Siberia, right bank of Lena River, ice city Yakutsk.
In this castle built on permafrost, Yakutsk Chief Military and Political Officer Dmitry Andreevich Franzbekov was looking at a few "Made in Britain" blankly. flintlock pistol!
These "British pistols" were seized by Khabarov, the number one expert in Yakutsk, from the Chinese army in the Jinqili River area!
Speaking of this, Khabarov is an amazing guy. He was originally a poor farmer in the Veliky Ustiug area, and he was just a little better than a serf. In the Rakshasa country where the aristocracy is dominated, this kind of background definitely belongs to the lower class.
It is impossible to starve to death. There are few people in the Rakshasa country and the land is wide, so there is no chance of starving to death. But it is extremely difficult to develop, but Khabarov still found a way - to explore the East! Starting in 1625, he stopped farming and left his hometown to join an expedition, heading east in search of valuable furs.
He explored all the way from the Yenisey River Basin to the Lena River Basin, but he did not hunt much fur. Instead, he started his old business around Yakutsk - opening a farm for farming!
Later, Khabarov, a famous explorer in history, whose surname was used to name a large Russian city and a Russian border region, actually made his fortune by farming!
It is definitely not easy to farm in the Siberian tundra, but this illiterate peasant explorer actually succeeded. He used a clumsy method of digging out the frozen soil to succeed in farming in Yakutsk, and he also made a fortune .
However, his property also brought him trouble. He was punished by the previous Yakutsk military and political chief Peter Golovin. He himself was thrown into prison, and the farms and salt fields he finally established were confiscated.
But this sudden disaster did not defeat Khabarov. After being released from prison, Khabarov had nothing. He quickly climbed up to Yakutsk's new commander Franzbekov, and with his support began to search for a way to Amur. Shortcut to the river.
It was because of this expedition that Dorgon sent Obai to Heilongjiang. And Manchuria's first warrior, Obai, also accidentally became a defeated enemy of the Rakshasa peasant explorer Khabarov. Not only were more than a hundred Manchu warriors and a similar number of Daur warriors lost, but dozens of "British-made" pistols were also lost.
Khabarov had a guide who knew Daur (the Yakuts conquered by the Rakshasa people). Through this guide, Khabarov interrogated several Daur people he captured who knew a little Chinese (they were Baldazi). The squire of his father-in-law), found out the origin of these flintlock pistols that he captured... These are good things made in London, England!
Flintlock guns are already commonplace in developed countries in Western Europe, and even infantry have begun to equip them, but they are still rare in the Rakshasa country - a good thing that even the advanced Rakshasa people don't have, why do the backward Chinese have it? ? Without clarity, how could Khabarov dare to continue his aggression?
After figuring out that it was the British who were causing trouble, Khabarov immediately returned to Yakutsk with the evidence.
The governor of Yakutsk, Franzbekov, is an educated German - there are too many illiterate Rakshasa nobles these days, so it is difficult for the Tsar of the Rakshasa country to find enough educated aristocrats from his country to serve as Officials had no choice but to introduce German talents, so many Germans served in the government and army of the Rakshasa Kingdom.
But now Franzbekov found that he didn't know the characters - he didn't recognize any of the square characters engraved on these pistols!
And these words are definitely not English!
"Elovy Pavlovich," Franzbekov looked at Khabarov, who was in his forties, with a long beard, sunburned skin and piercing eyes, "what do you think of this?" Is the writing on the pistol in English?”
Khabarov was stunned, "Isn't it?"
No, he doesn’t know it either!
"Of course not!" Franzbekov couldn't laugh or cry, "This is an Eastern square character... If I guessed correctly, this should be a Chinese character."
"Chinese characters? What do you write?"
"I don't know!" Franzbekov shook his head, "I don't know him either...but there should be scholars in Irkutsk who know Chinese characters."
He paused, "Let's not talk about these guns for now. How about the combat effectiveness of those Chinese troops?"
"No... no match for the Cossacks!" Khabarov smiled, "Their cavalry can't charge, and these British pistols are of no use in their hands. They didn't hit anything. And in order to use Pistols, they did not carry long guns, so they were unable to change hands during the later charge. In this encounter, we killed and captured more than 200 people, and suffered only 10 casualties.
I think if we can dispatch more than 6,000 troops, we should be able to conquer the entire Amur River Basin, and maybe reach the warmer south! "
"6,000 people?" Franzbekov smiled bitterly, "Except for His Majesty the Tsar, no one can send so many people for the war to conquer the Amur River Basin... However, we don't understand the situation in China yet. , His Majesty may not approve an operation of this scale!
Therefore, we should be prepared for a protracted war with the Chinese! "
...
"Your Majesty, the Beiyang Trade Envoy reported that this month they seized another batch of flintlock muskets made in London, England. There are 100 guns in total, and they were all exported to the Qing Dynasty!"
"Your Majesty, this country of England is just a small country. It dares to interfere in the world conquest of our superior country, China. It is really hateful!"
"Your Majesty, I propose to expel all English merchants and prohibit English merchant ships from entering the jurisdiction of the Northern and Southern Trade Envoys..."
Nanjing, Forbidden City.
Zhu Cixiang was presiding over the first collegial meeting between the two governments in February of the third year of Hongxing. Before the start of this collegial meeting, the Beiyang Trade Envoy in Lushun reported another interception of English foreign guns - England supported the Qing Dynasty. The evidence is mounting!
From flintlock pistols to plate armor made of water-powered hammers, there are actually 3-pound and 6-pound bronze cannons!
These weapons are all marked "Made in London, England"... The evidence is irrefutable!
But the problem is, these words are all in Chinese! And it's not just engraved, but cast or forged calligraphy fonts. There are all kinds of fonts, and even seal script... Could this thing be made in England?
This is clearly a high imitation British product! Most of them are products from the iron factories in Nanming!
This is really no one. The weapons produced by the Ming Dynasty were sold to the Qing Dynasty as British goods!
Who did this immoral thing?
Zhu Cixiang turned his attention to Zheng Zhilong, the Minister of Household Affairs. Among the Ming officials in the room, he was the only one who knew Western writing.
"Prince Zheng, do you think those fire guns are made in England?"
"This..." Zheng Zhilong whispered, "Your Majesty, our government's control over firearms is very loose now, not to mention the export of firearms. It is normal for firearms to flow into the Qing Dynasty... But these London, England It’s caused by the government, I’m afraid someone framed it!”
This is probably the inevitable result of the barbaric development of firearms production... It has been three years since Hongxing! Since the 17th year of Chongzhen, Zhu Cixiang has been working hard to promote the development of the firearms manufacturing industry.
The production capacity of ZTE, the four major ironworks companies in Shanghai, Nanjing, Anping and Foshan, continues to expand! It also introduced hydraulic forging hammers and hydraulic drilling machines, two machines that can greatly improve production efficiency.
Therefore, the production of fire guns has continued to increase, and now it can not only meet the needs of the Ming army, but can also be exported in small quantities - in fact, Foshan's fire guns have been exported in the late Ming Dynasty!
The Portuguese even asked Foshan blacksmiths to cast iron cannons for them (at that time, only Britain and China could produce cast iron cannons), but they gave up because the yield rate was too low.
"Your Majesty," Qian Qianyi, the Minister of Rites, became anxious as soon as he heard that Ming Dynasty firearms had flowed into the Qing Dynasty. "We must strictly control the production of firearms to prevent the Eastern captives from using Chinese weapons to kill Chinese soldiers!"
