I will be the prince at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 38 Attack
Zhu Cixuan bent down to help an old military craftsman in his 50s: "Please stand up, old man. I have worked hard all the way. I have already arranged accommodation for everyone in the city. We don't need to do anything today. Follow me into the city to settle down first. "

With tears in his eyes, the old man patted his shriveled chest and said, "His Royal Highness, we people came to Kunming to make firecrackers to fight the Tartars. Look, we brought all the tools with us." After finishing speaking, he pointed Refers to the wooden boxes on the carriage.

Zhu Cixuan looked at these ragged, sallow and emaciated military craftsmen, and was filled with emotion. Craftsmen in this era are too hard. They do the most tiring work, get the least pay, get up earlier than chickens every day, go to bed later than dogs, and eat well. Worse than pigs, more accomplished than cows, but still the worst in social status.

I must improve their status, improve their quality of life, and increase their remuneration.Taking advantage of the current war, when the original social order is completely destroyed, abolish the original basement system.Otherwise, the work will be extremely difficult until the rivers and mountains are restored.

Holding the hand of the old military craftsman, Zhu Cixuan entered Kunming City, and came to a vacant house, where the military craftsmen and their families lived.

Zhu Cixuan specially arranged for Mu Zhongliang to search for this house after the Eastern Palace guards who picked up these military craftsmen set off from Kunming. Due to the recent invasion of the Tartars, there were a lot of vacant houses in the city, so Mu Zhongliang quickly found it. For the necessary houses and some places that needed repairs, Zhu Cixuan also generously took out the money and found someone to repair them.

After arranging these people to live, Zhu Cixuan distributed one stone of grain and two taels of silver to each family, so that these military craftsmen and their families could live comfortably for the time being.

On the third day, Zhu Cixuan summoned these military craftsmen to a heavily guarded mansion covering an area of ​​five or six acres. This is where the future workshop will be located. Military craftsman Song Shiyuan:

"Old man, do you think these two kinds of firecrackers can be made?"

Song Shiyuan picked up the Lumi gun and said, "His Royal Highness, this is the Lumi gun. That's what I do in the Guangzhou Armament Division."

"Oh, that's great, can you make this flintlock gun?"

Song Shiyuan picked up the flintlock gun and watched it carefully, especially the flintlock device. He studied it repeatedly, leaned over a little, and said, "Your Highness, this device is only different from the Lumi gun, but the other parts are the same, and it is not difficult to make. "

"Okay, that's great." Zhu Cixuan clapped his hands and laughed.

Song Shiyuan laughed and said, "His Royal Highness, the most difficult thing about the Lumi gun and the flintlock gun is not the ignition device, but the time-consuming production of the gun barrel. The gun barrel is made of fine iron. This kind of fine iron needs to be used Only 10 catties of crude iron can be smelted to produce 1 catty. Only the gun barrel made of such fine iron can be durable and will not burst when shooting.

When making it, two iron pipes, one large and one small, are first rolled with refined iron, and the large one is wrapped with the small one so that the two are tightly bonded.The craftsmanship of the drill is very precise, each person can only drill about 1 inch per day, and it takes about a month to drill one.

Look, Your Royal Highness, the iron pole of this chopstick-like body is made of cold bones, wrapped in red iron and hammered.First for three connections, the interface is blazing red, try to hit it.After combining, use a square steel cone as big as a chopstick, and turn it through to make the aurora clear, so there will be no hindrance in dispensing medicine. "Song Shiyuan said, and took out an iron bar more than one meter long and about one centimeter in diameter from a box on the ground.

Now Zhu Cixuan figured out that the barrel of the firecracker is made of such an iron rod wrapped with a steel plate, hammered into a cylindrical shape, fearing that the chamber will explode, and then wrapped with a layer of steel plate outside, the barrel (gun barrel) is To ensure smoothness, use a four-fluted drill bit to grind the inside of the gun barrel back and forth. Not to mention, it is already very advanced in this era.

What surprised Zhu Cixuan even more was that at this time, craftsmen in Daming had already used coke to make steel 100 years ago. At that time, the West had not yet started to use this method of coke to make steel.

Zhu Cixuan inquired about the red-clothed cannons again, and knowing that these military craftsmen could also make them, he asked them to make Lumi guns, flintlock guns and red-clothed cannons.

