The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

After all, he is not a fool. If he does not cooperate with Liu Zheng, does he have to be alone? In the end, the pressure will not be reduced in the face of Yangzhou Shepherd Liu Yao, and there is no harm in cooperating with Liu Zheng of.

"I can cooperate with you, but how to deal with Liu Yao specifically? Don't tell me, just let me restrain Liu Yao. With my current strength, it is not so easy to restrain Liu Yao."

"I don't need you to do anything, I just need you to make trouble behind him and add some pressure to Liu Yao when he is dealing with me."

Liu Zheng didn't say much to Yan Baihu. After all, he hasn't figured out how to deal with Liu Yao. The top priority is that Liu Zheng is not sending troops to sweep Yangzhou, but to rectify Jiaozhou's economy first, so he still needs some help. Time to cultivate.

"That's not a problem. When will we send troops to deal with Liu Yao?"

"It's not suitable to send troops for the time being. We need to wait for a while. My soldiers and horses in Jiaozhou have just experienced a big battle. They need to cultivate for half a year. After half a year, they will be able to come from Jiaozhou and deal with Liu Yao together. What do you think? "

"Half a year."

Yan Baihu heard Liu Zheng's words, and said these two words in his mouth.

Although he felt that this time was a bit long and there would be many variables in the six months, he still didn't say no to Liu Zheng.

"Okay, half a year is half a year."

"In the past six months, I must use the Mi family's fleet to conduct some trade, increase some income, recruit people, and build weapons. When the time comes, I will send someone to contact Brother Yan."

After Yan Baihu heard that Liu Zheng had calculated all the follow-up plans, he didn't say much, nodded, picked up the wine glass on the table, gestured to Liu Zheng, and then drank it down.

At this moment, the conversation had reached this point, and it was quite smooth. For Liu Zheng, Yan Baihu's understanding of righteousness was quite in line with his appetite, and the two of them could still chat.

So Liu Zheng also gave Yan Baihu a face, picked up the wine glass, and drank it down.

In Wucheng County, the meeting between Liu Zheng and Yan Baihu was considered friendly. The two sides were not at war. Perhaps Yan Baihu could also know that as a water thief, there were not many people who could ally him, and Liu Zheng Exactly one of them.

And it is the most powerful one.

Liu Zheng didn't stay in Yan Baihu's territory for too long. After returning Yan Baihu's younger brother Yan Xing to Yan Baihu, Liu Zheng took his own troops and prepared to leave.

Of course, after leaving Guigui, he didn't leave directly, but brought someone with him to Mi's house.

After the robbery of the cargo ship has been settled, Liu Zheng will invite the Mi family to continue to invest in the trade in various places.

The trade in Jingzhou can continue normally, while the trade in Jiaozhou can also start on the other side.

Before Liu Zheng left the Mi family, he asked the Mi family to prepare the merchant ship for Jiaozhou. Now that half a month has passed, it should be ready as well.

After contacting the Mi family, the Mi family has indeed prepared some goods, but they are not particularly valuable and expensive, and the number of the fleet is not too large, which may be due to the environment in Jiaozhou. Do not really understand.

It is impossible to make an important assessment of the commercial structure of Jiaozhou. What is sold is more valuable, so we can only be cautious and adopt a conservative strategy.

For this, Liu Zheng did not blame the Mi family. After all, it is normal for the Mi family to be cautious. He took the Mi family's fleet, five or six merchant ships, all the way down the Yangtze River, and then traveled from Jiaozhou as before. The path along the coast all the way to Yangzhou, returned to Jiaozhou.

It took Liu Zheng less than a month to leave Jiaozhou this trip.

Not much happened in Jiaozhou, and there was no need for Liu Zheng to deal with it. After returning to Jiaozhou, Liu Zheng took Mi Fang who came from Xuzhou to familiarize himself with the environment here, and then asked Yuan Zhou to meet Mi Fang. Discuss business matters.

When she first left Xuzhou, Mi Fang still didn't believe what Liu Zheng said on the boat. She thought that she hadn't been able to reach Jiaozhou when she sailed out to sea. Yangzhou, when it comes to the boundary of Jiaozhou.

The look of distrust on Mi Fang's face also began to turn into a look of surprise, and even when she finally arrived in Hepu, Mi Fang had changed from surprise to ecstasy.

