Liu Mingyu stared at the map for a long time, and finally he had to give up his unrealistic ideas.

This natural stone salt mine is in Tongliao, which is the hinterland of the current Korqin grassland. Unless Liu Mingyu has the strength to crush Huang Taiji, he will have no way to mine the quarry salt mine there.

Huang Taiji's head was not kicked by the donkey, so he could not give up Korqin, let alone give Liu Mingyu a development there. Moreover, collecting stone salt there and transporting it to Kuanhe was also a big problem. The distance was more than 1,500 miles, and two-thirds were controlled by Huang Taiji and Korqin people.

"My husband, isn't this dish today working for your appetite?"

Liu Mingyu shook his head and said, "No, I just don't have an appetite!"

"What's going on?"

Yang Xianxian was a little puzzled.

Liu Mingyu sighed long and said, "There is a big fat piece in front of me, but a wolf is watching me. I can't eat it~"

"Then beat the wolves to death!"

"The key is that this evil wolf is very cunning, and I can't beat him to death!"

Liu Mingyu smiled bitterly and said, "If I could kill this evil wolf, I wouldn't be so worried!"

Yang Xianxian looked at Yan'er and said, "Or what if you want to send Sanniang over, her archery technique is very accurate..."

"Forget it, let's have a meal, madam!"

Liu Mingyu couldn't tell Yang Xianlu about the actual situation. However, when eating, Liu Mingyu was also full of resentment: "Salt, salt, salt..."

Yang Xianxian tasted the taste of the dish. The salty taste was enough, but when Liu Ming asked for salt, she said to Yan'er: "Yan'er, go to the kitchen to get some salt!"

"Yes, young lady!"

Yan'er soon took a porcelain bowl with half a bowl of crushed salt inside.

Liu Mingyu was stunned: "Where did this salt come from?"

At this time, the salt in the bowl was actually a fine salt powder similar to that of later generations, and it was flawless.

Yang Xianxian said: "We cooked it from our salt factory!"

"We have a salt factory?"

"Yes, I have!"

Liu Mingyu was also a mystery to the authorities. Then he remembered that there were 377 salt lakes distributed on the Inner Mongolia grassland in later generations. Some of these salt lakes were large and small, some of which were only a few dozen acres or hundreds of acres of land. They were not considered lakes, and they could only be called salt lakes. The largest of them was Gulantai Salt Lake, with a salt storage capacity of about 590 million tons.

Of course, this is not the salt lake in the central and western parts of Inner Mongolia. There are more than 100 large and small salt lakes or salt lakes in Hulunbuir Plateau, which is now Korqin, Chahar, but there are not many large and large salt lakes.

However, it should be barely enough to cook salt for your own use. The closest salt pond to the Liujiajun controlled area was originally the territory of Zhongtunwei, Yingzhou, Wei, Daning. However, in the first year of Yongle, Zhongtunwei of Yingzhou migrated to Pinggu County (now Pinggu District), which was abandoned like Fuyuwei and Huizhouwei.

However, there is a salt pond here. Every time the lake water evaporates in a large amount of water, you will see a thick layer of salt. However, this salt is rich in the elements of the brium and is so bitter that it cannot be eaten. If anyone is thirsty and crazy, he will foam there 100% when he runs there to fill his stomach.

The Mongolians hated this kind of saltwater lake because they could not provide necessary drinking water for cattle, sheep and herdsmen. This salt pond was a treasure in Liu Mingyujun's eyes.

As early as May of the third year of Chongzhen, a small lake adjacent to this place was discovered, but the scale was small. At that time, more than 600 people and more than 100 salt workers began to build cities while using coal to cook salt. The salt lake here contains a large amount of impurities, and no matter whether the cattle and sheep drink the salt water here, they will lose their stomachs.

However, these problems are not a problem for those salt workers who have been dealing with salt for a lifetime. They just change the salt-cooking pot into a sharp-bottomed pot, and then add some soy milk to season it when cooking salt. The salt is snow-white and has a good taste.

