At this time, the shock expression on Zhang Wu's face became even stronger. This book is

After taking a deep breath, he asked loudly: "Four and three hundred thousand taels, where did he, a small Taiyuan general, earn so much money... Could it be that he was corruption..."

"But it is impossible for him to be. Sun Tianwu is just a general in Taiyuan, not a prefect of Taiyuan. How much can ordinary people ask him for bribes and accept him?"

At this time, Deputy General Wang spoke again: "Sir, I may know some situations..."

"There has always been such a thing among the civil and military officials of our Taiyuan Prefecture, but I don't know if it is true."

After glanced at the slightly melancholy Vice General Wang beside him, Zhang Wu waved his hand and said, "General Wang, General Wang, the General Sun you mentioned no longer exists. Just say anything, don't hesitate..."

“Yes, sir….”

Under Zhang Wu's gaze, Deputy General Wang replied with a mysterious look: "Among the civil and military officials of Taiyuan Prefecture, there have been rumors that Sun Tianwu resells military funds. In addition, Sun Tianwu is also interfering in the salt and iron transactions in the entire Taiyuan Prefecture..."

"Reselling military funds and interfering in salt and iron transactions... are all profitable and very profitable transactions... Now I finally know where Sun Tianwu's money comes from. However, what he could not imagine was that he worked hard for half his life to earn the money, and now it is all ours..." Zhang Wu said with emotion.

Then, he ordered Li Jiazhong directly: "Battleman Li, I will hand over the money here to you... Remember, you can't lose a box, and send it all back to Taiyuan Prefecture..."

"Deputy General Wang, you have also drawn a thousand elite troops from the army to escort..."

"In addition, as the deputy general of Shanxi, I temporarily appoint you as the general of Taiyuan Prefecture. After returning to Taiyuan, I will report your affairs to the General and then report them to the court. As long as you are willing to serve the General and obey the command of the General, you will definitely not be able to escape the position of the General."

"Please rest assured.... I swear to be loyal to the General General. For the General General, it is not too late to go through fire and water..." After following Zhang Wu for so long, he finally heard the answer he wanted to hear. Deputy General Wang could no longer control the excitement in his heart, and knelt on the ground with one leg at Zhang Wu, and promised loudly.

Zhang Wu nodded, changed his tone and continued: "Of course, loyalty to the general is only one aspect, and the general's ability to command troops is also a very important aspect..."

"I have another task here that you need to complete within half a month. Whether this task can be completed smoothly is directly related to whether you can successfully become the general of Taiyuan..."

"I won't say much about your ability in military training. However, the biggest problem with Taiyuan Prefecture is that the vacancies are too large... Even if we include the two thousand private troops that have just been disarmed, the Taiyuan General Prefecture still has vacancies of 4,500 people. And you will have to fill all the vacancies of 4,500 people in the next half month..."

"In addition, I have another requirement: The vacancies of 4,500 people can only be supplemented among the refugees outside Datong Prefecture, and the quality of the new recruits must be guaranteed."

"As for the food and salary of the 15,000 garrison troops in Taiyuan Prefecture, all of them will be paid in full starting today. On the first day of each month, the Shanxi General Office will deliver the full food and salary to Taiyuan, and the documents sent by the General Office will be distributed directly to each soldier, completely eliminating the bad habit of consuming empty wages in the army and deducting military salaries in the soldiers..."

When Zhang Wu, deputy general of Shanxi, began to carry out large-scale military reorganization and house searches in Shanxi. Wei Zheng, who had just taken office as general of Shanxi, also began to prepare for the expansion of the army against the Tiger and Leopard Army.

The Tiger and Leopard Army expanded from 15,000 to 50,000, and the most basic preparation was equipment. However, with the current production capacity of the craftsman, the equipment of the Tiger and Leopard Army is difficult, let alone the equipment of the 50,000 Tiger and Leopard Army.

More importantly, behind these 50,000 Tiger and Leopard Army, there are 100,000 local garrisons that Zhang Wu is about to command.

With so many troops, Wei Zheng only has a small craftsman's camp. Such a deformed development will obviously bring a very fatal blow to Wei Zheng and the entire Tiger and Leopard Army at critical moments.

Therefore, no matter whether the military advisor Zhou Shuyuan, Wang Feng, Zhao Yun and others, they had a clear idea: if the troops want to expand their army, they must have a prerequisite to expand the craftsman camp.

Otherwise, the current production capacity of the craftsman's camp cannot even supplement the usual consumption of the Tiger and Leopard Army, let alone expanding the Tiger and Leopard Army. Therefore, the expansion of the craftsman's camp is already an arrow and has to be fired.

After a day of thinking, Wei Zheng had already made a very huge plan in his mind.

