Liu Chengzong knew that the price he offered was suitable.
Because after discussing the arming of a thousand-man team every year, Batur Hutaiji began to urge the Marshal's Office to go to Gansu.
It's not possible without an expedition to Gansu. The Junggars cannot transport large livestock to the Chaka Salt Pond through no-man's land. The most they can do is send them to Jiayuguan. The subsequent roads need to be supplied by Gansu oasis to ensure the survival rate of the livestock.
Otherwise, the 50,000 sheep would be gone if they came over.
Trading is different from marching to war. For example, they gathered 40,000 coalition troops this time and brought a lot of livestock with them. But when fighting, they are not afraid of no man's land. They don't even have to wait until the animals starve to death of thirst, they are slaughtered and eaten directly on the road.
The caravan consisted of a few hundred people at most, driving large groups of sheep and cattle on the road. The cars were loaded with goods, and the animals died on the road without even opening their mouths to eat.
Huetaiji didn't think Liu Chengzong would pay for the dead livestock.
He heard the implication of the Grand Marshal's words. The production capacity of the Marshal's Mansion was much stronger than he imagined. How many goods he could buy actually depended on how high the price he could afford to pay.
In the following days, Huitaiji, who lived at sea, waited anxiously for the equipment samples from the Marshal's Mansion Arsenal.
Liu Shishi couldn't take care of Huitaiji for the time being, because Chen Qindai of Haibei County suddenly reported that Wang Ziyong attached great importance to his summons. When he received the news, he set off from Zhangye and now arrived at Bazidun Liyuan Fort where the Yellow-headed Uighurs moved in.
Chen Qindai got the news and sent Aji, the leader of the eight tribes of Qilian Mountain, to greet him.
Because Haibei County is located in the flat area between Qinghai Lake and the Qilian Mountains, it was at the forefront of the Ming and Mongolian wars in its early years. Later, it was taken over by Tumote to pay tribute and cleanse the rebellion. When it was finally absorbed by the Marshal's Mansion, there was no local culture. Mongolian tribes.
They are all survivors of the war, and their characteristics are that they are small and scattered.
Therefore, Chen Qindai named the various tribes and places under his rule very carelessly. From the first to the seventeenth, they were divided into seventeen small tribes. The places occupied by the small tribes were called Haibei Townships No. 1 to 17th.
After Liu Chengzong got the news, he called Zhang Tianlin. The two ran closer, while Wang Ziyong ran farther away. Finally, the three leaders of the uprising in northern Shaanxi met at the Haibei County government office three thousand miles away from home. Time passed and Wang Ziyong Very excited.
He never thought that Liu Chengzong would summon him and come to Haibei County to greet him in person.
In fact, in Wang Ziyong's impression, among almost all the leaders who started their careers in northern Shaanxi, Liu Shishi was the youngest and the most difficult to get along with.
The Great Uprising in Northern Shaanxi relied on the rise of a swarm of heroes out of anger and resentment. There was no organization. At the beginning of the uprising, all the leaders were confused and did not know what would happen in the future.
So like-minded leaders plundered together, and after having the spoils, they indulged in sex, sex, and drinking. They were all ordinary people who couldn't restrain themselves when they were depressed and couldn't restrain themselves when they were happy.
Isn’t this how the feelings between people come about?
However, Liu Chengzong was not gregarious. He had clear goals and was very clear about his ambitions. He acted alone in almost everything. If others asked him for help, the Lion Camp could handle it well, but he never asked others for help.
When Liu Chengzong approached leaders like them, he would always discuss matters as they were, and he seemed to be keeping people away from them thousands of miles away.
Wang Ziyong did receive a lot of favors from the Liu family in Yan'an Mansion. He was very grateful to Liu Chengzong and was always thinking of ways to repay him.
But in his heart there was only gratitude and no sense of intimacy.
The distance between them is too strong.
If Wang Ziyong really had to comment on what kind of person Liu Chengzong was, he would just use four words: arrogant.
