"1,500 flintlock muskets, of which 1,200 were long guns and 300 were short guns; 2,400 grenades; **Pack of 150 pcs; 60 cannons ......"

In the Su Industrial Park in Liangxiang, Lu Xiuer, Xu Guangqi, Luo Yuqing, Hao Qing and others looked at the list sent by Su Hao, and they all smacked their tongues. In the past, they would not even dare to think of such a large number of products, but now they have to make them by themselves. In the letter, Su Hao stated the time limit, requiring that within three months, all equipment must be in place. After that, new orders will arrive.

According to the results of the separate calculations of the people, the total cost of materials, labor and other costs required to produce all these equipment reached nearly 20,000 taels of silver. However, there is no need to worry about this money, because of all this equipment, one-third of it will be handed over to the military department, and the other two-thirds will be sent to the survey camp. The Ministry of War had to pay a total of 30,000 taels of silver to Su's Industrial Park for this one-third of the equipment, in other words, in this transaction, Su Hao not only selected two-thirds of the equipment for nothing, but also lost 10,000 taels of silver in profits.

This is what Wang Yihe said about the method of making up for the loss in the embankment and the outside of the embankment, the military department needs to buy equipment, and the equipment in the Su Industrial Park has been tested in actual combat and proved to be in good performance, so what is wrong with the military department buying equipment from the Su family? As for the price, the whole Daming, who can give the pricing of the yellow **, and who can say how much a flintlock pistol is worth? Only Su's Industrial Park can produce these equipment, so in terms of price, isn't Su Hao the final say?

Some of the flintlock pistols and other firearms purchased by the Ministry of War from the Sushi Industrial Park will be sent to Jiubian for the trial of the border armies. If they are interested in these firearms, they can order them from Su Hao through the Ministry of War, but they can only pay for themselves. Su Hao also assured Wang Yihe through Chen Dao that he would gradually reduce the production cost of firearms to the extent that it could meet the needs of the military.

After Wanli inspected the Su Industrial Park, Li Long followed Wanli's will and sent several eunuchs from the inner court to supervise the production of firearms in the industrial park, which was equivalent to providing a legal name for the manufacture of these firearms. Amazingly, the workshop supervised by the stewards and eunuchs was only responsible for the last link of firearms production, more precisely, the packaging link, and the first links were still completed by the Su's Industrial Park.

The workshop, which bears the brand of the Inner Court Ordnance Bureau, purchases almost finished firearms from the Sushi Industrial Park, stamps them with its own brand, and then provides them to the outside world. In this way, the production of firearms was nominally completed by the Inner Court and provided by the Inner Court to the military, but the profits remained in Su Hao's hands. Such a good thing can only be enjoyed by a lucky person like Su Hao.

Of course, Su Hao will not eat alone, he promised Li Long that 3% of the profits from firearms will be taken out as Li Long's dividends, and as for how much Li Long will give to Wanli, it is not within Su Hao's control.

"We had to build 1,500 flintlock pistols in three months, and we didn't have enough manpower." Hao Qing said.

Lu Xiu'er said: "It's good that this matter is handled by the little sister." A few days ago, Gonggong Li specially explained, saying that we are also a workshop in the inner court, if there are not enough people, you can borrow some from the Arsenal Bureau and the Staff Bureau of the inner court, and we only need to pay the craftsmen for their work and food. ”

"That's great." Hao Qingxi said, "I heard my father say that there are really some good craftsmen in the Arsenal Bureau and the Staff Bureau, and their craftsmanship is very good, and with their help, I am sure that I will be able to build these guns within three months." ”

Lu Xiu'er pursed her lips and smiled: "Brother Hao, my brother also gave me a special advice in the letter, saying that after these craftsmen come, please ask Brother Hao to select and see which of them are worth staying and using." ”

"Stay?" Hao Qing was surprised, "Didn't these craftsmen borrow them?" ”

Lu Xiu'er said: "My brother said, it's a pity to stay with such a good craftsman in the inner court." If we think it's good, let's give them more money and keep them. As for the Weapons Bureau and the Staff Bureau, just let Gonggong Li inform him. ”

"Is that okay?" Hao Qing grinned.

Lu Xiu'er said: "My brother said, our Sushi Industrial Park, the scale of production will be increased in the future, and there is no harm in preparing more manpower." Here's what he said: skilled workers are the richest of assets. Brother Hao, do you understand what this means? ”

"Understood, understood." Hao Qing replied repeatedly.

