Chapter 440: A Million Long Guns

South of Daze Mountain in Pingdu Department, there was a vast expanse of workshops. Ever since Chen Xin took control of Dengzhou Garrison, the core of Wendeng had shifted from Wendeng County to Pingdu Department. In just one year, the area occupied in Pingdu exceeded a million mu, and it was spreading toward Jiaozhou and Qingzhoufu.

The workshops here had been relocated from the old Wendeng workshops and were named Factory No. 2, which took in students from the Pingdu Department vocational school.

Because several rivers originating from Daze Mountain flowed through this area, the water volume was far more abundant than Wendeng's Baolong River, so its current scale had already surpassed Wendeng's Factory No. 1. It had over three thousand workers inside, and including their families and temporary worker-apprentices, there were more than twenty thousand people. The year Wu Xiang encountered the Youth Army guarding the road had been right here. Wu Xiang had taken note of the Youth Army, but he had paid no attention to this workshop, because he had never entered the factory grounds at all.

The area here was vast. Numerous water-powered machines had been built along both banks of the river. The perimeter was crisscrossed and shielded by clustered fortified villages. Every intersection had someone on duty, and some factory zones had their own enclosing walls. It had already formed a market town.

The products turned out by Factory No. 2 included various types of machinery, firelocks, and cannons. The iron-sheet rockets used in Lushun were also produced here.

At the end of previous years, Chen Xin would propose some new weapons. This year, Chen Xin's inspiration had run dry, and he had only come up with an organ gun. The weapons research institute produced a sample very quickly, but after evaluation by the Bureau of Military Affairs, it was deemed less useful than a breech-loading swivel gun and was ultimately rejected. So the workshop had no new-product tasks and was now entirely focused on improving old models, with the emphasis still on field cannons, landmine cannons, and flintlock guns.

The river channel froze in winter, so the water-powered machines had all stopped, but parts of the factory grounds were still in production, and plumes of smoke still rose here and there. Chen Xin walked slowly along the riverbank. Beside him was Factory No. 2's general manager, Wang Huzi, and behind them were Dong Yu and Li Donghua, who were accompanying him on the inspection. Dong Yu dealt with the workshops regularly, mainly regarding weapons inspection and payment. Li Donghua, who headed the Bureau of Military Affairs, was visiting the Pingdu workshops for the first time and was looking around curiously the whole way.

The general manager here was Wang Huzi. The earliest general manager in Weihai had been Tang Zuoxiang, but he was somewhat older and found learning new things extremely taxing. Now he only trained newly arrived craftsmen in gun-barrel forging and had withdrawn from management. The general manager of Wendeng's Factory No. 1 was also a young man, not yet thirty.

Wang Huzi was relatively young and had a stronger ability to learn. Liu Minyou had forced him to attend a literacy class, which widened the gap between him and Tang Zuoxiang. He belonged to the earliest batch of craftsmen. Dengzhou Garrison also valued seniority. Under the general manager were various functional departments, and after being assigned a few assistants, his ability was basically sufficient to manage the current Factory No. 2, so he had climbed all the way to a high position in the workshop.

Chen Xin had come quietly this time, notifying Wang Huzi only upon arrival and telling him not to let everyone know. In winter, there were relatively few craftsmen working outside, so this group did not draw a crowd of onlookers, and Wang Huzi was able to explain things to them slowly as they walked.

Chen Xin stopped in front of a rolling mill. This was one of the big fellows among the water-powered machines, used to press the wrought-iron sheets for gun barrels. Chen Xin patted the wooden frame and asked Wang Huzi, "Can the iron stock keep up?"

"The wrought iron keeps up well enough. Wendeng has set up some small blast furnaces now. I hear they're even using coke for iron smelting, and it's a bit better than Fujian iron. But for the steel used on cutting edges, we still need Su steel."

"That stuff from Wuhu?"

"Yes. Su steel comes from more than one place, but it's all from the Wuhu area. There are several dozen workshops, each employing at least a few hundred workers. I heard from the trading company people that this time they finally managed to hire people from Wuhu at high prices to come to Wendeng. They also use the co-fusion steel method, but they have some secret techniques. Master Liu organized people to research it for over a year and still couldn't produce it. In the end, they still had to poach people from Wuhu."

Chen Xin laughed. "Master Liu is no immortal. He's never smelted iron before. If he couldn't make it, going to poach people was the right move."

"The silver they're paying is sky-high. The settling-in allowance alone is two hundred taels. Actually, that co-fusion steel method is simple to describe — you just stack and forge wrought iron and pig iron together. But somehow, no one else can forge it as well as they do." Wang Huzi wore an expression of regret.

