Strong tea is bubbling with a faint tea aroma at hand. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The issue of the military system was put aside for the time being, Xiao Ming continued: "The Huyantuo tribe on this grassland has withdrawn, and now it has become the blood wolf tribe, you all know it. ”

"Our scouts on the grassland have brought back the news, it was a fluke that we were able to win last time, but this time Youzhou was taken over by Bei Shan, and this time it is much more troublesome." Niu Ben said with a frown.

Zhan Xingchang said: "That's right, this blood wolf tribe has strengthened the surveillance of Cangzhou, and there are often barbarian scouts outside the city, and now we can't send craftsmen to build fortresses on the grassland, after His Highness went to Chang'an, I made an attempt, this craftsman just transported the materials to the grassland, and the barbarian cavalry arrived, and we had to retreat to the city." ”

"This Pei Shan is really not an easy character to deal with, now he must be staring at Cangzhou like a wolf staring at its prey, as long as there is any mistake, they will take advantage of the situation." Xiao Ming's brows furrowed.

After a deep sigh, he continued: "This fortress promotion strategy cannot be stopped, since it cannot be advanced to the grassland for the time being, this Cangzhou Pass must be built into an iron wall, and after the meeting is over, I will teach you a new construction method." ”

"Yes, Your Highness." Zhan Xingchang nodded.

At this time, Xiao Ming looked at Chen Qi, "How is the military workshop now?" ”

Chen Qi said: "Your Highness, all the equipment of the Instruments Division has now been moved to the military workshop, and now the artillery is already in normal production, and this month the military workshop has provided Cangzhou with twenty more artillery pieces, but now the material problem can't keep up." ”

Chen Wenlong echoed: "Your Highness, just with the money steward's mine, this iron ore can't keep up, and now the iron ore transported by Jishan every day is only enough to produce one artillery, and sometimes the materials for one artillery are not enough." ”

This problem is basically unsolvable for Xiao Ming now, after all, this mine is not a problem of more people mining.

Because after the surface layer of iron ore is excavated, it can only continue to dig into the ground, and the number of people mining in this narrow space is limited, and people cannot be stuffed into it indefinitely.

It is precisely because of this that mining has become more difficult, and the production of iron ore has tended to be fixed, but the production of iron ore is now basically maintained at a certain amount.

In addition, these iron ores have to be transported over, and there is a long delay on the road, so the production of artillery is indeed enough to choke.

"Don't worry about this, the materials will be shipped in soon." Xiao Ming said.

Chen Qi and Chen Wenlong glanced at each other, "Really? ”

"This is still false, the emperor wants to purchase artillery from our Qingzhou, eight thousand taels, some silver taels will be offset with iron and coal when the time comes, and there are other vassal kings, so that the iron and coal of the Great Chongqing Kingdom will basically be transported to our Qingzhou." Lu Fei said loudly.

"Purchasing? Your Highness, this artillery is the lifeblood of our dealings with the barbarians, and we don't have enough for ourselves, so why do we sell it. Niu Ben was suddenly unhappy.

It was uncomfortable to take the artillery from his hand and cut his flesh, after all, these were the armaments of the Qingzhou Army.

"Old general, Chen Wenlong also said just now, our Qingzhou is not enough minerals, I don't want to solve the material problem, this is a great restriction on the military workshop, not to mention the emperor's order, you always have to think about the silver, the cost of this artillery is only two or three thousand taels, now we buy eight thousand taels, which is equivalent to every time we provide an artillery piece to the court, we Qingzhou can earn two or three artillery pieces for nothing at the same time, this business is a sure profit." Xiao Ming analyzed.

Niu Ben was stunned for a moment, and this thought suddenly came back to his senses, and said with a smile: "Your Highness, I'm really old and confused." ”

When the crowd heard this, they let out a good-natured laugh.

"But our military workshop is going to be enough now, Your Highness, you have to transfer some more slaves over, otherwise there will be not enough manpower." Chen Qi said.

"This is no problem, but this time the artillery we sell and the artillery we use should be produced separately, at least to ensure that the range and power of the artillery sold are not as good as the artillery in Qingzhou, so that if these artillery pieces fall into the hands of foreign enemies in the future, we can also suppress them." Xiao Ming admonished.

Niu Ben and the others nodded when they heard this, they were about to talk about this issue, it seemed that Xiao Ming had taken all aspects into account.

After the military questions were finished, Pang Yukun said: "Your Highness, this year's grain harvest in various parts of the six states, many people have sold grain to the government office, and now the backlog of grain in the government is 500,000 stones, plus the army's grain, now the warehouses in the six states are not enough, this looks like the next grain harvest day is coming, do you want to continue to buy grain?" ”

500,000 stone of grain is only enough for 500,000 people to eat for three months, and it is more than enough to feed the army, but it is far from enough, and according to modern standards, it will be enough to eat for at least three years.

Because once the war comes, production will be destroyed, such as the battle of Cangzhou, although there are only 50,000 auxiliary soldiers plus soldiers, but

There were 200,000 or 300,000 people mobilized to transport grain and grass and prepare siege materials.

When these strong laborers are recruited, the family's fields cannot be properly cared for, because of this, the harvest in the autumn of several years will certainly be greatly reduced.

It is precisely because of this that Xiao Ming said that Qingzhou is also a big injury.

"As long as the people sell, we will collect, not to mention everyone, at least to ensure the army's grain and grass for three years, as for the granary, now let each state be responsible for the construction, the granary is all made of brick and concrete structure, the use of cement to hit the ground, the selection of high ground, to ensure that the grain will not be damp, and to each state to issue a target, each state must complete the number of grain purchases." Xiao Ming said that this food problem cannot be a joke.

In the event of drought, floods, and locust plagues, the year's grain is likely to be finished, so it is necessary to purchase a large number of crops during the harvest season to ensure that there will be no chaos when encountering natural and man-made disasters.

Pang Yukun nodded, wrote down Xiao Ming's words, and then said: "Your Highness, there are only two million taels of silver left in the treasury, do you want to take a look at the account book at this time." ”

The saddest thing in the world is that people are living well, and the money is gone.

Pang Yukun's words made Xiao Ming have a stomach cramp, and now all the money earned by the Chamber of Commerce will be filled into the government treasury and uniformly allocated by the government office, so it can be seen clearly in the accounts.

The silver he earned was only for the people to buy farming cattle, and it cost more than one million taels to forge farm tools, and the plate armor forged for the army was at least twenty taels of silver for each set, but the Qingzhou army was 400,000 taels of silver, and the artillery, ammunition, and shells of the Cangzhou War were hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

At the same time, there are also the food and drink expenses of slaves, the salaries of officials, the timber purchased by shipbuilding, and so on.

Looking at the dense numbers on it, Xiao Ming's head was big for a while.

(To be continued.) )