After careful consideration, Gu Zhengchen selected Minghe Mountain as the Daming Firearms Base.
There are naturally a number of caves on the south side of Minghe Mountain. You only need to dig a foot or two deeper to form caves. The development, improvement and storage of gunpowder can be arranged in caves.
This also determines that the materials needed for making gunpowder, such as saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal and other materials, need to be placed near the cave. As for the smelting area, it can be placed in the southeast corner of Minghe Mountain, closer to the official road in Jurong, which is conducive to the transportation of bulk goods.
The grain warehouse is set up in the northwest. There is a forest in the northwest, which can be cut down, the wood can be used for construction, the land can be turned into farmland, and the extra space can be used as a military camp.
There was no other way. The Ming Dynasty Guards had to take into account both production and combat readiness. Besides, the sergeant didn’t go to Jurong alone. He was dragging his family with him, so he had to allocate some land to others.
One mile to the east, west, north and four miles to the south of Minghe Mountain are restricted areas, and outsiders are not allowed to enter or exit. You can build a lookout on the top of the mountain and look around at the situation...
After Gu Zhengchen drew the blueprint of the firearms base and colored it, Mu Ying came, bringing two acquaintances with him.
When Zhao Hailou and Wang Liang saw Gu Zhengchen, they were excited and saluted quickly.
Gu Zhengchen looked at Zhao Hailou and Wang Liang, who were much more restrained in temperament, and said with a smile: "I can't believe that when we still worked together, I heard Brother Mu talk about how you were practicing writing in the military camp. Can you read "The Analects of Confucius"? ?”
Zhao Hailou scratched his head and smiled naively: "County man, don't be joking. In such a short time, we can learn 300 characters which is pretty good. It's still too early to read "The Analects of Confucius"."
Wang Liang nodded repeatedly and looked at Gu Zhengchen with admiration.
You know, a few months ago, Gu Zhengchen was just a small magistrate of Jurong County. Well, it is the same now, but now Gu Zhengchen's full titles are:
A man from Quanzhou County in the Ming Dynasty, he was the governor of Jurong Weiwei, a doctor in the Ministry of Industry, and the county magistrate of Jurong.
Looking at the speed of others' promotions, and then looking at myself, it is simply embarrassing.
If it weren't for Gu Zhengchen's help, the two of them would still be ordinary deputy Qianhu. If they wanted to be promoted, they would have no chance unless they went to the battlefield and killed a few barbarians. But as a sergeant stationed in Jinling, there are not many opportunities to go to the battlefield.
It is precisely because of this that the two of them are grateful to Gu Zhengchen.
Gu Zhengchen exchanged greetings with the two of them and took out the drawings and handed them to Zhao Hailou: "After New Year's Day, you will take the sergeants to Minghe Mountain first. Set up a restricted area according to this standard and build a building warehouse. I have also marked the specifications of the cave. No Expand the scope privately to prevent the mountain from becoming unstable.”
"Such a well-organized camp is rare."
Zhao Hailou looked at it and saw that the entire drawing was as sharp as a knife. The lines were clear and straight, and the architectural arrangement was orderly and distinct.
Mu Ying took it and looked at it, and was filled with admiration: "Beautiful, so beautiful. It's just that a small guard camp doesn't need to be so strict, right? Even sentry posts are set up?"
The inland guard station is different from the border guard station. You can just set up a camp casually, plant a few acres of land, raise a few pigs, and occasionally train soldiers. It is so heavily guarded that it has the air of a border guard.
Gu Zhengchen shook his head slightly and said seriously: "The new firearm is of great importance and there is no room for any surprises."
Mu Ying thought about it for a while. The new firearms are likely to change the strategic posture of Ming Dynasty and Yuan Ting, giving Ming Dynasty the ability to switch from defense to offense!
Matters related to the fate of the country cannot be overstated.
