Chapter 45: Exquisite weapons are piled up with silver

  （0045）

  Now Lin Bin, standing among the crowd, really has a sense of crane standing out from the flock. Whether it's telling stories or teaching everyone to practice martial arts, he seems particularly energetic. The number of people following Lin Bin to practice martial arts is increasing. Some self-proclaimed smart people even think this is a condition deliberately set by Zhang Zhun. As a result, the entire Yangjia Village's martial arts wind is becoming more and more prosperous, and even Yang Rui Feng, such an honest person, wants to wield his sword and spear when he has time.

  With military uniforms and flags in place, the cohesion and morale of the guard have been boosted once again; all that's missing now is equipment.

  The hexagonal star has a pointed corner that represents equipment, and Zhang Zhun will not forget to improve the equipment of the guards. However, it must be admitted that in troubled times, getting enough iron is indeed a bit of a hassle. If you want to buy, there is no large-scale purchase channel for the time being. Iron materials are all controlled this year. If you want to smelt yourself, there is no raw material. The mountains only have firewood, and there are not many iron mines and coal mines. There are also no decent iron mines and coal mines in the jurisdiction of Fushan itself.

  Helmets and armor are definitely not something to consider, there's no such condition. In fact, apart from the war soldiers, the military households didn't have helmets and armor. Even Wang Shixing's family guards probably didn't have decent helmets and armor. The Ming army's helmets and armor were all concentrated in the nine borders and central plains region. Zhang Zhun wanted to get enough helmets and armor, he could only rely on future battles to capture them, or forge them himself. However, forging helmets and armor was even more difficult than casting weapons, so it's not something to think about for now.

  After some thought, Zhang Zhun ordered that part of the captured weapons be melted down to cast long spears. The more than 20 long spears seized from Hei Bao had been equipped, with each partner and team leader having one, but it was still not enough. Moreover, the quality of the seized long spears was not satisfactory to Zhang Zhun.

  Ming army's long spear, the gun pole is made of wood, due to poor management and other reasons, these gun poles are generally more fragile and easy to be cut off by sharp blades. In a real battle, even bamboo spears are not as useful. A truly useful long spear should have a gun pole made of white wax wood, Qin Liangyu's white rod troops were equipped with high-quality white rod guns. Zhang Zhun couldn't get white wax wood, so he had to think of another way. He wanted to cast pure iron long spears, from head to tail all pure iron, without using any wood.

  Such a long spear, Zhang Zhun measured and calculated, weighs more than thirty catties, without any strength, can't be swung at all. This is also good, just enough to make the guards have a strong desire to progress. To use such a long spear, one must train oneself desperately and increase one's own strength.

  Zhang Zhun tried it out and felt that it was quite good. Such a pure iron long spear, in battle, would be the absolute main force, no matter how sharp the enemy's knife was, it would not be possible to cut off the long spear. As long as the thrusting power was sufficient, it would absolutely be one shot, one kill, clean and efficient. Unless it was a steel shield, otherwise, one shot could pierce through.

  Li Fenglai estimated that a pure iron long spear would require about fifty catties of raw iron, and with other materials, the cost of each long spear would be around twenty taels of silver. If the entire guard team was equipped, the cost would be around two thousand taels of silver.

  "Two thousand taels of white silver..."

  Zhang Zhun had to admit that even in ancient times, excellent weapons were piled up with silver. I don't know how much a rifle costs? It's probably not possible to get it done without fifty taels of silver? If rifles are so expensive, the Red Coat Cannon will be even more expensive.

  It seems like I still have to rely on myself!

  If you smelt iron yourself, it wouldn't cost so much.

  The key question is where can we get iron ore and coal?

  "Feng Ge, when you arrive at Zhaojia Village tomorrow, tell Old Man Zhao that I want to meet Mr. Yu." Zhang Zhun had an idea.

  "Alright." Yang Rui replied.

  Zhang Zhun's intention was to use refined salt to exchange for iron materials, and it would be even better if they could directly exchange for weapons.

  The next day, Yang Rui Feng followed Zhang Zhun's intention and told Zhao Lao Ba of Zhao Jia Tun. Zhao Lao Ba agreed to pass on the message to Yu Nan Ti, but at the same time informed Yang Rui Feng that Yu Nan Ti might not be in Shandong. If they had to wait for him to arrive at Yang Jia Tun, it would likely take a relatively long period of time, and before May, it was clearly impossible.

  "Isn't Yu Nan in Shandong? Where did he go?" Zhang Zhun asked curiously.

  "It's said that he went to Datong Xuanfu area." Yang Rui replied.

  Zhang Zhun nodded subconsciously without saying anything.

  The master behind Yu Nan's back is still quite powerful, and he actually ran all the way to Shanxi.

  Could it be that she actually has the ability to sell Shandong's refined salt all the way to distant Shanxi?

