The sun never sets in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 16 Daming Technology
The next day, Mao Yuanyi polished Huang Sheng's merit report, and then dispatched six hundred miles to send it to Governor Sun of Shanhaiguan.

The content is of course that under the inspiration of Sun Chengzong, under the wise leadership of General Zanhua, Master Mao, the general officer Ma Shilong sent a hundred soldiers under his command, and Huang Sheng, the commander of the army, led ten people to guard Ningyuan Zhongzuo.

They repelled the invading Jiannu without fear, killing and injuring more than a hundred Jiannu.

It's a pity that most of the corpses of Jiannu were taken back by them. They only got ten heads of real slaves and thirty heads of Aha. It is estimated that these so-called heads of Aha were randomly found by the Ming army on the road outside the city. processing.

According to the inspection, there are ten Jiannu heads, among which the vest is seventh and Yu Ding is the third.False reporting of military exploits is not a matter for one person, there are many adults' interests in it.

Huang Sheng knew that the Ming Dynasty was so corrupt that officials must be corrupt, and if they were not corrupt, they would not be able to adapt to the environment.Bribes are all made clear, and there are standards for how much ice and carbon should be given at any level. (Note ①)

There is no money in the sky, if the lower officials give bribes to the upper officials, he will of course double the money back from his own subordinates, back and forth, and in the end it is endless exploitation of the poorest ordinary people.

The corruption of the army is reflected in the fact that ordinary soldiers cannot get full pay, and thank God if they can get half of it.Such soldiers can't support their families. Of course, they will not sacrifice their lives for the general or the country.

So at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were strange incidents where soldiers suddenly collapsed while walking before they reached the battlefield.

When the Ming army fought against Jiannu, most of them had longer legs, so if they ran fast, they would survive, but if they ran slowly, they would die.

Jiannu attacked the city in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty as if they were in an uninhabited land. The Jiannu princes of the Ming Dynasty and other Jiannu returned with a full load of robbing and retreated.

The last emperor Chongzhen was an honest man of average ability. He was always deceived by civil and military officials, and in the end no one could believe him.

In the final analysis, he still doesn't know how to employ people. There were so many heroes in the late Ming Dynasty, but it's a pity that Emperor Chongzhen didn't know talents.

Instead of giving the money to warlords who are against the imperial court.It's better to train soldiers in person like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

With Qin Liangyu and Lu Xiangsheng as the main generals, go to the Three Gorges to recruit those trackers who climb on the steep cliffs naked all day long, and train a guard army led by themselves, fully equipped with Xu Guangqi, Sun Yuanhua, Mao Yuanyi, Bi Maokang and others. Finely crafted firearms.

With his own military force like his own, let's see who dares to refuse to be dispatched by the imperial court to be a warlord?

After all, the imperial court was righteous and orthodox. As long as force was threatened, those who were willing to challenge the warlord generals and the imperial court would be only a small number of servants who would not bend their minds.

well!Perhaps the collapse of the Ming Dynasty was inevitable, but it was definitely an accident of history to build slaves into the Central Plains. The Han people were too unfortunate, too useless, and too unlucky.

Huang Shengzhi spoke lightly, not knowing that the adults dared to report to the Ming court the meritorious service of defending the soil with the help of seven heads of slaves. He took his servants to Sun Yuanhua's workshop where he made cannons and fasteners. .

Scientists are reliable in their work. As soon as Huang Sheng appeared at the door, he was recognized by Sun Yuanhua's servant who was waiting here.

They have already been ordered by the Patriarch that no matter what little friend Huang Sheng needs to do, they must help each other, and all the materials used will be counted on the artillery of the Ministry of War.

Huang Sheng is not in a hurry to start producing his ideal steel, but chats with every experienced craftsman here.

This is a terrible situation. Huang Sheng, a civil servant, squatted on the dirty floor of the workshop, talking on an equal footing with a lowly craftsman like himself, which surprised these people to their bewilderment.

Huang Sheng knew how to deal with craftsmen best. He asked Huang Mingli and Han Guang to buy a lot of cooking cakes, which were white flour steamed buns. Two of them invited everyone to have extra meals.

The bitter craftsmen were all overjoyed, and many of them were reluctant to eat it and put it in their arms to bring to their children.

After three days of understanding, Huang Sheng learned that there is no way to test the chemical composition of steel, and it is entirely up to experienced craftsmen to distinguish the material of steel.

Whether it is accurate depends on the craftsman's level and his attitude.Some high-level craftsmen deliberately fooled Shangguan, and Shangguan had no choice.

Huang Sheng made friends with an experienced old craftsman here. This craftsman is really good. If you show him any iron materials, he can roughly explain why.

He was a little flattered by Huang Sheng's courtesy, and answered Huang Sheng's questions.

Huang Sheng's questions were both professional and forward-looking. The old craftsman was astonished, and soon he had nothing to say in front of Huang Sheng.

At first, Huang Sheng thought that this wrinkled old craftsman should be 60 or 38 years old. Later, he got to know his surname Gu Xingsan. Everyone called him Gu San. He was only [-] years old this year.

In Huang Sheng's previous life, his own family was in this business. It doesn't matter if there is no way to test the content of elements. As long as he can pass the physical performance test designed by himself, he can roughly determine the use of steel.

According to the type of steel given by the craftsmen headed by Gu San, he also roughly determined the possible chemical composition of these materials in his mind.

