Win the Ding 1617

At night, the entire city of Shenyang became dimly lit, and those slaves who had worked hard all day were thankful that they had struggled for another day.

However, in the mansions and government offices of slave-building officials and nobles everywhere, the lights are brightly lit.

Huang Taiji issued a decree in the early morning court, rewarding those who made cannons and firecrackers one after another.Either be promoted to an official position, or rewarded with gold and silver. Even Dorgon, who suggested to train firecrackers, rewarded 1 yuan in silver.

However, it is one thing for Huang Taiji to greatly reward, but he also severely reprimanded Ma Guangyuan and others.

"The Nanman blunderbuss that you imitated have long been stronger than the matchlock blunderbuss of the Ming army. It can be tried and popularized in various departments of the Eight Banners. However, the springs you made are still insufficient compared to the steel leaf springs used by the Nanban! After you go back, you will have to manufacture a more sophisticated steel leaf spring to make the percussion stronger, reduce the misfire rate, and finally be on par with the matchlock.”

Most of the springs made by Chen Banda and others are made of copper wire and wrought iron. Because of the lack of steel in the hands of the rebels in Liaodong, it is impossible to make springs with steel sheets.This misfiring rate problem was undoubtedly exposed when Huang Taiji personally led Gebush Xianchao Harbin soldiers to shoot firecrackers.

But Huang Taiji also knows that it is not a simple matter to increase the fire rate of a flintlock gun. The contact shape of the fire door, the burning speed of the gunpowder, the friction between the flint flake and the scythe, etc., all need repeated research, especially for the anvil and the board. The steel requirements for machine linkage are very high.

Because the flintlock gun is not like the matchlock gun, it uses the flint to move the spark to ignite the gunpowder, and the spark will rise.It needs a strong force, which requires the linkage spring steel to be very sophisticated, otherwise the misfire rate is enough to make people crazy, it is better to use an arquebus.

In European countries, as early as the early seventeenth century, the French had already designed flintlock guns. However, due to various problems such as cost and misfire rate, it was not until the middle and late seventeenth century that there was a navy equipped with flintlock guns. Marine Corps, massive refit.Not even until the early eighteenth century.

The same goes for the British.Until 1645, when Cromwell trained the new British army, only two companies were equipped with flintlocks, and Sweden was equipped with flintlocks for a period of time.Immediately replaced.Replaced with arquebus again.There are also problems in these areas. (So, those traversers who equip their troops with Mini guns really don't know how they did it.)

but.Compared with matchlock guns, the advantages of flintlock guns are also obvious.Among other things, if you use arquebus guns, if you want to shoot at close range and also want to line up the gunmen to meet the enemy, that is impossible. Usually you get into a melee. The gunmen draw their waist knives and fight with the enemy. They are not professional after all. Melee soldiers usually cause unnecessary casualties.However, if flintlock guns are used and paired with gun swords, there is no doubt that the gunfire soldiers can become the vanguard of hand-to-hand combat. Isn't the group of barbarians in the Southern Guangdong Army just after two rounds of salvos and then the whole army assaulted with guns?

Therefore, Huang Taiji was eager to raise the number and level of firearms in the Eight Banners army to a new level before the decisive battle with the Ming army's Jiliao governor Hong Chengchou.

"I must have at least 2000 blunderbuss soldiers in my hands! The princes and lords of the Eight Banners must also have at least [-] in their hands!"

With such a ratio, there is no doubt that Huang Taiji's strength has skyrocketed again. He has 1 firecrackers in his hand, even if the two yellow flags he personally led did not have a single firecracker, plus his son Hauge's Zhenglan flag, their father and son had [-] gunfire soldiers in their hands, and the other five flags had no more than [-] people.Such a disparity in the distribution ratio changed Duduo's face.

"Chen Banda, you are the best at making firearms among my servants. Why don't you say a word?"

Chen Banda, who had recently become the Zhenghuang Banner of the Han Army, hurriedly knelt down on the ground, "I don't dare! I'm just calculating that to create the firecrackers that the emperor mentioned, at least 50 firecrackers are needed. .And to make a gun, just a gun barrel, you need more than ten catties of high-quality wrought iron. This is not counting the waste products that cannot be used. In this way, if I want to build [-] in a short period of time Thousands of firecrackers, just the barrel alone requires at least [-] million catties of good iron!"

