"It's a good thing to have confidence, but I have to inspect the troops first."
Hearing what Yue Fei said, Zhu Gaojie nodded. This was normal. Although he shared part of his memory with Yue Fei, a famous general like Yue Fei must believe what he saw to be more confident.
"The three major battalions are stationed not far from the capital, and it is very convenient for inspection."
Zhu Gaojie said with a smile:
"I just cleaned it up not long ago. Now the three major battalions are basically like a finger and arm, and they are dedicated to the public."
Yue Fei glanced at him and understood in his heart that since Zhu Gaojie was now the prince and the confirmed next emperor of the Ming Dynasty, then this army was dedicated to the public affairs and would naturally be directed towards him...
"Fifth Army Camp, Fengzi Camp, Shenji Camp..."
Yue Fei thought about it for a moment and then said:
"Your three major battalions should all be elite men. Do you want to equip them all with divine arm bows and giant axes like my Beiwei army?"
"After we have these, we can begin to train military formations and use foot against cavalry."
Zhu Gaojie thought for a while, then leaned over and asked:
"Are these things expensive?"
Yue Fei said expressionlessly:
"It's expensive to build. I was able to scrape together a Beiwei army by selling iron and steel. The rest are just ordinary soldiers."
After Zhu Gaojie heard this, he immediately waved his hand:
"make!"
"Tell me the drawings and materials, and I will order the Ministry of Industry to allocate a group of skilled craftsmen to develop them as soon as possible. This is not a trivial matter that cannot be delayed."
Anyway, the Ming Dynasty's finances are basically on his side now. Since he is determined to go to war with the Tatars, this expenditure is indispensable.
It’s really not enough. At worst, let Jin Yiwei investigate and deal with a few more corrupt officials, and use the money they embezzled to subsidize it...
"General Yue, do you want to build another battalion yourself? For example, build another Beiwei army?"
Yue Fei was moved after hearing this, but after thinking for a while, he still shook his head and refused.
"Forget it, it's not my dynasty anymore. There's no need to rebuild the Beiwei Army. I'll just help you train these three battalions."
"It takes too much energy to carry the Wei Army. When you become the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the future, how can you have so much time?"
"In my opinion, it is enough to have three battalions as the elite of the army and rely on them as their trusted advisors."
Zhu Gaojie smiled slightly. He was actually very interested in Yue Fei's invincible Beiwei army, but since Yue Fei had said so, he was not willing to force others into trouble.
Anyway, with the divine arm bow, long-handled giant axe, and Yue Fei's military training, the three major battalions will definitely be able to quickly improve their strength again. In the future, with the three major battalions as the core, it will be easy to train the Ming army...
Yue Fei reminded him seriously:
"I would like to remind you that training troops is very expensive. You must not empty out the national treasury. It will be really bad if the people are deprived of their livelihood."
Zhu Gaojie nodded. He naturally understood the disadvantages of going militarily:
"Don't worry, General Yue, I'm not an ignorant person."
"If the army wants to continuously win, the key lies in its elite, its logistics, and its coach."
"I will not do such stupid things to drain the national treasury and ignore people's livelihood just to fight a war."
…
When the Minister of the Ministry of Industry was summoned to the Wenhua Hall, he was still a little confused. Why did the prince suddenly summon him?
I haven’t heard of any major construction projects being planned recently?
"Song Qing, I have come to see you. I have an important matter that I want you to handle."
Song Shangshu's face suddenly straightened, he cupped his hands and said:
"Please give me your instructions, His Royal Highness."
Zhu Gaojie looked at the drawing in his hand again and asked someone to hand it to him.
"This this……"
The Minister of Song Dynasty was able to achieve the position of Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and he was naturally proficient in his skills.
He could tell at a glance that there seemed to be something fishy about the two drawings the prince handed him.
"This is a secret map of weapons that I worked hard to obtain. It will be of great benefit to the army."
Zhu Gaojie stood up, walked to Song Shangshu, stared at him and said slowly:
"Song Qing, I want you to immediately select a capable craftsman to develop this weapon. The time is limited to half a month. Can you do it?"
Song Shangshu was slightly startled, and did not immediately answer Zhu Gaojie's words. Instead, he lowered his head and looked at the drawings carefully for a while, then raised his head and said in a very cautious tone:
"Your Highness, I have taken a rough look at the entire drawing. The details need to be studied in detail, but it should be possible."
"Just this drawing, it may consume a lot of materials, and there may not be enough manpower..."
Zhu Gaojie knew that this person was quite capable, so when he saw his statement, he was convinced.
He smiled and patted Song Shangshu on the shoulder with a gentle tone:
"If you need money or supplies, I will let the Ministry of Household Affairs fully cooperate with you."
"Short of manpower, you choose your own, I agree."
"As long as you can develop the weapons on the drawings, I will definitely reward you generously!"
"But there is one thing," Zhu Gaojie's tone gradually became more serious:
"You must make these weapons on time for Gu, and you must maintain the quality and quantity!"
"In addition, strict confidentiality must be maintained. I will let the Jin Yiwei be responsible for guarding me. No news in the factory shall be leaked!"
"Otherwise, you have to touch the head on your neck first."
Song Shangshu is a standard technical official, and he is not very interested in officialdom. Anyway, for their Ministry of Industry, they mainly build palaces and manage various water conservancy projects.
Therefore, after listening to Zhu Gaojie's words, he did not show any fear. Instead, he stared at the drawings carefully, as if he wanted to engrave the contents on the drawings in his mind. Then he said to Zhu Gaojie very seriously:
"Please rest assured, Your Highness, I will go back and summon the master craftsmen immediately, and I will definitely complete what Your Highness has ordered within the time limit."
"As for the allocation of property, manpower, security, etc., please leave it to the person designated by Your Highness to be responsible."
Seeing that he was so successful, Zhu Gaojie was naturally very happy, and directly called an inner court guard general to come over and arrange the matter.
As the saying goes, if a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools.
Since he is about to go to war with the Tatars, as long as he has these two secret weapons provided by Yue Fei, he will definitely be able to crush the Tatars.
Then naturally we should be more polite to these skilled craftsmen below.
Otherwise, blindly relying on strong pressure may affect the progress of weapon manufacturing and delay the war, which would be inappropriate.
"Okay, go ahead, Song Qing. As long as you do this well, as I said, you will definitely be generously rewarded!"
(End of chapter)
