Zhu Yunxu asked someone to bring up the flintlock gun.
Zhu Yuanzhang took it in his hand, looked at it, and said: "I heard from your fourth uncle that you went hunting in Yangshan that day and made a "flintlock gun". Your fourth uncle praised it very much."
As Lao Zhu said this, he took out the drawings submitted by Zhu Di from under the desk.
It is the same as the flintlock gun in Zhu Yunzhen's hand.
Along with the drawings, there was also Zhu Di's memorial.
In his memorial, Zhu Di praised Zhu Yunxuan's invention, saying that if the Ming army had a large number of equipment, its combat power could be doubled.
"Fourth uncle is too praised. When Sui'er is idle and bored, he just wants to pass the time."
Zhu Yunzhen said modestly.
"Zhen'er, it's good that you understand this." Lao Zhu agreed with his statement.
"Although sharp weapons are good, they are only made by craftsmen after all. As a descendant of the Zhu family, your main focus should be on governing the country."
"I heard from your fourth uncle that you didn't eat for a whole day just to discuss with the craftsmen how to make a flintlock gun. This is a bit much."
Zhu Yunzhen smiled and touched the back of his head.
It's not that Lao Zhu didn't value flintlock guns, but it was difficult to rise to the level of later generations.
In Lao Zhu's view, this is just a tool after all.
No matter how powerful the person is, no one is important.
Zhu Yunzhen knew that this was a temporary situation and it was difficult to persuade him to change his thoughts and perceptions, so he didn't say much.
"Grandpa Huang, let's try the power of the flint gun first."
Lao Zhu nodded: "Okay, let's go try it together."
The two of them left the imperial study and came to the square outside.
"boom!"
"boom!"
Zhu Yunzhen picked up the gun and shot two shots in succession, both of which hit the target accurately.
Lao Zhu's eyes suddenly lit up.
He snatched the flintlock gun from Zhu Yunzhen's hand, tried to fire two shots himself, and burst into laughter.
"Grandpa, the biggest advantage of this thing is that it is very easy to operate. A newly recruited soldier can replace an archer after simple training."
That's right.
This is the greatest role of guns in this era.
In fact, early guns were not as powerful as a well-trained archer due to limitations in production technology, gunpowder, bullets, etc.
A powerful archer who can draw a hard bow weighing one hundred and fifty kilograms.
The arrows produced by this kind of bow are extremely lethal, and the shooting distance is much farther than the guns of this era, so they are naturally more powerful.
The problem is training and development.
It is very difficult to train a sharp archer.
Many modern archery enthusiasts learn to use compound bows.
This kind of bow has been modernized, making it easy to aim, and the draw weight is only a few dozen kilograms, so it is naturally much easier to learn.
But if you try to pull a pure ancient bow, you will know how much arm strength is needed to pull the bow.
Only strong men can adapt after long-term training.
Once the training fails to keep up, the powerful hard bow will become a decoration.
For example, in the history of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, in the early days, most of the Eight Banners elites could draw a hard bow weighing 130 to 40 pounds, and their combat effectiveness was amazing.
By the time of the Opium War, few people in the Eight Banners could draw this kind of bow, let alone rely on it to fight a war.
But guns are different.
Especially after having a baseline to aim at.
It can be said that any person, as long as they are a child, an old man, or a woman with a congenitally weak body who can carry a gun, as long as they are given a gun and after simple training, their shooting ability will be improved. It can be compared with the Archer.
Moreover, the archer cannot fire too many arrows at a time because his arm strength will soon become overwhelmed.
But a gun can fire far more bullets in a day.
It can be said that with the flintlock gun, an ordinary army can become an elite army full of sharp archers in an instant.
The resulting increase in combat power is terrifying.
This is the fundamental reason why the earliest guns could replace bows and arrows.
"Okay! Okay! Okay!"
Lao Zhu is such a smart person, he immediately understood the truth.
"Zhen'er, you have made great contributions to our Ming Dynasty by inventing this thing."
Lao Zhu was very happy.
