In the south of Daze Mountain, Pingdu Prefecture, there is a large area of workshops, since Chen Xin entered Dengzhou Town, the core of Dengzhou was transferred from Dengxian County to Pingdu Prefecture, it took only one year, covering an area of more than one million acres in Pingdu Prefecture, and spreading to Jiaozhou and Qingzhou Prefecture.

The workshop here was relocated from the old Denggong Workshop, called Factory No. 2, to receive students from Pingdu Prefecture Vocational School.

Because there are several rivers that originate in Daze Mountain, and the amount of water is far more abundant than that of the Dengbaolong River, the scale of the current area has exceeded that of Deng's No. 1 factory, which has more than 3,000 workers, plus more than 20,000 family members and temporary worker apprentices. When Wu Xiang met the scouts guarding the road, it was here that Wu Xiang paid attention to the scouts, but did not care about this workshop, because he did not enter the factory.

It covers a vast area, countless hydraulic machinery have been built along both sides of the river, the periphery is staggered by the settlements of Tunpu, the intersections are manned, and some factories have their own walls, which has formed a market town.

The products produced by Factory No. 2 include all kinds of machinery, muskets, artillery, and the iron rockets used by Lushun are also produced here.

At the end of previous years, Chen Xin would propose some new weapons, this year Chen Xinjiang Lang was exhausted, only thought of a pipe organ gun out, the weapons research institute sample production Zuò very quickly, by the Department of Military Affairs after the demonstration, that the effect is not as good as the Fran machine, and finally it was also vetoed, so the workshop also has no task of new products, and now all are the improvement of the old varieties, the focus is still on field artillery, mine guns and flintlock guns.

The river freezes in winter, and the hydraulic machinery has stopped, but there are still parts of the factory that continue to produce, and there are still puffs of smoke in some places. Chen Xin walked slowly along the riverbank, next to Wang Huzi, the head of Factory No. 2, and behind him were Dong Yu and Li Donghua, who accompanied the inspection. Dong Yu also has to deal with the workshop on weekdays, mainly in terms of inspection and payment of armaments, and Li Donghua is in charge of the Military Affairs Department, and it is the first time he has come to the Pingdu Workshop, and he looks curiously all the way.

The chief manager here is Wang Huzi, and the first chief in Weihai was Tang Zuoxiang, but he is older and has a hard time learning new things, and now he only trains new craftsmen to make gun barrels. He has retired from management, and the manager of the No. 1 plant is also a young man, not yet thirty years old.

Wang Huzi was relatively young and had a stronger learning ability, and Liu Minyou forced him to attend a literacy class. The gap with Tang Zuoxiang has been widened, he belongs to the earliest batch of craftsmen, Dengzhou Town also has to talk about qualifications, there are various functional departments under the general manager, and after a few assistants, his ability is based on the management of the current No. 2 factory, so he has climbed to the high position of the workshop.

Chen Xin came quietly this time. When it arrived, he informed Wang Huzi that he should not make it known to everyone, and that there were relatively few craftsmen working outside in winter, so this group was not watched. Wang Huzi was able to explain to them slowly along the way.

Chen Xin walked to a roller mill and stopped, this is the big guy in the hydraulic machine, used to press the wrought iron sheet used to press the barrel, Chen Xin patted the wooden shelf. He asked Wang Huzi, "Can the iron keep up?" ”

"Wrought iron can keep up, and now there are some small blast furnaces. I heard that coke is also used to make iron, which is stronger than Fujian iron, but now it is also used for cutting edge steel. ”

"That thing in Wuhu?"

"Yes, there is more than one Sugang anyway, there are dozens of them over there in Wuhu, and there are at least a few hundred employees in each family, and the subordinates have heard from the people of the trading company that this time they finally invited people from Wuhu at a high price to Deng, and they also used the steel filling method, but some of them are secret methods, and Lord Liu organized people to study for more than a year, and they didn't get out, and in the end they still had to dig people from Wuhu."

Chen Xin said with a smile: "Lord Liu is not an immortal, he has never smelted iron before, and if he can't do it, he will dig people, which is right." ”

"The silver is very high, and the settlement fee is two hundred taels, in fact, the steel filling is also simple, that is, pig iron and wrought iron are stacked, and no one can play well." Wang Huzi looked pity.

