Daming: If I find a great-grandson, I will teach an emperor through the ages

Chapter 149 New ideas for artillery improvement!

Seeing this situation, Junichiro Koizumi was confused!

The warriors he finally gathered around are all dead now?
What made Goguishan and Junichiro Koizumi even more panicked was that they didn't know whether these samurai had confessed to them before they were executed.

Although at this time Houguishan and others became suspicious and dissatisfied with the Ming army occupying Shijian Mountain.

But they still dare not offend these Ming people until they have solid evidence.

The 4 Ming Dynasty cavalry on the front line played a huge role on the battlefield. It was all thanks to them that the army of Kameyama Nanchao could compete with the army of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and even suppress it steadily.

In the absence of evidence, if Zhu Di and others were offended and recalled the more than 4 cavalry in anger, and they fought with the Northern Dynasty army on the battlefield next time, would their Southern Dynasty army be able to block the opponent's attack?

The Adachi shogunate group in the Northern Dynasty had many soldiers and generals. Judging from the results of the previous struggles between the two sides, it was probably unstoppable...

This kind of result is not what they want to see now...

With his mind spinning, Hou Guishan decided to test it out.

"Your Majesty, what is going on?"

Ma He snorted coldly,
"What's going on? Doesn't Lord Xicheng know?"

When Hou Guishan heard this, his heart thumped. Could it be that he had been confessed?
"These warriors from your Japanese country, for some unknown reason, broke in from the west side of Ishimi Mountain without authorization and ran around in our Ming army camp. They were discovered and captured by our lieutenants."

Ma He continued,

"At the beginning, King Xicheng was unable to pay compensation. Our country, the Ming Dynasty, showed the demeanor of a suzerain country. The compensation can be postponed for a while, and the price is to use Shijian Mountain as a spiritual platform to pray for His Majesty the Ming Dynasty to make elixirs. No one else is allowed to break in!"

"Prince Xicheng clearly agreed before, but why didn't he restrain his own people and let them trespass into the important territory of our Ming army camp?!"

After Ma He finished his questioning, Hou Guishan was stunned again, a little confused for a moment.

It seems...these warriors didn't seem to have confessed them?

What Ma He just said was that these warriors broke in without permission, and the crime they were asking about was that Houguishan did not restrain his own people...

In this way, the main blame for this incident does not lie with Hou Guishan and the others, and can be completely evaded.

In fact, Ma He's words were the instruction of Zhu Di.

Zhu Di leading troops to occupy Shijian Mountain was only the first step. Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions to him clearly stated that the next step was to occupy the entire Japanese country.

If you want to occupy the Japanese country at the minimum cost, the best way is to let the northern and southern dynasties of the Japanese country fight each other and wear down each other's strength.

Of course Zhu Di knew that these warriors were sent by Houguishan.

But if we directly break up with Hou Guishan at this time...

On the one hand, even for the dignity of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di had to go to war directly with Hou Guishan after he learned that Hou Guishan sent warriors into Ishimi Mountain.

But obviously doing so is not in Ming's interests.

Therefore, Zhu Di instructed Ma He to pretend not to know that Hou Guishan was the mastermind behind the scenes, which would give Hou Guishan a step down.

In this way, if Hou Guishan is questioned, the two sides will not be at odds. As long as Hou Guishan does not want to lose the 4 Ming Dynasty cavalry on the frontline battlefield, he will have to bow his head to Ma He.

Ma He then could take the opportunity to exploit Hou Guishan again.

This is profit maximization.

Sure enough, after Hou Guishan came to his senses, he was secretly happy.

As long as these Ming people didn't know that those warriors were sent by him, the situation would still be stable.

Junichiro Koizumi below had the same idea, and at this time he had begun to wink at Go Kameyama secretly.

Hou Guishan understood, and then said angrily with a scowl on his face:

"These untouchables deserve to die! I have issued an edict not to allow anyone to approach Ishimi Mountain, but they knowingly committed the crime. Now their death will be in vain!"

Then, he saluted Ma He respectfully.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I have no knowledge of what these untouchables are doing, and they have nothing to do with me at all. I hope your Majesty will explain it in front of His Highness King Yan after he returns."

"Hmph! My Highness already knows what happened. He knows that these people have nothing to do with Lord Xicheng, but they are the subjects of your Japanese country after all."

"His Highness sent me here this time to ask for an explanation from King Xicheng. If King Xicheng can satisfy His Highness, this matter will naturally be easy to discuss. If he cannot satisfy His Highness, King Xicheng will ...You have to weigh it carefully."

