It has been a year since the recovery of Jinhua Mansion, and this year's time has not been harassed and looted by Ma Jinbao and his subordinates, and the recovery of people's livelihood is very fast, at least through the purchase of autumn grain, grain is not a problem for the time being. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoBut if you think about it carefully, if it weren't for the fact that Jiangnan produces hundreds of catties of rice per mu, if it were to change places, or if it suffered from natural disasters such as droughts, locust plagues, and floods, I am afraid that this grain would become the biggest obstacle to the development of the Ming army in Zhejiang.

In addition to the problem of land, the replacement of armaments and the manufacture of them to meet demand, the construction of forts at key points, the barracks of the garrisons in the counties, and the construction of post stations and outposts in various places, all of which required astronomical amounts. Coupled with the tax exemption in the newly occupied areas this year and the repayment pressure in the first year of the two loans for the aftermath and the requisition next year, Chen Wen, who is said to have gained a lot this year, has begun to worry about whether he can feed this army.

However, in any case, it is necessary to try to persevere, and it is not as simple as sticking to it, but also the development and upgrading of new weapons, as well as the innovation of craftsmanship.

After the negotiation with Sun Yu ended, it was already in the afternoon, and Chen Wen hurriedly rushed to the workshop of the Military Industry Department responsible for the manufacture of weapons and armor after leaving the prefect's yamen.

After the purge and reform, the Military Industry Department has long been a matter of fact, and the current civilian official in charge of the Yamen of the Military Industry Department is Xu Yi, the former county magistrate of Dongyang County. During the Cao Conglong Rebellion, he refused to go along with Yan Zhiheng's rebellious behavior of the county magistrate, and was later affirmed by Chen Wen and Sun Yu, not only based on the consideration of raising merit, but also his ability is obvious to all, so Chen Wen appointed him as the head of the Military Industry Department, responsible for managing this ordnance manufacturing department.

The Department of Military Industry consists of several large workshops such as the Sword Academy, the Bow and Crossbow Academy, the Gun Academy, the Artillery Academy, the Firearms Academy, the Armor Courtyard and the Military Academy, which are fully responsible for the ordnance manufacturing affairs of the Ming Army in Zhejiang.

Among them, for example, the Sword Academy does not only manufacture swords, but also the cold weapons used by the Ming army belong to the manufacturing scope of this workshop; In the same way, the armor court is not only responsible for the manufacture of armor, but also helmets, military uniforms, cloaks, and even shoes and socks are also manufactured by them; Although the Bow and Crossbow Courtyard is called so, it does not actually manufacture crossbow machines, but the Fire Gun Courtyard is responsible for manufacturing bolts and assembling them in addition to making gun barrels; The firearms yard seems to coincide with artillery and firearms, but in fact it is responsible for the production of gunpowder and the manufacture of firearms for water warfare, such as firecrackers and fire bricks; As for the military academy, it is completely miscellaneous, and they are responsible for the water bottles, hats and other things that other workshops do not do, and even some training facilities.

Originally, the efficiency of these workshops has not been low, not only compared with the yamen of the Ministry of Industry where dead pigs are not afraid of boiling water, but also compared with other weapons workshops of the Ming army.

Being able to achieve such results has a great relationship with the supervision of Wang Yi and Wang Jiang, especially Wang Jiang, who is in charge of logistics and general affairs, and the officials of the construction department he brought out have never dragged their feet in the production of weapons even if they are dissatisfied with Chen Wen. Of course, they are naturally big once they play.

After the cleaning, the work efficiency of the craftsmen has been further improved under Chen Wen's piecework wage policy, and even many craftsmen have to work overtime every day, always trying to make as many finished products as possible in order to get more wages.

However, with the implementation of the standardization system, the speed of craftsmen has decreased. This is an inevitable phenomenon of hand-made standardized parts, and it stands to reason that in order to increase production, it is necessary to increase the number of craftsmen and increase production through the increase of manpower.

However, today's craftsmen teach their skills no different from scholars going to private schools, and craftsmen in the handicraft industry cannot bring a few apprentices under normal circumstances, unlike the technical schools of later generations.

The process of craftsmen creating a finished product is far from being as simple as producing it by machinery, but requires too much knowledge and skills that have been honed over a long period of time.

There were only so many artisans in their hands, and apart from asking the merchants for help in recruiting and abducting some artisans from the Manchu occupation areas, the only way to recruit them was to expand the occupied areas.

However, standardized production would also lead to the discomfort of these craftsmen, and it would take time to recruit the Manchus and the newly occupied territories, and it would be difficult to increase the output quickly and effectively for a while. Now, with the expansion progressing, the Ming army's weapons and equipment are about to face a large shortage. In this regard, Chen Wen could only ask the officials and craftsmen of the Military Industry Department.

Compared with the craftsmen who unanimously expressed their incomprehension of standardization, after the craftsmen dispersed, Xu Yi, the director of the Military Industry Department, had a special proposal, which made Chen Wen's eyes shine.

