dtnovels Chapter 104 Planning
Chapter 104 Planning
Chen Er smiled and said to Xun Yu, "It is precisely because Yu Jinshi is a talented person that I transferred him back from the field army to the military police."
"Understood, sir," Xun Yu said with a smile. "Currently, the five major legions of our autonomous region have been reorganized, and even the replenishment plan for the reserves and the reserve garrisons have been planned. I wonder what the lord's current plans are?"
"There are no plans yet. I've heard that some forces in the south have also acquired flintlock muskets?" Chen Er suddenly asked.
"It seems so. A few days ago, I heard the head of the Mi family say at a business meeting that firearms similar to the standard rifles of the autonomous region's army have appeared in Yuan Shao and Tao Qian's armies," Xun Yu said to Chen Er. Why did Chen Er ask about this? Xun Yu waited for Chen Er to continue, knowing that his lord would not bring up this topic without a reason.
"It seems that our army's equipment advantage is slowly being caught up by other forces," Chen Er sighed.
“That’s inevitable. While we’re making progress, others are making progress too. It’s just that we don’t know if this rifling technology has been exposed yet,” Xun Yu said.
“Wenruo, sometimes you can’t completely trust the people around you.” Chen Er suddenly said something out of the blue, making Xun Yu break out in a cold sweat. What was his lord saying? Or had his lord figured something out? Chen Er ignored Xun Yu’s reaction and continued to talk to himself, “Even you know this news, but I didn’t get it from the intelligence department. Er Gouzi, Er Gouzi, you mustn’t let me down.”
Chen Er said to Xun Yu, "I'm going to the arsenal to take a look. The enemy is making progress, and we need to make progress too. I'm going to the arsenal to see if Andeli and his men have made any new progress in the past year."
Chen Er left, but what Chen Er had just said stirred up a huge wave in Xun Yu's heart. Could Er Gouzi really have a problem?
If Er Gouzi has a problem, then where did Chen Er get this information? At the meeting at the beginning of the year, Chen Er directly proposed to award Er Gouzi the rank of lieutenant general. Although it is not a lieutenant general in the combat troops, it is still an honor. You should know that there are no more than twenty lieutenant generals in the entire army system, which is enough to show Er Gouzi's status.
Has Li Zhong really betrayed us? Or is our lord using veiled insults? Xun Yu's vest was completely soaked with sweat. Had our lord really heard something?
Xun Yu hurriedly returned to his residence and locked himself in his room, needing to think things through carefully.
On the other side, Chen Er rushed to the Yuyang Arsenal. After several expansions, the arsenal now covers a full 500 acres. It has five or six large steam engines and more than a dozen small ones, with more than 10,000 workers. There are also 3,000 garrison troops independent of the military system, who are specifically responsible for protecting the security of the arsenal.
Currently, the arsenal's daily output has reached 500 Type 2 Autumn Rain rifles, five General cannons, and 50 tons of various types of gunpowder. Production of other items, such as armor, is not included in this figure; with the advent of the steam engine, armor production has become much simpler. If a three-shift system were implemented, the arsenal's output could be increased by about 30%, but such an extreme work method is generally not adopted.
It can be said that at this time, the output of the Yuyang Arsenal alone accounted for half of the entire empire's firearms production. This was the source of Chen Er's confidence in reorganizing the army and reforming the conscription system. In short: no worries about equipment.
"We pay our respects to King Wei." Upon being informed by the guards, Andeli and the others hurried out from the workshop or office to greet Chen Er. "Get up, get up quickly." Chen Er quickly stepped forward and helped everyone up, saying, "You are all meritorious officials of the autonomous region, there is no need for formalities, no need for formalities."
"I wonder why the King of Wei has come?" As the direct person in charge of the arsenal, Andeli stepped forward and asked. Before he could finish speaking, Chen Er stopped him with a look and said to Andeli, "There are too many people here, let's go into your office to talk." When the surrounding workers and technicians saw that Chen Er spoke like this, they knew that they had nothing to do, so they left one after another. Only Ying Xiong and Andeli followed Chen Er into Andeli's office. Chen Qun stood guard at the office door like a gatekeeper.
"I have two matters to discuss with you." As soon as he entered the office, Chen Er said to the two men, "First, according to intelligence, flintlock muskets have appeared in the south, but they do not use rifled technology. However, this also means that someone here has leaked some technology. This person is very likely someone inside the arsenal. You need to investigate this secretly."
"Such a thing has happened! If I find out who it is, I'll throw them into the furnace!" Ying Xiong said viciously.
Chen Er laughed and said, "Father-in-law, this is too bloody. Even if this person is from inside the arsenal, he shouldn't be the mastermind. What we need to do is find out who is behind him."
“This is called luring the snake out of its hole,” Andrei said.
Chen Er nodded in agreement, and then brought up another matter: "There's one more thing, is there any progress on the paper bullets we asked you to research six months ago?"
"There has been progress, but there are still many problems, so we haven't reported to Your Majesty yet." When it came to professional matters, Andeli became quite excited and quickly introduced the current research progress to Chen Er. Ying Qiuyu was originally involved in this research, but she is now pregnant, so the progress has slowed down. However, the most critical issue of the cardboard has been somewhat resolved, and now they are waiting for good news from the paper mill.
Hearing this news, Chen Er felt much more at ease. In this way, even if other forces were to equip themselves with flintlock muskets, he wouldn't be too anxious. As long as fixed ammunition came out, even with the most primitive cardboard bullets, the autonomous region's musketeers would have an absolute advantage!
In any case, the only way to get these people who have become research fanatics to stop their research is for them to get pregnant like Ying Qiuyu, but is that even possible? Obviously, it's impossible.
After Chen Er left, Ying Xiong and Andeli continued their discussion in the office for more than half an hour before finally opening the office door and coming out. No one knew what the two of them had been talking about for so long. However, since that day, the arsenal had strengthened the checks on workers when they went to and from get off work. Everyone had to undergo a body search by the guards, especially the technical workers and engineers, who were the focus of the checks.