Steel Dynasty - Chapter 304

[Chapter 304 Cannons for Cotton]

“Your Highness, King Chu’s merchant ship has arrived, and it is said that it has brought cotton seeds, but…”

“We just need to hand over the cannons to them, right?”

“It seems that Your Highness has already understood everything.” Pang Yukun smiled.

Xiao Ming is writing a textbook on training the fusiliary army.

Yesterday, he walked around the lathe workshop, military workshop, equipment department, and gunpowder workshop, and made all his requests.

Whether it’s a bayonet, a gun rod or oil-paper-packed ammunition, these three things are all without technical content.

The bottom of the bayonet is just a cylinder, and the bar is nothing more than an iron rod. Wrapping bullets in oil paper is even simpler. Just use oil paper to mix the bullets and gunpowder and wrap them in advance.

What is lacking is not technology, but an idea, or experience.

As the flintlock muskets were soon to be installed, Xiao Ming naturally had to consider the construction of modern military academies. Entering the age of firearms, wars would become regularized, and fighting would no longer be the same as before.

Because of this, he compiled teaching materials and prepared to teach the generals of the Qingzhou Army about war.

Putting down his writing brush, Xiao Ming walked out of the main hall. Now he had taken off his thick cotton-padded jacket in winter and was walking lightly.

As he walked out of the palace, Xiao Ming said: “Li Kaiyuan can transport cotton so smoothly. Do you think it is because the King of Chu is showing kindness? This time is just an exchange of interests. He wants artillery and I want cotton.”

“That’s just it. , The King of Wei should be unhappy again. It is said that the King of Wei complained to His Highness many times in Jinling City. “

Ignore him. The King of Wei has always been at odds with the King of Chu. We sold the artillery to the King of Chu, and he was naturally unhappy. In this case, we don’t need to get involved in the conflicts between the vassals. On the contrary, the right way is to use their conflicts to sell arms.”

After analyzing the situation in the Chongqing Kingdom, Xiao Ming decided to adopt the isolation method of the United States during World War II. doctrine diplomacy.

Not participating in any fights between forces, just making a fortune in silence.

After all, the current internal discord within the Great Chongqing Kingdom cannot be reconciled, and the various feudal kings are suspicious of each other. In this case, it is safer for the fishermen to benefit.

“Your Highness is right. If King Wei is not happy, then just buy some more artillery. Wouldn’t it be enough if there are more cannons?” Pang Yukun said.

“That’s right, so selling artillery to King Chu also stimulates King Wei to buy more artillery.”

The two of them talked all the way to the dock. Xiao Ming also sent people to the military workshop to give the thirty artillery pieces to Chu. The king’s fleet was sent and the cotton seeds were unloaded at the same time.

At first, when Li Kaiyuan went to Chu, the King of Chu naturally refused to give cotton seeds to Xiao Ming at first.

Later, King Wei’s artillery was in place. In order to show off his force, King Wei set off cannons like fireworks in the Yangtze River. This incident seriously irritated King Chu.

In Qingzhou, Xiao Ming kept suppressing Chu Di’s artillery.

The cotton seeds were not available, so Xiao Ming could wait. After all, the King of Chu could not stop the cotton sellers, and the textile mill could still sustain it, but without artillery, the King of Chu had no other options, so in the end he had to reluctantly send the cotton seeds.

Boarded a merchant ship and inspected the cotton on board.

At this time, the envoy of the King of Chu who came with the cotton seeds said: “Your Highness, the King of Chu has an order. Without the artillery, this cotton cannot be handed over to Your Highness. If Your Highness uses force, I will have to burn the cotton seeds to the ground.”

Xiao Minghe Pang Yukun looked at each other, and the envoy was a little timid. He smiled and said: “I always keep my word, so how can I covet these three ships of cotton seeds? It’s just that King Chu chose this month to send cotton seeds with ulterior motives.”

King Chu The messenger looked embarrassed when he heard this.

He naturally understood what Xiao Ming meant. March was the time to plant cotton, so bringing it in now naturally meant a threat.

Because once Xiao Ming fails to fulfill his promise, the delay will take another year before cotton can be planted.

After waiting at the dock for an hour, the artillery arrived from the military workshop.

The envoy of the King of Chu inspected the artillery and ammunition, and then agreed to the civilian men to board the boat and carry the cotton seeds down.

Xiao Ming personally came to pick up cotton seeds this time because he attached great importance to cotton as a crop. After all, cotton can produce many industrial products, and this dress is just one of them. There is also a huge demand for cotton in medicine.

If cotton is successfully planted in Qingzhou this time, Qingzhou will not have to worry about the source of cotton in the future, and will no longer be restricted by the King of Chu, affecting the development of Qingzhou’s textile industry.

This time, Xiao Ming sent the cotton sent by the King of Chu directly to Guanzhuang. It was the spring plowing season again, and the Qingzhou Army once again played the role of farmers.

Now that all the land in Guanzhuang has been cultivated, the next step is to sow the cotton seeds.

“Your Highness, do you really want to plant cotton?”

Niu Ben asked as he followed Xiao Ming on the field ridge of Guanzhuang.

As soon as the cotton was delivered to Guanzhuang, Niu Ben came with the soldiers.

Although Xiao Ming had already greeted him, Niu Ben was still a little hesitant, because in his opinion, food was the most important thing.

Now the food production in the six states has recovered somewhat, and there was a lot of surplus last year, but now it is impossible to say that this situation will cause unrest due to barbarians again.

At that time, not having enough military rations was a fatal matter.

“Old General, you don’t have to worry about this. Qingzhou doesn’t have much food now, but King Wei, King Chu, and King Yan have a lot of food. This time, taking advantage of the artillery trade, I bought a lot of food from them and stored it. “Yes.”

Niu Ben breathed a sigh of relief this time.

He has a strong emphasis on agriculture and suppressing business. Because he has been commanding the army in wars all year round, he naturally understands the sorrow when the front line is short of food.

Therefore, food is more important to him than anything else.

He actually disagrees with Xiao Ming’s current approach of paying equal attention to merchants and farmers. It’s just that an army general only needs to be responsible for fighting wars and training the army. These political opinions are not his.

Now that Xiao Ming had brought the cotton seeds, he couldn’t hold it in, but he asked casually.

He finally felt relieved when he learned that Xiao Ming had bought grain from other places in order to make up for Guanzhuang’s harvest. At least Xiao Ming was not dizzy yet.

Bag after bag of cotton seeds were distributed, and the soldiers picked up the seeds and scattered them in the fields of Guanzhuang.

This year, in addition to Guanzhuang in Qingzhou, Xiao Ming and Pang Yukun also established several slave plantations.

None of these plantations will grow staple foods this year. They will grow either cotton, sugar cane and rapeseed.

Although things like soap, perfume, and mirrors can make huge profits for a while, ordinary sugar, vegetable oil, and clothes are what everyone from the rich to the common people needs.

Capturing this market will yield lasting profits.

It is for this reason that Xiao Ming boldly opened up plantations. In his plan, Qingzhou was based on bulk commodity trade. While self-sufficient in food, he would also adopt a strategy of purchasing and storing large quantities of food.

Since last year, various states have begun to build concrete granaries. Xiao Ming’s goal is to store enough food for the people of Qingzhou for three years.

This goal cannot only rely on the food harvest in the fiefdom.

(End of chapter)