Dashun Yongchang

But after Jiexuan came to Huai'an Military Academy, he suddenly felt that his knowledge was not enough.Although the knowledge he has studied in the past 31 years can be called extensive, but compared with the knowledge being studied by the Academy of Sciences, it is a bit messy and unsystematic.

At this time, Jiexuan was not so interested in the military academy, and now he wanted to go to the Academy of Sciences to experience knowledge that he had never heard of before.Therefore, when communicating with Li Zicheng, he couldn't help raising this question.

Li Zicheng also had a pleasant conversation with Jiexuan. After thinking about Jiexuan's request for a while, he said: "It's okay if you want to go to the Academy of Sciences. I will inform the Academy of Sciences to prepare for an exam to see if you can enter the Academy of Sciences. After all The Academy of Sciences is responsible for research, and if you don’t have enough knowledge, it’s meaningless to go in. However, I hope you can sort out a lesson plan so that the instructors can learn..."

Chapter 291 Changes in Military Thought

The military armory in the old city mainly supervised the manufacture of various types of armor, including cavalry armor and infantry armor in the style of full iron armor, as well as relatively cheap cotton armor inlaid with iron sheets or chain mail.

Li Zicheng's old subordinate Yu Bin was in charge of managing the armory. Li Zicheng walked around the armory and found that the armory was in good order. I praised Yu Bin.

Yu Bin was not complacent about this, but said to Li Zicheng: "Your Majesty, since we improved the caliber of the blunderbuss and the shooting distance in combat, I think that the armor is actually useless.

Take the smaller caliber bird guns in the past as an example, it can break through the second layer of wet blanket at 80 paces; it can hit the third layer and fourth layer at fifty paces.For this kind of old-style blunderbuss, a layer of cotton armor is put on the iron armor, so as long as you don't get hit in the face at a distance of 30 steps, you can be safe.

However, the lead weight of the heavy-duty matchlock guns manufactured now is 1.5 taels, which is 5 times the weight of the lead used in bird guns.Lightweight matchlock guns, the weight of the lead is 7.56 qian, which is 2.5 times the weight of the lead used in the bird gun.

The heavy matchlock gun can penetrate triple armor within 60 steps, and the reduced heavy matchlock gun can also penetrate triple armor within 35 steps.According to the regulations, the gunner's salvo distance is 30-40 steps.In other words, the enemy soldiers wearing triple armor at this distance can no longer rely on the armor to block the lead, and the triple armor is the limit that a person can afford, and it is impossible to walk any more.

Therefore, I think that after the popularization of heavy matchlock guns, there is no difference in the defensive power between full iron armor and cotton armor.Instead of continuing to spend a lot of time and money making full iron armor, it is better to make a small amount of full iron armor and make more cotton armor.A pair of cavalry armor costs 16 taels, a pair of infantry armor costs 12 taels, and a pair of cotton armor only costs 4-5 taels.Why not make more cotton armor? "

Li Zicheng was very happy about Yu Bin's suggestion. He praised him a few words and said: "Your idea is still very good. I have actually been thinking about this issue for a long time. It's just that before the regulations are implemented, I'm worried. Changing the proportion of armor without authorization would cause panic among the lieutenant soldiers, so they have not discussed this matter with the General Staff and the Military Council.

Now that you have discovered this problem, why don't you just write a report and explain the destructive ability of gunpowder weapons to armor, and then I will let the General Staff and the Military Council discuss this matter together.After all, the way armor is equipped is inseparable from the way of combat. If the soldiers cannot understand this, good intentions may not be able to achieve good things. "

Yu Bin was thoughtful, but he never thought about the feelings of the soldiers in the army.Although he has proved through several experiments that iron armor and cotton armor have the same defensive power in front of matchlock guns, for those soldiers who directly face the enemy, the stronger the armor, the better, and they don't Concerned about whether they can prevent gunpowder weapons, what they need is a sense of psychological security.

After seeing the manufacturing capabilities of the Armory Institute and asking some questions about supplies, Li Zicheng left the Armory Institute to inspect the training camp.The military training camp located in the old city of Huai'an, in addition to rectifying the former Ming surrendered officers and soldiers, also had an important task to provide reinforcements for the Shandong battlefield, or serve as the first line of defense south of the Huaihe River.