"At present, my Qing Dynasty needs to forge cannons, and at the same time, it needs to forge armor and weapons used by the soldiers of the various banners. The consumption of iron materials is already very large. If I continue to forge these firecrackers, I am afraid that the iron materials will not be able to supply for a while! "

Assuming that five catties of wrought iron can be refined into one catty of refined iron, one firecracker requires seven catties of refined iron, one hundred firecrackers requires at least four thousand catties of wrought iron, and twenty thousand is 80 catties.There is also iron armor. A pair of iron armor needs more than 30 catties of refined iron. Although some Nanban armor can be purchased from the Ming army through Shanxi merchants, it is a drop in the bucket after all. Based on do-it-yourself.

"Exquisite guns and other firearms are really powerful weapons to dominate the world. The Ming army's chariots can often block my Qing cavalry, but they can't stop the cannons. In the battle of the Hunhe River in the past, the Ming army's Zhejiang soldiers were outstanding. I can't enter with iron cavalry, but didn't my Qing Dynasty also use cannons to blast away its formation? Flesh and blood can't compare with cannons!"

"As for the iron material, it's easy! Prince Li!"

Huang Taiji saw Prince Li Daishan who was at the front of the prince's team. Since Shuo Tuo was ordered by Huang Taiji to be appointed as the lord of the banner with a red flag, this old guy's strength has been cut in half invisibly.However, Huang Taiji still thinks it is not enough.

"I ordered you to supervise this matter. If there is not enough iron material, I will order people to set up more furnaces for smelting. If the ore is not enough, I will order people to mine in the mountains. I will not hesitate to allocate money and food as needed. But you must let me handle this matter." Be sure to post properly!"

Daishan, whose strength is not as good as before, is a downcast phoenix in Huang Taiji's eyes, and his speech is not as polite as before, completely scolding a slave.

"Your Majesty! The slave has something to do!" With the intention that he would never let go of such an opportunity if he could make things difficult for Dai Shan, Dorgon came out of duty and knelt down in front of Huang Taiji's throne.

"Your servant once heard that Nanman has a secret method in Nanzhong, which can produce tens of thousands of catties of steel in one furnace, so the Nanman army is skilled in weapons and weapons in the world. Shanxi merchants also said that the amount of steel in the land is beyond people's imagination. "

"Based on my slave's humble opinion, it is better to ask Prince Li to contact Shanxi merchants for a while. Let this generation try to get the secret iron smelting skills of the Southern Man. In this way, our Qing Dynasty will not worry about the lack of steel."

Nanban!It's Nanban again!

It seems that there will always be miracles happening in Nanman. From the sea-like grain, rice, oil and salt, to sophisticated and sturdy armor and swords, one mu of land can produce thousands of catties of pasture seeds, and now there is another furnace that can produce The secret method of producing tens of thousands of catties of steel, these Nanmans, do they have the same brains as those in Ningyuan and Jinzhou?

Hauge, Jierhalang and others began to yearn for that distant land.

"Nanban, it's Nanban again!"

Huang Taiji began to mutter in his mouth.

These few years.He also obtained a lot of supplies directly or indirectly from Nanzhong.Some are materials necessary for military and state planning, such as food, weapons, steel, and cloth, and many are spices, porcelain, silk, etc. needed by officials at all levels and nobles.He also obtained hundreds of thousands of stone grains and rice from Zheng Zhilong through the trade of Liaodong specialties such as fur.Let him spend the spring famine smoothly.

but.If you plan to purchase iron weapons directly from Nanban.Even Li Peiting, who has great supernatural powers and is greedy for money rather than righteousness, may not be able to do it.Still can only rely on those Shanxi people.

Thinking of Li Peiting, Huang Taiji couldn't help but look down at the dragon robe he was wearing today, which was given to him by Li Peiting when he went to Shengjing to deliver a batch of cloth, refined salt, etc. not long ago.

The exquisite materials used, the fine workmanship, the rich gold and silver threads used on the dragon robe, and the pearls and gemstones used in various decorations are dazzling.

"The mere amount is a gift from my younger brother to my starling!" When Huang Taiji ordered someone to pay Li Peiting, the second young master politely refused.Not only declined Huang Taiji's dragon robe money, but also ordered his subordinates to take out hundreds of pieces of high-quality silk and hand them over to Zhezhe who attended the banquet as the queen, who is the aunt of "My Xiaozhuang" we are familiar with, "Please The emperor's wife smiled and made some robes for everyone in the palace."

