Urban Sims

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 kinds of seeds, such as watermelon, grape, rice, corn, breadfruit, cotton, and rubber, which he brought from the New World. Part of it was planted in the ground.

On the other hand, Zhou Ming increased resource allocation and scientific research in various weapons and iron-making workshops in the Glenling Workshop District, and made great progress in about half a year.

For example, in the steel mill, when Zhou Ming designed a new steelmaking blast furnace with a height of 5 meters and a capacity of more than 10 cubic meters based on the engineering drawings of the [Primary Steel Plant] in his mind, which is safe, efficient, energy-saving and environmentally friendly, it can produce one blast a day. The furnace can produce 50 tons of steel at a speed, producing low carbon steel with high strength and good toughness. The annual steel production of such a blast furnace is almost as much as that of the entire Iron Castle Kingdom.

Such as various weapons workshops, Zhou Ming based on the [primary industrial machine tool] engineering drawings in his mind, and 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 water of the snow-capped mountains in Glenland. Several weapons workshops, these weapons workshops use various types of water-driven industrial machine tools, such as punches, drilling machines, turning machines, boring machines, etc. Relying on these machine tools with high precision, uniform strength, and smooth control, various types of products are produced. Not only has the production of swords and armor been greatly improved, but 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 his craftsmen to develop them several years ago. However, the poor air tightness and lubrication have made the efficiency of the steam engine low, making it difficult to promote it for practical use. As for the 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 guns and put them there, and only took them out for use occasionally when he went hunting.

But this time, after returning from the New World, the confident Zhou Ming decided to increase investment and strive to manufacture hundreds of steam engines and tens of thousands of matchlock guns within three to five years, and strive to manufacture hundreds of steam engines and tens of thousands of matchlock guns within ten years. Entering the era of steam roar and queuing to shoot.

Zhou Ming is seizing time to implement his various plans in industry and agriculture, but they are 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 your troops 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 eastern part of the Iron Castle Kingdom and is supported by 20 earls, and his uncle Duke Milton, who occupies the western part and is supported by 16 earls, are fighting. The battle was inextricably linked, with tens of thousands of casualties.

In this civil war, Prince Lawrence of the East undoubtedly has a greater advantage. His right to inherit the throne is unquestionable, and the 20 counties that support him control the vast majority of the Iron Castle Kingdom's iron ore resources, and its population is almost The Duke of Milton in the west has twice as many supporters, more money, more people, and more soldiers. There is no reason why he can't defeat those "poor guys".

Yes, similar to the "North-South Controversy" in the Voorhees Kingdom, the upper echelons of the Iron Castle Kingdom were also divided into two factions based on the distribution of iron ore resources in the east and less in the west: namely, the "poor guys" in the west in the eyes of the people in the east. ", and the "iron guy" from the east in the eyes of the west, the two factions did not like each other, and they often bickered and fought in the aristocratic council.

But the "poor guys" in the west are indeed poor. In terms of money, people, and soldiers, they are not as good as the "iron guys" in the east who have countless iron mines. In addition, the king's ass often sits on the "iron guys" On the other hand, many of the tasks in the kingdom that require money and effort are done by the "poor guys", while the "iron guys" stand aside and give guidance, and sneer from time to time. How can the "poor guys" tolerate this?

Therefore, when he learned that the wise and powerful Duke of Milton was going to compete for the throne of the Iron Castle Kingdom from the young, ignorant, arrogant and rude Prince Lawrence who often took pleasure in humiliating the "poor man", hundreds of years had passed since then. The "poor guys" who were bullied to the edge of explosion did not hesitate to collectively support Duke Milton and raised the banner of rebellion that "the queen is promiscuous and debauched, and Lawrence is not the son of the king." With the high momentum, in the early stage of the rebellion, they actually They defeated those "iron guys" steadily, and not only occupied more than a dozen iron mines, but also almost destroyed the royal capital's iron castle, which was fifty meters high and had walls made of millions of iron ingots. The city was captured.

If the reinforcements from the "iron guys" hadn't arrived in time, the Iron Castle City, the royal capital known as "never fallen", might have fallen into the hands of those "poor guys" who had never seen the world.

Lawrence, who had only been on the throne for a few days, was furious and wanted to skin and tame the "poor guys" who challenged his royal authority and grind them into pieces.

Therefore, after repelling the attack of the "poor guys" with difficulty, Lawrence personally led the army and killed the "poor guys" in rivers of blood on their territory. Not only hanging nobles, but also ordinary farmers were not spared.

The killing was so brutal that the eyes of both factions became red, and the situation naturally became deadly.

