The autumn wind is bleak, and the capital is getting colder.
Zhu Yunwen personally operated the new fire gun, pressed the bullet in, and aimed at the target fifty steps away. Then there was a deafening sound, and a small hole appeared on the edge of the target.
When Tao Zengguang saw this scene, he had to change his draft. He couldn't use praises such as sharpshooter and piercing the Yang with a hundred steps. He could only praise: "The Emperor's posture of wielding a blunderbuss is full of heroism."
Hu Yuancheng, Feng Shan and others nodded repeatedly. It can't be said that the target was wrong.
Zhu Yunwen looked helplessly at the gun in his hand. It was not much different from the shotgun he played with in later generations, except that the shotgun was shotgun and the gun in his hand was bullets.
Tao Zengguang, Hu Yuancheng and others are outstanding. They realized the manufacturing of bullets with a sketch, but this kind of bullet is somewhat different from later generations of bullets.
There are flaws in the design of the primer. Two or three out of ten are misfiring. In addition, it is difficult to mass-produce, and large quantities of supplies cannot be achieved in a short period of time.
In addition, the range is also lacking, with the effective shooting distance being only 150 steps. One hundred and eighty steps away, even thicker leather armor can block it.
Even so, Zhu Yunwen is still satisfied. At least the appearance of bullets has brought the possibility of precise sniping. This thing is not as easy to find as bows and arrows. Those with strong martial arts can dodge arrows. If you want to dodge bullets, you must first become a fire fighter. A person like Yunxie God.
"Let's make them separately and increase production."
Zhu Yunwen recognized the new style of firecrackers.
Tao Zengguang took out a wooden box from the room, placed it gently in front of Zhu Yunwen, opened it and said, "This is a small firecracker specially made for the emperor."
Zhu Yunwen looked at the long-handled "pistol" in the box, waved it away, and bent down to take out the pistol. The format was the same as that of later generations, except that the magazine did not exist. There are also twenty small adapted bullets in the box.
Tao Zengguang said carefully: "Your Majesty, this small fire gun has been tested a hundred times and there is no problem. It is just that the success rate of bullet firing is slightly lower and the range is very limited."
Zhu Yunwen pulled the trigger part, took out a bullet and put it in it. He raised his hand and pointed at the wooden target. There was a bang, the backlash was slightly larger, and this time the bullet passed the bullseye.
After taking out the bullet casing, Zhu Yunwen nodded with satisfaction and looked at Tang Buping: "I will leave this thing to you for safekeeping temporarily."
Tang Buping was a little surprised. He was good with knives and darts, but not good with fire guns.
Zhu Yunwen saw Tang Buping's doubts and added: "It's not for you to use. I asked you to take it with you."
Tang Buping quickly agreed.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Hu Yuancheng: "The cavalry artillery battalion is very interested in your shoulder-resistant tiger crouching artillery and three-eyed fire blunderbuss. King Yan is having final discussions with the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office, but in my opinion, this may be It’s the main equipment of the cavalry artillery battalion.”
Hu Yuancheng was a little worried: "Your Majesty, there are still many problems that have not been solved for the shoulder-resistant Tiger Crouching Cannon. When the Tiger Crouching Cannon is fired, ground nails need to be drilled to ensure the stability and safety of the launch. But the shoulder-resistant Tiger Crouching Cannon has a strong backlash. If the control is not good, the cavalry can be knocked off the horse directly, and the accuracy of the shoulder launch is insufficient..."
Zhu Yunwen waved his hand: "If you are afraid of backlash, solve the problem of backshock. If it cannot be offset, add anti-shock pads to the sergeant's shoulders. As for accuracy, it has become a cavalry artillery battalion. Thousands of shoulder-resistant tiger squats What kind of accuracy is needed for gun firing?”
Hu Yuancheng's eyes widened, this, this is okay?
Tao Zengguang nodded repeatedly. As long as the shots were fired densely enough, a slight error would be fine. This thing itself did not rely on accuracy to kill the enemy, especially when facing the enemy's thick and dense battle formation.
"Once the requirements are determined by the Cavalry Artillery Battalion, the Second Artillery Bureau will give priority to supply."
Zhu Yunwen wanted the cavalry and artillery battalion to form combat strength as soon as possible to promote the next step of guard post adjustment and disarmament.
As the military becomes more weaponized, individual combat capabilities improve, and border defenses and key towns are equipped with divine machine guns, the threat from foreign enemies has begun to weaken. The huge number of guards and troops began to become a burden on the court.
The strategy of the new army requires eliminating the weak and preserving the strong.
Unnecessary health centers in the mainland can be merged and adjusted again. Some departments can be streamlined and some can be eliminated directly.
In the areas south of the Yangtze River with smooth concrete roads, there is no need for too many guard sergeants to hold down the place. More than a thousand sergeants with firearms can completely control the place. If this is not possible, the capital can send troops at any time, the roads are open, and there are relatively abundant Are you worried about the instability near the capital?
There is also no need for a sergeant to guard the graves of Zhu Wusi and others. It is enough to modify them. They are not Zhu Yuanzhang. Besides, there are guards in Fengyang. If someone disturbs Zhu Wusi's sleep, he can let them sleep forever.
Zhu Yunwen has ordered the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion to conduct an inventory of military status, check the number of soldiers and horses in the world, and provide support for subsequent optimization of the army. At the same time, the Military War Bureau, Science and Technology Bureau, and Second Artillery Bureau were ordered to increase the manufacturing of firearms and transfer bayonets and guns to important border defense towns.
