Zhu Cijiong watched the fold slowly turn into ashes, his face slowly became cold, and when the last corner of the fold was swallowed by the firelight, Zhu Cijiong said coldly: "Proposed purpose: Feng Lu Xiang will be promoted to the governor of the five provinces, and be in charge of the five provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Henan, and Beizhili to suppress thieves." ”

Cao Huachun was already familiar with writing holy decrees, and as soon as Zhu Cijiong spoke, he ran to a small table next to him, took out a blank volume of holy decrees, and wrote them carefully according to what Zhu Cijiong said. Writing and writing, Cao Huachun muttered in his heart: "This promotion is a good thing, why is the emperor's tone so cold?" ”

Of course, these are not what he should ask, he carefully finished writing the holy decree, handed it over to Zhu Cijiong for inspection, and put the emperor's big seal under Zhu Cijiong's supervision, and then arranged for the celebrant and eunuch to go to deliver the decree.

Zhu Cijiong raised his hand and continued to say coldly: "Proposed order: Feng Sun Chuanting is the right governor of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and orders him to immediately lead 100,000 Qin troops to assemble outside Zunhua City and wait. ”

Hurriedly ran to the small table, put down the written holy decree, and took out a blank holy decree to write, after this holy decree was written, he did not turn around immediately, but stood in front of Zhu Cijiong with his hands down and waited for the holy decree.

Zhu Cijiong continued to say coldly: "The word is passed on to me, the thieves are powerful, and it is not appropriate to disperse the troops, and the defenders of the state capitals of the five northwestern provinces will immediately go to the cities where the envoys and yamen are located to assemble, and wait for Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of the five provinces, to dispatch. ”

Cao Huachun hurriedly took out another piece of ordinary letter paper and wrote down Zhu Cijiong's dictation, this is not for the minister, but for the eunuch who passed on the oracle, so naturally it is not so formal.

Zhu Cijiong thought for a while, and then spoke: "Spread the secret decree, so that Lu Xiangsheng can only chase and suppress the main force of the thieves, and the other thieves will not be in charge for the time being." “

Cao Huachun immediately took out a blank scroll without any sign to write the secret decree and stamped it with a large seal, this is directly stuffed to the recipient, the more secretive the better, naturally you can't use the scroll to write the holy decree.

Zhu Cijiong thought about it again and continued to speak: "Send someone to inform Qin Yiming, Qin Gongming, and Shi Kefa to return to Beijing immediately to resume their lives. “

Cao Huachun nodded, indicating that he had written it down.

Only then did Zhu Cijiong wave his hand and said, "Well, go down, let Bi Maokang and Sun Yuanhua come to see me immediately." “

Cao Huachun then picked up the holy decree, secret decree and letter paper, bowed and retreated.

Soon, Bi Mao Kangke and Sun Yuanhua came together, they were all Zhu Cijiong's cronies, and they were generally more casual when there were no outsiders present. Therefore, after they walked into the imperial study, they did not bow down, but bowed their hands, and after seeing it, they stood aside and waited for Zhu Cijiong's instructions.

Of course, this is not that they are pampered and arrogant, these are all requested by Zhu Cijiong himself, and they have been interrupted many times when they bow to the bow, and they slowly change to bow to the bow.

Zhu Cijiong's anger had slowly subsided, he smiled and nodded at the two, and then asked Bi Maokang directly: "Meng Hou, how has the production process of artillery been improved, how many artillery pieces can be made in a batch now, how long does it take to build a batch of Type 417 howitzers, and how long does it take to build a batch of Type 518 howitzers?" “

Bi Maokang replied: "Back to the emperor, the production process of artillery is still being improved, now a batch can make 50 artillery, but in the end only about 30 qualified, it takes about 12 days to build a batch of 417 howitzers, and it takes about 15 days to build a batch of 518 howitzers. “

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, he frowned, and asked with some dissatisfaction: "Why does it take so long, and what is the problem?" “

Bi Maokang hurriedly explained: "Casting, processing and test shooting are all fine, but this clay mold is a bit troublesome. “

Zhu Cijiong couldn't help but ask curiously: "Aren't they all reinforced with steel bars, what's the trouble?" “

Bi Maokang replied with some embarrassment: "Well, it's the internal reinforcement that has a problem, the steel bar is easy to do, and it can be cast directly by turning the sand, anyway, there is no requirement for the surface, and it is a bit troublesome to use this thin steel wire when it is cleaned, and it can't be cast at all, Weichen has tried it with sand molds and clay molds, so small holes, the molten iron can't be poured into it at all, and now it can only be forged by hand." “

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, he slapped his forehead, he really didn't expect this question that the Ming Dynasty didn't have ready-made steel bars and wires to sell at this time, and he had to do everything by himself. Forged? It's too exaggerated, such a thin steel wire, to be forged with a hammer, how much effort does it take!

After thinking about it for a while, he had an idea, and he criticized with some hatred that iron is not steel: "Meng Hou, how many times have I told you, the military industry of the Ming Dynasty has entered the era of machining, and you must first think about whether you can use machine tools to process any part, and you really can't consider manual forging when you have no choice." With such a thin steel wire, you actually let people forge it, don't you know how inefficient it is? “

Bi Maokang's face immediately flushed with shame, and he arched his hand again and again: "Weichen is stupid, Weichen is stupid, please forgive the emperor." “

Zhu Cijiong instructed in an old-fashioned manner: "Isn't there a punch, first make some thin steel plates, and then make a mold, see how long the steel wire is used, and punch it out with a punch." Meng Hou, it's not me talking about you, you also know that the things that are cast are very brittle, and they will break when they are bent, even if you cast steel wire, can you use it? The direction of your groping is not right, you must consider the problem comprehensively in the future, don't always be a tendon! “