Then let the craftsmen create a long iron air duct, raise the air inlet temperature of the downdraft furnace to about [-] or [-] degrees, and return the carefully selected steel to the furnace, and you can get what may be the first in the Ming Dynasty. A furnace of molten steel in a completely liquid state.

The steel is obtained by stirring to remove impurities such as phosphorus and sulfur, and pouring it into the mold. When it can be dragged, it is immediately forged to increase the density of the steel.

Huang Sheng has been busy here for more than ten days, manufacturing the steel he needs, and also manufacturing some high-hardness special steel.

This thing already existed in the Ming Dynasty. This kind of drill bit was used to drill the gun barrel. Huang Sheng just improved its quality and hardness a few grades.

The craftsmen here may have been carefully selected by Sun Yuanhua, and they should be able to represent the top technology of the Ming Dynasty.

Huang Sheng does not bother the two hosts with one customer. The facilities here are well-equipped and there are many craftsmen. Huang Sheng asked Gu San to help find a dozen of the best craftsmen, and arranged for them to process the parts they painted by themselves. hole.

Having an insider to make suggestions for him really gets twice the result with half the effort. These craftsmen Gu Sanchou are all honest people with solid skills and few words.Huang Sheng personally handed out one tael of silver to each craftsman.

He told everyone that the masters worked hard because they worked overtime.This is the overtime pay paid to everyone with my own salary. I hope everyone will strictly follow their own drawings and produce carefully.

What is overtime pay?The craftsmen have never heard of it in their lives, let alone obtained it.They were all grateful, and everyone was serious about producing what he needed for this approachable and generous adult.

This lord is too strange, people are afraid that the barrel wall of the firecracker is not smooth, but he is good, and deliberately wastes time and effort to make grooves on the smooth inner wall of the barrel.He also made flint into small stones of equal size, and he didn't know what to use it for?
All the parts of the flintlock rifle that Huang Sheng needed were processed by artisans separately, because he was afraid that others would acquire this technology if he did not plan his affairs confidentially.

The current Daming is a big ship with leaks everywhere, and it is too convenient for Jiannu to obtain information about Daming, so Huang Sheng has to guard against it.

No matter how busy he was, Huang Sheng went to visit Mr. Sun Yuanhua, a scientist who was also busy every day or two. He was a Catholic and his holy name was Ignatius.

His works "Western Fa Shenji" and "Jingwu Quanshu" are military masterpieces that first introduced Western firearms and tactics to Chinese civilization.

In fact, Sun Yuanhua is more suitable to be a great scientist at the academician level, and he is not suitable to be a big official in Xinjiang at all.

He knows the pros and cons of artillery, but he can't see the quality of character.Later, when Denglai was appointed as the governor, Li Jiucheng, an old general of Pidao with a bad character, was used.

It eventually led to a "Wuqiao Mutiny" triggered by a chicken that was enough to shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

Sun Yuanhua also ended up being beheaded tragically, Huang Sheng wondered in his heart if he could save his life.

Anyway, there are still five or six years left, and I don't know if I have the ability to affect the course of history by then.

Huang Sheng is sincerely communicating with Sun Yuanhua, and at the same time, he is paying attention to understanding the craftsmanship of casting artillery in this era.

The two got along so well that they didn't need polite greetings. Sometimes Huang Sheng came by accident, and the scientists were experimenting with products. Huang Sheng didn't regard himself as an outsider, helping out and giving ideas.

On this day, as soon as Huang Sheng came to Sun Yuanhua's studio where he made new things, he excitedly showed Huang Sheng three cylindrical things.It turned out to be a monocular, Huang Sheng immediately adjusted the focus and began to appreciate it carefully.

Sun Yuanhua was very surprised to see that Huang Sheng knew how to use it without his own guidance. He said, "Your friend, have you seen a telescope before? It seems to be rare in Ming Dynasty. Where did you see it?"

This question is not very easy to answer, Huang Sheng changed the subject and said, "I guess you made these three binoculars yourself, but I don't know how you can get the lenses?"

Huang Sheng is also thinking about how to obtain glass to make a goggle for himself. The Lumi gun fired with black powder has too much fireworks when shooting, and it is easy to dazzle the shooter's eyes.

This scratched Sun Yuanhua's itch, and he said with a smile: "At the beginning of the year, the official sent a lot of colorless crystals from the Huai'an Mansion in Nanzhili. If no one cares about it, what's the use of the Imperial Ministry of Industry?"

Huang Sheng exclaimed: "Your Excellency is such a wonderful idea. It must be made of crystals to grind the lenses. It's just that it takes time and effort to get the lenses you need. I don't know how much time it will take and how many crystals will be scrapped."

Sun Yuanhua felt that talking with Huang Sheng was the most opportunistic, since everyone is an expert and never talks outside the box.He nodded and said: "That's true. The three best craftsmen were responsible for polishing the lenses for several months. Until yesterday, they managed to pick out a few lenses that could be used, and the rest of the lenses were wasted."

Sun Yuanhua looked at Huang Sheng and said embarrassingly: "I only succeeded in making three binoculars, one will be given to my teacher Xu Guangqi, one will be given to Sun Dushi, and the other will be given to Mao Yuanyi. The officer himself has none."

(Note ① Bingjing and Charcoal Jing can be understood as heatstroke prevention cooling fee and heating fee, which is a reason to give gifts to leaders under clever names)
(End of this chapter)