Chapter 962 Bundling of interests in self-titled rolls, prototype of patent

  Just relying on the firecrackers is almost in a state of passive defense, and it is difficult to gain the initiative. However, as long as there is a battalion of cavalry as a maneuver, the strategic situation can be greatly improved and there will be a point to fight back.

  But Huang Degong and Zuo Liangyu brought firecrackers, and now only firecrackers can complete training quickly, and cavalry can't be trained overnight, they can only be obtained from Jizhen.

You Shilu was a little hesitant. The first battalion of cavalry said whether there were too many or too few, but it was not up to You Shilu to decide, only You Shigong could make the decision. Knowing that Ji Town owes a lot to Yongping Mansion, if this condition is not met, I am afraid that Feng Ziying will really be offended.

   "Okay, Ziying, I will go all out and agree, but I have to go back and report to my elder brother, and finally I have to let my elder brother decide." You Shilu said with a bitter face.

   "Don't worry, I won't use your cavalry for nothing. After this battle, I can replace the composite cotton armor for this battalion of cavalry." This condition is not unreasonable.

Dazhou cavalry and infantry basically use ordinary cotton armor. On the one hand, it is light. On the other hand, it is also because the composite cotton armor requires better craftsmanship and costs more. If it is necessary to equip all the cavalry with composite cotton armor, it will cost a lot. Big, so although the Ministry of War wanted to start replacing ordinary cotton armor with composite cotton armor several times, they still gave up halfway.

   "Oh? Seriously?" You Shilu cheered up. If this is the case, it would be much easier to talk to his elder brother. The cost is not small.

"Brother You San, when did I say big things in front of you?" Feng Ziying smiled, "But this cavalry is strictly obeying my orders. To make a difference."

  You Shilu smiled proudly, "Ziying, either I don't agree, but if I promise you, I will naturally bring out a decent cavalry, and I won't lose the face of the Jizhen army. You can rest assured about that."

"Well, third brother, let's make a deal." Feng Ziying nodded, "Although Yongping Mansion is poor, but I can still raise tens of thousands of taels of silver, the premise is that we can win this battle and If you don’t win, everything is over, if you win, you have everything.”

"Ziying, do you really think that these people can resist the Mongols?" Seeing Feng Ziying's confidence, You Shilu couldn't help reminding, "The Mongols don't just have cavalry. Don't think they can't attack the city. In fact, if an army of 100,000 invades, only 20,000 to 30,000 cavalry can be called elite cavalry, and most of the rest are subordinate servants. Many of these people are no strangers to siege, and many of them are even experienced in battle. People who are used to fighting,..."

"There are so many ants that kill elephants, how could my younger brother underestimate the Mongols?" Feng Ziying gasped, "That's why my younger brother is doing all he can to strengthen the defenses of Qian'an and Lulong. Luanzhou is also preparing, and my younger brother's strength is limited to Now, whether the expected goal can be achieved depends on the number of days."

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, and finally let them attack the Mongols. Losing confidence in attacking Luanzhou, they turned to Shuntianfu.

   As for what will happen to Shuntian Mansion, it is not his responsibility.

   "You are rebuilding the walls of Qian'an and Lulong. I have seen them. This structure, which is similar to the horse face and urn city, makes the entire city wall look ugly. Can it work..."

You Shilu's words made Feng Ziying laugh dumbly, "Third brother, it's a bit ridiculous to talk about whether it's beautiful or not at this time. I'm almost dead, and I still care about this? I know that the gentry in Qian'an and Lulong have very different opinions. Great, but when it is confirmed that the Mongols are coming between August and September, they will not even dare to fart."

   After sending away the skeptical You Shilu, Feng Ziying didn't care too much, and began to inspect the two coal-iron complexes in Qian'an and Lulong non-stop.

  The sensitive Shanxi merchants have already heard some news. Their channels with the Mongols are not even worse than those of the Ministry of War.

They invested as much as 100,000 taels in the two major iron factories and cement factories. This does not include the 80,000 taels of loans from Haitong Bank. It can be said that all the equity plus loans are used to mine coal mines, cement, coking, Shanxi merchants, bankers, and the Feng family and Xue family have invested more than 200 yuan in iron smelting, iron material processing and production (including firecracker production), the construction of Yuguan Port, and even the planned cement road from Yuguan to Lulong Qian'an. Fifty thousand taels of silver.

  Of course the loan part has not been used up, but it is far more than two hundred thousand taels.

   But this is not just a matter of money, it is also related to the strategic transformation of Shanxi merchants.

