In addition, the establishment of the local procuratorate and the Daming Royal Bank branch were slower than expected.
Of course, Emperor Chongzhen had his own reasons for this. When the imperial commander is away on an expedition, many matters, such as the chief officer of the local procuratorate and the supervising state, have no power to determine, and must be decided by him, the emperor, himself. The same is true for the chief officer of the Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty. Even more troublesome than the establishment of the local procuratorate is that banks must have principal deposits for the people of the Ming Dynasty to exchange silver at any time. However, the transfer of this money must also be approved by the emperor's imperial pen, and the supervisor also has no power.
Emperor Chongzhen also understood that these two matters, one related to local official governance and the other related to local economic drivers, should not be taken lightly. Therefore, after browsing the list, he first established the four provinces of Shanxi, Shandong, Yingtianfu and Henan.
The reason for doing this was that Hong Chengchou was there in Shanxi, and both the officialdom and the army, including the businessmen, had been severely cleaned up, and they had the foundation to start over. On the Shandong side, Lu Xiangsheng was watching, and the rebuilding of Dongjiang Town also urgently needed money and official support.
Not to mention Yingtian Mansion, which is the companion capital of the Ming Dynasty. This must come first. As for Henan, Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces there, was personally watching over it. It had just suffered from military disasters and drought, and it also needed the support of the court.
After completing these things, Emperor Chongzhen began to reform the tax system. All in all, agricultural taxes cannot be increased, but in terms of commercial taxes and other taxes, he is ready to take action.
Of course, this matter was too important to issue a direct decree without thinking. Emperor Chongzhen held secret discussions with the eunuch Cao Huachun and the chief minister Xue Guoguan.
During this period, Emperor Chongzhen also took time to inspect the war bureau, and at the same time met Bi Maokang for the first time.
"Your Majesty, I have not dared to neglect in the past few months and have created two more military and national weapons!" Bi Maokang reported immediately after receiving the gift.
When Emperor Chongzhen heard that he had created two military and national weapons, he couldn't help but be overjoyed. He quickly waved his hand and said: "What a military and national weapon it is, please bring it up quickly for a look!"
Naturally, Bi Maokang had already prepared it. He hurriedly waved and asked two of his men to bring up a long pole wrapped in red cloth. After uncovering one of the pieces, he introduced: "Your Majesty, this one is called the Ten." The eye cannon can be fired ten times once it is ignited. If several shots are fired together, it will be difficult for the enemy's cavalry to approach!"
Emperor Chongzhen was a little dumbfounded. The Ming Dynasty had three-eyed guns, and there were also four-eyed guns, but there were not many of them anymore. Due to military testing, the three-eyed gun is most suitable for military use. But this Bi Maokang actually made a ten-eyed gun, which is a bundle of ten gun tubes.
I thought it was some kind of military weapon! Emperor Chongzhen sighed secretly in his heart, but on the surface, he still maintained a smile, nodded and asked: "How is the range? How is the power, and how is the shooting accuracy?"
This ten-eyed gun looks heavy and bulky, and it must be difficult for one person to shoot it.
When Bi Maokang heard this, he immediately asked the emperor to move to the shooting range and demonstrate it to the emperor with live ammunition.
Emperor Chongzhen just followed his wishes. It was just a few steps anyway. When he arrived at the shooting range, he watched him and asked others to demonstrate.
What surprised Emperor Chongzhen was that this ten-eyed gun was actually operated by one person. However, it is not held in the hand and aimed like an ordinary fire gun. Instead, a stand is used to place it on the ground, and the person firing the gun is half-crouched. The muzzle of the gun is pointed upward.
Seeing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately thought of the Crouching Tiger Cannon. Isn't this almost the same!
What he didn't expect was that Bi Maokang actually brought out a squatting tiger cannon and operated it together beside it. Obviously, he wanted to compare the pros and cons.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw it, he took a closer look at the difference between the two and understood clearly.
Sure enough, according to the test results, the advantage of this ten-eyed gun is that it can light ten eyes at the same time, and it can light one point at a time; the Tiger Crouching Cannon has no shooting accuracy at all, but the ten-eyed gun can effectively kill at twenty steps Inside, you can aim and hit. However, is this distance too short? It's better to use the crouching tiger cannon, just wait for the enemy to approach and knock him down with one shot.
However, Emperor Chongzhen did not show any anger. He just watched Bi Maokang introduce another military weapon.
