Wuchang, June 18th, the second year of Chengshun in the Great Chu Empire!
Luo Zhixue, who returned from Changsha with the Guards Division, was not idle.
On the contrary, Luo Zhixue, who returned to Wuchang, was busier than when he led troops to fight in Chunan.
When leading the army to fight, Luo Zhixue's focus was on military affairs. As for other administrative matters, unless they were more important matters, most of them were postponed.
But after returning to Wuchang, many things that had been squeezed before suddenly came flooding back. In order to deal with the many squeezed things, Luo Zhixue started reviewing documents early in the morning every day and met with many ministers along the way.
After working for more than half a month, Luo Zhixue finally settled the many affairs that had been squeezed before, and at the same time shifted the focus of his work to military affairs again.
On June 18, Luo Zhixue arrived at the military camp in the southern suburbs of Wuchang and inspected the 7th Division which was being trained.
"Now the Seventh Division has more than 6,000 soldiers. Basically, the structures of each regiment have been initially set up. What we need to do next is to continue to replenish new soldiers and equipment!"
"The problem with soldiers is not big. We have been recruiting soldiers in Jingzhou Prefecture to reorganize the 7th Division. It is expected that this batch of recruits will complete the three-month recruit training next month and then be added to the 7th Division."
"But the equipment is more troublesome. Nowadays, our output of guns and other equipment is still limited, especially artillery, muskets and armor. Many troops are temporarily understaffed, and a large amount of production capacity in the first half of this year was basically used in Chunannan Xiang, it is still quite nervous to free up production capacity to arm the 7th and 8th divisions in the future."
Luo Zhixue listened to Xu Zhixian's introduction while looking at the soldiers of the 7th Division who were forming formations for drills in front.
After listening, he said: "As I said, even if the equipment will not be complete for a while, training must be started in advance. People must wait for the equipment, not let the equipment wait for people!"
As he said that, Luo Zhixue turned his head slightly and looked at Yuan Gaofeng, Minister of the Ministry of Industry: "Yuan Aiqing, how is the ordnance production capacity of the Ministry of Industry? Can it be improved further?"
Hearing this, Yuan Gaofeng directly said with a grimace: "Your Majesty, the production capacity has now reached its limit. All arsenals have been working overtime, and all have reached the original design capacity, and even exceeded it! "
"Although we are continuing to expand the production capacity of each factory, and the second phase of the Hantian Arsenal is still in progress, factory construction, equipment construction and installation, and worker training all take time!"
"In a short period of time, we will not be able to significantly increase production capacity."
When Yuan Gaofeng spoke, he couldn't help but feel tired.
Among the many ministers in the Chu Empire, he, the Minister of Industry, was definitely the most stressed and busiest one.
Judging from the current situation of the Chu Empire, there are three most important administrative departments in the empire, namely the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Taxation, and the Ministry of Industry.
Even the Finance Department, which is in charge of the money bag, has to take a back seat in front of the above three departments. You must know that the Minister of Civil Affairs, the Minister of Taxation and the Minister of Industry have all entered the cabinet and become ministers of affairs.
Huang Chengxuan, the Minister of Finance, failed to join the cabinet.
This shows the importance of the above three institutions.
Needless to say, the Ministry of Personnel Affairs, this kind of personnel organization that manages many officials, has always been a powerful organization. Guo Quanshu, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Affairs, relied on the power of the Ministry of Personnel Affairs to directly become the Minister of Counseling. Even in the seven current Some of the counselors are among the most important ministers. In a sense, Guo Quanshu is currently the number one civil servant in the Chu Empire.
The Taxation Department is an important institution that supports the finances of the Dachu Empire. It is also the administrative agency with the largest number of personnel and the most funds in the Dachu Empire. Even the taxation department has an armed tax policeman for better tax collection.
The Ministry of Industry is an institution that supports various military equipment of the Chu Empire. Its importance is beyond doubt.
If the Chu army wants to fight, they first need money and food, and secondly they need guns.
This alone was enough to make the Ministry of Industry an important department in the Chu Empire.
As Minister of Industry, Yuan Gaofeng not only has a high position but also great pressure and is extremely busy at work.
After all, the military was short of guns and cannons, so they asked him directly for them, Yuan Gaofeng.
Such a long period of high-pressure work makes Yuan Gaofeng feel tired sometimes, but if you ask him to give up his rights directly, he will naturally refuse.
Listening to Yuan Gaofeng's complaining tone that production capacity could not be increased, Luo Zhixue did not look angry.
He himself is aware of the progress of the factories under the Ministry of Industry. He also knows that the factories under the Ministry of Industry have basically squeezed their production capacity to the extreme.
It is useless to put pressure on Yuan Gaofeng anymore.
So we can only say: "Production capacity expansion takes time, but now is wartime. The Ministry of Industry still has to do a good job in production capacity expansion in all aspects. The construction of factories, the construction and installation of equipment, and the training of workers must be done as quickly as possible. Speed up progress while ensuring quality if possible.”
After thinking about it, Luo Zhixue added: "In the second half of the year, another five hundred thousand taels of special funds will be allocated to your Ministry of Industry to expand the production of various military equipment!"
