The land in the western Sichuan Plain is extremely fertile, and with the wind and rain being favorable, the Perak Army has obtained an excellent harvest of autumn grain this year. Not only staple grains such as rice and soybeans have had a bumper harvest, but other miscellaneous grains such as sorghum and taro have also received a bumper harvest. The mountain of grain made Li Shuang happy and sad, happy that according to preliminary estimates, only the harvested rice was enough for the Thunderbolt army for two years, and the worry was that the storage space was insufficient. Taking advantage of the autumn sun to dry and build a granary is also a headache. At present, the population under the rule of the Perak Army is close to 300,000, and it continues to flow in, which greatly alleviates the problem of labor shortage in various industries, lays the foundation for the rapid development of various undertakings, but also brings great pressure on food supply. The bumper harvest of autumn grain has completely solved the problem of grain shortage.

The influx of population has promoted the rapid development of industry and mining, especially the military industry. It's just that the current arsenal production still can't catch up with the demand. At present, the production capacity of the Dayi Arsenal has reached its limit, but on the one hand, it has to make up for the consumption of the early war, on the other hand, it has to sell some of it to allies such as Arrow Furnace and Weimao Prefecture, and it is also necessary to prepare the dowry for Ouyang Xuan's wedding-Banzhou has expressed a strong wish, and the arsenal naturally cannot disappoint Yang Wen, the most important ally and old man of the Thunderbolt Army. In addition, Yu Zhu led the army to Liuqiu, and in addition to taking away a thousand troops, he also took a large amount of weapons and ammunition. Naturally, the weapons and ammunition of these troops and equipment must also be replenished in a timely manner.

For this reason, Vice Premier Li San'er, who is in charge of the economy, frequently complained to Li Shuang about the lack of manpower. At present, the non-agricultural labor force of the Perak Army has reached more than 50,000 people, in addition to thousands of military and officials, educational, scientific research and other personnel, these labor force is distributed in various factories, mines, construction, commerce and other industries, among which the number of employees in shipyards and arsenals has reached several thousand. Relying on preferential policies, the Thunderbolt Army attracted the surrounding homeless people. However, the population of western Sichuan has been extremely sparse after war, and the population density of the Perak Army has far exceeded that of the Mongolian army-occupied areas, and even higher than the population density of Yazhou, and the rate of population inflow has begun to decline again. It takes a long time for the population to reproduce naturally, and it is extremely difficult to increase the population significantly in the short term. What's more, unlike other industries, military employees also need to undergo long-term technical training in addition to strict political examination. Therefore, Li San'er complained about the lack of manpower in the military industry, and he was in a hurry, so he had to wait patiently.

Faced with the problem of lack of manpower, Ouyang Xuan's solution is to improve labor efficiency. "If you want to do your work first, you must first sharpen your tools", in addition to the use of competent tools, increase machinery and equipment, the use of large livestock is also extremely important. Horses, donkeys and mules are extremely important in factories, mines, construction and transportation, and cattle play a huge role in agricultural production. It is no exaggeration to say that a large animal can withstand several strong laborers. With enough livestock, the productivity of the Perak Army could be greatly improved, and women could even work instead of men. In order to protect these precious large livestock, Yang Xiucai, who is in charge of judicial and criminal law, also introduced a special law prohibiting private slaughter.

Careful protection of stock livestock is one thing, but more importantly, it is necessary to increase the source of animal power. Therefore, as soon as the autumn harvest was over, the caravans of the Perak army set out one after another. The Perak Army has a lot of external material needs, including but not limited to cattle, horses, donkeys, large livestock, copper, nitrate, lead, mercury and other resources. It exports industrial products such as tea, salt, ironware, and glass, and also sells small amounts of arms to allies. In fact, with the exception of Banshu and Diaoyu Castle, many forces in central Sichuan are not very interested in purchasing firearms. Yu Xingzhi and his ilk are too expensive, and they just want to prostitute for nothing and don't want to spend money. In addition to being too expensive, Zelang and other allies in the Tibetan region are also troublesome to use and maintain. For the illiterate native soldiers in the Tibetan region, cold weapons such as knives, swords, spears, and armor were more popular.

