Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 167 Artillery Instructor
"It's you." Chongzhen was overjoyed upon hearing this.

"Chen Zilong, from now on you will be in charge of the Agricultural Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

"You can also select a hundred scholars from the scholar camp to serve as the agricultural department."

"In Xuzhou, Nanzhi, and even the whole of Daming, the promotion of sweet potatoes, bracts, and potatoes is entirely in the charge of Nongke, but the first thing you need to do now is to select and breed."

Chongzhen repeated what he had just said.

"The minister accepts the edict." Chen Zilong accepted the imperial edict gladly.

In another time and space, Chen Zilong threw himself into the water after failing to resist the Qing Dynasty. But in fact, what he likes to do most is not fighting wars, but researching knowledge. Therefore, he is very happy with Chongzhen's appointment, especially the appointment of the agricultural department. In the matter, the knowledge of the teacher Xuanhu Gong can also be carried forward to benefit Li Shu.

As long as it benefits Li Shu, Chen Zilong is willing.

What's more, the professional counterpart in this matter can inherit the teacher's behest.

Chongzhen is also very happy, because the Ministry of Internal Affairs is gradually improving.

Now, apart from Ma Mingpao, the vice-chairman, there are already three departments, all of which are given to Shizhong, namely, the missionary department is given to Shizhong Ruan Dacheng, the agricultural department is given to Shizhong Chen Zilong, and the medical department is given to Shizhong Fu Shan.

In the future, other departments will also gradually improve, but there is no need to rush.

Chongzhen's attitude towards this is that he would rather be short than abuse, and would rather take a smaller step so as not to mess around.

Instructing Gao Qiqian to collect the harvested corn potatoes and sweet potatoes, Chongzhen took Zhu Cijiong and Shiziying back to the line.

Although Gao Qiqian didn't say anything about it, he could see that he was still unhappy in his heart. After all, this eunuch still had ambitions, so he didn't want to take the little eunuch to farm, and he was more willing to serve the king.

But Chongzhen will not care about these. In the future power structure of Ming Dynasty, there will be no place for eunuchs. The only mission of eunuchs in the future is to do some rough work in the palace.

……

Chongzhen had just returned to Xuzhou, and received another piece of good news.

The artillery instructor hired from Macau through Boymega finally arrived.

Fifty Portuguese mercenaries arrived in Xuzhou together.

This is the second time that Macau has sent mercenaries to Daming.

More than [-] years ago, Macau sent mercenaries to train artillery for Ming Dynasty.

It is a pity that later this artillery, together with hundreds of Hongyi cannons, was cheaper to build slaves.

So this is the second time that Macau has sent instructors and mercenaries to Daming, but the number is not as large as last time.

"His Majesty the Great and Valiant Emperor, King of Kings in the entire East, Qu Shawei from far away Europe obeys your call and brings fifty loyal Portuguese warriors across thousands of mountains and rivers to wait for you Send, as God can testify, we will be your most loyal servants, Your Majesty."

Qu Shawei came up with a lot of enthusiastic Western flattery.

Well, it's all for the sake of money, money can turn ghosts around, so a few flattery are nothing.

Chongzhen would not be so stupid as to believe these nonsense. After listening to the translator's translation, he asked, "Qu Shawei, it's only a thousand miles from Macau to Xuzhou. Why did you travel for more than two months?"

"Your Majesty, calm down." Qu Shawei quickly explained, "I was supposed to arrive a month ago, but I was delayed because I was waiting for a merchant ship from Goa, because this ship has the artillery observation equipment that Your Majesty urgently needs."

"Observation instruments?" Chongzhen asked with a thought, "Are all the observation instruments ready?"

"It's all ready." Qu Sha swiped her hands slightly and said, "Telescopes and astrolabes for geodesy, compasses, protractors, and triangular rulers for drawing. As you know, His Majesty, these artillery observation instruments are very sophisticated, so they are quite expensive."

Chongzhen asked with a smile: "Just tell me, how much is it?"

Qu Sha raised her hand slightly and said, "A total of ten taels of silver, Your Majesty."

Chongzhen couldn't help laughing when he heard the words, thinking that the red-haired ghost only had such a vision.

At present, Chongzhen ordered Wang Chengen to fetch twenty taels of silver for Qu Shawei, which is just a small amount of money. As long as Qu Shawei can train the artillery well for the Ming army, let alone twenty taels, why not just give him two thousand taels?
But Qu Shawei was overjoyed: "God, Your Majesty the Emperor, you are so generous. Qu Shawei is really honored to be your servant. Qu Shawei will definitely do his best to train the artillery unit for Your Majesty."

"Then don't stay here and talk nonsense." Chongzhen said directly, "Let's go to the barracks to demonstrate first."

After listening to the interpreter's translation, Qu Shawei happily said, "Of course, this is what your servant should do."

But Qu Shawei obviously underestimated the complexity of the Ming army's artillery models, so when he followed Chongzhen to Ma Huabao's camp and saw the artillery equipped in Ma Huabao's town, he was almost stupid on the spot.

