Chapter 463 Arms Reduction
After receiving Ju Hu, Black Bear did not change his itinerary.

We stayed overnight at the Hancheng Mine, where there was a solemn and murderous atmosphere.

The grass and trees near the mine are covered with a layer of dust, no longer as vibrant and green as they were in spring and summer.

In the armory, puppet Taoist soldiers wearing gilded dragon scale armor stood in a circle holding torches.

The rows of weapon racks were filled with the smell of oil, and Black Bear immediately checked the weapons.

Lu Bu and Dian Wei followed beside him, and from time to time they wielded swords and attacked each other.

With every strike, the sword will break.

As long as it meets the criteria of high-quality products cutting off standard products and standard products cutting off obsolete weapons, it will be considered qualified.

Several secretaries followed behind him, each holding a wooden tablet in one hand and a pen in the other, recording the results of the chopping test.

If it meets the standards, it's fine. But if it doesn't meet the acceptance results, it will be punished along the production, inspection and warehousing lines.

Every time swords clash, sparks will flash and broken blades will fly out.

Fa Zheng held a piece of the broken blade in each hand and compared them carefully, and couldn't help but begin to re-recognize Tai Shi Wengong's martial arts.

The two broken blades are close in length, which means that when both sides were fighting with weapons, they were cutting at a similar force point.

If the weapon was used to cut people, as for beheading people... this made Fa Zheng believe the various legends in Guanzhong about Taishi Wengong's martial arts.

Black Bear walked between the weapon racks, occasionally pulling out a sword and throwing it to Dian Wei or Lu Bu, and the two men would then slash at each other.

Every time a sword was cut off, it was handed over to the secretary at the back, who would record it according to the type and inscription on the weapons rack.

After circling around and almost returning to the armory gate, Black Bear grabbed a ten-trained ring-handled sword and made chops, sweeps, and stabs, testing the feel and balance of the blade.

The forging technique of ring-handled swords has long been very mature, so the force on the sword is balanced.

But Black Bear couldn't help frowning. Swords are consumables. After a battle, even if the sword is not broken, it needs to be repaired.

In his eyes, swords, spears and halberds are far inferior to flails and maces, but these things are only equipped in a small number by Gan Ning and his guards.

It is foreseeable that as long as Cao Cao gains a foothold this time and Hebei regains its momentum, both sides will engage in an arms race.

The Battle of Guandu dealt a heavy blow to Hebei, and Yuan Shao died at a very inopportune time.

The drought and Cao Cao's invasion made the people of Hebei feel very angry.

That is why I feel pessimistic about the current situation; but as long as Yuan Shang and the Hebei scholars are given some time, they will surely be able to unleash enough strength for a decisive battle against Cao Cao.

What they lack most is time. As long as war does not break out this year, they can smooth things over.

Cao Cao also managed Qingzhou and made the human resources in Qingzhou burst out with due productivity. Then, like Hebei, he would devote all his efforts to developing armaments.

In the future, Cao's army and Yuan's army will be heavily armed groups.

Facing the Yuan and Cao armies, whose entire troops are heavily armed and their elite troops are super heavily armed, these swords and sabers are not enough.

Therefore, the types of military equipment must be changed and upgraded, with a focus on armor-piercing and blunt weapons.

We cannot allow Yuan and Cao’s armies any more room to upgrade their armaments and tactics. Once a war breaks out, we must inflict heavy damage on the enemy and crush their courage to fight again.

Thinking about the future battle between Yuan and Cao, with 30,000 to 50,000 or nearly 100,000 heavy infantrymen confronting each other, and looking at the lightly armed swords in the arsenal, Black Bear couldn't help feeling a sense of urgency.

Never underestimate the enemy. The confrontation and mutual attack between Yuan and Cao may also promote further improvements in the armaments and tactics of both sides.

As long as the interests of the big families are not involved, all developments will revolve around the military, and then various administrative measures will be objective and pragmatic, and begin to pay attention to the essence of things. I can't just rely on super-heavy puppet infantry, I also need to build a similar heavy-armored strike force.

