First, a large area of grain-producing land was opened up in the rear, and then a giant iron mine was discovered. With grain and iron in hand, Huang Taiji had the capital to expand its army and prepare for war.
Especially iron, the Qing Dynasty relied heavily on Shanxi merchants to provide it. Now the Shanxi merchants have been killed by the devil boy, but iron no longer needs to be purchased from the pass.
With iron ore, a large amount of armor can be made to arm the newly expanded soldiers.
After several battles with Man Ming's men, the soldiers of the King's Division complained that Man Ming's armor was so thick that even armor-piercing arrows could not penetrate it at close range.
Moreover, cotton armor has good thermal insulation, but it is very unfavorable for summer operations. It often makes the soldiers sweat profusely, and even causes dizziness and heatstroke when exposed to high temperatures.
In the past, due to the lack of iron ore in the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji did not send people to imitate the new Ming armor that used more iron.
Now that you have enough iron ore, you can smelt and imitate it at will. Anyone can have one.
The only difficulty is that this new type of armor requires a long period of hard work by the blacksmith before it can be completed.
It can be said that it is time-consuming, labor-intensive, iron-consuming, and expensive. If it is equipped with 300,000 horses, the total price is quite high.
Price is one thing, and process difficulty is another.
Through the detailed inspections installed in the capital, Man Ming has invented a machine specifically used to forge iron plates.
Not only is it powerful, but it doesn't even need livestock, just some water and coal. It's really incredible.
Xiao Zuo reported in the letter that the power of one such machine was equal to the sum of ten or even twenty blacksmiths.
The armor worn by the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty only needs to be forged twenty times by such machines to take shape.
The same piece of armor would have to be hammered hundreds or even thousands of times by a Qing blacksmith.
Because there are front and back sides that are separately installed, a blacksmith can build one piece of armor a day, or at most, only two pieces.
It seems fast, but after one year, after taking into account the rest time, 300 items are enough.
One hundred blacksmiths can only produce 30,000 pieces of armor. If you want to make 300,000 pieces of new armor, you will need a thousand skilled blacksmiths.
If the time limit is shortened to half a year, the number of blacksmiths required will need to be doubled.
In addition, helmets, swords, guns, arrows, armor for war horses, and horseshoes must be made.
Wu Sangui led his troops to Beijing, which reminded Huang Taiji of something.
That is to take advantage of the discovery of giant iron ore, which can smelt a large amount of iron ore, to create a steel division to fight against the demon boy's firearms department.
Although the various tribes of the Man Ming were good at using firearms, as long as the Qing royal division strengthened their protection, the power of the Man Ming's firearms would be greatly reduced.
Back then, the Jin army marched southward and was invincible relying on the Kaizi Ma and Tiefu Tu. Today, the Qing Dynasty can still imitate it.
Huang Taiji intends to upgrade all the Ten Banners and about 75,000 cavalry into heavily armored iron pagodas!
If there is still enough heavy armor, the 54,000 men from the Eight Banners of Menggu and the Three Banners of the Outer Fans will also be armed.
In this way, with nearly 130,000 invulnerable iron pagodas in hand, there is no need to fear the barbarian Ming soldiers using bird guns to shoot.
Huang Taiji also planned to give the Han army ten banners and three kings and one public headquarters, each armed with an iron pagoda cavalry, which would facilitate coordinated operations.
Adding this part, the total number of Iron Buddha cavalry will reach 160,000!
Once you charge on the flat ground, it will be as terrifying as an overwhelming mountain!
Improving the combat effectiveness of the cavalry alone cannot completely reassure Huang Taiji. Huang Taiji also has other considerations for the Han army and the Three Kings and One Army, which are mainly infantry and artillery.
The destruction of cities and strongholds in western Liaoning and Guan Nei mainly relies on these troops. We cannot rest on our laurels and must keep pace with the times.
Since the demon boy was heavily arming the Ming Ming infantry, Huang Taiji thought that the Qing Dynasty should also respond.
On the one hand, it is necessary to replace them with new armor, but also to imitate a large number of Man Ming's armored chariots.
Not only is it covered with iron armor on all sides, but also a small Folan machine that can fire continuously is installed on each tank.
With this kind of chariot advancing in front and blocking the barbarian shells while firing, the infantry of the King's Division behind can follow up smoothly and avoid losing consecutive battles before charging into the formation.
Based on the calculation that every fifty infantrymen were equipped with one chariot, Huang Taiji required the construction of 4,000 chariots to arm 200,000 infantrymen.
With the factory's limited production capacity, two thousand vehicles were built in the early stage. If the Franco machine was not enough, other types of small guns and iron barrel guns were used to make up for it.
The Qing Dynasty had an obvious advantage over the Ming Dynasty, that is, the factory did not care about profits. Most of the workers were slaves who worked hard, so the costs could be reduced to an extremely low level.
