Ma Cheng had enough manpower but not enough materials, and there was no wood and bricks to repair the house. However, this is not difficult for Ma Cheng, there are a total of eight large camps here in the school field, and now except for the Shenji Battalion, which occupies two and one is occupied by the Zhenwu Battalion, the other five are uninhabited. Although those five places are also broken bricks and tiles, they are indeed excellent building materials.

Ma Cheng led 200 people to demolish the houses of the two camps and used them to renovate his own camp. With the materials, the renovation work was much faster, and by the afternoon a hundred houses were already in shape.

When Ma Cheng was leading people to work, more than 100 carts came from outside the camp, and it turned out that the military department had sent the supplies of the Shenji Battalion.

It was Chang Fang who was beaten in the mouth who led the team, and when he saw Ma Cheng, he quickly knelt down and asked for guilt: "The villain didn't know the identity of the second master in the morning, and he offended the second master, please forgive the second master!" After being beaten, Chang Fang learned Ma Cheng's identity from the head of the Arsenal Division, and he was so frightened that he hung in his pants, offending the son of Shangshu of the Ministry of War, the key is that no one in the entire Ministry of War dared to intercede for Chang Fang.

In the end, Chang Fang had no choice but to come to Ma Cheng head-on, hoping that the bell must be tied to the bell, and Ma Cheng could forgive himself.

To tell the truth, Ma Cheng had already forgotten about the beating of people, and on this day Ma Cheng was so busy that he hit the back of his head, where he remembered a bookstore in the Ministry of War.

Ma Cheng looked at Chang Fang and thought for a long time before he remembered, and said, "Yes, you weren't the bookstore who was beaten by Lao Tzu?" What are you here for? ”

Chang Fang took out a silver ticket from his pocket, with a face value of one hundred taels, which was already Chang Fang's entire net worth.

"Second master, the villain looks down on people, please let the villain go, this is a little bit of the villain's heart!"

Ma Cheng took it and looked at one hundred taels, which was not bad: "Okay, accept the silver, the second master knows that you are wrong!" ”

Chang Fang was overjoyed when he heard Ma Cheng say this, so he stood up and introduced the grain and grass equipment brought to Ma Cheng.

With the full cooperation of the Ministry of War, the arsenals in various parts of Nanjing City were opened to supply Ma Cheng. This batch came with a hundred stone of grain, a thousand of the best Lumi guns, and ten small cannons of the Franc machine, and the rest were military uniforms, gunpowder and other things.

In order to sell it well, Chang Fang deliberately opened a rice bag, and then said: "Second master, please see, the villain doesn't dare to take the military rations mixed with sand to see the second master, these are the best rice harvested last autumn, please check it out!" ”

Ma Cheng looked very good, it was all good rice, and there was no obvious sand. However, the threshing technology of the Ming Dynasty is not up to par, and there are still some stones and sand grains in it, but it does not affect the consumption.

Ma Cheng nodded and asked, "Yes, the second master is very satisfied!" But what about the others? ”

"Second master, don't worry, this is only a part, and the other military rations and weapons and equipment will all be in place in a few days!" Chang Fang thought that Ma Cheng was asking about other things, but Ma Cheng didn't have this intention.

"I mean, the rice, but the meat? What about the dish? ”

Chang Fang only knew what he meant when he heard Ma Cheng say this, and it turned out that he had to prepare these for the military department!

Chang Fang Si Ai said: "Second master, the military department only takes care of grain and grass, and other non-staple foods are prepared by themselves!" ”

When Ma Cheng heard this, he thought that the Ming Dynasty was the same as later generations, and the army had everything.

Chang Fang saw that Ma Cheng was not angry before he put his mind at ease, and then said: "Second master, Lord Lang Ding instructed the villain to let the villain take the second master to receive the craftsman from the Weapons Bureau in three days!" ”

I didn't expect that Ding Qirui to be fast enough to contact the Ministry of Industry so quickly. Ma Cheng was very happy to see that he was finally about to step into the fast lane, and nodded to indicate that he understood.

In the next three days, Ma Cheng devoted himself to the formation of the army, and Ma Cheng knew that this army was the capital for him to settle down in the future, and he must not be slack, so Ma Cheng did it himself regardless of training, equipment, and cultural classes. Fortunately, the 100 people brought out by Ma Cheng before were basically formed, and they helped Ma Cheng as grassroots officers, which saved Ma Cheng a lot of effort.

Ma Cheng's army food is too good, in addition to three dry meals a day, he can also eat a piece of fat for two taels a day, which makes Ma Cheng's newly recruited soldiers quickly settle down, although the military training is very hard, but it is not a matter of being able to eat a full meal.

On the morning of the third day, Chang Fang came to the barracks on time, and today was the day when Ma Cheng went to receive the Ordnance Bureau. Ma Cheng took the new master Xu Zhenye and ten guards and followed Chang Fang to the arsenal on the shore of Xuanwu Lake outside Dongcheng, which was also the largest arsenal of the Ming Dynasty south of the Yangtze River, the Jiangnan Ordnance Bureau.

Jiangnan Ordnance Bureau is a huge department, in addition to the production of weapons, there is also the Longjiang Shipyard outside the Jinchuan Gate, which can manufacture everything from small boats of a dozen materials to ocean-going cargo ships of 400 materials.

The Jiangnan Ordnance Bureau is under the management of the Construction and Lifting Department of the Ministry of Industry, and it is responsible for an ambassador of Zhengjipin. Although this ambassador has a low official position, he is in charge of tens of thousands of craftsmen in the entire Weapons Bureau, plus thousands of shipwrights, and has a lot of power in his hands.

