At the end of March, outside Shengjing City.
At this time, a large number of houses had been built outside Shengjing City, and the city was densely packed on all sides. Together with the original Guanxiang houses in Shengjing City, they were all forcibly expropriated by Dorgon's order, and a large number of craftsmen and civilians were mobilized to settle there.
Like Shengjing City, Liaoyang City was also undergoing a large-scale construction project at this time, and a large number of houses were built around the outside of the city.
These houses were not built in a messy manner, but were scattered and divided into several courtyards. A large number of craftsmen and civilians were settled in various courtyards and began to build various firearms and military equipment for the Manchu Dynasty.
On this day, Dorgon took a Ming Huangluan chariot out of Shengjing City and arrived at a large number of workshops and houses in the east of the city.
Hundreds of elites from the Baya camp with two yellow flags were seen rushing into the roads between the various courtyards on horseback, and then began to guard and blockade them. The elites from the two white flags who had been rebuilt, led by Duduo, also followed.
There are also Prince Li Daishan, Prince Yi Babutai, Prince Su Lai Mubu, Prince Zheng Fei Yangguo, as well as Gushan Ezhen of the Eight Banners Mongolia and Eight Banners Han Army, as well as the Baya soldiers and elite soldiers of each banner. The soldiers and other troops, no less than tens of thousands of people, almost surrounded the entire workshop area to the east of Shengjing City.
Dorgon, wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, escorted by Manchuria's Zhenghuang Banner Gushan'e Zhennieksai and Xianghuang Banner Gushan'e Zhenmurcha, got off the carriage and began to inspect the production status of the workshop.
The Minister of Political Affairs Ying Erdai followed closely behind. Ying Erdai was specifically responsible for the two large-scale workshops in Shengjing and Liaoyang, as well as the procurement of various raw materials, so naturally at this time
He will report to Dorgon.
"Your Majesty, I have made contact with eight Shanxi merchants from the Ming Dynasty. Now the first batch of goods has been transported to various parts of the grassland by their caravans. After being received and accepted by soldiers from various Mongolian banners, they are being shipped in a steady stream. To Shengjing and Liaoyang."
"Your Majesty, please see, the rows of workshops in front are all for making fire blunderbuss tubes, and further ahead is the workshop for assembling fire blunderbuss. The craftsmen here are all craftsmen captured from the Ming Dynasty over the years. They have been teaching apprentices over the years. , and also trained a lot of manpower.”
"Those houses to the east are artillery casting workshops. Since the art of artillery casting in the Qing Dynasty is not as good as that of Liu Yan's tribe in the Ming Dynasty, we can only exchange scale for output. With large-scale casting, we can do it in one year. More than five hundred cannons were cast."
Dorgon was slightly moved and asked: "Is it just the output of one place in Shengjing?"
"Yes, Shengjing alone can cast more than 500 artillery pieces every year!"
Dorgon's face also showed joy, but then he thought of a question and asked: "How much money and food will it cost?"
Ying Erdai said truthfully: "The consumption of casting artillery alone is already equivalent to the annual expenditure of two yellow flags and two white flags in Manchuria."
"And this quantity is also the output when there is sufficient supply of iron and various materials. If there is a shortage of supply from Shanxi merchants, or there are delays on the road, the output of artillery will also be affected."
Hearing this, Dorgon suddenly took a breath of cold air. It seems that although the Qing Dynasty now has the ability to manufacture firearms on a large scale, it has also shouldered a heavy burden.
burden.
"well!"
Dorgon sighed and said: "A few days ago, I received reports from various places. Nowadays, there is a severe drought in various parts of Liaodong. The imperial court is temporarily unable to provide money and food for relief, which has led to an increase in civil unrest in various places. The court also needs to raise money and food to build Regarding firearms and reforming the military system, I am also in a dilemma, and I am really miserable!"