There are a total of 35 regiments here, 15 of which are veteran regiments with certain military experience, and the other 20 regiments are newly recruited soldiers, with a total of about 3.5 soldiers.

In addition to watching the drills of the two regiments, Li Zicheng mainly went to see the barracks, canteen and hospital.Guo Sheng was indeed a well-behaved general of the Ming Dynasty. All the facilities in the camp were completed according to the regulations. For some things that were not explained in the regulations, Guo Sheng also made up for them based on his own experience in leading the army.

Li Zicheng was very satisfied, and when he was about to leave the camp, Guo Sheng and Zhao Yingyuan both asked him to go to the front battlefield.Looking at the sincere request of the two, Li Zicheng could understand why the two made such a request.

After the middle period of the Ming Dynasty, the organizational ability of the army deteriorated, and it became the norm for soldiers to be generals. In the Chongzhen period, the generals who led the army were almost small warlords.Li Zicheng set up the Marshal's Mansion and the General Staff, in fact, he was gathering military power in the hands of generals at all levels.

Guo Sheng and Zhao Yingyuan are not direct descendants of Li Zicheng. When they led the army alone, they had greater autonomy. However, after being transferred by Li Zicheng to the Huaian camp to train recruits, they lost their independent leadership over the army.The logistics of the Huai'an camp and the power to mobilize troops are not in the hands of the two of them, so now the two of them probably have some ideas that they would rather be a chicken than a queen.

It was only Li Zicheng who worked so hard to separate these generals from the army, thereby reorganizing and merging the various armies, thus strengthening the control of the Marshal's Mansion over the army. How could it be possible for the Dashun army to return to the old feudal army organization form.

But thinking so in his heart, Li Zicheng still comforted the two of them: "Are you afraid that there will be no war? I didn't arrange you in Huai'an to let you retire here. I treated you as a secret weapon. It is used in critical places at critical moments.

Now the Qing army is attacking from Shandong and Henan in two routes. The Shandong route is divided into two parts by Mount Tai and Yimeng Mountain. One route goes down the canal, and the other route goes around the Jiaodong Peninsula to southeast Shandong.I am assured that Jining and Xuzhou are blocking the canal, but I am still a little worried on the Ludongnan side. If Yang Yufan and Gao Jie cannot stabilize the situation in the Jiaodong Peninsula, then I can only rely on you to take the lead.

Compared with them, are you your own people?I am going to Xuzhou this time, and the soldiers here in Huai'an are out of order. You must train well to wait for the call of the Marshal's Mansion. "

Guo Sheng and Zhao Yingyuan did not doubt that they had it. Their experience in Shandong was not pleasant, and they basically did not trust Shandong gentry and Shandong officers and soldiers.Therefore, Li Zicheng's doubts about Yang Yufan and Gao Jie felt that it was common sense.So after talking with Li Zicheng for a while, he still accepted Li Zicheng's arrangement.

When Li Zicheng left the old city and returned to the yamen of the Marshal's Mansion at the north gate of the new city, it was already dark.The three main officials in charge of the branch office: Yang Chengyu, Zhou Zhikui, and Zhou Lianggong, all stood outside the gate to welcome Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng turned over and got off the horse, said hello to the three of them, and said: "It's really cold, let's stop freezing outside the door, let's all go in and talk. By the way, ask someone to get some warm ones." Stew, long time no see, let us sit down and have a drink."

While holding the reins of the horse for Li Zicheng, Yang Chengyu responded enthusiastically: "Your Majesty is interested, and the ministers and others will naturally accompany you. Your Majesty will accept four towns during this trip and force Fufan to abdicate to the country. The world will pay attention to him for a while. You should really take care of him." Have a drink."

Li Zicheng laughed, then walked towards the gate with his arms around Yang Chengyu's shoulders, and said in his mouth: "Lao Yang, you are refreshing, I invite other people to drink, and they are all coy and uncomfortable. It seems that I want to play when I am drunk Crazy, one word, boring..."

