Zheng Chenggong arrived as promised, and the army was stationed at Gulangyu Island. This advance was originally to cooperate with Zheng Cai to regain Haicheng. Zheng Chenggong came early and continued to train his troops while hanging around with Zheng Cai and others. Zheng Cai had his own food and grass.

, Zheng Lian brothers were in charge, but they also saved the inventory in South Australia.

Since the start of the army in the twelfth month of last year, Zheng Chenggong's troops have expanded from more than 90 people to more than 1,000 soldiers, and then to more than 3,000 soldiers and horses. His family's assets are nothing more than the inventory of the Nan'ao town government and the 100,000 taels of silver that were robbed from his own family.

.However, the army spends a lot of money. The original and secondary military pay alone costs about 20 taels per soldier per year. The military pay for the soldiers of this large army alone can reach a huge 70,000 taels of silver per year.

!

This does not take into account the needs and other expenses for officers at all levels, staff and other people as well as various materials, which is simply not enough for Zheng Chenggong who only has one Nan'ao Island.

Now that we are cooperating with sending troops and enjoying the wealth of Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian, the financial situation in Nan'ao will be easier. However, if you want to use this corner of the country to complete the great cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty, there are still many places to spend money.

, daily expenses, investment in sea trade, the construction of Nan'ao Town, etc., etc., not to mention these, even the weapons workshop in Chen Kai's hands that originally had only a dozen craftsmen was increasingly moving towards food.

He plunged in the direction of the rich man without looking back.

"Put the shelf up, yes, this is it, fixed."

The expansion of the weapons workshop is already in progress, which will inevitably delay production. Chen Kai divided the workshop land into a new factory area and an old factory area. The original old factory area continues to build weapons, and the newly incorporated weapons workshop area

On the land, the land was leveled, the foundation was laid, and the construction of the house was soon started according to Chen Kai's planning drawings.

As far as Chen Kai could see, the first of the row of blacksmith shops where construction was first started had begun the beam-laying process. The only difference from building a house on weekdays was that this time, two beams were erected first.

There is a shelf with horizontal bars, ropes, and several disc-like things. At first glance, it seems that ropes are embedded in it, and the other end of the ropes is tied to the large beams of this house.

.

"I call start, and you start pulling. Don't be too fast, and don't be too slow. Follow my command."

The foreman who was building the house shouted loudly. Some of the laborers who came to do the work were holding on to the wooden poles, while others were pulling on ropes. Waiting for the foreman's order to be given, the beam slowly moved as the laborers on both sides pulled.

It broke away from the ground and moved upward in a steady trend.

"Slow down on the left side, you are too fast... No, you are too slow. Go faster and use more strength to keep the balance of the beam."

The horizontal ones are beams, and the vertical ones are columns. The large beams are the main beams. They are the beams that bear the main weight of the roof of a house. They are strong and heavy. Originally, many people had to work together to build the beams. In the Song Dynasty,

There was a famous general in the general family who encountered the dilemma of not having enough manpower to build the beams of the house. But famous generals are famous generals after all, and they always have a way. He simply claimed that he could watch the play after the house was built, attracting those who were interested in watching the show.

The people of Baixi worked hard and managed to gather enough manpower, so things were not delayed.

However, at this moment, as the rope is pulled, the disc above is also constantly rolling. The girder is slowly rising, but the force of pulling the rope below is nearly half less than normal. If it were at that time,

Most of the time, that kind of general doesn't have to worry about making up funny jokes anymore.

"Why does this wooden pulley always make me feel that it is not very strong?"

The beam was still rising. Chen Kai tilted his head and looked at the pair of pulleys on the shelf that he had dug out from the depths of his mind after thinking about it for a long time. While he was satisfied with the effect, he was used to it.

Although he has metal tools, he always subconsciously questions the sturdiness of wooden tools.

"Forget it, let's do this first. The blacksmith's production capacity is still insufficient, and it's not enough to make weapons. How can we have time to do this?"

After watching the construction of the new factory area for a while, Chen Kai returned to the old factory area. There was not much impact there due to the construction. It was just that a few carpenters were transferred to help. However, with the relevant people promised by Hong Xu, etc.

People arrived one after another, and the old factory area, which was already small, became even more cramped.

Chen Kai returned to the old factory area, and the craftsmen and handymen just nodded and continued their work. Such behavior was extremely rude, but neither Chen Kai nor the supervisors expressed dissatisfaction, because this was what they were doing.

The reason for Chen Kai's request is also very simple, that is, going back and forth to salute will affect production efficiency.

The new blacksmith was obviously still a little uncomfortable with it. He wanted to put down his tools and salute, but in the middle of the action, he seemed to suddenly remember Chen Kai's order that when the work was in progress, he could just nod his head when he saw the superior. Instead, he

He didn't touch both ends, which was very embarrassing, but he paused for a while before returning to the rhythm of forging.

