I, the patron saint of the frontier of the Tang Dynasty, was forced to rebel

Chapter 24 Fund Difficulty, Malicious Price Increase

Yue Fei was extremely shocked, such a weapon would bring huge changes to the war.

Couldn't help it, went up to test the new weapon in person.

The two-foot-long gun was loaded with ammunition and the matchlock was ready, aiming at a scarecrow target in front of him.

It's just that there is obviously something wrong with the barrel!
Seeing this, Qin Mu stepped back silently, and the people around him followed suit.

boom!
The fuze ignited, and there was a bang.

The scarecrow didn't fall, but the shooter fell to the ground!
The barrel of the matchlock gun was blown into four petals.

"Cough cough."

Yue Fei coughed violently, looked at Qin Mu behind him with a dull face, "This thing."

"The quality of the barrel is too poor. One shot has already caused internal problems, and you don't have a standard for loading gunpowder. Just now, it was because of too much loading and the barrel was not good enough, which caused the chamber to explode."

As he said that, Qin Mu stepped forward to pick up the gun that exploded, "When making it later, you must pay attention to the barrel of the gun to be smooth without any burrs, and the barrel of the gun must not be bent."

There was an even bigger reason why the gun exploded.

Looking directly, the barrel of the gun is a bit crooked!

"Go back to the workshop."

In the production workshop, the craftsmen continuously forge the rough iron into refined iron, and then fill the mold with melting.

Afterwards, the barrel is placed on a drill press for drilling.

Drilling machines in this period were very old, using animal power or water power to drive the drill bit.

The speed is naturally very slow, but at least it can be refined.

Qin Mu looked at everything in front of him, and his heart was bleeding.

In order to improve the efficiency of armament production, it can be said that most of the silver is invested in the establishment of workshops.

Naturally, he proposed to transform these ancient equipment.

It costs at least 200 taels of silver to manufacture a qualified matchlock gun!

But in order to meet the standard, the gun will not explode due to the quality, and can only grit its teeth and hold on.

The manufacture of matchlock guns is already so troublesome and costly.

I can't imagine what it will be like to make rifled guns in the future!
"King Xian, currently the steel is refined according to what you said, and the first furnace has come out, please check."

Tian Chong came over, holding a smooth and straight barrel in his hand.

Qin Mu only needs to take a look at it to know that the quality is average, but the current situation is considered a high-quality product.

"Yes, continue to produce according to this standard."

"King Xian, it takes dozens of catties of crude iron to produce such a piece, isn't it a bit too wasteful?"

"No, no matter how much money you spend, you have to do it!"

Seeing King Xian's firm tone, Tian Chong didn't dare to say anything.

After more than half an hour, the gun assembled with new materials was ready.

"Go Shiqiang, I'll come in person!"

"No!"

Zhuge Liang immediately jumped out to stop it, "King Xian, this weapon is too unstable, you can't fight against danger!"

"That's right, let me do it."

Yue Fei also spoke out to stop him, the virtuous king is the leader, what if something goes wrong?
"If I don't take the lead, how can the people behind agree to take risks?"

"As a virtuous king, I must set a good example for everyone!"

Regardless of the obstruction, Qin Mu came outside with a brand new gun.

The scarecrow target, which was [-] meters away, lit the fire rope.

Snapped!
There was a loud bang, and a puff of smoke shot out from the muzzle of the gun.

A hole was blasted at the scarecrow target's chest in the distance.

"Very good, several times better than the previous ones."

Qin Mu touched the gun in his hand, his thoughts changed, and he was finally able to touch this familiar weapon for the first time.

"Congratulations to the virtuous king, and get another sharp weapon!"

"In the future, with such a large number of weapons and equipment, the army will be fearless!"

The group of sycophants in the back were actually sweating from behind.

I was finally relieved that there was no explosion!

Qin Mu returned to the workshop to find Tian Chong again, "In the future, we will use kraft paper to pack the ammunition according to the fixed weight. This will not only increase the shooting speed of soldiers, but also improve the utilization rate of ammunition."

"Yes!"

The manufacture of new weapons is in full swing.

On the other side, people in Youzhou and other places panicked, and a large number of people fled the city.

The offensive of Qin Mu's army is obviously overwhelming.

If you don't escape at this time, you are waiting to die!
The direction these people chose to flee was Langzhou and Liangzhou.

Suddenly tens of thousands of people rushed in, Zhuge Liang was not worried at all, but was pleasantly surprised.

Langzhou was hollowed out before, and now there is a shortage of people to recover.

What a godsend!

Lingzhou City Lord's Mansion.

Qin Mu sat at the main seat in the hall, and several officials below, including Lin Quan, reported the monthly situation.

This regulation was also set by him, and the officials had to report the situation of the station every month.

Even the subordinates need to report once a week.

"Currently, how many people are under our rule?"

"More than 800 million people. It will take time to calculate the exact number. According to the recent influx of refugees, it is estimated that there will be more than 50 people!"

Datang at this time had a population of 5000 to [-] million.

There are 800 million people in four states, which can be said to be very strong.

"Lin Quan, how is the economic situation?"

Lin Quan looked very tired, his face was sallow.

There is no way, since I have been dealing with government affairs according to the order of the virtuous king, and have secretly contacted a large number of businessmen, etc., I have almost no time to rest every day.

This is not counted, but also needs to be responsible for the logistics control of the army.

"My lord, at present our four states plus the previous loans and loans total 3000 taels, the military expenditure exceeds 1000 million taels, and the remaining 300 million taels are spent on helping refugees and stabilizing the people, with a balance of 530 million taels. Support for three months!"

Hearing such a result, Qin Mu immediately discovered the problem.

"Didn't it only cost more than 1000 million? Why are there only 500 million left?"

"Ugh!"

Lin Quan's face was full of bitterness: "My lord, we need to stick to the city, and the cost of repairing the city wall is very high, and you don't allow corvee, the cost of the workers alone is very high, and they have to be responsible for their meals. .”

Corvée is free labor.

But after Qin Mu abolished this regulation, all workers could earn at least tens of pennies a day.

It may not sound like much. As far as the current work situation is concerned, it all depends on the pile of people.

Just repairing a section of the city wall, the price is exaggerated!
Qin Mu was also very speechless, he never thought that the policy he proposed would turn against him.

However, in order to attract people to work, so as to achieve the purpose of population explosion.

No matter how much money you spend, it's worth it!

"What is the specific situation of military expenditure?"

Lin Quan continued to report: "At present, there are 5000 troops in the army. Excluding subsidies, pensions, etc., the daily expenditure exceeds 1000 taels of silver, mainly spent on the purchase of grain and grass, and the consumption of ordnance."

"In addition, on the armament manufacturing side, due to the urgent need for iron ore and other materials, external purchases have been increased. The outside world, especially small neighboring countries, can raise prices, causing prices to soar."

(End of this chapter)