The whole trip took only seven or eight days, not even half a month.

If the speed is fast enough, it doesn't take a month to transport the goods from Jiaozhou and Xuzhou. This kind of transportation is faster than transporting from Xuzhou to Jingzhou.

There is a huge difference between Jiaozhou and Xuzhou now. If you go by land, it will take at least two or three months before the goods can be delivered. But now that you go by sea, I am afraid that there are many exchanges between the two. The goods can make the Mi family a fortune in this transaction.

After understanding the value, Mi Fang gave Liu Zheng a grateful look, and followed Yuan Zhou to explore the market.

And Liu Zheng doesn't need to do it himself, he has to worry about everything, he just needs to control the general direction, and then leave these details to his subordinates to do.

He came to the barracks. This time, he did not bring Zu Lang back with him. Zu Lang's [-] soldiers and horses still stayed in the waters of Poyang Lake, guarding Yangzhou for Liu Zheng.

This time it was Brother Jiang Zhou and their nearly 1000 men who followed Liu Zheng back.

These people are the most basic part of Liu Zheng's formation of the navy.

Chapter 325 The Formation of the Navy

Of course, it is impossible to form a navy with only 1000 people from the Jiang and Zhou brothers.

It is also necessary for Liu Zheng to reorganize other soldiers.Liu Zheng had ordered Xu Huang to recruit these people a month ago.

Of course, the manpower of the navy is not so easy to recruit. The navy is rarer than ordinary cavalry and archers, but this is only compared to other places. In Jiaozhou and Yangzhou, the two places, but not very rare.

Because the most important point of the navy is to be able to swim, and you can find a lot of such people in these two states and counties.

Of course, it is not enough to be able to swim. After all, there are still many people who are not suitable for long-term sailing.

Therefore, the selection of the navy's personnel is relatively harsh. In one month, Xu Huang recruited 3000 people from all over Jiaozhou.

These 3000 people were handed over to Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai, not all of them were trained to become navy troops, but a wave of selection was carried out first, and those who met the requirements were incorporated into the navy team, and the rest were not good enough. If they meet the requirements, Liu Zheng will still let them rush into other teams.

A few days later, these people began to reorganize under the leadership of Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai, two new navy generals who joined Liu Zheng's command.

In just three days, more than 3000 people were eliminated by Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin, and more than 4000 people were eliminated.

It is conceivable that the two of them have high demands on the troops under their command. For those they eliminated, Liu Zheng did not let them go back. Instead, they were all transferred to serve as backup troops for other teams, while Zhou Tai and Jiang These water troops under Qin's command and some of their original soldiers and horses formed a water army of 1 people.

Temporarily serving as Liu Zheng's navy, and starting training near Hepu, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin gave Liu Zheng a guarantee that within a month, the initial training of this army can be formed.

Regarding this, Liu Zheng really didn't really care much about it, he was busy with other things at the moment.

That is the question about the equipment of the soldiers and horses under his command.

Liu Zheng had been dealing with the people's livelihood issues in Jiaozhou before, and spent most of his time on managing the development and governance of Jiaozhou. Although the military was very concerned about the affairs of the army, this time, after returning to Jiaozhou, he spent time in several barracks. , After walking around, Xu You submitted a new idea to Liu Zheng.

Xu You compared the swords and weapons in the hands of Wang Fen's soldiers in Jizhou, and then compared them with Liu Zheng's men.

Today's Liu Zheng's soldiers and horses are not short of weapons, and even have a lot of extra, but the quality of these weapons is not very good.

For one thing, most of these weapons were seized from Jiaozhou, and the weapons-making skills in Jiaozhou are somewhat different from those in the Central Plains.

The second reason is that although Liu Zheng himself will lead people to build some weapons, those weapons are difficult to mass-produce, mainly because Liu Zheng has a small number of blacksmiths.

The weapons made are limited, and the good weapons made are mostly carried by Liu Zheng's generals, or only elite troops can carry them.

In the past, Liu Zheng had a small number of troops, only 2 to [-]. Although the supply of these weapons was slightly insufficient, over time, they could barely support them.

But now, Liu Zheng has recruited more than [-] troops throughout Jiaozhou, plus the four permanent corps he owns.

Already has 10 horses.

