(Thanks to the old man surnamed Peng Chen and 277193303 for voting for the precious monthly ticket, Xie Lu thanked him.) )

Bi Maokang made a special trip to the Governor's Mansion.

He came with Qin Sande, there are some things that need to be reported, and the difficulties he is facing now are also a bit big.

Looking back on the establishment of the artillery battalion and the process of developing and improving firearms, Bi Maokang was full of emotion, and at the beginning of the research, Bi Maokang believed that this was just Su Tiancheng's temporary decision to study and improve firearms in a short period of time to improve the combat effectiveness of the Jiangning battalionOver the years, the amount of silver spent on research and development every year has been close to one million taels, which has also prompted the research of artillery to make significant progress.

Bi Maokang is also lucky, when the research and development and improvement work was carried out, it was quite a bit of a lonely struggle, but because of the sufficiency of silver, the treatment of technicians and craftsmen has been fully guaranteed, which can attract talents, and the technicians and craftsmen who enter the Jiangning camp, it will not take long to find that this is a long-term thing, not the kind of practice of fishing for three days and drying nets for two days, in other words, entering the Jiangning camp and engaging in the research and development and improvement of firearms, even if it enters the safe, It's enough to feed the family.

Therefore, the R&D team grew rapidly, including some craftsmen in the capital, who secretly came to Jiangning Ying. The Ministry of Industry has learned about this matter, but it is also a blind eye, even if they pursue it, it will not have any effect, besides, the imperial court has no silver to develop firearms. Since the destruction of the Dengzhou artillery base, the imperial court has not had such a large base for capacity building.

What was even more unexpected to Bi Maokang was that some Portuguese technicians and some exquisite craftsmen in Dengzhou were still alive, and with the development of the mutual market, these people came from Mongolia to Anningbao and entered the Jiangning battalion to continue to engage in the research and development of artillery.

This greatly increased Bi Maokang's strength. Of course, the expenses have also increased, and after Su Tiancheng learned about this situation, he did not hesitate at all and increased the expenses.

The biggest benefit of Bi Maokang is that the research and development of fine iron is on the right track after a period of hard work.

I want to really make a breakthrough in R&D. If you can't refine refined iron, it has no substantive effect. With the growth of the technical team, fine iron began to be developed and put into large-scale production.

A valley just over ten miles away from Fort Anning has been turned into a military restricted area, where the production of fine iron and the research and development of firearms are carried out. All of this is done here, which occupies a huge area, the mountains and rivers are beautiful, and the conditions are no problem.

As for iron ore, there is no shortage of it. As long as there is silver, a steady stream of iron ore is transported here, and countless businessmen come to contact, and the businessmen also know that Jiangningying is trustworthy and will never default on silver, so they are willing to deal with Jiangningying, and the iron ore is directly transported to the outside of the valley.

After the production of refined iron, research and development began to make great progress.

Batches of new red-coated cannons and general cannons began to be produced, these artillery, strictly forbidden to trade, and must not be leaked, all owned by the Jiangning Battalion Artillery Battalion, the artillery battalion stationed in Fort Anning, also began uninterrupted training, sometimes, watching the shells fired out, this is all silver, Bi Maokang felt heartache.

The battle of Kuizhou Mansion, the role of artillery is huge, but that is in the mountainous area, the play of artillery has been limited to a certain extent, in the Guanning Jin defense line is different, to Shanhaiguan after the meeting, Bi Maokang specifically in the Guanning Jin defense line around a circle, this place, artillery can play a huge power, and after the battle of Kuizhou Mansion, according to the relevant information obtained, the technical team again improved the artillery.

Time is still a little tight, a hundred red-coated cannons, a hundred generals' cannons, the number is too huge, up to now, the latest red-coated cannons and general's cannons produced, a total of only one hundred and twenty, there are still eighty pieces, but the time is only a little more than a month, less than two months, and these cannons have to be transported to Jinzhou.

Thinking of this, Bi Maokang had a headache.

After Qin Sande arrived at Fort Anning, Bi Maokang reported the situation in detail, and even Qin Sande felt embarrassed, the key was the transportation problem, the weight of the artillery was very large, and it was not easy to transport, and he couldn't get up fast on the road.

Qin Sande felt that the matter was very important, and suggested that Bi Maokang follow him to Ningyuan and report directly to Su Tiancheng.

Entering the Governor's Mansion, Su Tiancheng was already waiting in the wing.

Nowadays, the deliberations are generally in the wings, rarely in the lobby, unless there are a large number of people.

"Father-in-law Qin has worked hard, he has worked all the way, and when he returns to Ningyuan, he still can't rest."