Chen Xin looked at him, and secretly laughed in his heart, Liu Minyou is a bit unruly in that ironmaking, neither of them has any knowledge in this area, Shandong iron smelting is not particularly developed, Liu Min's small blast furnace is not good, and the biggest improvement is only air heating. Later, there was only to dig people, Zunhua Iron Works is the largest government-run iron factory, it has suffered a military disaster in the past year, and later recovered part of it. However, the technical level of this largest government-run iron plant is no longer comparable to that of the south, especially the steel used to make cutting edges and bayonets, and now the best is to use Suzhou Iron and Steel, which is well-known throughout the country and the price is not cheap.

The iron and steel output of the Ming Dynasty reached the scale of 10,000 tons in Yongle, and the private iron works developed highly after the opening of the private sector, the largest iron factory in Nanhai County, Guangdong, employed more than 3,000 people, and the government-run Zunhua Iron Factory used to employ as many as 2,500 people, and there were thousands of craftsmen in Foshan for iron frying. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, commerce and circulation became more developed, and the output of Guangdong's private iron alone reached more than 3,000 tons, and the output of the whole country was estimated to be at least 50,000 tons. Thirty years after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the annual output of Maozi in Russia, which produced the most iron in Europe, was only 2,400 tons.

In the Qing Dynasty, even after the construction of modern factories such as Han Yeping at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the total output of the whole country was only more than 70,000 tons, while in Britain it reached more than 3 million tons in the middle of the 19th century, and serfdom Russia also reached 290,000 tons, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty could not even compare with serfdom Russia.

Chen Xin naturally doesn't know these details, he only needs better bayonet steel now, since he can't get it himself, it is the most advisable to dig people to spread technology, and the biggest advantage of Dengzhou is that he can standardize the operation, spend a sum of money to turn personal skills into manuals, and then he will naturally earn it back.

Meaning to pat Wang Huzi on the shoulder, "Spend money to save time, it's still cost-effective for us, so the silver for those people can be higher." ”

"What the villain is worried about is that they have recruited a few people, who knows if they can do it like that, if they can't do it, I will only buy Sugang in this factory, otherwise Dong Yu will not give me the inspection of the goods, and I will lose my old money, and I will not be able to get my bonus."

Chen Xin asked curiously: "Wang Huzi, tell me, how much silver is your bonus now?" ”

"That's a lot." Wang Huzi touched his beard, thought about it seriously, and then shook his head and said, "I forgot, anyway, there are more than a hundred taels, and my daughter-in-law knows better than me." ”

Dong Yu next to him sneered. "Wang Huzi, so much of your silver has been taken by your daughter-in-law, and you have to rely on the money you lose when you gamble and lose some wine, it turns out that you earned so much silver."

"I use it a lot." Wang Huzi hurriedly defended, "This is also set by Lord Liu, not for me to rob it." ”

Chen Xin laughed and said: "Who said that you went to rob it, you said that whoever was good would buy it, the official just felt that what you said was really reasonable, if you don't do well in the iron works." Don't buy their goods, and if they can't improve them, I'll have to replace them in charge of the ironworks, but you can't use their defective products. It's the same as the machinery you make, the official heard that your batch of textile machines has caused a lot of problems? ”

"This ......" Wang Huzi didn't expect Chen Xin to pull on the loom at once. The head quickly turned and said, "The villain just wanted to tell the adults about the matter of this loom......

Chen Xin raised a hand, "Director Wang, don't tell the official, the official can't control it, and Lord Liu won't care about you in the future." Later, No. 1 Factory and No. 2 Factory signed contracts with textile factories and tobacco factories, and there were people in Tunpu who bought machinery. The same is true, in the past, it was arranged by the Department of Industry and Commerce, but now you have to fight for it yourself, if the No. 1 factory is not doing well. Then you will make a lot of money, and if there is no business at Factory No. 1, then let him collapse, except for the gunsmiths. Other workers went to find their own jobs. ”

"Ah, this. How does this work? Wang Huzi asked in surprise.