Emperor Chongzhen had seen this military weapon in later generations. It was the lifting gun of the middle and late Qing Dynasty. It is also an enhanced version of the matchlock today. It is larger than the matchlock in terms of size, weight, charge, power, recoil, etc. .
Bi Maokang asked someone to demonstrate, with one person holding the barrel of the gun and another person aiming and shooting from behind. Needless to say, the power is naturally much greater than that of an ordinary matchlock gun.
After the demonstration was over, Bi Maokang returned to the imperial court and introduced to Emperor Chongzhen: "These two weapons can make up for the shortcomings of current ordnance. The availability of long and short firearms can bring our army's combat effectiveness to a higher level!"
Emperor Chongzhen now has very good eyesight, and he can tell at a glance that Bi Maokang's eyes are slightly proud. It is obvious that he cares about this new invention of his. This Bi Maokang still has the arrogance of a scholar. This is not good!
So, he lowered his face, shook his head and said: "Bi Qing, although this ten-eyed gun of yours is different from the previous one, it is not segment by segment, but I still can't see how this kind of firearm can be used on the battlefield. There is a basis for widespread use. Just one word to judge: tasteless!”
Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang's face suddenly turned red. He didn't expect that the emperor would not approve it.
"If Bi Qing feels that my comment is unfair, you can list it from many angles such as cost, manufacturing time, ease of use, shooting accuracy, power, etc., and compare it with ordinary fire guns to see if it is cost-effective? Then, you can also Create some for the army and listen to the comments of the generals. I believe you will be convinced!"
Bi Maokang looked a little sad when he heard this. He remembered that the emperor had just returned from leading the army and was obviously very familiar with military matters. So he must be confident.
Just when he was a little sad, he heard Emperor Chongzhen say again: "However, there is a certain merit in carrying the gun. When the artillery is inconvenient to use, it can be used for infantry support. However, this situation should not be too serious. There is no problem in building large quantities or small quantities for use in the military.”
When he said this, he glanced at Bi Maokang and then said: "Then let's do it. From now on, whether weapons are easy to use and usable will depend on what I just said. Use data to speak, be tested in the military, and be welcomed by the soldiers. , that’s a good weapon!”
"I obey the order!" Bi Maokang sighed in his heart after hearing this.
Emperor Chongzhen was well aware of his bad mood, but he didn't care. One bad thing about these civil servants of the Ming Dynasty is that no matter what they do, they like to use similar words such as approximate and similar, rather than using data and precision.
Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen intended to slowly cultivate this way of doing things using data, starting from the military affairs department.
However, there was one thing that Bi Maokang did not disappoint Emperor Chongzhen, and that was the creation of the flintlock gun.
After he took office, he knew that the emperor had told him to build it in an assembly line manner, so he did so. It turned out that the sizes made by each craftsman were somewhat different, resulting in the final failure to achieve the effect required by the emperor. Therefore, after thinking about it, he began to implement a design similar to standard parts. After two months of running in, he finally got it right.
When the emperor came to inspect, more than 110 of them had been built. The accuracy and power met Qi Jiguang's requirements in the military book, and the flint ignition rate reached about 80%.
Just listen to Bi Maokang's respectful voice: "Now there are two lines in production, and we can make twenty pieces every day; it's just that the requirements for firing shrapnel are extremely high, and it's currently stuck here. Otherwise, Weichen can increase the assembly line. Let’s make more flintlocks!”
When he said this, he smiled slightly and said: "Your Majesty, the cost of this flintlock gun is too high. I feel a little distressed when doing it."
With so many craftsmen in the war zone, we can still only achieve 20 guns per day, which is fine. The requirements should be stricter. Otherwise, if the ignition rate cannot increase, it will be fatal on the battlefield. Emperor Chongzhen was thinking this, but he didn't expect him to say such a thing, so he smiled and said: "As long as the thing is good, it can bring greater battlefield advantages to the Ming army, no matter how expensive it is, it must be built. Bi Qing might as well think about it, Let’s just talk about the last time the Jianlu invaded the pass, how much damage was caused to the pass? Such a lot of losses were used to build ordnance, so as to prevent the Jianlu and prevent them from wreaking havoc again. Is it worth spending the money? "
When Bi Maokang heard this, he thought it was possible to settle accounts like this? If you really want to settle the accounts this way, it is indeed worth it!
After the emperor's words, he suddenly felt a lot more relaxed.
