After both parties signed the "Betting Agreement".
The cooperation was concluded.
After realizing their goal of buying a car, Lu Xiangsheng and others did not leave Harbor City immediately, but stayed for a while.
They first go to a professional cycling training school and learn how to ride a bicycle under the guidance of professional coaches.
This process naturally involves wrestling and bumps. If the bicycles in the training school were not of high quality, a few of them might have been damaged by these rough guys.
Fortunately, they are all smarter. It can take as little as three days or as long as five days. Even an old man like Sun Yuanhua, who has just turned fifty, did not have any major problems during the driving process.
The bicycle rides very fast, which shows that the ancients had very strong adaptability and learning ability.
After learning to ride a bicycle.
Lu Xiangsheng and others were assigned to the No. 1 Bicycle Manufacturing Factory as interns, doing odd jobs on the assembly line, helping to drive screws, understanding the structure of Jinlong bicycles, and even learning how to repair bicycles.
The purpose of this is to let them learn how to maintain, maintain and repair bicycles, so that if they only know how to use them but cannot repair them, the bicycles will break down soon or become difficult to use.
In addition, when staying in the bicycle factory, they can also directly see the output of bicycles and receive them directly. They count each bicycle in person, so they have a better idea of the quality. They will control the whole process, thus avoiding many problems.
The last thing is productivity.
Now the production capacity of the First Bicycle Factory has climbed to 1,000 units/week.
However, when workers work overtime in two shifts, the production capacity can be increased to 1,200 vehicles/week; if workers work overtime in three shifts, and the assembly line operates 24 hours a day, the maximum production capacity is about 1,800 vehicles/week.
The order of 7,000 bicycles can be delivered to Tianxiong Army in about six weeks.
…
March 28, the sixth year of Chongzhen.
After staying in Harbor City for half a month, Lu Xiangsheng and others finally embarked on the journey back to Daming Mansion.
But this time they did not ride back on horseback, but each rode a Jinlong bicycle (Xujiazhuang had arranged for someone to deal with the previous horses).
Along the flat concrete road more than three meters wide, Lu Xiangsheng and others pedaled hard, riding as fast as they could.
"Fifty yards, I'm afraid this speed is more than fifty yards (1 yard = 1 kilometer)." Lu Xiangsheng, who was riding at the front, said loudly amidst the whistling wind in his ears.
"A speed of one hundred miles per hour. At this speed, you can ride a thousand miles in one day!" Zhang Huayu said behind him.
"This is not much slower than riding a horse, and the endurance is much stronger. It can also carry more than a hundred kilograms of luggage." Follower Li Chongzhen sighed.
"Slow down, you guys, slow down. It's a bit hard for me to ride this bike, so wait for me!" said Sun Yuanhua, who was lagging behind.
Lu Xiangsheng and the others had no choice but to slow down a bit and maintain a speed of twenty yards per hour.
Not far behind them, followed a Xujiazhuang caravan of thousands of people. Each of them was riding a Jinlong brand bicycle. They were also traveling at a speed of fifteen to twenty yards per hour, neither fast nor slow. Each person carried more than two hundred
The destination for the many kilograms of goods is also Damingfu.
In other words, the bicycles ridden by this caravan and the merchandise they carried were all prepared for the Tianxiong Army and were purchased by Lu Xiangsheng.
And this is just the first batch, there will be a second batch, and the third batch will be sent to Daming Mansion continuously with the efficiency of sending one batch every week.
It's just that after leaving Yangzhou Prefecture and getting off the cement road built by Xujiazhuang, riding on official roads that are dusty, bumpy, and muddy, even the bicycle speed has to be greatly reduced, and there is a risk of slipping and overturning.
When Lu Xiangsheng was passing through a mud pit, he accidentally slipped and fell to the ground. He was covered in yellow mud and was quite embarrassed.
"What broken roads! Why can't cement roads in Xujiazhuang be spread all over the world? They are everywhere?"
He couldn't help but curse, but he also found that it might be related to the fact that he wore a Confucian robe instead of tight trousers, and his flexibility was seriously affected, so in order to avoid and reduce wrestling, even though as a Confucian scholar, he disliked Xujiazhuang's clothing style.
, and had to change into a pair of tight trousers, and quickly realized the benefits. He would not shout out if it was really fragrant, but he had to admit that Xujiazhuang, who was pursuing efficiency in all aspects, had indeed achieved the ultimate.
…
Time has entered April.
Spring plowing work in various estates has begun one after another.
However, during the recent period, Xujiazhuang's senior staff held meetings for several days in a row and made a major decision:
Expand the army!
Recruit a large number of young men and greatly increase the number of Xu family troops.
To increase the number of members of the Xu family army from 11,500 to just over 50,000, approximately 40,000 new soldiers will be recruited.
This expanded the Xu Jiajun's two brigades, ten battalions, and one hundred companies to ten brigades, fifty battalions, and five hundred companies, that is, the establishment expanded five times.
Generally speaking, according to the new army structure, a brigade is the basic combat unit participating in campaign-level battles. It consists of five battalions, including three infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, and one logistics and transport battalion. Each battalion has a strength of 1,000 to 1,200 people.
Each battalion has ten companies, five of which are basic companies, two fire companies, two logistics companies, and one company directly under the battalion headquarters. Each company has 100 to 120 people.
Each company is divided into six platoons or ten squads, so I won't go into detail.
In short, it is basically the above structure.
But here comes the biggest problem. Today, Xujiazhuang is developing steadily and for the better, and the external environment is relatively peaceful. The Jiangnan War that took place outside Yangzhou last year has broken the spine of the noble gentry in Jiangnan. It will never happen again.