"In previous years, the Department of Industry and Commerce came to write books, and you did it according to the booklet, but now the army and trading companies do business with you, and the contract is the certificate, and you write it clearly by yourself. It's the same as the army, the No. 3 factory will be done this year, it is also to do machinery and armament, and things will be like this in the future, whoever does a good job will use whom, what the army wants, you sign the contract yourself, the Department of Industry and Commerce does not give you a task, you go directly to Dong Yu and them to talk, and if there is a problem with the army in the later stage, the Department of Industry and Commerce will track down your responsibilities, but they cannot interfere in the specific business. Laiyang and Dengdu have a few tunpu partners to make their own looms, Lord Liu has been approved, and let the money village give a loan, if it is really good, the textile factory will also buy them, you have to use your own brains in the future, don't let those tunbao compare with the past, then you will lose the dead. ”

Wang Huzi turned his head to look at Dong Yu, Dong Yu nodded to him proudly, he will be a big customer of these workshops in the future, in fact, Chen Xin is not only dealing with workshops, but also the army has also set up relevant systems, using the method of bidding and public comparative testing, and randomly selecting representatives of military branches in the army to participate in the armament test.

In the past, there were many lawsuits between the army and the workshop, Liu Minyou had dealt with it many times, most of them were quality problems, or the improvement required by the army could not be responded to, and now Chen Xin split a factory into three and let them compete by themselves, Dong Yu felt that the three would have a lot of improvements.

Wang Huzi touched his chin and pondered, while Chen Xin continued to walk forward, stopped in front of a drill pipe machine, and asked Wang Huzi: "Wang Huzi, how many flintlock pistols can your workshop produce per month?" ”

"Two thousand, of which five hundred are bayonets and guns, and three thousand are expedited, and there are 1,000 in the No. 1 factory over there, which is enough."

Chen Xin's mouth moved slightly and calculated, and then said to Wang Huzi: "Continue to expand the gun factory, and the monthly output will reach 5,000 next year." ”

Several entourages widened their eyes, there were only more than 20,000 regular soldiers in Dengzhou Town, and half of them were cold weapons, even if they added reserve soldiers, there were only 20,000 or 30,000 musketeers, I don't know what Chen Xin was doing with so many muskets.

Chen Xin said to Li Donghua and Dong Yu: "The official plans to change the second and third general of the guards battalion and the two dragoons to pure musketeers, how much more money will you calculate?" ”

Dong Yu said in a low voice: "Bayonet flintlock pistol is more expensive, if it is not close combat, then the replacement speed is slower than that of cold weapons, if the spear and knife are actual combat training and fierce engagement, they can only fight once and have to change the blade head, the fifth battalion went out, and each spearman has changed the head twice." So the musket is changed more slowly, and then there is gunpowder, now Denglai although each Tunbao is collecting nitrate, but it still depends on the imperial court to give some, if the spearmen in the future will use muskets, the previous mandarin duck array of people and horses to reduce, only used in a specific place, musket training alone is a large piece, muskets are still worn, Chen Daren set each soldier to train 100 rounds of live ammunition every year, there is 100 ammunition without ammunition, each soldier is 200 doses, calculated according to seven dollars, each soldier uses nearly ten catties of gunpowder. There are more than 10,000 guards and dragoons, and 10,000 musketeers need more than 100,000 catties of gunpowder, of which nitrate accounts for more than 70 percent, that is, 70,000 catties of nitrate. According to Lushun's style of play, there are also mines, artillery, rockets, and various types of artillery, plus the needs of the operation, 300,000 jin of gunpowder may be prepared every Chinese New Year's Eve, and the nitrate is 210,000 jin, and the price is 42,000 taels of silver. ”

Chen Xin waved his hand generously, "10,000 soldiers are more than 40,000 taels, and it doesn't take that much, the imperial court will give 50,000 catties every year, and we can collect tens of thousands of catties ourselves, at most more than 20,000 taels of silver, and 100,000 people use 200,000 taels." ”

Li Donghua and Dong Yu swallowed a mouthful of saliva at the same time, Chen Xin opened his mouth is 100,000, you must know that according to Denglai's military salary, the annual military salary of 10,000 soldiers will be more than 200,000 taels, plus equipment and food need about 400,000 yuan, there are more cold weapons and soldiers, and the cavalry is a big eater.

Chen Xin turned his head to look at the two of them, "Look at what to do, the official only said 100,000 people, not 100,000 soldiers, after the veterans are discharged, the guns will be taken away, and the tunhu who has been in the tunpu for more than three years can also buy guns, the officials give them low prices, vocational school students get guns for free, not to mention 100,000, there will be millions of spears, with muskets, even the people have the ability to fight against the white armor soldiers, and then I will see who can beat the million spears in Dengzhou Town." ”

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