Ang Lee wasn't in a hurry to go out. He listened carefully in the room for a while, and after hearing most of what had happened last night, he got a general idea of what had happened last night.
Since the news was passed down by word of mouth, there were more or less discrepancies. Therefore, what Ang Lee heard might not be completely consistent with the actual situation, but it was generally similar. The allied forces of Osman and Altik had won a great victory, and they had advanced to the cities in the north overnight. Now, they had already occupied the cities in the north.
The situation was generally similar to what Ang Lee had envisioned. In other words, Osman and Altik had carried out his plan very well. Everything was going well. If everything went well, the Peninsula and Egypt would become new independent countries. Then, the Arab countries would be divided, and it would be easier for the Tang Empire to control these countries and prevent the formation of another powerful country.
"Assistant Minister Li."
When Ang Lee walked out of the room, his subordinates all gathered and bowed to him.
Ang Lee looked at them with a smile and said, "I heard what you said. Osman and Altik didn't let me down. They did a good job. We need to continue supporting them."
"Don't worry, Assistant Minister Li. I've already arranged everything. The military ships are all operating at full capacity. They can produce tens of thousands of arrows and thousands of weapons in a day."
His subordinate said.
"Assistant Minister Li, since Altik has already occupied the cities in the north, shouldn't the City of Aden belong to us?"
A subordinate asked. He was more concerned about when the City of Aden would belong to the Tang Empire.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "Altik and his main forces have already left the City of Aden. There are very few people left. No matter who the City of Aden belongs to in name, it is already in the hands of the Tang Empire. However, everything needs a transition. We don't need to rush to claim the City of Aden. First, we should help Altik govern the City of Aden, make it better, and let the merchants earn more money. In this way, when we propose to take over the City of Aden, there won't be much opposition."
"Assistant Minister Li is right. The City of Aden is already in our hands. What's the hurry? Let's do some favors first. This way, the local merchants will get more benefits. I'm afraid that they will beg to join the Tang Empire! Haha! "
One of his subordinates said happily.
Ang Lee was also very happy. However, Ang Lee had to fulfill his promise to Osman and Altik. He had to do his best to support them in order to achieve the goal of dividing the Arab Empire.
Ang Lee still had to inspect the military ships in person. He couldn't rest assured if he didn't see it in person. At the same time, he could also motivate the craftsmen to work harder with more enthusiasm. This would increase the production of weapons and support Osman and Altik more.
The raw materials for the production of weapons were obtained from the City of Aden. Wood, iron, and other materials were not difficult to obtain. However, the production of any goods required money. Of course, the rich Altik had to bear the cost of this money. During the days that he had occupied the City of Aden, Altik had amassed a lot of money. The largest sum of money was obtained after killing the leader of the Umayyad Dynasty. This sum of money accounted for more than 90% of what they had.
After all, the City of Aden had always been a commercial city. The officials of the Umayyad Dynasty had operated in the City of Aden for decades, so they must have amassed a lot of wealth. After Altik took over the City of Aden, Altik immediately used some of the money to recruit and hire soldiers. Thus, the city of Aden was quickly expanded. Altik still had a lot of money left. It was enough to pay for the weapons provided by the Tang Empire.
Of course, in order to express their friendship, many of the weapons were given to Altik for free. Those that needed to be paid were also given at a very discounted price. Basically, they did not take advantage of Altik. It was not an exaggeration to say that they made zero profit.
For example, the first batch of weapons given to Altik was completely free. Altik did not need to pay a single cent. After that, he would have to pay for the next batch of weapons. He did not want the Tang Empire to lose too much money.
Altik's wealth was hidden in the City of Aden. However, Ang Lee was not a bandit. He would not send soldiers to rob Altik of his wealth. He would only make Altik willingly take it out to buy weapons and other items.
Because of the mechanized assembly line operation, the weapons produced by the Tang Empire were all produced in batches. The cost of a single weapon was far lower than ordinary handmade weapons. Moreover, the quality of the weapons was better. It could be said that they were really cheap.
For example, the Fuyuan Crossbow of the Tang Empire was far better than the handmade crossbows produced by Altik in terms of quality and range. However, the price of the Fuyuan Crossbow was less than half of the price of a handmade crossbow. It could even be sold at one-third of the price. It was really a good deal.
Therefore, when Ang Lee proposed that the Tang Empire could sell cheap weapons to Altik for a long time, Altik was very happy. He said that he would definitely buy weapons from the Tang Empire for a long time. He became a fan of the Tang Empire's weapons. Even if the war was over and they entered a period of peace, they would still be willing to buy weapons from the Tang Empire. After all, no one would say no to money. The weapons of the Tang Empire were cheap and good. If they could buy more and better weapons with less money, why not? There were no fools in the world. Everyone wanted to buy good things at a low price.
Of course, after industrialization, many goods in the Great Tang were cheap and of high quality. The cost of industrial production was bound to be much lower than that of manual production, so it was possible to mass-produce a large number of cheap and high quality goods. This way, the artisanal workshops could be pressured and made even more money.
The military ships were docked at the port. The three ships were docked together to facilitate the arrangement of the assembly line production and improve the efficiency of the military ships.
When they went south, they only took three military ships with them to provide a steady supply of weapons for the Tang Empire's army so that the Tang Empire's army could be invincible. However, along the way, the Tang Empire's army did not fight many battles, so the consumption of military equipment was very small. Therefore, the production of military ships was intermittent. Most of the time, they were completely idle. At this moment, they needed to support Altik and Osman, so the military ships were busy.
Because they mainly produced cold weapons, there were not many industrial machines needed. The main machines were sawing machines, cutting machines, blacksmithing machines, and so on. In short, with these machines, they could produce the weapons and consumable arrows, shields, and spears needed in large quantities. It was more convenient to produce them.
