Strong tea is emitting a faint tea aroma at hand.

The issue of the military system was temporarily released, and Xiao Ming continued: "The Huyantuo tribe on this grassland has withdrawn and has now become the Blood Wolf tribe. You all know it."

"Our scouts on the grassland have brought back news. It was a lucky time for us to win last time, but this time Youzhou was taken over by Bei Shan, which is much trouble now." Niu Ben said with a frown.

Zhan Xingchang said: "Yes, the Blood Wolf Tribe has strengthened its surveillance of Cangzhou. Barbarian scouts often appear outside the city. Now we can't send craftsmen to build forts on the grassland. After His Highness went to Chang'an, I made an attempt. The craftsman just transported the materials to the grassland. The barbarian cavalry arrived later, and we had to withdraw to the city."

"This Bei Shan is indeed not an easy character to deal with. Now he must be staring at Cangzhou like a wolf staring at prey. As long as there are any mistakes, they will take advantage of the situation." Xiao Ming's brow was deeply locked.

After pondering for a while, he continued: "This fortress promotion strategy cannot be stopped. Since it cannot be advanced to the grassland for the time being, the Cangzhou Pass must be built into a copper wall. After the meeting is over, I will teach you a brand new construction method."

"Yes, Your Highness." Zhan Xingchang nodded.

At this time, Xiao Ming looked at Chen Qi, "What's going on in the military workshop now?"

Chen Qi said: "Your Highness, all the equipment of the Equipment Department has been moved to the military workshop. Now the artillery is in normal production. This month, the military workshop has provided 20 artillery pieces for Cangzhou, but now the material problems are not up to date."

Chen Wenlong echoed: "Your Highness, this iron ore cannot keep up with just relying on Mr. Qian's mine. Now the iron ore transported from the mountain every day is only enough to produce one cannon, and sometimes the materials for one cannon are not enough."

This problem is basically unsolvable for Xiao Ming now. After all, this mine is not a problem with the more people there are.

Because after the iron ore on the surface is dug, it can only be dug underground continuously. The number of people mining in this narrow space is limited and cannot be filled with people in it.

It is precisely because of this that mining is more difficult, while mining personnel tend to be fixed, but the iron ore output is now basically maintained at a quantity.

In addition, these iron ores have to be transported after mining, and the road has been delayed for a long time, which is indeed difficult for artillery production.

"Don't worry about this, materials will be shipped over soon," said Xiao Ming.

Chen Qi and Chen Wenlong looked at each other, "Really?"

"This is fake. The emperor wants to purchase artillery from our Qingzhou, 8,000 taels per piece, and some silver is offset with iron and coal at that time, and there are other vassal kings. In this way, the iron and coal from the Great Yu Kingdom will basically be transported to our Qingzhou." Lu Fei said loudly.

"Procurement? Your Highness, this cannon is the lifeblood of our dealing with the barbarians. We are not enough, so why are we still selling it?" Niu Ben was immediately dissatisfied.

It was uncomfortable to take the cannon from him and get his flesh cut. After all, these are all the arms of the Qingzhou Army.

"Elder General, Chen Wenlong said just now that the minerals in Qingzhou are not enough, and we don't find a way to solve the material problem. This has a huge limit on the military workshop. Not to mention that the emperor's order is difficult to violate, we have to consider the money. The cost of this cannon is only two or three thousand taels. Now we buy 8,000 taels, which means that for every cannon we provide to the court, we can earn two or three cannons in vain at the same time. This business is stable and profitable." Xiao Ming analyzed.

Niu Ben was stunned for a moment, and then he immediately came back to his senses and said with a smile: "Your Highness, I am really confused."

When everyone heard this, they laughed kindly.

"But our military workshop is going to be in trouble now. Your Highness, you have to transfer some more slaves, otherwise there will be insufficient staff." Chen Qi said.

"This is fine, but the artillery we sell this time should be differentiated from the artillery we use to produce. At least we must ensure that the range and power of the artillery sold are not as good as that of Qingzhou's artillery. If these artillery fall into the hands of foreign enemies in the future, we can also suppress it." Xiao Ming warned.

Niu Ben and others nodded after hearing this. They were about to talk about this issue, but it seemed that Xiao Ming had considered it in all aspects.

After talking about the military issues, Pang Yukun said: "Your Highness, this year, the six states have a bumper harvest of grain, and many people have sold grain to the government office. Now the food in the government office is enough 500,000 stones. With the military's grain, the warehouses in the six states are not enough. Now the next day of harvest is coming, do you still have to continue purchasing grain?"

Five hundred thousand stones of grain are only enough to eat 500,000 people for three months. It is more than enough to use this grain to support the army, but it is far from enough. According to modern standards, the war preparation food must be enough to eat at least three years.

Because once war comes, production will be destroyed. For example, in this battle in Cangzhou, although there are only 50,000 auxiliary soldiers and combat soldiers,

There were 200,000 to 300,000 people mobilized to transport food and grass, and prepared siege supplies.

These strong laborers are recruited, and the fields at home cannot be properly cared for, because this will definitely reduce the harvest in the autumn years.

It is precisely because of this that Xiao Ming said that Qingzhou was also seriously damaged.

"As long as the people sell, we will collect it. Not to mention everyone, we must ensure that the army has been in the three years of grain and grass. As for the granary, we will now let each state be responsible for the construction. All granaries are made of brick-concrete structures, cement is used to make the ground, and highlands are selected to ensure that the grain will not be damp. In addition, each state must complete the amount of grain purchases." Xiao Ming said that this problem of grain cannot be joked about.

This kind of land is about the weather. Once drought, floods, and locust plagues are encountered, the food in a year is likely to be over. Therefore, when the grain harvest season is in a large amount of purchases can you ensure that there will be no trouble when encountering natural disasters.

Pang Yukun nodded, wrote down Xiao Ming's words, and then said, "Your Highness, there are only two million taels of silver left in the treasury. At this time, do you want to take a look at the account book?"

The saddest thing in the world is that people live well and money is gone.

Pang Yukun's words made Xiao Ming feel stomachache. Now all the money earned by the Chamber of Commerce will be charged into the treasury and will be allocated by the government office, so the accounts can be clearly seen.

The money he earned was just to buy oxen for the people. He spent more than one million taels of taels of silver for forging farm tools. Each set of plate armor forged for the army was at least twenty taels of silver. The Qingzhou army lost 400,000 taels of silver. This time, the artillery, ammunition and shells were lost.

At the same time, there are also the food and drink expenses of slaves, the salaries of officials, the wood purchased by shipbuilding, etc.

Looking at the dense numbers on it, Xiao Ming felt a big head.
Chapter completed!