Time flies to November, and it has been half a year since Ouyang Xuan came to this world. In the past six months, he encountered life and death tests several times, but he defeated the dangers with tenacity and luck. With the help of modern technology and historical knowledge, he gained a firm foothold in the vast mountains, and together with his brothers in the Perak Army, he founded the army to fight against the Mongolian army. base area.
This mountainous area under the rule of the Perak Army is one hundred miles long from north to south and thirty miles wide from east to west, and has a current population of fifteen thousand people.
Excluding teachers, doctors, soldiers, officials and other professionals who are not engaged in production, the available labor force is about 10,000.
Sufficient labor, coupled with the widespread application of new technologies and new tools, and supplemented by an organizational management system full of incentives, have greatly improved labor efficiency.
Compared with the traditional economic model that has remained unchanged for thousands of years and is dominated by agriculture, the economic model launched by Ouyang Xuan that is based on industry and promotes agriculture through industry has an explosive growth rate.
Everyone was stunned by the growth rate of Shanzhong's wealth, and their admiration for him grew to a higher level, which further enhanced their confidence in starting a career with Brother Xuan.
Nowadays, everyone in the mountain is proud to join the Pili Army. Those who get what they want are proud of themselves, while those who don't get what they want have to settle for the next best thing. It would also be good if they could join one of the subordinate industrial, mining and construction companies.
Among the various companies under the Perak Army, the mining company has a labor force of about 1,000 people, including 500 people in labor camps composed of prisoners of war and criminals. There are now more than 20 mines, which mainly mine iron, coal, and limestone, and also produce Small amounts of sulfur, nitrate and copper.
The industrial company has 1,500 people, mainly in artillery foundries, gunpowder workshops, sword and spear forgings and other military factories, with smaller numbers in other agricultural tool factories, textile workshops and carpentry workshops.
There are also 300 people engaged in professional production in the construction industry and 200 people in the commerce industry. Among the total labor force, there are 8,000 people engaged in agricultural production. Except for a few hunters, herb collectors, beekeepers, etc., most of them are engaged in food production. After all, food is the most important thing for the people, and everyone knows that
"If there is food in the house, there will be no panic in the heart." Nowadays, the industry and mining industry are operating at full capacity, and the military training in preparation for war is also very intensive, so that the demand for food is also very high.
Although food is secure now, if we want to develop out of the mountains in the next step, the current 20,000 acres of cultivated land in the mountains will not be enough.
Therefore, Li Shuang, who was in charge of political affairs, and Lu Dezhi, chairman of the council, discussed and planned to open up wasteland on a large scale before spring sowing and increase the grain planting area in the mountains to 60,000 acres.
With new farming tools such as step plows, it is not difficult to cultivate so much farmland. The idea of land reclamation received Ouyang Xuan's full support.
The mountainous area is vast and there are many wastelands. Tigers, bears, wolves and other ferocious beasts are rampant and often injure the mountain people. By burning wasteland to increase the area of cultivated land, you can also drive wild animals into the mountains to avoid harming people and animals. This is why Ouyang Xuan encourages hunting.
We must obey the right when the matter is urgent. Now is not the time to talk about environmental protection and protecting wild animals. At the same time, the soldiers of the Perak Army also need to help the mountain people hunt. On the one hand, they obtain valuable meat. On the other hand, they prevent wild boars from destroying crop fields. The third is to enhance military skills and tactical abilities through hunting. This is a three-seater thing. .
The development of productivity is inseparable from science and technology. Science and education is the work in which Ouyang Xuan devotes the most energy besides the military.
The mountain people respect people with knowledge and culture, so it was relatively smooth when Lu Dezhi implemented compulsory education in accordance with the requirements of the Military and Political Joint Conference.
According to the Perak Army's decree, all children aged 6 to 12 years old will study in the newly established schools nearby. Teachers sent by the Perak Army will provide literacy, arithmetic, general education and other courses. Since it is free, the mountain residents have sent their school-age sons to the school. .
Most of the mountain residents had hesitated on whether their girls should participate, but Lu De used hard and soft tactics, including providing free lunches, asking village elders to declare the consequences of violating the compulsory education decree, and quietly speaking out. There are regulations within the Perak Army that officers, soldiers and company personnel will require married women to be literate and arithmetic in the future. This problem has also been solved through a multi-pronged approach.
As for adult education, in addition to compulsory business training implemented by each company, farmers' night schools have been set up in each village to provide training on practical skills such as planting, breeding and handicrafts that are very popular among mountain people.
Unlike education, which advances smoothly, scientific research progresses slowly. Although Ouyang Xuan has explained the general principles and research directions to the researchers, understanding the principles is one thing, and the specific production is another. It is even more difficult to achieve large-scale mass production.
Among the current scientific research achievements, only the development of cement has been successfully mass-produced and used in fortress construction, and the blast furnace steelmaking technology has been improved, but the improvement of gun barrel production, artillery casting technology, smokeless gunpowder and mercury fulminate research and development Still stagnant.
One gun barrel has been produced so far, but it took blacksmith Hu, who was the most skilled, more than a month to polish it. Since there is no cold forging equipment and planing machine tools, mass production is out of the question.
Artillery casting is also due to the immature manufacturing process, resulting in a very low qualification rate. The produced artillery either has too large fitting gaps between components, or there are bubbles in the wall of the barrel.
The former problem will cause the power of the artillery to be greatly reduced, and the latter will cause the barrel to explode. Due to Ouyang Xuan's guidance, the development of sulfuric acid, nitric acid, smokeless gunpowder and fulminant was relatively smooth, but only a few samples were produced.
This is mainly due to the lack of manufacturing equipment and core raw materials. For example, mass production of mercury fulminate requires a large amount of mercury, smokeless gunpowder also requires a large amount of cotton, and a large amount of chemicals such as ethyl alcohol.
"Haste makes waste." Ouyang Xuan understands that the development of science and technology is a gradual accumulation process. Only quantitative changes will lead to qualitative changes. In particular, production and manufacturing processes require continuous exploration and improvement.
He understands that in order to achieve breakthroughs in scientific research, in addition to adhering to the original incentive mechanism and encouraging creation and invention, the only way is to increase personnel training and resource investment.
Although the mountains have now established an orientation towards advocating science and technology, due to the inertia of traditional thinking, many scholars are still confined to the scholar-bureaucrat class. They also have the tradition of despising craftsmen and are unwilling to invest in specific production technology fields.
Ouyang Xuan understands that the only way to change the traditional official-oriented thinking that has existed for thousands of years is to be driven by profit. For this reason, he discussed with Lu Dezhi and Du Daquan that he would concurrently serve as the honorary president of the institute.
At the same time, it is stipulated that after scholars enter the institute, complete the courses and pass the assessment, they will be eligible to be selected as officials in the Perak Army system.
Those with outstanding grades can become his direct disciples after passing the defense hosted by Ouyang Xuan himself. This allowed the talented people in the mountains to see another fast track to gain fame besides military merit.
As a result, the institute became a popular unit comparable to that of a field camp, and applicants quickly gathered in large numbers.