…

Like all forces that gloat over misfortune, Zhou Ming, who was standing on the outside, became happier when he saw this situation. He stepped up his time to train the soldiers and horses in his hands, and sent out transports when the two warring parties were weak or lacked successors. The weapons caravan provides a timely rain to the disadvantaged party at a relatively favorable price. Then, if both parties are unable to pay, they can also exchange people or iron ingots...

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

After all, if the teeth are not hard and the strength is not strong, it will be like a snake swallowing an elephant. Even if the snake swallows the elephant into its belly, the belly will not be 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 20,000 people.

This army of nearly 20,000 people mainly consists of four aspects.

One, the standing military force of Glenland, including 10 knights, expanded to 150 collars. In order to facilitate the management of Glenland's nearly 100,000 permanent or floating population in the later period, Zhou Ming had to continue to serve as "collars". Under this, a "leader" class was added, which mainly recruits urban freelancers and does not allocate land, but provides generous treatment and salary. The leader is under the command of the leader. The number of recruits is 1,500, and they are incorporated into the "nearly... "Guardian".

The two were established in the name of the security patrol, including his father-in-law, Baron Sean, Baron Howard, Baron Romond, and the new lord of the Bird Territory, Baron Owen. They were the four most economically developed territories around the Glen Territory. Zhou Ming The knights and collars of these territories were organized together to establish a security patrol in the name of maintaining public order and defending against thieves.

This patrol has a total of 42 knights and 420 leaders in addition to the Glen leader. It imitates the Glen leader system and also expands a "leader" class downwards, recruiting 4,200 leaders and organizing them into To the "Territorial Army".

Three, after the establishment of the mercenary union, Zhou Ming formed a mercenary group ('merchant group') whose main business is armed escort of commercial goods. After more than three years of development, the number and scope of business have continued to expand. The number of members of the business group has increased from the initial 5,000 to 10,000 after many expansions and the absorption of elite forces. From these 10,000 people, after several layers of screening, Zhou Ming selected 5,000 more people. , Incorporated into the "Business Alliance Army".

Four, Zhou Ming issued recruitment tasks in the mercenary union. Through various channels, he recruited from various countries the "mercenary" teams that exist specifically for war. From those mercenary teams that were recruited, Zhou Ming selected some famous ones. A team of mercenaries who are good, obedient and have strong combat effectiveness. They hired them with a lot of money and promised to provide excellent soldiers and armor. After spending millions of gold coins, they finally created a "mercenary team" with 8,000 people and a certain combat effectiveness. Army" come out.

These four types of armies include "territorial armies" that do not completely obey their own orders, "mercenary armies" that have a certain degree of organization but are mixed and unorganized, and "mercenaries" that have certain combat effectiveness but only value money and cannot withstand heavy casualties...

The only army that Zhou Ming could reuse, that could ensure absolute loyalty, and that he could trust with all his life and property, was the "Guard Army" that he had built with his own hands.

There are only 1,660 people.

Therefore, before the advent of the hot weapon era of queuing to be shot, in order to improve the winning rate of the war, Zhou Ming provided generous salaries, excellent weapons and equipment, and before launching the war, he had a good relationship with the "territorial army" and "merchant alliance". The three military forces, the "army" and the "mercenary army", have been conducting military training for more than a year that is not strict but has obvious results. After various means, Zhou Ming finally has a military that can fight in a battle. strength.

Zhou Ming called this military force the "Legion of Conquest."

Soon 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 could not help but take action first, sending an army of more than 30,000 people to enter. Dongjing, the Kingdom of Iron Fortress, headed for a territory rich in iron ore.

It seemed to have triggered a chain reaction. After seeing the actions of the Tongshan Kingdom, several other small countries that had already prepared troops on the border moved in with troops, fearing to be left behind.

Even the Kingdom of Arino, which only had 6 earldoms, cobbled together a military force of 3,000 people to join the feast.

In the Kingdom of Voorhees, the fast horses running out from the royal capital of Voz City carried the recruitment orders issued by the king to various territories of the kingdom through the hands of the messengers.

…

Glenland 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 has issued an edict, requiring all the northern troops to gather in the royal capital. If they do not arrive within seven days, all troops will be deprived of their titles and territories." Holding a piece of paper in his hand, an earl read the words on it.

"Don't His Majesty still have those Nankes? What do you want 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 leading phalanxes, like swarms of ants; hundreds of colorful mercenary phalanxes of different heights, marching neatly 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 a horse and standing on a slope, holding a sword beside the military formations, under the sun, a knight in silver armor, like a genius, released a bright light.

It took me 8 hours to write this chapter... I plan to end this copy around Chapter 80, and write several climaxes, so I will update it twice a day and ensure that it is no less than 5,000 words. This is the only thing I can guarantee...