I'm really not doing business

Chapter 564: You are full of rhymes. Are you planning to go to the dissection hospital?
"Huh! They are indeed different. There is no difference on the surface." Zhu Yijun found out after trying it. There was no gunpowder in the musket. Qi Jiguang was mainly demonstrating the new firing device.

At this time, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty actually did not like to use flintlock guns very much, because the newly-produced flintlock guns had many problems. The flint rubbed against the flint and ignited the gunpowder, and the hammer needed to hit the flint with great speed and force. This meant that the soldiers needed a lot of strength to overcome the spring force generated by the reed when loading the gunpowder and pulling the trigger, and the excessive concentration of force affected the accuracy.

Another reason is that it is expensive.

Flintlock rifles were much more expensive than matchlock muskets. A musket cost nine cents of silver, while a flintlock cost three taels of silver. Flintlock rifles were not only difficult to use but also expensive, which made it difficult to deploy flintlock rifles. However, there was a real need for them.

The flintlock has advantages that the matchlock cannot achieve.

The matchlock was not allowed to approach the gun carriage or artillery camp, because the matchlock of the matchlock was always lit. The artillery had a large amount of gunpowder, and the lit matchlock could easily send the artillery position into the sky, physically.

Therefore, on the battlefield, artillery is actually very dangerous, because without the protection of infantry, once approached, it is tantamount to waiting for death.

With the emergence of the flintlock rifle, the Ming Dynasty was able to form infantry to protect the artillery.

On the other hand, flintlock rifles can be used for vigilance. At night, the burning match is the best target and is very easy to expose. It will be too late to ignite the fire when the enemy approaches. Therefore, flintlock rifles that can be fired at any time have become the only choice for sentinels, watchtower guards, and coastal defense inspectors.

Of course, in a duel, it is an invaluable weapon, allowing you to be one step faster than others.

The Ming Dynasty's flintlock musket had various shortcomings, but it was still put into service with difficulty.

"A simple escapement structure, inspired by clocks." Qi Jiguang carefully explained this change. It is actually very simple. The spring steel is replaced with a spring spring and a wheel-type flintlock. This saves effort and is more accurate.

After listening to Qi Jiguang's introduction, Zhu Yijun immediately realized and said, "I understand. In the future, the Ming Dynasty will have two routes for fire guns, one is the wheel-type flintlock, and the other is the spring steel-strike flintlock."

Qi Jiguang's improvements made the flintlock mechanism more complicated. The wheel-type flintlock could be tightened with a wrench instead of relying entirely on the hands.

The cost of the wheeled flintlock is more expensive, but it is very accurate. With Zhu Yijun's level, his hit rate within thirty steps can reach 85%. This is all due to the gunpowder, there is nothing to be proud of. The Ming Dynasty's elite soldiers can achieve an % hit rate within thirty steps. This is the advantage of the wheeled one. It can also be used with one hand, which is convenient for use while riding a horse.

Of course, its more sophisticated structure and higher cost also bring about a higher failure rate, with a firing success rate of only 80%, lower than the 87% of the traditional spring steel striking type.

Of course there are advantages and disadvantages.

The spring steel flintlock is cheap and quick to fire. A well-trained soldier can fire twice in a minute, but the hit rate is extremely low. This type of flintlock needs to be deployed in large numbers to form dense formations of firepower to ensure effective killing, which means that the platoon shooting tactic will be widely used.

"That's true." Qi Jiguang thought about it for a while and agreed with the two routes mentioned by His Majesty. One is the elite route, one is large-scale use, one requires precision, and one is to focus on using a lead bullet to form a barrage. One is a single-soldier assault, and the other is a linear horizontal team horizontal rotation shooting.

It is hard to say which of these two routes is better or worse. They are two completely different battlefield applications and are suitable for different environments.

"This wheeled flintlock musket has rifling." Qi Jiguang took out a brand new barrel and handed it to His Majesty. This is a new barrel of the wheeled flintlock musket. Like the Pingyi musket, it has rifling. Rifling means more gunpowder, more accuracy, and also more expensive.

