After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

To destroy the Northern Dynasty, the national treasury and the Liang army were naturally his top priorities.

It's true that my wife's national treasury is a little empty, but this matter involves too many things and is difficult to address in the short term.

He had thought about the military for a long time.

In the army of the Great Liang Dynasty, the most important thing is people, and the second most important thing is military equipment.

All military equipment for the various armies of the Great Liang Dynasty was manufactured and distributed uniformly by the imperial court. This included armor, weapons, uniforms, and so on.

These military equipment were manufactured by the Imperial Ordnance Bureau, the Armory Bureau, and some workshops under the Ministry of Works.

The craftsmen inside were all registered artisans who received government stipends.

The raw materials for manufacturing weapons, such as iron ore, tung oil, and logs, were also provided by the imperial court.

The benefit of this is naturally that it "collects all the weapons in the world," and private individuals are prohibited from forging weapons.

The downside was that if the imperial court didn't strictly investigate, the quality of weapons would gradually decline, and the resale of military equipment would occur frequently.

Craftsmen had low social status, received little salary and often went hungry, many fled their homes, and weapons saw little innovation year after year.

A system is a negative spiral.

It gets worse every year.

If the weapons are inadequate, then the fighting will be even more difficult.

Year after year, the imperial court had to spend more and more money to maintain its military, which was riddled with holes.

Until the national treasury completely collapses and can no longer be sustained... This is also one of the important reasons why my wife's national treasury is a bit empty.

Under such circumstances, his idea of ​​destroying the Northern Dynasty, which had been thoroughly subdued by Yongzheng and whose power was highly concentrated in the hands of the emperor, was nothing short of a pipe dream.

Maintaining the status quo between North and South and continuing the dynasty's lifespan is a difficult task.

While Ning Nan was in his study in the capital, he stayed up all night thinking carefully about this issue.

Just setting up a new equipment manufacturing plant required an astronomical amount of manpower, iron ore, sand and gravel, and the daily food for people and horses.

Even building a small-scale military force would be a considerable burden on the Liang Dynasty. Cui Cui's wife had to use the imperial treasury, and that was with subsidies from Baiyufang.

After the weapons are manufactured, there is also the risk of the military reselling them.

If we were to make a desperate gamble and spend a lot of money to manufacture them and equip them for the military.

Once an army is systematically defeated by the Eight Banners army, these weapons will fall into the hands of the Northern Dynasty and be turned against them... He was quite troubled at the time and couldn't come up with a good idea. His wife's national treasury couldn't hold on either.

Today, he encountered San Zhuang and his group competing in archery, which caught his eye and gave him a sense of serendipitous encounter.

The winter wind whipped up some sand and gravel on the drill ground.

Ning Nan chuckled and handed the Crescent Moon Bow to Dong Anguo, asking him to give it a try.

Dong Anguo accepted the gift with both hands, feeling flattered.

Ning Nan smiled and waved his hand, the wind blowing his robe:

"General Dong, you're too kind."

Jiangpu Army was one of the main forces of the Northern Expedition, and he naturally valued Dong Anguo, who was reasonable and knowledgeable.

Dong Anguo forced a smile, his silver armor gleaming in the afterglow of the setting sun.

As the deputy commander of Jiangpu City, his experience and archery skills were far superior to Feng Xi's, even though the other party was a nobleman from a family with a long tradition of learning.

Dong Anguo let out a sigh of relief, nocked an arrow, gathered his strength, and drew his bow. At that moment, he raised an eyebrow.

With a sickeningly sharp sound, he drew a large bow to its full extent in a very short time, very easily, as if his previously bulging arms had been wasted.

Dong Anguo exclaimed "Huh?" in surprise.

It looks like a powerful bow weighing seventy pounds, but it seems that only thirty or forty pounds of force is needed to draw it.

He recalled the three arrows that the Grand Prince Consort had just shot, which were almost as powerful as those from a strong bow. He was suddenly surprised, and his heart began to pound.

"Hoo..." He took a breath, suppressing the shock in his heart.

The middle-aged deputy commander's pupils contracted slightly, he held his breath, and aimed at the target forty feet away.

Swoosh, the string is released.

