Time flies, in a blink of an eye to the Spring Festival, Chongzheng eleven years of the Ming Dynasty although did not achieve much victory in the military, but there is a qualitative leap in the economy, the development of the European market coupled with the completion of the Xingcheng Port base makes the Ming goods quickly occupy the Nanyang market, and gradually spread to the west, from the Mughal Empire to Persia to the east coast of Africa, and even the European continent, the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty can be seen everywhere, the goods of the Ming Dynasty are rapidly occupying the market, and the industry and commerce of the Ming Dynasty are growing explosively.

As soon as the data of the whole year came up, Zhu Cijiong's mouth was about to smile crookedly, the tax of the Ming Dynasty reached more than 50 million taels of silver, not to mention, the income of all officials doubled, and it was not possible to only increase the income without raising the salary, the income of the officials of the Ming Dynasty was not high, coupled with the rapid development of private merchants, it would be bad not to make jokes that the income of officials was not as good as the salary of the hired workers in private workshops, if it was really like that, who would want to be an official.

There are also a few royal firms, although they have just been restructured this year, but the annual income has added up to more than 100 million taels, that is to say, plus taxes, Daming's annual income has caught up with Spain, I don't know how much the Netherlands is now, but it is estimated that in another year or two, Daming will surpass the Netherlands and become the country with the highest total income!

The income of the people has increased, the officials have risen, it is naturally a celebration of the whole world, Zhu Cijiong is also very happy, not only the problem of money, he also has more than 100 concubines, there are a few of his concubines who have fallen into the country and the city, and they are out on the march, and it is false to say that they don't care, and now they are finally back, and it is the Spring Festival, and he has a small life, which is as happy as flowers.

However, there is a small problem, that is, the queen mother of the two palaces is urging more urgently, Zhu Cijiong really feels a little overwhelmed, he wants to tell the two queen mothers that he is only sixteen, but this mouth, he dare not open, it seems that at this time at the age of sixteen to have children abound, he can only work tirelessly, shuttle in the harem, a Spring Festival, not only did he not rest a hundred times more energetic, but felt that his legs were weak!

Because everyone understands, these things will not be detailed, the Spring Festival is over, the first thing at the beginning of the year, is the problem of casting cannons, the Dutch's cannon stimulated Zhu Cijiong fiercely, if the artillery is not as good as others in range, then this battle will be difficult to fight, so, a year ago, he issued an order, let the Ministry of Industry find a way to make the cannon, now is the time to accept the results.

is still his private study, or a few cronies of the Ministry of Industry, Zhu Cijiong knew that this matter was done nine times out of ten before he opened his mouth, because Bi Maokang, Wang Zheng, and Song Yingxing all had confident smiles on their faces.

Naturally, there was no need to beat around the bush about these cronies, and he asked directly: "Seeing that you guys look like this, you should have thought of a way, Meng Hou will talk about it." “

Bi Maokang took out a wooden pillar from his arms as if offering a treasure, and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, look." “

Zhu Cijiong curiously took the wooden pillar and looked at it, it was a lathe car, the middle was empty, to be precise, it should be a wooden pipe with a relatively thick wall, but there was a protrusion like a bamboo knot in the middle.

The processing is so exquisite, why are these people doing such a wooden pipe, they want to learn from his cheap father to be a carpenter!

Zhu Cijiong didn't see anything famous, so he had to ask: "Meng Hou, what is this for, is the mold for casting the cannon pipe, it doesn't seem to look like this." “

He had seen the clay mold of the cannon pipe before, and the appearance should be bare, without the middle section, and he didn't know what this section was used for, it didn't seem to be of much use.

Bi Maokang pointed to the wooden mold with an embarrassed face and said, "Your Majesty, there is a gap in the middle, which can be broken." “

Zhu Cijiong took a closer look, and sure enough, there was a seam, he thought it was a pattern or something, and it was a gap in the joint part for a long time.

When he heard this, he immediately broke it along the gap, and it was really broken, and the middle was connected with a round pin, which was not very difficult when it was broken.

This broke a wooden pipe into eight pieces of uniform size, which means that this wooden pipe was actually a combination of eight arc-shaped wooden blocks, but he still didn't quite understand what this meant.

Seeing that he was at a loss, Bi Maokang hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, what kind of cannon is to be produced, in fact, the main problem is in casting, and the clay mold and steel bar casting cannon will also be deformed, because the cannon is too long and heavy." The main problem we have to solve is how to strengthen the strength of the mold, so that it will not be deformed during casting. So, we came up with this method, first cast such a steel shell, and then fill it with a layer of clay, so that even if the barrel is heavy, the mold will not be deformed. “

Zhu Cijiong finally understood, it turned out that this was just the shell of the mold, no wonder he couldn't understand it, but he was not very good at casting, he really couldn't see whether the success rate of this mold was high or not, he could only encourage: "Well, this idea is very good, let's start the experiment immediately, the success rate can exceed five achievements and be officially put into production, first make hundreds of doors, I am in a hurry." “

When Bi Maokang heard this, he invited the merit and said: "Your Majesty, we have already tried it during the festival, and the success rate of casting cannons with this mold has reached eighty percent, and if the howitzer is cast in this way, the success rate is even more than ninety percent!" “

Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, these people are really diligent, they have given up on the New Year's Festival, and he couldn't help but be moved: "I've worked hard for you, I don't know what to say." “

Bi Maokang said indifferently: "The emperor has won the award, the front-line soldiers are fighting for their lives, what is it for us to work overtime, besides, we have overtime and overtime pay, the New Year is five times, plus the emperor said that the Yu Lu doubled, the New Year's Yu Lu is ten times the original, do half a month to the top of the original half a year, those little rabbit cubs don't mention more energy!" “

This is not like a compliment, it will be very exciting to change whoever works overtime for half a month and gets half a year's salary, Zhu Cijiong nodded with a smile, and asked again: "What kind of cannons have been trial-made, and what is the range?" “

Bi Maokang immediately replied: "We measured the Dutch cannon, in fact, the caliber ratio did not reach one to forty, the two cannons they made were roughly equivalent to our three inches and four inches of caliber, and the caliber ratio was only one to twenty-five, and we tried to produce these two, namely the 325 cannon and the 425 cannon, and the range was basically the same as the Dutch cannon, which was more than two miles and more than three miles. “

Zhu Cijiong asked hopefully: "Can you make a bigger and longer one?" “

Bi Maokang nodded and said: "But you can, but the weight, naturally there is no problem on the ship, but on land, it is estimated that it will be pulled by the earth turning dragon, and the gun truck is afraid that it will be difficult to pull it, you must know that the length of the 425 cannon has reached ten feet!" “

Ten feet is three meters three, which is indeed scary enough, Zhu Cijiong thought about it, nodded and said: "Okay, let's make a hundred of each, but this name, since it is not a real cannon, don't call it a cannon, how about simply calling it a Shenwei cannon, Shenwei three-two-five, Shenwei four-two-five, how majestic it sounds." “

Bi Maokang and the others had no opinion, and nodded their heads in agreement, and the Shenwei cannon that terrified the powers was born.