Chen Kai talked to the new craftsmen respectively, and even asked the original craftsmen to speak out. Among them, Tang Quanyou was originally the blacksmith of the main town government. He had a deep understanding of the oppression of officials, and the effect of his preaching was very good. So far.

So far, there are four groups of twelve blacksmiths, fifteen carpenters, eight rattan makers, two bow makers and a painter who paints weapons in the weapons workshop, all of which are built according to Chen Kai's requirements in the old factory.

Weapons. Of course, they can also enjoy those benefits and avoid the pain of exploitation.

The craftsmen promised by Hong Xu have basically arrived. They have all been recruited from villages and towns in South Australia. They have reached the limit of this occupied area. Even the villages and towns have no blacksmiths at all. There are probably only

There should be room for improvement for rattan craftsmen.

Four groups of blacksmiths were banging on the iron materials. Tang Quanyou was aside, the three groups of blacksmiths continued to forge spears, while Tang Quanyou had already begun to forge waist knives.

The sword and shield was a combination of weapons commonly used by infantrymen on the Chinese battlefield in this era to break formations. One hand held a shield to block enemy attacks, and the other held a knife to chop. An experienced sword and shield soldier could jump, roll, dodge and move.

Breaking into the enemy's formation and killing them wantonly. Infantry is different from cavalry and other soldiers. They do not fight without formation. This is an iron law of military strategists. Once the formation is destroyed, the infantry will quickly become a piece of loose sand. In most cases

, the outcome is basically decided.

The task of manufacturing swords and shields was given by Zheng Chenggong, which was also a re-adjustment of the unreasonable ratio of arms in this army. However, Chen Kai has been seizing the time to supplement the vacancies in Nan'ao Town these days, so he should wait until Hong Xu comes from Long'ao Town

When the blacksmiths recruited from there entered the workshop, he selected Tang Quanyou, the most skilled among the blacksmiths, to make waist knives. He only thought of it as a gradual accumulation.

Among the waist knives of the Ming Dynasty, there are Yanling knives originating from the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Yanwing knives made in the Song Dynasty, lancet knives that were born by absorbing the advantages of Mongolian and Yuan weapons, Japanese knives passed down from Japan, and various imitation Japanese knives.

, the most famous one is the Qi Dao designed by the famous general Qi Jiguang, which absorbed some of the advantages and characteristics of the Japanese Dao and improved the local knife.

Like other Ming armies, Zheng Chenggong's soldiers were all equipped with lancets. This kind of sword began to curve from the root of the blade, and the gentle curve was integrated along the blade. The tip of the blade was wide, which enhanced the cutting power. Infantry and

Can be used by cavalry.

"If you go back to join the army, this lancet will be three feet long and weigh less than two kilograms. It is very light."

It’s not just about the waist knife, but the rattan brand actually doesn’t weigh much either. Since the new factory is still under construction and the old factory area is limited, the new rattan craftsmen had to be arranged under the corridor of the yard. Chen Kai walked around the old factory.

Back in the courtyard, the rattan craftsmen are still working hard to complete today's work quota.

Entering the warehouse, Chen Kai stood up and saluted without having to bear any hesitation. Chen Kai picked up a shield and picked up a waist knife. He weighed it carefully and found that it was several times heavier than the waist knife, weighing about six or seven kilograms.

It looks like a weapon, but as a defensive weapon, it is much lighter than those wooden shields and bucklers wrapped in rawhide.

The shield in Chen Kai's hand is made of jute vines twisted in a circle to form a disc shape, with an arch in the center and high eaves. It is between two and five to three feet in diameter. It is so tightly woven that it is almost invisible.

There is no gap at all. It is said that only in this way can the shield be able to withstand the beating of enemy weapons.

The rattan is soaked in tung oil. It is soft, tough and very durable. There are two rings made of rattan inside, and connected with a horizontal wooden handle, which is used as an elbow sleeve and a handle. Chen Kai saw it when he first arrived.

After the drill in Qinding Town, at this moment, the left arm is put into the elbow sleeve, holding the wooden handle connected to another ring. The left hand is holding the card, as if guarding, and the right hand is holding the knife, ready to go, which is somewhat similar. It's just that

If you really want to go into battle, you will need to spend a lot of energy on training in advance, and the formation speed is much slower than that of a spear gunner.

He sheathed the sword and put it back together with the shield. Looking at the weapons in the warehouse, he felt a sense of accomplishment. But when Chen Kai turned around and was about to return to the office, something suddenly appeared in his mind.

I came up with a ridiculous idea.

The weapons of the Ming army were lancet spears and lancet knives. It seems that the jute vines used to make shields can be replaced by wicker. Chen Kai suddenly discovered that the Ming army went to the battlefield with willow suits.

Yes, this is very unfavorable for the Huode Emperor Ming - the three hundred years of Huode set the willow leaf suit on fire and burned it to a ball of ashes. No wonder the quality of the weapons in the late Ming Dynasty was so low that they were not even used by the people back then.
Chapter completed!