Therefore, under Wu Shigong's instructions, the Workshop Department issued a bid to Nanyang Ironware and Bianshi Ironware, allowing them to trial-produce similar Western plate armor within three months.レ♠レ and also required: the price should be low
For twenty taels of silver, the annual production volume shall not be less than one thousand.
For this reason, the Workshop Division allocated five hundred taels of silver to each of the two ironworks workshops for trial production. They also promised that whichever workshop produced plate armor with the best overall requirements would immediately receive a commission from the Runing Army.
There is an order for thousands of armors, and there are also follow-up orders.
From a modern perspective, making such armor is very simple. It is nothing more than cutting two steel plates! However, at this time, there was a huge technical difficulty. It required a skilled blacksmith to hammer repeatedly, and the number of hammerings was very high.
There are also very high requirements for strength and strength. Otherwise, qualified steel plates will not be obtained at all, which is why it is so expensive and has such a long production cycle. Therefore, what the two workshops compared this time was iron processing and production.
efficiency.
In this comparison, Bian Ironware, who had more experience in handling ironware, had the upper hand. But then, Nanyang Ironware became worried, so they immediately used their connections to publicize it.
Nanyang Ironware is actually like the public industry of Runing Army. Although it was later transformed into a joint-stock system, Runing Army's funds and senior civil and military personnel of Runing Army still hold a lot of shares in it. In addition, the senior management of Nanyang Ironware and Runing Army
There is a long-term relationship between the military, civilians and military, so there are many people who are willing to speak for Nanyang Ironware. For example, Yang Goudan, the shopkeepers of Nanyang Ironware are all his disciples and grandsons.
So this time, Nanyang Ironware also wanted to use this relationship to monopolize orders, so it wanted Wu Shigong to withdraw from the bidding practice.
But Wu Shigong will never compromise on this issue. Only competition can lead to development. Although Wu Shigong also has some private shares in Nanyang Iron, he will never affect the overall interests of the Runing Army for his personal interests.
And in the future, Wu Shigong also wants to extend this practice to all expenditures of the Runing Army. It is just like modern government procurement, using bidding to reduce government expenditures and improve the quality of purchased goods.
Seeing Wu Shigong's resolute attitude, no one continued the topic. Everyone chatted briefly for a while, and then they all left and went about their own affairs.
After Deng Qifan left the inner house, he did not leave immediately. He waved to Xue Zhinong and said, "Director Xue, if you are free, come to my place and sit for a while!"
Although the tone was inquiring, Xue Zhinong would never dare to violate it. So Xue Zhinong followed Deng Qifan to his official residence.
After sitting down to serve tea, Deng Qifan said to Xue Zhinong straight to the point: "I heard that Sun Zhixian of Liu'an is my old friend, and I also miss the old friendship very much, but what he did is not in line with the wishes of our Runing Army. What do you think, Director Xue?"
When Wu Shigong received Sun Chengxiu's private message, he was overjoyed. But when he learned about Sun Chengxiu's attitude from Chang Meng, Wu Shigong hesitated.
There was a conflict between the interests of Runing Army and the feelings of good friends, so Wu Shigong could only make one decision. After careful consideration, the feelings of good friends still prevailed. So Wu Shigong ordered: no illegal means should be used, and only money should be used at market prices.
Go to Lu'an to buy land and build a farm.
But in this case, even if the extra money is spent, the gentry in Lu'an may not be willing to sell the land that the Runing Army wants to the Runing Army. This results in: Until now, there are no farming villages in Liu'an.
Established. So Deng Qifan would use the power of his chief staff to act privately.
In fact, Deng Qifan was also very helpless. The Runing Army's finances were already very tight, and Deng Qifan wished he could break a penny in half and spend it. But Wu Shigong's talk of friendship made Runing Army spend a lot of unjust money.
That's fine, there's nothing wrong with talking about brotherly friendship. But now, Deng Qifan and Chang Meng are under great pressure from local officials and gentry.
After a long period of dealing with each other, the local officials and gentry in Runing and Guide have become experts. They have learned a lot about dealing with Wu Shigong and the Runing Army. That is to abide by the laws and rules formulated by Wu Shigong and the Runing Army.
, and used these laws and rules to gain their own interests from Wu Shigong and Runing Army.
For example, in the case of Lu'an this time, the semicolon of the Reclamation Trading Company responsible for that matter was not unique to Runing Army, but had shares owned by other officials and gentry. Wu Shigong could sell his friendship with Sun Chengxiu and give up some of the benefits of this semicolon.
But in doing so, he also gave away the interests of other shareholders. Therefore, this approach aroused dissatisfaction among other officials and gentry.
Of course, in front of Wu Shigong, those officials and gentry would never dare to vent their dissatisfaction, but this did not prevent them from putting pressure on Deng Qifan and Chang Meng. Since those officials and gentry were well-founded, they let Deng Qifan and Chang Meng both
Some can't stand it anymore.