Zhou Zhikui, who crossed the threshold behind them, compared two fingers to Zhou Lianggong beside him. Although his face was expressionless, Zhou Lianggong smiled.Hearing Li Zicheng and Yang Chengyu walking towards the inner courtyard calmly talking and laughing, Zhou Lianggong couldn't help observing Zhou Zhikui's expression carefully.

Although the Huai'an branch is headed by three people to preside over the daily affairs here, but in terms of seniority, Zhou Zhikui, a Jinshi in the fourth year of Chongzhen, is obviously much stronger than Yang Chengyu, a former doctor of Qin Tianjian.But who made Yang Chengyu seek refuge with Li Zicheng earlier, so the two of them Jinshi could only be overwhelmed by a Ph.D.

Of course it doesn't matter if it was in the past. After all, Li Zicheng, who retreated from Beijing, seems to have a bad future. Everyone is just sheltering from the rain under the eaves of Dashun temporarily. What will happen in the future is still unknown.It's just that no one thought that the four towns in Jiangbei were so dilapidated that Hong Guangchao collapsed in a daze. Now Dashun is not a temporary shelter from the rain, but a permanent residence, so some people can't help thinking It's time to compete for position.

But looking at the intimate relationship between Li Zicheng and Yang Chengyu, it seems that some people's positions are difficult to change.With this in mind, Zhou Lianggong followed into the small living room in the backyard.

Two pots of charcoal were lit in the small room. This silver frost charcoal not only has no smoke, but is also very flame-resistant. It has always been charcoal for rich families in winter. Two pots of charcoal are enough to make the whole room warm like spring.

Li Zicheng walked to a brazier and sat down. While warming the fire, he said to the three of them: "I won't say any more polite words. Xuzhou is pressing hard. I will continue to go north the day after tomorrow at the latest. Are there any people on your side?" Whatever needs to be reported, it’s best to report tonight, tomorrow I will go to the shipyard for inspection, and then go straight north.”

Hearing Li Zicheng's words, Yang Chengyu quickly answered: "The main tasks of the Huai'an branch are: urging the collection of money, food and materials from various places; arranging north-south transfers; and supervising the production of various materials.

Since His Majesty is in such a hurry to go north, then I will make a simple report to His Majesty on these three matters.Let’s talk about food collection first, according to our investigation and calculation.The Henan area under the control of the Marshal's Mansion has 10.4 hectares of arable land; the Shandong area has 25 hectares of arable land; the southern Zhili area has 30 hectares of arable land, totaling 65.4 hectares of arable land.Huguang, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places are not included.

According to the income per mu and fire consumption calculated according to the population of each province, the autumn harvest tax amount set by the Marshal's Mansion for each region is: Henan pays 0.08 shi wheat or millet per mu; Shandong pays 0.09 shi wheat or millet per mu; Nanzhi An average of 0.11 shi of rice was paid per mu; a total of 638.2 million shi of grain was collected.The collection is all in kind. According to reports from various places, the tax payment ratio is about 7.5%, which is 478.65 million shi.

In addition, the amount of grain purchased from various places was 0.1 shi per mu in Henan, 0.15 shi per mu in Shandong, and 0.3 shi per mu in South Zhili; a total of 1746 million shi.His Majesty requires that the borrowed grain should not exceed 20-25% of the yield per mu. Now it is roughly 10-15%. Now that 4% of the task has been completed, we think it can reach at least 6%, that is, the purchase of 1047.6 million stones.

我们对都元帅府供给人员的粮食标准是：前线作战部队每日3升粮，后勤及后方人员减半。以前线30万军队和后方150万人员计算；之前规划的5个月作战期限，将耗费472.5万石粮食。当然这只是基本口粮的计算…”

Chapter 292 Banquet

Under the light of a few candles, the small living room is very bright. Li Zicheng sat on a cotton chair and listened to Yang Chengyu's report. Seeing that the food and wine on the table next to him had been served, Li Zicheng got up and faced him. The three said: "It seems that at least we don't have to worry about food for the army. Come on, let's eat too..."