"Alas! It's a pity that this person can only bring me some cloth, silk, sugar, spices, refined salt, etc., but he can't help me with the grain, iron, weapons, gunpowder, etc. that I urgently need!" Thinking of Li Peiting, Huang Taiji There are mixed feelings in my heart.

The limited amount of iron that can be obtained by purchase cannot be relied upon purely on imports in order to increase the size of firearms.In recent years, all the iron materials mined in the Qing Dynasty have been put into the manufacture of artillery and bird guns. Even the iron materials looted from the Ming Dynasty in previous years and smuggled through Shanxi merchants have also been used up.It is really difficult to expand the size of the firearms force.

Moreover, the use of firearms is different from the use of knives and arrows. The results of firearms are amazing, but the consumption is also huge.Different kinds of knives and arrows can be used repeatedly, and often one shell is fired. Unless a complete victory is achieved, the more than ten catties of iron will be reimbursed.Now that Jinzhou and other places are fighting, the gunpowder and guns in stock will be consumed even more.

It seems that in addition to speeding up the pace of smuggling and looting from North Korea, they have to find ways to mine more iron in their own territory.

"Mr. Fan, prepare an imperial decree for the king of Joseon. In order to defeat the Ming Dynasty, I want his country to donate 20 catties of pig iron, [-] catties of copper and lead, and [-] shi of polished round-grained rice before New Year's Day next year."

"In addition, I heard that there are many iron mines in Musan County, North Province, Xianjing, North Korea. I would like to ask the king of Joseon to give this place to me."

The matter of the many irons in Maoshan was also mentioned by Li Peiting inadvertently at the banquet, but the speaker did not intend to listen to it. Huang Taiji now bases himself on solving the steel problem by himself, so the source of iron is naturally very important.

There is no shortage of iron ore in Liaodong. They knew this before the old slaves rebelled. There are iron ore seedlings in Jinzhou, Fuzhou, Gaizhou and other places, and there are many mines.

But at that time, I never thought that one day the demand for iron materials would reach such a huge level.

For the Qing Dynasty, North Korea was all about whatever it wanted.If there is a shortage of food, order North Korea to offer rice; if there is a shortage of copper and lead, order North Korea to offer copper and lead; if there is a shortage of paper, order North Korea to offer it.Now that there is a shortage of iron materials, it is even more necessary for North Korea to offer it together with the mine.Moreover, North Korea must offer countless miners.

In a few words, everyone solved many problems for Prince Li Daishan, making the old Daishan a little dumb and unable to speak out.

There is no way, since Shuo Tuo took over the position of Banner Master, Huang Taiji generously allocated six soldiers and horses to him for some unknown purpose, and expanded the establishment of Xianghong Banner.This action made Shuo Tuo's back much stiffer when speaking in the banner.

Then with the authority of the banner owner.Quietly cleansed his confidantes in the red flag on behalf of Shan.Now he Daishan is not only a polished general, but also has very little money left in his family.

"Your Majesty, I have heard people say that Xiao He owed the first contribution to Han Gaozu's hegemony. Now Prince Li is Xiao He of my Qing Dynasty. First planting pastures, and now preparing iron materials for the entire army, his contribution is no less than Xiao Xiangguo back then."

Looking at Dorgon who was talking eloquently in front of him, Dai Shan wished he could kick this little bastard of Abahai to death!

Obviously colluding with Huang Taiji to poach him in the corner of the two red flags, but they kept sending high hats over one after another.It is difficult to let him represent goodness.This Abahai bastard!

However, how dare people not bow their heads under the eaves?There were 1 Daishan who were unwilling, so they folded their arms and hid them in their sleeves, and knelt down to give thanks when they left the class.

"Prince Li. The military situation is urgent. We can't wait for Shanxi merchants to inquire about the secret metallurgy methods of the Nanman. You have to work hard, arrange more coatings, and build more furnaces. Set up more charcoal kilns to burn charcoal. As for entering the mountains For the mining of iron ore, Prince Lao Li crossed the river and went to North Korea. Let the King of North Korea arrange miners to go into the mountains to mine.”

Daishan's trip to North Korea this time caused the Koreans to face catastrophe again in history. The population loss was huge, no less than the loss when the monkey Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded North Korea.

