weapons and selling them to the imperial court in exchange for silver, and there is a way to use the money in exchange to seize the time to build a larger workshop, or even a weapons research institute, which can be described as the best of both worlds.

Such a method can only be thought of by businessmen who pursue profit maximization.

"Since it's decided, let's act quickly, and since the Zhou family has a workshop in Baoshan, can the official move the Ordnance Bureau over now?" Li Hongfei is also a resolute person.

Bi Maokang was not idle during this time, he was taking a large number of craftsmen to catch up with the main equipment for making firearms, if Zhou Furen hadn't chosen the address yet, the Ordnance Bureau might have begun to lay the flintlock pistol production line.

"No problem, as long as the Lord decides to move the Ordnance Bureau over, the old man will send someone to notify the workshop over there and prepare to install the firearms manufacturing equipment." Zhou Furen is also unambiguous.

Li Hongfei has already signed a flintlock pistol contract with him, and in the future, the army in Suzhou will give priority to the purchase of flintlock pistols produced by Suzhou Heavy Industry.

After Zhou Furen left, Li Hongfei sent a message to Bi Maokang, asking him to be ready to move at any time, and then quickly headed for the military camp outside the city.

"Starting today, there are changes to the training content." Li Hongfei looked at the black army under the stage and said loudly.

These are all new recruits, there are no disobedient people such as soldiers, and after a week of queue training, it is obviously much better than the previous chaotic assembly scene.

Even Guo Sheng admired this, the Qi family army he was in before was the most disciplined army, in the case of only 500 troops, every time the team was assembled, it took almost a quarter of an hour (15 minutes), and now 23,000 people were assembled, and it only took two quarters of an hour (half an hour).

"Captain Zhang Chao, you lead the original Suzhou garrison (1,000 people) to continue to guard Suzhou, and military training is carried out as usual. Li Hongfei began to point to the general.

The original defenders of Suzhou were only 1,000, and they were all transferred from Shi Kefa, before Shi Kefa went north to King Qin, the defenders from all over the country were almost emptied, and there were only 500 defenders left in the city.

Later, in order to help Li Hongfei gain a firm foothold in Suzhou, Qi Hongying not only transferred the Suzhou garrison, but also transferred all the remaining 500 defenders to Chongming Island.

The 1,000 people under Zhang Chao are the only remaining veterans in Suzhou City, no matter what their combat effectiveness is, as a garrison, they can completely play a deterrent role.

"Garrison Guo Sheng, you lead two thousand Suzhou new troops, go to the Ordnance Bureau in the city, help Professor Bi Maokang, carry ordnance and equipment, remember, after entering the city, maintain discipline, do not make noise, do not disturb the people, act fast, two hours later, the Grand Canal ferry in the west of the city will gather!"

Since it is a move, the free labor force of the soldiers, Li Hongfei naturally has to make good use of it, otherwise with the dozens of craftsmen in the Ordnance Bureau, who knows when he will toss.

The two thousand Suzhou New Army can be said to be Li Hongfei's descendants, so Li Hongfei must be strict, even in terms of discipline in entering the city, it must be emphasized again and again.

"Staff General Qi Zhifeng, you lead 20,000 Qi family troops, pack your bags immediately, set off in an hour, and you must arrive in Baoshan Town, Jiading County within two days!"

Qi Zhifeng is Qi Hongying's cousin, since Qi Jiguang's death, after the Qi family army was suppressed, the Qi family except for Qi Hongying, a cadre of relatives have no intention of joining the army, and now Zhu Youzhen ordered the reorganization of the Qi family's army, Qi Zhifeng under the persuasion of Qi Hongying, this is the mountain again, and was awarded the rank of general from the third grade by Qi Hongying.

Although his official position is greater than Li Hongfei's, Suzhou is Li Hongfei's territory, and Qi Zhifeng belongs to the guest army, so he naturally has to obey Li Hongfei's orders.

Since it was decided to set Suzhou Heavy Industry in Baoshan Town, Li Hongfei naturally had to take it as the top priority.

The ancient communications were really backward, and Li Hongfei had to arrange them in advance, so he simply used Baoshan Town as a garrison for new recruits.

First, if a war breaks out on Chongming Island, these recruits can be used as reserves to supplement and support at any time.

Second, the firearms manufactured by Suzhou Heavy Industry can also equip the troops at the first time, which greatly facilitates the future training of the troops.