When Zhu Yuanzhang heard that Huang Nilu and Jiang Dejing were coming together, he couldn't help but be stunned.
Because since the Battle of Meridian Gate, Huang Nilu seemed to have discovered the shortcomings of the Lianzhu Fire Gun. He had been thinking hard behind closed doors for the past few days. Even when he went to check, the other party was a little absent-minded.
Today I suddenly came to see you, fearing that I might be in trouble.
But he immediately thought that if Huang Nilu encountered technical difficulties, he would go to Tang Ruowang and others, and would never come to him for discussion.
Now that Jiang Dejing is here together, there is most likely a problem with the material approval.
You must know that after the Battle of Meridian Gate, Zhu Yuanzhang was angry and wanted to help Zhu Cixiang build momentum. He not only captured nearly a thousand officials on Li Wuge's list, but also took the opportunity to arrest many suspicious people.
Even among the veterans who came with Fan Fucui, more than a dozen of them were captured by the Jin Yiwei.
Although Zhu Cihong had released many people after receiving Zhu Yuanzhang's approval, there were still many deficiencies among the officials in the six ministries.
For example, although the four departments of officials, punishment, households, and soldiers are missing a lot of people, at least the minister or the person in charge is still there, and it can barely be maintained.
However, the ministers and ministers of the Ministry of Industry and rites were either killed or captured, and the people below became chaotic.
Although Jiang Dejing had submitted a list of substitutes overnight, there were too many vacancies, and Zhu Yuanzhang thought that Zhu Cixiang would release many officials, and at the same time wanted to take advantage of the chaos to check the talents of the ministers, so he has not yet approved it.
After Zhu Yuanzhang guessed the purpose of their visit, he thought about whether to promote Huang Nilu to Shangshu or Minister, which would make it easier for the other party to do things.
But he immediately thought that although Huang Nilu was proficient in firearms, he was upright and not good at being an official. If he was placed in an important position, it would not be conducive to the use of his talents.
So he asked the young eunuch to bring Huang and Jiang in, and then picked up the supplementary official's memorial and quickly looked at it.
After a while, Jiang and Huang walked into Dongnuan Pavilion.
After Huang Nilu bowed and saluted, without waiting for Zhu Yuanzhang to ask, he said anxiously: "Your Majesty, I urgently need to go to Macau to purchase a batch of firearms. Please arrange for people from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs to approve it!"
Jiang Dejing, who was on the side, saw that Huang Nilu was talking nonsense, so he added: "Your Majesty, Mr. Huang is sending someone to Macau to purchase flintlock guns and iron tools, which will involve about one hundred thousand taels of silver."
"Because it exceeds the general purchasing authority, it requires the approval of the Minister of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs. Now Chen Biqian, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Zuo Maodi, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, have both been imprisoned..."
It turned out that Zhu Yuanzhang had always been dissatisfied with the Donglin Party. This time, he used Wang Zhang's assassination to imprison most of the Donglin Party members.
Of course, he also knew that it was impossible to catch them all now, he was just doing a favor to Zhu Cihong.
Just like before, Zhu Cihong released more than a dozen Qingliu at Fan Jingwen's request.
What he didn't expect was that Zuo Maodi was not released.
Therefore, he looked at Jiang Dejing with some surprise and said, "I see that the position of Minister of Household Affairs is not on the list of officials you recommended. What's going on?"
Hearing this, Jiang Dejing said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness actually pardoned Zuo Shilang the day before yesterday. However, Zuo Shilang felt that he had been captured innocently and was very angry. He must get an explanation before he would be released from prison."
"After His Highness the Crown Prince learned of this, he sent someone to persuade him, but unexpectedly, he was scolded by Zuo Shilang..."
After listening to Jiang Dejing's story, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but feel a little angry.
However, he immediately thought that the reason for capturing Zuo Maodi this time was indeed insufficient, and now was not the time to eliminate the Donglin Party, so he suppressed his anger and shouted outside: "Here comes someone!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a young eunuch hurried in.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he shook his head and said, "I'm not calling you, but a tiger... Let Brother Li come!"
When the little eunuch heard this, he hurriedly retreated.
After a while, Brother Li Wu quickly ran into Dongnuan Pavilion.
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Brother Li Wu and ordered: "Go to Tianlao and ask Zuo Maodi for us. He said that *** was stabbed to death by someone he was friendly with. Is it wrong for us to question him?" "
"He has always regarded himself as a loyal minister. Now that the capital is facing internal and external troubles, he does not want to be loyal to the country, but he has always been worried about his own reputation. But the way to be a minister..."
Brother Li Wu bowed and quickly walked out of Dongnuan Pavilion.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while and then said to Jiang Dejing: "Qing Jiang, we want Fan Fucui to serve as Minister of the Ministry of Industry. What do you think?"
When Jiang Dejing heard this, he hesitated and said: "Your Majesty, Fan Fucui is proficient in finance and prison matters. I'm afraid it's inappropriate for you to let him serve as Minister of the Ministry of Industry!"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "No, this is just right...it's good, it's settled!"
After he finished speaking, he looked at Huang Nilu and said, "Huang Qing, the approval you want can be completed today. Now can you tell us why you went to Macau to purchase flintlock guns?"
Huang Nilu was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said: "Your Majesty, although I have improved the barrel of the continuous fire gun..."
It turned out that when Huang Nilu was developing the continuous fire gun, he thought that it would need to be fired continuously, and the pressure and heat in the barrel would be far higher than that of ordinary fire guns, making it easier for the barrel to explode.
So from the beginning, he used the best quality iron and purified it as much as possible.
After many improvements and attempts, he was able to fire five rounds in a row without any explosions.
He thought he had solved the problem of exploding the barrel, and was thinking about how to achieve a ten-bullet burst.
However, during the Battle of Meridian Gate, he discovered that after ten shots, that is, after firing a hundred rounds of bullets, not only the accuracy rate was greatly reduced, but the risk of exploding the barrel was also high.
It must cool down for a period of time before it can be used again.
Fortunately, there were not many rebels that day, and Zhu Yuanzhang ended the battle in time. Otherwise, not even one-third of the dozens of continuous fire cannons could be retained.
In order to solve this matter, Huang Nilu has been studying behind closed doors with Tang Ruowang, Xu Ji (son of Xu Guangqi), Sun Heding (son of Sun Yuanhua) and others in the past few days. It was not until today that he found some clues. However, because the required materials have been exhausted, Huang Nilu Nilu ran around and found no way, so he hurriedly went to find Jiang Dejing.
After Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Huang Nilu's story, he was silent for a while and said, "If the total number of shots is difficult to solve at the moment, can you first increase the number of shots?"
"You must know that the Jurchen cavalry is fast. Unlike the rebels a few days ago, they may not have a hundred opportunities to shoot. So I think you can study this part of the function before the materials arrive."
"This will not only save time, but also improve the practicality of the continuous fire gun, bringing convenience to the current war!"
Huang Nilu nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I have asked Xu Ji to improve the number of consecutive shots. Now he can shoot six times in a row."
"Furthermore, Sun and Ding are also studying how to install the short sword on the continuous fire gun, so that it can be used for two purposes."
"It's just that whether it's to increase the number of single shots of the volley fire gun or to install a short sword, it's all stuck on iron tools. Now as long as we can find the right materials, we can solve the problem of exploding the barrel and the short sword..."
Huang Nilu was very excited when he started talking, but later on, not only did he frown frequently, but his voice became deeper and deeper, as if there was something unspeakable.
