Song Yingxing took out a pen and paper at that time, preparing to add the boring machine to the next edition of "Heavenly Creation".

It wasn't until Su Chengyu announced that the crucible steelmaking, hydraulic forging machine, and boring machine were all military secrets, and he gave up.

This old gentleman was full of energy, absorbing all kinds of natural science knowledge from Su Chengyu like a sponge, and he fought at night and began to compile the first set of systematic textbooks in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and only slept for two or three hours a day.

Under Su Chengyu's suggestion, this set of textbooks is temporarily divided into four parts: "Gewu", "Chemistry", "Biology", and "Arithmetic and Geometry".

Of course, Song Yingxing also privately added the compilation of "New Heavenly Works", and the first page is the production method of Su Chengyu's bamboo fountain pen. Yesterday, he even brought two of his family's sons and nephews to the Longwei military camp to help with copying and other work.

At noon, Long Weijun's list of expenses for this month was presented to Su Chengyu.

The bill made him frown, just buying meat and vegetables cost nearly 2,000 taels of silver!

He remembered that Yu Xin had reported that the monthly food expenses of the whole army were 1,600 taels. As soon as he asked, he found out that because of the hoarding of profiteers, the price of meat in Longnan had more than doubled in the past seven or eight days!

It seems that the logistical supply problem must be addressed. However, Su Chengyu didn't have time to fight with these profiteers, even if he solved the profiteers in Longnan, after leaving Longnan, he might still encounter similar problems.

His solution was very simple -- to introduce the "military logistics commercial contracting system" of later generations.

The selection of logistics suppliers is still in the form of bidding, and now it is necessary to purchase the soldiers' winter clothes and war horses, which can be tendered together.

Due to the good demonstration role of Long Weijun's last bidding and procurement, 12 merchants came to bid this time. Among them, there were even Hui merchants and merchants from Shaozhou, Guangdong.

The person in charge of this bidding is Su Chengyu's newly established Logistics Department of the Dragon Guard.

The Logistics Division is temporarily supervised by Ying Tianxiang and is responsible for the day-to-day management of daily affairs. However, the decision-making power is in the hands of the general affairs group of the logistics department, which is composed of eight officers, and all purchases of more than 10 taels must be approved by the general affairs group. Su Chengyu, as the interim acting leader, has the right of veto.

The Logistics Department will be responsible for bidding for all the procurement of grain, grass, and equipment for the Long Wei Army, and will manage and distribute logistics materials in a unified manner.

In the future, the Logistics Division will also set up a number of branch departments such as transportation, warehouse management, and maintenance to realize the integrated system of purchasing, storing and repairing logistics materials.

The procurement of military logistics materials will no longer go through the hands of officers at all levels, thus greatly reducing the possibility of embezzlement of funds. The number of Long Weijun is still small, and coupled with Su Chengyu's personal prestige, there has been no corruption for the time being.

However, in the future, the logistics of the army of more than 100,000 people will definitely not be able to manage it, and there will inevitably be people who see profit and forget righteousness. Therefore, using the system to minimize the possibility of corruption from the beginning is his only choice.

In fact, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were still many Ming troops whose combat effectiveness was enough to fight head-on with the Qing army, but it was often the poor logistics support ability that eventually dragged them down.

Not long ago, tens of thousands of righteous troops in Zhejiang were disbanded because of the lack of food, grass and materials. The list goes on.

The bidding of the Dragon Guard Army is very efficient. On the day of the bidding meeting, in just one hour, several merchants won the bid for multiple procurement projects.

In total, the price of 5,000 sets of cotton clothes, robes, and quilts was 7,700 taels, which was won by Liu Ji of Ganzhou Prefecture, and the sewing service was also given free of charge when stationed in the camp.

2,000 sets of military uniforms and 2,000 pairs of leather boots were still won by the former suppliers of Ganzhou Mansion Zhenjia and Longnan Xue Ji, and the price was one percent lower than the last batch.

