70 million kilograms sounds like a lot, but in fact it’s not much.
A Hongyi cannon weighs approximately 3,000-7,000 kilograms, with 5,000 kilograms as the median.
One cannon is equipped with 50 rounds of shells. One cannon shell is calculated as 10 kilograms, which translates into 5,500 kilograms for each Hongyi cannon. Only about 13,000 cannons can be built.
But won’t it be consumed elsewhere?
There were 200 million people in the Ming Dynasty. Calculating a family of eight people, there were 25 million households.
A family's pots, shovels, farm tools, etc., a household consumes two kilograms of iron a year, which is not a lot. This weight is only enough to make a hoe, so 50 million kilograms are removed.
The poor efficiency of cultivated land is largely due to insufficient iron production.
From Chongzhen's point of view, it is estimated that the imperial court deliberately did not produce so much, and it was most likely that it was deliberately not allowing the people to have enough to eat.
As for the dark reason, I think it was because they were afraid that the people would cause trouble, or that they would be able to find a large amount of iron weapons among the people during a civil uprising.
Since ten iron smelting plants can be opened, they must be able to open twenty. In order to maintain the stability of the imperial power and ignore tens of millions of people, the imperial court is really a good trick.
The Ming Dynasty has a demand for 2.8 million troops. Chain mail, Ming armor, shields, etc. all consume iron. The annual army consumption of 10 million kilograms is not too much.
Building cities, building houses, etc. in various places consumes five million catties a year, which is not much.
Calculating this, only about 5 million kilograms can be supplied to the Firearms Research Institute, and only 900 Hongyi cannons can be built.
With current manufacturing technology, a 50% pass rate is considered good.
Therefore, the yield is really very different.
Chongzhen sat on the dragon chair and frowned slightly. The officials below looked a little frightened. Every time they saw the emperor's expression, something big would happen.
After a while, Chongzhen spoke.
"Guo Shangshu, starting next year, the private rights to iron ore and smelting will be gradually taken back within three years. All future mining and smelting will be controlled by the imperial court."
"Second, the iron output must reach 150 million jins (150 million) next year, and 20 million jins the year after that."
"Third, I heard that there is a refining method of 'Suzhou Steel'. The iron produced is extremely sharp and can be used to make knives. This smelting method is advisable.
Hubu should pay attention to research in the future smelting process. As long as he can invent new methods that can improve the hardness of iron, etc., he will be rewarded heavily. "
"I obey the decree!"
Guo Yunhou responded immediately.
The ministers were a little confused and couldn't figure out what the emperor wanted so much iron for.
The reason why Chongzhen wanted so much iron was because he had to prepare for the distribution of land and cement to the people in the future.
When the fields are in the hands of the people, a large number of agricultural tools will definitely be needed. If we do it then, it will be past the farming season.
To build roads with cement, build city walls, etc., it is necessary to use iron to replace steel bars. Because the lack of iron cannot be repaired, it will delay things too much.
Anyway, now that the imperial court has money, it doesn't matter if there is more iron.
Not only iron, but also salt, wine, salt, and tea will have to be re-planned in the future. Instead of selling salt with a single salt quote now, it is too confusing.
"Okay, the ironclad matter is settled like this. After the meeting, Guo Aiqing will start to make a rectification plan and submit it to me after it is completed."
After Guo Yunhou responded, Chongzhen glanced at Wang Chengen. Wang Chengen immediately stepped forward and said loudly: "Chuan Sun Chuanting to see you!"
Sun Chuanting, who was waiting outside the Huangji Gate, immediately entered the Huangji Hall and saluted Chongzhen.
The ministers looked a little confused when they looked at the scarlet robe with the lion's patch on it. This was the court uniform of a second-grade general.
They all knew the second-grade military generals. When did another second-grade military general appear in the imperial court?
"Dear dear friends, I have established the Forbidden Army Capital Command Department. This is Sun Chuanting, the first commander of the Forbidden Army Capital Department.
Get to know each other, and cooperate with Sun Aiqing in any future requests! "
As soon as these words came out, the officials were stunned.
The Ming Dynasty has a total of 21 capitals in the two capitals and thirteen provinces. The Ming Dynasty has existed for more than two hundred years, but there has never been a capital command department for the Forbidden Army.