Facing the tremendous pressure brought by the growing merchant groups mainly composed of maritime merchants and Jiangnan merchant groups mainly composed of silk factories, tea farms, ceramic workshops, and pharmaceutical industry merchants, Shanxi merchants have realized that they are in a slow Downward but irreversible situation.

  This can be seen from the composition of the salt merchants in Yangzhou and their ebb and flow.

  The share of Shanxi salt merchants in the Lianghuai salt area is shrinking. This is actually a sign that the Shanxi merchants as the core theme of the northern merchants are declining.

And the merchants in the North and the gentry in the North are two sides of the same body. Many merchants are behind the gentry. This is the main reason why Feng Ziying's strategy of opening the sea has brought benefits to Jiangnan and the gentry in the North are very dissatisfied. profit?

   "Don't worry." Seeing that Wang Shaoquan didn't come alone, and there were several other people, the Jin family, the Liang family, and the Tian family all came to have representatives, Feng Ziying didn't care, and waved his hand to signal everyone to sit down.

   "My lord, the news we have obtained is absolutely accurate. Lin Danbatur is actively wooing the tribes of the Outer Khalkha. It is said that several tribes have already been very tempted." Wang Shaoquan was a little anxious.

"I know, so I'm making all the preparations." Feng Ziying said frankly: "If the blast furnace is destroyed, it can be rebuilt, and if the workshop is destroyed, it can be rebuilt, but the craftsmen can't make any mistakes, so at the end of August, all craftsmen and artisans will transfer Enter Qian'an and Lulong City to prevent the Mongols from coming too fast and catching us by surprise,..."

  Feng Ziying's words made everyone feel relieved. As long as they are prepared, it is good to invest so much. If they are really looted, it will hurt their vitality.

   "My lord, I heard that the Liaodong Army has also come to support Yongping Mansion?"

"Well, Jizhen's military strength is stretched, and I still have to defend the capital. I dare not put my hopes on 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 pretentious mystery made all the businessmen make up their own minds and understand it.

   After a group of businessmen left with peace of mind, only Wang Shaoquan was left behind by Feng Ziying.

   "The construction progress of Yuguan Port is still going on, and the berth will be three times larger than it is now. By then, Yuguan Port can accommodate more than a hundred ships of different sizes entering the port at the same time,..."

"They don't like the name 'cement' given by adults, and they think it can't reflect its true value. They think it's more appropriate to call it 'iron ash' or 'iron slurry', which can also show that this new type of mortar can make people Houses and walls are as strong as steel,..."

Regarding the demands of these Shanxi merchants, Feng Ziying was noncommittal. Whether iron ash or iron slurry is synonymous, merchants want to show their characteristics, but also get a good start and lay a good foundation for the large-scale promotion and use of cement in the future. , He also has no special taboos.

   "In view of the very good sales of 'Iron Ash', we plan to build another one in Yuguan Port, and 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 Yuguan Port, the others will wait until the end of the year..."

   This is to open a chain store, Feng Ziying murmured in her heart, "I'm all in the north, so I haven't considered the south? The demand in the south may be greater than ours in the north, right?"

"The main concern is that the formula of "iron ash" is difficult to keep secret. Although we can grasp it now, in case any key craftsman escapes or leaks the secret, we can still think of ways in the north, but in the south, I'm afraid we will have to do something about it." Not caught yet."

  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 of the process lies in the fact that the furnace calcination temperature should be higher than the current temperature. This is the key.

"Shaoquan, this kind of secret can be kept for a while, but it can't be kept for a lifetime. In my opinion, it will be difficult to keep this secret for three years at most. Even including our iron smelting blast furnace, at most ten years, it will attract others to follow suit. Instead of this, it is better for us to act first.”

  Feng Ziying's words made Wang Shao wholeheartedly tense and happy at the same time, "How to act first?"

"I can let people build momentum in the two major magazines and newspapers, "Internal Reference" and "Today's News", and you can also use your people to suggest to the Ministry of Industry and the Chinese Academy of Sciences that in view of the exploration of new shipping routes, new manufacturing processes such as The development and exploration of silk reeling, cloth weaving, porcelain making, tea making, and iron smelting all require a lot of manpower, material resources, and funds. If the new sea route explored is sold to outsiders by the crew or captain, it will cause losses to the explorer and the sponsor. Or if a new technology is developed but is stolen and used in their own workshop, then this is unacceptable, so the court should issue regulations to clearly regulate this to protect..."

   What Feng Ziying said is the prototype of the "Dazhou Patent Regulations" he conceived.

  (end of this chapter)