Hearing this, Hou Guishan broke out in cold sweat again.

Doesn't this mean a clear threat and request for benefits?
If Houguishan's approach does not satisfy Zhu Di, then the 4 Ming Dynasty cavalry on the southern frontline battlefield may be recalled...

But, what should we do to satisfy Zhu Di?

"This... I really don't know what kind of explanation His Highness King Yan wants. I would like to ask the envoy to make it clear."

For the sake of the stable situation in the Southern Dynasty, Hou Guishan finally chose to bow his head and admit it.

"This matter is simple. Lord Xicheng only needs to pay the dispatch fee for my Ming Dynasty cavalry." Ma He said.

"Dispatch fee?"

Not only the civil and military officials in Hou Guishan's dynasty were confused at this time, but it was also the first time they had heard of the term dispatch fee.

Ma He ignored everyone's reactions and said to himself,
"My Ming Dynasty sent [-] cavalry to drive King Xicheng for such a long time. In addition to the casualties, burial expenses and settlement expenses, it is not too much to ask King Xicheng for some dispatch expenses now, right?"

Hou Guishan finally understood, and could only respond with bared teeth: "Not too much, not too much."

After all, what Ma He said was reasonable. Ming Dynasty was not a philanthropist, and Ming Dynasty's army could not be lent to Hou Guishan for free.

"I wonder... Sir, how much dispatch fee do you want? If it's too much, I'm afraid I'm powerless."

Ma Heyi grinned and said with a smile:
"Not too much, not too much, just 50 taels."

Houguishan suddenly took a breath of air.

Isn’t 50 taels too much?

Moreover, the various wood and stones provided to the Ming army in the previous two times were close to one million. During this period, some minor help was provided one after another, plus the dispatch fee of 50 this time.

The money spent on Houguishan has almost reached 200 million!
The compensation that Zhu Di demanded from Hou Guishan was only 200 million yuan in total.

Calculating it this way, it would be better to just pay compensation and settle the matter!
This time Ma He asked him for dispatch fees, and he might ask for some fees next time. These Ming people were like a bottomless pit!
However, in order for his army not to suffer defeat on the battlefield, Hou Guishan still had no choice but to do anything to these Ming people.

This is the dispatch fee, can he not pay it?
If he doesn't give it, I'm afraid Zhu Di will directly recall the more than 4 cavalry tomorrow...

"No, Your Majesty," the finance minister suddenly shouted. "Today, our treasury is extremely empty. If we spend these 50 dispatch fees, the entire country will have big problems!"

When Hou Guishan heard this, he felt even more difficult to make a decision.

If the dispatch fee of 50 yuan is not paid, the Ming Dynasty will withdraw its troops. If it is paid...the own Southern Dynasty regime will face a huge financial crisis, and these Ming Dynasty people will not care about their own life and death.

Ma He saw that Guishan was hesitant and urged him again.

"Master Xicheng needs to make a decision quickly. His Highness doesn't give me much time. I will go back to resume my life after a while..."

After this moment, there was a war between heaven and man in Guishan's heart. He wished someone could make this difficult choice for him.

He once again looked at Junichiro Koizumi, who was at the top of the table.

Junichiro Koizumi also had a look of sadness on his face. After thinking for a moment, he nodded heavily to Kameyama.

For the current plan, we can only temporarily hold back these Ming people. As for the financial problem, let's find another way...

Time passed slowly, and Ma He finally stopped waiting and said:
"I understand what Lord Xicheng means. I will go back to His Highness King Yan and say goodbye!"

After saying that, the horse and the leader dropped the heads in their hands and turned to leave.

"and many more!"

Hou Guishan stopped him urgently, and then said with a painful expression,

"Come here, prepare 50 taels of silver and give it to the envoy."

"Your Majesty!" The finance minister was anxious and wanted to say something else.

"Shut up! Do you want me to face the army and lose on the battlefield again?!" Hou Guishan angrily yelled.

The finance minister instantly turned pale and stopped talking.

The current situation is such that they have no choice but to disobey.

A moment later, 50 pieces of silver were ordered by the finance minister to be prepared.

Ma He ordered his soldiers to take Baiyin with them and bid farewell to Hougui Mountain again.

"The Lord of Xicheng is worthy of being a sensible person. This 50 dispatch fee will definitely satisfy my Highness. This time you, the Japanese people, broke into our military camp without permission. Let's put it aside and say goodbye!"

After Ma He led the people away, the entire hall of Yoshino Palace was still silent.

