Chapter 441 The First Battle of the South: Huaiyuan
"Your Majesty, our Ministry of Industry has now set up 38 large and small workshops in Xingquan Fucheng and Zhengtai County, with more than 480 craftsmen, 1,000 apprentices, more than 3,000 prisoners of war, and more than 2,000 ordinary employees.
We are expected to produce 600 muskets, four 800-jin cannons, two thousand-jin artillery pieces, and fifteen 150-jin battalion cannons this month!"
“In addition, we also produce a large number of military uniforms, quilt covers and other military supplies!”
Standing in front of Li Xuan and reporting on the affairs of the Ministry of Works workshop was the newly appointed Minister of Works, Zhou Kesong!
This man was previously a doctor in the Ordnance Department of the Ministry of Industry. Because of his outstanding work ability, he was recently promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Industry!
Half a month ago, Minister Shi, the veteran of the Ministry of Industry, was transferred to the newly established scientific research department of the Tang Dynasty, the ‘Royal Research Institute’, as the director for various reasons!
Blacksmith Shi was transferred because of his hard work and his old age, so Li Xuan specially let him enjoy a happy life and arranged a position as the director of the research institute for him.
But in fact, Blacksmith Shi was transferred to be the dean, not because of his merits, but because he was really not suitable for being an official!
This man was just an illiterate blacksmith before. There was no one available in the Tang Dynasty at first, and the Ministry of Works at that time was actually just a workshop, so the stone blacksmith took advantage of the opportunity and became the Minister of the Ministry of Works of the Tang Dynasty. But as the Tang Dynasty
As the Tang Dynasty developed and expanded, various departments gradually improved.
Nowadays, it is almost impossible to find anyone who is illiterate among the senior officials in various cabinet departments and even other institutions. Many of them are formal scholars with the reputation of being scholars.
At the same time, the mission of the Minister of the Ministry of Industry has also changed from forging iron and making guns to a person who has to deal with many official duties. Among other things, it is super troublesome to manage more than 30 workshops under the Ministry of Industry.
thing.
A long time ago, Zhou Kesong had been in charge of the actual affairs of the Ministry of Industry, and Blacksmith Shi was just a minister.
Now, taking advantage of the establishment of the Royal Academy, Li Xuan also took advantage of the situation and transferred Shi Blacksmith to be the dean, and promoted Zhou Kesong, a practical man, to be the minister.
As the actual person in charge of the Ministry of Works, Zhou Kesong is naturally very familiar with the situation of the Ministry of Works. He immediately mentioned the number of workshops and employees in the Ministry of Works.
And he still talked about the situation of each workshop one by one!
Listening to what he said, Li Xuan also gained a new understanding of the many workshops currently under the Ministry of Industry!
Most of the thirty-eight workshops announced today are concentrated in Xingquan City. In Zhengtai County, except for a few temporary workshops established in the first half of the year, no large-scale workshops have been built subsequently.
Among such workshops, the largest is the musket workshop located in Xingquan Prefecture. This musket workshop has more than a thousand craftsmen and workers, and its monthly output can reach 500 muskets. The musket workshop in Zhengtai County,
If the monthly output is only a few dozen, it can basically be ignored.
The workshops on the Huangzhu Mountain side have already moved out of the mountains, and most of the craftsmen have been assigned to Xingquan Fucheng.
The second largest artillery workshop is the artillery workshop in Xingquan Fucheng, which also has hundreds of people.
Others include gunpowder workshops, cannonball workshops, lead bullet workshops, wood workshops, sword workshops, bow and arrow workshops, armor workshops, military uniform workshops, etc.
Basically covering the production of all kinds of ordnance materials currently needed by the Tang Dynasty King's Division!
It's just that apart from gun-related workshops, many other workshops are not large in scale. For example, the military uniform workshop is actually not large in scale, and is only responsible for the dyeing of cloth and the production of military uniforms for officers. As for the production of military uniforms for ordinary soldiers,
In fact, they were subcontracted to sew for ordinary people inside and outside the city.
Otherwise, in the era of manual sewing, the Tang Dynasty would not have been able to provide tens of thousands of people with clothing, shoes, socks and other supplies in just a few months by relying on hundreds of jobs in the military uniform workshop.
They provide dyed fabrics and uniform sewing styles, and then let ordinary people, especially women, sew military uniforms. After sewing the military uniforms, these people can receive a small amount of payment per piece.
On the one hand, this is to increase the production of military uniforms in a short period of time. On the other hand, it can be regarded as a livelihood for the people of Xingquan Prefecture, especially the old, weak, women and children, whose livelihood has declined after the war!
In fact, not only the production of quilts, but also many other ordnance products that require a lot of manpower but do not require any technical content are outsourced by the Ministry of Industry!
Military uniforms, quilts, shoes, socks, these are the most basic, as well as the wooden supports, handguards, etc. needed to produce muskets!
To put it bluntly, Xingquan Fucheng is now a huge military product production base!
In addition to thousands of craftsmen and prisoners of war, there were thousands of people working directly or indirectly in various workshops of the Ministry of Industry of the Tang Dynasty.
I am afraid that the number of these people will not be less than 5,000!
It is definitely not an easy task to relocate so many workshops and workers!
Therefore, Li Xuan never thought of relocating from the beginning. The workshop in Xingquan Mansion has already formed a scale effect. As long as the supply of raw materials is high, the output will be more every day. Relocating at this time is basically
It is equivalent to giving up these outputs.
Li Xuan's idea is to set up new workshops in other places, especially those close to raw material production and convenient transportation. At most, some workers and technical backbones will be transferred from Xingquan Prefecture. A large number of workers in the later period will still be there.