Once this salt was launched, it was in short supply immediately. However, the output was very small at the beginning, and it could not even meet the use of Liu Jiajun. This kind of salt cooked will be treated as a disinfectant and will be bathed in a bathtub for new refugees. Disinfect with salt and lime water.

Liu Mingyu did not pay attention to this issue, but as four lakes of salt were found near the Salt Lake, Yang Xianxian sent hundreds of workers to come. The daily output of the Salt Lake exceeded 2,500 kilograms, which finally fully satisfied the consumption of the Liu family army. As Lin Danhan formed an alliance with Liu Mingyu, this white fine salt began to be sold to the outside world. Once launched, it was almost used as currency at the border.

The border is too remote, and the salt price is so high that it is extremely expensive. Most of the salt price is calculated in terms of transportation costs. In fact, the salt price in the Ming Dynasty was not expensive, and the official salt was between 12 and 15 qian per catty. Whether you can buy cheap official salt is another matter.

However, the white fine salt sold outside Kuanhe City is as much as 35 to 40 ounces per catty. Even the workers in Kuanhe City can earn less than a pound of salt a day. Liu's family army uses materials locally, and the cost is very low and it is sold cheaper than Shanxi merchants. Shanxi merchants sell a pound of salt to Mongolians for five cents of silver, which is equivalent to five hundred cents per catty, which is almost thirty times the difference in the pass, while Liu's family army only sells 50 cents per catty, which is naturally liked by the people.

This salt mine also brought wealth to the Liu family army. In addition to using it for their own use, it could produce 80 taels of silver every day to make a profit, and also brought blessings to the people of the Mongolian and Han tribes on the border.

However, although Liu Mingyu could look at Liu Jiajun's accounts, how could he pay attention to the amount of 70 or 80 taels of silver every day? You should know that the output value of any small workshop in the wooden utensil factory is more than this.

Until now, Liu Mingyu discovered that Yanhu Town had quietly developed into the seventh town of the Liu family army. This town built a city about 960 steps long and 880 steps wide. It is mainly based on salt boiling. In addition to the families of salt workers and salt workers, there is also a guard team composed of retired disabled veterans. The town has more than 1,600 households, a total of nearly 5,000 people.

Looking at the location of Yanhu Town, it is actually quite far from Kuanhe City. It is close to the sphere of influence of Chahar Mongolia, Liu Mingyu decided to strengthen the defensive power of Yanhu Town.

But the current Liu family army has only the first, second, third, fourth, and eighty-fifth infantry regiments, and they really cannot be extracted. However, with the increasing number of people under the Liu family army, it is inevitable to expand outward. Now the Liu family army has explored Qiheying, Fuyuwei and Huizhou to the north, which is too close to the Mongols' sphere of influence, and too far from Kuanhe City.

In order to prevent the establishment of the Liu Family Army's farming and fighting system, the Fuyu Guard Guard Guards established in Fuyu Guard City. This garrison regiment does not undertake field tasks, and is dedicated to defending the city and local defense operations. Therefore, it does not require any auxiliary troops such as baggage, transportation, large vehicles, and logistics support. Once the guarding place is attacked by the enemy, it can defend against the enemy's attack and persist until the arrival of the Liu Family Army's field corps.

The personnel and equipment were ready-made. Liu Mingyu directly selected young and strong people from the people of Liaodong and established a garrison regiment. Each garrison regiment had five companies under its jurisdiction, each company had five platoons under its jurisdiction, with 258 people in the entire company, and a group of 1,290 people in a full corps.

As a second-line army, some backbone of the Liu family army were selected as company officers. The soldiers were mainly young and strong in Liaodong. Liu Mingyu established seven garrison regiments in one breath. The first garrison regiment was stationed in Fuyuwei Copper Mine, the second garrison regiment was stationed in Yanhu Town, the third garrison regiment was stationed in Huizhou Town, the fourth garrison regiment was stationed in Liangjiatai Steel Plant. The fifth garrison regiment was stationed in Baicao Forestry Factory, the sixth garrison regiment was stationed in Hewan Textile Industry Group, and the seventh garrison regiment was stationed in Kuanhe City.

