Daming: My boss Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 324 I am willing to lead the way

After Li Shanchang finished speaking, he also looked at Zhu Yuanzhang, waiting for him to show suspicion.

However, what surprised him was that Zhu Yuanzhang did not have any suspicion at all because of Li Wei's words. Seeing this, his heart sank slightly, wondering why His Majesty trusted this young and reckless man so much.

Although Li Wei was the consort, many nobles in the court were related to Zhu Yuanzhang, and this relationship alone was not enough for him to obtain such a holy favor.

"The matter of conquering Japan is put on hold for now. We need to think about something."

Zhu Yuanzhang finally chose to let it go first. As Li Shanchang said, the Northern Yuan Dynasty was not destroyed, and the Ming Dynasty was in urgent need of recuperation. Although the Japanese provocation made him angry, the real threat was much smaller than that of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

When Li Shanchang heard this, he smiled slightly. After some debate, he finally achieved the result he wanted.

Li Wei's heart sank. Once this kind of thing is shelved, it will basically go nowhere. How long will it take for the Ming Dynasty to recuperate, and when will the Beiyuan Dynasty be destroyed? Even if this is achieved, by the time Lao Zhu's anger has dissipated and his rationality has regained the high ground, he will probably stop fighting.

Frankly speaking, it is indeed not a good time to fight against Japan now, but Li Wei just wants to fight, and this is also his opportunity to explore the deep sea. No matter what, he must prepare a retreat.

"If your Majesty is worried that the losses will be too great and will damage the country's foundation, the cost of this expedition can be borne by the minister alone, and the soldiers and generals can also be recruited by themselves!"

Li Wei said with some eagerness.

Li Wei frowned and nodded. He also knew that military power was a very sensitive matter for any emperor, especially the founder of the country like Zhu Yuanzhang. The words just now were made by him in a fit of impatience.

Li Wei was stunned for a moment, then frowned and fell silent, feeling a little confused.

Although Li Wei was unwilling, he knew that now was not the time to say more, so he had to retreat.

Wu Bozong frowned and reminded.

Li Wei sighed: "Actually, I don't need many troops. Ten thousand at most is enough."

Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted loudly, asking him to swallow the rest of his words.

Ru Taisu said seriously.

"Master Marquis, you are too reckless this time. How can you make such nonsense as privately recruiting troops!"

The morning session ended and everyone dispersed.

During the Opium War, the British defeated the late Qing Dynasty with thousands of soldiers. Their weapons were on par with the British at that time, or even better. Their opponent was the Japanese country, which did not even have firearms. Not to mention destroying it, it was... The advantage of ships and guerrilla warfare can also defeat them without the ability to fight back.

After resigning from the court, Li Wei returned to the Arms Bureau.

Seeing Li Wei nodding in agreement, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's not possible. The three thousand guards you have are already the only favorite of the Holy Family. You can't ask for more!"

"Okay, there is no need to discuss this matter again!"

As soon as Li Wei walked out of the hall, Ru Taisu, Wu Bozong and others followed him.

In the current Ordnance Bureau, there are more and more roars of machines and less and less manual beatings, and it is a fiery scene.

When Li Shanchang saw this, he couldn't help shaking his head and laughing. This Li Wei, he thought he was a bit clever, but it turned out that he was still the stupid young man.

However, when Zhu Yuanzhang heard what he said, he became furious: "You bastard! How can you be allowed to mess around privately during the national war?"

With the rifled guns that are about to come out now, coupled with further artillery, and moving the steam engine to the ship to make a steam ship, even if he only has 3,000 men and horses, he will have the confidence to go to Japan and turn it upside down. , the requirement of 10,000 soldiers and horses is just to be on the safe side.

All civil and military officials were also shocked by Li Wei's words. "Private soldiers and horses, do you really want to rebel?"

Li Wei also reacted in a moment, and quickly opened his mouth to explain: "Your Majesty, actually I don't need too many troops..."

Li Wei now has three thousand guards, which is already a great favor from the emperor. Now he actually wants to recruit more troops. No matter how much Zhu Yuanzhang trusted him, he would not be allowed to do this.

When Lu Xiu learned that he was coming, he came over to pay his respects. Li Wei just nodded lightly in response. He was still thinking about his little life.

Looking at the steam engine in front of him, Li Wei shook his head secretly. Unfortunately, this thing was built a little late. It will take some time before it can be moved to the ship. The rifled guns and rifled cannons have just begun to be upgraded.

"How are those rifled guns and artillery made?" Li Wei asked.

"Master Marquis, this kind of equipment driven by steam engines is still being renovated, and those new guns and artillery will have to wait for a while."

Lu Xiu replied softly.

The steam engine had just been built a day or two ago, so no matter how fast it was, it couldn't be this fast.

Li Wei sighed with some disappointment. If these things had already been made, then he could easily convince Zhu Yuanzhang by showing them to him, but now these conceptual products alone have limited persuasion.

"Let's do this. You can find a few skilled craftsmen to pull out some rifled guns by hand. I can use them."

