As the saying goes, "it is better to ask for others than for yourself", since you can't recruit talented and loyal and reliable officers, then train yourself. Liu Fan selected 50 soldiers with a certain cultural foundation from among the recruits, and then selected some loyal and talented low-ranking officers from among the veterans to establish an officer training class, which Liu Fan personally taught and trained, looked for some military books of the past dynasties as teaching materials, and took out the treasured "New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness" and "Records of Military Training" for people to copy as the main teaching materials for these officers to study.

As for weapons and armor, Liu Fan didn't have a very good way, and in this Shandong, Liu Fan only knew Zhu Dadian and Zhang Yiheng and others, Zhu Dadian was too far away from Jiaozhou and didn't have too deep friendships, thinking about it, Liu Fan could only ask Zhang Yiheng for help.

Liu Fan put down the tense training plan, took people to Jimo for help, and came to Jimo City again, the soldiers at the city gate were still those people, and when they saw Liu Fan and others this time, they didn't dare to stop them, but they just asked Liu Fan's personal army to hand over weapons and other things, and successfully let them enter the city. Liu Fan also felt a little guilty about going to Zhang's Mansion this time, since the Zhang family's father and daughter left in mid-July, Liu Fan did not visit Zhang's Mansion once, seeing that it was now the end of the month, but he came to ask for help, feeling a little embarrassed.

Zhang Yiheng was full of surprises for Liu Fan's arrival, and before Liu Fan arrived at the door of Zhang's house, Zhang Yiheng received the news and took Zhang Yao's two daughters to greet him at the door. Liu Fan saw the three of them standing at the door from a distance, and his heart was full of emotion in an instant, and he walked quickly to the three of them, and said in a trembling tone, "How dare you bother your uncle to wait here, Liu Fan can't afford it!" ”

Zhang Yiheng laughed, "What did Jimin say, we are a family, what can the old man wait for here, what can't the family afford?" Are you still outside us? ”

Lu'er was straightforward, and when she saw Liu Fan, she said excitedly, "Brother Liu!" Just now, Miss Lao received the news that Brother Liu, you came to Jimo, and she was so happy that she was waiting at the door immediately! ”

Zhang Yao saw that this little girl leaked the bottom as soon as they met, so she secretly screwed her and said, "You talk a lot!" Brother Liu! Let's stop talking about it at the door! Let's go home first! ”

"Yes, yes, yes! Go home first! After Zhang Yiheng finished speaking, he pulled Liu Fan towards the door. walked to the door and said to Zhang Yao, "Yao'er, you greet Xiaohu and them, I'll go and talk to Jimin first!" ”

Liu Fan and Zhang Yiheng came to the study, and Liu Fan told him about the purpose of this visit and asked him to help raise some weapons and armor. Zhang Yiheng felt a little embarrassed, and after inquiry, he learned that there are not too many weapons in stock in Jimo now, even if there are some that are old and unusable, but Jimo Guard, has its own craftsmen, and usually builds weapons by its own weapons workshop. However, skilled workers are still available, and as long as there are enough funds and materials, they can start work immediately. At this time, Liu Fan was overjoyed, and immediately said that he could allocate 100,000 taels of silver to Zhang Yiheng, so that he could build the weapons and armor needed by the Broken Army. Liu Fan also learned that in addition to the large military industrial institutions such as the Central Ordnance Bureau, the Saddle Band Bureau, and the Armor Factory of the Military Bureau, all localities and provinces had the right to manufacture ordnance, and even the local sub-guard stations had small weapons workshops. Therefore, in addition to the slightly stricter management of artillery, other weapons and equipment are easy to obtain. Liu Fan wanted to cry a little when he heard Zhang Yiheng's explanation, and he didn't have the ability to make weapons and equipment in the army! It seems that the establishment of its own arsenal is imminent.

Then Liu Fan asked some things that need to be paid attention to in the manufacture of weapons and the origin and performance of various raw materials, and the two chatted until noon, until Lu'er came to call them to eat and ended the conversation unfinished.

After the family banquet, several people came to the back garden to drink tea and chat. Zhang Yao asked Liu Fan, "As soon as Brother Liu came, he went to the study with his father to discuss, is there anything important?" ”

Liu Fan said with a wry smile when he heard this: "Sister! To tell you the truth, I came to ask my uncle for help! ”

"Huh? Did Brother Liu encounter any problems? I heard that the Shihe Salt Factory has recently sold a large amount of refined salt, and the eldest brother should have received a large amount of silver! It's the time of the spring equinox! How can we need help? Zhang Yao's tone was slightly mocking.

Liu Fan's face was even more bitter, "Sister, don't laugh at me, it's precisely because of the money that the Broken Army has recently recruited a group of recruits, so I have to come to you for help!" Liu Fan then briefly told Zhang Yao about the problems he encountered. In the end, he said, "Now the problem of weapons has been solved, but the problem of the officers is that they have no clue at all, and most of the soldiers of the Broken Army are illiterate. I used to pay a lot of money to hire some readers to teach them to read! But as soon as they heard that it was to teach the army, they all refused, and no one wanted to come, even those talented children in the countryside who had no reputation. The status of our Ming scholars is too high, and under the status of martial artists, those who have a little knowledge look down on us martial artists! It's so hard to solve this problem! ”

Zhang Yao also nodded approvingly, "Yes!" The idea of the eldest brother is really difficult to implement, even if they are taught to read, it is too difficult to find a high-ranking general who knows the art of war. It's not that there is nothing, but it's hard for you to recruit them, and most of the current generals of the Ming Dynasty are not educated! Even those who know some of the art of war are hereditary officers with more than 1,000 households, and most of them have their own ways and will not come to your small temple. Liu Fan was speechless, but he didn't expect even Zhang Yao to say the same, so he had to nod approvingly.

Zhang Yao continued: "But Brother Liu, don't worry, there will always be a way, there are still some military books collected over the years in Daddy's study, you can take them and send someone to copy some of them, and use them as teaching materials!" ”

Liu Fan said gratefully: "Then thank you, sister!" ”

"Why didn't Brother Liu ask my young lady to be his husband? Miss, she is not only literary but also familiar with military books, and the young lady in the master's study has read all the books! Isn't it a piece of cake to teach you those rough benzene military men? Midori interjected

Liu Fan's eyes lit up, and he high-fived and said, "Yes!" Sister Yao'er is a famous talented girl in Jiaozhou, and she is a military family, so she can't say that it's definitely no problem to be a teacher! ”

"Nonsense! How can there be a daughter's family to teach? Do you want to spread the reputation? How to marry in the future? Don't even think about it! Zhang Yiheng saw that the more the three of them talked, the more outrageous it became, and finally couldn't help but say angrily.

Liu Fan heard the old man's reprimand, he didn't dare to speak, in fact, he wanted to say, how good it is to marry me if you can't get married, and I don't dislike it, but unfortunately I didn't dare to speak when I saw Lao Zhang Tieqing's face!