Ma Keshi's affairs are not on the table, but Zhou Qingfeng is still satisfied with the rapid improvement of public order in Tianjin. What he has to do now is to expand the army again, and the boot camp has been built outside the city, and a large number of recruits have officially enlisted for training. This time the number of recruits was particularly large, and it was the expansion plan of the Guards for 1617, which was determined last year. The total number of troops will be increased from 5,000 to 20,000.

The training of new guards was carried out in Tianjin and Jinzhou, and 8,000 people were trained respectively. At the same time, Li Shuwei, who is in Shandong, will also train an additional 5,000 troops to ensure the maintenance of a considerable troop presence in Shandong. At the same time, the affairs of the military academy were officially rolled out, providing qualified officers for the Guards - at least able to understand orders, have basic common sense, and understand basic tactics.

For the sake of this expansion, Zhou Qingfeng split the 'Beijing-Tianjin Front Army' that had undergone the test of this war. The old lead the new, and directly recruit for training. The entire training cycle is three months. Officer training is also taking place at the same time and is expected to be completed in July. In addition, Zhou Qingfeng also planned to organize 50,000 militiamen who would not leave work to maintain the local area and serve as a reserve force for the guards.

In exchange for the real anti-thieves, at this time, hundreds of thousands of horses will inevitably be coerced to fight the autumn wind everywhere. But Zhou Qingfeng still did what he could for this expansion. He referred to the 'Gustavus military reform' that was going on in Europe at the same time, mainly to increase the number of muskets in the army, train hollow phalanxes in companies, mix spears and muskets, and make artillery independent armies for subordinate use.

"The situation on the Haigai side is stable, and the 2,000 men of the Guards are guarding Haizhou, using rockets, artillery and trenches for defensive operations, and the defense line is quite stable. The only trouble is that the tall bull is still too young, has an impulsive temperament, and is seriously inexperienced in combat, which makes people a little worried. However, with him in Haizhou, Zhao Ze can return to the engineering department of Jinzhou to personally guide the work. ”

In order to maintain contact, six fast communication ships depart from Tianjin, Lushun and Dengzhou every eight hours to maintain communication with each other. When Xu Bing got the news, he would copy it to Zhou Qingfeng, and the two officially lived together, and they would discuss their work for half an hour before going to bed at night.

"With the supply of pig iron from Tianjin and Shandong, the second phase of the construction of the steel plant in Stone has been successfully completed. Zhao Ze is also expanding the production capacity of the machinery factory, and the output of steam engines has been increased to 15 30 horsepower and 5 100 horsepower per month.

In addition, the use of hydraulic power is also being carried out at full speed, and we have built two new hydroelectric plants on the peninsula, with five more to be built in the future. The hydropower plant has low investment, quick results, and low technical difficulty, which is the focus of our construction this year. However, the construction of so many factories has great requirements for administrative management, and it is also a problem of insufficient cadres. There is no solution to this, so you can only train slowly.

But with so many factories, the 80,000 spears you need to expand your army will be produced within a month, and the spearmen of the militia and the guards don't have to worry about weapons. In terms of armor, it was a little later, and the production of 5,000 sets of infantry and cavalry armor would not begin until May. It was also completed in one month.

In addition, the shipyard officially began construction of a five-hundred-ton steam-powered standard carrier. This time, it was a pointed bottom and square-tail ship of a later seagoing ship, equipped with two 100-horsepower steam engines, and the speed of the ship could be increased to nine knots. I don't know if it will work technically, it's an experiment anyway.

