Urban Sims

Chapter 73
the next two years.

Zhou Ming entered a busy state.

On the one hand, he personally led people to open up an experimental field for nearly a hundred plant seeds such as watermelon, grapes, rice, corn, breadfruit, cotton, and rubber that he brought from the New World. Part of it was planted in the ground.

On the other hand, the various weapons and iron-making workshops in the Granling workshop area, on the basis of the original, Zhou Ming increased resources and scientific research efforts, and made great progress in about half a year.

For example, in Iron and Steel Workshop, Zhou Ming designed a new steelmaking blast furnace with a height of 5 meters and a chamber of more than 10 cubic meters, which is safe, efficient, energy-saving and environmentally friendly, based on the engineering drawings of the "Primary Iron and Steel Plant" in his mind. The furnace produces 50 tons of steel at a rate of [-] tons, and produces low-carbon steel with high strength and good toughness. The annual steel output of such a blast furnace is almost comparable to that of the entire Iron Castle Kingdom.

Such as various weapons workshops, according to the engineering drawings of the "Primary Industrial Machine Tool" in Zhou Ming's mind, with the efforts of high-quality steel and excellent craftsmen, he built a new one in the upper reaches of the river formed by the melted snow mountain in Granling. Several weapon workshops, these weapon workshops use various types of industrial machine tools driven by water power, such as punching machines, drilling machines, cutting machines, boring machines, etc. - relying on these machine tools with high precision, uniform force, and stable control, all kinds of For swords and armor, the output has been greatly improved, and the quality has also been improved by several levels.

There are also [steam engine] and [matchlock gun].

The principles of these two things are not complicated. Zhou Ming led craftsmen to develop them several years ago, but the poor airtightness and lubricity made the efficiency of the steam engine not high, and it was difficult to popularize it for practical use.As for matchlock guns, Zhou Ming, who was seriously short of gunpowder (he saved two or three tons a year), only asked craftsmen to make a dozen of them and put them there, and only used them when he went hunting occasionally.

But this time, after returning from the New World, the confident Zhou Ming decided to increase his investment and strive to manufacture hundreds of steam engines and tens of thousands of matchlock guns within three to five years. Initially entered the era of roaring steam and queuing up to be shot.

Industry, agriculture, Zhou Ming is hurrying to implement his various plans, but it is not the focus of all his work.

In the past two years, most of Zhou Ming's work has been focused on one thing.

Train and prepare for war!
The civil war for the throne of the Iron Castle Kingdom has been going on for more than a year. Prince Lawrence, who occupies the east of the Iron Castle Kingdom and has the support of 20 earldoms, is fighting with Duke Milton, who occupies the west and has the support of 16 earldoms. The battle was inextricably linked, with tens of thousands of casualties.

In this civil war, Prince Lawrence in the east undoubtedly has a greater advantage. His right to inherit the throne is unquestionable, and he supports his 20 earldoms. He has mastered most of the iron ore resources of the Iron Castle Kingdom, and the population is almost The Duke of Milton in the west has twice as many supporters, with more money, more people, and more soldiers. There is no reason why the group of "poor guys" cannot be defeated.

Yes, similar to the "North-South Controversy" in the Kingdom of Voris, the upper echelons of the Iron Castle Kingdom were also divided into two factions according to the distribution of iron ore resources in the east and west: the "poor people" in the west in the eyes of the people in the east. ", and the "iron guy" in the east in the eyes of people in the west, the two factions are not pleasing to each other. In the noble council, they often fight with each other.

But the "poor guys" in the west are indeed poor. Money, people, and soldiers are not as good as the "iron guys" who have countless iron mines in the east, and the king's butt often sits on the "iron guys". On the one hand, the "poor guys" do all of the work that the kingdom spends money and energy on, and the "iron guys" stand aside and point out, sneering from time to time, how can the "poor guys" bear it in their hearts?
Therefore, when I learned that the wise and mighty Duke of Milton wanted to compete for the throne of the King of Iron Castle from the young, ignorant, arrogant and rude Prince Lawrence who often took pleasure in humiliating the "poor guy", it had been hundreds of years. The "poor guys" who were oppressed to the verge of breaking out did not hesitate to collectively support the Duke of Milton, and raised the banner of rebellion that "the queen is promiscuous, Lawrence is not the son of the king". The group of "iron men" were beaten back steadily, not to mention occupying more than a dozen iron mines, and almost destroyed the 50-meter-high city of Iron Fort City, the capital of the king, whose walls were made of millions of iron ingots. , to fall down.

If the reinforcements from the "iron men" hadn't arrived in time, Iron Fort City, the royal capital known as "never fall", might really fall into the hands of those "poor men" who have never seen the world.

Lawrence, who had just sat on the throne for a few days, was furious. He just wanted to peel and cramp those "poor guys" who challenged his royal authority and majesty, and crushed them to pieces.

Therefore, after repelling the attack of the "poor guys" with difficulty, Lawrence personally led the army and killed bloody rivers on the "poor guys"' territory, not to mention hanging nobles, even ordinary farmers.

The killing was so ruthless that the eyes of both factions were red, and the situation naturally became endless.

……

Like all the forces that gloated at other people's misfortune, seeing this situation, Zhou Ming, who was standing outside the situation, was happier, and the more time he spent training his soldiers and horses, the more he dispatched transport troops when the two sides in the war were weak or weak in succession. The caravan of weapons will send a timely rain to the disadvantaged party at a relatively favorable price, and then they can exchange population or iron ingots if the payment ability of both parties is insufficient...

