"Your Highness, the merchant ship of the King of Chu has arrived, and it is said that it has brought cotton seeds, but..."

"But you have to hand over the artillery to them, right?"

"It seems that Your Highness has already seen everything." Pang Yukun said with a smile.

Xiao Ming is writing a textbook on training the flintlock army.

Yesterday, he went around the lathe workshop, military workshop, equipment department, and gunpowder workshop in succession, and he issued all his requests.

Whether it is bayonet, strip or oil-paper-wrapped ammunition, these three things are things that have no technical content.

The bayonet is just made into a cylinder at the bottom, and the strip is nothing more than an iron rod. The oil paper bun is even simpler. It just takes oil paper and bandages the bullet and gunpowder in advance.

What is missing is not technology, it is just an idea, or experience.

As the flintlock rifle is about to be installed, Xiao Ming naturally has to consider the construction of modern military academies. Entering the age of firearms, war will become regularized, and war will no longer be the three tricks in the past.

It is precisely because of this that he compiled textbooks and prepared to teach the Qingzhou army generals.

Putting down the brush, Xiao Ming walked out of the main hall. Now he has taken off his thick cotton jacket from winter and has a lightweight and simple life.

While walking outside the palace, Xiao Ming said, "You can get cotton so smoothly in Li Kaiyuan. Do you think the King of Chu is very kind? This time it is just an exchange of interests. He wants artillery, and I want cotton."

"Just that's the case, the King of Wei should be unhappy again. It is said that the King of Wei has been complaining about His Highness a lot in Jinling City."

"Ignore him. The King of Wei has always been incompatible with the King of Chu. We sell the King of Chu artillery to the King of Chu. He is naturally unhappy. In this case, we do not need to participate in the conflicts between the vassal kings. On the contrary, using their conflicts to sell arms is the right way."

After analyzing the situation in the Great Chongqing Kingdom, Xiao Ming decided to adopt the isolationist diplomacy of the United States during World War II.

If you do not participate in the fight between any forces, you will only make a fortune in silence.

After all, the rifts in the Dayu area cannot be reconciled, and the various vassal kings suspiciously. In this case, it is safer for the fisherman to benefit.

"Your Highness's words are pretty good. King Wei is not happy, so I will buy some artillery back. Isn't it enough to have too many?" Pang Yukun said.

"That's right, so selling cannons for the King of Chu is also arousing the King of Wei to buy more cannons."

The two of them talked all the way to the dock. Xiao Ming also sent someone to the military workshop to deliver the thirty cannons he made to the King of Chu's fleet, and unloaded the cotton seeds.

At first, Li Kaiyuan went to Chu, but the King of Chu naturally refused to give cotton seeds to Xiao Ming at the beginning.

Later, the King of Wei's artillery was in place. In order to show off his martial power, the King of Wei set off fireworks at the Yangtze River. This incident seriously stimulated the King of Chu.

In Qingzhou, Xiao Ming has been pressing the cannons for Chu.

There are no cotton seeds, Xiao Ming can wait. After all, the King of Chu can't stop the cotton sellers, and the textile shop can still support it. However, without artillery, the King of Chu did not have any tricks, and in the end he had to send the cotton seeds unwillingly.

Arrived on the merchant ship and inspected the cotton on the ship.

At this time, the envoy of the King of Chu who came with the cotton seeds said, "Your Highness, the King of Chu has an order. If you can't see the cannon, the cotton cannot be handed over to Your Highness. If your Highness is strong, you have to burn the cotton seeds."

Xiao Ming and Pang Yukun looked at each other, and the envoy was a little brave. He smiled and said, "I have always been talking about nine tripods of cotton seeds, so how could I beg for these three ships of cotton seeds? It was just that the King of Chu chose to send cotton seeds this month, which was ulterior motives."

The envoy of the King of Chu looked embarrassed when he heard this.

He naturally understood what Xiao Ming meant. March was the time to plant cotton, and now he was transported naturally had a threat.

Because once Xiao Ming fails to fulfill his promise, it will take another year before he can plant cotton.

After waiting for an hour at the dock, the military workshop transported the artillery to the place.

The envoy of the King of Chu checked the artillery and ammunition, and then agreed to the civilians to get on the boat to carry the cotton seeds.

Xiao Ming came to pick up cotton seeds in person this time because of his importance to cotton, a crop. After all, cotton can produce many industrial products, and this clothing is just one of them. There is also a great demand for cotton in medicine.

If cotton is successfully planted in Qingzhou this time, Qingzhou will not have to worry about the source of cotton in the future. From then on, it will not be constrained by the King of Chu and affect the development of Qingzhou's textile industry.

This time, Xiao Ming sent the cotton sent by the King of Chu directly to Guanzhuang. It was another spring plowing season, and the Qingzhou army once again played the role of a farmer.

Now that Guanzhuang has been fully cultivated, the next step is to sow cotton seeds.

"Your Highness, do you really need to plant cotton?"

On the ridge of Guanzhuang, Niu Ben followed Xiao Ming and asked.

As soon as the cotton was sent to Guanzhuang, Niu Ben brought the soldiers over.

Although Xiao Ming had already greeted him, Niu Ben still hesitated because in his opinion, food is the most important thing.

Now the grain production in the six states has recovered a little, and the surplus has been large last year, but this form may not be said to be turbulent again due to the barbarians.

It was a fatal matter if there was not enough military rations at that time.

"Elder General, you don't have to worry about this. There is not much grain in Qingzhou now, but the King of Wei, Chu, and Yan have a lot of grain. This time, taking advantage of the artillery transaction, I bought a lot of grain from them and stored it."

Niu Ben heard this and breathed a light tone this time.

He was very particular about polite agriculture and suppressing commerce, because he commanded the army to fight wars all year round, so he naturally knew the sorrow of food on the front line when food was cut off.

Therefore, food is more important to him than anything else.

He actually disagrees with Xiao Ming's current practice of giving equal importance to business and agriculture. It's just that an army general only needs to be responsible for fighting and training the army. These political propositions are not what he should have made.

Now that Xiao Ming has transported the cotton seeds, he can't hold it out, but he also asked casually.

When he learned that in order to make up for the harvest of Guanzhuang, Xiao Ming bought food from other places, he finally felt at ease, at least Xiao Ming was not dazed yet.

The cotton seeds were released bag by bag, and the soldiers picked up the seeds and sprinkled them in the fields of Guanzhuang.

This year, in addition to the Guanzhuang, which belongs to Qingzhou, Xiao Ming and Pang Yukun also built several slave plantations.

These plantations will not plant staple food this year, either cotton, sugarcane and rapeseed.

Although soap, perfume, mirror and other things can make temporary huge profits, ordinary white sugar, vegetable oil, and clothes are what everyone needs from the powerful and the people.

Taking over this market will lead to lasting profits.

It is precisely for this reason that Xiao Mingcai boldly opened up the plantation. In his plan, Qingzhou was based on commodity trade. While grain was self-sufficiency, it also adopted a strategy of purchasing and storage in large quantities.

Since last year, states have begun to build concrete granaries. Xiao Ming’s goal is to reserve enough food for the people of Qingzhou to eat for three years.

This goal is just based on the grain harvest in the fiefdom.
Chapter completed!