In addition to the above commodities, this year's caravan will also transport grain to the Tibetan region on an unprecedented scale. It is no worse than the flood and drought in the western Sichuan Plain, and the living environment in the Tibetan area is much worse; because of the drought last winter and the heavy rain this year, the grain output in the Tibetan area has been greatly reduced, and if there is no foreign grain in Zeyang's words, there will certainly be a situation in which a large number of people will starve to death. Therefore, the joint meeting decided that even if the transportation cost was large, it would still be necessary to transport grain to the Tibetan area. If there are not enough local supplies to exchange, they can be compensated with mining rights or labor. In doing business, we should not only look at short-term profits, but also look at long-term interests, and more importantly, we must settle political accounts. In short, even if the profit from selling grain is thin, it is necessary to help allies tide over the difficulties.

In order to reduce the transportation distance and reduce the burden of purchasing grain in the Fan District, Ouyang Xuan asked the caravan to buy grain in Daojiang County and Qingcheng County near Yazhou and Guankou Village, and transport it to the nearby Fan District. In order to reassure the people of Yazhou, the Thunderbolt Army will deliver grain to Yazhou. After Boss Qian went to Liuqiu, the trade of the Thunderbolt Army was in charge of Zhu Xuanzi. The Yazhou direction of the southern line of the Tea Horse Business Road is in charge of Qian Laoer, and the north line of Weimao and Liangzhou is operated by Qian Laosan. After continuous development, the current north and south tea horse business road has opened up several branch lines, the length of which has also extended hundreds of miles, and also supported many agents and partners along the line, and the business environment has improved a lot. It can be expected that the trading volume with the Tibetan region will increase geometrically this autumn, and the profits will be extremely amazing.

Qian Bao is still in charge of the mining business in Laizhou. At present, in addition to the nitrate mine in Lizhou, he also opened four nitrate mines, two gold mines and one lead-zinc mine in Diao and Yan Prefectures. In addition to his own business, he also invested in capital and technology, and partnered with Zelang to open a number of mines, most of which have already started production. It's just that due to the closure of the road in Cao Zhizhou in the early stage, the minerals could not be transported back. Qian Bao asked Ouyang Xuan to send technicians to carry out preliminary smelting in the local area, and then transport it back to Qiongzhou for further smelting. At present, there are thousands of workers in these mines, and hundreds of trained full-time and part-time guards, which is enough to protect themselves.

Mining and doing business in the Tibetan area are staggeringly profitable, which naturally attracts the secret covetousness of many people. Among these people, there are not only thieves who cut paths in gangs, but also tribes who have become rich by robbery, and even officials who secretly kill people and steal goods. Since Ouyang Xuan became the deputy envoy of Chengdu to pacify, Cao Zhizhou did not dare to block the passage of caravans openly, but he continued to encourage bandits and robber tribes to attack the Thunderbolt army. These people need him to instigate and tease, and if they were capable, they would have done it a long time ago. In fact, at the beginning of Boss Qian's reopening of the Arrow Furnace Trade Route, these people had dealt with the Thunderbolt Caravan several times, but after being beaten by firearms, the impatience in their hearts had already subsided. When it comes to the question of money or death, they clearly choose the latter.

Now the Thunderbolt army is going to the caravan in the Tibetan area, often hundreds of people and hundreds of mules and horses. The most exaggerated thing is that there was a caravan to the western grasslands of Weizhou, the number of guards reached 500, the accompanying mules and horses reached nearly 1,000, and the long queue was two or three miles long on the mountain road. According to the onlookers along the way, this is not like they are here to do business, but more like they are here to fight. In fact, these caravan escorts were indeed units of the garrison brigade. Let the second-line troops take turns to serve as caravan escorts in the Tibetan area, on the one hand, to enhance combat power through long-distance training in full armament, and on the other hand, to reduce the cost of doing business for caravans.

In addition to the powerful accompanying escort, the Perak Army also stationed heavy troops near Baizhang City and Guan Kou Village, and in the event of an incident on the trade route, the powerful special brigades and field brigades would send troops to reinforce them. It was precisely with the strong force as the backing that Cao Zhizhou and the forces along the way did not dare to take rash action.