When Zhu Di wrote the letter before, he had not thought that this thing was so powerful, and thought it was somewhat exaggerated.
After seeing the real thing and experiencing it for myself, I found that it was far stronger than what Zhu Di said.
"Grandpa Huang, you don't dare to take credit, as long as Grandpa Huang is happy." Zhu Yunxuan said quickly.
"You don't dare to take credit, but we have to reward you."
With a smile on his face, Lao Zhu suddenly asked: "Zhen'er, if we hand Ming Dynasty into your hands, are you confident that Ming Dynasty will be governed well?"
coming.
Zhu Yunzhen's heart tightened.
There is no doubt that since Zhu Biao's death, Lao Zhu has been worrying about establishing a prince, but has not yet made up his mind.
But this matter cannot remain undecided.
Lao Zhu's body can no longer carry him.
The court will also fall into turmoil because the prince has not been established. This is obviously not what Lao Zhu wants to see.
This time, faced with Lao Zhu’s question, Zhu Yunzhen did not escape.
"Grandpa Huang, if Fu'er is seventeen years old this year, no, even if he is twelve years old like Gan Luo, Fu'er will have the confidence to govern the Ming Dynasty well."
His face was extremely solemn and he said: "Zhen'er is only seven years old. Xu'er thinks that he is no worse than anyone else, but the civil and military officials and the people of the world may not think so."
"In their eyes, I'm always a seven-year-old kid."
Zhu Yunxuan was outspoken.
Lao Zhu also knows this very well.
The answer is very important for him now. Instead of overthinking, it is better to reveal what is on his mind to Lao Zhu and meet each other sincerely.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him and asked, "Do you still want to recommend your fourth uncle?"
However, Zhu Yunxuan shook his head: "Zhen'er recommended the fourth uncle before because he felt that the fourth uncle could lead troops well and control people well, and he could be a monarch for a generation."
"But now it seems that Meng'er is still not thinking well."
"If Fourth Uncle is in charge of the country, he will have more than enough military skills but not enough literature."
Lao Zhu's eyes flickered with energy.
This coincided with what he was thinking.
Zhu Di's only thought was leading troops to fight.
Lao Zhu was always worried about letting him take charge of the country.
"If the second brother is in charge of the country, he will be the opposite of the fourth uncle."
"Second brother has many Confucian scholars around him. Since ancient times, Confucians have used literature to disrupt the law, and chivalrous people have used force to violate the law."
"Now that our dynasty has been established, the most powerful people in the dynasty are the nobles, not the civil servants."
"But even so, there were Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong and others who tried to evade the imperial power and conspired to rebel."
"The real crisis of the Ming Dynasty lies with the civil servants rather than the nobles."
"These people talk a lot about the teachings and moral articles of saints, but in fact they form cliques."
"They are not one person, but a very powerful force."
"If the Ming Dynasty does not restrict them, I am afraid that sooner or later it will die at the hands of these people."
"Grandpa Huang can say, "Kill them all. ", but the emperors of later generations could not."
"From the central government to the officials, everyone belongs to them. Even the emperor is powerless to change it."
In fact, even if Zhu Di was in charge of the country, Ming Dynasty did not escape this path in the end.
Of course this is a story for later.
Historically, after Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne, civilian officials immediately took over the power of military commanders.
The Ministry of War, which originally had no real power, was given great power, and the people in charge of the Ministry of War became civilian officials.
Behind Fang Xiaoru, Qi Qin, and Huang Zicheng are the entire civil servant group.
When Lao Zhu was alive, they were temporarily dormant.
As soon as Lao Zhu died, he took advantage of the opportunity to gain momentum.
With Emperor Jianwen ascending the throne, he took full power.
Without the Battle of Jingnan, the pattern of the Ming Dynasty would have been completely changed as early as the Jianwen Dynasty.
"OK!"
Lao Zhu nodded appreciatively.
"As you can see, he is indeed much better than your second brother."
He walked a few steps, touched his beard, and said, "Let's not be in a hurry to establish a heir apparent."
"We have decided to make you king and let you take charge of Yingtian Mansion."
…