This is also the reason why the wheeled flintlock musket is so accurate, because the rotation can be used to stabilize the flight posture of the bullet after it leaves the barrel.

According to the military regulations of the Ming Dynasty, it is not allowed to point the muzzle of a gun at anyone, not even at oneself, so Qi Jiguang took out a new gun barrel and asked Your Majesty to review it.

The Pingyi gun is a portable gun that requires close cooperation of three people when used. It has a long range, great power, and is more accurate. It is a musket that can penetrate the armor of enemy armored soldiers on the battlefield. The new wheeled flintlock is an elite soldier model with rifling.

"Very good, equip them to the Duntai Yuanhou and the coastal defense patrol inspector." Zhu Yijun was very satisfied with the new muskets and began to inquire about the training of the new recruits in the Beijing Camp.

The tactic of queuing and shooting seems simple, but it is actually very difficult.

Line shooting requires very strict training. Without strict training, it will be a joke. For example, in the French line shooting tactics, musketeers are allowed to shoot individually.

In a dangerous battlefield, the only way to keep the soldiers' movements in unison is to surrender, in the eyes of the French.

The complicated process of loading and firing a musket, the dangerous battlefield environment, the fear of death, etc., it seems natural to allow a single person to fire the musket.

It was this laxity that caused France to suffer losses in the collisions where the tactics of line-up shooting were applied on a large scale. France was defeated by Prussia in the Battle of Clifford, and by England in the Battle of Fontenoy. France was defeated miserably in the first exchange of fire.

In the Battle of Fontenoy, the French lost a total of 7200 people. Afterwards, the Anglo-Dutch Allied Forces counted that 2872 of them died from French lead bullets, that is, they were killed by themselves.

In the line-up shooting tactics, allowing free shooting is equivalent to allowing infighting.

The requirements of the Ming Dynasty’s Beijing Camp were very strict. They had to march to the beat of the drums and take 75 steps per minute during training, making sure their front was not deformed when they were shoulder to shoulder for feet.

This is actually very difficult to do, as the pace and stride length require long-term training, while the non-deformation of the front ensures the barrage of bullets that line up to kill.

The requirements for firing muskets are even more stringent. On the training ground, the gun must be able to fire three times per minute to pass the test, which means firing 1-2 times per minute on the battlefield. After a large number of flintlock muskets are put into service, this requirement will be further increased, with the gun having to fire five times per minute on the training ground and at least three to four times per minute on the battlefield.

The line-up shooting tactic seems to involve artillery bombardment followed by infantry charge, but the infantry charge also requires high-intensity training to be effective.

A group of rabble rushing forward in a huge crowd is courting death.

"If this continues for a long time, the cavalry battalion will only have a reconnaissance role left." Zhu Yijun said with some emotion as he looked at the training of the Ming Dynasty's Beijing Camp. With the almost pathological deployment of Ming Dynasty firearms, the cavalry battalion had less and less room to maneuver on the battlefield. Zhu Yijun could not even see the cavalry battalion's ecological niche on the battlefield.

It seems that as long as there are artillery and musketeers, all problems can be solved.

Zhu Yijun seemed to have made a losing deal. The cavalry battalion that he had established at great expense did not seem to be able to play its role and was showing a tendency to become increasingly useless.

"Why do you think so, Your Majesty?" Qi Jiguang shook his head and said, "As long as the mobility is still there, the cavalry battalion will have a decisive effect and is a battlefield force that cannot be ignored. During the campaign against Bansheng, if Li Rusong had not led the cavalry battalion to pin it down in Wuchuan County, I am afraid Altan Khan would have struggled."

"The high mobility of the cavalry battalion is still an advantage that infantry and artillery cannot match."

Qi Jiguang did not agree with the emperor's opinion.

Qi Jiguang's campaign against Altan Khan was cautious and step-by-step. The reason behind this was that the cavalry battalion drove away the enemy's cavalry on the battlefield. Otherwise, going out of the border would result in continuous harassment, and morale could not be guaranteed under such harassment. Li Rusong led the cavalry battalion to station in Wuchuan County, and strangled Altan Khan's throat, making him unable to move.

