Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Brother Gu, congratulations!"

"With the status of a Yuanshi, you don't have to worry about the imperial examinations."

Looking at the Chinese envoy going away, Zhang Yongan congratulated him.

He really didn't expect that the article he and Gu Yanwu wrote would be seen by the emperor.

Not only was he awarded another year's merit, but Gu Yanwu, who pointed out the problem, was also commended by the emperor for his achievements in guarding Tsinghua Garden and writing "On Military System", and was specially granted the status of a Yuanshi.

Yuanshi is known as a national hero. Sixteen-year-old Yuanshi is the youngest Yuanshi today.

After this incident, Gu Yanwu will surely become famous and be scrutinized by the government and the public.

Everyone would wonder what ability this young man had to be treated so well by the emperor?
Gu Yanwu was also a little confused at this time, because he had never thought that he would be specially granted the status of a Yuanshi.

For him, who had only passed the examination for two years, what he was thinking about now was how to pass the provincial examination. The matter of Jinshi and Yuanshi was never within his consideration.

Moreover, his own family knows his own business. When he was guarding Tsinghua University, he only gave advice and strategies and never took part in the battle himself.

Pointing out the problems of the new army in the patrol camp is just like writing "On the Military System", so it is just a strange statement.

Unexpectedly, he was valued by the emperor and was specially granted the status of Yuanshi.

Feeling uneasy, he immediately thought of refusing. However, seeing the scrutinizing eyes and whispers of the people around him except Zhang Yongan, the arrogance in his heart emerged, and he laughed:

"What's so good about this?"

"Isn't the status of a Yuanshi easy for you and me to obtain?"

"Brother Zhang will surely be granted the status of a Yuanshi in the future."

He rolled up the imperial edict and put it away, showing that he was fully responsible for it.

Zhang Yongan was stunned when he saw this, and then smiled bitterly. He didn't think he could be specially granted the status of Yuanshi.

Those who were specially granted the status of Yuanshi in the army were scholars who had made great contributions, such as Sun Yuanhua and Mao Yuanyi. Why should I, a son of a scholar who served in the military, be specially granted the status of Yuanshi?
So he pulled Gu Yanwu's sleeve to tell him not to talk nonsense, intending to pull this arrogant young man back.

However, at this moment, Xu Guangqi's words forced them to stay:

"The decree has been issued, and the memorial has been approved."

"Everyone, please discuss what to do with the deserters?"

"Gu Yuanshi, Lieutenant Zhang, you should also stay and talk about how to formulate this charter?"

Zhang Yongan was a lieutenant, and when he met the gaze of the Grand Secretary, he was speechless for a moment.

Gu Yanwu was not afraid of such a big scene, and said loudly:

"Deserters must be dealt with, otherwise it would be unfair to the soldiers who obeyed orders to fight."

"Gu believes that notices should be posted immediately around the area, and military judges should send letters to the garrisons where there are deserters, ordering them to return to the camp."

"When they return, they will be demoted to auxiliary soldiers and do hard labor in the army. They will also be punished by having their merits reduced as punishment for deserting."

"If anyone refuses to return to the camp, he will be demoted to a military household and exiled overseas by Marquis Yangwu."

These words made all the officers in the patrol camp cheer, but Zhang Yongan wanted to cover his face after hearing them.

Didn't these officers know how to punish deserters? It was just that they were concerned about the emperor's attitude and did not dare to use military law to punish them severely.

Now the emperor's order is clear, allowing the patrol camp to increase military judges and establish a gendarmerie, which means that as long as the soldiers make mistakes, they can let the gendarmerie enforce military law.

The reason why no one said it out loud was that they were worried about hurting the emperor's kindness, so they planned to carry it out quietly.

Now that Gu Yanwu has said this, these officers can push the blame onto Gu Yanwu and tell the soldiers that it is because of this person that military law has become stricter.

The emperor and they were all kind, the bad guy was Gu Yanwu.

It can be said that Gu Yanwu is now just a scapegoat, shouting out what they are about to do.

Zhang Yongan couldn't imagine how many soldiers would curse Gu Yanwu when they faced military law in the future, and blame this person for the stricter military law.

But the fledgling Gu Yanwu obviously did not think about these things, or simply did not bother to think about them.

He formulated military regulations for the patrol camp according to his own ideas and recommended that they be strictly enforced.

Xu Guangqi admired him very much, and wanted to protect the young man, so he asked:

"Gu Yuanshi has such a profound understanding of military law and military system. I wonder if he would be willing to work part-time in the military police as a lieutenant of the guard?"

When a Yuanshi first took office, his rank was lower than the eighth rank of the five-class Jinshi and he could only start from the ninth rank.

The only difference is that the probation period is the same as that for Jinshi, which is also four years.

After Gu Yanwu was specially granted the status of a Yuanshi, he was appointed as the ninth-rank secretary of the Hanlin Academy.

