Ma Keshi's matter aside, Zhou Qingfeng was satisfied with the rapid improvement of security in Tianjin. What he had to do now was to expand the army again. The recruit training camp had been built outside the city, and a large number of recruits were officially enrolled for training. This time, the number of recruits was particularly large. It was the 1617 expansion plan of the Imperial Guard that had been determined last year. The total strength would increase from 5,000 to 20,000.
The Imperial Guard recruit training would be conducted in Tianjin and Jinzhou, with 8,000 people trained respectively. At the same time, Li Shuwei in Shandong would train an additional 5,000 people to ensure that a considerable number of troops were maintained in Shandong. At the same time, the matter of military schools was officially launched to provide qualified officers for the Imperial Guard — at least able to understand orders, have basic common sense, and understand basic tactics.
For this expansion, Zhou Qingfeng split up the Beijing-Tianjin Frontier Army that had undergone the test of this war. The old led the new and were directly incorporated into the recruits for training. The entire training cycle would take three months. Officer training would also be carried out at the same time, and was expected to be completed in July. In addition, Zhou Qingfeng also planned to establish 50,000 militia who were not released from production to maintain the local area and serve as the reserve force of the Imperial Guard.
If it were a real rebel, they would have bound hundreds of thousands of people and horses to take advantage of this time. But Zhou Qingfeng still did what he could in this expansion. He referred to the 'Gustav Military Reform' that was being carried out in Europe at the same time, mainly to increase the number of guns in the army, to train hollow square formations with companies as units, to mix spears and guns, and to make artillery an independent army for use.
"The situation in Hai-gai is stable. The 2,000 people under the Imperial Guard Gao Daniu are guarding Haizhou, using rockets, artillery, and trenches for defensive operations, and the line of defense is still stable. The only problem is that Gao Daniu is still too young, impulsive, and seriously lacks combat experience, which is a little worrying. But with him in Haizhou, Zhao Ze can return to the Ministry of Engineering in Jinzhou to personally guide the work. "
In order to maintain contact, six fast communication ships set out from Tianjin, Lushun, and Dengzhou every eight hours to maintain communication with each other. When Xu Bing received the news, she would copy it to Zhou Qingfeng. The two officially lived together, and at night they would discuss work for half an hour before going to bed.
"With the supply of pig iron from Tianjin and Shandong, Shi Dong's steel plant successfully completed the second phase of construction. Zhao Ze was also expanding the production of the machinery factory, increasing the production of steam engines to 15 30 horsepower and 5 100 horsepower per month.
In addition, the use of water power is proceeding at full speed, and we have built two new water power processing plants on the peninsula, with five more plants to be built later. The hydraulic plant has low investment, quick results, and low technical difficulty. This is the focus of our construction this year. However, the construction of so many factories required a lot of administrative management, and there was a problem of insufficient cadres. There was no solution to this, so he could only train them slowly.
However, with so many factories, the 80,000 spears you need to expand your army will be produced within a month. The militia and the Imperial Guard will not have to worry about weapons anymore. The production of the five thousand sets of infantry and cavalry armor would only start in May. It was also completed in a month.
In addition, the shipyard had officially begun construction of a 500-ton steam-powered standard transport ship. This time, they were using the pointy bottom and square stern ship of the later generations. Equipped with two steam engines of 100 horsepower, the speed of the ship could be increased to nine knots. He didn't know if it would work technically, but it was just a test anyway.
Zhao Ze was trial-producing a steam engine of 250 horsepower, for which he designed a boiler with higher thermal efficiency. He wanted to build a warship, but it was said that the transmission system was very difficult. He also sent me a report asking for money, saying that he wanted to set up a mechanical design institute. God knows where he would find people to do this work. In any case, he would never have the time himself. "
Hearing this, Zhou Qingfeng asked, "When can the flintlock be produced?"
Zhou Qingfeng had been talking about the flintlock for half a year. But Xu Bing leaned on his shoulder and chuckled. "Zhao Ze said that when there is spring steel, there will be flintlock. But Shi Dong, who makes steel, said that all batches of steel in the steel factory are currently unqualified, and spring steel is out of the question. He asked you not to rush him, and if you do, he will get angry. So you should continue to use the matchlock. "
The steel industry was really troublesome. Shi Dong had been struggling for half a year and still hadn't set up his steel laboratory. That guy had found a lot of jade carvers and mirror polishers. It was said that he wanted to first produce optical glass and make microscopes for metallographic testing. At the same time, he needed to develop chemistry to separate minerals such as manganese, molybdenum, and silicon.
In short, Shi Dong's technology tree was enough to climb, and he had already asked for help from other transmigrators.
"Is there nothing to be happy about?" As Zhou Qingfeng listened, he put Xu Bing down and buried his head in her chest and licked it.
Xu Bing screamed, took a deep breath, and continued, "The good news is that after Zhao Ze went back to personally develop the technology, he finished a 1.5 meter deep boring machine. He also greatly upgraded the forging machine, and it can forge large diameter forging materials. So your next heavy artillery will have a forged barrel, a longer diameter, more charges, and more power, but the weight will not change. "
"Like this cannon of mine?" Zhou Qingfeng straightened his back and entered the room, forcing Xu Bing to grip the sheets tightly.
"Bad guy, I'm talking business with you, but you want to work on me." Xu Bing gritted her teeth and hit Zhou Qingfeng a few times, then said, "Do you want to continue listening?"
"Yes." Zhou Qingfeng did not stop working, multitasking.
Xu Bing laughed and said, "In order to make artillery, Zhao Ze plans to divide the machinery factory into three parts. One part is military production, one part is steam engine production, and the last part is component production.