"Don't dare, this is our family's business, our family must do a good job, but Master Bi has seen some difficulties, and our family also feels embarrassed, and we don't dare to make decisions on our own, so I came to report with Master Bi."

Su Tiancheng nodded and looked at Bi Maokang.

"My lord, the main problem of Xiaguan is difficult to transport, the volume of artillery is quite large, it is not easy to transport, from Fort Anning to Jinzhou, the distance is thousands of miles, and the task of transporting artillery is too arduous."

Su Tiancheng shook his head a little helplessly, in fact, this is a very simple matter, a little change of thinking, the problem will be solved, but it is a pity that experts like Bi Maokang are used to thinking about high-end problems.

"I don't think it's a difficult thing, isn't it much faster to transport it separately, so many technicians, send some of them to Jinzhou, and assemble the artillery in Jinzhou, isn't it all the problems solved."

Bi Maokang patted his head with some annoyance.

"What the lord said is that the lower officials are confused, and they didn't think of such a simple thing."

"Okay, the specific problem, Master Bi to find a way, the time is set, can't be delayed, the time is already very tight, you have to act, you go back quickly, take 30,000 soldiers of the Jiangning battalion, specifically responsible for transportation matters, all the artillery, one-time transportation over, I have calculated, one hundred red-clothed cannons and one hundred general cannons, is the heaviest, each artillery, arrange a hundred soldiers to transport, the rest of the soldiers to transport the Fran cannon and the tiger squat cannon, so that the speed is much faster, within the specified time, transported to JinzhouIn addition, 8,000 officers and men were transferred to the defense, and all the officers and men of the artillery battalion returned to the team. ”

"It's good, Xiaguan will implement it immediately, and there is one more thing, Xiaguan is also preparing to develop the rest of the artillery, and the power is also huge, with the assistance of Portuguese technicians, there is no big problem."

Su Tiancheng shook his head unexpectedly.

"Don't do this kind of thing, the research and development improvement of artillery, lies in specialization and refinement, four types of artillery are enough, Furlong machine gun and tiger squat gun, for short-distance bombing, red-coat cannon and general cannon, for long-distance bombing, what needs to be continued to be researched at present, is to improve the lethality of artillery, this is the direction that needs to be worked on, as for the research and development of other types of artillery, put it aside for the time being, it is not yet the time for research and development."

Bi Maokang nodded, he just wanted to give it a try, since it was not the time yet, then don't develop it for the time being, judging from Su Tiancheng's words, it will eventually be necessary to develop other types of artillery.

After a while, Hong Chengchou also came.

Seeing Hong Chengchou coming in, Su Tiancheng nodded and spoke very seriously.

"The Jiangning battalion has been established for so many years, has experienced countless battles, and has always played the main role of cavalry and foot soldiers, from now on, the artillery battalion will play the most important role, and the Houjin Tartars are used to fighting in the field, their offense also has a great deal of randomness, quite a bit elusive, such an army, the combat effectiveness is very strong, combined with this situation, the Jiangning battalion must strengthen the construction of the artillery battalion, my consideration, the Jiangning battalion has expanded the number of people, reaching 6,000 people."

None of them spoke, and they all considered whether this was necessary.

"I know your thoughts, and I also ask you to believe that with the advancement of the war, the role of the artillery battalion will be highlighted, and after a short time, you will know that the artillery battalion will become the most important force of the Jiangning battalion, and even the decisive force, and the artillery battalion will become the first battalion of our Jiangning battalion."

"Therefore, the cost of the artillery battalion must be guaranteed, the artillery originally consumed silver, this is no way to do it, and it is also a thing that cannot be saved, the silver of the expenditure, don't feel distressed, despite the expenses, Master Bi, after returning to Fort Anning, the research and development of artillery should still be grasped, and the next step, reducing the weight of artillery and increasing the power of artillery may be the most important thing."

When he left the Governor's Mansion, Bi Maokang was very excited, in his consciousness, he had already felt the importance of artillery, and he didn't expect Su Tiancheng's understanding to be more in place, emphasizing that the artillery battalion would become the first battalion of the Jiangning battalion, which had completely revealed the role of artillery, and artillery would play a decisive role in future battles.

In this case, R&D is even more important.

Bi Maokang originally specialized in the study of firearms, but after a few years, he felt that in actual combat, the role of artillery was far stronger than that of firearms, so the focus of energy was quickly shifted to artillery.

In fact, the role of firearms is just as important, but technology has not yet developed to that extent, and flintlock pistols are already the limit level of this era, and if you continue to study, you will not make great progress. But artillery is different, it can be continuously improved, and it is worth in-depth study in terms of weight and power. (To be continued......)