The cavalry battalion was still an indispensable and important force, especially in the conquest of the grassland. Qi Jiguang talked in detail about the application of the cavalry battalion on the battlefield.

"General Qi is still knowledgeable about military affairs. I understand now. That is to say, this cavalry battalion built with a lot of money is still useful." After in-depth communication with Qi Jiguang, Zhu Yijun immediately said that General Qi was right.

Qi Jiguang’s core idea can be summed up in four words: speed is the essence of war.

"Your Majesty never does business at a loss." Qi Jiguang said with a smile.

If conditions allowed, Qi Jiguang would have wanted to have 100,000 soldiers in the Beijing garrison, with all of them being cavalrymen.

The emperor saw the power of musketeers and artillerymen working together, but did not see their shortcomings. Their shortcomings were that their deployment required complete logistics. Whether it was artillery or gunpowder, it was a huge test for logistics and the deployment was slow. However, the mounts of the cavalry battalion were themselves a means of transportation.

Quick response, quick mobility and quick intervention are things that musketeers and artillerymen can never do.

Even though the highways extended to every corner of the Ming Dynasty, musketeers and artillerymen really became the protagonists on the battlefield, and cavalry battalions, or highly mobile interspersed formations, were still necessary.

The emperor's huge investment in building the cavalry battalion was definitely not a waste of silver. For example, when they entered Baoding Prefecture this time, the Yan family's lair in Qizhou was destroyed. Why didn't Qizhou governor Li Anren take back the Yan family compound, but let the imperial guards arrest them and bring them to justice?

Because after Chen Mo took care of the Yan family compound, the Ming Dynasty's cavalry camp had already set out and would soon arrive in Baoding. Li Anren really couldn't go all out and fight a war with the Ming Dynasty's capital camp. He really didn't have the strength to do so.

Let alone him, no one in the whole world, including Felipe II, has that ability.

The cavalry battalion's ability to be quickly deployed is conducive to maintaining local loyalty and contributing to the unity and stability of the Ming Dynasty.

"Wang Chonggu said that the biggest problem with the engineering corps and the official factory regiments is that they are sliding towards the vassal states. There can only be engineering corps where there are highways. His statement is the same as what General Qi said about speed being the essence of war." Zhu Yijun thought of the discussion in the court today and found that they had the same purpose, which was to enhance the rapid deployment capability of the Beijing camp.

Wang Chonggu was a treacherous minister, not a lowly scholar. He also patched up his own policies. The engineering corps and the official factory camps were all located in places where there were highways or where highways were about to be built, ensuring that they were within the radiation range of the elite soldiers of the Beijing camp.

The Ming Dynasty was a classical military empire, and military force was the most important and direct form of violence to maintain power.

"Your Majesty is wise." Qi Jiguang also approved of Wang Chonggu's patch. The Chidao is a ditch for the rapid deployment of infantry.

"General Qi, I'm sorry to have put you in a difficult position. The Ming Dynasty Code has just been published. I have read the chapter on firearms and found a very comprehensive summary. But General Qi immediately found you some work to do." Zhu Yijun happily talked about the detailed collection of military equipment in the Ming Dynasty Code. As soon as it was completed, General Qi started to update it with new firearms.

"As long as I keep innovating, the master won't blame me." Qi Jiguang replied with a smile on his face.

All reference books need to be supplemented and added to, and even the abridged versions need to be constantly corrected and proofread to avoid omissions.

"General Qi has not been to the Quan Chu Guild Hall in recent years, nor has he had any contact with you, sir. In my opinion, there is no need to avoid him so much." Zhu Yijun talked about Qi Jiguang and Zhang Juzheng.

Qi Jiguang had no dealings with Zhang Juzheng over the years, not even any private contact.

They were close friends, but for the sake of Ming state affairs, they had to give up this friendship. Zhu Yijun felt very sorry for this. "Master, you won't let me go." Qi Jiguang said helplessly: "Master, you said that when we returned the badge, we were even."

