Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 103
In addition to breakthroughs in gunpowder, Sun Yuanhua also developed and produced a variety of new artillery shells with the help of information provided by Zhu Tianqi and Thai and Western craftsmen.

There are ordinary hollow-point grenades. The difference between this kind of grenade and ordinary artillery shells is that it is not solid, but a hollow shell filled with gunpowder. After it is launched, the time fuse of the grenade is ignited at the same time. If the time fuse is set properly, the grenade will If it explodes at the expected time after being discharged from the chamber, it can explode into dozens of pieces of shrapnel, causing powerful lethality in a wide range.

There are also more powerful shrapnel, that is, based on the grenade, a large number of small lead bullets, iron flakes, caltrops, etc. are filled inside the shell, and a time fuse is also used. If this kind of shrapnel explodes just above the enemy, it will kill a lot of people. The power is extremely amazing.

In fact, whether they are hollow point grenades or shrapnel shells, the blooming ammunition currently used by the Ming Army is very similar. However, the blooming ammunition of the Ming Army lacks clear production standards and is very rough in production. Especially the setting of the time fuse is very random. Yes, it's all a matter of luck.

The Taixi people use precise calculations and multiple experimental verifications to set and adjust the time fuses of the shells used in various types of artillery, so as to ensure that the shells can explode in the most suitable time interval after being ejected from the chamber, achieving the maximum Lethality.

While the gunpowder and shells for the cannon were solved, the musket team responsible for developing the flintlock gun also successfully made the first flintlock gun. After a test firing, it was found that during the time it took for the matchlock to fire one shot, the flintlock gun At least three or four shots can be made. If this gap is put on the battlefield, it will be absolutely crushed.

Therefore, even those Europeans who developed it themselves were very shocked by the power of the flintlock gun, as if they had seen some kind of big killer weapon beyond their knowledge, because they knew that this small flintlock gun Firing a gun will be enough to change the pattern of war.

Sun Yuanhua also realized this, so he paid more attention to the further development and improvement of flintlock guns, as well as mass production, than the research and development of new cannons.

After reading Sun Yuanhua's work report on the recent period, Zhu Tianqi also strongly agreed with Sun Yuanhua's suggestion of "focusing on the research and development of new fire guns and stepping up their efforts in mass production." He immediately approved his memorial and ordered him to complete the review of the fire guns as soon as possible. The research and development and improvement work of the pistol will be put into mass production as soon as possible, and we will strive to produce hundreds of them before the end of the year.

Now whether it is Liaodong or Northwest, there are frequent good news, and things are progressing very smoothly. Zhu Tianqi's mood is getting better day by day, but there is still one thing that makes him feel very worried-money!
Over the past six months or so, he has reissued his salary and military pay, supported military affairs in Liaodong, allocated money and grain to supply the disaster relief work of the Shaanxi Governor's Office, and maintained the northwest military industrial base. It can be said that he has spent money like water and watched his own money disappear. The silver is getting less and less day by day. It used to be nearly 3000 million taels of silver, millions of gold and tens of thousands of treasures, but now half of the silver in my hand has been spent.

Zhu Tianqi did not want to use this gold. Today's gold is not that valuable, and the ratio of gold to silver is very low. This is mainly because the Ming Dynasty mainly uses silver as its currency. The value of gold will have to wait until Newton establishes the gold standard in the future. will gradually improve.

Of course, after Westerners established gold as hard currency, the economic impact on the Ming Dynasty, a country with silver as its main currency, was very large. Therefore, Zhu Tianqi naturally would not let Westerners come up with such a trick first. , let Ming make such a mistake again, and this time he will have to make Westerners lose completely in this currency war.But these are all things for later. All in all, now Zhu Tianqi must plan carefully to maximize the value of the savings in his hands. Now that he doesn't have much money in his hands, the remaining money must be spent wisely. If one day all the money in my hand is spent, it will be even more difficult for the Ministry of Accounts to ask for money.

All in all, money from the treasury can naturally be used for official affairs of the imperial court. However, even if he is the emperor, and even if Xu Guangqi, the current Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, is also his trusted minister, if he wants to use the money in the treasury, he still has to talk to the cabinet and The ministers in the court had to argue and battle wits with each other, but they were not as tough as they are now using their own private money.

Naturally, everything in the imperial court requires money. If you want to do things and use money, you have to reach out to the Ministry of Household Affairs and get approval from the ministers. Otherwise, the money cannot be allocated and things cannot be done. !
After all, as the emperor, he still has not established enough prestige in front of the ministers. So how can this "prestige" be established?
Zhu Tianqi understands it this way: "The fist is the last word, and political power comes from the barrel of a gun!"

Therefore, Zhu Tianqi believed that he should follow the example of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Chengzu Zhu Di. To be tough enough, the prerequisite for being tough is to firmly hold the "military power" of the Ming Dynasty in his hands. Naturally, holding "military power" cannot only be against The army has control, but it is about establishing prestige in the army so that all soldiers will truly admire and love themselves and swear to be loyal to them to the death.

The only way to achieve such a goal is to establish "martial arts" and achieve achievements and achievements in war that far exceed those of the previous dynasties. By then, his backbone will naturally become stronger.

Speaking of war, the problems existing in the Chief Envoy of Shaanxi Province have now been greatly alleviated. There should be no possibility of civil commotion. All health stations across the country have also repaid several years of arrears. The dissatisfaction of the soldiers against the imperial court was also curbed, the livelihood problems of many low-level soldiers were solved, and the possibility of mutiny was extremely low.

Although the tax reform and the promotion of the new tax law have infringed on the interests of the gentry class, because of their rich family wealth, these people like to "look forward and backward" in doing things and cannot do those "all-or-nothing" things, so there is no need to worry about their rebellion. , but it is inevitable to go against the court secretly and cause trouble for yourself.

Therefore, the interior of Daming is still relatively peaceful now, and the possibility of war is very low, so the first war Zhu Tianqi will face is most likely to deal with Jiannu, and the series of wars that Zhu Tianqi has done so far What happened was precisely in preparation for the war with the slaves.

Zhu Tianqi not only wants to start a war with Jiannu, but also wants to win the first battle and completely defeat Jiannu. Through this war, he will show the power of Ming Dynasty and the power of the king of Ming Dynasty to Daming and the surrounding countries. Let the Ming Dynasty be convinced both inside and outside!

(End of this chapter)