But this time they met at the Haibei County Government Office, and the food and wine provided by the Marshal's Mansion was almost a milestone ceremony for Wang Ziyong, which made him extremely emotional... There were three of them, and there were three pots of kumiss on the table.
Liu Shizi unknowingly left an unkind impression on Wang Ziyong; and unknowingly, relying on the three pots of kumiss brewed by Chen Qindai on the table, Wang Ziyong thought that the Generalissimo actually valued him. .
All the leaders in northern Shaanxi have a consensus - after Liu Chengzong left northern Shaanxi, Gao Yingxiang in Shizigou became the most powerful person in northern Shaanxi.
This is not only because Gao Yingxiang is successful in farming in Shizigou. He can feed himself with food and guns, and he can also support the Yan'an Flag Guard Army who is the commander.
What's more, Gao Yingxiang, the farming king, said that in the world of Shaanxi, whoever drinks with Liu Shishi is considered a person.
Who did Lion Lion drink with? None of the hundreds of famous leaders in Shaanxi had ever drunk it. Only Gao Yingxiang drank it, one pot at a time.
One pot was found in the Mizhi County Yamen Prison many years ago, which shows that Marshal Liu felt that Gao Yingxiang was a figure since he was a child.
A scene at a banquet in Yanchuan shows that even though Marshal Liu has grown up, he still thinks that Gao Yingxiang is a figure.
Wang Ziyong asked himself, what does it mean that Liu Chengzong, who became the generalissimo, now plans to drink a whole jug of wine with him?
This shows that in the eyes of the Generalissimo, Wang Ziyong is as good as the sky.
Seeing the jug of wine, Wang Ziyong hadn't even sat down yet, so he clasped his fists and said, "Wang, go up to the mountain of swords and go down to the sea of fire, just obey the commander's orders!"
All the leaders in Shaanxi knew the legend about Liu Chengzong's drinking, but only Liu Chengzong did not know it.
Wang Zi used this statement to confuse Liu Chengzong, who was in the dark. He thought to himself that Leader Wang was so refreshing. Did this matter go so smoothly?
Liu Chengzong waved his hand and said: "Brother Wang, please sit down. We are family members who have worked together since the beginning of the uprising. I won't beat around the bush. There is no need for my brother to go up mountains of swords and seas of fire. The difficulty is about the same. I want my brother to go to Tianshan to preside over it on my behalf." A big deal.”
To be honest, Wang Ziyong was a little confused.
Before setting off, he had made some guesses about Liu Chengzong's request to summon him to meet. He thought that he would probably use the Three Tribulations Meeting. What would happen if the Marshal's Mansion used the Three Tribulations Meeting?
There must be an uprising in Gansu!
What Wang Ziyong had always planned was to let the Sanjie Hui cause trouble in Gansu.
But his army was not of much use. It only used a few military forts and piers that the court struggled to maintain in the Gobi desert as fulcrums to build weapons and train disciples.
In fact, it is true that Liu Chengzong mastered the military training code of the Sanjiehui, but the core idea was different. Wang Ziyong set the goal of training the junior officers in the nine-day monthly training code.
In another year and a half, the Sanjie Society will be able to gain a thousand grassroots officers and be able to lead thirty thousand people in rebellion.
The Sanjie Guild has no fixed address, but it does not have such a good source of soldiers as the Marshal's Mansion. What are the composition of his disciples?
The battalion soldiers are the highest-level talents, and the guard flag army is the elite. These people will join his Three Tribulations Club, but they may not join the banner before the job is completed. After all, the king himself cannot afford much money for food, so he can at most support some officers. .
The main force of the army was still bankrupt farmers who could not even serve as tenants, jobless hooligans in the city, and hungry people in the countryside.
Therefore, Wang Ziyong’s plan was to recruit more craftsmen and disciples to make a large number of muskets. Seven months before the incident, all the disciples would be gathered to practice according to the drill. Nine days a month, five months of training, and two months of equipping muskets. Fine soil simulates shooting, then breaks out and goes to the battlefield.