Qi Jiguang didn't interact with Zhang Juzheng before. It was Qi Jiguang who didn't want to go. He waited until the emperor became a young man before planning to continue the relationship. After all, the country was no longer in a state of young ruler. However, Zhang Juzheng still didn't let Qi Jiguang visit him in order to avoid suspicion.

"Sir, you are a very stubborn person." Zhu Yijun said with emotion. He rested in Wuying Building for a quarter of an hour before washing and leaving.

The Ming Emperor chose to respond to public opinion directly, which would naturally create even greater public opinion. The four-stage method of pretending to be confused was a response strategy. As for the question of which was more valuable, people or donkeys, the entire capital's miscellaneous newspapers were in an uproar, with everyone discussing it enthusiastically.

The emperor's response revealed a terrible truth: the Ming Dynasty was doomed to decline.

The eldest son of the Huang family in Penglai set out from the General's Mansion again. This time he went to watch the fun. The concept of surplus value and the thoughts it triggered caused an uproar in the capital.

A scholar dressed in a Confucian robe wrote a few words on a large blackboard and said loudly: "Surplus value is the difference between the value of production and the remuneration of labor. After we have clarified your majesty's definition again, we naturally come to the conclusion that the Ming Dynasty will fall, because the meat eaters organize production for profit and surplus value, including the current official factories and engineering corps, which are all to make the means of production more centralized."

“There is no way out.”

Zhu Yijun looked at the few words written by the scholar and then at what he said, and was convinced that this man was a pessimist. What should we do if the means of production are suspected to be too concentrated? The redistribution of the means of production is an inevitable result of the turmoil in the world.

This pessimistic mood was brewing, and this Confucian scholar seemed to have convinced most people. In theory, this seemed to be an unsolvable vicious circle, but of course this was only theoretical.

"If there are too many vagrants, they will also disrupt the production of meat-eaters and the producers." A Confucian scholar stood up and drew a line between vagrants and meat-eaters. The final destination of vagrants is often to become bandits and then start to "borrow food" everywhere. This borrowing of food disrupts rural production and also causes the producers to further slide down the class ladder.

"If demand weakens, supply will inevitably weaken because there will be no profit. The land in the hands of producers will naturally flow into the hands of meat eaters, exacerbating the deterioration of mergers." Another Confucian scholar stood up and added that the relationship between supply, demand and mergers had been discussed in detail as early as the beginning of the Wanli period.

Now the concept of surplus value completely connects all previous political and economic thinking.

Zhu Yijun felt very clearly that pessimism was growing and everyone was despairing of this almost unsolvable cycle.

Wang Qian was sitting next to His Majesty. The richest and second richest men in the capital were both looking at the Confucian scholars in Taibai Tower and discussing surplus value.

Wang Qian stood up, walked out of the box, and walked down the stairs step by step. He looked at everyone and picked up the chalk on the table. He circled the words "Concentration of production materials" in the middle twice and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the problem is very clear. The core lies here. We need a strong force to interfere with this process."

"This is the meaning of the court's existence!"

A Confucian scholar stood up and said loudly: "Is the court's interference really useful? No matter how good the policy is when it is first formulated, when it comes to implementation, it is still the ordinary people who bear the cost. There is no way to get rid of this cycle."

"The court is also made up of individuals, and everyone has their own selfish desires. Government orders need people to execute them!"

"Yes, you are right. This is an unavoidable problem." Wang Qian first affirmed the other party's point of view. "So we need to have a performance evaluation system, we need to eliminate corruption, we need to fight corruption, and we need to reform the government!"

It is inhumane for any group to require every individual to guarantee high morals. Wang Qian refuted the Confucian scholar's pessimism with the argument that any group needs to carry out reforms and innovations, and metabolism. A group that cannot metabolize itself will inevitably go to destruction, from individual households, handicraft workshops, business gangs, and trading companies to the imperial court and the country.

This is the content summarized from the practice of Zhang Juzheng's implementation of the performance evaluation system.