The Chief Secretary, the Chief Secretary, and the Dusi are the three local departments, which are responsible for the administration, justice, and military affairs of a province. The Dusi is the highest local military leadership agency and is responsible for the garrison in each jurisdiction.
The Dusi takes orders from the Military Governor's Mansion, and the Fifth Bureau Governor's Mansion takes orders from the Ministry of War. It's a complicated situation.
Chongzhen was too lazy to say more. The Forbidden Army was the emperor's personal army. The emperor could do whatever he wanted. He just told them now to avoid misunderstanding in the future.
"Dear dear friends, after the Chinese New Year, it will be the first year of Chongzhen. I want to open martial arts on the second day of February. Do you have any objections?"
As soon as these words came out, the officials were stunned again. Wu Ke was such a strange yet familiar word.
Wu Ke existed during the reign of Emperor Taizu, but it was not until the suggestion of the eunuch Wang Zhi during the Chenghua period that the system was established, setting up two levels of competitions, Wuxiang and Huixiang.
However, according to the rules set by the Ming Dynasty from the time of Taizu, military positions were mostly inherited by Shiyin, and those who were gradually promoted from the ranks, so the selection of generals by force was only a supplementary form.
Therefore, the martial arts examinations held every three years became a formality, and the courtiers had to deal with it. Not many people came out of the martial arts examinations.
Therefore, when they first heard that the emperor wanted to study martial arts, they were a little confused.
After the ministers were silent for a while, the Minister of Civil Affairs came out magnificently: "Your Majesty, according to the fact that the martial arts subject is opened every three years, next year will happen to be the time to open the martial arts subject. I agree with the opening of the martial arts subject, but shouldn't it be postponed for a few years?
The minister objected for three reasons. First, there were a large number of vacancies for military examinations. Often the old subjects had not been exhausted and new subjects had begun. From the eighth year of Wanli to the fifth year of Tianqi, a total of 16 martial arts subjects were opened.
During this period, I checked the history of the official department and found that there were more than 500 people waiting for military examinations. In the eighth year of Wanli alone, there were more than 180 people waiting for promotion.
Secondly, people in the martial arts field are required to be on standby in Beijing. With the little salary they receive on the waiting list, the burden in Beijing is very serious and they cannot live a normal life at all.
Third, the martial arts department was originally used to select generals, but now it is just selected and not used, and the purpose of establishing the martial arts department has been lost.
Candidates for martial arts studies will have to wait for ten to twenty years, which will be a huge blow to those who want to take the martial arts route.
The current situation is that the number of participants in the martial arts course is less than the previous time. I am afraid that if this continues, no one will participate in the martial arts course in the future. I sincerely ask your Majesty to think twice and postpone the opening of the martial arts course for a few years. "
The ministers nodded after hearing this, and every point was to the point.
"Your Majesty, I agree with Master Zhou that the real background worth showing off in the army is the military service rather than the scientific examination.
People in the military look down on martial arts. Even if you are the top military scholar and are awarded the rank of deputy general, you will still be looked down upon, let alone those in the top three. I beg your Majesty to think again! "
Chongzhen looked calm. He knew very well that the military looked down on Wu Ke.
Xiong Tingbi, a former Liaodong manager, first ranked first in the Huguang Wuxiang Examination of a certain subject in Wanli. In order to prove his talent and cleanse his reputation in martial arts, he gave up martial arts and studied literature. .
It is known as the Three Elements that exists in the world and the Two Interpretations that do not exist in the world.
This is true for a famous general like Xiong Tingbi, let alone someone with a martial arts background.
There are many reasons why martial arts is not taken seriously.
Li Shimin, a hero of the generation, lamented that "all the heroes in the world have fallen into my trap", which shows that the imperial examination system plays a role of recruiting, rather than a selection function to obtain the world's talents.
This is not the case for Li Shimin, let alone other emperors.
The martial arts examination does not assume the role of centralizing power and winning over people. It is only expected that it will play the role of selecting talents.
However, the connotation and external effects of the system are not designed well, and it becomes a pig's tail - it doesn't look good without it, but it doesn't weigh down the scale with it.
"Your Majesty, the people selected by the martial arts department are all from the books, but they have no experience in leading troops. Yichen thinks they are somewhat unsatisfactory and useless."
Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo, stood up and spoke, his words full of disdain.
