Chongzhen was very satisfied. He was very happy with today's meeting. Several of his biggest worries were solved.
"Yang Qing. I have arranged for the Ministry of War to purchase weapons and armor from you. You have to give me a preferential price." Chongzhen said with a smile.
Wang Chengen took back the bet he had just made. He counted and found that there were thousands of taels of silver notes. I feel happy.
"Your Majesty, these armored ministers don't dare to make money. Just give them a cost price. Five taels of silver per set." Yang Fan said.
Yang Fan's quotation is well-founded. Jiannu's cloth armor is very sophisticated, it is the Eight Banners armor we see with those lightning rod helmets. Their cost was eight taels of silver. Jiannu's side was not as corrupt as the Ming Dynasty. Of the eight taels of silver, seven taels of silver had to end up on the armor.
The cloth armor made by Ming Dynasty cost more than three taels to four taels of silver per set. In fact, half of this money can be embezzled. Therefore, why the Ming Dynasty could not defeat the Qing Dynasty can be seen here.
The armor made for less than two taels of silver versus the armor made for seven taels of silver, needless to say the result.
Li Banghua also knew in his heart that the price was not expensive. This was steel armor, not iron armor. What is the price of steel, what is the price of iron. Moreover, the whole body is protected, and only a lot more materials are used.
"In terms of price, Uncle Dingyuan still has to give in. After all, the treasury is empty now, and it is difficult for me to raise funds."
Yang Fan said in embarrassment: "It's not that I won't give in. It's actually that there is no profit at this price. If I continue to reduce the price, I may lose money."
Bi Ziyan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, said: "In order to completely solve the Monan Mongolia problem this time, I can only divert other funds to support this war. It is stretched. Uncle Dingyuan must find a way to reduce costs. If you can save A point is a point.”
Yang Fan lowered his head and considered for a long time, and said: "Let's do this. In addition to the armor, I will give you 50,000 spears, 50,000 Yanling knives, and 5,000 shields. The price really cannot be lowered. Your Majesty and I will naturally repay you. It’s the real price, how dare you falsely report it.”
Several people in the cabinet discussed it, and it seemed that Yang Fan would not lower the price any more. After all, no one would lose money. Finally, he nodded in agreement.
Chongzhen continued: "Yang Qing, you have been selling corn at low prices in Xinghe Supermarket without raising the price. This is very good. You have done everything you promised me. You are really an honest and trustworthy gentleman. This time, the military rations can be Do you want to use the corn and meat from Xinghe Supermarket? After all, the famine is serious this year, and I don’t dare to touch the major warehouses in the capital. I will settle the price with you according to the supermarket’s price.”
This is not a big deal for Yang Fan. He has a lot of corn, and adding these 50,000 people is not a big deal.
This was better, he wouldn't trust anyone with the logistics.
Because the food belongs to him, he has complete control over it. If he were to wait for the court and the local government to raise food for him, God knows what quality the food would be.
Not sure whether it can be supplied. War is not a child's play, and running out of food can cause serious problems.
Yang Fan has a caravan with a large transport capacity. As long as the court provides the money, he will naturally take care of the rest. Just take it as a big order. His own people had no trouble transporting food and wages to the army.
"Yang Qing, how do you plan to organize the Beijing camp? How to equip the weapons." Chongzhen asked.
"Your Majesty, I am accustomed to organizing the army at regiment and battalion levels. Each regiment has 3,600 people, and the regiment headquarters has 600 people. There are six battalion leaders with 500 people."
"The regiment headquarters consists of one hundred and fifty cavalry, one hundred and fifty archers, and one hundred and fifty artillery. In addition, there are one hundred and fifty gunmen."
"The battalion leaders below are organized into infantry. Each battalion leader has five hundred soldiers and is equipped with one hundred large shields covered with steel plates. Four hundred spears. Five hundred Yan Ling knives."
"Weapons from the original Beijing camp will be used. The existing weapons in the Beijing camp and the weapons in the inventory of the Ministry of War will be gathered together. They will be tested uniformly. The qualified ones will be distributed. The unqualified ones that can be repaired will be repaired. The ones that cannot be repaired will be eliminated."
Chongzhen nodded after hearing this. Yang Fan's strategy was quite pragmatic. That is to say, appropriate supplementary plans have been prepared taking into account the current conditions. Although many weapons have quality problems now, it is not realistic to replace them all. Use what can be used, and repair what can be repaired. Elimination that is really unusable.
"Yang Qing, yesterday the British Duke and the Duke of Chengguo came to the palace to see me. They said that the nobles still have some servants and soldiers, and they are willing to hand them over to you for training and unified organization. Their weapons and armors are fully equipped, and there is no need for additional equipment. There are about 28,000 people. They will report to Nanyuan in the next two days. You can make arrangements when you arrive."
As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, the civil officials started buzzing with discussion. They were very surprised at what the nobles were thinking this time, and they handed over all their trump cards. Didn't you refuse to surrender even if you were beaten to death?
The first assistant Li Biao and the second assistant Qian Longxi looked at each other and were shocked.
Gentlemen, what does this mean? Donglin's intention to suppress them has become clear. They actually raised their hands and surrendered, handing over all their military power. No reservations at all.
Yang Fan thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, then all these 80,000 people will be dispersed and reorganized. The original officers will go to the teaching team and re-learn training. Your Majesty will decide where these people will go from now on. The soldiers will be temporarily free. The veterans of the Hetuan training will serve as military commanders."
"These troops are organized into a total of 21 regiments, which are still collectively called the Fifth Military Battalion. The six thousand gunmen trained by Zhang Shize are still collectively called the Shenji Battalion. More than three thousand elite cavalry were selected to be responsible for reconnaissance and liaison, and are still called the Three Thousand Camp. In addition, I also plan to recruit ten regiments of civilian men to be responsible for transporting food, wages and supplies."
Chongzhen nodded, Yang Fan had no intention of destroying the original system of Jingying. It is clear that after training and fighting this battle, as for how the Beijing camp wants to reform, it is the emperor's business and he will not participate.
"Your Majesty, there are 28,000 horses in the capital camp, and 20,000 horses have been borrowed by various ministries and yamen and officials above the third rank in Beijing. There are only 8,000 horses left in the capital camp that are too thin to be used. I request that all yamen and adults return the horses. When the army returns from the northwest, the horses will be handed back, and the use will be decided by His Majesty. If there are not enough horses, this battle may not be easy to fight."
Yang Fan naturally wanted to bring back all the horses from the Beijing camp. The war is about to begin. It is really unreasonable for you to borrow it and not return it at this time.
As soon as Yang Fan made this request, the officials immediately looked reluctant.
This official borrowing the horse is a bit like giving him a car in the future. It's a benefit. Of course it is also needed for office work. After all, having a horse is a lot more convenient.
However, this time the Beijing camp is going to the battlefield, so if you usually borrow it, you just borrow it. It must be taken back now. Yang Fan wanted to use the less than a month left to feed the horses with beans and corn, so that they would be fat and strong. Good for use in battle.
"Okay, Yang Qing, if you have any other requests, I will implement them for you." Chongzhen said happily.
Yang Fan's demands are not excessive, and they are even what they should be. Unlike Yuan Dudu, he only dealt with issues that tested the emperor's bottom line.
"I have no problem," Yang Fan said with his hands in hand.
"Okay, Wang Cheng'en, let's draft the decree and implement all Yang Qing's requirements."
