The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 210: Gather the troops and start the reorganization

Yue Wenxuan walked up to Caspar Korner and patted him on the shoulder. "Alright, alright, there's no need to explain so desperately. I'm different from those conservatives in the church. I respect and understand your technology, sir, and I'm willing to promote it vigorously."

Caspar Körner was delighted.

Yue Wenxuan pointed to the craftsmen behind him and said, "Now, teach them your rifling technology. Let them build a large number of rifles, and your invention will not be buried."

Caspar Körner howled with delight: "Groartig!"

Yue Wenxuan turned to Li Tiezhu and the other craftsmen, his expression serious. "Craftsmen, from now on, you will follow this Huren Immortal Craftsman to learn the technology of rifles. Whoever can learn the fastest and put rifles into mass production the fastest will be promoted to an official position by Wang Zhaoye."

"Being an official?"

These two words surprised several craftsmen, and their eyes widened several times in an instant.

The craftsmen nearby who were not qualified to stand on this platform were also shocked.

Shandong people's enthusiasm for eating public food is...

All the craftsmen didn't need any training this time, and they almost said in unison: "Can we actually become officials?"

Yue Wenxuan smiled and said, "Do you all know about the agricultural officer that King He established a few days ago?"

Of course the craftsmen knew about it and their eyes turned red. Many of them still regretted that they had given up agricultural forging and lost the opportunity to become agricultural officials.

Now, after hearing what Yue Wenxuan said, their spirits immediately perked up.

Yue Wenxuan: "Having only an agricultural officer is obviously not enough. He Wang plans to establish an engineering officer, also of the ninth rank, and a deputy engineering officer, also of the ninth rank. The responsibilities of these two officers are to manage workshops, forge weapons, and research new technologies."

"Oh!" The craftsmen cried out.

It was on fire, and the background boards in the entire workshop were on fire, ignited by the enthusiasm of the craftsmen.

Yue Wenxuan: "If anyone can learn to make rifled guns and can take apprentices to teach others how to make rifled guns, regardless of whether they can read or not, I will make an exception and promote them to become the first batch of ninth-rank engineering officers. Of course, those who cannot read can only serve as deputy officers, starting from the ninth rank."

"Ahhh! I'm definitely going to be this official." Li Tiezhu roared. He didn't care whether he was the chief or deputy. The ninth rank was still a rank. Being an official would bring honor to the family.

"I also want!"

"I can still read a few words. I'm more suitable."

Even the craftsman who managed the workshop had his eyes lit up.

As the manager of the workshop, the craftsman is of course literate, and has good skills and a flexible mind. Now when he heard that he was going to be promoted to an engineering officer, the craftsman immediately understood that the position of engineering officer was actually the position he was sitting in now, which was a ninth-rank official position with a different name.

He must take down this ninth-rank engineering officer!

It is much more enjoyable to get an official position by using skills than to flatter others.

The craftsman's background also began to burn brightly. He was much smarter than Li Tiezhu and his group of illiterate people. He immediately grasped the key point and walked over to the translator in one step. "Hello, brother, please tell the Hu master that I want to become his apprentice and learn his skills well."

The translator turned and mumbled a few words to Caspar Korner, then turned back and smiled. "Mr. Caspar Korner is very happy that you are willing to learn his skills. He said, why not start now?"

The craftsman was delighted: "Yes, yes, let's start now."

Kaspar Körner immediately began teaching rifling techniques, and the craftsmen immediately gathered around him...

However, most of the craftsmen suddenly realized that they had not even fully learned how to make bird guns. They had to first learn from the Han master craftsman and then learn the rifling from the Hu master craftsman. It was bad, it was all their fault for being lazy when they were learning before.

Is it too late to take tutoring now?
There is no airtight wall in the world.

The news that Master Yue was going to establish an "engineering official" spread throughout the city within three days, then spread like wildfire to the two prefectures and eight counties. In just two weeks, even people as far away as Dengzhou knew about it.

When people who had read a few days of education heard the news, they were a little confused.

what's the situation?
Just like Wang Zhaoye opened a yamen privately last time and created agricultural officials, now he wants to open a yamen privately again and create engineering officials. The prince is really bold and trendy. What kind of weird methods are involved in these two official positions?

By the way, what about the Ministry of Industry?

Wasn’t the Ministry of Works responsible for managing craftsmen in the past?
The prince secretly set up an engineering officer. Is he a subordinate of the Ministry of Works, or does he replace the Ministry of Works?

No! The Ministry of Works belongs to the central government. In our small county and town, there is no official from the Ministry of Works to manage it. Your Highness has set up a small Ministry of Works in the local area.

After figuring this out, many people vaguely realized something.

If the prince continues in this way, it would not be surprising if the Jiaodong Peninsula would become "three small provinces and six small ministries" in the future.

So exciting!
This is completely disrespectful to Zhao Gou.

But this cannot be blamed on the prince, only on Zhao Gou's lack of brotherly love. He did not even send a single soldier to reinforce the Jiaodong Peninsula, leaving the prince here to fend for himself. Who wouldn't be angry?
In a few days...

Several workshops of the rebel army, which were managed by "immortal craftsmen", welcomed a large number of apprentices.

Moreover, the quality of the apprentices who registered this time was much higher than before.

In the past, only peasant families with several sons would send the son who was the “dumbest and least capable of farming” to learn craftsmanship.

Therefore, there were not many outstanding talents among the craftsmen in the past.

But the composition of those who came to register this time was very complicated. There were some people who had studied for a few days but found that they had no talent for studying and planned to take the "engineering-study-official" route to save their lives.

There were also gentry families who sent their own children who had split up the family business.

There are also children from poor families. The famous child from a poor family, Liu Bei, used to be a straw sandal weaver. It is natural for children from poor families to become blacksmiths now. They think to themselves: When I learn to be a good blacksmith and can recite a few lines of poetry, and be a man of both civil and military talents, then I will definitely have an official position in the Ministry of Works set up by the prince.

Of course, the happiest people were the poor people. They discovered that their children now had another way to become officials. Now, not only could they become officials by learning farming, but they could also become officials by learning craftsmanship.

Okay, the eldest son will study agriculture, and the second son will study industry. If both sons work hard together, maybe both the agricultural and industrial officials in the family will be appointed as officials, and then the father will be able to use the golden hoe.

Fix it! Fix it as hard as you can!
Just when the rebels had begun to shift their focus to internal affairs...

The Jin army and Liu Lin's puppet army, led by Guwei, left Changyi County and retreated to Weizhou.

After the battle of Jiaoshui, Guwei was extremely disappointed with the combat effectiveness of the puppet army. In anger, he scolded Liu Lin harshly, and also scolded the Weizhou prefect and others who surrendered to the Jin Dynasty, and then returned to the north angrily.

As they did this, they naturally brought the news of the Jin army's defeat in Jiaoshui County to Weizhou.

As soon as the Jin army left...

Yan Gao, a local soldier from Niutou River, and Zhang Cheng, a junior instructor, got together.

Yan Gao whispered, "It seems the True Gold Bandits don't always win. They were defeated by the Palace Bandits in Jiaoshui."

Zhang Cheng whispered, "I've heard that too. If the palace thieves can defeat the gold thieves, why can't we?"

Yan Gao and Zhang Cheng exchanged glances, then said at the same time, "Gather the troops and start marching!"

(End of this chapter)