But it cannot be too obvious, so first select the right soldiers, and when it is actually appropriate, equip them with armor-piercing and blunt-impact weapons, cooperate with the puppet heavy infantry, and use a head-on approach to destroy the heavily armed new army that Yuan and Cao have high hopes for.

He walked out of the armory, where the armory commander was leading more than a hundred warehouse clerks and guards standing in front of the corridor.

Seeing the black bear, the armory commander took three steps forward and knelt on one knee: "Your Majesty."

"The ordnance is well maintained, you do a good job."

"Here!"

The armory commander responded in a loud voice, and then stood up after Black Bear raised his hand to support him.

The Hancheng Arsenal is limited in scale. It is only an acceptance and storage unit for products from mines and smelters. Whenever it is almost full, the ordnance will be transferred to the central arsenal which is more suitable for storage.

Walking out of the armory, Black Bear boarded the Dayun chariot and read the test records on the wooden tablet at the lantern.

Then he handed it to Fa Zheng and said, "Nowadays, there is no shortage of military equipment in various places in Guanzhong. I want to reduce the output of military equipment in Hancheng and transfer capable blacksmiths to Shanglinyuan to specialize in casting fine equipment. The main focus here is iron smelting, forging and modifying farm tools. Farm tools are easy to forge, and we can train new blacksmiths. From now on, we will select the best ones to be sent to Shanglinyuan or to various places to repair farm tools every year."

Technology must be spread. It is not necessary for every hundred households to have an excellent blacksmith. There must be professional technicians to lead ordinary soldiers and civilians to produce and repair simple equipment.

Iron smelting consumes a lot of firewood and charcoal. As long as the scale of iron smelting in various iron smelting bases is increased and iron ingots are circulated, ordinary craftsmen who can make civilian equipment can be arranged everywhere.

After listening to this, Fa Zheng pondered and did not rush to agree or advise.

Hancheng is currently the largest smelting base in Guanzhong, and most of the craftsmen drawn from Shuzhong have also been recruited here.

The more craftsmen gather together and the more reasonable the management, the faster the forging technology can spread.

Now that Black Bear wants to reduce the scale of Hancheng's military equipment production, only by forging military equipment can the blacksmith's skills be effectively improved.

Many civilian equipment only needs to be forged into shape, unlike military equipment, where the most basic military swords must go through ten rounds of forging.

Fa Zheng thought for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, if we reduce the quantity of weapons produced in Hancheng, will it reduce the supply and money of Hancheng?"

"No, I will expand the scale of Hancheng in the future. The people are short of iron, and iron smelting by the people alone is very slow."

Black Bear knew what Fa was worried about. There was food control in Guanzhong, and Hancheng was developing too rapidly. Withdrawing the skilled blacksmiths would affect the collective progress here. If the scale of supply was reduced, the people who stayed here would lose their cohesion.

Black Bear explained calmly: "This year, we are not interested in military affairs. Reducing the production of military equipment will help stabilize Hebei. I don't want to be enemies with Yuan Shang before the Shu brocade is sold out. Once the people of Hebei get used to the Shu brocade, Yuan Shang will not be able to ban it."

Life is nothing more than food, clothing, shelter and transportation. The bright and beautiful Shu brocade can greatly enrich the living atmosphere of scholars.

Fa Zheng listened and thought, then said, "Since Cui Changshi was transferred to Wuwei, Hebei's vigilance has greatly decreased. Otherwise, given Yuan's character, he would not have easily asked for help from the king today. If he could see the output of military equipment in Hancheng again, I think Hebei would be more at ease."

Then Fa Zheng said: "I am worried that reducing the production of military equipment will lead to more chaos in Jingzhou."

"No problem. Liu Qi will move the arsenals of Jiangling and Xiangyang to Nanxiang. I have the arsenal of Nanxiang, which can easily arm 50,000 soldiers. This batch of military equipment is stable, and there will be no major changes in Jingzhou."

Black Bear patiently explained that one person has his own shortcomings, and even if he consulted Fa Zheng, he would be influenced by Fa Zheng's ideas.

But even so, it is better than making irreparable mistakes and losses.

At this point, he couldn't act rashly.

Otherwise, people below will flock to flatter you, exaggerating and exaggerating small matters, which will cause great trouble.

(End of this chapter)