Zhao Ze was trial-producing a 250-horsepower steam engine, for which he designed a boiler with higher thermal efficiency. He wanted to build a battleship, but it was said that it was quite difficult in the transmission system. He also called me to ask for money, saying that he wanted to set up a mechanical design institute. God knows where he's going to find someone to do this work, and he's definitely not available for himself anyway. ”

Zhou Qingfeng heard this and asked, "When will the flintlock pistol come out?" ”

For the flintlock pistol, Zhou Qingfeng chattered for half a year. But Xu Bing leaned on his shoulder and said with a smile: "Zhao Ze said that when there will be spring steel, when will there be a flintlock pistol." Stone of Steelmaking said that at present, all batches of steel in the steel plant are unqualified, and there is no way to talk about spring steel. He asked you not to rush, and if you urged him again, he would be angry. So you should continue with the arquebus. ”

The steel industry is really troublesome, and Stone has not set up his steel laboratory for half a year. Which guy found a lot of jade carving craftsmen and mirror grinding craftsmen, and it is said that he wanted to produce optical glass and make microscopes for metallographic testing. At the same time, it is necessary to develop chemistry to separate minerals such as manganese, molybdenum, and silicon.

Anyway, there is enough tech tree on Stone's side to climb, and he is already asking for help from other traversers everywhere.

"Isn't there something pleasing to the eye?" Zhou Qingfeng listened and put Xu Bing down, buried his head in her chest and licked it.

Xu Bing screamed, took a long breath, and continued: "The good news is that after Zhao Ze went back to personally engage in technical development, he was able to get a boring machine with a depth of one meter and five as soon as he made a move. He also greatly upgraded the forging machine, which can forge large diameter forgings. So your next heavy cannon will be a forged barrel with a longer diameter, more charge, more power, and the same weight. ”

"Is it like my cannon?" Zhou Qingfeng didn't know when he straightened his waist and went straight in, making Xu Bing have to hold on to the sheet tightly.

"Bad guy, I'll tell you the right thing, but you have to do things on me." Xu Bing gritted his teeth and slapped Zhou Qingfeng a few times, and then said, "Do you want to continue listening?" ”

"Yes." Zhou Qingfeng keeps doing things and is dual-purpose.

Xu Bingjiao laughed and scolded a few times, and said: "In order to build artillery, Zhao Ze plans to divide the machinery factory into three parts. On the one hand, there is military production, on the other hand, steam engine production, and on the other hand, parts production.

The fabrication of ordinary ironwork was left to the hydraulic processing plant. He also plans to take the time to visit Tianjin in person and build a hydroelectric processing plant here. Stone also intends to build the third phase of steel in Tianjin. ”

Zhou Qingfeng snorted and worked hard......

Xu Bing gritted his teeth and endured patience, and continued excitedly: "Our cotton textile industry has begun to exert its strength, and the number of water-powered spinning machines and water-powered looms has been increased to a certain number. All the cotton we bought last winter has been woven into cloth. After you take down Tianjin, this is a market that radiates the entire North China region.

I'm now trying to negotiate with cotton growers in Zhili and Shandong to buy out all of their cotton this year at a high price. I also want to develop the textile industry as our key light industry, and we want to occupy the cotton spinning market in the entire North China and Central China region. Let all the farmers who weave homespun cloth go bankrupt, and let them obediently come to work in our factories. ”

"We're going to have more and more manpower on hand." Xu Bing said excitedly, and he felt excited. She slapped Zhou Qingfeng a few times and scolded, "You did it on purpose, didn't you?" Deliberately picked this time to toss me. ”

"Go on......." Zhou Qingfeng said happily: "I like to listen and do it." ”

Xu Bing's face was ruddy and his eyes were charming. She continued to beat Zhou Qingfeng, scolded a few 'bastards' and said: "Li Shuwei said that you should find a way to find someone to go to Shandong to replace him, and he will go back to the Ministry of Agriculture to work." After the spring ploughing began, his potatoes were planted on the peninsula, as was corn and wheat. But he couldn't rest assured. ”

"Now there is a turnip and a pit, and everyone is not available. Let Li Shuwei's daughter-in-law Fan Wan'er sit in Shandong, that woman is deep in the city, very spicy, and a character who can sit on one side. Zhou Qingfeng said, "Since it is a talent, you must use it well." ”

Xu Bing laughed and scolded again: "You bastard, but you want other husbands and wives to separate? ”

"Then let Li Shuwei find a few more. Anything else? ”

"Your salt works have all been built, and you will start drying the salt next month. Inshore fishing has started again, and this time there will be twice as many vessels fishing as last year. We're going to have more meat.

