The winter of the second year of Xuantong came very quickly, and the worried Zhao Erxun convened four successive military and political meetings to hold consultations on the problems discovered during the inspection, such as the administration of officials, deception and concealment of superiors, the withholding of salt taxes, and the soaring price of grain.

These four issues are all major issues related to whether or not Sichuan is stable, and they are reminiscent of the rice-grabbing riots that lasted for several months in Hunan, the incident in which the people in western Hubei were overwhelmed by the heavy burden of rebellion, killing officials, and burning officials, and the influx of refugees who poured into northern Sichuan and Chengdu in large numbers due to the famine in Gansu and Shaanxi.

Because Cai Qi, the general office of the arsenal, and Xu Jiabao, the general office of the arsenal, were helpless in the face of the aging machinery and equipment, and the factory building of the Gunpowder Bureau in the southern suburbs fell into disrepair and collapsed, both of them wrote to the governor Zhao Erxun to resign, and Zhao Erxun could only appoint Xiao Yiming to investigate and make a rectification report again.

Over the past year, the Huaxi Group Company has shared tremendous pressure on the arsenal in the production of weapons parts, so that the arsenal has completed the annual gun production plan one month ahead of schedule, and the 3,500 Hanyang-style rifles handed over to the new army are of excellent quality, which has been praised by the new officers and soldiers, and the governor Zhao Erxun and the Chengdu general Fengshan have specially rewarded Cai Qi and Xu Jiabao for this.

Cai Qi and Xu Jiabao led Xiao Yiming to walk around inside and out, and when they returned to the official room, they immediately took out the relevant account books for comparison.

Xiao Yiming hastily looked through the production and inventory statistics book, and said to the two of them very understandingly:

"It's already very good that the two of you can persist to this day, it's no wonder that the artillery imitation task can't be completed, the best equipment is the old thing from twelve years ago, even if you barely build a few cannons, I'm afraid you won't be able to hit a few times, and you'll have to lie down; The production of guns and ammunition was affected by the collapse of the Gunpowder Bureau, which was irresistible and had nothing to do with the ability of the two. ”

Cai Qi arched his hand gratefully:

"That is, Xiao Huiban is proficient in machinery and management, so he can understand our difficulties! Speaking of the whole factory have to thank Xiao Huiban and your Huaxi Group for a year, as long as our machine has a problem, ask Huaxi Group for help, Huaxi Group sent German engineers and translators without saying a word, and never talk about money in the last two months, several old milling machines and boring machines are all out of order, and Huaxi Group quietly helps to process bolts and firing pins, otherwise our words are even more sad, speaking of which we still have to thank Xiao Huiban for you. ”

Xu Jiabao echoed, holding a cup of tea in both hands and handing it to Xiao Yiming.

Xiao Yiming hurriedly stood up and thanked him, took the tea and returned to his seat: "I will truthfully report the situation to the Governor, I will not embarrass the two of you, it is best for the two of you to apply for a copy of the report on the purchase of machines before, and hand it over together in my report, presumably the Governor can understand the two of you and don't mention anything about resignation, looking at the whole Sichuan, apart from the two of you, who else can support such a big arsenal?" ”

Cai Qi was so moved that he burst into tears, and Xu Jiabao also turned around and quietly wiped his eyes.

Xiao Yiming sighed, took a sip of tea and put down the cup:

"I have a suggestion here, the machines stored in the factory's warehouses that cannot be repaired, the discarded parts that have been replaced in the past few years, thousands of incomplete old muskets and damaged firearms that cannot be repaired, as well as the leftovers in the open yard, are estimated to be more than 100 tons.

"I don't have any selfish intentions in this proposal, and you don't think about it too much, it's all because in the whole of Sichuan, only Huaxi Group has so many electric furnaces for smelting alloy steel, although it can't be said that turning waste into treasure, but it can save a little is a little, which is much better than throwing it there in the rain all the time."

Cai Qi and Xu Jiabao were very happy, they had planned this for a long time, but they didn't dare to mention it for fear of being sued, and now Xiao Yiming told them personally, why didn't they feel happy and relieved?

So the two just glanced at each other, and said in unison that when the scrap iron was sold, the reason was that even if the scrap steel was processed into billets and sent back, the arsenal did not have the advanced rolling technology and forging technology of Huaxi Group, so it was easier to exchange money directly, and it could be regarded as the most suitable place.

It was already evening when Xiao Yiming returned to the yamen, and when he learned that Zhao Erxun was resting in the backyard after the meeting, he simply went in to eat mixed rice, anyway, he didn't do much about rubbing rice.

After the son and daughter-in-law took their grandson back to their hometown for the New Year, Zhao Erxun always ate alone, so he was very willing to talk with Xiao Yiming while eating, so that he would not be too lonely.

Putting down the rice bowl, Xiao Yiming helped Zhao Erxun to the study to rest, took the tea set and small charcoal stove brought by the maid and began to make tea: "Uncle Shi, do you really plan to invest a lot of money in the arsenal?" ”

"Is that still fake? This year, the province's tax revenue is good, at the end of last month it has exceeded 40 million, and the most conservative estimate is that it will reach 46 million for the whole year, which has never been seen in 10 years.

"The name of the Sichuan Arsenal is what I took, and the signboard hanging outside the gate was also inscribed by me, which was called the Machine Bureau before, and it was one of the first three machine bureaus in the country. The old guy of the Manchu Dynasty heard about it, and he still had fun? ”

Zhao Erxun was in a good mood and made a self-deprecating joke.

Xiao Yiming nodded: "That's fine, it's better to build it yourself than to buy it, and you can also cultivate your own talents along the way, feeding more than a thousand workers and dozens of officials." ”

Zhao Erxun thought deeply: "It's this reason, I see, all the machines are still entrusted to your Huaxi Company to buy, first, few people in the arsenal understand the machine, let alone the most advanced machine, if they are directly asked to buy, maybe they will be deceived by those cunning foreigners; Second, you and your Huaxi Company have helped the arsenal a lot in the past year, and there is no credit and hard work, and several batches of weapons and equipment of the new army and the border army were purchased by the Huaxi Company, the price is cheap and the quality is excellent, and everyone says that it is easy to use, so it is still entrusted to you to make people feel at ease. ”

"Huh!? Uncle Shi, this is not a small business, but a big order of two million! From negotiation to signing the contract to shipping the machine back, it is estimated that it will take at least a year. Xiao Yiming explained the situation very objectively.

Zhao Erxun didn't care, and said lightly with his beard:

"A year is already fast, do you know how long Zhang Zhidong had to wait to buy a machine when he first ran the Hubei Gun Factory? Three years! After paying the deposit, it is not enough, and the machines have to be paid in full before they are shipped one after another. Yunnan Machinery Bureau is even longer, with an investment of 2.5 million, it took three and a half years to get the machine, and then the installation and commissioning was more than half a year, and the formal production began at the beginning of last year. ”

Xiao Yiming didn't know how happy she was.

This transaction, just the normal commission can earn more than 100,000 yuan, and I don't know how much I will earn in the future from cooperating with the arsenal, which is a great thing for Huaxi Company and the arsenal, and it is a completely win-win situation.

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