After listening to what the emperor said, everyone below the Minister of Military Aircraft secretly praised the emperor's sageness in their hearts. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

At this time, Sun Chengzong said: "Your Majesty, the musket artillery in the Shenji Battalion was previously supervised by the Ordnance Bureau and the Military War Bureau under the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry. Therefore, I asked His Majesty to follow the old practice during the Apocalypse and send people to the south to contact the Western Portuguese in Ho Jing Ao, and then the imperial court opened a factory to imitate it, so that it would get twice the result with half the effort. ”

Then he looked at the emperor, and Sun Chengzong continued: "The minister recommended Sun Yuanhua to be in charge of his affairs. ”

Of course, Zhu Daming agreed with Sun Chengzong's statement, so he looked at Sun Yuanhua and said: "Although firearms casting is difficult, it is imperative and must be made. Today, I have ordered you to be the squire of the Ministry of Works, and the Gunpowder Bureau, Ordnance Bureau, and Armor Factory of Wang Gongchang under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, as well as the Ordnance Department of the Military Aircraft Department, and the War Bureau of the Inner Court, will all be at your disposal from now on, and you will supervise the manufacture of muskets and artillery in the imperial court. ”

After hearing this, Sun Yuanhua couldn't hide the excitement in his heart, bowed down, and replied in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty's kindness, it is difficult to repay the death of the minister." Please rest assured that Your Majesty will do your best to build a militaristic weapon for Your Majesty. ”

Zhu Daming nodded to Sun Yuanhua, and then said: "Elder Sun Ge recommended you to cast artillery for the prime minister, and there is also a saying about buying artillery from Westerners, are you willing to go to this matter?" ”

Sun Yuanhua replied without hesitation: "In the third year of the Apocalypse, when the minister was in Liaodong, the imperial court decided to purchase cannons, and the ministers were responsible for it at that time. ”

Zhu Daming was overjoyed when he heard this, and said in his heart that he had really found the right person, and then said to him: "Since this is the case, this matter will be handed over to Aiqing." How much silver is needed, after Qing and Xiyang Hongyi are in contact with each other, they can report to me at any time. As for the matter of going south to Jingao, the military aircraft department has been newly built, and now the secretary and other affairs are busy, so they can send their subordinates who are familiar with the matter to go. ”

When Sun Yuanhua heard this, he immediately said: "Your Majesty, please forgive the ministers for taking the liberty of taking the liberty of the ministers, the minister's dog and Ding, and He Dou have followed the ministers since they were young, and they have some understanding of the entrenchment and Western artillery, and they know a little about the Western language. ”

Of course, Zhu Daming agreed to this proposal, and immediately conferred the post of superintendent of the Firearms Bureau of the Ordnance Department to Sun Heding, who had the fame of being a student.

Historically, during the Wanli and Tianqi periods, Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao, Bi Maokang and others successively put forward suggestions to the imperial court to equip Western artillery.

Later, Emperor Chongzhen realized the role of artillery, and also sent personnel to Macao to buy Western artillery, but he was not very at ease with the foreign ministers, so he sent eunuchs, but it took nearly a year to buy it, with the imperial court eunuchs and chamberlains, a large number of Portuguese veteran gunners from Macao to Beijing, were stopped halfway, not allowed to cross, and finally had to return to Macao.

Of course, later Emperor Chongzhen sent it again, this time he bought a lot, but unfortunately the efficiency of this work was too low, and when he finally bought it back, the Ming Dynasty was already poor and irretrievable.

In fact, in the early days of the Ming Dynasty, artillery has been widely used in the army, at that time to deal with the Yuan army's horse team, mainly relying on artillery, and later Ming Chengzu went out many times to conquer outside the Saiwai, but also with a large number of artillery.

It is a pity that after more than 200 years of development, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, China's artillery technology had not made great progress.

The main reason may be that the surrounding alien races are generally much behind the Ming Dynasty, and the original firearms of the Ming Dynasty are enough to deal with them, so there is no motivation for development.

At this time, Europe had just experienced many years of war and was grabbing colonies all over the world, and there was a great demand for muskets and artillery, so the technology was developing rapidly.

Today there are some Portuguese artillery foundries in Macau, where the guns were purchased came from.

In 1623, the imperial court agreed to the suggestion of Sun Yuanhua and others, purchased four Western artillery pieces from Macao, and invited four Portuguese gunners to go north to teach and guide the use of artillery in the army of Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan.

Historically, in the third year of Chongzhen, that is, in 1630 AD, Sun Yuanhua was the governor of Denglai at the time, and asked the imperial court to agree to purchase a large number of artillery from Macao, and hired more than 200 Portuguese gunners to serve in the army.

It is a pity that the subsequent rebellion of Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng captured Denglai, and a large number of foreign gunners and artillery experts were coerced to cross the sea and surrender to the Manchus with these rebels.

Of course, there will never be such a bargain anymore.

The day after the end of the meeting of the Military Aircraft Department, Zhu Daming summoned Sun Chengzong and Sun Yuanhua again to discuss the matter of sending Sun Heding, the new superintendent of the Firearms Bureau, and others to Macao as soon as possible to purchase Western artillery and hire Western artillery experts and gunners.

It was also during this morning's deliberations that Zhu Daming heard the news of John Tang, a foreign missionary, for the first time.

The name of John Tang is also famous in later generations, this German, in the forty-seventh year of Wanli, that is, in 1619 AD, from Macao, controlled by the Portuguese, entered the mainland, and traveled all the way to the north, first to Beijing, after staying for a few years, and then to Shaanxi to preach.

He was a missionary of the Catholic Society of Jesus, but he was also a scholar of astronomy and geography, and most usefully, he was also an expert in mineral smelting and gun casting.

Before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he established an artillery foundry for the imperial court, and supervised the successful casting of many Western red-coated cannons.

However, at that time, Chongzhen asked for money and no money, and even if he cast a batch of artillery, he could not save the fate of destruction in the end.

From Sun Yuanhua, Zhu Daming learned that John Tang was now preaching in Xi'an.

Zhu Daming, who was anxious to use Tang Ruowang to cast artillery, immediately asked Sun Yuanhua to send someone to Xi'an to contact Tang Ruowang as soon as possible, and asked him to set off for Beijing immediately on the grounds that the Ming Emperor personally summoned him.

Although it takes time to cast artillery on your own, and it may not be possible to achieve much in a year or two, as long as this thing starts and starts to do, I believe that it will be very effective in a few years.

And in this whole matter, John Tong and his Western missionary friends were very important.

Of course, Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua, who understand both Chinese and Western studies, are also an indispensable part.

Zhu Daming also said to Sun Yuanhua: "You have to make it clear to the people who went to Haojing Ao to buy Western artillery, Western artillery, of course, the imperial court wants to buy it, and at the same time, the more Western artillery talents, Western artillery gunners, and craftsmen, the more the merrier." Buy as many guns as you can, and recruit as many people as you can. I will order the Jinyi Guards to protect the safety of these Western red-haired people along the way. ”