Chapter 218 Return to Huazhou
In any case, more than half a year after leaving Huazhou, I was finally reminded of it and the ban was lifted. This is also a very happy thing.
Although even if Yu Wentai didn't order a grounding, Li Tai had been so busy for more than half a year that he had no time to wander elsewhere. But people are so strange. Whether I can leave the earth is my business, but if you want to order me not to leave, that is power and shackles, which makes me feel no freedom at all!
Although he was still a little unhappy, after reading the letter, Li Tai packed his luggage, integrated the cattle and horses collected in Beizhou and prepared to escort them to the south in the near future, and escorted them back.
The first stop on the southbound trip is Chengcheng Fang. Unlike the two Fangcheng in the north, which handle everything, Chengcheng Fang's affairs are the simplest. Chengcheng County was responsible for the construction of Fangcheng. Before it was completed and delivered, more than a thousand local tycoons from Shangyuan Township had already been recruited. Li Yantou, the leader of the defense, directly led his troops and settled in with swords.
Chengcheng County belongs to Huazhou. Last year, Li Taiyi suppressed the bandits. The bandits in the territory have not been completely disappeared, but they have also been greatly restrained. Li Yantou led his troops to garrison here, and his most important task every day was to train his troops.
Therefore, Chengcheng's defense troops are more outstanding than the other two defenses. Putting aside the force of individual soldiers, the basic military qualities of executing orders and prohibitions, maintaining orderly formations, and orderly advancing and retreating are considered to be fully possessed.
Moreover, most of the Chengcheng defense soldiers were Shang Yuan's disciples. With Li Tai's rural influence and prestige in Shang Yuan, even if he resigned one day, other parties may not continue to follow him, but these Shang Yuan soldiers would definitely move with him.
Li Tai was not in a hurry, so he simply stayed in Chengcheng for two days, led the troops out of the city, and practiced attacking each other with his five hundred elite cavalry. People and horses can also come and go and see each other, which shows that it is quite good.
So Li Tai decided to conduct a defense adjustment in the second half of the year, deploying the three defense personnel and preparing for the training in a relaxed manner.
After the drill, he crossed the nearby river and came to Baishui.
Today's Baishui Village is Li Tai's military industry base camp. All the smelting and forging craftsmen gathered here. From Luoshui to Baishui, several districts are working day and night. The smoke from the smelting furnaces set up along the river is rising into the sky. We have made a real contribution to the environmental pollution in the West and the accelerated end of the Little Ice Age.
The workshop covers an area of more than ten hectares, with nearly 5,000 craftsmen and their families, and nearly 2,000 actual craftsmen. In addition to what Li Tai recruited through various means, Liu Min also gave away a hundred blacksmiths and blacksmiths after returning home.
After the workshop was established, basic consumables such as arrows were basically self-sufficient, and the output of bows, knives, guns, and armor was also steadily increasing.
In the past six months alone, the workshop has produced more than 5,000 knives, more than 6,000 long and short spears, more than 3,000 bows, and more than 700 standard double-handed armors. The sabers were nearly three hundred.
Although the quantity is not low, the finished product rate is a bit worrying. The finished product rate is less than 70%, and the material breakage rate is high. Some weapons that are more difficult to forge, such as the horse-cutting sword and the Li Tai Distribution Department's cranked handle, were nearly scrapped after two months of use. Half, and it is still in the process of non-high-intensity combat such as hunting and training. It can be seen that it is still flashy and its practicality is worrying.
Li Tai was also a little helpless about this. In his previous life, he was just a general history UP, and he was not an eighth-level blacksmith. He knew a little about personnel allusions and historical context, but it would be difficult for him to understand heavy industry.
Kansai has been in chaos for many years, and the current level of craftsmanship is probably even lower than that of Hebei. It is not easy for Dugu Xin to make a sword of ancient iron.
Even if you are lucky enough to find one or two skilled craftsmen, it will take a long time to establish a set of smelting and forging procedures, and then standardize the promotion and widespread equipment.
Not to mention that craftsmen like Li Tai were mainly temple slaves who switched careers from smelting Buddha statues. Although they all play with metal, the casting and forging processes and uses are very different, and technological progress also requires a process and time.
At present, the consumption of raising soldiers and workshops has become the bulk of Li Tai's expenses.
There are other ways to supplement the former, but the latter is simply a gold-selling cave. The iron materials Li Tai obtained from suppressing bandits and robbing Buddhist temples last year have long been used up, and what he is using now is all newly smelted. materials.
More than half of the stolen goods from Hongfa Temple he secretly hid last year have not been digested and liquidated. If it were not for the support of Liu Min, the Jianyu family, he might not be able to sustain it.
The cost of training craftsmen by oneself is too high. Li Tai has recently been thinking about where to get a large number of skilled forging craftsmen, either near the Jinyang Bafu of his elder brother He Liuhun on the other side of the river, or from the Jinyang Bafu in Mobei. Turkic tribe.
Although his goal was quite clear, he couldn't afford to offend either of them. Therefore, this high-investment and low-return workshop must continue to be maintained. Even if the cost of self-made ordnance is higher than that of external procurement, in order to avoid being strangled, we still cannot give up halfway.
Money is a bastard, let’s be greedy after spending it! This stubborn old man has given birth to another big rocket worth 500,000 bolts of silk. When China and France are officially launched next year, there will be another flying monkey!
