Throne of Vientiane Civilization

The sword in your hand, although its forging technology and performance are far inferior to the previous two, but as a weapon for soldiers that needs to be mass-produced, it is a suitable choice.

Li Gan saw this and added another sentence at the right time.

"In terms of toughness, it has indeed declined, but as long as it is enchanted, the toughness will not be much worse than the original crystal iron sword, and it will be harder and sharper."

As the head of the Ordnance Forging Department in Xianyang City, he has undoubtedly studied enchantment, a method closely related to the strength of ordnance.

‘Basic Weapon Blessing’ can improve the toughness and sharpness of weapons.

At the same time, he also studied the difference between a crystal iron sword with and without enchantment.

So he basically has an idea of ​​the improvement here.

From the current point of view, upgrading all existing crystal iron weapons to this diamond-infused version would have more advantages than disadvantages.

As for higher-standard weapons, just continue to use pattern steel hammered from crystal iron for forging.

"Can ordinary craftsmen in the blacksmithing department also forge this version with diamond added?"

Li Gan has undoubtedly confirmed this issue a long time ago.

"After adding diamond, the probability of breakage increases due to the change in metal properties. Therefore, the difficulty of forging is slightly higher than the previous crystal iron weapons. However, as long as you practice more, it can basically be forged. Currently, the ministry already has a group of craftsmen. Forging can be completed relatively stably, and the efficiency will not be much slower than before. "

After getting this answer, Zhou Xu nodded with satisfaction.

"Then use this to replace the existing crystal iron weapons to arm elite troops. In addition, how are the steel weapons used for ordinary soldiers being forged?"

"From the establishment of the project to now, two batches have been sent out, and the third batch should be completed before the end of the month."

"You hurry up and complete the third batch of steel weapons. I will send someone to pick it up when the time comes. I will send someone to notify the Ministry of Military Affairs. You don't have to worry."

According to the order he issued earlier, the steel weapons forged by the Ordnance Forging Department are given priority to the border defense forces here.

The specific implementation will be carried out by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs.

But the situation is different now. A war broke out in the southern border. In order to improve the combat effectiveness of the southern border garrison, upgrading equipment was given priority to them.

After simply arranging these things, Zhou Xu rewarded the research and development team headed by Li Gan with three thousand silver coins as a reward, and then let Li Gan accept the reward and retire.

Immediately, Zhou Xu, who seemed to have remembered something again, quickly returned to the Qinzheng Palace and wrote a letter to Shi Lei, who was in charge of Anling City, asking him to keep an eye on every move of the strange force on the other side.

Under normal circumstances, it is unlikely that a force will temporarily mobilize troops against surrounding forces in winter. Even if it wants to mobilize troops, it will wait until the spring of next year.

And now winter is coming to an end, and it seems that the beginning of spring is not far away. A war has already broken out with the rat people in the southern border.

Zhou Xu obviously wanted to avoid the situation where he was fighting on two fronts as much as possible.

However, judging from the latest situation, it seems unrealistic to quickly deal with this new batch of ratmen in a short period of time.

From the latest report sent by Soros, it is not difficult for him to see that the scale of the rat troops this time cannot be underestimated.

And in the subsequent analysis, Soros also pointed out that the rat people have never been a race that can be wiped out in one go.

The reason why they were able to destroy the Talon Clan in the first place was because there was a big battle and they caught the other side by surprise.

From the perspective of the Talon Clan at that time, they had no idea of ​​the existence of the Great Zhou and thought that their only enemies were the lizardmen.

And they are here to complete regular annual projects.

From this step on, there are already problems with their thinking and judgment.

Only then did they suffer heavy losses in the subsequent battles. The main force suffered heavy losses and their vitality was severely damaged, allowing them to seize the opportunity and destroy the opponent.

But this time the Ratman was different. During the simple fight, Thoros had already vaguely felt that the opponent's strength was probably above that of the original Claw Clan.

Moreover, the opponent was also very vigilant. Several times Soros wanted to take some action, but the opponent immediately relied on the numerical advantage of the rat tide to block him.

It is currently unrealistic to destroy the opponent like the Claw Clan was destroyed.

Unless they, the Great Zhou Dynasty, concentrated all their forces to the south.

But this is undoubtedly an unrealistic idea.

Nowadays, their territory as large as the Great Zhou Dynasty requires a sufficient number of garrison troops to garrison it.

Not to mention there are other potential enemies around.

It would take at least half a year for the large army to come and go, and this does not include the time to deal with the rat men.

By then, I'm afraid not even my hometown will be raided.

Therefore, from Soros's perspective, the war with the Ratmen in their southern border will most likely enter a normal mode again.

Soros has no idea about this.

After all, they lizardmen have been here for so many years.

Treat the war with the Ratmen as part of your daily work, but that's really all.

If you really want to tell them, it will give their soldiers in the south an opportunity to accumulate practical experience.

However, in contrast, the expenditure on military expenditures and related materials will definitely increase.

From the ruler's perspective, this is obviously not what Zhou Xu wants to see.

Tapping his fingertips on the table of his desk, Zhou Xu looked at the document spread out in front of him, and after pondering for a while, he made a decision.

"Send a message that I will form a 500-strong Praetorian Guard. The candidates will be selected from the troops in various places, and then I will recruit 2,000 troops nationwide on the grounds of increasing the reserve of troops and replenishing the strength of the border guards in various places."

It had been less than two years since the last war ended, and Zhou Xu obviously didn't want news of the war to cause panic among the people.

So I found someone to select suitable candidates from various troops to form the Imperial Guard, and then made such a set of arrangements on the grounds of increasing troop reserves and replenishing troops.

However, since it is just a normal increase in troop reserves, it is impossible to recruit too many at once, so even a fool can see that there is a problem.

Zhou Xu thought about it for a while and felt that two thousand was a more appropriate number.

Taking the current situation in the southern border as an example, adding two thousand troops would be enough to affect the situation to a certain extent.

In addition, he naturally had other considerations in forming the Imperial Guard.

Since he settled in Xianyang City, the task of garrisoning Xianyang City has been given to the trapped camp.

But on the other hand, once the trapped camp is gone, there will be no garrison of sufficient size in Xianyang City, and the manpower of his personal guards will not be enough.

In this way, in order to liberate the trapped camp, the formation of the Imperial Guard has become a top priority.

And what Zhou Xu is doing now, needless to say, is preparing for the eradication of the rat people in the south!

When the division was well-established and could mobilize troops directly, instead of enduring the long-term consumption, Zhou Xu would rather invest in one wave and avoid any further troubles in the shortest possible time!