Yang Chengyu, Zhou Zhikui, and Zhou Lianggong sat down at the table around Li Zicheng. While Yang Chengyu was pouring wine for Li Zicheng, Zhou Zhikui finally found a gap and said to Li Zicheng: "When the harvest is the most next year, there will only be leftovers." In the next ten months. Right now we have enough food, and this does not include the amount of rice purchased from Huguang, so can the procurement of food be suspended. Now the people are really complaining about the procurement of food. "

Li Zicheng did not reply to Zhou Zhikui immediately, but first raised his glass to respect the three people, thanking them for their hard work these days, and after putting down his glass, he said: "Zhang Fu has a heart of pity for the people, I think it is very good .

It's just that although I haven't read the book, I have also heard this sentence: don't worry about being widowed, but worry about inequality, and don't worry about poverty, but worry about anxiety.The three are all well-read poets and books, so they should understand this truth better than I do.

The purchase of food was a matter of much criticism, and it was not easy for the Marshal's House to reach an agreement to implement it.Although the folks were quite resentful, they only complained a few times and did not question the correctness of the purchase of grain.

But if we stop this policy midway, then those farmers who have not been recruited may not be grateful to the Marshal's Mansion, and those farmers who have been expropriated will question this policy.When they ask the Marshal's Mansion to return the food, do we agree or disagree? "

Zhou Zhikui was speechless for a moment, and Yang Chengyu, who was sitting next to him, raised his mouth slightly. These days, Zhou Zhikui seemed to be competing with him. Seeing Li Zicheng being beaten by the opponent, he was naturally quite happy in his heart. .

However, Yang Chengyu quickly restrained his smile, and interceded for Zhou Zhikui: "Zhang Fu has always paid attention to the voice of the people, and his remonstrance to His Majesty should come from the request of the people, right? If it's not that he has any opinion on His Majesty, please forgive him."

Zhou Zhikui gave Yang Chengyu a cold look, and when he was about to say something, he felt someone tugging on his lapel. He subconsciously glanced back, but saw Zhou Lianggong shaking his head slightly at him, as if asking him not to Refute Yang Chengyu's words.

Li Zicheng poured wine into the three people's glasses with a flagon, as if he knew nothing about the three people's actions.But he was like a mirror in his heart. Because Yang Chengyu was not a Jinshi, he never discounted his orders.However, Zhou Zhikui and Zhou Lianggong, the two Jinshi, have always wanted to restore the past era.

What is the past era, that is, the emperor ruled under the arch, and the following things were left to the officials.Is this thinking wrong?Li Zicheng felt that there was nothing wrong with it.He has studied hard for more than ten years, so naturally he didn't come to be the emperor's slave, otherwise it would be easier to get close to the emperor if he was cut into the palace from a young age.

After winning the exam and becoming an official, the next thing is to enjoy the glory and wealth. It doesn't matter if you enjoy it in this life, it's better to enjoy it in the next life. This is the so-called famous family.However, the life of a famous family does not fall from the sky, it needs to be supported by someone.

For a famous family in the south of the Yangtze River, the annual expenditure of tens of thousands of taels is not too much, but the net income of a self-cultivating farmer is only more than ten taels a year. The annual living expenses of a famous family need at least one or two thousand taels of labor without food or drink. work for one year.Why do they take the fruits of labor of so many people for free?It is nothing more than the word power.

Use power to occupy the fields, use power to force tenants to work on their own land, use power to force tenants to hand over half of the fruits of their labor, use power to spread their taxes on other people's heads... In short, this official is to protect the family. It was not for the sake of the emperor's country.

What better way to show your power than exerting influence on national policy?Therefore, the officials of Daming are happy to fight for some benefits for their hometown, which can not only establish the family's reputation, but also benefit themselves.Why not be able to use the loss of the country to compensate the dissatisfaction of the people squeezed by their own country.

It's just that Li Zicheng doesn't intend to continue the game of sage kings and ministers with these people, because if you run the world, you can't collect taxes, if you can't collect taxes, you can't raise soldiers, if you can't raise soldiers, you can't win Jiannu, then he You have to go to the guillotine, which is obviously not a good choice.

