Set off at 03:00

  The soldiers of the Yiying Camp each received forty taels of fine silver ingots, with a high fineness of 99%, five taels per ingot, for a total of eight ingots.

  Everyone was overjoyed, all thanks to General Liu's good fortune. These soldiers were originally from poor families and had never seen so much money before. Now they could go to Xuzhou Prefecture and have a great time, and when the war subsided, they could even send some silver back home through trusted messengers. Of course, most people were far away from home, having traveled thousands of miles to arrive at the ironworks, and returning home was already an impossible dream. Staying in the suicide squad was the best choice - after all, it was a high-paying job!

  The current organization of the Dead Camp is: three infantry squads, one cavalry squad, each with 100 people, organized into companies. The company commander is called the company captain, and under each company, every ten people form a platoon, thirty people form a row, and the remaining ten people serve as the company captain's direct platoon. Platoon leaders and row leaders are all elected by the soldiers themselves.

  Four company commanders were Zhamuhe, Anthony, Duncan and a Henan man named Zhong Shouyong, while Liu Ziguo served as an additional company commander.

  The cavalry regiment was mostly composed of Mongolians and Turks, horseback riding ethnic groups, each skilled in archery and horsemanship. Zhamuhe was also the expected choice for regiment commander.

  The regiment led by Anthony was mostly composed of Xixia people, and there were also mixed ethnic groups, including Uyghurs, Tanguts, Romans, and Arabs.

  Duncan's team had many southern prisoners of war: there were Annamese, some sailors from the Zheng family in Fujian, Miao people from western Hunan, and some aborigines from Taiwan and Java.

  Zhong Shouyong's subordinates were mostly from the Central Plains, and most of them were originally the backbone of the Zheng Guo army. After Zheng Guo was destroyed by the Ming Dynasty, they became prisoners of war. Many people had been practicing martial arts since childhood, and their kung fu was not weak either.

  Liu Ziguang's personally commanded battalion was similarly chaotic, with some water bandits from Weishan Lake, mutinous post soldiers from Shaanxi, war prisoners from the Qing dynasty's Han army Eight Banners, sailors from Korea, and even people from the far north of Russia.

  It's a truly international army, and the common language used in the camp is Chinese. The uniforms and armor are uniform, with infantry wearing fish-scale armor, helmets, and cavalry wearing mountain-patterned armor, with face-protecting helmets. Personal weapons can be freely chosen, these people are all old soldiers, they have their own habits of using weapons, fortunately, the iron factory's warehouse has everything, Western curved knives, nail-headed clubs, wolf-tooth clubs, chain axes, Western heavy swords, Japanese swords. Long-range and long-range weapons are uniformly unified, cavalry use 3-meter-long spears, equipped with composite Mongolian short bows, infantry have different equipment for each team, some have long-handled big knives, some have long axes, some have extremely long hook-and-sickle guns, each person is equipped with a set of composite longbow.

  Zhong Shouyong's chariot troops had ten pedal-powered crossbows, each with five crossbowmen, and were mobile with horse-drawn vehicles. Each was also equipped with a personal repeating crossbow for self-defense. In addition to the chariots, the chariot troops were responsible for transporting the entire army, with fifty carts.

  The squad leaders and Liu Ziguang's personal bodyguards were also equipped with the limited edition defensive weapons from the Iron Factory, the Type 6 spring-powered revolver. Although its penetration power was not strong, it was still very effective against enemies with weak armor due to its high firing rate and great killing power.

  This equipment is not cheap, and the iron factory as an employer can only provide a part of the weapons, and the extra crossbows, war horses, and equipment are all deducted from the 560,000 taels of silver that were embezzled.