Chen Xin looked at his expression and laughed inwardly. Liu Minyou's approach to iron smelting had been somewhat off the mark. Neither of them had any real knowledge in this area. Iron smelting in Shandong was not particularly advanced. Liu Minyou had tinkered with small blast furnaces with poor results; the only major improvement he managed was preheating the air blast. After that, they had no choice but to poach people. The Zunhua Iron Works was the largest government-run ironworks, but it had suffered military damage in the jisi year and had only partially recovered afterward. Yet the technical level of this largest government ironworks could no longer match the south, especially for the steel used in cutting edges and bayonets. The best was still Su steel. This steel produced in Wuhu was renowned nationwide, and its price was not cheap either.

During the Ming dynasty, steel and iron output had reached the ten-thousand-ton scale as early as the Yongle reign. After private operation was permitted, civilian ironworks developed rapidly. The largest, in Nanhai County, Guangdong, employed over three thousand workers. The government-run Zunhua Iron Works had also once employed as many as twenty-five hundred. In Foshan alone, the iron refining trade employed several thousand craftsmen. After the mid-Ming period, commerce and circulation became even more developed. The verifiable civilian iron output of Guangdong alone reached over three thousand tons, and the estimated total national output was at least fifty thousand tons. Thirty years after the fall of the Ming dynasty, Russia, which produced the most iron in Europe, had an annual output of only twenty-four hundred tons.

By the time of the Great Qing, even after modern factories like Hanyeping were built in the late Qing period, the total national output was only a bit over seventy thousand tons. Britain had reached over three million tons by the mid-nineteenth century, and even serfdom-bound Russia had reached two hundred ninety thousand tons. The Manchu Qing could not even compare to serfdom-bound Russia.

Chen Xin naturally did not know these details either. All he needed now was better bayonet steel. Since they could not produce it themselves, poaching people to spread the technology was the most advisable approach. Dengzhou's greatest advantage was its ability to standardize operations. Spending a sum of silver to turn individual skill into a manual would naturally earn it all back later.

With a chuckle, he patted Wang Huzi on the shoulder. "Spending silver saves time. It's still to our advantage, so the silver we give those people can be a bit higher."

"What I worry about is, they poach a few people, but who knows if they can actually produce steel like Su steel? If they can't, my factory will still have to buy Su steel. Otherwise, Dong Yu won't pass my inspection, my factory will lose its capital, and I won't get my bonus either."

Chen Xin asked curiously, "Wang Huzi, tell me, how much silver is your bonus now?"

"It's a lot." Wang Huzi stroked his beard, thought about it seriously, then shook his head. "I forgot. Anyway, it's over a hundred taels. My wife knows better than I do."

Beside him, Dong Yu let out a snort of laughter. "Wang Huzi, all that silver of yours gets taken by your wife, and you still try to welch on a few coppers for drinks. So you earn this much silver."

"I have a lot of expenses." Wang Huzi hurriedly defended himself. "And this was set by Master Liu, not something I grabbed."

Chen Xin laughed heartily. "Who said you grabbed it? You buy from whoever you say is good. I just think what you said makes perfect sense. If the Wendeng Iron Works can't do a good job, then don't buy their goods. If they can't improve, then I'll just have to replace the person managing the ironworks. But you must not use their inferior products. It's the same principle as the machinery you make. I heard that the batch of textile machines you delivered recently has had quite a few problems?"

"This..." Wang Huzi had not expected Chen Xin to suddenly turn the topic to the textile machines. His mind raced for a moment before he said, "I was just about to tell you, my lord, the matter of the looms is like this..."

Chen Xin raised a hand. "Factory Director Wang, don't tell me about it. I can't manage it all. In the future, Master Liu won't manage these matters of yours either. From now on, Factory No. 1 and Factory No. 2 will sign their own contracts with the textile factory and the cigarette factory. The same goes for people in the fortified villages who buy machinery. In the past, everything was arranged through plans by the Bureau of Industry and Commerce. Now you go fight for it yourselves. If Factory No. 1 does a poor job, then you earn more. If Factory No. 1 has no business, then let it collapse. Apart from the firearms and cannon workers, the other workers can find their own livelihoods."

"Ah, this... How is that supposed to work?" Wang Huzi asked in astonishment.

"In previous years, the Bureau of Industry and Commerce would send a document, and you would produce according to the register. Now the army and the trading company do business with you. The contract is the proof; you write it out clearly yourselves. It's the same with the army. Factory No. 3 is to be established this year, also making machinery and weapons. From now on, this is how things will be: whoever's goods are made best gets used. Whatever the army needs, you sign the contracts yourselves. The Bureau of Industry and Commerce will not assign you tasks. You go negotiate directly with Dong Yu and the others. If problems arise later during army use, the Bureau of Industry and Commerce will investigate your responsibility, but they cannot interfere in the specific buying and selling. Several fortified villages in Laiyang and Wendeng have partnered to manufacture their own looms. Master Liu has already approved it and even had the bank provide loans. If they really do it well, the textile factory will also buy from them. In the future, you'll have to use your own brains more. Don't let those fortified villages surpass you — that would be a complete disgrace."

