Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 244 A Cautious Imperial Envoy

When Li Jing received Zhu Youjian's letter, he had already returned to Pingyang Mansion, Shanxi.

After relocating more than 30 victims, the pressure on Henan has been greatly reduced.

The grain collected by Li Jing, together with the confiscation from the homes of corrupt officials and those unscrupulous grain merchants, plus the grain raised by Governor Wu from rich merchants and stored in the government treasury, was enough to meet the basic needs of the remaining victims.

In addition, Li Jing used food as a bargaining chip and Zhang Chu led troops to encircle and suppress, and the victims of the riot have been calmed down.

By this time, it was no longer necessary for Li Jing to stay in Henan.

Moreover, it has been more than three months since Li Jing left Pingyang Mansion, and many things in the family need Li Jing to make up his mind, so after Li Jing handed over the remaining matters to Governor Wu and others, he wrote a memorial to Zhu Youjian, and then led the troops Turn back to Pingyang Mansion.

In fact, during the time when Li Jing was in Henan, most of the matters had been handled by Yuan Keli. Some of the matters that Li Jing needed to decide could be dealt with later, and Yuan Keli wrote to inform him. If Li Jing needs to deal with the next order, Li Jing must read it before making a decision.

There are mainly three places that need to be seen by Li Jing himself.

The first one is the military factory. After Sun Yuanhua arrived, he would naturally not give up his old business. Cannons must be made.

But after seeing the small cannon used by Li Jing, Sun Yuanhua knew that the practicality of the cannon he built was far from the small cannon designed by Li Jing.

First of all, the two shortcomings of loading gunpowder and firing the cannon must be improved, but before improving these two processes, the quality of the steel needs to be resolved.

Because Sun Yuanhua used to cast cannons with refined iron, which is actually wrought iron with some steel properties. With a cannon barrel made of such a material, the barrel will be deformed after a few rounds of shells are fired, so the material of the cannon It has to be improved.

Sun Yuanhua is now using copper to cast the barrel.

During Li Jing's absence, Sun Yuanhua led people to work day and night, and finally made a cannon.

But after casting, Sun Yuanhua found that the cost of casting copper cannons was too high, and it was too heavy, so it was very difficult to carry it, even if it was pulled by a horse-drawn cart.

Before Li Jing came to Henan, he once said that if the cannon is to be conveniently transported, it must be equipped with a cannon carriage. This thing is a bit like a carriage, which can be pulled away when put on an animal. It is convenient to use like this.

But although they followed Li Jing's idea, after the finished product came out, they found that it was not the case at all.

Because the gun barrel is too long, it is necessary to install two more wheels under the gun barrel so that the car can be mounted on the car. When the car is pulled, it is found that the four wheels often cannot turn when turning.

In addition, during the test firing, it was found that the power of the shell after it exploded was not as great as expected.

Sun Yuanhua knew that this was because the size of the warhead was too small, which limited the charge of the warhead.If the amount of ammunition is insufficient, the power of the shell is naturally not enough, but after increasing the size of the warhead, it is found that the shooting distance is not enough, and the shell cannot hit far at all.

After research, Sun Yuanhua found that simply increasing the size of the warhead is not enough. As the size of the warhead increases, the size of the shell case must also increase. Only when enough propellant is loaded can the warhead hit farther.

So I started to develop shells again, and when the shells were developed, I found that the barrel was not long enough to fire such shells.

However, the current cannon is already very heavy and heavy. If it is longer, it cannot be transported at all and can only be used fixedly.But if it can't be transported and used, then so much money to produce this kind of gun is tantamount to a waste.

Sun Yuanhua knew that it would be impossible to produce cannons according to this idea. The only way to make cannons practical was to improve the gunpowder process and develop more advanced propellants.

It is a pity that although Sun Yuanhua is an expert in gunpowder, after all, his knowledge is limited, and it is really beyond his ability to develop and produce more advanced propellants.

However, Sun Yuanhua knew that since Li Jing could manufacture such advanced artillery and firearms, he must have researched gunpowder.

Sun Yuanhua's guess was correct, Li Jing was indeed an expert in gunpowder, more accurately he should be an expert in using explosives.

Li Jing often used explosives when performing missions in modern times. If he decided to blow up something on the spur of the moment and did not have explosives in hand, he could only make explosives himself.

Therefore, Li Jing's research on explosives is indeed much more advanced than Sun Yuanhua's.

But there is one thing, all the explosives that Li Jing plays with are high-risk explosives, which cannot be stored at all with the current storage technology. This is the main reason why Li Jing dare not produce modern explosives.

However, if only propellants are used, the risk factor will be greatly reduced.

It's just that Li Jing was doing disaster relief in Henan at that time, so he didn't have the energy to develop and produce any propellant.

Now that Li Jing is back, he will naturally help Sun Yuanhua solve the problem of gunpowder.

After careful calculation, Li Jing produced a kind of gunpowder between yellow gunpowder and black gunpowder. This kind of gunpowder is not as powerful as yellow gunpowder, but higher than black gunpowder. There is no problem in using it as propellant , and far less dangerous than dynamite.

