golden scales

Zhu Cilang was well aware of the low efficiency and high consumption of government affairs, so he wanted to introduce private capital and use a more effective management model to increase the quality and supply of gunpowder.For modern firearms troops, gunpowder is actually a bottomless pit.There is a world of difference between a soldier who has fired ten shots before going into battle and a soldier who has fired only one shot.

Especially in the era of front-loading guns, even if the amount of charge was determined with paper bullets, there was a difference in stabbing them with a stick.If you poke it too hard, the gunpowder will be too tight, and the internal combustion will not be sufficient to produce the best effect.If it is too loose, the gas will escape after ignition, and it will not be able to achieve satisfactory power.

This "neither loose nor tight is just right" is not something that can be expressed in words. Only the soldiers can feel it by themselves through repeated live ammunition.Therefore, it is said that the combat effectiveness of the Shenji Battalion cannot be compared with that of the early Ming Dynasty. The main reason is that there is too little drill and fewer live ammunition.

Especially against the Mongolian and full cavalry.When the cavalry enters the range of the musket, it is only a hundred steps away from the musketeer.Speeding up the horse, the distance of a hundred steps is only tens of seconds, even if you want to escape, you can't escape.Therefore, the musketeers of the Ming army always fired from outside the range, and there was movement, but they did not see the person on the opposite side fall off their horses, and then escaped with peace of mind.

To change this painful situation, the only way is to strengthen the coordination of tactical formations, so that the killer team dominated by spearmen can effectively protect the firearms team, and at the same time allow the musketeers to get more training opportunities, advance and retreat in a certain way, and reduce battle damage while playing a greater role.

"How much money you make is secondary, what matters is the supply of high-quality gunpowder." Zhu Cihong said to Liu Ruoyu: "In addition to gunpowder, gunpowder and explosives have to be produced for me as soon as possible."

The Ming army has gunpowder and gunpowder, which are made by changing the formula according to the different characteristics of guns.Zhu Cihong was a little surprised when he found out earlier, and felt that it was rare for Daming to have such a fine classification under such a bureaucracy.However, after the actual test, it was discovered that although there is such a classification, there is no actual difference.The people below just care whether the portion is sufficient or not, and don't care about the difference in formula.

Zhu Cihong had no choice but to set up another laboratory in Anmin Factory to re-determine the proportion of gunpowder formula.Speaking of which, this matter is purely done by people. As long as you have a sufficiently precise balance, patiently carry out the ratio test, and make test records, there is no difficulty in determining the formula.

In fact, this is also the early research method of most material sciences, by adding and subtracting specific gravity and replacing materials to find the most economical and practical formula.Not only gunpowder, but even steel alloys are made in this way.Gunpowder is only the first step, and all other industries related to the national economy and people's livelihood must be in their own hands.

Zhu Cihong suddenly thought of Marx's conclusion about the greedy surname of the bourgeoisie for no reason. Although the so-called bourgeoisie has not yet formed in Ming Dynasty, as a budding businessman, he has shown his greedy and ugly side without hesitation. A piece of cake.

"Your Highness, there is a decree from the palace." Liu Ruoyu flashed into the study of His Highness the Prince, and said warmly.An Minchang was praised by the prince, and his mood was naturally much easier.Even if there is any mistake in the future, with the prince's praise and protection, it will not be implicated in him.

"What's the matter?" Zhu Cihong didn't raise his head.

"The emperor summoned the ministers on the platform. Zhang Fengxiang, the servant of the Ministry of War, asked His Majesty to go to the army. All the ministers begged to go out on behalf of the emperor. My soldier Feng Yuanbiao asked His Royal Highness to go west to Luoyang to help the army."

Zhang Fengxiang originally didn't intend to personally take such a highly controversial matter to himself. After Yingzong, anyone who dared to persuade the emperor to conquest himself, no one could escape the curse of "killing a sycophant" and "Wang Zhenyu".There was no way this could be done, the civil fort happened too early, so that it left an extremely strong shadow on the young Daming.

The cowardly ministers even rejected all wars because of this, and even victorious battles were unacceptable.This is why during the battle of Imchen and Pingwo in the three major campaigns of Wanli, the Koreans tried their best to praise the Ming generals, and the Japanese tried their best to praise themselves. Only the records of the Ming Dynasty had a lot of criticism and even twisted and cursed voices.

In their logic, if a general cannot win a fight, he should be killed.If the general wins the battle, the emperor's self-confidence will inflate, so that he will resort to military force, so he should be killed.It's just that the former can be punished by canon, while the latter can only be killed with a knife and pen.