Wang Liang promised: "County man, we won't wait for New Year's Day. His Majesty has given the decree and ordered the two of us to lead people to Jurong first and strive to build the general camp and firearms workshop as soon as possible. There are also a group of craftsmen accompanying us. The Ministry of Industry is already recruiting and mobilizing, and we will leave in about two days."
"Two days from now?"
Gu Zhengchen stared and felt Zhu Yuanzhang's deep urgency: "If this is the case, you will have to spend New Year's Day in Jurong. But there is no camp there yet, family members..."
"There's a tent, so it's okay."
Zhao Hailou said bluntly.
Gu Zhengchen looked deeply at Zhao Hailou and Wang Liang, and nodded slightly: "In that case, it's up to you and all the sergeants to do the hard work."
After Zhao Hailou, Wang Liang and Gu Zhengchen finalized the construction details, they returned to the camp to get acquainted with the sergeants. Some sergeants were drawn from other guards and they always needed to get to know each other.
Seeing that Gu Zhengchen was looking haggard and had dark circles under his eyes, Mu Ying coughed twice: "Young man, you have to be restrained."
"I made it by staying up all night drawing drawings and coloring!"
"Oh, is it so?"
"Xiwan has been back for two days!"
"Then you need more control!"
"see a visitor out!"
Gu Zhengchen drove Mu Ying away. Before he could catch his breath, an old monk like Ruqi ran over again. You should be reciting sutras at Tianjie Temple. Why did you come to Gu's house?
It's over, I was deceived by Ruqi, and I was going to give him money for sesame oil.
Ruqi finally found a chance to be alone with Gu Zhengchen, but before she could open her mouth, Gu Zhengchen lost his temper: "If you are in trouble, ask Buddha why you come to Gu's house."
"I asked the Buddha. The Buddha said that a wise man can overcome difficulties. The old monk came and followed the Buddha's will."
Ruqi's face didn't turn red and she opened her mouth.
Gu Zhengchen didn't believe this and held out five fingers: "I'm in a bad mood right now. If you want to ask something, you need to give me a favor first."
Ruqi's face looked a little ugly. She stretched out her hand and bent two of Gu Zhengchen's fingers: "Buddhism is a pure place, but there is not so much money, so you should do good..."
Gu Zhengchen stretched out another finger and looked at Ruqi.
The corner of Ruqi's mouth twitched: "If you can really solve the crisis in front of you, I will agree on behalf of Tianjie Temple."
Gu Zhengchen smiled and said: "Ever since I saw Buddhism being so presumptuous during Laba, I guessed that this day would come sooner or later, but I didn't expect that Your Majesty would be decisive and take action before New Year's Day. Elder Ruqi, Buddhism is now deformed. If this continues, If it goes down, it will no longer be a question of ultimatum, and the incident of Sanwu may not happen in the Ming Dynasty."
Ruqi was horrified. The hand holding the beads suddenly moved, and the beads' thread suddenly broke. Each beads fell down, hit the ground, bounced, and rolled far away.
The Three Martial Arts refers to Tuoba Tao, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Yu Wenyong, Emperor Wudi of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and Li Yan, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty. These three were extremely dissatisfied with Buddhism and wanted to destroy Buddhism. It is known in history as "Three Martial Arts to Destroy Buddhism".
If the Ming Dynasty were to suffer another disaster, it would be a real tragedy for Buddhism.
Gu Zhengchen was threatening Ruqi with the "Three Martial Arts" matter. Seeing that Ruqi was uneasy, he went on to say: "If Buddhism wants to prosper, it should not compete with the court for women and children. This is the basis for the court to pay taxes." , if you touch this, the court will naturally not agree."
Ruqi frowned.
If Buddhism does not rob women and young men, where will the believers come from? Without believers, where will the prosperity come from?
Gu Zhengchen saw Ruqi's doubts and said with a smile: "Now we need to talk about the issue of ultimatums. The imperial court controls the issuance of ultimatums. If you want the court to relax the restrictions, you need to let the court see that the existence of Buddhism is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty. It is beneficial to the Ming Dynasty. It is good for the people, not harmful to the Ming Dynasty."