"It's just you high officials fighting among yourselves." The scholar waved his hand and said, "Is the dispute over the party in the court really a reform? It's been ten years since the Wanli Reform, and the court is still dominated by your father's Jin Party and Jiangling Gong's Chu Party. Even the Zhejiang Party has been excluded. The so-called reform is just a fig leaf."

"It's so stupid." Wang Qian shook his sleeves and said, "Let's not talk about the case of Qiao Bixing, the governor of Shanxi, secretly colluding with the barbarians, and the impeachment of Luo Yao, the former governor of Sichuan, by Jiang Linggong for the case of hanging his head. These two things are the most typical examples of internal purges, and they happened almost at the same time."

"Let's talk about the Jin Party. Do you know who is in the Jin Party now?"

"The Jin Party has essentially died. They were beheaded along with Altan Khan. The party my father leads now is called the Labor Party! You don't know what the Labor Party is, do you? It's the "gong" of a craftsman."

"The Labour Party is completely different from the previous party of fellow townsmen and the party of ethnicity that formed a party of the same ethnicity!"

At this point, Wang Qian couldn't help but straighten his chest. He was extremely proud that his father gave up the Jin Party and established the Labor Party, because this represented that the political activities of the Ming Dynasty had entered a new stage, a new way of forming parties in which comrades could enjoy themselves together.

The Labour Party’s fundamental proposition, in short, is more goods and greater material abundance.

"That sounds nice, but isn't that just forming a clique for personal gain?!" The scholar's face flushed red, and it was obvious that he would hold a grudge after being defeated, which was fully reflected in his character.

Wang Qian was not angry. He thought for a moment and asked, "Have you read Ouyang Xiu's On Factions?"

"No, but we are talking about forming a clique!" The scholar's face turned even redder.

Wang Qian frowned and said, "The world is never what you want it to be. We have a long history, which is our vertical experience, and we have the largest population in the world, which is our horizontal experience. You don't consider either the vertical or horizontal experience, but just apply your imagination to reality and make irresponsible remarks here."

"I find that the Confucian scholars of our Ming Dynasty are all like this. They either talk about a quick victory, expecting that everything will be fulfilled tomorrow after the decree is issued today, and the country will enter a harmonious society the day after tomorrow. Or they talk about a quick death, and when they encounter problems and difficulties, especially complex problems, they don't try to overcome them, but surrender directly."

"It takes more than one day to freeze three feet of ice, and it takes more than a moment to pile up a mountain of earth!"

Wang Qian discovered the root of the problem, which was that the binary opposition was very obvious: it was either a quick win or a quick destruction. There seemed to be no need for any discussion in the middle.

This kind of thinking is actually very, very dangerous and will completely divide society.

"This must be the famous Young Master Wang." A scholar stood up with a big laugh, walked to the opposite side of Wang Qian, looked left and right, and said with a smile: "I am a mountain man from Quanzhou, my surname is Li Zhi, I meet Young Master Wang, is there another Young Master Huang who also likes to watch the fun not here yet?"

"Here." Zhu Yijun waved his hand in the box to indicate his seat. Everyone knew that he loved to watch the fun.

Li Zhi, a mad scholar, was a master of Taizhou School of Mind. Zhu Yijun liked this mad scholar quite a lot. Many of his ideas were very interesting. For example, he criticized the eight-legged essay for selecting officials, opposed false Confucianism, opposed empty talk, advocated that the people are the most important and the emperor is the least important, and the country is second, advocated equality for all, advocated freedom of marriage, advocated that both men and women should go to school, etc.

"Greetings, Master Huang." Li Zhi bowed again and said to everyone with a smile, "I'll give you a riddle. Master Wang, guess it. There are four sentences in total: The emperor steals cattle, and all the civil and military officials in the court become thieves; the father-in-law holds his wife's hand, and the child breaks his head."

Zhu Yijun's face turned dark when he heard this!
This crazy husband is even more annoying than Lin Fucheng. As soon as he appears, he goes straight to the emperor and even steals the cow from the emperor's father!
"How can you talk like that! If you keep talking nonsense, you'll be sent to the execution hall!" Wang Qian was overwhelmed when he heard this. This was a gathering, not a rebellion, and he was talking nonsense!