  The 20,000 taels of silver have been paid out, but what about the remaining 5.6 million taels? It turns out that the cunning old man Peng had pushed the triangular debt to Liu Ziguang, and the Ministry of War's debt of 1 million taels for the iron factory's military equipment was also left to Liu Ziguang to collect. The original sales work was handled by Yu Hualong, but now that Yu Hualong is imprisoned, Ding Pengyuan took advantage of the chaos to escape, and the task of collecting debts was handed over to Liu Ziguang. As long as he can collect it back, in addition to the 5.6 million taels of debt, he will also be rewarded with an additional 20,000 taels of silver personally. It sounds like a very tempting deal.

  Isn't it just like a debt collection company? Easy, owe money and pay back, kill someone and compensate with your life, since ancient times it's been the heavenly principle and earthly righteousness. For the sake of brothers, for the sake of silver, I've done it!

  Liu Ziguang brought Ding Libin to the accounting room to retrieve the Ministry of War's account book, followed by five horsemen wearing soft armor and carrying goose feather knives. He is currently serving as the chief accountant, and several managers are accompanying him with caution. Liu Dajiangjun is now the factory owner's favorite person and also his direct superior, so they dare not offend him in any way. Originally, he didn't need to come personally to retrieve the account book, but thinking of the old acquaintance at Cangjing Pavilion, Liu Ziguang still came over himself. The deputy accountant was still the same person who had given Liu Ziguang a hard time before, and seeing a group of people approaching, he quickly crawled out and stood quietly with his head bowed. Liu Ziguang's story of breaking the linked ring horse was well-known, and he had boasted about it to others many times. "My eyes were once hit by General Liu," he said with a smile, handing over the factory owner's personally signed and sealed account book order to the deputy accountant. "Is everything in order? If not, I'll have the chief accountant supplement it on the spot."

  Xie Li cried and said with a sad face: "Prime Minister, don't joke around. In the past, that was Ren Dafeng's trick to make things difficult for General, I know my fault."

  Liu Ziguang would certainly not make things difficult for Xie Li again; he was not that kind of narrow-minded person.

  Ten account books, a box of receipts stamped by the Ministry of War, recorded the quantity, specifications, delivery time, receipt time, and the seal of the person receiving the goods for items such as knives, guns, long spears, carriages, armor, arrows, foot-operated crossbows, etc. sold to the Ministry of War. The largest transaction was 200 sets of steam-powered crossbows, including matching steam engines, pipes, and design and installation fees, totaling 600,000 taels of silver.

  Liu Ziguang is now a general and no longer deals with these dull account books, so he lets the accountant choose two deputy managers who are familiar with the military department to follow him and deal with the entanglements of accounting matters. Ren Dafeng is still working in the accounting house, the factory owner is kind and generous, but his family property was confiscated and he was demoted to an apprentice, serving tea and water for the accountants, sweeping the floor and cleaning.

  Liu Ziguang politely thanked Ren Dafeng, who had brought him tea, and said to the embarrassed-looking Ren: "Knowing your mistakes is good, start from the basics again, there will be a day when you'll stand out... I have high hopes for you." The words sounded grand, but in fact, he also knew that it was too difficult for Ren Dafeng to stand out. With Ren's abilities, he could work as an accountant at any company, and keeping him here as an apprentice was a kind of disguised punishment.

  If you do something wrong, you will always have to pay the price for it.

  Fireworks in March.

  The head of the iron factory's accounting department, Iron Guard Deputy General, and leader of the mercenary organization "Effortless Death Squad", Lord Liu Ziguang is heading to Nanjing to demand repayment of a debt of one million. The entourage includes: Black person Duncan, attendant Ding Libin, two deputy accountants, and twenty carefully selected Effortless Death Squad soldiers as attendants. They are bringing the original Ministry of War contract, ledgers, receipts, and several large boxes of gifts for greasing palms, all special products of the iron factory - fine armor, sharp hundred-refined swords, and several tightly wrapped large brocade boxes containing unknown items.

  Miss Peng Jingrong also went along, and according to the master of the factory, Miss had a few good sisters in Beijing and was slightly familiar with the officialdom. This time she went far to Nanjing and also helped the factory purchase some goods, so she took the same boat.