Just give some rewards to those capable craftsmen. The cost of the same chariot in Qing Dynasty can be twice as low as that of Man Ming.
Although the red cannon is not as high-firing as Man Ming's heavy artillery, it is still a necessary weapon for the king's division. Huang Taiji requires that at least a thousand of them be built before autumn next year.
With 160,000 iron pagodas, 4,000 armored chariots, 200,000 armored infantry, and 1,000 red cannons, Huang Taiji couldn't believe it, but he still couldn't beat the devil's men!
This kind of combat power is much more powerful than when the Jin army went south to attack Zhao and Song Dynasties. The Jin army could capture half of Zhao Song's territory, and the Qing Dynasty could certainly do it!
Isn’t Wu Sangui going to Beijing?
Then let him watch. The scene of swallowing up mountains and rivers in anger will happen again in this life!
What makes Huang Taiji most happy is that the people sent to imitate the airship have also made gratifying progress.
At the beginning of summer, the first airship manufactured by the Qing Dynasty had been completed. All parts and appearance were the same as the Mingming one.
In addition to inflating, dozens of people are required to hand-operate the blowers, and it takes a long time to lift off.
Originally, fuel was a problem. Two airship soldiers who were captured alive in the capital city of Ming Dynasty said that fierce fire oil could not be used as fuel.
Not only could they not ensure a sufficient temperature, but because they were all amateurs, a fire broke out, causing considerable losses.
No one knew how Man Ming smelted this black kerosene. Although Xizuo knew that it was the refining tower, he could not get close to it.
Xizuo also invited Man Ming, the worker responsible for refining, to have a drink and inquired about information during the dinner, but the other party did not know the details.
You know that when you reach a certain height, there are marks, and they just need to get the oil out of it step by step.
Only a few people in such a large factory knew exactly how it was done, and almost all of them were eunuchs trusted by the devil boy.
The craftsman can only send out the drawings showing the appearance of the refining tower, and then write down the contents found, which is considered a deal.
What can Huangtai Chicken do?
I can only send someone to make one, and then let my subordinates explore slowly!
"Exploring" means practicing and studying at the same time. Maybe you will understand it as you practice.
It seems that the principle of refining alchemy with Taishang Laojun is the same. If Man Ming can do it, the Qing Dynasty can also do it.
As for what the refining stuff is, no one in the Qing Dynasty can figure it out...
How to prove useful for airships?
Simply put the finished product into the injector and light it, then look at the heat generated per unit time, and it should be almost done.
After half a year of refining, I still had no idea about the airship fuel, but I got a by-product.
That's what Ming Ming used to pave roads. It's dark and disgusting, but it works well when paired with gravel, which is an unexpected surprise.
The craftsmen in charge of refining were quite happy to see the emperor, and they breathed a sigh of relief. At least they would not be punished for not being able to refine airship fuel in the short term.
Kerosene can be sold from Manming, and the price is not too expensive, fifty taels of silver per barrel, and there are discounts for buying more.
But because Wu Sangui offered Ningyuan City, Du Du got the 3,000 barrels of kerosene stored in the city, which was equivalent to a huge sum of money.
As for the fuel used by the airship, it costs one thousand taels of silver per barrel, which is twenty times the price.
I had already obtained a hundred barrels of fuel, but I had to ask someone to find a relationship and gave the other party 50,000 taels of silver before I succeeded.
The opponent's lion opened his mouth, and the Qing Dynasty also had to admit it, because it couldn't practice it on its own side.
They don't retail it yet. If you buy a hundred barrels at a time, you don't know what time it will be next time.
With the fuel in place, the airship itself is now complete and can be refueled for test flights.
For the two captured pilots who are now serving the Qing Dynasty, naturally they cannot easily fly into the sky. It is better to never fly into the sky.
The two people who had the honor to become the first heavenly soldiers and generals to fly into the sky were both warriors selected from Huang Taiji's own yellow flag.
Not only can he speak Chinese and write clearly, his height and weight meet the standard, he is also smart and has a very strong learning ability.
Huangtaiji also paid special attention to the pilots, providing each person with ten taels of silver per month, plus two stones of polished rice, one piece of cloth, fifty catties of meat, ten catties of salt, and one catty of tea.
If an accident occurs, the family can receive a pension of two hundred taels of silver, and the children of the family can be selected as Bagara of the Zhenghuang Banner.
Under such kind treatment, the "Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals" naturally strived to be the first, and their abilities improved very quickly.
The first test flight was carried out in the autumn, and although the airship only flew a mile, it was still regarded as a great success.
The work schedule here in Da Qing also followed Man Ming's example, and began to be calculated on a weekly basis, with one day off every weekend.
The airship force plans to conduct test flights twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday.
The rest of the time is spent summarizing lessons learned and improving flight components to improve performance.
Huangtaiji is not preparing for war at all this year, so he has been staying in Shenyang and has no intention of conquering it himself.