An arrow shot out like a tiger, heading straight for the target!

Thud! In the blink of an eye, the arrow hit the bullseye!

Clang, clang, clang, the arrow fletched on the target, trembling incessantly.

Dong Anguo glanced at the target, then lowered his head, staring at the so-called Crescent Moon Bow in his hand. His pupils contracted, and his breathing gradually became rapid.

With his knowledge and battlefield experience, he realized the value of this bow in an instant.

This bow is not only powerful, but also effortless to draw, and it can be drawn quickly. In the time it takes for the opponent to draw one arrow, this bow can draw three.

"Your Highness... this, this..." Dong Anguo suddenly looked up, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the prince consort before him.

It was at this moment that he and Feng Xi and the others who were eager to try heard the Grand Prince Consort's cheerful words.

"General Dong..." The Grand Prince Consort nodded at the bow and smiled, "The New Weapon Bureau is offering the Crescent Moon Bow for fifty taels of silver each..."

"Huh?" Dong Anguo's excited expression faltered for a moment. "Silver? Fifty taels?"

The others were also stunned.

Dong Anguo was taken aback. The other party had just said that this stack of moon bows was a new bow manufactured by the Empress's newly established Bureau of Weapons.

After trying it, he planned to go back and immediately work on the folding paper with Old Jiang.

Your Majesty, please commend the Bureau of New Weapons and immediately allocate these new bows to the Jiangpu Army! The more, the better!

After thinking for a moment, Dong Anguo's eyes lit up, and he sighed:

"With such a huge expenditure, I imagine that if the Jiangpu Army only had five thousand of these stacks of moon bows, the entire army would be grateful for the Empress's grace and would be willing to give their lives for Her Majesty."

At the same time, he raised an eyebrow, secretly delighted... Fortunately, the Grand Prince Consort came to Jiangpu City. As long as he and Old Jiang submitted a memorial as soon as possible, explaining the difficulties, and with the help of Governor Shangguan, they could obtain this batch of military equipment earlier than the Liuhe Army or even the Yongwei Battalion!

Deputy General Dong, the most trusted soldier in Jiangpu City, relaxed his brow and secretly rejoiced, mentally reviewing the contents of the memorial.

"What kind of dream is this..." Master Ning muttered to himself, but gave a wry smile and said, "Uh... Vice General Dong has misunderstood..."

"Misunderstanding?" Dong Anguo looked up.

Ning Nan smiled and looked at the deputy commander-in-chief, saying:

"General Dong, what about the weapons from this new weapons bureau?"

He sighed, "We will no longer use the method of issuing weapons by the imperial court..."

A look of doubt appeared on the other person's face, and their brows gradually furrowed, before the other person could ask a question.

Ning Nan sighed again, shook his head, and continued:

"General Dong, you may not know this, but the amount of iron ore, manpower, and provisions required to forge such a bow was so great that the Ministry of Revenue shook its head for a long time. From the Minister of Revenue to the various officials in the subordinate bureaus, they all objected."

"The Ministry of Revenue has clearly told the Bureau of New Weapons that the national treasury is empty in recent years, and the national treasury cannot afford to spend such a wasteful and extravagant project. Even spending national funds to manufacture a mere thousand is not enough..."

These corrupt officials in the Ministry of Revenue… Dong Anguo immediately gripped his strong bow, stepped forward, and with a thud, clasped his hands and said urgently:

"Can't afford the cost? Your Excellency, we, the generals, risk our lives on the frontier. If our Jiangpu army had such powerful bows, how many comrades could we save each year? How many more Tartars could we kill each year? The officials of the Ministry of Revenue sit in the capital, how could they know how much blood we, the border troops, have shed on the city walls and in the fields? How many bones have been buried?..."

After Ning Nan waited for him to finish venting, her eyes first darkened, then hardened again. Her tone softened, but it was still hesitant:

"General Dong, the Ministry of Revenue and the Bureau of New Weapons both understand the reasoning you're making... Li Langzhong of the Bureau of New Weapons is also arguing on this point, but the Ministry of Revenue won't budge, saying that the grain and military supplies provided to the border troops and the Yongwei Battalion in recent years have already emptied the national treasury."