Rely on prisoners of war or recruit from the local area.
When Li Xuan told Zhou Kesong this idea, Zhou Kesong said: "What your Majesty said is that Xingquan Mansion is located in a remote place with few people. If the number of workshops increases and the scale increases, not only will the cost increase significantly, but also the cost will increase.
It is becoming more and more difficult to recruit young workers."
"Moreover, it is troublesome to transport raw materials, and it is also difficult to transport finished products, especially large amounts of heavy ordnance supplies to the front line!"
"If new workshops can be set up in other places, especially places with convenient transportation and close to the frontline troops, it will naturally greatly alleviate the current predicament!"
Li Xuandao: "In this case, according to Zhou Aiqing's opinion, which place is currently suitable for building a large number of workshops?"
Zhou Kesong showed a hint of embarrassment at this time, and then said: "At present, apart from Xingquan Prefecture, I am afraid that other places are not suitable. The basic situation in Liping Prefecture is similar to that of Xingquan Prefecture, and we have already moved Liping Prefecture.
The craftsmen from Xingquan Prefecture have all been transferred back to Xingquan Prefecture. If a large number of workshops are to be opened in Liping City, I am afraid they will have to be transferred from Xingquan Prefecture. The gain outweighs the losses!"
But after saying that, he showed a hint of hope and said: "But I heard that General Hao's army has begun to move south to Guangxi. If the frontline army can capture Liuzhou, Wuzhou and other places, even Zhaoqing, Guangzhou and Foshan, these
All places are suitable for setting up a large number of workshops, especially Foshan, which is a major iron-producing area. It is the most suitable place to establish workshops for guns and other weapons!"
Hearing what Zhou Kesong said, Li Xuan was speechless. If he wanted to go to Wuzhou, Zhaoqing or even Guangzhou and Foshan, he would have to wait until later. I was asking about now.
Moreover, who dares to know when Hao Bainian’s army will be able to conquer the Guangdong and Guangxi regions!
But the key point is that now Li Xuan just wants to expand the scale of the workshop and increase the production of various weapons to supply the army for combat!
Before Hao Bainian went to war, he repeatedly requested the allocation of guns, cannons, and various weapons and ammunition. However, the Tang Dynasty was extremely short of guns and cannons. Li Xuan misappropriated many guns and cannons originally given to the Second Infantry Brigade and the Fifth Infantry Regiment.
Guns and ammunition were provided to the 1st Infantry Brigade.
However, after the First Infantry Brigade moves south to Guangxi, its weapons and ammunition will definitely be consumed, and this consumption needs to be replenished in time, otherwise the First Infantry Brigade, which is equipped with a large number of guns and artillery, will lose its combat effectiveness.
Once the First Infantry Brigade, which is equipped with a large number of firearms, runs out of ammunition, its combat effectiveness will not be as good as if they were equipped with pure cold weapons!
To supply two infantry brigades and a fifth infantry regiment, as well as other auxiliary units, the Tang Dynasty's ordnance supply has always been quite tight, and it has never been able to achieve full strength of the troops.
Not to mention, Li Xuan's pace of military expansion has never stopped!
Before Hao Bainian led his army to set off, Li Xuan divided the baggage regiment, cavalry battalion, artillery battalion and other troops into two. Other troops also said that after the artillery battalion became two artillery battalions, theoretically speaking, more troops would be needed.
Twice the heavy artillery.
In addition, Li Xuan also plans to establish a new Sixth Infantry Regiment as soon as the recruits of the Fifth Infantry Regiment are in place, and form a new Third Infantry Brigade with the Fifth Infantry Regiment!
The expansion of the regular army will never stop, and this means that the demand for weapons and equipment will never end.
However, after discussing with Zhou Kesong, they found that in addition to continuing to increase production in Xingquan Prefecture, at present, the Tang Dynasty is not suitable for setting up large-scale workshops in Liping Prefecture or other places in Guizhou.
Because the current strategic expansion direction of the Tang Dynasty is to go south to Guangdong and Guangxi, this expansion will bring about not only a shift in political and military focus, but also a shift in industrial centers!
Therefore, after some consideration, Li Xuan gave up his plan to expand the workshop in the nearby area in a short period of time, and planned to wait for good news from Hao Bainian, especially after Hao Bainian captured Liuzhou Prefecture before making any plans.
Establishing a temporary military production base nearby in Liuzhou can effectively relieve the supply of various weapons and ammunition needed by the frontline army.
However, even if a workshop is established in Liuzhou, it can only be used as an initial emergency measure like the one in Xingquan Prefecture.
If the frontline army can successfully and quickly conquer Wuzhou, Zhaoqing and other places, then these two places are more suitable, and Guangzhou in the later period is also more suitable.
But if the frontline war lasts for a long time, for example, if Wuzhou cannot be captured for a year and a half, then Liuzhou will become a more important logistics production base.
Now that the strategic focus of the Tang Dynasty has been placed on the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, a group of people behind them can be said to be eagerly hoping that Hao Bainian can win the victory, successfully capture Liuzhou along the way, and then move eastward along the Xijiang River to capture Wuzhou, Zhaoqing and other places.
And where is Hao Bainian, who has shouldered the expectations of many people?
Now he is outside Huaiyuan County, the northern bridgehead of Liuzhou Prefecture in Guangxi!
Directly in front of him, the Tang Army of more than 5,000 people was advancing towards the city wall of Huaiyuan County. It won't be long before they launch a general attack on Huaiyuan County and start the first battle south to Guangxi!