The barbarians may invade in autumn.

In addition to Pang Yukun, Lu Fei and others, military generals also quickly received news.

"Your Highness, as long as you can keep up with weapons, it is not a problem to defend Cangzhou City. But until now, the equipment in the Qingzhou camp has not yet been settled. See if you can urge Chen Wenlong." Lu Fei glanced at Chen Wenlong, who was not squinting, and hated her teeth.

Chen Wenlong has a calm personality, while Lu Fei is impatient. It is naturally a bad idea to be together. He said: "Captain Lu, it is not easy to produce this plate armor. It is good to be able to build a thousand sets of plate armor in a month."

"But Your Highness clearly said that you can produce 100 sets in a day. Are you trying to deceive me?" Lu Fei asked with a bandage wrapped around his chest and stared at him.

Now it was Xiao Ming's turn to blush. When water conservancy forging hammers were used in steel workshops, he was confident that he could produce 100 sets of plate armor a day.

Later, he slapped him in the face in the actual situation. This was not because his estimated production capacity was wrong.

But because iron ore is not available at all, he now understands that it is easy to smelify iron and steel, but mining is really not easy.

After the shallow ore was dug, the mine became deeper and deeper. Then, every rainy day, the mine was flooded into a pond by rain.

Then the sky clears. First, the water in the mine must be drained before the mining can continue.

At the same time, the deepening of the mine pit has increased the difficulty of transporting ore from the mine pit. Now the iron ore supplied by the three iron ores in Qian Dafu's hands continues to decrease.

The same as iron ore is coal mine, and the same problems are happening.

In the past, Qingzhou did not produce large-scale steel, and the coal cakes and iron ore could not show any shortage even in the rainy season in the spring.

But now, the steel workshop not only produces weapons and armor, bearings for Niuli overturning, but also is responsible for producing folk tillage tools, etc.

Chen Wenlong glanced at Xiao Ming and said to Lu Fei, "Your Highness is frowning now, which shows that I have not deceived you."

"Your Highness, what's going on? If this is the case, at most a thousand people can use it in half a year. These soldiers who have only been trained for half a year are not opponents of those who are born to ride and shoot. If there is no benefit from military armor, they will inevitably suffer heavy losses at that time."

Xiao Ming covered his forehead and sat slanted on the chair, "Do you think I don't want to equip all the new army with plate armor? This is the case, and I am quite helpless."

The plate armor cannot keep up with production, and now it is going to build artillery again. Xiao Ming is really the first and the first and second.

Only then did he understand why it was so hard for a country to raise a standing army of 100,000 people in ancient times. The food, drinking, defecation and urination of the army were all money, and weapons and equipment such as plate armor still needed maintenance.

Cavalry is a big family that spends money. A cavalry not only needs to be equipped with four horses, but also needs to be a special auxiliary soldier serving cavalry.

The role of this auxiliary soldier is equivalent to the entourage of Western knights, specializing in serving cavalry equipment and horses.

This war horse is not a fuel-efficient lamp. The food you eat is of particular importance. It costs a lot of money to spend.

The workshop area is a big money-making business and a big money-making business. The slaves in the workshop have their food, clothing and expenses, not to mention the mine where Qian Dafu is.

In short, he made a lot of money during this period, but he also spent a lot of money. Most of the money was put into production, but he invested a lot of money in agriculture, such as oxen and ploughing tools.

Lu Fei was stunned.

Chen Wenlong comforted: "Personnel Lu, don't worry. If there is sufficient materials, this is naturally the priority in the military."

"That's right, just practice troops with peace of mind. I will find a way to do armor and weapons." Xiao Ming said.

Lu Fei had no choice but to give up.

Asking Lu Fei to go back first, Xiao Ming said to Chen Wenlong: "Now the supply of minerals in Qingzhou is insufficient, so it seems that he can only purchase it from outside."

"It's okay, but in this case, your highness should be careful of the slander in the court." Chen Wenlong reminded.

Xiao Ming frowned. Although he was a vassal king, he did not mean that he could do whatever he wanted, but was still subject to the siege of the court.

This iron ore has always been extremely strict in the Great Chongqing Kingdom. Generally speaking, other vassal kings rarely purchase iron ore from outside, but only provide it internally.

Because once large quantities of iron ore purchases are involved, this can only show one problem. This vassal king is mass-producing weapons and armor.

This matter is quite sensitive. There is no war in the Great Yu Kingdom now. A vassal king has not enough ore in his fiefdom, so he has to buy it from outside. What is the intention?

"I know what I know. I cannot say that this matter must be submitted to the court. During this period, you must balance production and try to meet the needs of the Qingzhou army." Xiao Ming sighed.

Now that he is not rich, he can't act willful, otherwise he may not be able to save his life and work hard for most of the past six months will be wasted.

"Yes, Your Highness." Chen Wenlong nodded.

Qian Dafu was also in the main hall. He didn't say anything. After Chen Wenlong left, he said, "Your Highness, how should we solve the water in this mine?"

"I will ask the Equipment Department to prepare a few more sets of Niuli Fortune. Since the mine cannot be produced for the time being, you will focus on the search for mines, especially the black tungsten mine, followed by tin and lead mines." Xiao Ming said.

The reason why I searched for the last two minerals was that Xiao Ming finally used a bronze cannon to prevent the production of cast iron cannons from failing. After all, cast iron cannons have a high chance of blowing up the chamber.

He really can't afford to play with pure copper cannons. This is real money. Now the whole country of Dayu is still using copper coins.

Qian Dafu nodded.

They explained the three people about dealing with the barbarians. Xiao Ming wrote about the barbarians himself and asked someone to send them to the post station to Chang'an.

He went to the Equipment Department to find Chen Qi and discussed the casting of the cannon.

Chang'an.

At this time, the green willows in the palace were spitting out new, peach blossoms were in full bloom, and there was a vitality. Empress Zhao was walking in the back garden with her concubines.

Concubine Zhen was following Queen Zhao. In the past six months, the concubines in the palace clearly felt that Queen Zhao and Concubine Zhen were getting closer and closer.

Some smart concubines have seen the clues and dare not neglect Concubine Zhen.

A few days ago, King Zhao went to the capital to meet the saint, and Xiao Wenxuan personally went out of the city to greet him to show his importance to King Zhao. If it weren't for King Zhao's help, Xiao Wenxuan would not be able to hold the throne anyway. It is not surprising that King Zhao's daughter became the current Queen Zhao.

Nowadays, the position of the crown prince is in turmoil, and King Zhao’s entry into the capital is self-evident. It is just that the crown prince’s pride can be seen from the sharpness of the crown prince in the court these days.

And this concubine Zhen seems to have been taken more and more by the emperor in recent days, but the palace is well-informed.
Chapter completed!