Not to mention the desolation and barrenness of North Hamgyong Province, and the difficult supply of food and other materials, it is said that the miners who were forcibly recruited used some simple tools to mine, such as hammers and axes. rarities.Without the machinery of later generations, the amount of mining is very small.At this time, Daming already knew how to use gunpowder to blast mines to open mines, but where did North Korea get so much gunpowder?Just let the miners use hammers and axes to chisel the stone vigorously every day.If the ore produced by individual labor is less, it can only be compensated by increasing the number of labor.

The quality of Maoshan Iron Mine is quite good. Open-pit mines account for about 30% of the total reserves, and the grade of high-quality ore reaches 69%. On average, one ton of pig iron can be produced from two tons of iron ore. , but also to smelt pig iron into wrought iron that is easy to forge.If it is to meet the needs of Chen Banda and the Qing Dynasty to build weapons, firearms, and armor, the Maoshan Iron Mine must produce at least hundreds of tons of iron ore a day to be able to barely use it.And these ores still need simple sorting before they can be transported across the Yalu River. After the iron ore is simply smelted in Jilin on the other side of the river, the iron ore is turned into pig iron, and then the pig iron is transported to Shengjing.

The whole process is completely carried out by the civilian husbands provided by North Korea.The work of the miners is very tiring. They work for about six hours a day. They carry the mined ore to the stockyard more than ten miles away in a backpack and pile them up. Every time they go back and forth, they have to carry nearly a hundred catties of ore. Tired on the road.

And after singing and singing with Huang Taiji in the court, they sent the mother-killing enemy out of Shengjing, went to the Yalu River to eat wind and drink dew, cultivate immortals and practice Qi to become living gods. The three Dorgon brothers were naturally very excited. Drink and celebrate in Dorgon's mansion.

"Second brother, the cooks in your house cook far better dishes than those idiots in my house! And this wine is also good! It's really strong! Very strong!"

Duoduo happily cut the beef and mutton carefully prepared by the cooks with a knife.Since Li Peiting opened up the business channel between Nanzhong and the Liaodong rebels, the food level of Dorgon's group of Manchu relatives has immediately reached a huge level.

In the usual lack of salt and spices, beef and mutton with a strong smell, after being carefully fed with spices by the chefs, will have an attractive aroma no matter how they are cooked.Even Kong Youde and others who surrendered from the Ming army were full of praise.

"Duoduo, today you are in high spirits on happy occasions, so it's good to eat anything."

Dorgon smiled and handed him a freshly opened canned fruit, "Come on, try this, this is what the second brother of the Li family left for us, it's really a rarity."

A maid serving by her side took the canned fruit and poured it into a large blue-and-white porcelain bowl. Through the light, the thin walls of the blue-and-white porcelain bowl projected attractive colors outward.In the bowl, crescent-shaped orange petals, orange-red in color, and slightly yellowish soup exude bursts of sweet fragrance.

"Second brother, is this?"

"Brother, this is the canned oranges given to us by the second brother of the Li family. I eat a lot of meat, so eat some of this. It really relieves greasy food!"

"It must be worth a lot, right?"

Azige has long recognized Dorgon's soul and leadership position among the three brothers, but he covets the novelties in the hands of his second brother Dorgon.Why does Li Peiting always give Dorgon first when there are good things? !

"Price? Brother, didn't you and the third brother look at the dozens of newly added Horqin war horses in my stable? That is the price that Wu Keshan from the Horqin Grassland exchanged for me for a box of canned food. There are two other There are ten female slaves of Horqin, and I think some of them are worth seeing, so just pick a few and go!"

Because of his close relationship with Long Shengxing, Dorgon's status in the eyes of Manchu relatives far surpassed his official position itself.In the eyes of the princes, he is not only Prince Rui of the Qing Dynasty, the owner of the Zhengbai Banner, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and a temporary general on command.It is also a bridge for trade with the Nanban.

Many Mongolian princes.In order to be able to replace the cow and sheep skins produced on the grassland with cloth, silk, fine salt, white sugar, etc., I don't hesitate to condescend to come to Prince Rui's mansion to beg, and hope that Prince Rui can help to say something, so that they can win the flag. The people live a little better.

And Wu Keshan.Although you are the Prince of Horqin Zhuoliketu in Mongolia.He is also the nephew of Queen Zhezhe.The eldest brother of two of Huang Taiji's favorite concubines, Bumbutai and Hai Lanzhu.In the seventh year of Tiancong, Huang Taiji and Huang Taiji became in-laws. Huang Taiji's fourth daughter, Princess Gulun Yongmu, Aixinjueluo Yatu betrothed to Wu Keshan's third son, Bil Tahar. (Nimma, what kind of relationship is this? How do you talk about seniority between each other?)