Deng Qifan had also tactfully advised Wu Shigong, but Wu Shigong's attitude was quite firm. When Wu Shigong was at the end of his life, he only had one good friend: Sun Chengxiu, so Wu Shigong could not let go of this friendship. So Deng Qifan decided to take action personally.
Become a villain yourself and strive for the greatest benefit for the Runing Army.
But after listening to Deng Qifan's words, Xue Zhinong was quite hesitant. Xue Zhinong's Shanchuan Department is a very special department, and should and can only obey the orders of Wu Shigong. But where is Deng Qifan's identity, and now Deng Qifan is outspoken.
The land wanted to exceed his authority, which made it difficult for Xue Zhinong to make a decision. So Xue Zhinong could only stay silent and wait for the next step.
Deng Qifan was also mentally prepared for Xue Zhinong's attitude, so he continued: "Those of us who are subordinates, sometimes we can't just care about ourselves, but we must also relieve the worries of adults. Although what I say now is a bit excessive, it is for your own good.
It is also for the good of our Runing Army. If you blame me, I will bear the full responsibility."
"Then what should Mr. Deng do if he wants to be young?" After hearing that Deng Qifan spoke so thoroughly, Xue Zhinong could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb.
Deng Qifan nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Let Sun Zhixian no longer care about the farming affairs. How to do this? You are familiar with the Shanchuan Department, and I will ask Manager Chang to listen to you. No matter what you do, as long as Sun Zhixian stands by and watches.
That’s fine.”
"Is it really okay to do anything?" Xue Zhinong asked again.
"It's okay! But please note: don't hurt Magistrate Sun, and don't hurt his family. Otherwise, it won't look good, sir. Also, don't talk about it yet."
Xue Zhinong thought for a while, then bowed his hands to Deng Qifan and said, "Mr. Deng! I understand."
As the power of the Runing Army expands, there are some things that Wu Shigong can no longer decide with a single word. When his ideas are contrary to the overall interests of the Runing Army, the civil and military personnel under him will go against Wu Shigong's wishes and act independently.
Action. And this won't be the only one, let alone the last.
But at this moment, Wu Shigong was receiving two special guests in the study.
"Uncle! This is the young master! Young master, this is your father, kowtow to him quickly!" In the study, a servant of the Xue family named Xue Quan, with a four or five-year-old child, knelt and bowed to him.
Wu Shigong reported.
"What's going on? What happened? How are the Marquis and his wife doing? How's Fei'er doing? How's Lin'er doing?" As he spoke, Wu Shigong pounded the table hard. His face turned red.
His hair and beard were all spread out, looking like he was furious.
Xue Chengping, who was standing, was immediately frightened and cried loudly. Xue Quan quickly hugged Xue Chengping and kept comforting him, and then reported to Wu Shigong: "There is nothing in the Hou Mansion. The Marquis, his wife, the young lady, and the prince are all fine too. Xiao
I left the capital secretly this time just to bring the young master here."
After hearing this, Wu Shigong felt a little relieved. He walked up to Xue Chengping and said with a smile: "You are Ping'er."
Xue Chengping looked timidly at his father, whom he had never met before. With tears in his eyes, he whispered: "Father."
Wu Shigong was immediately elated. He leaned down and picked up Xue Chengping. Then he returned to his seat and sat down, putting Xue Chengping on his lap. Then he said to Xue Quan: "Stop kneeling. Stand up and talk."
explain!"
So Xue Quan explained the whole story to Wu Shigong in detail. It turned out that after Xue Lian felt the difficult situation in the capital, he asked his confidant Xue Quan to secretly search for a child similar to Xue Chengping and bring him into the mansion to raise.
Then Li Daitao died. Xue Lian found another opportunity and asked Xue Quan to send Xue Chengping to Runing on the pretext of delivering a letter. As for Xue Chengping's wet nurse, serving maids, mother-in-law, etc., Xue Lian found them all
An opportunity was given to deal with it. So until now, only four people in the Hou Mansion, Xue Lian, Mrs. Zhang, Xue Yufei and Xue Quan, knew that Xue Chengping had been replaced.
At this time, Wu Shigong felt deeply self-blame: He was very prosperous in Runing, but he didn't expect that his father-in-law and his whole family would be in danger. Especially his wife and eldest son.
to the responsibilities of a husband and father.
And now his father-in-law has sent Ping'er here again. Is this an orphan? Will "The Orphan of Zhao" be staged in his own home? Wu Shigong immediately suffered from angina. He could not bear the pain of losing a loved one at all.
At this time, Wu Shigong didn't notice that Xue Quan knelt down again. He stuffed a pill into his mouth, bit it into pieces and swallowed it, then kowtowed to Wu Shigong and said: "The Marquis said: Let me take good care of you."
Young master, I can say that I have lived up to the trust of the Marquis."
Wu Shigong glanced over and realized something was wrong with Xue Quan. He immediately rushed over with Xue Chengping in his arms and kicked Xue Quan, who had begun to twitch, to the ground. Seeing Xue Quan's appearance, Wu Shigong immediately shouted: