Chapter 818 Decision
Holding the sword in his hand, although its forging technology and performance are far inferior to the previous two, it is a suitable choice as a weapon equipped for soldiers and needs to be mass-produced.
Seeing this, Li Gan added another sentence at the right time.
"In terms of toughness, it has indeed decreased, but as long as it is enchanted, its toughness will not be much different from the original crystal iron sword, and it will be harder and sharper."
As the director of the ordnance forging department in Xianyang City, he had undoubtedly studied enchantment, a method closely related to the strength of ordnance, a long time ago.
'Basic Weapon Blessing' can enhance the toughness and sharpness of weapons.
At the same time, he also studied the difference between a crystal iron sword with and without enchantment effects.
Therefore, he had a basic idea of the improvements involved.
As of now, upgrading all existing crystal iron weapons to this version with added diamonds will have more advantages than disadvantages.
As for weapons of higher specifications, they can continue to be forged with patterned steel hammered from crystal iron.
"Can ordinary craftsmen in the forging department forge this version with diamond added?"
Li Gan had undoubtedly confirmed this issue long ago.
"After adding diamond, the metal's properties have changed, and the probability of fracture has increased, so the forging difficulty is slightly higher than the previous crystal iron weapons. However, as long as you practice more, you can basically forge it. At present, there is already a group of craftsmen in the department who can complete the forging relatively stably, and the efficiency is not much slower than before."
After getting this answer, Zhou Xu nodded with satisfaction.
"Then use this to replace the existing crystal iron weapons and equip the elite troops. In addition, how is the forging of steel weapons for ordinary soldiers going?"
"Since the project was launched, two batches have been sent out, and the third batch should be completed before the end of the month."
"Please hurry up and finish the third batch of steel weapons. I will send someone to pick them up when the time comes. I will also send someone to notify the Ministry of Military Affairs. Don't worry."
According to the order he had issued earlier, the steel weapons forged by the Ordnance Forging Department were to be equipped to the border defense forces here first.
The specific implementation will be carried out by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs.
But the situation is different now. A war broke out in the southern border. In order to enhance the combat effectiveness of the garrison troops in the southern border, the upgrading of equipment is given priority to them.
After making these simple arrangements, Zhou Xu rewarded the research and development team headed by Li Gan with another three thousand silver coins as a reward, and then let Li Gan accept the reward and leave.
Then, as if he remembered something, Zhou Xu hurried back to the Qinzheng Palace and wrote a letter to Shi Lei who was in charge of Anling City, asking him to keep a close eye on the actions of the strange force opposite.
Generally speaking, it is unlikely that a force would suddenly decide to launch a military operation against surrounding forces in the winter. Even if it wants to, it will wait until the beginning of next spring.
Now winter is coming to an end, and spring is not far away. In the southern border, a war has already broken out with the ratmen.
Zhou Xu obviously wanted to avoid the situation of having to fight on two fronts as much as possible.
However, based on the latest situation, it seems unrealistic to quickly eliminate this group of newly emerged ratmen in a short period of time.
From the latest report sent by Soros, it was not difficult for him to see that the scale of the ratman army this time should not be underestimated.
And in subsequent analysis, Soros also pointed out that the ratmen have never been a race that can be wiped out in one go.
The reason why they were able to destroy the Claw Clan was because they caught the other side off guard in a great battle.
From the perspective of the Claw Clan at the time, they had no idea of the existence of the Great Zhou and thought that their only enemies were the Lizardmen.
And they are here to complete the regular projects every year.
From this step on, their thinking and judgment were already problematic.
This led to their heavy losses in the subsequent battles, with the main force suffering heavy losses and severe damage, giving them the opportunity to destroy the enemy.
But the ratmen this time were different. During the simple fight, Soros had already vaguely felt that the opponent's strength was probably above that of the original Claw Clan.
Moreover, the other party was very vigilant. Every time Soros tried to take some action, the other party immediately blocked him with the numerical advantage of the rat tide.
It seems unrealistic at the moment to destroy the other party like we did with the Claw Clan.
Unless they, the Great Zhou, concentrate all of the country's military forces in the southern border.
But this is undoubtedly an unrealistic idea.
Now, their Great Zhou’s territory is so large that it requires a sufficient number of garrisons to garrison it.
Not to mention there are other potential enemies around.
It would take at least half a year for the large army to come and go, not counting the time spent dealing with the ratmen.
By then, I’m afraid even my hometown will be ransacked.
Therefore, from Soros's perspective, their war with the ratmen in the southern border will most likely return to normal mode.
Soros has no idea about this.
After all, that's how the Lizardmen had survived for so many years.
Treat the war with the ratmen as part of your daily work, that's all.
To be honest, it also gave the soldiers in the southern border an additional opportunity to accumulate practical combat experience.
However, in contrast, military spending and even expenditures on related materials will definitely increase.
From the perspective of a ruler, this is obviously not what Zhou Xu wants to see.
Zhou Xu tapped his fingertips on the desk surface as he looked at the document spread out in front of him. After pondering for a while, he made a decision.
"Send the message that I will form a 500-man guard army, and the candidates will be selected from various troops. Then, under the pretext of increasing the reserve of troops and replenishing the troops of various border guards, I will recruit 2,000 soldiers from across the country."
It has not been two years since the end of the last war, and Zhou Xu obviously does not want the news of the war to cause panic among the people.
So they found a way to select suitable candidates from various troops to form a royal guard, and then made such an arrangement on the grounds of increasing troop reserves and replenishing troops.
However, since it is just a normal increase in military reserves, it is impossible to recruit too many at once. Even a fool can see that there is a problem.
Zhou Xu thought about it for a while and felt that two thousand was a more appropriate number.
Take the current situation in the southern border as an example. Adding two thousand troops is enough to have an impact on the situation to a certain extent.
In addition, he naturally had his considerations for forming the Royal Guard.
Ever since he entered Xianyang City, the task of guarding Xianyang City has been given to the Xianzhen Camp.
But on the other hand, once the Xianzhen Camp left, there would be no sufficient garrison troops in Xianyang City, and the limited manpower of his personal guards would be of no use.
In this way, in order to liberate the Xianzhen Camp, the formation of the Imperial Guard has become a top priority.
Now, all Zhou Xu is doing, needless to say, is to prepare for the eradication of the ratmen in the southern border! With a legitimate reason to mobilize troops, Zhou Xu would rather invest all at once and eliminate the trouble in the shortest possible time than to endure the long-term consumption! (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
