The land in the plains of western Sichuan is extremely fertile, and with good weather and good weather, the Perak Army achieved an excellent harvest of autumn grain this year. Not only have staple crops such as rice and soybeans achieved a bumper harvest, but other miscellaneous grains such as sorghum and taro have also achieved bumper harvests. The mountains of food made Li Shuang both happy and worried. He was happy because according to preliminary estimates, the rice harvest alone was enough to supply the Pili Army for two years, but he was worried about the lack of storage space. Taking advantage of the autumn sunshine to dry and rush to build a granary is also a headache. The current population under the rule of the Perak Army is close to 300,000, and the inflow continues, which has greatly alleviated the labor gap problem in various industries and laid the foundation for the rapid development of various undertakings. It has also brought great changes to the food supply. pressure. The bumper harvest in autumn has completely solved the problem of food shortage.
The influx of population promoted the rapid development of industry and mining, especially military industry. It’s just that the current arsenal production still cannot keep up with demand. At present, the production capacity of the Dayi Arsenal has reached its limit. On the one hand, it has to make up for the consumption of the early wars. On the other hand, it has to sell some to allies such as Dajianlu and Weimao. It also has to prepare the betrothal gift for Ouyang Xuan's wedding—— Bozhou expressed strong wishes, and the arsenal naturally could not disappoint Yang Wen, the most important ally of the Perak Army and his father-in-law. In addition, Yu Zhu led his army to Liuqiu. In addition to taking away a thousand troops, he also took away a large number of weapons and ammunition. Naturally, the weapons and ammunition for these troops and equipment must be replenished in time.
For this reason, Li Saner, the deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, frequently complained to Li Shuang about the lack of manpower. At present, the non-agricultural labor force of the Perak Army has reached more than 50,000 people. In addition to thousands of military and officials, education, scientific research and other personnel, these labor forces are distributed in various factories, mines, construction, commerce and other industries, including shipyards and arsenals. The number of personnel has reached thousands. The Perak Army relied on preferential policies to attract many refugees from the surrounding areas. It's just that the population in Western Sichuan has been extremely sparse after the war. Now the population density of the Perak Army has far exceeded the area occupied by the Mongolian Army, and is even higher than the population density of Yazhou. The rate of population inflow has begun to show a downward trend. The natural reproduction of the population takes a long time, and it is extremely difficult to increase the population significantly in the short term. What's more, employees in the military industry are no different from other industries. In addition to strict political review, they also need to undergo long-term technical training. Therefore, when Li Saner complained about the lack of manpower in the military industry, he could not rush, so he had to wait patiently.
Faced with the problem of lack of manpower, Ouyang Xuan's solution is to improve labor efficiency. "If you want to do your job first, you must first sharpen your tools." In addition to using hand tools and adding machinery and equipment, it is also extremely important to use large livestock. Horses, donkeys, and mules are extremely important in factories, mines, construction, and transportation industries, and cattle play an even greater role in farmland production. It is no exaggeration to say that a large animal can support several strong laborers. As long as there are sufficient livestock, the production efficiency of the Perak Army can be greatly improved, and women can even work instead of men. In order to protect these precious large livestock, Yang Xiucai, who was in charge of judicial and criminal law, also introduced special laws to prohibit private slaughter.
Carefully protecting the stock of livestock is one thing, but more importantly, it is also necessary to increase the source of livestock power. Therefore, as soon as the autumn harvest was over, the caravans of the Perak Army set off one after another. The Perak Army has many demands for external materials, including but not limited to cattle, horses, donkeys, large livestock, and resources such as copper, nitrate, lead, and mercury. It exports tea, salt, ironware, glass and other industrial products, and also sells a small amount of arms to its allies. In fact, with the exception of Banshu and Diaoyu City, many forces in Sichuan are not very interested in purchasing firearms. Yu Xing and others are too expensive and just want to have sex for free without spending any money. Zelang and other allies in the Tibet area not only find it expensive, but also find it troublesome to use and maintain. For the illiterate native soldiers in the Tibetan area, cold weapons such as knives, swords, spears, and armor were more popular.