Build momentum and deceive the city gates. If you need to fight in the field, use your disciples to hold muskets and fight with the most elite servants of the border army. As long as you capture a few strings of acropolis in Hexi, you will be victorious.
The officers and soldiers in the direction of Lanzhou were restrained by the Marshal's Mansion. They relied on the Thirty-Three Tribulations to create a situation in Gansu. After two months of stability, he had nothing to fear.
He had even prepared for this meeting and revealed all the plans and military strength. The words were already on his lips. But after hearing Liu Chengzong's words, he couldn't believe his ears.
Going to Tianshan?
If you ask him to go to Tianshan at this time, it will be difficult not to remind him of seizing power... This is very irritating.
It's clear that I'll come to serve you just because you say a word. Isn't that enough? Why don't you drive me to Tianshan Mountain?
Wang Ziyong was stunned on the spot. Countless thoughts in his mind made him restless. He suppressed his anger and embarrassment and said: "Tianshan, what does this mean, Marshal?"
"Brother, don't worry, the situation in the northwest and even the entire north has changed. Sit down first and listen to me slowly."
Liu Shishi saw Wang Ziyong's concerns and realized that the two parties had different understandings of the situation, so he quickly stabilized Wang Ziyong to avoid misunderstanding.
Zhang Tianlin also advised: "Monk Wang, please sit down first. The commander-in-chief didn't mean that."
The two persuaded him one after another, and Wang Ziyong sat down doubtfully, and listened to Liu Chengzong tell him about a series of changes such as the death of Lin Dan Khan and the defeat of Oirat.
It would have been better not to say it, but Wang Ziyong was even more shocked than when he heard that he was asked to go to Tianshan. The eyes he looked at Liu Chengzong and Zhang Tianlin were wrong.
These things seemed natural to the Marshal's Mansion who was engaged in the war, but in the eyes of Wang Ziyong, who had settled in Gansu for a long time, the Marshal's Mansion looked like a monster.
The border troops from the five towns of the Ming Dynasty came to Hehuang and were beaten away.
When the Oirat coalition forces came to Hehuang, they were beaten and unable to leave even if they wanted to.
The Great Khan of Mongolia came to Hehuang and was simply defeated to death.
What is this Liu Shizi?
Wang Ziyong was stunned for a long time and then said: "The commander-in-chief wants me to go to Tianshan and build a guard station with Gansu border troops?"
"Yes, Brother Wang is the only one in the northwest who has such influence in Gansu. He can help me recruit caravan guards and let them protect the Shuaifu caravan to Tianshan."
Wang Ziyong asked: "How many people are needed?"
Liu Shizi had already made a plan, and he was confident at this time. He said: "Ten caravans a year, each with two to three hundred people, two to three thousand people each year, with the camp and flag troops as the main ones."
It was difficult for the king to do it for himself. He thought for a moment and said: "Commander, the journey is long and dangerous. I can't call out those who have the ability to go there. Those who can call out are paupers. They don't even have enough water and food. I'm afraid... "
"Easy to handle."
Liu Chengzong smiled and said: "If they are willing to go, ask them to register in Haibei County. Of course, it is best if they take the armor or even armor plates with them when they leave the army."
As he spoke, he spread his hands and said: "Each person will be paid ten taels. Silver ingots are not easy to carry, so I will cast silver coins for them. I will prepare dry food for the road, even if you come naked..."
Liu Chengzong paused and thought about the production capacity of the Marshal's Mansion Arsenal.
It's not that he favors one over the other, Liu Shizi knows very well that these people who eat his food, wear his clothes, and use his weapons are naturally his people.
It's just that things still have to be prioritized. The Marshal's Mansion only has so much equipment production capacity. If immigrants from Gansu to the Tianshan Mountains need equipment, they can only temporarily use the equipment captured from Mongolia and the border army.
