My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 60: Ming's First Gun Test

Although this example made Zhu Yuanzhang laugh and cry, it also vividly explained what it means for industry to feed back agriculture.

According to his understanding, due to the progress of industry, many technologies can be applied to agriculture, which promotes the increase of grain production.

If food production is high, fewer farmers can feed more people.

"Industry feeds back to agriculture, and the imperial court plays a vital role in this. This is the second concept we want to talk about, transfer payments."

Transfer payments?

What is it again?
I know every word, but I have no idea what they mean when put together.

“In fact, transfer payments are easy to understand. Let’s give an example.

For example, in the Jiangnan region, due to the extensive use of textile machines, the textile industry developed rapidly, which drew a large number of labor resources from Jianghuai. Due to the abundant manpower, the Jiangnan region quickly became rich.

Jiangnan became rich by using the labor of Jianghuai, but Jianghuai suffered from poor harvests due to lack of labor. Isn't this unfair to Jianghuai?"

Yes, this is extremely unfair!
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded affirmatively.

"So in order to ensure the food security of Jianghuai, the imperial court must find a way to improve the agricultural level of Jianghuai and increase food production."

Uh-huh!

“But where does the money come from?”

Yes, where does the money come from?

Zhu Yuanzhang scratched his head and seemed to have a flash of inspiration in his mind, but he couldn't remember what it was.

transfer?

Pay?

My brain is starting to itch again!
"The imperial court took some money from Jiangnan and subsidized it to the Jianghuai region for the development of agriculture and other industries and people's livelihood. This is the concept of transfer payments."

That's it!

Zhu Yuanzhang smashed his left palm heavily with his right fist.

"As for the means of transfer payments, it is taxation."

When it comes to taxation, Zhu Yuanzhang was overwhelmed. It is not easy to collect taxes in the Jiangnan region.

However, Lao Li gave an example, which is to use taxes collected from wealthy areas to subsidize poor areas.

But this also made him suddenly realize that taxation can play such an important role.

"Therefore, the development of industry will have an impact on agriculture, but whether the impact is good or bad depends on the role played by the court."

Lao Li, I understand now. The principle behind it is balance.

Industry and agriculture, one occupies one end of the scale, and how to balance them requires the control of the court.

After reading the letter, Zhu Yuanzhang, as he did in the past, went over the new concepts again, and only relaxed when he felt he had thoroughly understood them.

If one had to describe his current mood in one sentence, it would be pain and happiness.

Every time I corresponded with Li Han, I felt like I was just attending private school. I didn’t understand anything and everything seemed new to me. I was afraid that I wouldn’t learn well and I was also afraid of being scolded by the teacher.

But after understanding a new concept and mastering a new method, he felt a sudden sense of enlightenment and could not stop.

So the next thing to do is to test the gun!

He ordered the guards to move the needle gun and microscope to the inner hall, while he kept the manufacturing drawings himself.

This thing is now the most precious thing in the world, so it’s better to hold it in your hand for peace of mind.

The guards guarding the temple carried out orders loyally, although they were sometimes curious as to why His Majesty always brought out so many strange and bizarre things from the temple.

There is a rumor in the palace that your majesty has met a strange man by chance, and these things were all given by the strange man. But, does the strange man live in the Buddhist temple?

Otherwise, Your Majesty would bring out different objects every time he goes in.

This seemed to involve His Majesty's secrets. They didn't dare to ask or think too much about it.

As His Majesty's deadpool, the only thing they know is that they will do whatever His Majesty says.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care what the guards were thinking. He called in skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry's Armament Bureau and made a batch of bullets according to the blueprints.

There are ready-made bullets, a pile of several hundred, all sent by Li Han, who said they were reference samples.

These bullets are different from the iron bullets used in today's muskets. They are made of lead and have pointed tips.

In Li Han's words, this is called a warhead.

After leaving one hundred as samples, the rest were made into bullets.

The Military Equipment Bureau had ready-made waterproof oil paper for the bullet body and gunpowder, and soon, the first batch of paper-wrapped bullets of the Ming Dynasty came out.

Carrying a needle-gun and bullets, Zhu Yuanzhang rushed to the martial arts field without stopping.

It just so happened that Xu Da, Li Wenzhong and others were all there, so there was no need to summon them again. Zhu Di and Li Jinglong happened to be there too.

In order to win the title of Ming Dynasty God of War, the two men have been training desperately in the martial arts field these days.

Li Min had been waiting in the martial arts arena for a long time.

Naturally, when Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the people in the Arsenal to make bullets, he also summoned him.

He is the Minister of Works, the immediate superior of the Ordnance Bureau. In the future, he will be responsible for the production of guns and bullets.

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang arriving, everyone bowed to him. Zhu Yuanzhang went straight to the point and explained his purpose.

Then Xu Da, Li Wenzhong and other nobles showed suspicious looks, while Zhu Di and Li Jinglong looked at the needle-fire gun in Zhu Yuanzhang's hand with curiosity.

Xu Da said, "Your Majesty, you said that this needle-fired gun can change the form of future wars. Your Majesty, this thing looks like a fire stick. The tube is not even as big as a musket."

Li Wenzhong also agreed, "Your Majesty, you said that the range of this needle-shooting gun is far greater than that of a bow and arrow, but the fire guns we use can only shoot at a distance of 50 meters at most, which is far inferior to bows and arrows."

Li Min didn't say anything, but based on his understanding of firearms, he felt that Zhu Yuanzhang was exaggerating a bit.

Seeing Xu Da and others' faces full of disbelief, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't waste any words and directly ordered people to erect a thick piece of wood in the martial arts field, and also put on the best water-polished willow-leaf steel armor of the Ming Dynasty on the wood.

Not only that, the target was placed at a distance of more than 20 feet away, which was far beyond the range of the musket.

"Your Majesty, you don't really think that this fire stick can hit such a long distance? And it has to be made of water-polished willow-leaf steel armor?" Xu Da looked full of disbelief.

Seeing that Xu Da didn't believe it, Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and said, "Hmph, you'll see what happens next."

Pull the bolt, load the bullet, raise the gun, follow the instructions, and aim in a straight line between the three points.

Fortunately, he had glasses, otherwise he wouldn't be able to see clearly at such a long distance.

After taking aim, Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath. As the first person in the Ming Dynasty to test-fire this epoch-making firearm, he could not show his weakness.

I pulled the trigger steadily, and only heard a crisp "bang" of a gunshot. After a puff of smoke, nothing happened.

Zhu Di and Li Jinglong couldn't help but run to the target and examine it carefully.

"Your Majesty, I told you, this firewood stick..."

Before Xu Da could finish his words, Zhu Di's exclamation was heard.

"It's penetrated! Come and see! It's penetrated! The water-polished willow-leaf steel armor has been penetrated!"

I'm sorry, fellow book lovers, I sent the wrong post, and now I've corrected it. I've decided to reflect on it for an hour and apologize. Please vote and collect. There will be more in the evening.
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(End of this chapter)