The ambassador of the Ordnance Bureau had been notified by the Ministry of Industry yesterday that the old son of Ma Ge was going to come to select craftsmen today, so after the ambassador learned of Ma Cheng's arrival, he hurriedly took the two deputy envoys of the Ordnance Bureau and six secretaries out to greet him.

When the ambassador saw Ma Cheng coming, he quickly knelt down and saluted, and shouted loudly: "Liu Benzhong, the ambassador of the villain Weapons Bureau, bring his subordinate colleagues to meet the chief soldier!" ”

In fact, although the Ordnance Bureau manufactures weapons, it is indeed two departments with the Ministry of War, not to mention Ma Cheng's Shenji Battalion, which are two units that are completely unrelated. However, because this Liu Benzhong wanted to stammer with Ma Cheng, he naturally wanted to lick his belly and pay a big salute.

Ma Cheng got off the horse and waved his hand, pretending to say, "Get up!" Ambassador Liu should have received a letter from the Ministry of Industry! ”

"The villain has been received yesterday, and the ministry means to fully cooperate with the chief soldier!"

"That's good, Lord Ben doesn't have anything to do today, it's just that I'm interested in your weapon production, and at the same time, Lord Ben usually likes to make some firearms, so let's mention it!"

Liu Benzhong heard Ma Cheng say this, and scolded in his heart: You still dare to mention it? Of course, this is not Liu Benzhong's bragging, the production of firearms in the Ming Dynasty is not inferior to the West, but it can be worse in terms of standards, and the remaining gunpowder, iron smelting, etc. are not weaker than the West.

Although Liu Benzhong scolded so much in his heart, he dared to say anything, so he had to nod and say, "Yes, yes!" The Chief Soldier is right! I wonder where the chief soldier wants to see? ”

Ma Cheng thought about it, the most important thing for a firearm is to shoot * charge, let's take a look at gunpowder first!

"Let's take Ben-sama to see your gunpowder workshop first!"

Liu Benzhong heard Ma Cheng say this, and hurriedly led the way in front and came to the edge of Xuanwu Lake to prepare to take a boat.

The area of Xuanwu Lake in the Ming Dynasty was extremely wide, five or six times larger than the water area of Xuanwu Lake in later generations, and the area covered the entire northeast of Nanjing, extending from Shence Gate to Taipingmen. The side of Xuanwu Lake near the city wall is the royal garden, but the side of the Yangtze River is the Weapons Bureau. The gunpowder workshop under the Ordnance Bureau was built on a small island on the north side of Xuanwu Lake.

Because it is a military place, it is guarded by soldiers, but Ma Cheng has the text of the Ministry of Industry, so he can naturally be unblocked.

On the island is the gunpowder workshop, which is not a small place, with only about 20 houses, most of which are still warehouses. When I walked into the yard, I saw rows of sheds, and there were rows of things as thick as chopsticks hanging underneath.

Ma Cheng didn't know what it was, so he called a craftsman and asked, "What is this?" ”

The gunpowder craftsman saw that it was brought by the ambassador, and knew that it must be a big man, so he quickly knelt down and saluted and said: "My lord, the gunpowder made at this time will be cut into the same column when it is half dry, and when it is completely dry, it will be the *fire* of the Hongyi cannon!" ”

Ma Cheng was shocked when he heard this, but he didn't expect that gunpowder granulation had begun in the Ming Dynasty. In Ma Cheng's impression, gunpowder granulation should be a modern thing, but there was such a process in the Middle Ages of the Ming Dynasty?

In fact, what Ma Cheng didn't know was that the firearms of the Ming Dynasty were very developed, and the gunpowder production process was infinitely close to perfection.

In the military books of the Ming Dynasty, the more complete records of the gunpowder formula of the Ming Dynasty include "Fire Dragon Artifact Formation", "Martial Arts", "Soldiers", "Martial Records", "Fire Dragon Scripture", "Western Law Divine Machine", "Fire Dragon Essentials" and so on, and the rest such as "Ji Xiao Xinshu", "City Guard Strategy" and so on also have sporadic records of gunpowder varieties.

In addition to the gunpowder types and formulas of the Song Dynasty and the West, as well as the repetition of different military books, there are about 90 kinds of gunpowder formulas. These types of gunpowder can be roughly divided into two categories, one is the firing charge of arquebus, artillery, and musket guns, and the other is explosive gunpowder, jet gunpowder, incendiary gunpowder, and so on.

During Ma Cheng's visit, he found that the production of gunpowder in the Ming Dynasty was already very advanced. The artisan first selects and refines the three raw materials, and then grinds them into powder, which is weighed in proportion and then put into a stone mortar or wooden trough and stirred repeatedly to form a fine powder. The second is to mix the three ingredients, the method is to mix the three components into the mortar in proportion, add a little water or shochu, mix the three powders into a wet mud state, and use the wooden pestle to continuously stir, in the process to prevent the entry of impurities such as sand and gravel, so as to avoid bumps and fires during the mixing process. When the mixture is about to dry, add water and pound again to make the mixture fully and evenly mixed, cut into identical strips, and then take out and dry in a ventilated place.

Next, when the supervisor will conduct a quality inspection of the finished product, it will select a part of the finished gunpowder that has been dried and burn it on the paper. On the contrary, if there are black stars and white dots left on the paper, it is still unqualified and needs to be reworked and re-milled until it is qualified.

Ma Cheng was dumbfounded when he saw this kind of production process, these craftsmen know more than themselves, where do they still need to be dialed by themselves?