There is always a process for producing equipment in the arsenal, and it cannot squeeze the production of equipment needed by the Junggar Ministry. After all, Liu Shizi has the confidence to provide 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver and 10,000 to 20,000 shi of rations every year to encourage Gansu immigrants, and he relies on Junggar Taiji to foot the bill.
In fact, these things are a set in Liu Shizi's mind. He is responsible for making guns and cannons for the Junggar armed forces.
The leather goods that Junggar Taiji exchanged for guns and equipment would be processed into clothing and utensils, and then sold back to Junggar Lanzhou at ten times the price. Junggar used force to open up more markets for raw materials, serving as the military projection of the Marshal's Office in Central Asia.
Liu Shizi’s ultimate goal is to use the help of Junggar to knock on the door of Tsarist Russia’s Ufa and force it to open up trade, so that Junggar can seize the fur origin of Tsarist Russia and sell it to Xining for processing; the fur clothing and equipment processed in Xining will be sold back to Junggar, and Junggar will then A complete industrial chain sold to Tsarist Russia.
At present, the most difficult problem in this industrial chain, the logical problem of why Junggar does not go eastward but wants to go west, has been solved.
Liu Chengzong used practical actions to tell the Oirat tribes that you can't defeat them.
As long as the logical issues are clarified, the problems in the future will not be big, it will just be a question of how much.
As for how far this trade will develop, Liu Shizi doesn't know. He only knows that Junggar currently has very few fur origins. With the motivation to exchange for weapons, the scale of trade may expand ten or even twenty times in the future.
Perhaps by then, the Silk Road will be renamed the Road of Guns.
Therefore, it can be said that the arms sales by the Commander-in-Chief to Junggar gave Liu Chengzong the confidence to mobilize Gansu border troops to immigrate to Tianshan, and Huitai Ji was his God of Wealth.
As long as Huetaiji's troops have a thousand sets of advanced weapons and equipment from around the world during the Chongzhen period, the profits earned by the commander's office from trade can support the entire arsenal and continuously produce equipment for two battalions.
In terms of equipment alone, a thousand-man brigade with 1,125 sets of equipment would not be considered backward in this era.
The biggest profit in arms sales is cannon. A 1,500 kilogram artillery piece is equivalent to 3,000 taels of silver after being converted into leather goods. For such a cannon, including the 500 rounds of shells delivered, the commander's labor and material cost is 150 taels. About ten taels.
The cannonballs sent actually cost twice as much as the cannons to cast.
But there is no way. Even if he opens a cannonball casting factory in Tianshan, it is impossible to move the entire iron factory, foundry workshop, iron-making furnace, craftsman and other industrial chains of the Marshal's Mansion to Tianshan. Without these supporting things, the casting The cost of five hundred rounds of seven-pound artillery shells is not something that can be solved by one hundred taels.
After all, it's still two tons of iron, and it's no joke to leave it anywhere.
Who makes Mr. Liu kind-hearted? I didn't want a high-quality customer like Huitaiji to go home and hit the cannonballs with a hammer, so I had to hold my nose and give away the cannonballs, reluctantly making a profit of 2,850 taels.
Considering this, Liu Chengzong felt that he had to focus on customer needs first. In the end, he did not boast about Haikou and had to say: "Even if they come naked, I have a mountain of Mongolian soldiers and armors, and there will be no delay." use."
"When they arrive in the Tianshan Mountains and want to come back, I won't force them to stay, so they will follow the caravan from Junggar. If they are willing to stay, when I set up a government there, they will be able to cultivate and plant as much as they can...Gansu Let Xiao Liu take care of the matter first."
"Three to five years." Liu Chengzong said, leaning forward: "When we take over the Western Region and reopen the Han Dynasty, if you are willing to stay, my brother will be the Protector of the Western Region, and you will be the Protector of the Beiting. We will be each other's arms." If you are willing to go back, the Tianshan guards will stay there, and I will keep Gansu for you, and we can fight back to Yan'an together, how about that?"
------Digression-----
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