Relying solely on the firecrackers is almost in a passive defensive state, and it is difficult to gain the initiative. However, as long as a battalion of cavalry is used as a maneuver, the strategic situation can be greatly improved and one point can be gained to fight back.
However, Huang Degong and Zuo Liangyu brought fire musket soldiers. Now the only ones who can complete training quickly are fire musket soldiers. Cavalry cannot be trained overnight and can only be obtained from Jizhen.
You Shilu was a little hesitant. A battalion of cavalry said whether it was more or less, but it was not something You Shilu could decide. Only You Shigong could make the decision. However, facing Feng Ziying's glaring gaze, You Shilu also
Knowing that Jizhen owes Yongping Mansion a lot, if he fails to meet even this condition, he may really offend Feng Ziying.
"Okay, Ziying, I will go all out and agree, but I have to go back and report to my elder brother, who will ultimately make the decision." You Shilu said with a bitter face.
"Don't worry, I won't use your cavalry in vain. After this battle, I can replace this battalion's cavalry with composite cotton armor." This condition is not unreasonable.
The cavalry and infantry of the Great Zhou Dynasty now basically use ordinary cotton armor. On the one hand, it is lightweight, and on the other hand, composite cotton armor requires better craftsmanship and costs more. If all cavalry are to be equipped with composite cotton armor, it will cost a lot.
Therefore, although the Ministry of War tried to replace ordinary cotton armor with composite cotton armor several times, it still gave up halfway.
“Oh? Are you serious about this?” You Shilu perked up. If this was the case, it would be much easier for him to go and talk to his elder brother. The cost would not be small.
"Brother You San, when have I ever said such nonsense in front of you?" Feng Ziying smiled, "But this cavalry has to obey my orders completely. Of course, I will not let them die, but they must do it at critical moments."
To make a difference.”
You Shilu smiled proudly and said, "Ziying, either I won't agree, but if I agree to you, I will naturally come up with a decent cavalry and won't lose the face of Ji Zhenjun. You can rest assured about this."
"Okay, third brother, let's make it a deal." Feng Ziying nodded, "Although Yongping Mansion is poor, I can still raise tens of thousands of taels of silver. The premise is that we can win this battle.
If you don’t win, everything is lost; if you win, everything is lost.”
"Ziying, do you really think you can withstand the Mongols with these strong people?" Seeing Feng Ziying's confidence, You Shilu couldn't help but remind him, "The Mongols don't just have cavalry. Don't think they can't conquer the city.
In fact, if an army of 100,000 invades, only 20,000 to 30,000 people can truly be called elite cavalry, and the rest are mostly servants. Many of these people are no strangers to sieges, and many of them are even battle-hardened.
Those who are able to conquer battle..."
"How can I underestimate the Mongols if there are too many ants to kill the elephant?" Feng Ziying sighed, "That's why I have tried my best to strengthen the defenses of Qian'an and Lulong. Luanzhou is also making preparations, and my strength is only limited to
Besides, whether it can achieve the expected goal depends on how many days it takes."
The line along the Luan River will be the key target of the Mongols. From Qian'an to Lulong and then to Luanzhou, Feng Ziying's only hope is to use Qian'an to block the Mongols, use Lulong to hold the Mongols back, and finally let them attack.
He lost confidence in attacking Luanzhou, and then turned to Shuntian Prefecture.
As for what will happen to Shuntian Mansion, it is not his responsibility.
“You are renovating the Qian’an and Lulong city walls. I have seen it. This structure similar to the horse face and the urn city makes the entire city wall look ugly. Can it be effective?..."
You Shilu's words made Feng Ziying burst into laughter, "Third brother, it's a bit ridiculous to talk about what looks good or bad at this time. You are almost dead, and you still care about this? I know that the gentry in Qian'an and Lulong have very different opinions.
Yes, but when it is confirmed that the Mongols are coming in August, they will not even dare to fart."
After seeing off the doubtful You Shilu, Feng Ziying did not care much and began to inspect the two coal and iron complexes in Qian'an and Lulong non-stop.
The Shanxi merchants who are sensitive to information have already heard some news. Their channels on the Mongolian side are not even worse than the Ministry of War's Staff Division. When they learned that the Mongols were going to invade in a large scale, the entire Shanxi merchant group was almost in trouble.
They invested as much as 100,000 taels in the two major ironworks and cement plants. This does not include the 80,000 taels they borrowed from Haitong Bank. It can be said that all the equity plus loans allowed them to mine coal, cement, and coke in Yongping Prefecture.
Shanxi merchants, bankers, and the Feng family and the Xue family have invested more than 20 years in iron smelting, iron processing and manufacturing (including the production of firecrackers), the construction of Yuguan Port, and even the currently planned cement road from Yuguan to Lulong Qian'an.
Fifty thousand taels of silver.
Of course the loan portion has not been used up, but it far exceeds 200,000 taels.
But this is not only a matter of money, but also related to the strategic transformation of the Shanxi merchant group.
Facing the tremendous pressure brought by the continuous expansion and rise of traders, mainly maritime merchants, and Jiangnan merchants, mainly silk factories, tea farms, ceramic workshops, and pharmaceutical companies, Shanxi merchants have realized that they are in a slow
A downward but irreversible situation.