10 horses, although only 1 are the main battle force, plus the newly recruited [-] sailors.

There are only 5 soldiers and horses, and the supply of weapons for these [-] horses has already encountered great difficulties. It is not that there are no weapons to use, but the quality of those weapons is not good enough to compete with the generals that Liu Zheng created himself. So good.

If Liu Zheng's soldiers and horses can hold more elite weapons, their combat effectiveness can also be improved by a few points.

Therefore, it is necessary to expand Liu Zheng's blacksmith production line.

Liu Zheng came to the ordnance workshop, which has now become a military center. Generally, only the most core members of Liu Zhengjun can come here, because here, not only are Liu Zhengjun's sophisticated weapons produced, but also responsible for research and development of new weapons.

When the old blacksmith Han Fu saw Liu Zheng appearing, he immediately came over to report the results of this period of time to Liu Zheng.

Han Fu was the first group of people to follow Liu Zheng. When Liu Zheng was in Runan, he lacked weapons and occupied a blacksmith he had finally found in Runan.

Han Fuben was a close confidant of the Yellow Turban Army, so he followed Liu Zheng in a daze, and now he has become the most powerful blacksmith in the Jiaozhou area. His status in Liu Zheng's army is more respected than ordinary generals.

"Uncle Han Fu, I haven't seen you for a month. How much has your workshop expanded?"

Because of the large demand for weapons, Han Fu can only expand the weaponry workshop. With successive transformations, the workshop will naturally occupy a larger area and the output will also be greatly improved, but it still cannot catch up with Liu Zheng's men and horses. Expansion is fast.

"My lord, what to say, even if the line of sight is expanded like this, it is not of much use. The demand for weapons in our various military departments is too great. Generals Xu Huang and General Zhou Cang came to urge me a few days ago to increase production. "

"Have you encountered any difficulties?"

Liu Zheng saw some doubts on Han Fu's face, so he asked a question quickly.

"There are some difficulties."

"But it's okay, I'm here to solve those troubles for you."

"Then let me just say it directly. One is that there is not enough iron ore. We don't have much iron ore in the first place, and there is not enough iron ore. Coupled with the recent intensification of weapons, the amount of ore is even more scarce."

Han Fu told Liu Zheng about the difficulties in the ordnance workshop at this time, and Liu Zheng frowned before he finished speaking.

The iron ore thing is not a recent problem, but a shortcoming that Liu Zheng has always had. He had no territory at the beginning, so it was naturally impossible to mine the ore by himself. In many cases, he went to find someone to buy it by himself.

However, the quantity of ore purchased has never been large enough to meet the weapons used by tens of thousands of people under his command. What's more, there are other places where iron is needed, such as agricultural tools, building houses, digging canals, and manufacturing ships. A series of places, such as pig iron, are useful.

Although Jiaozhou was later occupied, the proven iron ore mining sites in Jiaozhou seem to be quite far away from Jiaozhou, and the amount developed is far less than that in the Central Plains.

Chapter 326 Military Supplies

"The iron ore matter must be resolved. What is another problem?"

After understanding the first question, Liu Zheng asked Han Fu another question.

"Another problem is that when we want to refine stronger and harder weapons, we encounter difficulties. The flame in our furnace is not strong enough to completely remove the impurities inside, so I wonder if the Lord There is a way to increase the intensity of the flame."

Liu Zheng actually had some understanding of Han Fu's way of building weapons. When he was building stirrups with him before, Liu Zheng had already mastered some of the process of refining pig iron.

Although this ancient refining method is relatively crude, Liu Zheng actually didn't have much to do for a while.

Firstly, the iron smelting furnace is small, and the amount of iron ore to be smelted at one time is limited. This is why pig iron is more expensive at this time, and it is also because although there are many ores, it is not so easy to smelt ore into ironware.

The second is that the firepower is not strong enough. At this stage, most of the iron smelting is generally wood, at most charcoal is used, and the flame temperature of wood is at best more than 1000 degrees, and even the temperature of some wood may be only a few Baidu.

It is not so easy to completely remove the impurities in iron ore, and a higher temperature is required.

Liu Zheng only knows two ways to increase the temperature of the flame.