After toasting the three of them again, Li Zicheng turned his attention to Zhou Lianggong and asked, "Yuan Liang, tell me, what is the burden on farmers now that taxes and grain purchases are added?"

Zhou Lianggong put down his wine glass and thought for a moment, then cautiously replied to Li Zicheng: "In terms of the total amount of land tax plus grain purchase, it is not much less than the previous land tax plus three rates, and it may be more in terms of accounts. But However, taking into account the reduction in private additional distribution, it cannot be said that the burden on farmers is now heavier.

However, the two policies of distributing the income per mu and crediting fire consumption have greatly reduced the burden on the people at the bottom. Although the total amount of grain collected by us has not decreased, the main body of taxation has shifted from the middle and lower farmers to the middle and upper farmers. The proportion of tax paid by peasant households with land property has increased, while that of households without land has reduced a lot of taxes.

There should be no problems with the implementation of taxation and grain procurement this year.only…"

Seeing Zhou Lianggong hesitated, Li Zicheng asked, "Just what?"

Zhou Lianggong then said: "It's just that some self-cultivating farmers and landlords are very dissatisfied with the requisition policy. In order to prevent their grain from being requisitioned by the Marshal's Mansion, they choose to waste a lot of money. Some eat white flour every day, and some kill The pigs that have not been raised at home eat meat, and they feel that it is better to eat their own stomachs than to be taken away by the Marshal's Mansion. If this trend continues, I am worried that next year's spring plowing will be abandoned."

Zhou Zhikui also took the opportunity to interject at this time, "It is precisely because I am worried that such a phenomenon will occur that I hope that Your Majesty can stop the grain procurement policy. If this situation is allowed to develop, not only the common people will criticize the Marshal's Mansion behind their backs , will also drag down next year's agricultural production..."

After drinking a glass of wine, Li Zicheng said: "The purpose of purchasing food is not only to ensure the army's food, but also to prevent the slaves from obtaining food from the people. What the Marshal's Mansion must consider is the present. After what?"

Li Zicheng's rhetorical question made Zhou Zhikui and Zhou Lianggong silent. Only Yang Chengyu stood firmly on Li Zicheng's side and responded: "Your Majesty is right. Jiannu came south with a menace, and the wealthy families in Henan and Shandong almost No one was willing to stand up and resist, and even stabbed us in the back. If we don’t purchase this grain, they will still obediently give it to Jiannu.”

Zhou Zhikui suddenly said in dissatisfaction: "Could it be that after we requisition the grain, Jiannu won't expropriate them? Wouldn't Jiannu still want to take away their last ration? Since we can't protect them, at least we can protect them." We have to leave a way for them to survive..."

Zhou Lianggong noticed a flash of displeasure in Li Zicheng's eyes, so he quickly changed the topic and said, "The current problem is not only that the purchased grain will arouse the dissatisfaction of the people, but also the lack of transportation capacity and grain storage warehouses. If we continue to implement the requisition policy and centralized storage, there will be difficulties in transporting grain and nowhere to store it. Alternatively, we can reduce the amount of grain purchased in Huguang and store some of the grain in local areas.”

Li Zicheng shook his head and said: "Huguang's grain is exchanged for cloth and salt. This year's harvest in Huguang area is good, and last year there was not much grain shipped from Huguang, so the price of Huguang's grain is quite cheap. If we don't take unlimited If the purchase policy is not adopted, Huguang's agricultural production in the coming year will definitely be hit.

The Marshal's Mansion's control over Huguang is quite weak, and trade is the main way to enhance the influence of the Marshal's Mansion in the local area, so it is impossible for us to cut off the grain trade with Huguang.As for storing grain locally, Huaiyang, Fenglu and other places are fine, but Henan and Shandong are not, because Jiannu's march is too fast, and we cannot guarantee that the local granaries will not be seized by Jiannu.

As I said before, taxation should be: taken from the people and used for the people.This is not only a principle of taxation, but also a measure to reduce the cost of taxation.For those grains that exceed the needs of the Marshal's Mansion, they should be converted into local poverty relief funds and investment in road and water conservancy construction.