  The old man wanted to create opportunities for his daughter, Liu Ziguang thought with ill intentions, feeling very happy in his heart, patted his chest and guaranteed the safety of the young lady, while also guaranteeing that he would get back the debt.

  A large crowd arrived at the canal dock by train, where the iron factory's steamship was already fired up. The ship was enormous, twenty zhang long and three zhang wide, with a three-story hull that was lavishly decorated. The iron factory's flag fluttered at the bow of the ship, which was specially designed for transporting goods to Jiangnan. On either side of the hull were two massive paddle wheels driven by steam engines, reportedly much faster than ordinary sailboats. Coal and grain had already been loaded onto the ship, and sailors in blue uniforms stood at attention on the dock to welcome them.

  Mr. Peng, the boss himself, came to see them off with a beaming smile and some conventional words of good luck, but Liu Ziguang was surprised to find that Peng Jingwei was not among the group seeing them off. He heard that this little girl had insisted on going to Nanjing to play with her sister and had been scolded by the boss until she cried, probably because she was throwing a tantrum, thought Liu Ziguang.

  The factory owner was still talking to the young lady, while Liu Ziguang watched as box after box of gifts were carried onto the ship by the servants, along with a cage of carrier pigeons, which the servant said were for communication purposes.

  Still using carrier pigeons? In the age of trains, there's no telegraph yet, it's a bit unexpected. Who invented the telegraph again? Dell? Bell? Morse? Liu Ziguang thought deeply, I can study it, the great enhancement of communication power, for military mobilization and transmission of government orders are greatly improved.

  The future scientist's train of thought was interrupted, Ma Bian reminded him that it was time to board the ship.

  Liu Ziguo hastily came over to bid farewell to the factory owner and his fellow sworn brothers, saying he would be back soon, and that they should wait for the silver.

  At the moment of boarding, Liu Ziguang suddenly stopped in his tracks and said to Master Peng: "If the track is installed on the wheels of the iron car, it will not be afraid of any complex terrain." After finishing speaking, he left Master Peng, who was confused, on the boat.

  The ship set sail, the whistle blew loudly, and the paddle wheels churned up waves of water. The boat slowly left the dock and headed southwest. Big sister and several maidservants stood at the stern, waving goodbye continuously. Liu Ziguang felt a mix of emotions as he finally left this place behind, ending nearly two years of servitude. He had only gone on one trip to Xuzhou Prefecture before, but now he could take a good look at the world - Jiangnan, the majestic capital city, Qinhuai River, and Confucius Temple. Liu Ziguang stood at the bow, lost in thought, dreaming of his journey to Nanjing. The ship's bow cut through the emerald green water with speed, creating large swells of white foam at its stern. This boat was indeed fast!

  The boat has left the dock far away, and Peng Jingrong walked over from the stern with a full face of melancholy. It seems that ancient people attached great importance to going out for a long distance. The distance of 800 miles in ancient times was just the opposite side of the sky, but in the 21st century it's just a few hours' journey.

  Peng Jingrong took the cloak from the maid's hand and put it on Liu Ziguo, saying softly: "It's windy on the boat, be careful not to catch a cold." A concerned look.

  This big girl is so concerned about me, it seems that the shared hardships of the past have established an immortal image in her heart. Hmm, take advantage of this trip to push down the young lady.

  Liu Ziguang's complicated mind was unknown to Peng Jingrong, who simply stood quietly beside him, gazing at the budding trees on both banks and the endless fields.

  What's so special about the fields of a thousand pieces of land, Liu Ziguang's sinful hands quietly stretched out to Peng Jingrong's ***...

  "Alright, what are you two sneaking around here for?" A soft and melodious questioning voice suddenly sounded from behind, scaring Liu Ziguang's salty pig hand to quickly withdraw. The two of them turned their heads to look back, only to find that it was the second young lady, Peng Jingwei, dressed in a sailor suit, looking at them with a pleased expression.