So Xu Guangqi asked him if he was willing to work part-time.

Gu Yanwu was willing to continue to work part-time in the army, but he rejected Xu Guangqi's offer to transfer him to the military police, saying:

"Gu hasn't figured out how to be an instructor yet."

"After I learn everything from Lieutenant Zhang, I will repay the bachelor for his appreciation."

He still planned to serve as a trainee instructor in Zhang Yongan's squadron.

When Xu Guangqi heard this, he looked at Zhang Yongan in surprise.

Although he knew that Zhang Yongan was capable, he did not expect that he could actually defeat Gu Yanwu.

Being able to make this arrogant young man talk about learning, it can be seen that Zhang Yongan must have something unique. I have to pay more attention to it in the future.

Maybe Zhang Yongan will be awarded the title of Yuanshi in the future as Gu Yanwu said.

So he approved Gu Yanwu's request and allowed him to continue serving as a trainee instructor in Zhang Yongan's squadron.

At this time, Zhang Yongan didn't know what to say.

He didn't want to put Gu Yanwu, a troublesome character, in his squadron. Such an arrogant young man might do something and destroy the soldiers he had trained so hard.

But Gu Yanwu insisted on following him, and Xu Xueshi also spoke. He had no ability to resist and could only accept it.

On the way back to the temporary camp in Tsinghua Park, he said to Gu Yanwu earnestly:

"Brother Gu, the squadron has a direct communications officer and a medical officer who can help the officers with some trivial matters." "Pick two reliable ones from them and they must not leave."

"Otherwise, if you get bullied accidentally, don't blame me for not warning you."

Gu Yanwu said strangely:
"Why would I be bullied?"

"Could it be that any soldier from the Second Squadron dared to bully the instructor?"

Zhang Yongan said meaningfully:
"There are no soldiers from the Second Squadron, but the same cannot be said for the other squadrons."

"If they know that Gu Yuanshi, who was shouting about being punished, is here, they might hit you with a club."

"We must pay attention during this period and not let our guard down."

Two soldiers were forcibly assigned to Gu Yanwu to guard him day and night, in order to avoid the incident of Yuan Shi being beaten, which would be embarrassing for both the emperor and Xu Xueshi.

Under their protection, Gu Yanwu was not hit by a club. He just nearly fell down a few times when he went to the toilet.

This made him realize more deeply the complexity of the military and that it was not easy to get things done.

Gradually, he learned from Zhang Yongan how to be humble and talk to soldiers. When he encountered problems, he no longer rushed forward without thinking, but wrote reports to his superiors and asked for their instructions.

The soldiers of the Second Squadron also gradually accepted him and affectionately called him "Little Gu Yuanshi."

Zhang Yongan also learned from Gu Yanwu how to be confident and to be more courageous in doing things. Instigated by Gu Yanwu, he wrote down his experience as a squadron leader and instructor. He wanted to write a book to help him become a Yuanshi in the future.

In this way, the two young men encouraged each other and gradually established the regulations for grassroots officers in the army.
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Zhu Youjian did not expect that Gu Yanwu would achieve such a great career in the army. The reason why he specially appointed Gu Yanwu as Yuanshi was simply because he felt that this man had great talent and did not want him to bury himself in the Four Books and Five Classics and be delayed by examinations.

In addition, Gu Yanwu's contribution was barely acceptable and he could now use the imperial edict, so he added Gu Yanwu's name to the list of this group of Yuanshi.

The reason also includes the four words "student representative", and it is believed that Gu Yanwu's performance can be regarded as a role model for college students in Beijing.

Therefore, Gu Yanwu's special grant of the title of Yuanshi did not cause much disturbance in the capital. The most discussed person in the court and the public was the craftsman Lü Xiang, who was also granted the title of Yuanshi.

Although he was proposed by the Ministry of Works and recommended by Qian Jiazheng, Sun Yuanhua, Mao Yuanyi and other Yuanshi, Zhu Youjian did not add him privately. There were still many criticisms from both the court and the public, and many civil officials believed that craftsmen should not be given the status of Yuanshi.

In order to clear Lü Xiang's name, Zhu Youjian asked Lü Xiang to demonstrate his improved hot air balloon, allowing people to pay to experience it and take the public up into the sky.

This attracted the attention of many students who liked novelty. In addition, the emperor once offered a reward for hot air balloons and specially granted the status of Yuanshi to anyone who calculated the buoyancy.

Many students and scholars began to work hard in this area, hoping to obtain the status of a Yuanshi.

The criticism from both the government and the public was suppressed. Many students believed that Lu Xiang, who created the hot air balloon, could be called a national hero.

There will definitely be a record of this in future history books.

However, for Zhu Youjian, Lu Xiang's greatest contribution was not the hot air balloon, but the fact that he built the gun bolt according to his own instructions.