Duduo, Babutai, Lai Mubu, Fei Yanguo and others all kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty's hard work on national affairs is a blessing to our slaves. Please cherish your dragon body and put the national body first!"
Dorgon was satisfied, and then asked Ying Erdai: "Go to the fire gun workshop."
"嗻."
After a while, Dorgon and other large groups of people came to the gun workshop outside the city. Dorgon picked up a bird gun from the weapons rack and looked at it carefully.
I saw that this bird gun was well made and was completely black in color. Both in length and shape, it was very similar to the flint-haired bird gun used by Liu Yan's new army.
Dorgon was very happy when he saw this, but when he saw a long match rope clamped on the dragon's head, the joy on his face suddenly dissipated a lot: "Is this a match rope gun?"
Ying'erdai said: "Your Majesty is aware that although our Qing Dynasty can also make flint-haired bird guns like Liu Yan's tribe, the quality is always not up to par. There are too many misfires. Seven or eight out of every ten guns are defective. It’s misfired, and the flintlock gun has many faults, so it’s not as good as this matchlock gun in use.”
"What's the range and power like?"
"Your Majesty, please move to the shooting range."
"Um!"
Then Dorgon, surrounded by everyone, came to a shooting range outside the workshop, where more than a dozen Han people had been prepared.
At this time, all of them were tied with ropes to wooden stakes about 70 steps away. There were more than a dozen people, men and women, old and young, crying and begging for mercy.
Moreover, the dozen or so Han people were all wearing Qing army armor, and each of them was wearing double-layer armor. Dorgon was also very surprised when he saw this.
Immediately, Ying'erdai ordered his people to start testing muskets. Twenty Han soldiers with the yellow flag lined up and raised their muskets at a distance of sixty steps from the Han people. Following Ying'erdai's attack, With an order, twenty Manchu-made bird cannons opened fire at the same time. After a roar, a dozen Han people in front were shot one after another, and screams came one after another.
Dorgon was overjoyed when he saw this. The Qing Dynasty's self-made bird cannon can break through double-layer heavy armor at a distance of sixty steps, which shows its powerful lethality.
At this time, most of the dozen or so Han people were dead, and the remaining few who survived were furious, and were immediately hacked to death by the Qing soldiers who came up with knives.
Dorgon asked: "Can the blunderbuss swords used by Liu Yan's gun soldiers be imitated in the workshop?"
Ying Erdai apologized and said: "Your Majesty, I forgive my incompetence. The craftsmen have been imitating it day and night, but the blunderbuss they made cannot be popularized. Either the blunderbuss itself is too easy to break and cannot be fought at all, or after inserting the blunderbuss, The gun cannot fire normally and may even explode."
"That's why I thought that the Qing Dynasty's banners should equip gunmen with short knives for self-defense. In close combat, we should let the warriors of each banner fight hand-to-hand to promote the strengths of our Qing Dynasty warriors."
Dorgon nodded slowly. For now, that was all he could do.
“How is the current monthly production of gunshots?
"
"Your Majesty, the output of a large number of workshops in Shengjing and Liaoyang is huge. On average, they can make 8,000 fine muskets, more than 40 artillery pieces, more than 7,000 kilograms of gunpowder, and various weapons every month. Blades, armor and other equipment.”
"Ah, very good!"
Although the bird muskets made by the Qing Dynasty are still not as good as the flint-haired bird muskets equipped by Liu Yan's department, they are already a great progress for the Qing Dynasty.
Calculated based on this output, in just a few months, the various banner soldiers and horses of the Qing Dynasty will be equipped with a considerable number of firearms. By then, at least in terms of firepower, they will never be worse than the firepower of Liu Yan's tribe.
"I don't believe it. With the power of the entire Qing Dynasty, they can't compete with Liu Yan's land in the east of Shandong!"