In addition to the above commodities, this year the caravan will also transport grain to Fan areas on an unprecedented scale. Compared with the floods and droughts in the plains of western Sichuan, the living environment in the Tibetan area is much worse. Due to the drought last winter and the heavy rain this year, the food production in the Tibetan area has been greatly reduced. In Zelang's words, if there is no external food, there will definitely be a large number of hungry people. The situation of the dead. Therefore, the joint meeting decided that no matter how high the transportation cost is, grain must be transported to Fan District. If there are not enough local materials to exchange, mining rights or labor can be used to offset the payment. When doing business, we should not only focus on short-term profits, but also on long-term interests, and we must also settle political scores. In short, even if the profit from selling grain is thin, we must help our allies tide over the difficulties.
In order to reduce the transportation distance and reduce the burden of grain purchase in Fan District, Ouyang Xuan asked the caravan to purchase grain in Daojiang County and Qingcheng County near Yazhou and Guankou Village, and transport it to Fan District nearby. In order to reassure the people of Yazhou, the Pili Army will transport food to Yazhou. After Boss Qian went to Liuqiu, Zhu Tiaozi was in charge of Pili Army's trade. Qian Laoer is in charge of the southern line of the Tea Horse Trade Road in the Yazhou direction, and Qian Laosan is in charge of the northern line in the Wei-Mao two-state direction. After continuous development, the current northern and southern tea-horse trade routes have opened several branch lines respectively, and their length has also been extended for hundreds of miles. Many agents and partners have been supported along the routes, and the business environment has improved a lot. It can be expected that the transaction volume with Fan District will increase exponentially this fall, and the profits will be extremely amazing.
Qian Bao is still in charge of mining operations in Lizhou. At present, in addition to the fire salt mine in Lizhou, he has also opened four fire salt mines in Diaozhou and Yanzhou, as well as two gold mines and a lead-zinc mine. In addition to self-operated ones, he also invested capital and technology into shares, and opened many mines in partnership with Zelang. Most of the above mines have begun production. However, due to Cao Zhizhou closing the road in the early stage, the minerals could not be transported back. Qian Bao asked Ouyang Xuan for instructions to send technical personnel to conduct preliminary smelting locally, and then transport it back to Qiongzhou for further smelting. There are currently thousands of workers in these mines, as well as hundreds of trained full-time and part-time guards. This kind of strength is enough to protect themselves.
The profits from mining and doing business in Fan District are astonishing, which naturally attracts many people to secretly covet him. Among these people, there are not only thieves who gang up to cut off roads, but also tribes who get rich by robbery, and even officials who secretly kill people and steal goods. Since Ouyang Xuan became the deputy envoy to pacify Chengdu, Cao Zhizhou did not dare to openly block the passage of the caravan, but continued to encourage bandits and bandit tribes to attack the Perak Army. These people need him to encourage and tease them. If he could do it, he would have done it long ago. In fact, these people had attacked the Pili Army caravan several times when Boss Qian reopened the Dajianlu trade route. However, after being beaten by firearms, their eagerness to move had long been restrained. When it comes to money or life, they obviously chose the latter.
Now the caravans of the Perak Army heading to Fan District often include hundreds of people and hundreds of mules and horses. The most exaggerated one was a caravan heading to the western grasslands of Weizhou. The number of escorts reached 500, and the number of accompanying mules and horses reached nearly a thousand. The long queue was two or three miles long on the mountain road. According to the mountain people watching along the way, it doesn't look like they are here to do business, but more like they are here to fight. In fact, these caravan guards were indeed garrison brigades. Let the second-line troops take turns to guard the caravans in Fan District. On the one hand, it is to enhance their combat effectiveness through fully armed long-distance training. On the other hand, it is also to reduce the business costs of the caravans.
In addition to the powerful escort, the Pili Army also has heavy troops stationed near Baizhang City and Guankou Village. If there is any trouble on the trade route, the powerful special brigade and field brigade will send troops to reinforce. It was precisely with the backing of powerful force that Cao Zhizhou and all the forces along the way did not dare to act rashly.