Relying on these opportunistic means, Zhou Ming weakened his opponent's strength while strengthening his own.

After all, if the teeth are not hard and the strength is not strong, it is like a snake swallowing an elephant. Even if the snake swallows the elephant, the stomach is not enough, and it will either be difficult to digest, or it will die alive.

Therefore, in two years, Zhou Ming built a huge army of nearly 2 people.

This army of nearly 2 people mainly consists of four aspects.

One, the standing military force of Granland, including 10 knights, expanded to 150 leaders, and in order to facilitate the management of the nearly 1500 permanent or floating population of Granland in the later period, Zhou Ming had to be in the "leader" Underneath, a "leader" class was added, which mainly recruited freelancers in cities and towns, and did not allocate land, but gave generous treatment and salary. The leader was under the command of the leader. Guards".

Two, established in the name of the security patrol team, including father-in-law Baron Sean, Baron Howard, Baron Romon, and the new Lord Owen of Berdo Land, the four most economically developed territories around Gran Territory, Zhou Ming Organize the knights and leaders of these territories together to establish a security patrol team in the name of maintaining law and order and defending against thieves.

In addition to the Granites, this patrol team has a total of 42 knights and 420 leaders. After imitating the Granites' military system, a "leader" class has also been expanded downwards, recruiting 4200 leaders, and incorporated into the To "Territorial Army".

Three, after the establishment of the mercenary trade union, Zhou Ming formed a mercenary group ('merchant group') whose main business was armed escorting merchants. After more than three years of development, the number of businesses and the scope of business continued to expand From the initial 5000 members of the business group, the number of members has increased to 10000 after several expansions and the absorption of elite forces. From the 1 people, after several layers of screening, Zhou Ming picked out another 5000 people. , Incorporated into the "Business Alliance Army".

Four, Zhou Ming issued recruitment tasks in the mercenary union. Through various channels, he recruited "mercenary" teams from various countries that exist for war. From those recruited mercenary teams, Zhou Ming selected some famous A mercenary team with good obedience and strong combat effectiveness was hired with a lot of money and promised to provide excellent armor. After spending millions of gold coins, they finally created a "mercenary team" with a number of 8000 people and a certain combat effectiveness. Army" out.

These four types of armies include "territorial armies" that do not completely obey their own orders, "mercenaries" that have certain combat effectiveness but only accept money and cannot bear heavy casualties...

Zhou Ming's only army that can be reused, can ensure absolute loyalty, and can entrust all his wealth and life to him is the "Guard Army" that he created by himself.

The number of people is only 1660 people.

Therefore, before the advent of the hot weapon era of queuing up and shooting, in order to increase the winning rate of the war, Zhou Ming provided lucrative salaries and well-equipped weapons and equipment, and before launching the war, the "Territorial Army" and "Business Alliance The three military forces, the "Mercenary Army" and the "Mercenary Army", have conducted more than a year of military training that is not strict but has achieved remarkable results. After various means, Zhou Ming finally has a military force worthy of a war. strength.

Zhou Ming called this military force the "Conquering Legion".

Not long after, in the third year after the civil war broke out in the Iron Castle Kingdom, among the neighboring countries of the Iron Castle Kingdom, the stronger Tongshan Kingdom couldn't help but make the first move, and sent an army of more than 3 people to enter the Dongjing, the Kingdom of Iron Fortress, headed for a territory rich in iron ore.

It seems to have triggered a chain reaction. After watching the actions of the Copper Mountain Kingdom, several other small countries that had long been on the border of Chen Bing moved in with large soldiers, lest they be left behind.

Even the Kingdom of Arino, which only had 6 earldoms, cobbled together a military force of 3000 people to join the feast.

On the side of the Kingdom of Voris, fast horses galloped from the capital of Woz, and sent the call-up order issued by the king to various territories of the kingdom through the messengers.

……

Granville Castle.

On the floating terrace of the tall city wall, a group of lords in luxurious clothes leaned on the wall and looked at the sword.

"The king sent an edict requesting that all the troops in the north go to the king's capital to assemble. If they don't arrive within seven days, all titles and territories will be deprived." Holding a note in his hand, an earl read the words on it.

"Your Majesty the King, don't you still have those Nankes? What do you need us for?" the earl complained.

"If you don't go, even if you help Helian lay down more land in the south, we, the Yankees, don't have a share." One person said rebelliously.

woohoo~
A melodious horn sounded.

"My lords, the military review has been completed, and the military parade has begun." Baron Connor, who was standing aside, reminded.

Everyone's spirits were shaken, and then they heard a sound of neat steps on the ground, which even made the castle tremble slightly.

Everyone leaned closer to the wall, looked down, and saw an unforgettable scene on the flat grass below the castle.

Several silver cavalry phalanxes marched forward; dozens of black and bright leaders led the phalanx like an ant colony; hundreds of colorful mercenary phalanxes of different heights stepped on neat steps. The steps, like tofu cubes one by one, are slowly moving southward on the flat land.

The breeze is blowing, the flags are flying, the armor is bright, the steel spears are shining, and the momentum is like a rainbow!

Riding his horse and standing on a soil slope, holding a dagger standing next to the army formation, under the sunshine, a knight in silver armor, like the pride of heaven, released a bright light.

　I wrote this chapter for 8 hours... I plan to end this dungeon around chapter 80, and I have to write a few more climaxes, so I update it twice a day, and guarantee no less than 5000 words, which is the only thing I can guarantee...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)