"Yes, Lord Marquis!" Lu Xiu agreed respectfully.

Li Wei still felt that he couldn't wait until everything was completed before presenting the treasure. He had to give Lao Zhu a vaccination first, lest he suddenly listed the Japanese country as a country without conquests one day, and then it would be more embarrassing to think about mobilizing troops!

Three days later, the craftsmen rifled the barrel according to the method taught by Li Wei, assembled it into a flintlock rifle, and made some bullets similar to Mini bullets for testing. The performance was indeed much stronger than before. Not only did it shoot well, farther, and more accurate.

Li Wei prepared all these and entered the palace during his free time in the afternoon.

In Wuying Palace, as soon as Zhu Yuanzhang dismissed the officials discussing government affairs, Li Wei rushed over.

"See Your Majesty."

"Humph, what do you want from us?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked angrily.

Li Wei didn't care. He stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the Ordnance Bureau has made something new. I specially report it to Your Majesty."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was a little surprised. He thought that this boy was just for conquering Japan, but he didn't expect such a good thing.

"Tell me."

Li Wei responded respectfully and said softly: "Didn't Your Majesty ask Wei Chen to build an iron car that can run on its own for future generations? I have already preliminary researched one of the main components, and the muskets and artillery have also been greatly improved."

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up in surprise: "Have you built that kind of car?"

"Well, not yet, but there has been some progress. I have built a steam engine that can turn on its own by burning coal. You only need to install this kind of machine on a larger car, and the car can run by itself. Of course It is better to make it into a train. Just lay the track for it, and it can travel thousands of miles in a day. It can also drag multiple carriages and transport a large amount of luggage. If your Majesty is free, you might as well go and see that machine with me."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but feel quite moved. He glanced at Li Wei and hummed: "Didn't you just come here because we were free? Hum, let's go and take us to see it!"

"According to the order!"

Li Wei said happily.

Zhu Yuanzhang dressed lightly and took a few guards with him, and then went out of the palace to the Arms Bureau with him.

In the Ordnance Bureau, Lu Xiu and others saw Zhu Yuanzhang coming in person and hurriedly bowed to see him. Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand casually and turned to Li Weida: "Where is the machine you mentioned?"

"Your Majesty, this way."

Li Wei raised his hand to lead the way, and Zhu Yuanzhang followed him towards the direction of the steam engine.

As the popping noise became louder and louder, a big wheel that rumbled for transportation appeared in front.

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at the machine that was constantly turning, feeling surprised in his heart.

On Li Wei's computer, he had seen more exquisite and magical things, but when this kind of creation actually appeared in reality, he was still shocked!

"Your Majesty, please see, this machine is called a steam engine. As the name suggests, it is driven by the steam generated by boiling water. The steam is generated from the boiler and enters the cylinder through the pipe. It loses the reciprocating motion of the piston, thereby driving the flywheel and other machinery. "

"Steam engines can not only be used as trains to transport large quantities of goods, but can also do many other things, such as driving looms to weave cloth, driving generators to generate electricity, as well as lathes, grinders and other machinery manufacturing as well as agricultural machinery..."

"In short, with it, human productivity will be greatly improved, and more things can be produced with the same number of people!" Li Wei concluded.

Zhu Yuanzhang listened quietly. Although he didn't understand many things, he still listened patiently to Li Wei's words. Then he stared at the "steam engine" and said, "The iron car we saw is very small. Can a big guy like you pretend to be there?"

"Well, Your Majesty, when tall buildings rise from the ground, things must be done step by step. This is just a rudimentary external combustion engine. The internal combustion engine used in cars needs to be studied slowly."

Li Wei explained.

Industrial development does not happen overnight. Unless we can directly bring over the production equipment of later generations, we have to start from scratch and do it step by step.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was a little disappointed, he still nodded. At least the "steam engine" in front of him had confirmed the possibility of making those things in the movie.

"Of course, laying tracks to build a train is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it is not a one-time effort, but if you build a ship, it will be faster. The ship is already huge. It is easy to install this kind of steam engine. You only need to make some supporting equipment." Propellers allow ships to completely get rid of their dependence on wind power and sail at high speeds, and with steel and steam engines, larger ships can be built with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of materials!"

Li Wei said passionately.

Most of today's ships only have one or two thousand materials. A "giant ship" like Chen Youliang only has three thousand materials, which translates into a displacement of only more than one thousand tons. A ship with ten thousand materials is only about five thousand tons. Of course, Li Wei's 100,000 materials It seems a bit bragging.

"Huh, so what?"

Upon hearing these words, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately realized that this brat was still mentioning the war against Japan.

Li Wei didn't hide it and said frankly: "Your Majesty, with this kind of ship, it only takes a few days to send troops to the Japanese country. Moreover, these ships can also be equipped with many artillery. It's just like playing to hit them. All you need is an order from your Majesty." My Majesty, I am willing to take the lead and lead the troops in battle!"

Every time he was asked to go out to fight in the war before, he had repeatedly declined. This time it was rare for him to take the initiative to ask for help.

(End of this chapter)