Bi Maokang replied ashamedly: "Weichen knows, thank you for the emperor's advice." “

Zhu Cijiong just talked about the matter, and didn't mean to beat him, seeing him like this, he hurriedly softened his face and said softly: "Well, how long will it take to process a batch of 417 howitzers after such improvements, and how long will it take to process a batch of 518 howitzers?" “

Bi Maokang saw that the emperor's face softened a little, so he breathed a sigh of relief, he estimated a little, and replied confidently: "After the problem of this steel wire is solved, it will only take about eight days to build a batch of 417 howitzers, and it will only take about ten days to build a batch of 518 howitzers." “

Eight days plus ten days is eighteen days, which is still a bit slow, Zhu Cijiong asked tentatively: "I will continue to have a batch of 417 howitzers and 518 howitzers now, let them work overtime, can they make it in half a month?" “

This is what the emperor urgently needs, even if he doesn't sleep, he has to make it, Bi Maokang nodded firmly: "Yes." “

Zhu Cijiong nodded, and asked Sun Yuanhua again: "Chuyang, how is the artillery drilling, what is the current rate of fire and accuracy?" “

Sun Yuanhua hurriedly replied: "If you go back to the emperor, 100,000 recruits are still training in basic operations, and the veterans of the 1,000 Shenji Battalion have almost practiced, their rate of fire can probably reach about two shots of one tea, and the accuracy can be controlled within two steps." “

A cup of tea is two and a half minutes, and two steps are about three meters, which is indeed about the same, Zhu Cijiong nodded and praised: "Well, you did a good job, immediately send two hundred veterans of the Shenji Battalion with twenty 55-type mortars to Hongdong County, Pingyang Prefecture to listen to Lu Xiangsheng's dispatch." The rest of the veterans stepped up their training on the accuracy of the howitzer's loading shotguns, and the recruits were not in a hurry, let them slowly familiarize themselves with the basic operation. “

If the European powers knew that Zhu Cijiong would train 100,000 artillery at a time, they would have to go crazy in fright, what kind of international jokes are they making, you must know that the standing army of the general powers is only about 100,000, and your artillery alone is 100,000, which is simply the rhythm of bombarding people to scum!

This is not that Zhu Cijiong is ambitious, now there are more than one million troops in the entire Ming Dynasty, and the 100,000 artillery is not even 10 percent, this proportion is not exaggerated at all. And sooner or later, the Ming Dynasty will have to participate in the battle for hegemony at sea, and when it comes to the sea, it will be the world of artillery, and no matter how much artillery there is, it is not too much.

Watching the backs of Bi Maokang and Sun Yuanhua slowly move away, Zhu Cijiong fell into deep thought, and he found that his vision of the problem was too one-sided. Like the peasant uprising in the northwest, he only saw the drought and corrupt officials on the surface, but did not notice the deeper problems of the clan.

If it weren't for Xu Guangqi's reminder this time, he was afraid that he would have made a mistake in direction, even if he wiped out all the peasant rebels, even if he resettled all the victims, so what? It won't be long before those clans will force more man-made rebellions, and when you send people to exterminate them again, it won't be long before there will be man-made rebellions, and the northwest has entered a vicious circle, if you don't clear those clans, this peasant rebel army will not be able to be suppressed!

No wonder Chongzhen has been suppressing the front and back for more than ten years, and after the suppression, he came out again, and after the suppression, he came out again, year after year, year after year, not only did he not exterminate the peasant rebel army, but in the end he was wiped out by the peasant rebel army!

Chongzhen is so innocent, he is not lazy, he is not greedy for pleasure, and he is not absurd, on the contrary, he is a rare diligent emperor in history, exhausted his thoughts, forgot to sleep and eat, but the Ming Dynasty finally died!

He can be said to have been completely mothed to death by the big moth of the royal family, and now that Zhu Cijiong knows the terrible things about the royal family, he will naturally not repeat the mistakes of the past, all the arrangements he made today are changing strategies and changing directions, and a discerning person can see at a glance that he is going to shift his focus to Liaodong.

That's right, he just wants to turn his focus to Liaodong and aim the spearhead at Houjin, although it is impossible for him to defeat Houjin in one fell swoop and recover Liaodong in a hurry, but, the clay people have three points of fire, and they have been bullied by Huang Taiji for so long, so they must give him some color!

As for the northwest, since it has been riddled with moths, let's simply mash it together with the moths and start over. Anyway, the drought in the northwest will continue for more than ten years, even if the rebel army is wiped out, it will only empty a useless vacant land, there is not much meaning, let's boil it slowly, for more than ten years, we will always boil those children of the clan into ten rooms and nine empty!

Lu Xiangsheng He doesn't plan to increase his troops there, the Tianxiong Army plus the newly recruited defenders in the provinces, plus the border army, are almost 500,000, as long as Lu Xiangsheng does not seek death, the peasant rebel army has no way to take him.

After pondering for a long time, Zhu Cijiong finally came back to his senses, he shook his head, cleaned up his mood, and then took out the map of Liaodong and looked at it carefully. Looking at it, he even took a pen and paper to draw a sketch on the map, and the content on the sketch was vague and a bit like a battle array! Does he want to go on a personal expedition?

That's right, he just wants to drive the expedition in person, it's not that he is arrogant, but in fact, no one has experienced this artillery vs. artillery battle in the Ming Dynasty, and the command of this battlefield has become a problem, and the duel between hot weapons and cold weapons can be said to be completely different things, and any of the generals of the Ming Dynasty has no experience in this area. Zhu Cijiong didn't either, but he had watched a lot of battle movies, and he still knew how to deal with the enemy's artillery.

So, in order to be sure, he had to make a trip himself.