There are also nitrateries. It is said that Li Shuwei was cornered by the fertilizer matter, so he went crazy and collected manure everywhere to build nitrate. The Liaodong Peninsula is equipped with a nitrate field for every 10,000 people. The same is true in Shandong. Hearing that Tianjin has a large population, he planned 20 nitrate factories in one go. So you won't be short of black powder in the future.

And then there's our two doctors, who have begun to enroll regular medical specialists in several specialties in the medical department of Golden State University. The Faculty of Medicine also has a medicine and equipment factory, so that your Guards will have better medics and more first-aid medicines. And your sister Ruolan took the lead in getting a pill workshop in Tianjin, which also specializes in the production of affordable medicines. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Bing was already coquettish, and his speech was incoherent. She could only bite her lip with silky eyes and let Zhou Qingfeng do evil. After more than half an hour, the two of them washed and slept again. She leaned on Zhou Qingfeng's chest and asked, "Don't you have something to tell me?" ”

"...... me?" Zhou Qingfeng put his arm around Xu Bing's shoulders and whispered, "In addition to training, what I want to do is to manage the city. Those who originally worked in Fushun continued to do it again, but on a larger scale. Oh yes. We need a lot of construction, a lot of buildings, and building materials are in short supply. I ordered the construction of several brick kiln factories.

I plan to set up a coal and iron bureau under the name of the Ministry of Mines, which will be responsible for the production of iron ore in coal mines. There are many small coal mines in the mountainous area north of Tianjin, and I have sent people to see them in Tangshan. The technical capabilities of these mines are very poor, and I plan to rectify these mines and improve production efficiency. The coal dug up was not only used to make iron, but also to burn bricks.

I didn't know until ancient times, but even the most inconspicuous bricks were expensive in these days, so the houses here were very small. Now more and more people are pouring into Tianjin to divide their fields and find work. Housing has become very tight, so the matter of building a house has become very urgent. In addition to building houses, it also takes a lot of manpower to build roads.

There is also a concern. After the transportation is cut off by me, tens of millions of stone of grain from the south every year will not be transported. There will definitely be a shortage of food in the north, and there will definitely be an extremely terrifying flow of refugees in the second half of this year. These people are definitely coming towards us.

In addition, if you want to develop the cotton spinning industry, I am worried that there will not be enough food to eat. I can't say that I still have to let Caoyun recover. In the past, when the boats went south, they were almost empty, and I thought it was just right to transport the cloth we spun south in exchange for food. The cotton production in the south is very large, and it can also be shipped over, which is a win-win situation. ”

Zhou Qingfeng was talking and listening, and he heard heavy breathing coming from beside him. He turned his head to see that Xu Bing was not listening at all. She simply fell asleep by the man's muffled voice. Zhou Qingfeng stopped but didn't fall asleep immediately, as soon as he talked about Cao Yun, he had to think of Cao Gang.

Hundreds of thousands of people live along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, but now that the transportation is cut off, these people hate the 'revolutionary army' to the core. How to disintegrate and use this force has become a problem for Zhou Qingfeng to face - Wang Kunpeng has infiltrated the sieve-like officialdom of the capital, and has learned that some Ming court officials have suggested arming these hundreds of thousands of people.

Compared with the messy Ming army, these hundreds of thousands of people in Caoyun are even more cohesive and combative. If it really fights, it will be more troublesome than the Ming army. There are also a large number of corrupt sect forces mixed in with the Cao Gang. This force is naturally reactionary, resisting the control of any government, and is an absolute destabilizing factor that must be suppressed.

There are many problems in national events!