To put it simply, what you should consider at this time is not to suspend food procurement, but to consider how to distribute more food than needed to poor families in need of relief, or use it for local construction projects.

For example, Yuan Liang said that some self-cultivating farmers and landlords used up their grain reserves to resist the Marshal’s government’s grain purchase policy, so we can formulate some agricultural policies to reward landlords who plant cotton and other cash crops next year.The income of cash crops is higher than that of growing food, and you don’t have to worry about being requisitioned by the Marshal’s Mansion, those smart people will definitely respond to such propaganda..."

Regarding Li Zicheng's whimsical ideas, Zhou Zhikui asked a little puzzled: "But if the farmers all go to grow cotton, then what do they eat? Wouldn't the price of grain go up?"

Holding a glass of wine, Li Zicheng nodded and said, "Yes, grain prices will rise. But we encourage farmers in Henan and Shandong to grow cotton, which does not mean that other places will stop growing grain. Moreover, the rise in grain prices will also drive farmers production enthusiasm, so that they will give up the passive confrontation with the Marshal's Mansion."

Watching Li Zicheng, Zhou Lianggong suddenly thought: "According to this theory, the Marshal's Mansion can implement food purchases and agricultural subsidies back and forth in the northern and southern provinces. Isn't it true that the farmers are being harvested year after year..."

Chapter 293 The New Atmosphere of the Shipyard

On November 11, Li Zicheng left Huai'an City by boat and came to the Qingjiang Shipyard General Factory near the Qingjiang Gate.Unlike the last time he came, although the outside of the shipyard was deserted in winter, the workshop inside the factory was in full swing.

Li Yunzhen and Chen De, who accompanied Li Zicheng to visit the shipyard, introduced to him on the way: "...Since His Majesty restructured the shipyard and increased the cost of ships, the enthusiasm of the craftsmen in the factory has increased. The labor motivation is very high, so in addition to shipbuilding, we have also undertaken some other non-shipbuilding businesses..."

Although the Qingjiang shipyard in the Chongzhen period was far less prosperous than the Yongle period, even the shipbuilding business was taken away by the Hangzhou shipyard.But in the last years of Chongzhen, its factory area stretched for almost 23 miles along the canal, and there were still more than 3 craftsmen and related personnel to support.

Before the first industrial revolution, the shipbuilding industry was the industry with the highest concentration of technology. It can be said that all the handicraft industries in this era are not included in the shipbuilding industry.Therefore, there is actually no technical problem for shipyards to undertake some other non-shipbuilding businesses.

Of course, the most suitable business for shipyards is woodworking or iron making. These two industries have enough business volume for shipyards to undertake, and they can also give full play to the technology and machine advantages of shipyards.For the current Marshal's Mansion, there is no more urgent need than making guns and ammunition.

Therefore, Qingjiang Shipyard naturally transferred to the business of arms production.However, Li Zicheng stood in front of a ten-meter-high tower, watching the lead water pouring down like raindrops from above, falling into the large pool below to form lead bullets of different sizes, and finally couldn't help but let out The sound of admiration, this scene is too spectacular.

Chen De said to Li Zicheng with a little satisfaction: "I heard from those missionaries that Europeans use this method to make shotguns, and they use the principle that rainwater forms beads when it rains, so I asked the craftsmen to experiment. After a while, it turned out to be successful. Unfortunately, these lead bullets are very good for cannon shells, but if you want to use them for soldiers’ rifle bullets, you need to find someone to pick them out, which may not be suitable.”

Of course, Li Zicheng knew that it was unlikely to be suitable. After all, in this era of hand-made gun barrels, the size of the gun barrels is different, how could it be possible to expect to manufacture a common caliber lead bullet.However, he knew the solution to this problem, so he casually said to Chen De: "It's fine to pick out lead bullets that are smaller than the muzzle of the gun, and then wrap them with oil-soaked small pieces of linen or deerskin, and you won't worry about it." The lead shot fell out.

In addition, each gun is equipped with a lead bullet mold. The lead block can be heated and melted directly on the campfire, so soldiers can process it by themselves. We only need to distribute lead blocks that are easy to carry to them.So is there any way to save labor in the processing of large lead bullets? "

While praising Li Zicheng's solution, Chen De replied, "We used a warm water slope method for large lead bullets, and the effect is not bad..."