Thinking of this, Li Tai became full of energy again, and made up his mind to keep half of the gifts for those two families. If he was really generous, they might even think that he was quite rich. As far as Yu Wentai's character is concerned, no matter how many gifts he gives, he may not be able to get money back. The key is that he has quite a few children.
In mid-July, Li Tai finally returned to Wuxiang County. Thinking that Yu Jin's manor was still north of his Shangyuan Village, he planned to cross the river and take a detour, go home and change into patched clothes before visiting.
After all, his team consisted of hundreds of people, and they were strong and powerful. They also escorted hundreds of carts of supplies and herds of cattle and horses. It was really eye-catching.
But when he just arrived at the ferry, more than 20 riders came to greet him on horseback from the east. The leader, a young man in brocade robes, raised his hand to Li Tai from a distance and said with a smile: "In my uncle's name, I am here to welcome Governor Li when he returns to the mansion." "Xiang, are you alright, Commander-in-Chief?"
When Li Tai visited Yu Jin's home last year, he met this boy. His name was Yu Kuan. He was Yu Jin's son and was only one year younger than himself.
Seeing that he could not avoid it, he could only walk forward slowly, nodded and said with a smile: "We are accustomed to the old way, why bother to greet us. The general is so polite that Hui'an comes to welcome him, the hospitality is unbearable! It's just that the wind and sand around me, I’m afraid of contaminating the hall. Can I take a shower and visit again after I return?”
Yu Kuan turned over and dismounted, walked forward to pull the bridle rope, then turned around and said with a smile: "The Governor has a distinguished appearance. Wherever he walks, the tented houses also add brilliance. It is with this brilliance that I welcome you, and the wind and sand are everywhere." , It's not enough to disturb me. My uncle solemnly told me to stop him before the governor enters the house, so as to bring honor to my family's future happy events. "
After Li Tai heard this, he had no choice but to get off his horse and ordered his subordinates to lead the materials back to the manor. He followed Yu Kuan with dozens of followers to the Yu Jin family manor.
"The governor-general has not been in the job for a long time, but he has already made a strong career. He really embarrasses his peers!"
When Yu Kuan saw Li Tai's entourage driving the car, he immediately said with envy on his face.
His father, Yu Hu, grew up before he entered the civil service and has been living with his uncle Yu Jin. He is still an unofficial official until now. He saw that Li Tai, who was only one year older than him, had become the chief of the Three Defense City with nearly ten thousand troops. Governor, I am ashamed and envious.
"Alas, I'm just glamorous on the outside and good at the moment, but I have to swallow my hard work on the inside!"
After Li Tai heard this, he sighed and said to Kuan: "Hui'an, you are talented and well-educated. When you enter the age of affairs, you will be strong inside and outside, and you will be able to leap both inside and outside in just a moment!"
When he said this, he didn't mean to be good because he got a cheap deal, but he really envied these second-generation people.
Yu Jin is serving as a general. Last year, he was appointed as Shangshu Zuopushe and also served as chief minister of the prime minister's office. Apart from those relatives of the Yuan and Wei dynasties who were supported in vain, he was already second only to Daxingtai in both the imperial court and the hegemony's military and political circles. Yuwentai's people.
With such support from relatives and elders, even if Yu Kuan is just a white man now, his career will surely be smooth and skyrocketing. Compared with these truly powerful second generations, I only took advantage of being a stupid bird who flew first and never missed any opportunity.
Yu Kuan invited Li Taiqiang into his manor, but Yu Jin was not in the manor. Instead, he personally organized this meaningful wedding at his residence in Huazhou City.
Li Tai took a bath and ate in this village for a while, and then went to Huazhou City with Yu Kuan.
After arriving outside the city, he found that the layout of Huazhou City was completely different from when he left last year. Several small cities were built around the city. These were probably used to station Bafu's expanded direct army and make the defense around Huazhou City more solid.
The city itself has also been expanded outwards. The main expansion is Bafuxingtai, and a whole military city has been expanded outward along the city wall. The combined scale of the front and rear has greatly exceeded the imperial city of Chang'an City. Gradually, There was the later atmosphere of Tongzhou Palace.
Li Tai couldn't help but feel sour when he saw this. All the money you gave me to build the defense city was withheld by you to build a house for your own family! Calculating it this way, Bafu must be half as big as mine. When Yuwentai can no longer live in it, he will have to live there for a few years no matter what!
A group of people entered the city from the west. When they passed the city gate, the general who defended the city immediately came up to him with a face of joy. He crossed his hands from a distance and said, "When did Alang come back?"
Li Tai looked up and was happy to see that the guard was Li Quji. He knew that the Wuxiang County soldiers led by Zhou Changming had joined the Sixth Army of Bubafu, but he did not expect that they had been arranged to participate in the city defense.
"At the beginning of the month, I performed well in martial arts, and my servant was appointed as the city gate supervisor. Fang Zuo took up his new duty. I have informed Uncle Zhusheng, but I haven't had time to report to Alang from afar."
Li Quji raised his face proudly and said, but Li Tai raised his face and said solemnly: "The city defense guard has the most important duty. The alarm bell is ringing in my heart. Let's talk about it when we go home. Don't leave your position now!" "
After hearing this, Li Quji hurriedly restrained his smile, bowed his head to Li Tai, and then quickly returned to his post.
Although Li Tai had a stern face, he was happy in his heart. Damn, I am considered a man in the city defense. If anyone keeps staring at me blindly, be careful when entering and leaving Huazhou. It depends on whether I am messing with him or not!