Although Liu Yan is now the chief minister of the Ming cabinet, Dorgon believes that Liu Yan cannot use all the human and financial resources of the Ming Dynasty for his own use. Only the Ming Dynasty can truly support the operation of hundreds of thousands of new troops and garrison troops. It's just a place in Shandong, and this is where Dorgon's confidence lies.
Dorgon immediately praised Ying'erdai. Not only did he reward Ying'erdai with the title of bachelor, he also handed over the Ministry of Personnel and Household Affairs of the Manchu Qing Dynasty to Ying'erdai's control.
After being reused by Dorgon, Ying Erdai was immediately elated, and immediately made a series of guarantees to Dorgon, such as increasing the production of bird guns to 10,000 guns per month within three months.
Dorgon smiled and asked, "Can it really be done?"
Ying'erdai hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Now the workshops in Shengjing City and Liaoyang City consume a lot of money. As long as the imperial court can support the monthly supply of money and food to the two places, the slaves will definitely be able to do it!
"
Dorgon frowned slightly. The financial resources of the Qing Dynasty were now close to depleted. Rebuilding the troops and horses of each banner and issuing pensions to the bannermen had almost exhausted the entire Qing Dynasty's money and grain reserves, which now supply Shengjing City, Liaoyang A large number of workshops in both parts of the city are also holding on.
Duduo on the side saw Dorgon's difficulty, so he said: "Your Majesty, why not impose additional taxes on various places!"
Babutai, Lai Mubu, Fei Yangguo and all the Mongolian and Han army bannermen Gushan Ezhen all agreed. Only Daishan and Zu Dashou changed their expressions slightly. Obviously both of them knew that this was a way of fishing for the best.
Not to mention anything else, the Ming Dynasty's imposition of three taxes caused so much chaos. Now Li Zicheng's million-strong army is still raging in the north of the Ming Dynasty. God knows what chaos the Qing Dynasty will cause after it increases taxes!
It's just that at this time, Dai Shan and Zu Dashou knew that people were talking lightly, so they didn't dare to say anything more. They just lowered their heads and sighed in silence.
Dorgon is not a mediocre person. He naturally knows what raising taxes means. Especially for Liaodong, where natural disasters continue and people are as poor as the Ming Dynasty. Civil volts are certain. Otherwise, the Qing Dynasty will never have peace in the rear. day!
But now, does Dorgon have any other choice? The answer is definitely no!
So Dorgon said to the accompanying minister Lausa: "Ai Qing will be responsible for the tax increase and implement it as soon as possible. All the increased money and grain will be used for the workshop expenses of Shengjing City and Liaoyang City! "
Lausa complained in his heart that this was a thankless task, but at this time he could only bite the bullet and accept the order.
Then Dorgon, surrounded by people, came to the north of Shengjing City and saw this
Dozens of Han craftsmen were escorted to the front. After Dorgon asked, Ying'erdai reported back: "Your Majesty, I have been ordered to recruit craftsmen who know how to make firearms from all over Liaodong. Now we have recruited thousands of craftsmen and thousands of craftsmen." Civil servants. Those people are those who refused to serve our Qing Dynasty, so I ordered them to be executed together to deter those with double-minded intentions!"
Dorgon's eyes suddenly showed a hint of murderous intent, and he said coldly: "If you have done a good job and cannot use it to go to the Qing Dynasty, there is no need to live anymore. For people who care about the Ming Dynasty, you can't just kill one person." , but to kill his entire family, leaving no one alive, young or old!"
"This slave accepts the order!"
The next day, still north of Shengjing City, hundreds of men, women, and children were driven into the wilderness. The sound of crying and fighting went straight into the sky, but then they were interrupted by a violent roar of bird cannons. Hundreds of men, women, and children were driven into the wilderness. Young and old were killed one after another, and blood flowed in the wilderness outside the city. The surrounding Qing soldiers of various banners cheered when they saw this, as if they were not shooting unarmed common people, but the elites of Liu Yan's tribe who had experienced hundreds of battles.
