Reborn as a tyrant in the Ming Dynasty

The purpose of Jiao Xu's special visit to the palace this time was very pure. The purpose of presenting the telescope sample made by the Armament Bureau was secondary. The main purpose was to get money and talents. If you are not a rich man, you don't know how expensive food and rice are. This is true at all.

Since becoming the chief officer of the Special Arms Bureau, Jiao Xu has been very busy. Not to mention anything else, just moving all the gunpowder stored in many gunpowder depots in Beijing out of the capital has cost Jiao Xu a lot of thought. .

There is still a group of eunuchs from the inner court to assist. Otherwise, if the officials under the Bureau of Ordnance, formerly under the Ministry of Industry, are at their disposal, and the tens of thousands of laborers gathered in Xishan can work with peace of mind, even if they force Jiao Xu to death, it will not be possible. May everything be straightened out.

Jiao Xu is a very pure person. He just wants to do what he likes, develop firearms, and study artillery. No matter how bad the conditions are, as long as he can meet the consumables for study, these are actually nothing.

But the key to the problem now is that what Jiao Xu is doing is building a framework. Everything is difficult at the beginning. If the framework is not fully established, the Arms Bureau will not be able to complete its mission.

"Your Majesty, as of now, the Armaments Bureau's new location in Xishan is under construction, and several warehouses for storing gunpowder have begun to take shape."

Under Zhu Youxiao's gaze, Jiao Xuzuo bowed and said, "According to the current progress, all the workshops and warehouses under the Armaments Bureau will be completed by the end of September this year at the latest."

"In order to ensure the overall progress of the construction, the Armed Forces Bureau's clear recruitment is still in progress. Based on the scale of the labor involved, it is only to meet the needs of the recruited laborers for three meals, and there is still a shortage of nearly 30 taels of grain purchase money."

This is a lot of labor.

Liu Ruoyu, who was serving in front of the emperor, had an expression of disbelief on his face when he heard about Jiao Xuming's situation.

Based on the shortage of 30 taels of silver for purchasing grain, and considering the current grain prices in northern Zhili, not counting the premium caused by bulk grain purchases, one stone of rice requires 2.1 taels of silver. In this way, more than 1.7 taels of rice can be purchased. One stone of wheat requires 1.4 taels of silver, which can buy more than dans of wheat. One stone of millet requires taels of silver, which can buy more than dans of millet.

Even though the big work of the Armaments Bureau is very tiring and I have to ensure at least two dry meals, I can't eat so much food in just a few months.

"In compliance with His Majesty's decree, to mass-produce percussion flintlock guns as soon as possible, I specially arranged a group of manpower to recruit among the people."

Jiao Xu didn't pay attention to Liu Ruoyu's surprise at all. He reported the situation on his own: "So far, a total of 581 gunsmiths, 614 gunpowder makers, 916 blacksmiths, and 387 carpenters have been recruited... except In addition to the above-mentioned group of craftsmen, I also selected and recruited more than 3000 apprentices. Since most of the workshops built by the Arms Bureau in Xishan have not yet been completed, except for the gunpowder craftsmen, most of them were crowded in the workshops in the capital. "

"It's just that most of these craftsmen and apprentices are raising families, and the monthly payment must not be less, otherwise they will not be able to work with peace of mind. According to His Majesty's previous proposal, in the future, the monthly payment from the Arms Bureau will involve Those for craftsmen and apprentices must be distributed strictly in different grades.”

“The lowest-level apprentice receives 2 taels of silver per month, the junior craftsman receives 4 taels of silver per month, the medium craftsman receives 8 taels of silver per month, the high-level craftsman receives 16 taels of silver per month, and the master craftsman receives 32 taels of silver per month. taels, the Arms Bureau is currently stepping up the assessment and selection process, and when this matter is over..."

"The Qing family doesn't need to go into detail."

Seeing Jiao Xu's behavior, Zhu Youxiao smiled slightly and said: "The Qing family directly told me how much money is needed. Since I have put the Arms Bureau in charge of the Qing family, then the Qing family has the responsibility for all matters involving the Arms Bureau." right to dispose of.”

Jiao Xu spoke in such detail, especially when it came to the corresponding figures, no one was careless. Zhu Youxiao could see the nervousness in his heart.

After all, money is involved.