"Sir, Xia Guan has seen in the workshop, many of those craftsmen's apprentices actually have the ability to build independently, but according to the rules of apprenticeship, they have to work under the master for a few years before they can become a teacher, it is better to requisition these apprentices to do things, it should be able to achieve the purpose of increasing production."

This proposal is very constructive, but the expropriation is wrong, because no one except their master can guarantee whether the apprentice will be able to create a finished product according to the regulations, and it is easy to lose unnecessary losses, so it is necessary to change the way of thinking on this basis.

"Director Xu, your opinion is very good, but it needs to be adjusted in the details." Invited a few masters who existed as civil deputies, Chen Wen said: "In response to the problem that the output is lower than expected, this official and Director Xu have just discussed, and in the future, all the apprentices brought out by all the craftsmen and masters below the teachers can be taught as long as they can learn the craft and be able to create objects by themselves, but the master can get a share of the finished products created in the first three years after leaving the school. ”

Chen Wen's order itself was breaking the rules, but as soon as these words came out, several masters all showed a look of surprise.

They are not young and more experienced, but the reason why their physical strength has begun to deteriorate makes them more enthusiastic about teaching their skills, and there are naturally far more apprentices than ordinary craftsmen. However, according to the rules of the ancestors, the apprentice must work under the master before he leaves the master, in fact, giving the master a few years is not only to accumulate more experience, but also part of the payment of tuition.

Nowadays, Chen Wen's regulations allow the master to get the apprentice's share, which is an additional bonus, and they are naturally eager to get it, especially the apprentice's departure time is also set by them.

Merely......

"I know that the craftsman's craft needs to be honed for a long time, in order to prevent the apprentice's craftsmanship is not in place and there are too many defective products, the apprentice wants to enter the workshop as a formal craftsman needs to go through a strict assessment, and those who pass the assessment enter the workshop, and those who can't go back and learn for another year can retake the exam. In addition, during the division of masters, the master will be punished for too many apprentices. ”

As soon as these words came out, most of the surprises just now were immediately extinguished, and there were not many apprentices in the hands of individuals who could reach the level of apprenticeship but could not be apprenticed because of tradition. This craft needs to be accumulated and honed slowly, so the speed of teaching apprentices will not be too fast. As soon as this rule is introduced, the number of their shares is bound to be reduced a lot.

Well, it's better than nothing.

The rules are set, the master can be divided, the apprentice can be assigned in advance, and the output is bound to be improved, which can be described as the best of all three. For this reason, Chen Wen praised Xu Yi very much, but also led him to more ideas.

"Sir, the lower officials have checked, and the production speed of the bolt of the self-generated fire gun cannot keep up, and one of the big reasons is that there are too few craftsmen who can create finished products with a qualified fire rate. Xia Guan thought about it, some of the parts of the bolt seem to be similar to locks, and if some locksmiths are hired to build them, they may be able to increase production. ”

The bolt of the flintlock pistol has always been a big stone in Chen Wen's heart, but the bolt of the flintlock pistol has the problem of firing rate, and the gun that does not meet the standard will greatly affect the firing speed, causing more mistakes by the gunner, but losing the significance of this technological innovation.

Among the existing craftsmen of the Ming army, only those masters can create qualified bolts relatively stably, so that in the past two months, there are only a few dozen flintlock pistols that can equip the troops, which is not enough to bear enough damage on the battlefield, let alone eliminate arquebuses.

Locksmith, Chen Wen thought for a moment, the locks of this era are very different from the modern locks, and the forms are diverse, although they are far from being similar, but they are not completely different. Perhaps, the stones of other mountains can attack jade.

After making a plan to let Xu Yi find a few locksmiths to try, Chen Wen suddenly remembered a joke he had seen on the forum before, saying that the early European cannon smiths were all born to cast bells for churches.

However, if you think about it carefully, it seems that there are not many craftsmen who cast the bell in the occupied area of the Ming army, and it also takes a process of adaptation from casting the bell to casting the cannon, and it is also accompanied by the frequent occurrence of phenomena such as explosions, which can only be used as a supplement at most but not enough to increase the output too much.

It seems that we still have to start from the machinery, especially the water-driven machinery, which is made in heaven for southwest Zhejiang, which is rich in hydraulic resources.

The use of water power is extremely popular in China, an agricultural society, such as rolling cars, water mills, and water mills. But what Chen Wen needs is the kind of machinery that can be used in military manufacturing, such as hydraulic boring machines, after all, with spears, guns and cannons, there will be a stable life for ordinary people, otherwise no matter how complete the civil machinery is, in fact, it is only used to exploit the Tartars, and the common people will not benefit from this.

The bounty for the hydraulic machinery has already been issued, but in Chen Wen's estimate, another news should come in advance before he can get the hydraulic machinery that can be used for actual work. (To be continued.) )