There is also a cannon factory in the shipyard, but now only one tiger squat cannon and the small Frang machine cannon can be made. The Hongyi cannon is still in the process of making clay models, and it will take at least a month before trial casting can begin.So Li Zicheng quickly transferred to the next workshop, the Gun Factory.

It should be said that the blacksmiths in the shipyard still have no problem making guns.The heavy-duty matchlock guns and reduced-duty matchlock guns finalized by the Xuzhou Military Weapons Administration were manufactured by the shipyard.After Li Zicheng visited the production process in the gun-making workshop, he also went to the gun testing range outside the workshop for test shooting. In addition to the matchlock gun, Chen De also brought a matchlock gun.

Seeing that the appearance of this gun is similar to that of a heavy-duty matchlock gun, except that there is an extra powder pool on the side and a pickaxe sandwiched with flint, Li Zicheng held it in his hand and looked at it for a long time before asking Chen De: "This is the one copied by the Xuzhou Military Weapons Supervisor. Self-generating firecrackers?"

Chen De nodded and said: "It can't be said that it is exactly the same as the self-generated firecracker made in Beijing before. The military inspector has made some improvements based on the revolver. The problem now is that good flint is hard to find. The steel sheet is a little expensive, and the cost of such a self-generating gun is worth the price of a heavy-duty matchlock gun. We calculated that the price of this gun must be at least 12 taels to not lose money."

Li Zicheng took this self-generating gun, loaded it with ammunition under Chen De's guidance, and fired at a target 30 steps away. Then he stepped forward to check and found that the bullet passed through the wooden target from the edge. Where did it go, but looking at the round hole cut out on the wooden sign, I knew how powerful this shot was.

Looking at the wooden sign and thinking for a while, Li Zicheng said to Chen De: "Although 12 taels is a bit expensive, it should be able to be reduced if it is mass-produced. For now, what the Army needs are more reliable gunpowder weapons that can be directly put into actual combat, matchlocks." The gun is obviously more adapted to the needs of the Army.

But it's different for the navy. The navy's current combat missions are not heavy, and most of the opponents they encounter are unarmored.Therefore, I can order 1000 pieces for the navy first, just 12 taels.But you have to reduce the caliber, from .39 inches to .[-] inches.In addition, the boat is narrow, I think the length of the whole gun should not exceed [-] inches..."

Li Zicheng finally concluded: "I hope you will further improve the flintlock musket and increase its reliability. When it is as mature and reliable as the matchlock gun, then consider its adaptability. Then the army will consider using the flintlock musket The musket replaced the arquebus in the army. Now how many barrels can you make every day?"

While thinking about Li Zicheng's request, Chen De replied: "Currently, 15-18 barrels can be produced every day, and about 500 matchlock guns can be produced every month. However, the craftsmen in the factory have begun to research some machines to replace The labor-intensive processes are completed by hand. The biggest problem now is the source of iron and charcoal. The best pig iron is Guangzhou Railway, followed by Jiantie. Iron materials in other regions are not suitable for precision forging..."

After hearing this, Li Zicheng said: "Now the south is no longer hostile to me for the time being, and the Fujian Zheng family has also reached a cooperation with the Marshal's Mansion. The source of Guangzhou Railway and Jiantie Railway should not be a big problem. I will urge the Military Supply Department in Yangzhou to give you Mix iron and charcoal..."

After seeing the Gun Factory, Li Zicheng also suggested that one place to look is the wire drawing workshop, which is relatively untechnical.For the current Shun army, gunpowder weapons and barbed wire have become the most urgently needed supplies.To deal with nomads, barbed wire and muskets are an unsolvable combination. The Americans occupied the central prairie before the Maxim machine gun was invented. expelled from above.

The Qing Dynasty, which controlled the Mongolian grasslands, had gained the advantage of the nomads. Although in the past when they fought against the Ming army outside the pass, Jiannu's tactics of relying on heavy infantry equipped with chariots repeatedly defeated the Ming army.However, according to the general staff's summary of Jiannu's five breakthroughs, it is found that Jiannu has become more and more dependent on cavalry assault tactics.

