The Qing army returned to the north in a big way, carrying countless captive people and livestock, and the momentum was huge, which naturally could not be concealed from the sentinels sent by the Leiden Naval Division patrolling the Jiaolai River.

After receiving the news of the withdrawal of the main force of the Qing army, Li Xingzhi also put down his mind and began to consider the construction of Leiden, of course, in this troubled world, the first consideration was military matters.

Don't worry, although Leyden's money and food are not short for the time being, there is a serious shortage of armor, firearms, artillery, and even the spears used by the white pole soldiers in the army.

According to the statistics of Lu Liangzhi, Qian Tianxi and others, the armor used by the Jingbei Army today includes more than 7,000 sets of cotton armor used by the Qing army, 1,100 sets of iron armor of the Ming army, 35 large and small artillery, more than 3,000 catties of medicine, more than 1,300 firearms, 1,500 pairs of longbows, and the rest of the spears, waist knives, and shields are basically captured from the Ming and Qing armies.

Since the Jingbei Army is a relatively independent existence, it naturally has to have its own military industrial system, otherwise once it enters a situation of stalemate with the enemy army, if it does not have a complete logistical support system, the Jingbei Army will not be able to withstand long-term attrition at all.

Therefore, on the third day of Li Xingzhi's return to Laizhou City, Li Xingzhi immediately convened the military commander's office to discuss the establishment of the Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau.

The Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau, as the name suggests, is mainly responsible for the production of various weapons and equipment for the Jingbei Army.

It's just that now Leiden is in ruins, and although there are blacksmiths among the people, these blacksmiths can repair ordinary knives and spears, but if they make artillery, firecrackers, and armor, they don't know anything at all.

Li Xingzhi also did not want to take a detour, according to his assumption, the armor used by the infantry of the Jingbei Army should be the plate armor of today's European standard, this kind of plate armor is generally more than 40 catties, but the defensive power is much stronger than the cotton armor used by the Ming army and the Qing army today, and even heavy arquebuses can penetrate the protection of the plate armor.

In addition, in terms of firearms, Qi Jiguang once asked the imperial court to equip a large number of bird guns, which is what we usually call arquebuses, because arquebuses are much stronger than the guns used by the Ming army in terms of archery and penetration, but because the cost of arquebuses is much higher than that of firearms, there are only more than 100 arquebuses in a firearms battalion in the current Guanning Army.

If you don't want to make a detour, you must have relatively familiar craftsmen who make firearms and armor, as well as steel that suits the use of these weapons.

And these craftsmen, steel and the corresponding production technology are the resources that Leiden lacks the most at present.

Qian Tianxi said: "Li Shuai, I heard that there are many skilled craftsmen in the cane making bureau and gunpowder bureau and the corresponding armor manufacturing bureau in Beijing, it is said that there are nearly 10,000 craftsmen in the armor workshop, and there are also many craftsmen who are familiar with shipbuilding. ”

Li Xingzhi frowned and said: "This matter, Ben Shuai has already been angry with Xue Ge Lao before, I think it is because Dongyu is still delayed in Gyeonggi and Shandong, the problem of craftsmen is not a big problem, Ben Shuai is thinking about the steel needed to make weapons, you know that the guns and artillery we use are very easy to explode, although this is related to the officials of the Ministry of Industry cutting corners, but the quality of steel is also an important reason." ”

Wang Zhongqi, who had already returned to Laizhou, said: "Dashuai, the iron used in the Tartar firecracker is also produced by our Daming, how can they not easily blow up the chest." ”

"General Wang, you don't know, the Tartar's fire gun pipe is thicker than ours, but in fact, our Ming Dynasty's iron-making technology is more advanced than that of Xiyi."

Sun Zhijie, the secretary of the Military Marshal's Mansion who was recorded on the side, couldn't help but say.

"Brother Sun, do you know how to make iron?"

Li Xingzhi couldn't help but look at Sun Zhijie, who had been blackmailed by himself once in Gaoyang.

Sun Zhijie pouted and said: "The student doesn't understand, but I heard my grandfather and Governor Sun talk about it, Inspector Sun said that our steel filling and ironmaking method is much better than Xiyi's technology, well, Song Yingxing's Tiangong Kaiwu has a record, we use charcoal to make iron, which can ensure that the steel produced is not mixed with impurities, but the purity of our iron ore is not high, so the quality of steel is worse than that of Xiyi." ”

"By the way, Tang Shunzhi's martial arts also mentions the production process of steel filling, the book mentions, if the quality is not high, you can dissolve it again to improve the purity of steel, the students came to Shandong, the family collection of books have been brought, Li Shuai, if you need it, the students will go back and present this book."

Listening to Sun Zhijie's words, Li Xingzhi was also surprised, in his previous life, those brainless online articles desperately boasted about Europe's industry and manufacturing, saying that Europe's technology had comprehensively surpassed the Ming Dynasty, which was nonsense.

"Well, Li Shuai, what is Mr. Bi Maokang's weapon diagram, the student also has it at home, do you want to bring it to you to observe and observe, there are all kinds of firearms production methods, and even the production process of the firearm."

Seeing Li Xingyi's puzzled face, Sun Zhijie also smiled a little, although he was saved by Li Xingzhi, but he was pitted by this guy when he was in Gaoyang, and a new topic was thrown out at the moment.

"Ahh

Li Xingzhi was completely shocked, he couldn't imagine that he was just out of sympathy, and he couldn't bear to be loyal to his subordinates, and Sun Zhijie, who brought it to Leyden, actually had so many books.

"Good! Sun Gongzi, how about Ben Shuai intend to let you lead this Ordnance Manufacturing Bureau and enjoy the same treatment as the prefect of Laizhou? ”

"This?"

Sun Zhijie was a little confused, as the grandson of the elder of the imperial court, according to common sense, it was natural to take the road of the imperial examination to become an official, and his grandfather had a lot of protégés in the court.

Li Xingzhi was kind and seductive, "Brother Sun, your whole family died in Dongyu, if you can make a sophisticated weapon, then our Jingbei Army will use the weapon created by you to kill Jiannu, wouldn't it be like you killing a thief with your own hands." ”

"In this way, the student will be reluctant to make it difficult, Lu Qinghou, the secretary of the military marshal's office, is a clever person, can he be transferred to be my deputy."

Obviously, in front of Sun Zhijie, this blood feud is more than the imperial examination, and under the inducement of Li Xingzhi, Sun Zhijie took the post on the spot.

Of course, because there are no iron mines and craftsmen, and the manufacturing bureau is currently just an empty shelf, Li Xingzhi can only ask Qian Tianxi to first select a site for construction in Yunfeng Mountain outside the city, and then organize the blacksmiths, carpenters and garmenters in Laizhou to repair armor, build white pole guns and make gunpowder related matters, and of course the dyeing of armor must also be carried out at the same time.

After arranging the candidates for the manufacturing bureau, Li Xingzhi ordered Lu Liangzhi to draft a report for success, and ordered Ma Sande and Lang Shaozhen to escort the victory to Beijing.

Just kidding, Lao Tzu has made such a great contribution, the craftsman promised by Xue Ge should always be sent to Laizhou, of course, if you send a hundred and eighty thousand catties of iron, our Jingbei Army is not too little.