Ruqi's old face moved slightly: "You mean, Buddhism should do good deeds to make His Majesty tolerate it?"
Gu Zhengchen nodded heavily: "Elder Ruqi, ask yourself, in the six years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Tianjie Temple has not paved roads and built bridges for the people, apart from providing eight-treasure porridge, how long has it been since it sent monks and doctors to diagnose and treat the people, and how long has it been since the Did you perform penance to save people?"
A cloud came over, blocking the sunlight.
Gu Zhengchen stood up and said sternly: "Look at the Tianjie Temple today. There are so many monks, more than 30,000 acres of land, more than a thousand households of tenant farmers, sought after by the people, and the incense is strong. The glory of the Buddha has surpassed the glory of the emperor! If things go on like this, If the Buddhist sect is immortal, what's the point? Elder Ruqi, if the Buddhist sect wants to avoid disaster, it can only please the royal family and the court."
Ruqi's face was uncertain, and she asked uneasily: "How to take this road?"
Gu Zhengchen smiled and said: "Now there is something that can greatly change the impression of Tianjie Temple in the emperor's mind."
"oh?"
Ruqi was delighted.
Gu Zhengchen pointed in the direction of Jurong: "After New Year's Day, the official road between Jinling and Jurong will be busy. However, this official road is bumpy and uneven, making it difficult for vehicles and horses to pass, and it is even muddy when it rains and snows. If it is the Tianjie Temple, The monks have worked hard to serve the people and built this road to let Your Majesty know that the monks of Tianjie Temple are not hungry all day long, but are willing to contribute to the Ming Dynasty..."
Ruqi stared at Gu Zhengchen: "Old monk, listen, this matter seems to be more beneficial to the county man and more beneficial to Jurong, but it may not be beneficial to Tianjie Temple."
Gu Zhengchen waved his hand and guided: "No, this is a win-win move. Tianjie Temple takes this opportunity to tell the court and His Majesty that monks are not people who just sit back and eat, and waste money on the people. This will make Jurong and Jinling more accessible." , it is even more convenient for people and businesses to communicate.”
Ruqi always feels that the so-called win-win is a trap. You can pave roads and build bridges, but you also need to know how long the road is to be paved and how wide the bridge is to be built. Your mouth is a hundred miles away, do you know? I know this is not something that can be accomplished in two or three months...
"Elder, knocking on wooden fish is cultivation, and building the road is also cultivation. Since they are all cultivation, why bother about whether to be in the temple's Zen room or on the official path?"
Gu Zhengchen looked at Ruqi seriously.
Ruqi did not agree, because the matter was serious after all: "The old monk went back to discuss with the abbot."
Gu Zhengchen did not stay with Ruqi, and he had no intention of staying at the Gu family now.
Now it's better, the problem of smoothing the official roads can be solved.
If you want to be rich, build roads first.
Although concrete roads can be built by oneself, it requires a lot of investment of financial, manpower and material resources. Jurong can build a small-scale road, but it needs to be left to the court to handle a hundred-mile road.
No matter whether we get a concrete road or not, we need to smooth the road first. Transporting materials later will inevitably take the official road, which is always full of potholes and is really annoying.
Thanks to Lao Zhu for his policy...
Zong Yi couldn't refuse Gu Zhengchen's plan because the eight words in the imperial notice, "Sitting in peace and eating will waste money on the people", showed that the emperor was very dissatisfied with the word "sitting in peace", so he almost cursed:
You bunch of bald donkeys just sit around, eat and drink for free, and do nothing!
This is also understandable. When Lao Zhu was at Huangjue Temple, he worked every day. He worked like this for a while, and was even asked to beg alms and beg for food for several years.
As for the monks at Tianjie Temple, they don’t work or eat, and their lives are much more comfortable than before. How can this be done...
Gotta work.
Build a road, build a hundred-mile road, the emperor will definitely be able to see it.