The 50 silver given out this time made them feel deeply ashamed.

However, their national strength is weak and they still need to rely on the Ming cavalry to stabilize the situation on the battlefield, and they are unable to resist the Ming Dynasty at all.

"Let's leave the court," Hou Guishan lowered his head and sighed.

Many ministers gradually left, and soon only Junichiro Koizumi, Go Kameyama, was left in the palace.

"Your Majesty," Junichiro Koizumi said, but he didn't know what to say.

It was him who came up with the idea to secretly investigate Shi Jianshan this time. He thought it was foolproof, but he didn't expect that it would cause such trouble for the Southern Dynasty and lose 50 silver in vain.

Hou Guishan felt equally sad. They had spent so much time and effort on deploying and training troops and recruiting warriors, but in the end they had failed to achieve anything. It was really unacceptable.

But now there is a more serious problem, that is, the treasury of the Southern Dynasty is really going to bottom out. When the time comes, there will be no money for food and wages, and the army of the Southern Dynasty will not be able to hold on for long!
silent for a long time,
Hou Guishan suddenly said in a deep voice, "According to my order, military expenses will be levied on the people throughout the Southern Dynasty. Those who do not obey will be killed..."

This is the last and only way Houguishan came up with...

Two months passed in the blink of an eye, and the Southern Dynasty regime in Houguishan did not face any fatal crisis.

Relying on military expenditures forcibly collected from the people, the Southern Dynasty court barely stabilized the situation.

Just for a while, the people under the jurisdiction of the entire Southern Dynasty were complaining.

The imperial court's collection of military expenses is, to put it bluntly, more like bandit robbery. They ask you for money without any explanation. If you don't give it enough, they break into your home and steal it!
If they are obstructed, the soldiers will kill people mercilessly!

After this military expenditure was collected, the number of people in the Southern Dynasty who died at the hands of soldiers was as many as one hundred thousand!
The situation in Japan is getting more and more chaotic...

At the same time,
In the country of Ming Dynasty.

The popularization of assembly lines has accelerated the production speed of firearms manufacturers. In two months, [-] repeating muskets have been manufactured.

After excluding those with quality problems, there are still more than 9000, which is getting closer and closer to the [-] repeating muskets required by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Cao Wei, on the other hand, has been leading people to improve artillery. After countless experiments, he finally found a new direction!
Right now,

Cao Weizheng led a group of craftsmen who worked with him to improve muskets and came to Zhengkan Village where he once lived.

Each of them holds a vessel, and scrapes a layer of white powder with an iron sheet from the corners, eaves, and piled earth, stone and bricks of each house, and puts it into the vessel.

Someone in the village saw their sneaky appearance and wanted to report it to the official, but when they saw Cao Wei's face, they suddenly became extremely enthusiastic.

After learning the purpose of Cao Wei and his party, the villagers even organized people to help.

Now Cao Wei is already a famous celebrity in the entire Yingtian Mansion. The villagers who once lived in the same village as Cao Wei also feel proud and stand straight when they brag outside.

Now seeing Cao Wei again, the enthusiasm of these villagers even made Cao Wei a little unbearable.

Within a moment, with the help of many villagers, Cao Wei got a large tank of saltpeter without any effort.

These saltpeters may seem inconspicuous, but they are Cao Wei's new ideas for improving artillery.

The previous method of using fuses to ignite artillery shells was finally abandoned after Cao Wei's many experiments.

Because the timing of the shell explosion was difficult to control and prone to danger, there was a problem with the fuse burning during the period. The gunpowder in the gun barrel did not ignite, causing the shell to explode in the chamber.

Fortunately, Cao Wei asked the craftsmen to retreat a certain distance after lighting the fuse. Only a few people were injured and no one died.

After that, Cao Wei thought hard and finally thought of another method.

It is to add a detonator to the front of the cannonball, similar to the primer at the bottom of the musket bullet. It will only be triggered after impact, and then ignite the internal gunpowder.

To ensure that the detonator of the artillery shell will always hit the ground accurately and trigger, the shape of the artillery shell must be changed to the shape of a musket bullet. The front is a cone, where the detonation device is placed, and the middle is a cylinder, which is loaded with gunpowder.

Then a huge broaching machine is used inside the barrel to pull out the rifling, so that the cannonball can always maintain a consistent flight trajectory after being fired.

Of course, this is just Cao Wei's idea now, and it is an improved artillery under ideal conditions.

As for whether it will work or not, it depends on the experimental results later.

(End of this chapter)