The garrison regiments can train at the same time. Anyway, the ancient people were not as delicate as those of later generations. Even young and strong and women who were not trained could go to the battlefield to cut people with swords and guns once wars were needed.

Just as Liu Mingyu was about to return to the Seventh Joint Camp from Kuanhe, the Artillery Bureau served as the Qianzheng General, and the leader of the Fifth Artillery Regiment Chen Quan reported to Liu Mingyu: "Mr. Marquis, the artillery factory has produced new cannons, do you see?"

"Must look!"

As the steel quality of Liujiajun Liangjiatai Iron and Steel Plant matures, it is naturally applied to various fields. In particular, the deep well casting process was invented. The so-called deep well casting process is the molten steel made of stirring and mixing. After injection into the mold, this mold is not like an ordinary iron or mud mold, but uses gravity to put the molten steel into the rear ring mold, and the seamless steel pipe can be cast using gravity.

After dozens of failed tests, three explosions, fifteen craftsmen were injured and three people died, and finally the seamless steel pipe was successfully cast. This kind of cannon with a diameter of 94.5 mm appeared.

Why is it 93.3 mm? That's because this size is exactly three inches of the building ruler.

Although it is a steel gun barrel, it is made of low-carbon steel casting. Because the low-carbon steel has strong moldability and soft texture, it can directly cut the rifle inside the gun barrel. The tool used to cut the rifle is made of the sharpest and most impact-resistant high-manganese steel.

Although the barrel is made of low carbon steel, it is more durable and has a higher chamber pressure than bronze cannons or pig iron cannons.

If the Artillery Bureau had not reported to Liu Mingyu, the first batch of four three-inch guns had been cast and asked him to participate in the test gun. He could not remember that the Artillery Bureau had been established for nearly seven months and finally achieved results.

You know, the Artillery Bureau is a big money-eating player. A game with less than 1,500 people will have to pay tens of thousands of taels of silver every month.

Even the worst-skilled artisan casting craftsman can earn more than three taels of silver a month.

When Liu Mingyu came to Kuanhe Artillery Bureau, he saw this new type of artillery. First of all, he installed a station hoe. In the previous artillery battles, Liu Mingyu asked the cannon that had retreated several meters after one shot and was angry to death. Therefore, he urgently installed a station hoe of the Folang Machine Cannon. It would be easier to have a station hoe. As long as he installed a station hoe and nailed the station hoe deeply into the ground, the cannon would not be moved.

The second improvement is to use a spring-type retreat device. With a stationary hoe, the cannon will not shift on a large scale. However, when you shoot a shot, you need to adjust the shooting range. The retreat device can increase the shooting frequency. This is a design that only the rapid-fire gun has. The final improvement method is the rubber wheel, yes, it is really a rubber wheel!

Liu Mingyu claimed that this was a good breed purchased from foreign devils. Many foreign devils came to Kuanhe to sell their new products. Liu Mingyu not only bought seeds from crops such as chili peppers and sweet beans, but also bought several buckets of rubber to deliver them. Now it comes in handy. After some exploration, it has been successfully applied to the blasting latch seal and the blasting wheel.

After testing, the performance was satisfactory. After rubber was used, the sealing performance increased greatly, and the gas leakage almost completely disappeared. The rubber wheel made it easy for the cannon truck to drive on the road. In the same road conditions, using wooden wheels to pull a small cannon alone can lie down. If using rubber wheels, you can pull it all the way.

Liu Mingyu looked around and almost fell over and took a few bites to taste the taste. He felt proud that this cannon was a product beyond the times. With it, it was no longer a dream to knock on the door of Europa with a strong ship and powerful cannon, forcing them to sign a lot of agreements that would be humiliating the country!
Chapter completed!