Wang Huzi turned his head to look at Dong Yu. Dong Yu nodded at him smugly. From now on, he would be the major client of these workshops. In fact, Chen Xin's measures were not just aimed at the workshops. The army had also been made to establish related regulations, adopting methods of open bidding and public comparative testing, with randomly selected representatives from various army branches participating in weapons testing.

In the past, there had been no shortage of disputes between the army and the workshops. Liu Minyou had handled them many times, most of them quality issues or the army's requested improvements receiving no response. Now that Chen Xin had split one factory into three and made them compete against each other, Dong Yu felt that all three would make many improvements.

Wang Huzi stroked his chin, deep in thought. Chen Xin continued walking forward, stopping in front of a row of barrel-drilling machines. He asked Wang Huzi, "Wang Huzi, how many flintlock guns can your workshop produce per month?"

"Two thousand, of which five hundred are bayonet guns. In an emergency, three thousand. Factory No. 1 over in Wendeng produces about a thousand, which is enough."

Chen Xin's lips moved slightly as he calculated, then he said to Wang Huzi, "Continue expanding the firearms factory. Next year, monthly output must reach five thousand."

The several attendants all stared wide-eyed. Dengzhou Garrison had only a bit over twenty thousand regular soldiers in total, and half of those were still equipped with cold weapons. Even including reserve soldiers, there were only twenty to thirty thousand firearms troops at most. They had no idea what Chen Xin wanted with so many firelocks.

Chen Xin said to Li Donghua and Dong Yu, "I intend to convert the Second and Third Regiments of the Guards Battalion and both Dragon Cavalry units into pure firearms troops. Calculate how much more silver that will cost."

Dong Yu said in a low voice, "Bayonet flintlocks are somewhat more expensive. If they don't engage in close combat, the replacement rate is slower than for cold weapons. In actual combat training and intense battle, spears and blades can only be used once before the heads need replacing. When the Fifth Battalion went on campaign, every spearman had already replaced his spearhead twice. So firelocks are actually replaced more slowly. Then there's gunpowder. Although every fortified village in Dengzhou and Laizhou is collecting saltpeter now, we still have to rely on the imperial court for some. If all spearmen use firelocks in the future, the old Mandarin Duck Formation troops will have to be reduced and used only in specific places. Training alone for firelocks is a huge expense. Firelocks also suffer wear and tear. Master Chen has set one hundred live rounds of training per soldier per year, with one hundred rounds of powder, so that's two hundred rounds of powder per soldier. Calculated at seven qian per round, each soldier uses nearly ten jin of gunpowder. The Second and Third Regiments of the Guards and the Dragon Cavalry total over ten thousand men. Ten thousand firearms troops would need over a hundred thousand jin of gunpowder, of which saltpeter makes up over seventy percent — that's seventy thousand jin of saltpeter. According to the Lushun style of fighting, there are also landmine cannons, rockets, and various artillery pieces. Including combat needs, we may need to prepare three hundred thousand jin of gunpowder annually. That means two hundred ten thousand jin of saltpeter, costing forty-two thousand taels of silver."

Chen Xin waved his hand grandly. "Just over forty thousand taels for ten thousand troops, and besides, we won't use that much. The imperial court will provide fifty thousand jin annually. We can collect tens of thousands of jin ourselves. At most, we'll spend a bit over twenty thousand taels of silver. For a hundred thousand men, it would only be two hundred thousand taels."

Li Donghua and Dong Yu both gulped audibly at the same time. Chen Xin had casually mentioned one hundred thousand. They knew that by Dengzhou and Laizhou's pay standards, the annual salary for ten thousand troops alone would be over two hundred thousand taels. Adding equipment and provisions, it would be around four hundred thousand. Cold-weapon units cost even more, and cavalry was a huge money sink. With just the current twenty-some thousand troops, Liu Minyou was already pinching pennies everywhere and often giving Dong Yu a hard time.

Chen Xin turned to look at the two of them. "What are you staring at? I only said one hundred thousand people, not one hundred thousand soldiers. In the future, when veterans retire, they take their guns with them. Fortified village households who have been there over three years can also buy guns. I'll give them a low price. Vocational school students get guns for free. Don't talk about one hundred thousand — a million long guns will come. With firelocks, even commoners will have the ability to resist White Armor Soldiers. When that time comes, let's see who can defeat Dengzhou Garrison's million long guns." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, welcome to Qidian to vote and give monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at...)

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