Yuan Gaofeng, who was still looking like a bitter gourd at first, immediately relaxed when he heard about the special fund of 500,000 taels, and said with a smile: "Thank you, Your Majesty, with this special fund of 500,000 taels of silver, Hantian Factory The expansion of the Xiangyang factory and the construction of the Changsha factory will be carried out more smoothly!"
Luo Zhixue said: "The money was given to your Ministry of Industry, but it has to produce results. If you can't produce results later, I only ask you!"
Yuan Gaofeng said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I don't know anything else, but I still have some experience when it comes to building factories!"
After the conversation, Luo Zhixue continued to watch the drills of the 7th Division, and from time to time talked with several imperial ministers next to him, especially the military generals, while Yuan Gaofeng was thinking about how to spend the half million. Two silver coins.
"The second phase of the project at the Hantian Arsenal can appropriately increase some funds, so that the construction progress can be faster. However, in addition to the Hantian Arsenal, more investment is also needed at the Hantian Machinery Factory. This machinery factory is related to various industries. For the production of equipment for manufacturing ordnance, if the production capacity cannot be increased and the technology cannot be improved, it will affect the expansion of other factories.”
"As for the Changsha Factory, the original funds are not enough. We can also allocate a sum this time. With the original funds, we should be able to build the Changsha Arsenal!"
Changsha Arsenal, the predecessor of the factory is actually the gun workshop established by Yang Sichang in Changsha.
In order to organize and train the new standard army and to arm other guards, Yang Sichang recruited a large number of craftsmen to Changsha to build guns, swords, spears, armor and other equipment.
When the Chu army conquered Changsha, although Yang Sichang also took away dozens of core senior craftsmen in the factory when he retreated, a large number of craftsmen remained in Changsha.
After the Chu army took over Changsha, they also took over the workshop, brought back most of the escaped craftsmen to continue working, and brought the workshop under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry.
The Ministry of Industry took advantage of the situation and established the Changsha Arsenal to integrate the original workshops so that guns, ammunition, etc. could be produced nearby to supply the Chu army fighting in the southern Chu region.
The positioning of the Changsha Arsenal is similar to that of the Xiangyang Arsenal. They are both positioned as medium-sized regional arsenals. The designed production capacity is an annual production of 10,000 muskets and 100 field guns of various types.
This production capacity cannot be compared with the Hantian Arsenal, and it is even worse than the Xiangyang Arsenal. However, this is just a regional medium-sized arsenal, so it is not bad to have this production capacity.
You can't compare all arsenals with Hantian Arsenal.
The Hantian Arsenal is positioned as a large-scale arsenal in the country, supporting the supply of most ordnance in the Unification War.
Its design capacity is very large!
It is expected that after the completion of the third phase of the project at the end of this year, the annual production capacity of muskets alone will reach 70,000.
The production capacity of field artillery can also reach more than 600 pieces.
Now the ambition of the Ministry of Industry is to double the ordnance production capacity of the entire empire before the end of this year.
That is to complete the construction of Changsha Arsenal and the expansion of Hantian Arsenal!
Eventually, the annual production capacity of muskets will reach more than 100,000 pieces, and the production capacity of field artillery pieces will be more than 1,000 pieces.
Only in this way can hundreds of thousands of troops be armed and the great cause of unification of China be completed.
While Yuan Gaofeng was thinking about how to spend money to expand ordnance production, Luo Zhixue was discussing the training situation of the 7th Division with Xu Zhixian and others.
The overall training situation of the 7th Division is relatively smooth, and starting from the training of the 7th Division, the Chu Army added new recruits to the main force, and the training time for the new recruits was increased from the previous one month to three months.
Previously, the training time for new recruits was only one month. This was because the Chu Empire expanded too rapidly and the gap in military strength was very large. Therefore, even if the soldiers were trained for only one month, they had to be directly added to the main force and then continue during the garrison period. Recruit training.
However, after the capital was established in Wuchang, the strategic situation of the Chu Empire improved, and with the advent of winter, the war between the Chu Empire and the Ming Dynasty entered a relatively peaceful period.
Therefore, the Chu Empire gradually increased the training time for new recruits.
Last winter, the training period for recruits was increased from one month to two months.
In February this year, the training time for recruits was increased to three months.
After three months of recruit training, these recruits will undergo complete nutritional supplements and physical training, and at the same time master various necessary combat skills.
In this way, these new recruits who have undergone three months of rigorous training can go directly to the battlefield after being added to the main forces. Instead of the same situation as before, even if they are added to the army, they still need to continue training for new recruits. , forcing them to go out to fight will easily lead to various problems.
The recruit training period has been increased from one month to three months!
This may seem like an independent incident, but it is of great significance behind it.
Because this means that the Chu Empire has truly established a firm foothold, and has time, money and food to provide three months of training for the new recruits.
The recruits of the 7th Division will be recruits who have received three months of complete recruit training!
The same is true for the Eighth Division trained in Hanyang.
After inspecting the 7th Division, Luo Zhixue, who returned to Wuchang City, also formally appointed Major General Huang Xiangbin, who had served as the commander of the First Artillery Regiment in the early days and is now the artillery director, and commanded a series of siege artillery operations in Chunan, as the commander of the 7th Division.
Immediately afterwards, he appointed a veteran general, the commander of the 5th Infantry Brigade, and Fei Bingqing, a former general, as the commander of the 8th Division.
The appointment of these two division commanders also kicked off the preliminary preparations for the eastward campaign!