The price of 1,000 sets of knee-length cotton armor is 16,000 taels, and the winning bidder is the Hui merchant Zhangjia.

To say that the strength of the Hui merchants is indeed good, although most of Anhui has been captured by the Qing army, but the Zhang family's trading throughout the country is still carried out as usual. Especially for military embargoed goods like cotton armor, the Zhang family actually had a way to transport them from the north of the Yangtze River to Ganzhou.

Finally, the highlight of this bidding, that is, the bidding for the supply of grain and grass for the logistics of the Dragon Guard Army, began.

To be honest, at first, these merchants were a little uneasy about this new concept - the tender notice said that the bidders should be fully responsible for the supply of grain, grass, horse feed, drinking water, medicinal herbs and even fuel for the Dragon Guard. Merchants should bring their own transport vehicles, follow the army throughout the journey, and deliver materials to the designated place of the Logistics Department at any time.

The risks involved are still very high. For example, following the Dragon Guard Army, the most popular thing for the Chinese to do in war is to rob grain and grass, burn grain and grass, etc., which means that if you are not careful, this batch of materials will be wiped out.

In addition, there were no roads in the Ming Dynasty, and the transportation cost was quite high, even exceeding the price of grain and grass itself several times.

Until Su Chengyu said that once the grain and grass hijacked and damaged by the enemy army were verified, the cost would be borne by the Long Wei Army. The transportation cost is calculated according to the distance between the army and the grain-producing area, and the farther it goes, the higher the freight rate, and the states and counties along the way will be notified to give a certain escort.

The most important thing is that the Dragon Guard settles the logistics contractor in cash! The goods are delivered, and the money is paid immediately.

You must know that according to the commercial transaction habits of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of large transaction usually takes three months to pay, and even half a year is normal.

If the cash can be quickly withdrawn, the cash can be used to invest and make money, which is undoubtedly a huge attraction for businessmen.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty already had the "Kaizhong Law" - the imperial court asked merchants to hoard grain and grass in designated places in exchange for salt, and the merchants then held the salt to make money. It's just that Su Chengyu's method is more thorough and more attractive to businessmen.

In the end, six merchants bid to contract the logistics of the Dragon Guard. The winning bidders were Zhao Ji from Shaozhou and Zhen from Ganzhou.

The reason for the need for two suppliers is to ensure that the other can be replenished in time when one source of goods has problems, and the other can regulate the price through multiple decentralized procurement.

Zhao Ji and the Zhen family quickly signed a contract with the Logistics Department of the Dragon Guard. The two are responsible for 60% and 40% of the logistics supply of the Longwei battalion respectively.

In the future, they must transport rice, vegetables, meat, medicine, and carbon to within 10 miles of the barracks in accordance with the requirements set by the Logistics Department, and the delivery time must not exceed one day, and in case of rain, snow, earthquakes, and other conditions, they can be postponed for three to five days.

The grain and grass of the Dragon Guard Army can only be purchased from the two of them. The price of grain and grass for the two companies can fluctuate according to the market price, but if the market price is exceeded too much, Long Weijun has the right to terminate the cooperation.

Of course, the quotations of both companies are nearly 70% more expensive than the grain and grass on the market, but this includes transportation costs. Even so, the price of vegetables and meat sold by profiteers in Longnan is still much lower than that of the recent profits.

Compared with the army raising its own transportation brigade, these professional merchants can transport supplies at a lower cost and with higher efficiency.

In addition, this will also avoid corruption of the officials who escort the grain and grass, and most of the unexpected losses incurred during transportation will be borne by the merchants.

In fact, Long Weijun's current purchase of grain, grass, medicines, etc., is not a big deal for Zhao Ji and the Zhen family.

But what they are looking for is long-term cooperation, and at the same time, they are also gambling, betting that as the war develops, the size of the Dragon Guard will continue to expand, and then they will be able to make a lot of money.

As it turned out, they had a long-term vision.