But at this moment, Emperor Chongzhen changed the topic again and said with a smile: "But having said that, if Bi Qing can optimize the process and reduce the cost without losing the power, that would be the best!"
"Wei Chen obeys the order!" Bi Maokang also smiled when he heard this and replied quickly. At the same time, he was thinking in his heart that he really thought that the emperor didn't care about money at all. It turned out that he also wanted to save money!
An hour later, Emperor Chongzhen came out of the military battle station.
After seeing the flintlock rifle, I felt confident, so I thought that both the Yongwei Camp and the Panshi Camp could use the flintlock rifle to train. At the beginning of next year, allocate some money to Lu Xiangsheng, which will reduce his pressure to rebuild Dongjiang Town.
In addition, there is no worry about the flintlock rifle being seized by the Qing Dynasty. After all, even the Bingzhan Bureau had such difficulty in building a qualified flintlock gun. I don’t believe that the Manchu and Qing Dynasty’s craftsmanship could surpass the Bingzhan Bureau. Besides, with that little capital, how many flintlock guns can be made?
If Handan really wanted to learn to walk, Emperor Chongzhen would be eager to do so. It would be better to spend all the money to build a flintlock gun, and then on the battlefield, if the ignition rate is only 20 to 30%, then you can have fun watching it.
With this in mind, Emperor Chongzhen went to the Wenhua Hall and conveyed an order to Song Yingxing, a member of the Department of Materials and Materials, to pay an audience.
This Song Yingxing was famous in later generations, but he had never seen him before. This was the first time for him like Bi Maokang.
Bi Maokang has the habits of a scholar. I wonder what Song Yingxing is like? Emperor Chongzhen thought so and became a little curious.
Not long after, Song Yingxing came. With just one look at Emperor Chongzhen, it can be seen that he should be a pragmatic official.
In fact, Song Yingxing is different from Bi Maokang. He suffered a lot on the road to the imperial examination. No matter how many corners he had, they have been worn away. He no longer thinks about the road to the imperial examination. He just does some things unexpected in the imperial examination out of interest. . As a result, his attitude towards things will naturally be different.
So, he asked Song Yingxing about "Tiangong Kaiwu".
On Song Yingxing's side, he was very grateful to the emperor for his kindness; and when he heard that the emperor was wise and mighty and had just returned home in triumph, he was even more respectful to the emperor. Whatever the emperor asked, he would answer.
It has to be said that in the field he is good at, even Emperor Chongzhen, who came from a later generation, nodded repeatedly. Just as Song Yingxing recorded in "Tiangong Kaiwu", they were all recorded in his mind, and he could tell the emperor about each content, including where and when he saw and recorded it. The key is What are the technical aspects of ?
Of course, when he encountered someone who had doubts, he would speak out and say that this was just a guess. He had not done it himself and could not guarantee the real situation.
Emperor Chongzhen appreciated his attitude very much, and encouraged Song Yingxing: "The Kaiwu Department is short of people, money, and supplies. Please bring it up directly to me, and I will solve it for you. But I only have one request, and that is you The verification process and each step must be recorded in detail, and it cannot be just talked about in general, but must be expressed in numbers. If the existing size, weight, etc. are not enough to express it, you will create a smaller or larger one. The unit of measurement has one purpose, to ensure that your verification is repeatable, and it is best to understand the reason!"
This area is actually scientific research. Speaking of which, it can be considered a large investment, but the output may not be large!
However, for Emperor Chongzhen from later generations, this scientific research must be done, and it must be done systematically. Only in this way can there be science in the future of the Ming Dynasty.
Song Yingxing lamented in the preface to "Tiangong Kaiwu" that he had no money and no one to verify some speculations. Now that the emperor promised to support him if he asked for money or things directly, Song Yingxing felt ecstatic and quickly agreed. At this time, not to mention taking detailed notes, he would probably do anything even if he was asked to take off his clothes.
When the communication with Song Yingxing reached the end, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly said to him: "I know a detail about what you mentioned in the last chapter of "Tiangong Kaiwu", as long as..."
Listening to his introduction, Song Yingxing had a look of surprise on his face. After listening to it, he became a little excited and quickly replied: "Your Majesty, I will verify this first!"
Of course he knew that this thing was valuable, and if he really wanted to make it, he would feel less guilty about spending a lot of money on opening the Department of Materials, and he also knew that the court was short of money.
"Well, please remember, this matter needs to be kept secret!" Emperor Chongzhen told him after hearing this.