Why was the military affairs department under the inner court's jurisdiction completely purged? Isn't it because there were too many scumbags who took all the money originally used for production and put it into their own pockets?

"If we include charcoal, coal, sulfur, saltpeter, pig iron, wrought iron, etc., the Arms Bureau is currently short of 120 million taels of silver."

After hearing what the emperor said, Jiao Xu hesitated for a moment, took out a memorandum from his arms, and said respectfully: "This money can be allocated to the Armament Bureau in batches. No matter how carefully I calculate the account, it can still be done." To maintain the operation of the Arms Bureau."

120 million taels? !

Liu Ruoyu looked at Jiao Xu in disbelief. He never expected that Jiao Xu would open his mouth so much that he would ask for so much money.

This is not a small amount of money! !

The most critical point is that after the establishment of the Arms Bureau, more than 20 taels of internal funds were allocated. This money was spent too quickly.

"I know this."

On the contrary, Zhu Youxiao's performance was very calm, "In the next few days, I will order someone from the inner court to allocate 200 million taels of internal funds and hand it over to your Arms Bureau."

"Your Majesty, I don't want this much."

Now Jiao Xu was shocked, and subconsciously raised his head and said: "120 million taels of silver is enough, sir..."

"The Qing family will listen to what I have to say first."

Zhu Youxiao smiled and waved his hand and said: "As the saying goes, the soldiers and horses must go before the food and grass are moved. Although the Armament Bureau does not need to go to the battlefield to fight with the enemy in person, what you are doing is closely related to killing the enemy, so the Armament Bureau under We are in charge of the craftsman household, and we will continue to recruit."

"After recruiting in the capital and Gyeonggi, I sent people to recruit in other prefectures and counties in Beizhili. I know that there are many fleeing households at the moment, and among them are craftsmen who are proficient in various fields. I will gather them all and unify them. To carry out household registration, the various firearms and ordnance that the Armaments Bureau will manufacture in the future must meet certain standards in terms of quality and scale."

Zhu Youxiao decided to set up a special arms bureau because he wanted to develop the Ming Dynasty's military industry system, not just to build some workshops. That would be too petty.

Only when the quantity reaches a certain scale can it lead to qualitative change. To achieve rapid development in the field of science and technology, it is not enough to rely on a few talents alone. This requires a large echelon of talents, so in the future, Jiao Xu will do what they have to do. , not only developing the military industry system, but also cultivating a large number of talents. Only by forming such a virtuous cycle can Ming Dynasty continue to move forward in the field of science and technology.

"By the way, I just heard you mention gunpowder."

Looking at Jiao Xu who was still in a state of shock, Zhu Youxiao leaned forward and said with a serious expression: "I feel that the current production of gunpowder can no longer meet the needs of the battlefield. The Qing family must organize that batch of gunpowder as soon as possible. Craftsman, please try to improve the proportion of black powder for me to increase the explosive power of the gunpowder."

"At the same time, the Qing family also needs to solve the problem of how to reduce the flammability instability of gunpowder during transportation. I have written down some of my ideas. After the Qing family takes it back, I will think about it carefully to see if it can be used in the development of gunpowder. Go in."

If you want to make a big breakthrough in firearms and artillery, increase their power, and increase their range, you cannot do without the foundation of gunpowder. Zhu Youxiao knew that in addition to black gunpowder, there was also yellow gunpowder, but the key to the problem was that Zhu Youxiao didn't I know the ratio of yellow gunpowder better than black powder.

Especially the powerful combination of black powder + white sugar.

But right.

Knowing these literal things does not mean that you know the specific ratio. So what Zhu Youxiao can do is to write down everything he knows and give Jiao Xu and the others a general direction. As for the specific ratio, , production still needs them to explore.

It is worth mentioning that granular gunpowder actually existed in the Ming Dynasty very early, and the corresponding production process also existed, but it was not widely used. The high cost was on the one hand, and the lack of emphasis on technological development was on the other.

"Gunpowder and sugar?"

When Jiao Xu took the file from Liu Ruoyu, he showed a strange expression after seeing what was written in it.

Can the two be mixed together?

Although Jiao Xu's voice was very low, Zhu Youxiao still heard it. Seeing Jiao Xu's expression, Zhu Youxiao knew that some window paper must be broken, otherwise, if Ming Dynasty wanted to have success in the field of science and technology, Big development is certainly impossible and unrealistic.