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With the growth of local armaments, Zhu Yunwen had to pay attention to the construction of the cavalry artillery battalion and the Shenji battalion. Although the granular gunpowder and gunpowder bombs on the front line all depended on the supply of the capital, after all, the local government controlled the preparation of ordinary gunpowder and had the same influence on the imperial court. threats.
Strengthening the branches and strengthening the branches is a measure that the royal family must take, and Zhu Yunqi is no exception. However, Zhu Yunwen takes the path of strengthening the branches and making the branches stronger. He always requires the Beijing army's combat effectiveness to be stronger than that of the locals, and he also maintains an advantage over local firearms. .
Returning to the palace, Zhu Yunwen began his political career day after day.
On this day, Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Household Affairs, asked to see him.
Zhu Yunwen allowed him to enter the palace. After Xia Yuanji saluted, he submitted a document: "Your Majesty, in response to an urgent report from Shanxi, the Chief Envoy of Xijiang Province has informed the customs that food is self-sufficient and there is no need for the imperial court to send food to Xijiang."
This is a good thing.
Zhu Yunwen was very happy. He took the document and looked at it carefully. He nodded repeatedly: "It is gratifying that the envoy Rubu has lived up to my trust. Western Xinjiang is self-sufficient in food."
Xia Yuanji is also more relaxed. There is no need to deliver food and materials to the Western Regions, which can greatly relieve the pressure on people in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places, and allow people to return home and farm well.
Zhu Yunwen put down the document, remembered something, and said: "A few days ago, Princess Yan came to the palace to accompany the Queen Mother and the Empress. She mentioned that Prince Yan's house had made a lot of losses in business in Western Xinjiang. This should be Prince Yan's roundabout way of reminding me that back then, Linking the income from the Silk Road to Prince Yan's Palace, now this road not only failed to make money, but also caused him to lose money. This is an emotion. Tell me, what happened to the Silk Road? "
Xia Yuanji did not hide anything and said bluntly: "Although it has been two years since the Silk Road was reopened, it does not seem to have much effect. Too few Western merchants have come, and most Ming merchants are unwilling to leave the Ming border. Many goods are piled on the Silk Road There is no way to sell it in the city. According to a report from the Taxation Department, the commercial tax in Xijiang Province last year was less than 6,000 taels."
"so little?"
Zhu Yunwen was a little unbelievable.
Xia Yuanji nodded heavily: "Your Majesty, the imperial court is a little too optimistic about the Silk Road. The Silk Road during the Han and Tang Dynasties was not built in a year or two. I believe that it will take at least five years for the Silk Road to reproduce the prosperity of the Han and Tang Dynasties. Year."
Zhu Yunwen pondered for a while, shook his head and said: "Five years is too long. It seems that our Ming Dynasty also needs to open up the international market. William and Adam are still in the capital, right?"
Xia Yuanji was a little confused, but still replied: "In the capital."
Zhu Yunwen smiled and arranged: "Let William and Adam come. I want them to bring the reputation of the Silk Road back and tell Westerners through their mouths that the Silk Road is their golden road."
Xia Yuanji understood in an instant that this was an advertisement made by the emperor himself, so it needed to be carefully arranged.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Xia Yuanji who was leaving, and ordered his chamberlain to summon Huang Eryue and Chen Mu into the palace, and asked: "You have introduced steam engines into textiles for more than a year. How has the effect been?"
Huang Eryue took out the account book he carried with him and handed it over respectfully: "Back to the Emperor, according to the Emperor's drawings, after seven months of hard work, the Craftsman Academy and the textile craftsmen successfully combined the steam engine with textiles. This was achieved five months ago. After initial mass production, after three months of debugging and improvement, batch weaving began in May of this year. Within sixty days, two thousand pieces of cloth were produced, which is so fast that it far exceeds human power."
According to normal artificial weaving, one piece of cloth takes at least five or six days. If you need to divide your time to work in the farmland, weaving one piece of cloth every half a month is considered good.
But the combination of steam engines and the textile industry has greatly improved the weaving efficiency. More than thirty pieces of cloth can be produced every day, and the quality is not bad.
Huang Eryue and Chen Yu had deep fears when faced with such efficient machines. Once this thing becomes widely available, the price of cloth will probably drop significantly, and the people will lose the craftsmanship they rely on for survival and an important source of livelihood.
But we have to admit that the combination of steam engines and textiles is an era-changing progress.
A piece of cloth on the market usually costs about 150 ren, and its cost is roughly 50 ren. But the cost of a piece of cloth in the hands of Huang Eryue and Chen Yu was pitiful, not even fifteen cents. The more produced, the thinner the cost.
If he brings the cloth in his hands to the market, Huang Eryue is sure to monopolize the entire capital cloth shop within half a year, because no cloth shop can withstand such low-price competition as 40 or 50 yuan.
However, Zhu Yunwen did not intend for these cloths to enter the market. Instead, they were purchased by the inner government for the use of palace eunuchs, maids, etc.
Zhu Yunwen now wants to open up overseas markets, and wants to use textiles to open the door to the international market, to plunder, no, to exchange various resources from other countries in order to realize the capital accumulation of the Ming Dynasty.
"Increase production and I will find a good buyer for you."
Zhu Yunwen smiled proudly.
Historically, the West relied on the Industrial Revolution (to avoid sensitive words) to bring a large number of low-priced textiles, which destroyed the domestic textile industry. Now the Ming Dynasty has returned the favor!