Xu Guangqi reminded: "Brother Hao, it's not enough to have craftsmen, our drilling machines and punches also have to build a few more." If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools, and this truth is often said. ”

Hao Qing said: "Don't worry, Master Xu, I don't dare to delay this matter." Don't say it, this drilling machine and punch press look very simple to play, and it's really useful. In the past, the work of drilling the barrel of the gun had to be done by the old masters, and it was done slowly, and it was often drilled. Now with this drilling machine, a small guy can operate it, and the barrel drilled out is neat, and one person can do it faster than 10 people in the past. ”

Xu Guangqi said with emotion: "Gaizhi has always told me that the future industry is large-scale machine production, and I am only beginning to understand a little now." If it is done by hand, it can be done by machine. Think about it, a machine can withstand 10 top craftsmen, so how fast can we make things? ”

"Then please ask Master Xu to invent some good machines for us craftsmen." Hao Qing said sincerely.

After discussing the machining matter, everyone began to discuss the first production, steel smelting and other issues.

Luo Yuqing's ** factory has now developed several different ** products, including the propellant used in guns. Using yellow** as a raw material, flintlock pistols and small guns have increased the range several times and are more powerful than in the past.

With the commissioning of a set of "cylinder tower method" production equipment, the output of sulfuric acid has increased dozens of times compared with the past, which makes the output of the first class also increase at the same time. The so-called "cylinder tower method" is actually to replace the expensive lead chamber in the modern sulfuric acid industry with a traditional water tank, and the water tanks are connected with ceramic pipes, and the cylinders and cylinders are connected to form a complete set of sulfuric acid extraction devices.

The first to invent this method was the genius experts of the Industrial Department of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, who used this method to establish the Eighth Route Army's munitions factory in Daangou Village, Tang County, Hebei Province, and produced nitroglycerin, mercury, detonators, mono-base and base-free smoke-free ** and other materials. Su Hao once visited the former site of this factory, and after returning to the Ming Dynasty, he simply copied this set of equipment. Of course, the process of manufacturing and debugging is completed by an excellent craftsman like Hao Qing.

The situation is similar for steel smelting. In the industrial park, several blast furnaces were built, capable of smelting pig iron and steel. Su Hao put forward suggestions for improving steel products from the perspectives of desulfurization, carburizing, and adding other minerals, and the blacksmiths finally determined more than a dozen different production processes after repeated trials, and the steel products produced were significantly better than traditional products. In addition to being used in the production of iron tools in the Su Industrial Park, some of these steels and pig iron can also be exported. Su's steel, Su's iron, etc. have faintly some well-known brand effects in the market.

The technological progress of Sushi Industrial Park is based on investment at no expense. Su Hao told Xu Guangqi and the others the basic development ideas, and then asked them to conduct experiments repeatedly, even if it cost thousands of taels of silver for these experiments. Sometimes, Xu Guangqi, Luo Yuqing and others feel that they have spent too much money and cannot see the actual results, so they hesitate to continue their research. But Su Hao, who was far away in Huai'an, instructed Lu Xiuer through a letter to persevere in funding these studies until the envisioned product was developed.

Businessmen Dong Tianzhang, Yang Laizhen, Xiong Ji and others continued to sell the luxury goods produced in Su's Industrial Park, earning back a lot of money for Su Hao, which enabled Su Hao to maintain his investment in science and technology. At present, the investment in the early stage has achieved obvious results, and the application of some new technologies has begun to bring new profit growth points to Su's Industrial Park, realizing the virtuous circle of mutual promotion of scientific research and production envisioned by Su Hao.

"These guns, one-third to the military department, two-thirds to our survey battalion, that is to say, the survey battalion needs to use 1,000 guns, as well as 40 small cannons, so how many soldiers does Lord Su have to manage?" Hao Qing's gossip heart suddenly rose, and he began to inquire about others.

Xu Guangqi said: "The Ministry of War has issued an official document, and it has been promoted to a garrison, with 2,700 people. Judging from the change of these firearms, the survey camp will definitely be a team with firearms as the main force in the future. A team equipped with so many sophisticated firearms, except for a few Beijing camps, is rare in the entire Ming Dynasty. ”

"In my opinion, the Holy One has high hopes for reform. Brother Zixian, let's change it, it's really not wrong. Luo Yuqinghan said with a smile.

Xu Guangqi said: "Since I had a long night with Gaizhi in Qiaosheyi, I know that Gaizhi is absolutely unusual, and he will definitely have a bright future in the future." However, what attracted me the most was not his future, but the knowledge in his belly. Unfortunately, he has a lot of official duties, and he does not have time to pass on this knowledge to us. I've just scratched the surface of it, and I've already felt that I've benefited a lot, and if I can learn more, what a state it would be. ”

"There will be a chance, Brother Zixian. Let's hurry up and do the things that are handed over first. Luo Yuqing said.

"Yes, yes, we have to plan carefully and see how to arrange craftsmen so that these firearms can be completed on time." Xu Guangqi said, put out the paper, and began to calculate the investment of people, money, and materials one by one.

The entire Sushi Industrial Park began to enter a state of high-speed operation, and all kinds of munitions and materials were continuously sent to Huai'an through the canal channel and distributed to the soldiers of the Kanyu Battalion.