Under the gaze of Zhou Shuyuan and others, Wei Zheng said as calmly as possible: "Brothers, my idea about expanding the craftsman camp is: the craftsman camp must not only carry out large-scale expansion, but also transfer the production site..."

"As the Tiger and Leopard Army becomes more and more famous, the flintlock muskets that our Tiger and Leopard Army just equipped will definitely attract everyone's attention. At that time, whether it is the imperial court, the Tartars far away from the pass, or even the rebels, they will be able to spy on the flintlock muskets that our craftsman camp has continuously produced at all costs."

"At that time, our craftsman camp will definitely become a base for all forces to get a glimpse of the truth..."

"And we all know that the flintlock rifle is the foundation for our Tiger and Leopard Army to gain a foothold in this troubled times. Once the secret of the flintlock rifle is leaked, our firepower advantage will disappear."

"So, my idea is that in order to ensure the safety of the marshal and keep the secret of the flintlock rifle, we must transfer the marshal to a very secret production base..."

Military advisor Zhou Shuyuan nodded with a default face and followed him and said: "I support the general's opinions. Since we want to expand the craftsman camp, we will make a very complete change to the craftsman camp..."

"First of all, choose a new base that is secret enough to ensure the various secrets of flintlock rifles and other advanced weapons, and ensure that our foothold is not visible to others at all."

Speaking of this, Zhou Shuyuan suddenly changed his mind and needed to say: "In addition, this base must meet some other conditions..."

"First, this base must ensure that there are enough raw materials to supply..."

"Secondly, this base must be conducive to defense. If it is attacked, the limited forces of the guard base must be ensured that the base can persist until the reinforcements arrive..."

"You may not know that even if the current situation of using craftsmen's camps is expanded ten times, the monthly firearm production will not change much. One of the most important reasons is that pig iron is necessary for producing firearms, and the supply is very insufficient..."

"If you want to expand your craftsmanship camp, you must find enough raw materials..."

At this time, Wei Zheng spoke and said firmly: "Fireware is the lifeblood of our tiger and leopard army's continuous development and growth, and the various pig iron and gunpowder needed to produce firearms are the lifeblood of this lifeblood."

"In order to ensure the continuous development and growth of the Tiger and Leopard Army, this lifeline must not be controlled by others."

"So, I plan to take this opportunity to build a series of workshops such as mining, iron smelting, gunpowder, and firearm production, and form a department to manage them all."

Wang Tiezhong, the Qianzong General of the Craft Camp who made an exception to attend this secret meeting, asked thoughtfully at Wei Zheng: "General, in the capital, the imperial court has a department that specializes in the production and distribution of military ordnances, called the Arsenal, which belongs to the Ministry of War. Is the general also planning to form the same department?"

Wei Zheng did not conceal it and nodded very affirmatively: "You are right, but in order to avoid suspicion, the department I want to form is not called the Arsenal Department, but is directly called the Equipment Department. Wang Tiezhong is the first director of the Equipment Department. In terms of level, it is equivalent to the commander of the Tiger and Leopard Army commanding 5,000 soldiers..."

"Hiss..." After hearing Wei Zheng's answer, Wang Tiezhong took a deep breath.

Not only Wang Tiezhong, but also showed an unprecedented expression of shock on his face.

Because, in their eyes, even if Wang Tiezhong is valued by Wei Zheng, he is just a craftsman with superb skills. However, such a craftsman not only became an official for the first time, but also a high-ranking official, which shocked these people who have been poisoned by the ideas of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce.

As everyone watched, Wei Zheng replied firmly again: "You heard it right. If the level of the Director of the Equipment Department is calculated according to the grade of the court, it will be the fourth grade."

"As for the reason I do this, a very important reason is to make everyone pay attention to these craftsmen and the Equipment Department."

"Any brother who wants to continue with me, Wei Zheng, must change your previous view: craftsmen are no longer inferior people who can be bullied, but talents with superb skills."

"It is precisely with these talents that our Tiger and Leopard Army can be equipped with such good firearms. With these qualified firearms in hand, our Tiger and Leopard Army can win one battle after another..."

shu5 "So, in our tiger and leopard army, we should not only pay attention to those intellectuals, but also those craftsmen with superb skills, inspire everyone to learn technology and become craftsmen..."

At this time, Wang Tiezhong, who was excited, suddenly knelt in front of Wei Zheng and said loudly: "General, wise... Thank you for your understanding... Here, on behalf of all the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty, I kowtowed to General. If there were no General, we craftsmen, would still live on the line of life and death that was hungry and cold."

"Not only can't eat enough, but you are also bullied, looked down upon, and inferior to others..."
Chapter completed!