Although the status can be regarded as honorable.But he also has to bow his head and bow his head to Prince Rui Dorgon to make friends and get close.

There is no other reason. You can go to your in-laws, uncle, and brother-in-law Huang Taiji if you have government affairs, but you can't let Huang Taiji make a decree to order those businessmen to trade with you, right?However, Dorgon has this ability.As long as Prince Rui greets you in front of the Nanzhong merchants, the cows and sheepskins produced in your tribe will definitely be bought by the Nanzhong merchants like a storm, in exchange for various items that your tribe needs.

As for Azige and Duoduo, they felt ashamed of Dorgon's long-sleeved skills in this area, and betrayed Fenglei's tricks, so they simply handed over these things to Dorgon.They just need to share their share of the bonus after Dorgon finishes his work.

"Second brother, what kind of benefits did the second brother of the Li family promise to give you?" Duoduo stuffed a few orange slices into his mouth, and the sweet and refreshing taste immediately filled his mouth. Even better.

"The benefit is not small, but I don't know if I can eat it!" Dorgon frowned.

Li Peiting proposed to him to expand the scope of entrepot trade with Manchurian and Mongolian ministries through the two white flags, which made Dorgon still a little hesitant.

"Second brother Li said that this year the Nanman captured Fujian, and there are tea producing areas in Guangdong, Guangxi, and southern Jiangxi. He intends to dominate the tea business and drive Shanxi people out of this area!"

"What! Brother Li is going to sell us tea?" Brothers Azig and Duoduo immediately beamed with joy.For nomadic fishermen and hunters, tea and salt are indispensable in life.This led to the system of exchanging tea with various special products from the Central Plains to the nomadic, fishing and hunting peoples in the surrounding dynasties. The most famous one is the tea-horse exchange market.The Ming court also strictly controlled the foreign sales of tea, and it was determined not to export without tea.The law of the Ming Dynasty clearly stipulates that "those who leave the country with private tea and pass the inspection will be sentenced to death at a later date."

And Shanxi merchants even made a fortune by smuggling tea to Mongols and building slaves. That is to say, Li Peiting, with the support of the Southern Guangdong Army, single-handedly controlled the tea production in Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi. The tea trade in other places has a huge influence, otherwise, it would be more difficult for him to control this field.

"The price he gave us was 45 catties of tea for top-class war horses, [-] catties of tea for uncastrated sons, and [-] catties of tea for mares."

This price is not unattractive, but all three of them understand that Li Peiting's purpose for these war horses must be to resell them to the Ming army and the Nanyue army. In Huang Taiji's view, this kind of thing is also a serious act of endorsing the enemy.

However, when Dorgon tried it out with Wu Keshan, who represented the 49th Banner of Mongolia, Huang Taiji's in-laws patted their chests and assured him: "As long as the quantity of brick tea from Manzi is good enough, the servant can guarantee , Tens of thousands of horses a year are wrapped on the servants!"

"Second brother! Then why are you afraid of him? With him Wu Keshan there, even if the fat man wants to be investigated and dealt with, he must first use Wu Keshan! If he is willing to force the Horqin Mongols back, then he will be beheaded." Wu Keshan, otherwise, don't make irresponsible remarks in front of our brothers!"

"Third brother is right! We are no better than Daishan who is old and never dies! Now the two white flags have a large number of people, the soldiers are strong and the horses are strong, and there are red flags in hand, and the red flags will not dare to do anything wrong. Even with his father and son's three If the flag resists head-on, he may not be able to get cheap!"

Hearing that one brother and one brother mentioned Daishan and the strength of soldiers and horses, Dorgon suddenly felt his eyes light up.

"Tomorrow, I will find Long Shengxing's manager in Shengjing and tell him that the king can join hands with them in the tea horse trade. However, I don't need them to give gold and silver to the king's share of the bonus!"

"Second brother!?"

"Second Brother!?"

Both Azige and Duoduo think that Dorgon has eaten too much wine?Li Peiting took on a bloody relationship for him, but he didn't want gold and silver. Isn't this madness?

"This king wants him to agree to have iron and gunpowder exchanges with my two white flags!" (To be continued...)