The reason for such a change is that the Ming army in Guannei was too weak to fight against Jiannu in the field except for the defense of the city, and the soldiers in the guard did not know how to form an formation due to lack of training. Farmers are no different.Facing this kind of peasant soldiers, Jiannu can defeat thousands of soldiers with dozens of heavy cavalry. Therefore, Jiannu has less and less used infantry to attack in formations in the interior. There are more and more siege battles that cut off the connection between the cities and then break them one by one.

There is no more convenient and quicker way to prevent cavalry attacks on plain terrain than to arrange barbed wire.As long as the cavalry's assault can be delayed, the infantry with a numerical advantage can counterattack. If a few matchlock guns are added, even an undertrained peasant soldier is enough to wipe out a small group of cavalry.

Therefore, while Chen De focused on gun manufacturing, Li Zicheng was more interested in the primary industrial product of wire drawing.As long as he could produce large quantities of cheap barbed wire, he would teach the nomads the power of industry.Of course, what restricts the production of barbed wire is still a large amount of qualified pig iron and the production method of processing pig iron into suitable wrought iron.

When Li Zicheng returned to the office of the main factory after visiting several key projects, Li Yunzhen also came to the office with several craftsmen and a wooden model of a ship. These two shipwrights were sent by the Zheng family. They have built similar galleons in Manila. This is the most senior shipwright in our factory. Your Majesty can advise on the ship. questions to ask them.”

Li Zicheng put down his teacup, looked at the gorgeous sailing ship model on the table in front of him for a long time, and then asked these craftsmen: "I don't want to build a ship that is exactly the same as this Western ship, I hope to learn from these Western ships. Structure, design a long-distance ship that can cross the ocean, and dozens of cannons can be carried on it...

To put it simply, what I hope to build should be several types of ships that meet different needs.The first category is naturally warships specially used for artillery battles at sea; the second category is merchant ships that can cross the ocean; the third category is expedition ships that can adapt to harsh sea conditions.I wonder if you can design it? "

Several craftsmen discussed in low voices for a while, and someone said to Li Zicheng: "The merchant ship that crosses the ocean is the least difficult, and we can manufacture it now. In fact, the plywood ship of the Westerners has proved to be the most suitable ship type for crossing the ocean. Therefore, as long as keel ribs and splints are added to the ship shape of Fuchuan, the improved Fuchuan can cross the ocean.

Warships that can conduct artillery battles at sea, we believe that ships that can cross oceans can adapt to the recoil force of artillery bombardment, but it still needs a little testing.This is an expedition ship adapted to harsh sea conditions. How bad is the harsh sea condition His Majesty refers to?Can you give me some pointers? "

Li Zicheng nodded after pondering for a few breaths and said: "I was too hasty. The design of the expedition ship has been put on hold for now, and I will make a request when the navy encounters specific sea conditions overseas. You should design merchant ships and warships first. I will allocate funds for the test..."

Li Zicheng stayed at Qingjiang Shipyard for a day, and set off early on the 29th to continue northward. Arriving in Suqian on December 12, after a day of rest, Li Zicheng immediately abandoned the ship and landed, and returned to Xuzhou with the cavalry guards. On the morning of December 1th, Li Zicheng finally arrived in Xuzhou. Liu Zongmin, Li Guo and other generals and Xuzhou officials greeted him outside the east gate and brought Li Zicheng into the city.

Chapter 294

When Li Zicheng entered Xuzhou from the east gate, he found that the city of Xuzhou had changed greatly. Not only the streets became clean, but also many shops were opened in the houses facing the street. He stood on both sides of the street and saluted himself Li Zicheng on horseback nodded, smiled and waved in return.

From time to time, he could still hear the sound of beating iron tools in the distance, and the shouting of merchandise.Obviously, a large number of people who were forcibly relocated southward by him, many of them settled in Xuzhou city.The increase in urban residents and the encouragement of handicrafts in preparation for the war have made Xuzhou City prosper rapidly, and it is no longer the decaying city that lost its population after the flood.