The problem of propellant powder is solved, and the problem of gunpowder inside the warhead must also be solved.

This is more difficult, because the danger is too high, I dare not store it in the military factory, so I can only find another place.

Fortunately, when the factory was first built, there was a mountain behind the military factory. Li Jing opened the mountain while producing explosives. He dug a huge cave in the mountain, and then ordered the formal production of explosives.

After Sun Yuanhua's problem was solved, Li Jing rushed to the cement factory again. It turned out that after the cement was produced, no one would use it.

Cement production is relatively simple. Limestone is abundant in the Zhongtiaoshan area. Cement can be obtained by crushing limestone and calcining it. Of course, the coagulation force of this cement is not as good. However, coal is needed for calcining limestone. The calcination performance will be better if the proportion is added to the limestone. This cement is actually the slag silicate used in ordinary buildings.

Cement is produced, but people don't know how to use it. When it is used, it is either too thin to be applied for a long time, or it dries and solidifies quickly.

Li Jing told them to mix it with sand and gravel in a certain proportion, and the most important thing is that when mopping the ground, there must be expansion joints, and at the same time, water should be used to maintain health, otherwise the cement floor will crack. Only then did people understand how to use cement.

After the problem of drying the salt field was solved, Li Jing came to the Academy of Sciences again. Before going to Henan, Li Jing specially gave Xu Guangqi to study the steam engine.

It's just that Li Jing only understands the basic principles of the steam engine, and Li Jing can't explain the specifics.

After arriving at the Academy of Sciences, Li Jing just explained in detail the working principle of the steam engine that he knew, and then described the appearance of the steam engine based on his own imagination, and left this problem to Xu Guangqi's people to tackle the problem.

Regarding the research on the steam engine, Li Jing was not in a hurry to urge everyone to proceed as soon as possible. Li Jing knew very well that a lot of experiments were needed in the process of developing a steam engine. Explosion, this is not something that can be researched in a day or two.

Although Li Jing also wanted to participate in the research, but now Li Jing really didn't have the time and energy.

Because the imperial envoy sent by Zhu Youjian has arrived, Li Jing's energy has to be transferred to politics.

It's just that Li Jing never expected that Zhu Youjian would ask him how many troops he had and asked him to hand them over to the court.

After seeing Zhu Youjian's letter, Li Jing was suddenly a little angry. At that time, his first thought was to be against his mother.

But when Li Jing saw the cautious look of the imperial envoy and read the handbook carefully again, he pondered for a long time, knowing that Zhu Youjian should be testing him.

After thinking for a while, Li Jing said to the imperial envoy: "The imperial envoy has worked hard all the way, let's take a break for a while, and report to the imperial envoy after Li has clearly counted the troops."

The imperial envoy naturally knew that Li Jing was using this as an excuse. As the chief general, how could he not even know how many soldiers he had?
But when he came to deliver the decree, Wang Chengen strictly ordered him to be respectful and not to put on airs as an imperial envoy. If something happened to Li Jing, he would cut off his dog's head when he went back.

It was not the first time that the imperial envoy delivered an edict for the emperor, but it was the first time to deliver an edict with such trepidation.

He really didn't understand why Wang Chengen warned him so severely, wasn't he just a little general?There are more bastards in the Yongding River outside the Forbidden City than this number.

But he also knew that Wang Chengen was definitely not joking with him. Seeing Wang Chengen's face as if he was facing a big enemy, he knew that Li Jing was not just a small general.

"It doesn't matter, Mr. Li is slowly counting the statistics. I am not in a hurry, and the emperor is not in a hurry." The imperial envoy said hurriedly.

Li Jingjing nodded, ordered the imperial envoy to rest, and then went to discuss with Yuan Keli.

When he arrived at Yuan Keli's place, Li Jing handed Zhu Youjian's handwriting to Yuan Keli and said, "Sir, take a look, this is the emperor's handwriting."

After receiving Zhu Youjian's written order, Yuan Keli looked at it carefully for a long time, then sighed and said: "The emperor didn't issue an imperial edict, but just gave you a written order, and the wording of the written order is completely negotiable. It seems that the emperor is I will test you, and at the same time see if you are willing to hand over the soldiers."

Li Jingjing nodded: "Sir, although the emperor is tempting, but I can't deal with it! This move seems gentle, but in fact it hides murderous intentions. The emperor's political skills are indeed getting better and better."

Yuan Keli shook his head and sighed: "It's a pity that the emperor's cleverness was all used on these schemes. If he had spent more energy on governing, how could the Ming Dynasty have come to this point?"

It was rare for Li Jing to hear Yuan Keli criticize the emperor, which shows that Yuan Keli was very dissatisfied with Zhu Youjian's handwriting.

After thinking for a while, Yuan Keli said: "Jimin, how to deal with it at this time, you can think about it yourself, no matter what decision you make, I will always support you as a teacher."

Li Jingjing nodded, knowing that Yuan Keli was telling him that even if he rebelled now, Yuan Keli would support him.

However, Pingyang Mansion is now in the initial stage of development, and the rebellion at this time is bound to affect Li Jing's future strategic layout.

(End of this chapter)