Lord Zhu, Minister of War, had not slept well for several days.
I was busy recruiting soldiers all night last night. I finally lay down on the bed for a while just before dawn. As soon as I woke up, my subordinates came to report that Mr. Cheng of Zhan Shifu wanted to see him.
He thought for a long time but didn't know who Mr. Cheng was until his subordinates told him that he was Mrs. Sui's biological nephew.
He quickly asked people to invite Mr. Cheng in. Also coming in were Mr. Shen from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Mr. Zhao from the Hanlin Academy, and Mr. Zhao from the garrison in the capital.
"I've met Mr. Zhu!"
The four of them bowed together.
"You are all children of Mrs. Sui's family, so there is no need to salute." Mr. Zhu asked a few people to sit down. "You came here early in the morning, probably because you want to ask me about the imperial conscription. Don't worry, this battle must be fought. The emperor is determined to win, and our military department will also find ways to win this battle. Doesn't Xirong have 200,000 cavalry, so let's recruit 300,000 troops this time, first of all, crush them in numbers, and also , the imperial court has invested hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to build weapons. This time, Xirong must be made aware of the power of Dayu Kingdom..."
Master Zhu obviously hated the Xirong people, and he gritted his teeth on every word.
"Of course we believe that the emperor and the court have other important things to do here." Cheng Zhao said, "Can you please ask Mr. Zhu to accompany us to the outskirts of Beijing?"
Master Zhu looked troubled: "I have to go to the palace to discuss matters in half an hour. Can I do it again at night..."
"My lord, this matter is very important. After knowing this matter, your lord will be more confident when entering the palace." Zhao Sidan smiled, "The weapons that the imperial court spent hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to build are not as powerful as ours."
"What do you mean?" Mr. Zhu said hesitantly, "Stop being so pretentious and tell me quickly."
Shen Zheng coughed and said, "It's not that we are trying to show off, but we can't demonstrate this place. I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary trouble, so I can only ask you to condescend to take a trip."
Mr. Zhu glanced at the four people in front of him. They were all Mrs. Sui's nephews and nephews. They had already entered the court as officials at a young age. Officials would not tell lies.
Furthermore, Mrs. Sui is now in the Xirong Kingdom. At this juncture, the children should not make fun of him.
He turned back to the entourage behind him and said: "Go to General Ruan's house and tell me that I have something to do. I will come to the palace half an hour later to discuss matters."
Later, their military headquarters and military headquarters will meet to discuss combat strategies, so it doesn't matter much if they go later.
The group of people rode horses to the depths of the low mountains on the outskirts of Beijing.
These days, Zhao Sidan and four others have been conducting experiments here. All the surrounding farmers have been sent away by their money, and no one is here at this time.
Master Zhu stood on the side and watched Zhao Sanniu take out three or four black, round, and strange-smelling things from the bag, and buried them in the ground. Then there was a smoky gray thread coming from the place where the things were buried. The small soil bags extend all the way to the soil stacks.
Zhao Sanniu took out the fire stick, blew it, and was about to light it.
"Wait a minute." Shen Zheng raised his hand, "Blowing up the mound is nothing. We have to let Mr. Zhu see the lethality of the bomb. Wait for me for a quarter of an hour."
He rode away quickly, and after a while, he came back with five big fat pigs, and then tied the fat pigs to the tree stump next to the mound.
The five fat pigs didn't understand what was happening and howled.
Master Zhu also frowned, wondering what these people were up to.
Zhao Sanniu lit the fire, and the sparks burned and flew towards the small earth bag along the gray lead.
Those fat pigs seemed to feel threatened, and each one became more restless.
At this moment, the bomb buried in the soil was ignited by fire, and three or four bombs exploded at the same time.
"Bang bang bang!"
There were three or four loud noises in succession, and the soil bag was blown away. The soil turned into a burnt black color. Several trees nearby were severely affected, and one tree was broken. The worst thing was the five big fat pigs. The first two were blown up. It was beyond recognition. The two hiding behind were covered in blood and dead. Although the last one was not dead, it was charred and black. It was obvious that it would not live long.
Mr. Zhu's face was full of disbelief. Those three or four black gadgets could actually kill five big fat pigs?
You know, it takes at least three or four adults to catch a pig in its prime. Killing a pig is not as simple as a chop...
But now, five pigs were killed instantly.
"W-what is this?"
Zhao Sanniu shook the dirt from his hair and grinned: "This is called a bomb. It is made of the things in fireworks. The specific instructions for making it are recorded in this booklet."
Shen Zheng presented the pamphlet.
Mr. Zhu's hands were full of mud. He wiped them on his clothes and opened the booklet.
It is very clearly written in it, how to extract raw materials from fireworks, where these raw materials in fireworks can be obtained, raw material ratio data, production process, precautions... everything is written very carefully.
And also wrote a cost estimate.
The three most important things to make this thing are saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal.
Charcoal is the cheapest, and sulfur is not difficult to obtain. Only saltpeter is more expensive, which is the basic reason for the high price of fireworks.
But saltpeter is expensive not because of fireworks, but because wealthy people use it to make ice. To make a piece of ice, a large amount of saltpeter is consumed, which results in the price of saltpeter remaining high.
In addition, saltpeter can also be used to treat diseases...
It is estimated that the cost of a fist-sized bomb is about five hundred cents, which is about half a tael of silver.
Seeing such a high price, Mr. Zhu's heart ached... Every year during the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival... and other major festivals, as well as weddings and funerals, a large number of fireworks and firecrackers are used. If these things are used On the march, why should Dayu worry about not being able to defeat Xirong...
"You guys have done a great job!" Mr. Zhu closed the booklet, "I will go to the palace to report to the emperor, and wait for the good news!"
After he finished speaking, he got on his horse and hurried towards the imperial city.
The five big fat pigs that were killed in the bombing were brought back by Cheng Zhao and distributed to the neighbors in De'an Lane for food...
Next, Shen Zheng kept paying close attention to the trends in the fireworks workshops in the capital. Soon, these workshops were all controlled by the imperial court, and a large number of workers were recruited privately. In order to produce a large number of bombs as quickly as possible, even old men and old ladies were not spared. , all recruited to work in the workshop...
At the same time, the queen of the day gave a speech at the women's school and donated countless gold and silver treasures, worth 60,000 taels of silver. Under the queen's call, all the women in the capital also donated silver, and only the taels of silver donated by the women , reaching 280,000.
Some men also advocated donating money, and wealthy businessmen and officials donated generously, raising a total of 310,000 taels.
Including the 200,000 taels allocated by the imperial court, the total military salary is more than 700,000.
This money sounds like a lot of money, but it's actually not much.
The average military salary for a new recruit to join the army for one month is about 800 silver. The monthly military salary alone requires 240,000 taels of silver, not to mention that there are many other things that need to be spent, and the money is not prohibited at all!
Fortunately, food and grass have also been solved.
The common people in the capital and the nearby country people gave 50 kilograms to this family, 80 kilograms to that family, and even wealthy businessmen gave away 5,000 kilograms... In this way, more than four million kilograms of grain were collected among the people... And these There is no need to repay the food.
While the entire Dayu Dynasty was preparing to fight against Xirong, several large ships were parked at the docks on the outskirts of Beijing.