What really prompted Zhang Fengxiang to change his original intention was a fellow villager.

The relationship of fellow countrymen is inferior to that of the same family, the same year, and classmates in the officialdom of Ming Dynasty. It is a tasteless relationship that can be used or discarded.A fellow censor "inadvertently" let him know that a group of people in the Metropolitan Procuratorate were secretly planning a proposal to instigate a personal conquest.Reminiscent of the prince's previous express, Zhang Fengxiang suddenly realized that this was a good opportunity to enter the Tide stall, and was very annoyed at his slow response before.He went home overnight to lay out paper to write, and finally sent the memorial to the emperor from the perspective of the Ministry of War before the censor.

Sure enough, even if the censor followed, there were three memorials that afternoon requesting His Majesty the emperor to personally conscript.Of course, Chongzhen could not ignore this voice, and in the evening, he summoned important ministers on the platform to discuss personal conquest.

In view of the history of the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet ministers and Shufu certainly could not agree to the emperor's personal conquest, and they all began to scold.It's a pity that Chongzhen's surname is that the more you scold me, the more you will do it. Originally, there was a sense of entanglement about the personal conquest, but now I firmly believe in Zhang Fengxiang's argument: Only when the emperor goes to Luoyang, can the army be inspired. Prompt the governors and generals to use their lives.

Zhu Cihong finally waited until this moment, ordered the guard camp of the East Palace, and went straight to the platform.

Chen Yan had already been extremely annoyed with the people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of War, but there was nothing he could do.His prestige was not enough in the first place, and the reason why he was able to achieve this position was also related to Emperor Chongzhen's consistent imperial methods.

Since Chongzhen ascended to the pole, he first wiped out Wei Zhongxian who endangered his own safety, destroyed the "Three Dynasties Essential Code", and overturned the Donglin Party's verdict, but he did not reuse them as the Donglin Party members hoped.The two most popular chief assistants of the Chongzhen Dynasty, Wen Tiren and Zhou Yanru, both regarded themselves as lonely ministers. On the other hand, Donglin Party members can only serve in positions such as the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Sixth Branch Gallery, which is enough to prove the role of the emperor's check and balance. smell.

In particular, Zhou Yanru's case was severely punished, and it was also because Zhou Yanru, who was the chief assistant at the time, suffered a brain attack and negotiated peace with the remnants of the Donglin Party, which aroused the emperor's fury and lost his life.

Of course, Chen Yan was not a member of the Donglin Party, and it was destined that his voice in the court would not be very loud.Even if he strongly opposes the emperor's personal conquest, no one may cheer for him.As a result, he had no choice but to settle for the next best thing, and asked for an important minister to go to war on behalf of the sky.The Metropolitan Procuratorate should be satisfied with this. After all, their purpose is to let the prince go to war.

This can be seen from Feng Yuanbiao's memorabilia in which Feng Hengkong was born.

——It is really not an auspicious sign for the country to have such a soldier-loving prince.

Chen Yan thought to himself.

"What does the old man think?" Chongzhen was always polite to the incumbent Chief Assistant, as long as he was in a normal state of mind, he would not call him by his first name.

"I think," Chen Yanlue pondered for a while, as if he was really using his brain, "the discussion between the center and the officials is reasonable, but their vision is not open, they only see the benefits, not the harm."

"Mister, please explain carefully." Chongzhen leaned forward.He is not a prophet who knows 500 years later, nor is he a god-man with piercing eyes and ears. Although he has heard about Chen Yan's bad reputation in the officialdom, he only thinks it is a villain's criticism and doesn't take it to heart. He still treats him well. Trust is added.

"If your Majesty can personally conscript, perhaps it will really achieve miraculous results." Chen Yan first affirmed the above list of the Ministry of War, then turned to Feng Yuanbiao and said, "However, if you dare to ask me, how many soldiers are there in the Beijing camp? How much will it cost for the soldiers to conscript with His Majesty? It’s not just the soldiers’ salaries, His Majesty personally conscripts, and hundreds of officials accompany him, if all the expenses fall on the local states and counties, can the common people afford it?”

The problem of money and food has always been a big problem for Chongzhen.People say that Chongzhen is a "heavy levy", which shows that the increase in food and pay has forced the people to resent the imperial court.No one is willing to be born in a world where taxes are extremely heavy, and hand over hard-earned money to those rich and powerful to spend extravagantly. (To be continued.)