This can be seen from the composition and ebb and flow of the salt merchants in Yangzhou.
The Shan-Shaan salt merchants’ share of power in the Lianghuai Salt Region continues to shrink. This is actually a sign that the northern merchants, who are Shan-Shaan merchants as their core theme, are declining.
The northern merchants and the northern gentry are two sides of the same coin. Behind many merchants are the gentry. This is the main reason why the northern gentry are very dissatisfied with Feng Ziying's strategy of opening up the sea to the south of the Yangtze River. Whoever talks about the gentry will not say anything.
profit?
"Don't worry." Seeing that Wang Shaoquan was not alone, and there were several other people, including representatives from the Jin family, Liang family, and Tian family, Feng Ziying didn't care and waved her hand for everyone to take their seats.
“Sir, the information we have received is absolutely accurate. Lindan Batur is actively wooing the tribes in Outer Kalkha. It is said that several tribes are already very interested.” Wang Shaoquan was a little anxious.
"I know, so I am making complete preparations." Feng Ziying said calmly: "The blast furnace can be rebuilt if it is destroyed, and the workshop can be rebuilt if it is destroyed, but the craftsmen must not lose anything, so at the end of August, all craftsmen's households will be transferred
Moved into Anhe Lulong City to prevent the Mongols from coming too quickly and catching us by surprise..."
Feng Ziying’s words made everyone breathe a sigh of relief. As long as they were prepared, it would be a big loss if they were really robbed after such a huge investment.
“Sir, I heard that the Liaodong Army has also come to support Yongping Prefecture?” Liang Youmeng who spoke was the younger brother of Liang Youkong, the head of the Liang family of Shanxi merchants.
"Well, the troops here in Jizhen are stretched thin, and we still have to defend the capital. I don't dare to put all my hope in Jizhen, so I invited my father's army to support me. You don't need to mention this matter. I have my own arrangements...
…”
Feng Ziying’s pretense of mystery made all the businessmen figure it out and understand it.
After all the businessmen felt relieved and left, Feng Ziying only left Wang Shaoquan behind.
“The construction progress at Yuguan Port is still going on, and the berths will be expanded three times compared to now. By then, Yuguan Port can accommodate more than a hundred large and small ships to berth at the port at the same time..."
"They don't like the name 'cement' given by adults because they think it cannot reflect its true value. They think it is more appropriate to call it 'iron ash' or 'iron slurry', which also means that this new type of plaster can make
The houses and city walls are as strong as steel,..."
Feng Ziying was noncommittal about the demands of this group of Shanxi merchants. Iron ash and iron slurry are not just synonymous with each other. The businessmen want to highlight their characteristics and also get a good start, laying a solid foundation for the large-scale promotion and use of cement in the future.
, and he doesn’t have any special taboos.
“In view of the very good sales of ‘Iron Gray’, we plan to build another one in Yuguangang, and then consider building one each in Datong, Taiyuan, Dengzhou and Linqing…”
Feng Ziying glanced at Wang Shaoquan, and Wang Shaoquan also glanced over. Seeing Feng Ziying looking over, he quickly lowered his eyelids.
"Of course, except for the one in Yuguangang, the other ones will have to wait until the end of the year..."
This is about opening a chain store, Feng Ziying murmured in her heart, "We are all in the north, so we haven't considered the south? I'm afraid the demand in the south is greater than that in the north, right?"
"The main concern is that the formula of "iron ash" is difficult to keep secret. Although we can control it now, if any key craftsman escapes or leaks the secret, we can still think of some ways in the north, but in the south, I'm afraid we can't
He has not been arrested."
Wang Shaoquan doesn’t know how profitable this “iron ash” is. In fact, the ingredients are relatively simple, and the raw materials are not difficult to find. The difficulty in the process is that the furnace calcination temperature must reach a temperature higher than what is generally achievable. This is the key.
"Shao Quan, this kind of secret can be kept for a while, but not for a lifetime. In my opinion, it will be difficult to keep this secret for up to three years. Even for our iron-smelting blast furnace, it will attract others to follow suit for up to ten years.
Instead of doing this, it’s better for us to strike first.”
Feng Ziying’s words made Wang Shaoquan feel nervous and happy at the same time, “How to strike first to gain the upper hand?”
"I can have people build momentum in the two major domestic and foreign magazines and newspapers, "Internal Reference" and "Today's News". You can also use your people to suggest to the Ministry of Industry and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that in view of the exploration of new shipping routes, new manufacturing processes such as
The development and exploration of silk reeling, weaving, porcelain making, tea making, iron smelting, etc. all require a lot of manpower, material resources and funds. If the discovered new routes are sold to outsiders by the crew or captain, the exploration funders will suffer losses, and the exploration investors will suffer losses.
Or if a new technology is developed but is stolen and used in their own workshops, then this is unacceptable, so the court should issue laws and regulations to clearly regulate this to protect..."
What Feng Ziying said was the prototype of the "Dazhou Patent Regulations" he conceived.
This chapter has been completed!