Although this type of breech block was very primitive and its airtightness was not ideal, the range of breech-loading guns such as the Portuguese cannon was much higher than before.

In addition, Lü Xiang improved the sub-gun, and concentrated the gunpowder and bullet in the sub-gun as the emperor said. He also improved the shape of the bullet and manufactured cylindrical bullets, round-headed bullets, pointed bullets, shrapnel bullets, shrapnel bullets, armor-piercing shells, etc., which greatly improved the effectiveness and practicality of breech-loading guns.

This made Zhu Youjian very happy, and he even called this kind of artillery "Lü's Cannon", abbreviated as PL, and determined the calibers of the new breech-loading cannons to be PL50, PL75, PL100, and PL125.

Today, major workshops are busy manufacturing this kind of artillery, preparing to let the new troops of the patrol camp try it out. Next year, an artillery team will be sent out to fight against the Jianlu.

It can be said that artillery with a breech block is very popular.

But the musket with a bolt was a bit mediocre.

This is not only a question of breath-holding performance, but also mainly due to the difference in the number of people using it.

When artillery is in use, there are multiple gunners responsible for different tasks.

A loader loads the sub-gun into the barrel and aligns the firing port of the sub-gun with the ignition hole on the barrel.

There are gunners responsible for the breech block, gunners responsible for firing, and there are also specialized personnel for cleaning the barrel, carrying the shells, etc.

Because the sub-gun would become too hot after firing, the gunners who took out the sub-guns were equipped with fire-proof cloth made of asbestos to prevent their hands from getting burned.

It can be said that no matter how complicated the work is, it will become very simple after being divided among several people.

However, these conditions are not met when using muskets.

It is impossible for a musket to be operated by seven or eight people like a cannon, only one or two people at most.

So the final result was the musket that Zhu Youjian had originally envisioned, which was similar to a raised gun, requiring one person to fire the gun and another to assist.

The shooter was responsible for aiming and firing the musket, as well as cleaning the chamber and pouring gunpowder.

The ammunition handler is responsible for loading the sub-gun and taking out the sub-gun while wearing asbestos gloves.

This resulted in the improved electric gun having a faster firing rate and a similar range than the ordinary musket, but because it occupied two people, it was not worth the cost.

The Equipment Research Institute suggested that small-scale trial production be carried out and deployed in the new army to see the effect.

Zhu Youjian agreed to this suggestion, but he still did not give up the electric gun and made two instructions:

One is to imitate the rifle he knew, make a larger caliber electric gun, and equip it with shotgun shells to use as a small cannon.

Secondly, he drew the appearance of the Mauser rifle based on his memory and briefly introduced the principle of the Mauser-style rotating bolt rifle. He asked Lu Xiang to make a wooden model so that people who studied the electric gun would understand what the continuous electric gun they needed would eventually look like and work towards this direction.

All the problems encountered during the development process, such as metal fixed ammunition, fulminate of mercury primer, firing pin, rifling, etc., must be solved one by one.

The technology developed during this period can also be used on standard muskets to improve the power of current muskets.

Under the personal guidance of the emperor, Lu Xiang made this so-called "rapid-fire electric gun" model, and finally understood what the electric gun that the emperor wanted looked like.

After understanding the principle and power of the rapid-fire musket, personnel from other ordnance research institutes also believed that this type of musket could be developed to completely replace the bow and arrow.

They were right. The complete decline of bows and arrows in China was after the introduction of repeating rifles. Before that, matchlock rifles, flintlock rifles, percussion cap rifles, etc., all failed to completely replace bows and arrows due to their speed of fire.

If the Ming Dynasty wanted to gain an absolute advantage over the Jianlu in terms of weapons, it had to create a repeating gun. This would completely replace the bow and arrow and make the Jianlu lose their greatest advantage.

The same is true for the development of the rotary-barreled thunder gun. Zhu Youjian hopes to build a rotary-barreled machine gun to further increase the rate of fire.

So he once again emphasized the importance of metal fixed bullets and primers, and asked Lu Xiang to make a Gatling machine gun model, so that the Thunder Gun research team could move towards this goal.

Because both the rapid-fire electric rifle and the rotary-barreled thunderbolt rifle needed to use metal fixed ammunition, many of their technologies had something in common. Zhu Youjian merged the relevant research groups and established an advanced weapons research laboratory in the Light Weapons Research Institute to explore these issues.

Because it was difficult for this laboratory to produce results quickly, and officials might not take it seriously, Zhu Youjian instructed the inner court to allocate funds specifically to allow the Armory Bureau to manufacture the weapons designed by this laboratory, helping them to quickly iterate towards their ultimate goal.

The taxes collected from military exploits and temples strongly supported this, allowing Zhu Youjian to have sufficient money to support these studies. (End of this chapter)