You're talking a lot of jingles. Are you planning to go to the dissection center?

It doesn’t matter whether it is a puzzle or not. To criticize the emperor so openly in such a public place is no longer just that of an ordinary madman.

A few timid Confucian scholars who were watching the excitement in the audience stood up immediately, covered their faces and left quickly, fearing that the fire in the city gate would affect innocent people. Soon, some of the Confucian scholars who were participating in the gathering also left.

"Hey, you are as cowardly as a mouse." Li Zhi looked at the Confucian scholar who was running away and said with a smile: "With such courage, you still come to have a talk? It's not in front of the emperor, what are you afraid of?"

Wang Qian was scared! This was being said in front of the emperor! His Majesty was sitting in the box and heard it clearly!
His Majesty came out of the box and cut off Li Zhi's head with a knife. It was not too much. This was like scolding the father. When did the emperor ever steal a cow? The Longqing period was indeed poor, but it was not to the point of stealing cows.

Even if the emperor wears Mr. Huang's vest, he is still the emperor.

"Li Zhi, with these four sentences, aren't you trying to say that the king is not a king, the minister is not a minister, the father is not a father, and the son is not a son? The answer to the riddle is two words, 'the world', right or wrong?" Zhu Yijun asked loudly in the box.

"Mr. Huang is indeed extremely intelligent! But in fact, there is another solution to this riddle, which is Emperor Xuanzong of Tang." Li Zhi was stunned. He was already arrogant enough, but there was actually someone crazier than him.

This riddle is bold enough. Ordinary people would only think that the man is crazy and would not dare to delve into it. No one would think deeply about the answer. In this way, Li Zhi could expound his point of view that one must destroy before one can build, and that one cannot build without destroying. However, he still solved the riddle with a strong desire to survive: it was Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

It's a gathering to chat, not to seek death.

Li Dan, the father of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, had a life of ups and downs and also a tragic life. He was the only emperor of the Li Tang Dynasty who changed his surname to Wu, the Wu of Wu Zetian. Li Dan ascended the throne twice and gave up the throne three times in his life. In the worst time, he was demoted to an heir to the throne and sent to live in Xiangzhou, Henan. Some people also said that he stole cattle.

This is obviously a made-up joke, but fortunately it is not too outrageous. It is already very good that he is not said to be a swindler. The main point of unofficial history is wildness.

The story of Li Longji and Yang Guifei was never a love story. Yang Guifei was the Princess of Shou and the daughter-in-law of Li Longji. Even Li Zhi, who advocated freedom of marriage, thought that this behavior was too free, so he made up jokes about Li Longji.

The child broke his father's head. It means that after An Lushan was killed, Li Longji returned to Chang'an and became the emperor. Emperor Suzong of Tang, Li Heng, exiled Gao Lishi to Wuzhou, Chen Xuanli was ordered to retire, and Princess Yuzhen, the younger sister of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, also moved to Yuzhen Temple. Li Longji became a lonely man.

Zhang Juzheng always used Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Emperor Daoye to illustrate the difficulty of dying. If the empire was in tatters when he left, a thousand years later, there would still be people who would make jokes about those things, and make them as ugly as possible. It was because you failed to die.

"That makes sense." Zhu Yijun carefully considered Li Zhi's riddle again. After making sure that Li Zhi was not being sarcastic to him, he decided to listen to what he had to say.

Li Zhi quickly said, "This doesn't make sense. It's just a rhyme made up based on the story of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang."

After Li Zhi solved the mystery, the Confucian scholars who had left gradually came back. As long as they did not openly accuse the current emperor, they could talk. The overall atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty was still very open and free. After all, Hai Rui, the upright minister who cursed the Taoist priest, was still serving in the court and was a magic sword in the fight against corruption.

"In fact, Mr. Huang's solution is not wrong. Neither the king nor the minister, neither the father nor the son, is the mess of the world." Li Zhi looked at everyone and said, "I have an idea. Don't be afraid."

"I believe that if there is no representative of a group in the DPRK, then that group does not have to pay taxes."

(End of this chapter)