Of course Huang Yi knew the way to slow down the cooling rate of molten steel. The sandpit had been prepared long ago, and the mold filled with molten steel would be buried in the sand.
The method is correct, scientific and has been verified by later generations. It is at least two hundred years ahead of this era. The only thing lacking is practical experience.
It doesn’t matter practice makes perfect.
There is another disadvantage at present, that is, the quality of steel cannot be stabilized, and the material of steel cannot be tested. It depends entirely on the experience of Qi Dashan, Lan Jinkui, Liu Han and other great craftsmen to distinguish.
It doesn't matter, it's nothing more than human factors that depend on the quality of the artillery.
Huang Yi believes that masters such as Qi Dashan, Lan Jinkui, and Liu Han will do their best and looks forward to casting qualified products before the end of the year.
Military uniforms could not all be funded by Governor Xuanda, and according to the treatment of the Ming Dynasty, mandarin duck jackets were only issued every three years.
Of course, the base area has to sew mandarin duck war jackets and make armor and weapons by itself.
Many of the Han people rescued were originally craftsmen and lived a miserable life.
After coming to the base area, most of them relied on their craftsmanship to eat, and most of them became master chefs with apprentices. They not only had enough to eat, but also had some meat every now and then.
Today's craftsmen have completely different mental outlooks. They all work seriously. It is everyone's pursuit that the products produced in the base must be high-quality.
The military uniforms of the Ming Dynasty had a unified style, and modifications were out of date at this time.
So Huang Yi only designed combat boots, which were similar to the lace-up boots of later generations. They had tendon soles and cowhide uppers, which were strong and durable.
Making shoes is not strenuous, but it still requires a lot of labor. Women are more suitable for this kind of work.
There is no shortage of shoe materials on the prairie. In the future, the boots produced in the base area can become products for export.
One thing that is regrettable is that the rice seeds that traveled with Huang Yi have not germinated. Huang Yi, who grew up eating rice, is destined to not be able to eat the rice produced in the base area.
Fortunately, the wheat and corn not only sprouted, but grew gratifyingly under the careful care of Zhang and Liu Shifu.
With this little output, it is absolutely impossible to eat it as food. You have to save seeds. Next year, you can plant more than ten acres of land, and the year after that, you can plant thousands of acres of land...
Day by day, the base area is getting better and better, and the day of harvest has come.
It has been receiving people during this period, and the population of the base area has exceeded 23,000.
Coupled with the thousands of large livestock, there is enough manpower and animal power for the autumn harvest.
Therefore, Huang Yi decided to increase the basic strength and personally selected some full-time cavalry and mounted infantry.
The harvest is about to arrive, and there must be no omissions. We must take strict precautions.
Huang Yi organized seven teams of 100 people each to patrol continuously every day. He personally set an example and participated in patrols every day to ensure that no strangers were allowed to approach the base area.
He rides horses for an hour or two almost every day. Huang Yi's riding skills are naturally getting better and better, and the two Ujimqin horses he rides in rotation are getting stronger.
The skills of the mounted infantry are of course improving. It is estimated that in another half a year, the mounted infantry will develop into a versatile unit capable of both mounted and infantry combat.
Huang Yi issued a saber with a wide back, thin blade and handguard to the mounted musketeers. The musketeers wielded the sabers to practice chopping while patrolling with Lumi guns on their backs.
Riding skills are indeed very important. Practice makes perfect. Musketeers have to ride horses for more than two hours every day, and their riding skills rise sharply.
The seven teams consisted of 700 men, 400 cavalry and 300 mounted infantry, all full-time warriors, of whom 150 were musketeers.
There are also 700 mounted infantry, mainly musketeers, pikemen, and sword and shield bearers, but they are not all out of work. They bring war horses and draft horses to participate in transportation during busy farming periods.
There is no way, there is too much farm work when the fields are busy, and we must work together.
Now Huang Yi has expanded the regular soldiers to 1,400, organized 800 auxiliary soldiers who train every other day, and mobilized 800 militiamen who train every three days.
The number of 2,600 men participating in military training is already the limit, which is one-third of the young and middle-aged men in the base area. There are also 400 female militiamen, all practicing the use of muskets.
Food is hope, food is reassurance.
The newly arrived refugees and Liao residents not only felt the strength of the collective and realized the superiority of collective life, but also saw cart after cart of wheat, millet, sorghum, and sweet potatoes being transported to the city.
They all realized that Mr. Huang's promise to provide everyone with food and clothing was not just a mirror image, and everyone became more motivated.
They all know that the base area may be "grazed" by Tatars and Jiannu slaves. No one rejects military training. Most of them practice thrusting in formations with pewter pole spears.
Many young adults hope to become regular soldiers with military pay, so they are particularly willing to endure hardships when participating in military training, hoping to get a good evaluation.
It is the basic principle to be as fair as possible. The grassroots managers in the base area adopt a merit-based selection method. Of course, it is the survival of the fittest.
The evaluation is conducted once every three months. During each training period, the militiamen who receive excellent scores will grow into auxiliary soldiers, and the auxiliary soldiers who perform well and have a hard work style will be promoted to regular soldiers.
Regular soldiers have more room for growth. They can become full-time cavalry and mounted infantry. They can also become corps commanders and small flags. Those who are literate over 500 can be promoted to deputy general flags and general flags...
In the future, all regular soldiers who are disabled and retired will become grassroots managers.
Anyway, we must master one thing and try our best to provide a ladder for soldiers and ordinary people at the bottom to rise, so that more people can live with hope and dignity.
We work and study at both ends, correcting our thoughts, unifying our thoughts, and cultivating national pride are an ongoing process.
Literacy work is very important. Huang Yi does not teach the Four Books and Five Classics. He only teaches everyone literacy and arithmetic, and selects some good poems for everyone to recite.
The vast majority of regular soldiers can completely recite and sing Yue Fei's "The River is Red" and Wen Tianxiang's "Crossing the Lingding Ocean", and often sing "Unity is Strength".
More than 80% of the regular soldiers can write two hundred Chinese characters silently, and recognize four to five hundred. When writing notes, the Chinese characters are combined with Chinese pinyin, and they can basically understand them.
There is no way to make the entire army illiterate, because about 20% of the regular soldiers are Mongolians. It is very rare for them to understand and speak Chinese. Teaching them to write Chinese characters is too difficult.
So far, the earliest Mongolians who followed Huang Yi, such as the Huxiaochuan brothers, Chalahe, Gerda, Yamoboli, etc., have not been able to master 200 Chinese characters.
Combat effectiveness is not directly related to literacy. It is not required that grassroots soldiers can write and do math.
However, under normal circumstances, illiterate people can only serve as soldiers, and their duties are limited to deputy general flag officers. Chief flag officers and above must be able to write regulations and official documents.
The atmosphere is very important. The base area has been establishing new traditions, attaching importance to reading and literacy, not discriminating against women, treating soldiers favorably, treating great craftsmen favorably, and treating laborers well. How can it not prosper in the long run?
