"Then why did Qi Yuanjing's men use blunderbuss? Aren't his men afraid of suicide or self-mutilation?"
Facing Gao Gong's question, Gao Pragmatic laughed.
Gao Gong frowned and scolded: "Why are you laughing? My words are funny?" His face was already a little unhappy.
At this time, Gao pragmatic restrained some of his smile, but still had a weird smile on his face, and asked: "Third uncle, now that you are the boss, please think about it. In the essay about Qi Nantang's impeachment, he was Which point was mentioned the most? Or rather, which points?”
"Huh?" Gao Gong's eyes slowly rolled, and he thought thoughtfully: "If I remember correctly, the two things he was impeached for the most were embezzling money and wasting money."
Gao pragmatic shrugged and said: "Are these two items solid? Oh, I mean, have you ever found any solid evidence?"
"Is there any real evidence..." Gao Gong continued to frown and said: "Taking ink is mostly based on hearsay, but because Qi Yuanjing's family is not rich, there is no real evidence so far; but for the money item, there is no need for any real evidence at all: he The army under his control, whether in the Southern Army in the past few years or in the Northern Army in the past few years, spent far more than the quota, so he cannot escape from this."
"Look, isn't the answer to why Qi Nantang's men are not afraid of using firearms?" Gao pragmatically raised his eyebrows: "He is just willing to spend money."
Now Gao Gong understood what Gao Pragmatic meant and asked: "You mean, the Ministry of War's silver quota for making weapons is too low, so it cannot make qualified firearms, but as long as you are willing to spend money, you can make them." ?" He said and shook his head in denial, saying: "No, the Ministry of War's weapon manufacturing prices, costs, labor and other aspects are well documented and calculated in detail. The cabinet has received a reply from the Ministry of War. The numbers above should be correct."
Gao Pragmatic smiled bitterly and said: "Uncle San, you can't regard all the officials in charge of manufacturing, inspection, warehouse management, distribution, etc. as yourself... Let me just say this, when the Ministry of War settled this account, it did not calculate this Might the handling officials at all levels have to take part of it? In this case, when it finally falls to the ministries, yamen, and factories, how much of the cost of making machinery will be left? Can the remaining part have the original cost? What percent of the rated amount?”
It was not that Gao Gong didn't know that there must be corruption in this, but he really didn't expect that the degree of corruption had reached this level. He gritted his teeth and was silent for a while before asking: "So what you mean is that Qi Yuanjing's so-called money is actually just to make up for it." To meet the normal needs of making weapons? But every time Zhang Taiyue came forward to protect him, the reason he said was that "Qi came from a military background and was not familiar with the economy. His troops were a little extravagant and wasteful. However, his troops were dedicated to their lives and his command was appropriate." What's the point of using it? Zhang Taiyue is Qi Yuanjing's backstage supporter, and even he doesn't know it?"
Gao pragmatic knew that Gao Gong's idea was the same as his in the original history, and he thought Zhang Juzheng was a gentleman, so he had to smile bitterly and said: "How dare Qi Nantang'an hide it from him? It's just Mr. Taiyue... How should I put it, I I thought that even if he knew the inside story, he wouldn’t be able to tell it because that would offend almost all officials in the entire ordnance interest chain.”
When he said this, his heart suddenly moved and he added: "Unless he has become the first assistant, he will not offend others like this."
Gao pragmatic's words contained a lot of hidden content. Gao Gong was silent for a while before sighing and saying: "Although I am not the chief minister now, I dare not not offend others... It's just that I'm worried that even if I offend others, This matter is not easy to handle either.”
Gao pragmatic knew that what Gao Gong was talking about was not the problem of Qi Jiguang's ordnance manufacturing company, but the problem of the entire Ming Dynasty's military industry system, which of course was not easy to handle. After all, not every general can be like Qi Jiguang, who has money and skills, and is even more capable in fighting.
What if some other generals asked for more money, and the ordnance manufacturing was still in a mess, and the fighting was still in a mess, wouldn't the extra money spent by the court have been wasted?
"So this is not a problem of one person, but a problem of the system. There is a problem with the ordnance manufacturing and distribution system of the Ming Dynasty itself." Gao Pragmatic finally directed the topic in the direction he wanted to take, and said seriously: "San Bo, you Think about it, Qi Nantang himself is not corrupt, but he is always slandered. Why? How many people have he offended in this ordnance supervision and manufacturing department to be like this? This is because he has not cleaned up those people who are corrupt. If he didn't To get more money from the court, but to forcefully take back the greedy part from the handling officials at all levels and use it in ordnance manufacturing, I’m afraid he will even have to dig up his ancestral graves at home!”
Of course Gao Gong could understand the reason, so after Gao Pragmatic pointed it out directly, his face was so gloomy that he could almost drip with water.
Gao Pragmatic still refused to give up, striking while the iron was hot: "So, my nephew now has a point of view, that is, the court can conduct an experiment and select a few people or families who are interested and have the financial resources to engage in private arms manufacturing, and allow them to produce ordnance. And if the ordnance they produce is proven to be of higher quality than the ordnance factories run by the imperial court at the same price, then the imperial court will directly purchase their products!"
Gao Gong was surprised: "Private workshops make ordnance? You mean firearms?"
Of course it refers to firearms, because the Ming Dynasty did not prohibit folk swords, bows and crossbows.
So Gao Pragmatic nodded with certainty, without the slightest hint of joking.
Gao Gong took a breath of air and shook his head: "Your idea is too dangerous. Firearms are important weapons of the country. To leave them to private production is simply too unfair. If you don't do it right, big trouble will happen. It's inappropriate, it's inappropriate." !”
Gao Pragmatic refused to give up and said, "Third uncle, I think you are overly concerned about what Tai'a said."
"Why did I worry too much?" Gao Gong said seriously: "This firearm is no better than a sword, gun, sword and halberd. Although I have never held a soldier, I know that with this kind of thing, I can fight with a little training! What if you said After this private firearms factory obtained the manufacturing power, it secretly stockpiled it. It won't take long for him to arm a large army! When something happens, will you be responsible or am I responsible? Which of us can take responsibility? "
Gao Pragmatic smiled bitterly and said: "Uncle San, if we follow this theory, then a private maker of spears can also arm a group of spearmen, and a private maker of crossbows can also arm a group of crossbowmen. But after two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, How could there be such a thing? In the final analysis, as long as everything is properly managed, there won't be any trouble."
When he said this, he paused for a moment and then added: "What's more, the value of this firearm is not comparable to that of ordinary swords? He secretly hoarded it privately? How much money can he secretly hoard a firearm that can arm an army? ?”
"This..." Gao Gong was speechless for a moment. Of course, he also knew that the price of firearms was far inferior to that of swords, guns, swords and halberds, but "firearms are the most important weapon of the country" was after all the inherent concept of people like them. It would be difficult to change it immediately, so Still unwilling to express his position easily.
Gao Pragmatic saw this and added another dimension: "Besides, it's useless for him to just stock up on firearms. Without gunpowder, isn't this firearm just a fire stick? However, we may not be able to estimate the firearms he makes, but he buys them No matter how much gunpowder has been introduced, if Jinyiwei and Dongchang still can’t find out this thing, these two yamen should just cancel it, and what else can they do to eat?”