At the same time, Zhu Cixuan announced to these craftsmen that if they can increase the output of refined iron and improve the strength and toughness of refined iron when making these firearms and producing refined iron.

Improve the speed of firecrackers and red cannons, shorten production time, and increase the range and accuracy of firecrackers and red cannons.Increases the power of gunpowder.For every technical improvement, he will give a reward of 10 taels to 100 taels of silver.

Artisans listen up!All of them rejoiced and geared up, expressing that they would live up to the expectations of His Highness the Crown Prince, and produce fine iron, gunpowder, Lumi blunderbuss, flintlock guns, and red cannons with better performance.

In the next few days, Zhu Cixuan successively received battle reports from King Li Dingguo of Jin to recover Guangnan Mansion, Bai Wenxuan to recover Guangxi Mansion, and He Jiuyi to recover Yao'an Mansion.At the same time, it was received that the Minister of the Tatars, the Crown Prince Taibao Sukesaha, was appointed as the imperial envoy by the Emperor Shunzhi of the Tartars, in charge of the military affairs of the five provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan.

Zhu Cixuan immediately sent letters to Li Dingguo, Bai Wenxuan, and He Jiuyi, and they were rushed to their hands within [-] miles, telling them to rush back to Kunming to discuss the matter.

On April 13, the 28th year of the Yongli calendar, Zhu Cixuan, Li Dingguo, Bai Wenxuan, and He Jiuyi gathered in the Qianguo Mansion. Zhu Cixuan reported to Li Dingguo and Li Dingguo the news that Shunzhi, the emperor of the Tartars, had sent Sukesaha to preside over the military affairs of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Someone reported it.

Li Dingguo said: "His Royal Highness, now we have a strong army and horses, and the main force of the Tartars in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan have been wiped out by us. The Tartars in Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Sichuan are few and far between. When Kasaha just arrived and had not yet integrated the forces of the four places, he dispatched a large army to recover the four places with lightning speed."

Bai Wenxuan and He Jiuyi also challenged each other.After consultation, several people decided:

He Jiuyi led [-] troops to attack Sichuan; Bai Wenxuan led [-] troops to attack Guizhou; Tian Bo, Marquis Qi Sansheng of Xianning, General Soldier Wei Yong, Gong Xun, Wu Chengjue, Wang Zijin's [-] troops, ministers and their families.

Chieftain Chieftain Muyi of Zheledian and Chieftain Chieftain Nasong of Yuanjiang each led their troops back to their respective camps and continued to be their local emperors.Among them, Mu Yi, chieftain of Ledian, left Mu Zhongxian and his daughter Mu Nianci behind, and at the same time left them [-] soldiers and horses.

After regaining so many places, Ming's military strength also increased significantly. Among them, Kunming recruited 1 new soldiers, and He Jiuyi surrendered more than [-] Ming troops who had surrendered to the Tartars. Outside the Ding and Yao'an houses, the figure reached [-].

Bai Wenxuan surrendered and recruited, removed the soldiers guarding Qujing Mansion and Guangxi Mansion, and the number of soldiers reached [-].

Li Dingguo's 1 horsemen expanded to 7000. This time, Zhu Cixuan sent troops to Guangxi. Zhu Cixuan's 3000 East Palace Guards, Wei Bao, and Wang Sheng led [-] soldiers to go with the prince. In fact, they were protecting the prince Zhu Cixuan. Mu Zhongxian led Five thousand soldiers also set off together, plus Li Dingguo was going to lead [-] troops, exactly [-] troops.Li Dingguo's remaining [-] troops guarded the recovered Lin'an Mansion and Guangnan Mansion.

After the discussion was over, after the two chieftains Mu Yi, chieftain of Ledian, and Nasong, chieftain of Yuanjiang, led the troops back to their territory, Zhu Cixuan sold them to Li Dingguo, Bai Wenxuan, and He Jiuyi at a price of 100 taels of silver each. 100 Mauser 98K rifles, 150 boxes of bullets were sold at a price of 50 taels of silver per box.

Wang Qilong and Chen Qian who guarded Kunming left 100 Mauser 98K rifles and 50 boxes of bullets. Zhu Cixuan, who managed to save more than 700 Mauser 98K rifles, left another 300.The people who were ready to stop immediately left Kunming and went to various places, and launched an attack on Guangxi, Guizhou, and Sichuan when Suksaha's foothold was not stable.

(End of this chapter)