  Zhang Zhun had some doubts about Yu Nan's backer, wondering if it was the female salt smuggler they rescued on Mount La that day, as only she would have a reason to send gifts to Yang Yingwan. But now it seems unlikely. A salt smuggler capable of selling private salt this far wouldn't fall into such a trap, and what would she be doing running to Mount La anyway? There's no private salt there!

  Yu Nan was not in Shandong, so Zhang Zhun had no choice but to put this matter aside for the time being.

  "Yu Lin, are you free? I want to talk to you about something."

  Three days after the flag-raising ceremony, Yang Kaidi suddenly ran to the military camp to find Zhang Zhun.

  "Yes, what is it?"

  Zhang said succinctly.

  Yang Kaidao looked at the six-pointed red flag fluttering above the military camp and said enviously: "That, flag, can we also have one?"

  Zhang Zhun said hesitantly: "Uncle, you..."

  Come on, you're almost sixty years old, and you still want to join the guard team? When I'm training, I don't show any mercy, even if you're my future father-in-law. Let's not mention anything else, just the daily long-distance running at Red Stone Beach is already too much for you!

  Fortunately, Yang Kaidi explained it and it was different from what Zhang Zhun imagined.

  It turned out that the original creator was not Yang Kaidi, but Yin Gensheng and his group. These old men felt that they were also members of the guard team since they did things for them, so they didn't want the military uniform, but hoped Zhang Quan would give them a flag to identify themselves. In short, they wanted everyone to know that they had a close relationship with the guard team.

  That's right, before they were afraid of Wang Shixin, this son of a bitch, and didn't dare to take the lead. But the guard team easily took down the Black Panther, so now they're not afraid. Now they can't wait for everyone to know that they are doing things for the guard team. This is the greatest honor, and everyone takes pride in it!

  Yang Kaidi rarely leaned on his age and said with a sigh: "Yulin, if you don't give us a flag to follow, we won't have the energy to work!"

  "Uncle, this is a military flag! It's used on the battlefield!" Zhang Zhun said tactfully.

  Yang Kaidie said stubbornly: "I know this isn't... Can you also get us a flag that's roughly the same, to show everyone's identity?"

  Zhang Zhun said in confusion: "Uncle, now everyone in the village knows that you are doing things for the guard team! Do you still need a flag to show your identity?"

  Yang Kaidao hastily said: "Of course, we need to, of course, we need to. You see, your flag-raising ceremony, we are all bystanders, in fact, it doesn't count as being inside, you say is that right? Yulin, you can't exclude us old men! Why do you young people get to be included and we old men get excluded?"

  Just as Zhang was about to painstakingly explain that there was no such thing, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him. He fell silent for a moment before speaking slowly: "Yang Bo, giving them the flag is fine. However, on one condition: they must swear an oath to this flag, forever loyal and unwavering. If anyone betrays it, they will be severely punished!"

  Yang Kaidi was stunned for a moment and didn't fully understand Zhang Zhun's meaning for a while.

  Zhang Zhun explained: "The flag and so on, actually are not important. What's important is that you need an identity, right? Since everyone wants to identify themselves as the backbone supporters of the guard team, it doesn't matter, we'll establish an organization."

  Yang Kaidi said in confusion: "Organization? What is an organization?"

  Zhang Zhun said in an orderly manner: "To put it simply, it's similar to the Xiangxiang Church and other such organizations. Many people gather together. However, the nature is absolutely not like the Xiangxiang Church, which is all about pretending to be mysterious and intimidating. Our organization consists of our own people. We are all iron-clad supporters of the guard team. After everyone joins this organization, we often engage in activities together, exchange ideas, contribute our strength, and fulfill our duties."

  "For example, after you join this organization, Yang Bo, you may be responsible for a certain aspect of work. Let's say you're in charge of logistics. If I take the guard team to fight somewhere and need everyone's support, I won't look for other fellow villagers, I'll just look for you. I tell you that I need logistical support, and then you're responsible for getting it done."

  "How do you accomplish this? Of course, you find other people in the organization. Every one of our organization should be a backbone, a leader among the masses. Each of us should have several military households around us, and as soon as you issue any order, the military households will actively and enthusiastically participate, working together to complete this task."

  "Don't you know, uncle, what a fishing net looks like? Each member of our organization is like the thick thread in a fishing net, while others are like the thin threads. The thick and thin threads are intertwined to form a dense fishing net. However, it's mainly us, the thick threads, who ultimately decide whether the net works or not."

  Yang Kaidi didn't quite understand, as an ancient person, how could he possibly comprehend what was meant by "organization", but he was very interested in Zhang Zhun's idea and said excitedly: "Wait a minute, I'll call them all over, let's discuss it together."

  "Good!" Zhang nodded and said.

  Yang Kaidao turned and left.

  While Yang Kaidi was calling someone, Zhang Zhun seriously sorted out his own thoughts.