Soon, Ang Lee walked to the edge of the dock and entered the interior of the first military ship. Because it was a military ship, the cabin space was very large. Moreover, there were several floors. Each floor could produce different items. The top deck could be used to store various raw materials. When needed, they could be directly taken to the workshop below. The finished products could also be piled up on the deck for easy access.
In ancient times, the military materials that were consumed the most in a war were arrows. Especially after the invention of the crossbow, the demand for arrows was even greater. If there was not enough logistical support, the crossbows and other weapons of the army at the front would become decorations. Imagine, if the cannons of later generations had no shells, how could they fight? They would just be a pile of scrap iron.
Therefore, in Ang Lee's view, producing a sufficient number of crossbows was the most important thing in military production. They could not produce any other weapons, but crossbows were a must. Moreover, the more crossbows they produced, the better. The more they produced, the more it would increase Altik and Osman's chances of winning.
The structure of crossbows was somewhat different from ordinary arrows. Ordinary arrows were longer, had feathers at the tail, and the arrowhead at the head was also larger. The cost of production was relatively high.
The length of crossbows was shorter, less than half of the length of ordinary arrows. There were no feathers at the tail to stabilize the shooting accuracy. The arrowhead at the front was also relatively small. The difficulty of production was very low, and it was very convenient for mass production.
Because the structure was very simple, the materials needed to make crossbows were nothing more than wood, pig iron, and glue to connect them together.
The production of glue was not difficult, and the demand was not very high. Wood and pig iron could be bought directly from merchants. It was not a problem at all.
The production of arrowheads and arrow shafts required the industrial machinery of the Tang dynasty. Ang Lee first went to inspect the production of arrowheads and saw a large number of craftsmen busy.
Because it was mass production, there were a lot of arrowhead molds, more than a thousand of them. Beside them was molten iron. The craftsmen poured the molten iron into the molds. In this way, as long as the molten iron solidified, a large number of arrowhead heads would be produced.
Ang Lee picked up a wooden iron ladle, scooped a spoonful of molten iron from the big pot, and personally poured it into the small molds. Because he was not skilled, Ang Lee either did not pour enough molten iron and needed to add more, or poured too much and overflowed outside the molds, creating a big waste.
"Haha! You guys do it! This official is not used to it. "
Ang Lee smiled and handed the wooden iron ladle to a craftsman. Satisfied, he walked to the finished product and saw tens of thousands of arrowhead heads.
These arrowheads could not be made after cooling in the molds. They still needed a very simple step, which was grinding with a grinding wheel. Because after the molten iron cooled, the tip of the iron arrowhead might not be sharp enough, at least it would not be sharp enough. It needed to be polished a little. In this way, sharp arrowheads could be obtained.
Grinding did not require too much skill, and the time it took was not very long. It could be done in almost a few seconds, at most ten seconds. On average, it was not a problem for one person to finish ten arrowheads in a minute. It was no pressure to process a thousand arrowheads in two hours. In this way, ten thousand arrowheads could be processed in a day, and a few people could complete the production.
The viscose was being processed on another ship. Ang Lee did not look at it. There was nothing interesting about it, and the arrow shafts had to be inspected.
Li An walked up the stairs to the upper level of the cabin and saw the busy craftsmen. Unlike the simple tools on the lower level, there were a lot of machinery on this level, especially the machinery used to store wood and the machinery used to make wooden rods.
First, they transported the raw materials, which were cylindrical wood. According to the requirements, they needed to be five times the length of the arrows. First, they were cut into cylindrical wooden pillars, and then they were peeled by machines to make smooth cylinders.
Next, they used an electric saw to saw the cylindrical wooden pillars into pieces of planks, and then the planks were sawed into small square wooden strips.
These large number of small square wooden strips were the semi-finished products of the arrow shafts. They were to be taken to the round wooden stick machine not far away. With the power of the machine, these small square wooden strips were turned into small cylindrical wooden sticks.
This looked very much like an arrowhead, but it was a little longer. If it was directly broken into two sections, it would be an ordinary arrowhead. The arrowhead needed for a crossbow was shorter, so it needed to be broken into five sections.
During the processing process, the entire cabin was splashed with sawdust everywhere. The environment was very bad, so all the craftsmen wore masks. This could protect their health very well, so they would not get sick so easily.
Ang Lee naturally needed to wear a mask when he entered such a workplace. However, Ang Lee had a gas mask, and the effect was much better than a mask. All the subordinates also wore gas masks and followed behind Ang Lee to inspect the work site.
The assembly line in this cabin, as well as the placement of various machines, was personally determined by Ang Lee. This time, he came to inspect to see if the subordinates in charge of this part were strictly following his requirements, and if they were strictly following Ang Lee's requirements.
After a round of inspection, Li An nodded in satisfaction. His subordinates had done a good job. They had deployed the machines and organized the assembly line according to his requirements. At the same time, they had indeed allowed different craftsmen to wear different clothes to facilitate the management of the assembly line and improve the production efficiency.
Because it was inconvenient to say good things while wearing a gas mask, Ang Lee patted his subordinate's shoulder as an acknowledgment of his subordinates' serious work.
The top floor of the cabin was the assembly workshop, which was to assemble the arrowheads and arrow shafts together to form arrows that could be used in battle.
When Ang Lee walked to the third floor, he gently took off the gas mask on his head. Wearing this thing was really too painful. The ventilation was definitely not as good as breathing directly.
A lot of glue was needed to assemble the cabin, so the smell was not small. However, this kind of smelly gas was not very harmful to the human body. As long as it was not exposed to for a long time, it was not a big problem. Therefore, Ang Lee did not need to wear a gas mask.
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