In this way, reports on the airship can be obtained at any time. With such a magical weapon, combined with the iron pagoda, chariots and infantry on the ground, we can get twice the result with half the effort against the Ming troops.
Previously, when besieging the capital of Manming, the Qing army suffered heavy losses from airships.
Now that the Qing Dynasty also has airships, it can break the dominance of the Ming Dynasty in the sky.
Perhaps in terms of performance, the airships built by the Qing Dynasty are not as good as Manming's, but they can definitely make up for it in quantity.
The cost provided by the factory is 3,000 taels per ship, which can be reduced to 2,500 taels if manufactured on a large scale.
Even precious fuel has been purchased. How could the airship be abandoned because of the high cost?
Huang Taiji directly ordered the construction of a hundred airships. When the Ming army fought, a hundred airships would fly together!
The heavenly soldiers and generals will drive the airship and cooperate with the more than 100,000 iron pagodas to defeat them in one fell swoop, and even annihilate the main force of the Ming Dynasty!
"Iron Buddha" is the name given to the heavy armored cavalry by the Jin Kingdom. The Qing Dynasty could no longer use this old name.
Besides, "Iron Buddha Tu" was defeated by the Han Yue Fei. This name sounds nice, but it is actually a bit unlucky.
So based on the Iron Buddha of the Jin Army, Huang Taiji gave his bachelors a more resounding name - "Tie Chao Du"!
It means using more than 100,000 heavy cavalry to overtake all the Ming troops and horses that block the Qing army from going south!
This name really suits Huang Taiji’s heart, and I feel very comfortable just thinking about it...
But weapons are secondary. Now that we have iron mines and fertile fields, we will soon achieve our initial goals.
The key is that there are too few disciples of the Eight Banners. If we lose more, we may not even be able to gather four banners.
In this regard, Huang Taiji always frowned, and after thinking for a long time, he had no countermeasures. In the end, he had to pool his wisdom to solve the problem.
Fan Wencheng proposed an extremely bold idea, so bold that he was scolded by Hauge!
The solution to this problem is very simple. Fan Wencheng said one thing, that is intermarriage!
If an Eight Banners warrior marries four wives, even if only half of the children born are sons, there are still two sons!
However, there are too few women of suitable age in the Eight Banners, so they must marry Menggu or Han people.
Monan Menggu and Modong Menggu (Horqin) were ally-level subordinates of the Qing Dynasty, and their women were naturally superior to Han women.
However, the disciples of the Eight Banners generally do not like rough Menggu women, preferring Han women, which cannot guarantee pure blood.
Hauge believed that Fan Wencheng had evil intentions in this move, and it was clear that he wanted to completely Chineseize the proud man of heaven!
In order not to anger the eldest brother, Fan Wencheng later added that the daughter of a bannerman is a legitimate daughter, and the daughter of a Han is a concubine. The legitimate daughter has the right to inherit property, and the concubine does not have the right to inherit property. This is the difference.
Without such a method, it would be impossible to cope with the protracted Qingming War.
The more than 300,000 soldiers of the Qing Dynasty who were fully armed faced the main force of the Ming Dynasty, and they were sure of victory.
But who can guarantee that the demon boy will bring out the novel weapons hidden in the snow and cause damage to the Eight Banners disciples?
If 20,000 to 38,000 Banners were killed because of this, even if Manming was wiped out by the Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners would suffer heavy losses.
Who can guarantee that no one will try to replace it?
Without the suppression of the Eight Banners warriors, how could we firmly control the more than 200,000 Han soldiers?
In the event that after entering the pass, the Han soldiers would not be able to defeat them, and the generals who commanded the troops would eventually become Jiedushi, separatist forces.
So is this world still considered the Qing Dynasty?
Therefore, it is necessary to continue the incense of the Qing Dynasty. At present, it seems that intermarriage is the only feasible way.
Hauge clearly opposed Fan Wencheng's bullshit idea, but he couldn't think of a countermeasure.
In his opinion, if you are either a bannerman or a Han Chinese, and you create a bunch of half-mast flags and half-Han people, is that considered a bad person?
Huang Taiji can't say anything about this matter, and needs to inform the flag owners.
Only after listening to their opinions can a final decision be made.
Among the ten banners formed by his family, the leader of the Zhenglan Banner, Hauge, did not agree to do this.
The attitudes of Daishan and his son Mandahai, who are under the two red flags, and Jierhalang, who is under the blue flag, are unclear.
The Dorgon brothers, who commanded the two white flags, made it clear that they would obey the emperor's orders.
Du Duyuan, who was wearing a gray flag, was guarding Ningyuan. He had no opinion and did not intend to express it.
Zhenghuiqi Abatai, like his eldest nephew Hauge, also opposed this matter.
Generally speaking, if Huang Taiji nods, it will pass, and vice versa.
Because the matter was so important, Huang Taiji had to think about it for some time and would not make up his mind right away.
