Become a feudal king from today

"Wang, whirlwind..."

The sound of metal hitting each other continued.

After a quarter of an hour, the two stopped panting.

No one was hurt, and the knives in their hands were completely unsightly.

Zhao Xu was very satisfied. He said to Wang Ying: "If you want money, give money, and if you want people, give it to others. We will produce it with all our strength. We must wear it within a month."

"The plate armor?" Wang Ying asked hesitantly. Although the success of the scale armor surprised him, he also wanted to make another piece of armor.

"There is no conflict. Once your water-powered forging hammer comes out, you can produce plate armor and then replace it. Before that, my army can't keep wearing inferior armor, not to mention that my army may not only have these two in the future." Ten thousand people." Zhao Xu said calmly.

When Liu Fu heard this, he showed an interesting smile.

In the Dasong legal system, the prince's fiefdom could be as large as one state.

But since the establishment of the country, basically no prince has ever owned a state.

The most recorded records are only five counties.

As the territory increases, the number of royal troops can be expanded.

Now that King Yan suddenly said this, was he confident that he would be able to make meritorious deeds and be granted more lands?

Before, he wouldn't think so, but now, hehe.

…

"Is the armor made by the Military Division so powerful?"

In the small courtyard where Chang Wei was resting in the palace, Chang Wei stared at the new armor Xu Lie was wearing, the longing in his eyes almost overflowing.

After they came back, they told Chang Wei the news.

"This can be fake. The guards and I have tried it." Xu Lie deliberately turned around to show off to Chang Wei.

"I don't believe it." Chang Wei shook his head.

Guards like Xu Lie had a close relationship with him and always liked to mess around.

He felt that Xu Lie was teasing him.

Xu Lie didn't say anything. He suddenly bent his bow and nocked an arrow, and shot an arrow at a guard standing at the door.

Chang Wei was startled when he saw it and tried to stop him, but it was too late.

He was immediately angry and secretly wondered why Xu Lie was so disrespectful of human life.

But with a "ding..." sound, he saw the arrow hit the guard's armor and fell to the ground.

"Commander, how could you do this? This is brand new armor. Now it is deflated and imperfect." The guard was unprepared and looked aggrieved when he realized it.

Xu Lie scratched his head, "I'm offended, I'm offended, haha, I'll treat you to a drink tonight."

Chang Wei was dumbfounded on the spot. After a while, he came back to his senses and his face gradually became excited.

Regardless of the presence of everyone, he went to find King Yan.

After a while, he came back satisfied and packed his things to go to Beida Camp.

"General, where are you going? Your injuries haven't healed yet." Xu Lie said in surprise when he saw this.

"My injury has healed by 70%, so I don't need to exert myself too much. Your Highness has allowed me to return to the camp. Hey, I want to see with my own eyes the pro-army soldiers wearing the armor of the Bingzhan Division." Chang Wei looked excited.

When he went to mention the matter, King Yan naturally disagreed, but he persisted.

Make sure you only supervise the equipping of soldiers with armor and not do other heavy work.

King Yan reluctantly agreed.

After packing his things, Chang Wei left the palace without looking back, his energy ten times higher than before.

Xu Lie and others looked at Chang Wei's leaving figure and shook their heads helplessly.

Sleeping hall.

Zhao Xu went to the study after dinner.

The production of scale armor was on track, but he did not relax.

The last time Chang Wei returned injured, he realized that the Beidi people were not so easy to defeat.

Especially since the royal army currently has almost no cavalry.

The most powerful force in Beidi is the cavalry.

Infantry versus cavalry is at a huge disadvantage in war.

Because this means that if a battle is won, the enemy's cavalry can retreat easily.

At the same time, if his supply line is stretched, the enemy can easily cut off his supply with cavalry.

As a result, he can basically only play defensive battles.

Therefore, establishing a cavalry is very important and needs to be put on the agenda.

The cavalry needs horses, and a war horse in Dasong basically costs thirty taels.

A cavalryman needs at least two horses.

To form a cavalry of 5,000 men would cost 300,000 taels of silver.

This does not include the usual cost of raising horses.

"Raising soldiers is such an arduous task." Thinking of this, Zhao Xu couldn't help but sigh.

Calculating this, the armor, food, horses, soldiers' pay, etc. for the 20,000 royal troops totaled a huge cost.

The government affairs system in Yan County also needs the support of the royal palace.

After all, he refused to impose heavy taxes on the people.

However, he has no regrets.

Because if heavy taxes were imposed, he would have died long ago, and now at least he still has time to plan.