Unable to muster the fighting spirit to fight against Xujiazhuang, and coupled with the deterrent effect of the "Unfriendly List", most of the noble gentry in Jiangnan had to choose to lie down or pin their hopes on the court, and did not dare to directly
Challenge Xujiazhuang.
Therefore, for Xujiazhuang, the external environment is quite peaceful and friendly, and there are not many threats. It is a good period for development and development.
Isn't it a bit inappropriate to suddenly launch a large-scale military expansion at this time? It may cause surprise to the surrounding areas, cause the court to be vigilant and uneasy, and may even lead to miscalculation and confrontation.
Having said that.
But after some observation, analysis and judgment, Xu Yuan believes that military expansion is now the right time and very necessary!
There are three main reasons.
First, the population currently controlled by Xujiazhuang has increased to about 2.3 million people, but the Xujiazhuang army only has more than 10,000 people. There are more people than soldiers, which has led to weakened internal control and a possible rise in crime rates. Therefore, the army must be expanded to increase internal control.
stability.
Second, prepare in advance for the next stage of expansion. Although Xujiazhuang is still far from ready for further expansion, the talents it has trained and the materials it has prepared are not enough. To start the next round of expansion, at least
Three or even five years later.
But this does not affect preparation in advance and taking precautions.
After all, it is much better to build up military strength now than to rush around temporarily.
Third, serve the maritime strategy.
On March 19th last month, the first battleship 'Yaowu' was successfully launched at the Harbor City Shipyard. The ship type, tonnage, power and other performance parameters are similar to those of a maritime-class cargo ship, but the internal materials are more solid.
, a layer of steel armor painted with anti-corrosion paint is attached to the surface. It has an unloaded tonnage of 1,300 tons and a fully loaded tonnage of 2,000 tons. It is also equipped with a 7,000-horsepower three-cylinder steam engine and has a maximum speed of about 20 knots.
That is, Xujiazhuang's naval fleet finally had its first battleship, and finally changed from zero to one.
In the future, the number of warships owned by the Xujiazhuang naval fleet will increase to ten, twenty, fifty, hundreds, or even terrifying thousands, creating an invincible maritime fleet.
But every warship requires crew control and control.
In the future, every time Xujiazhuang expands a colonial point overseas, every time it opens up a colonial manor, every time it defeats a Western colonial force and indigenous resistance, it will also require a large number of Marines to go to foreign lands to conduct landing operations.
Therefore, in Xu Jiajun's army expansion plan this time, the number of army personnel will be increased from 11,500 to more than 30,000, and an additional 20,000 navy personnel (including the Marine Corps) will be recruited.
That is to build a powerful navy and truly implement the "Marine Strategy".
At a high-level meeting.
Xu Yuan said to everyone: "The future era must be an era of the ocean. Even if it is not our ocean era yet, we must create an ocean era that belongs to Xujiazhuang!"
"You should all broaden your horizons and look at this globe in front of you. The land area of this planet only accounts for one-third, but the ocean accounts for more than two-thirds. And through the waterways extending in all directions, you can almost reach this world.
Any corner of."
"The most important thing is resources. As long as we have strength, we can obtain the resources of the entire world."
"For example, here at the southern tip of Africa, there is a giant gold mine with reserves of more than 50,000 tons. Even if only one-fifth of it is mined, we will become the people with the most gold."
"For example, on this big island called Australia, there is a large red area here, which is full of red iron ore. They are all open-pit mineral deposits. The total reserves exceed 100 billion tons. They are very easy to mine and can be enough for Xujiazhuang for hundreds of years.
for a long time.”
"For example, this American continent has endless cold temperate forests in the north, which cannot be cut down for hundreds of years. Further down, there is a beautiful plain of 1.53 million square kilometers. Most of the area is covered by fertile black soil. It can be renamed in the future.
It is called the 'God-given Xujiazhuang Plain'. If this plain is fully cultivated, it can feed a billion people."
"There is also the Pampas Plateau in South America, which covers an area of 760,000 square kilometers and has almost no trees. It is the most suitable place for grazing. As long as this pasture is utilized, at least hundreds of millions of cattle can be fed.
Sheep, bring us countless meat, milk and wool."
"Everyone, you should look outward and not be limited to the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty, a treasure land passed down from our ancestors, is very good. It can be said to be a natural treasure and a place with outstanding people. But we must also capture all the treasure lands in the world.
, grab it and use it for our own use, leaving countless wealth for our descendants, so that they can live a life that is ten times or a hundred times better than ours. As long as we can achieve this goal, we will become Shura and suffer countless justices.
So what if future generations scold us? This is much better than future generations scolding us for being complacent and missing a great opportunity. As long as future generations appreciate our expansion and competition, then this is absolutely the right thing to do!"
After hearing what Xu Yuan said.
All the high-level officials present had greedy faces, their hearts were surging, and their blood was boiling!
What the owner of the village said is so good, so right, it is absolutely correct and must be correct truth!
If they are ignorant and limited by the lack of information in this era, no matter what treasures there are outside the sea, they will not be interested or excited, because everything is unknown and the risks they need to take are huge.
, the only option is to stay on the same page.
But what now?
A large gold mine with reserves of 50,000 tons.
An open-pit iron mine with reserves of hundreds of billions of tons.
A beautiful plain covering an area of 1.53 million square kilometers.
It covers an area of 760,000 square kilometers of high-quality prairie without a single tree.
So many resources and treasures are placed in front of them. They know the specific location, and now there are ships that can find a way to reach it.
Then there is nothing to hesitate and struggle with. Moral concerns can only make them pause and feel guilty for a few tenths of a second.
Then wild cheers broke out.
The military expansion plan was unanimously approved.