"Oh, no, this must not be true." Qu Shawei said with her head in her hands, "How could it be so messy?"

The fifty Portuguese mercenaries who came with Qu Shawei also looked at each other in blank dismay, because in the past two decades, the artillery models of European countries have gradually achieved standardization.

For example, there are only seven types of Spanish artillery left.

Another example is British artillery, which is divided into several models according to the weight of the projectile.

This is how the model divisions of 8-pounders, 10-pounders, and 12-pounders came about.

In short, the standardization of these artillery is already very high, not only the projectiles, but also the parts can be used in common, which is why the professional subject of artillery observation appears.

Without the standardization of artillery, there is no artillery observation.

However, the artillery of the Ming army has no standardization at all.

The model regulations are messy, and even the calibers of the same model are inconsistent.

When Macau sent instructors and mercenaries to Ming Dynasty last time, the artillery equipped by Portugal's own army and navy had not been standardized, so it was naturally impossible to bring standardization to Ming Dynasty.

However, there have been introductions about standardization in works such as "Illustration of Military Weapons" and "The Essentials of Fire Attack".

But it's just a general introduction, just mentioning how to standardize it. After the standardization, the artillery is divided into several models, and what are the specific size parameters of each model. These contents are not included.

"Oh, my God." Qu Shawei said to Chongzhen with a bitter face, "Your Majesty the Wise Emperor, your servant Qu Shawei is really an excellent artillery observation expert, but there is no way to do anything about the two. It is absolutely impossible to assign the same shooting parameters to guns that have no commonality."

Chongzhen smiled and said: "You just assume that the parameters of these artillery pieces are the same."

"Ah? Assuming that the parameters of these artillery pieces are the same?" Qu Shawei said dumbfounded, "How do you assume this?"

"Assume whatever you want." Chongzhen pointed to the scholar behind him and said, "I will give you a month, and within a month, these students must basically learn artillery observation."

There were probably more than one hundred scholars standing behind Chongzhen.

This is the first batch of artillery selected by Chongzhen, and there will be a second and third batch later...

Chongzhen's goal is to let every scholar learn artillery observation and ballistic calculation.

"No, no, no, this is absolutely impossible." Qu Shawei waved her hands anxiously and said again, "Your Majesty the Emperor, your servant Qu Shawei has absolutely no intention of disrespect, but teaching these students to observe within a month, this It is absolutely impossible, no one can master artillery observation in one month."

"Listen well, I don't require proficiency." Chongzhen corrected, "I only need to learn in rough steps, or more precisely, to learn the observation method and process, and at the same time remember the calculation formula of ballistics."

"Oh God." Qu Shawei said in surprise, "Your Majesty the omnipotent emperor, you actually know ballistics? Do you know that there is a formula for ballistics?"

"I know much more than you think." Chongzhen snorted and said again, "So don't try to be clever, and try your best to teach these students how to observe and calculate ballistics as soon as possible."

Things like observation principles and calculation formulas are difficult for uneducated soldiers, but for these scholars who can read and have a considerable cultural foundation, it is not difficult.

It is not difficult to learn basic observation methods and memorize ballistic formulas within a month.

Of course, learning observation methods and memorizing ballistic formulas does not mean that you have become an excellent observer, and you need to supplement a lot of observation accumulation.

However, this is not yet possible at this stage.

Because even the standardization of artillery has not been realized, it is impossible to talk about the accumulation of observations.

Chongzhen said again: "In short, you only need to be in charge of teaching. If you finish this job well, I will not treat you badly, and even let you be the commander-in-chief of the artillery."

"Commander-in-Chief of Artillery?" Qu Shawei suddenly became interested and asked, "How many cannons are there?"

"There will be a lot of cannons, much more than you can imagine!" Chongzhen smiled, and continued, "The most conservative estimate is that there will be tens of thousands of cannons!"

Chongzhen actually only said half of what he said.

The commander-in-chief of the artillery is only responsible for artillery construction and training.

"Tens of thousands of cannons?" Qu Shawei opened his mouth wide enough to swallow a goose egg.

Chongzhen said again: "In addition, I can also offer you generous salaries."

Qu Shawei stopped pretending now, licked her lower lip and asked, "How rich can it be?"

"Fifty taels a month!" Chongzhen directly offered a price that could break Qu Sha's defense slightly.

At that moment, Qu Shawei waved her hand and said: "Your Majesty the generous emperor, your servant Qu Shawei has been conquered by your vision. It is really nothing if you get paid or not. The main reason is that your servant Qu Weisha really loves you." This job, so please rest assured that within a month, these students will be taught how to observe and calculate ballistics."

Chongzhen smiled slightly, and said, "By the way, these students haven't studied modern mathematics yet."

"Huh, huh? Ah!" Qu Sha was stunned for a moment, and then realized that she had never studied mathematics?In other words, we have to start with the most basic mathematics?Oh my God, I was fooled!
But the words have been spoken.

It's too late to regret it.

(End of this chapter)