Thinking of this, he called Qin's accountant over.

"Qin Accountant, how are the income and expenditure of the palace during this period?" Zhao Xu asked.

Qin's accountant flipped through the account books and replied: "This time, the palace received 30,000 taels of silver from Jinling's ice-making profits. The main income came from brewing, with a total of 980,000 taels. Last time, it received 30,000 taels of silver from Huang. The Du family confiscated two hundred thousand taels of silver."

After a pause, he said: "The main expenses are the military uniforms and food for the royal family's troops. Now we also add the raw materials for the war department, as well as the silver from the wine jar, the cost of purchasing green ant wine, etc. There are still There are three hundred and sixty thousand taels of silver."

Zhao Xu nodded.

Although his wine is sold for fifteen taels per jar, the cost of the wine jar and green ant wine must be deducted from it.

Therefore, the overall profit is only about ten taels.

The key is to exchange for the land of the wealthy family in Yan County.

During this period, a large part of the profit from selling wine was used to pay off debts.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be only this little money on the books.

"We can't be satisfied with what we have now." Zhao Xu secretly thought.

After ordering Qin's accountant to go back, Zhao Xu leaned on his chair and pondered for a while, feeling that his plan to make money could not be stopped.

…

The next day.

Zhao Xu's deep dream ended in a burst of noise.

Waking up from bed, Zhao Xu looked outside with doubtful eyes.

Feng'er walked in at this time and pouted: "Your Highness, it's Dong An and Yang He. They want to see Your Highness."

Zhao Xu then remembered that today was the day to appoint the personnel of the trading company.

After washing, he had breakfast and met Dong An and Yang He.

"Hey, those who didn't know would have thought that you two are going to be grooms today." Zhao Xu teased the two of them.

It seems that he is sure that he can become an official in the palace.

Dong An and Yang He were more energetic than the other.

And as if they had agreed, both of them were wearing bright red robes.

Although it's not the groom's kind, it's still very festive.

Dong An and Yang He looked at each other and each snorted.

Dong An said: "Your Highness, he is my follower. He will learn whatever I do."

Yang He made a look like he was vomiting, "You can say such shameless words, aren't you afraid that you won't be able to sleep at night?"

Seeing that the two started to bicker again, Zhao Xu said, "Okay, you can argue again later after the officials of the trading house are appointed."

After hearing this, the two stopped talking.

Not long after, other children of wealthy families also arrived one after another.

Because this time he wanted to ask Tsui Hark and others about what everyone was doing these days, so he set his location at the palace.

After all the personnel arrived, Zhao Xu asked everyone to write down the number of raw materials purchased during this period on paper.

After submitting the submissions, Dong An and Yang He were indeed at the top.

But just like Dong An's confidence, Yang He lost a little to Dong An.

With some calculation in mind, he asked everyone to wait.

He came to a courtyard and sent someone to call Xu Hark and others.

"How is your investigation going during this period?" Zhao Xu asked.

Xu Ke said: "Your Highness, I have been following Dong An. He did not cheat, but his father secretly supported him with a batch of materials. However, Dong An did not know about it, so Yang He actually won."

Chai Wu nodded, "Indeed, Your Highness, Yang He is a small spy, and he relies on his sharp tongue throughout the whole process."

Zhao Xu was greatly surprised when he heard this.

I didn't expect things to turn around like this.

If Dong An learns about this, I don't know what his expression will be.

"Li Qiao, Gao Jian, Sun Yi, etc. cheated and were disqualified. The rest were ranked according to the number of deliveries during this period. The first place was Yang He, the second place was Dong An..."

"Second place? Your Highness, this...is this wrong? How come I am second place?"

After Tsui Hark and others revealed the spying situation, Zhao Xu immediately announced the ranking.

When Dong An heard this, his proud smile disappeared and turned into surprise.

Other wealthy children who were scolded for cheating were also a little dissatisfied and argued: "Your Highness, we have worked hard and did not cheat..."

Zhao Xu sneered, "Li Qiao, you negotiated privately with the merchant to sell it to you at a low price first, and then make up the difference at a higher price after the selection. Isn't this okay?"

A young man from a wealthy family standing in the back suddenly fainted when he heard this.

I was horrified, how did King Yan know about this?

Thinking of how someone seemed to be staring at him these days, he became more and more afraid to raise his head and look at King Yan.

The other wealthy family members also thought about it, and those who cheated did not dare to say anything.

Dong An knew that he had not cheated and said dissatisfiedly: "Your Highness, why do you refuse to accept this?"