After all, he is not a professional to learn this, and it is not easy to return to the two. One is to change the fuel, so that the flame fuel for refining pig iron should not be wood and charcoal, but a higher temperature fuel, such as coal. .

The flame produced by burning coal is higher than that of wood and charcoal. If coal is used to smelt pig iron, more impurities in iron ore can be removed.

Or, it is to use a greater external force, such as a blower to support the combustion, to increase the temperature of the flame.

Han Fu actually has a blower here, but at this time, it is not called a blower, but a fan. It is composed of a leather wind bag and a wooden frame. There are air inlets and exhaust outlets. It can increase the amount of air intake, enhance the firepower of combustion, and rapidly raise the furnace temperature to more than 1200 degrees required for ironmaking.

At first, the 橐 was driven by human and animal power.Later, Liu Zheng and Han Fu made some improvements, using dozens of oxen and horses to drive large-scale platoon blowers, plus hundreds of workers who loaded ore.This effectively improves the refining of pig iron.

But now it is still not satisfied, and can only continue to improve.In order to change this status quo, reforms must be carried out to get the blower out.

As soon as Han Fu told Liu Zheng about the difficulties he encountered, Liu Zheng fell into deep thought. After a while, he had some thoughts in his heart.

"Okay, Uncle Han Fu, I understand what you said, you go ahead, I'll think about it and see how to solve this problem."

After Liu Zheng left Han Fu's side, he actually had some thoughts about the two problems Han Fu mentioned in his heart. The first one was the problem of pig iron.

The problem of pig iron is actually easy to solve.

First of all, now that the trade between Jiaozhou and Xuzhou has been successful, the problem of pig iron can be directly transported from other places, which can be alleviated in a short time.

Although transportation from other states and counties still cannot completely solve the problem of ore shortage, this is only Liu Zheng's first-hand preparation, and he has other methods.

And this method is Zhu Yazhou that Liu Zheng has always wanted to develop!

Although Zhuyazhou is not particularly big, it has a good climate and has been developed into a famous resort in the future. Liu Zheng went to it several times in his previous life, not to mention being rich.

He clearly remembered that Zhuyazhou at that time was most famous for its iron mines besides tourism.

The iron mine in Zhuyazhou was the largest in China at that time, even the largest in Asia.The largest iron-rich mine in Asia is Zhuyazhou Island.

If the rich iron ore on this island can be mined, the source of pig iron under Liu Zheng's command will be endless, and he will no longer have to worry about pig iron.

And not only pig iron, but also a lot of gold and silver ore on the island. Mining together is enough to supplement military expenditures. For Liu Zheng, it couldn't be better.

As for using coal to support combustion, this will not trouble Liu Zheng. In his previous life, Yichun County, where he lived, actually had coal mines, and coal mines are not uncommon. There are some in various places. The difficulty lies in the ancient During the Han Dynasty, not many people used coal mines to make fire, and they didn't know how valuable this black gold was.

Liu Zheng first ordered people to search for black coal near Hepu. If he couldn't find it, then Liu Zheng would send people to search near Yichun when the time came. They should be able to find it.

After all, the matter of coal is not very urgent. The most urgent thing is pig iron, so after Liu Zheng learned about Han Fu's situation, he was the first to find Mi Fang.

In the past two days, under Yuan Zhou's leadership, Mi Fang has already gotten a general understanding of the customs and customs of Jiaozhou, and also understands what is lacking here.

I am planning to buy some things that Xuzhou and Yangzhou lack from here in the past two days, bring them back, and start the first wave of trade.

But after Liu Zheng found him, he explained the situation in Jiaozhou, and when he asked Mi Fang to go to Xuzhou and Yangzhou to buy some pig iron to sell here, Mi Fang agreed immediately.

Although pig iron is relatively scarce in Jiaozhou, it is not lacking in the Central Plains, especially Xuzhou, Qingzhou, and Yuzhou.

Mi Fang and the others can easily buy some pig iron, and it will be easy to sell it directly to Jiaozhou when the time comes.

After all, now that there is a shipping line, it is not difficult to transport goods from Xuzhou and Jiaozhou.

After confessing to Mi Fang, Liu Zheng found Xu Huang. Now Xu Huang is the general responsible for the defense of the entire Jiaozhou. After Liu Zheng left, all military deployments followed Xu Huang's orders.

"Brother Xu Huang."