The forging of ordinary ironware is all done by the hydraulic processing plant. He also plans to take some time to come to Tianjin and build a hydraulic processing plant here. Shi Dong also intends to build the third phase of the steel plant in Tianjin. "
Zhou Qingfeng grunted in acknowledgment and worked hard …
Xu Bing gritted her teeth and continued excitedly, "Our cotton textile industry has begun to work, and the hydraulic spinning frames and looms have been increased to a certain number. All the cotton we bought last winter has been woven into cloth. After you take down Tianjin, this will be a market that will radiate to the whole north China.
I'm now trying to negotiate with the cotton farmers in Zhili and Shandong. I want to buy all their cotton this year at a high price. I also want to develop the textile industry as our key light industry, and occupy the cotton textile market in the whole north and central China. Let all the farmers who weave cloth go bankrupt, and let them obediently work in our factory. "
"We will have more and more manpower on hand." Xu Bing said excitedly, and felt excited. She hit Zhou Qingfeng a few times and scolded, "You did it on purpose, didn't you? You deliberately chose this time to torment me. "
"Go on …" Zhou Qingfeng said happily, "I like listening, and I like doing."
Xu Bing's face was red, and her eyes were charming. She continued to hit Zhou Qingfeng, scolded him a few times, and then said, "Li Shuwei asked you to find a way to find someone to replace him in Shandong. He wants to go back to the Ministry of Agriculture to work. After the spring ploughing, his potatoes will be planted on the peninsula, corn and wheat will also be planted. But he can't rest assured. "
"Now each radish has its own pit, and no one has time. Let Li Shuwei's wife, Fan Wan 'er, take charge of Shandong. That woman is shrewd and very shrewd, and she is a person who can take charge of a region. "Zhou Qingfeng said," Since she is a talent, we should use her well. "
Xu Bing laughed and scolded again, "You bastard, you are messing around, and you want her to live separately?"
"Then let Li Shuwei find a few more. Is there anything else? "
"Your salt works have been built, and next month we will start to dry the salt. Offshore fishing has begun again, and this time the fishing boats will be twice as many as last year. We will have more meat.
There are also saltpeter fields. It is said that Li Shuwei was forced into a corner by the fertilizer problem, and he went crazy collecting manure everywhere to build saltpeter fields. Liaodong Peninsula has a saltpeter production area for every 10,000 people. It is the same in Shandong. It is said that Tianjin has a large population, so he planned 20 saltpeter fields in one go. So you will not be short of gunpowder in the future.
Also, our two doctors have begun to recruit several professional medical students in the medical department of Jinzhou University. The medical department is also equipped with a medicine and equipment factory, so in the future your Imperial Guard can have better medical soldiers and a variety of emergency medicines. Also, your Sister Ruolan took the lead in setting up a medicinal pill workshop in Tianjin, which also specializes in producing affordable medicines. "
At this point, Xu Bing's voice was already soft, and her words were incoherent. She could only look at Zhou Qingfeng coquettishly and bite her lip, letting Zhou Qingfeng do as he pleased. After more than an hour, the two washed up and went to sleep. She lay on Zhou Qingfeng's chest and asked, "Don't you have anything to tell me?"
"Me …?" Zhou Qingfeng put his arm around Xu Bing's shoulder and whispered, "In addition to training soldiers, what I have to do is to manage the city. I will continue to do what I did in Fushun, but on a larger scale. Oh, that's right. We need to build a lot of buildings on a large scale, and materials have become scarce. I have ordered the construction of several brick kilns.
I intend to set up a coal and iron bureau under the name of the Ministry of Mines, which will be responsible for coal and iron ore production. There are many small coal mines in the mountains north of Tianjin, and I have also sent people to Tangshan. The technical ability of these mines is very poor, so I intend to rectify these mines and improve production efficiency. The excavated coal is not only used to smelt iron, but also used to make bricks.
If you didn't live in ancient times, you wouldn't know. Nowadays, even the most inconspicuous bricks were very expensive, so the houses here were all very small. Now there are more and more people coming to Tianjin to find work. Housing has become very tight, so building houses has become very urgent. In addition to building houses, we also need to build roads, which also requires a lot of manpower.
In addition to that, there is another hidden worry. After I cut off the water transport, the tens of millions of dans of grain from the south every year will not be transported here. The north will certainly be short of grain, and there will definitely be a terrible wave of refugees in the second half of this year. These people will definitely come to our side.
In addition, you want to develop the cotton industry, and I am worried that there will not be enough food to eat. Perhaps we will have to restore the water transport. In the past, when the water transport boats went south, they were almost empty. I want to transport the cloth we weave to the south and exchange it for grain. The cotton production in the south is very large, and we can also transport it over. It is a win-win situation. "
As Zhou Qingfeng spoke, he heard heavy breathing coming from beside him. He tilted his head to look, but Xu Bing was not listening at all. She had only fallen asleep with the sound of a man's low voice. Zhou Qingfeng stopped talking, but he did not immediately fall asleep. As soon as he mentioned the water transport, he could not help but think of the water transport gang.
Hundreds of thousands of people relied on the water transport along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to make a living. Now that the water transport had been cut off, these people hated the 'Revolutionary Army' to the bone. How to dismantle and use this power became the problem Zhou Qingfeng had to face. Wang Kunpeng had infiltrated the sieve-like officialdom of the capital and had already learned that there were Ming court officials who had suggested arming these hundreds of thousands of people.
Compared to the chaotic Ming Army, these hundreds of thousands of people in the water transport were even more cohesive and had more fighting strength. If they really fought, it would be even more troublesome than the Ming Army. The water transport gang also had a large number of decaying Taoist sects mixed in. This power was naturally reactionary and resisted any government control. It was an absolutely unstable factor that had to be suppressed.
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