When he left Beijing, Cao Yue had already made arrangements, he asked his cronies to take Cao Qian, with 1 million taels of silver and 10,000 taels of gold, to the south by sea ship, to Oysters, that is, Macao in later generations, to find the Francophone to buy muskets, as well as machinery and equipment for the production of firearms. Cao Yue also instructed Cao Qian, if possible, to hire some Francophone men, including musketeers, artillerymen, and firearms technicians.

The Francos are Portuguese, and as far as Cao Yue knows, the Portuguese have the best firearms manufacturing technology today. Cao Yue hoped that he could buy some firearms from the Portuguese that were more advanced than the muskets that the Ming could make today, and that it would be better to hire sergeants and craftsmen. Nowadays, the military quality of the Portuguese is good, they can be regarded as mercenaries of this era, and they can enrich the combat effectiveness of their men.

If we can dig up some craftsmen who have mastered advanced manufacturing technology, we may be able to make even more advanced firearms. Cao Yue knew a little about the history of the development of firearms, and he knew that in the 15th century, around the end of the Ming Dynasty, the West was developing quite rapidly in science and technology, and the manufacturing technology of firearms also surpassed that of the Ming Dynasty.

Science and technology in ancient China was not valued, most dynasties were considered to be kitsch and prostitution, relatively speaking, Westerners paid more attention to science and technology, in the manufacture of firearms, they surpassed the power of the Ming Dynasty, Hongyi cannons and Western muskets, there are not many records in history.

Of course, buying is not a long-term solution, Cao Yue hopes that he can master the manufacturing process, so he does not hesitate to spend a lot of money in this area.

Cao Yue is not worried about the lack of money now, what he is worried about is that he can't buy things with money and can't make good things.

Cao Yue can be said to be quite rich now.

When the palace of Jiannu was ransacked, Cao Yue and his men looted a lot of rare treasures, and after returning to Beijing, they gave a part of it to Emperor Chongzhen, and they intercepted most of it. During this time in Beijing, Cao Yue also asked his subordinates to secretly exchange these rare treasures for cash. To his surprise, these things he brought back were all valuable things, and one-fifth of the treasures were exchanged for two million silver.

In the Ming Dynasty, the country was poor and the people were rich, although the treasury of the Ming Dynasty was empty, but the people were very rich, especially the dignitaries in the capital. It can be said that as long as it is a powerful person in the capital, no matter which one it is, if the house is raided, at least more than 500,000 taels of silver can be found.

In the original history, after Li Zicheng broke through Beijing, the silver retrieved from the homes of high-ranking officials and dignitaries in Beijing amounted to tens of millions of taels. Many dignitaries like to collect rare treasures, and the treasures brought back by Cao Yue from Shengjing are extremely exquisite and very popular. One-fifth of the loot was sold and exchanged for two million taels of silver, which made Cao Yue overjoyed.

Of course, he was also extremely careful, and the sale of these treasures was through several connections, and even if someone suspected it, it was basically impossible to trace him. With the money, Cao Yue immediately thought of sending people to Macao to buy firearms and hire craftsmen.

For the current Cao Yue, there is little meaning in staying by his side, and he secretly ordered his cronies Cao San to exchange all the remaining treasures for silver taels, which are used to recruit soldiers, build weapons, and strengthen his own strength.

Now Cao Yue has five million taels of silver in his hand, and some of these silver taels have come to Datong with him, and Cao San is in charge of the two million taels, ready to be transported to the south and find a place to store them in Nanjing. Before leaving Beijing, he sent his cronies Cao Qian, a family general, with dozens of family members and a huge amount of money, to hire sea ships to go south to buy arms.

Nowadays, the imperial court no longer has much grain to allocate to the towns, and the general soldiers of each town either owe the salaries of the soldiers or find a way to raise it themselves. With so much silver in his hands, Cao Yue was not worried about running out of money and food to arm the army.

As long as Zhang An, who was in charge of the various armory workshops, could help and get the support of other officials, Cao Yue could start making firearms, recruiting troops, and strengthening his own strength. Cao Yue knew that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were as many warlords as a cow, and the imperial court could not help the generals who supported the army and respected themselves, and many times they had to try their best to entrap them, and they did not dare to offend easily.

Mao Taizu's sentence Cao Yue believes in very much, that is, power comes out of the barrel of a gun. As long as he has the strength, then no one can do anything easily, and the same is true for Emperor Chongzhen, and in the next time, Cao Yue will have to work hard for this goal.

After receiving the money, Zhang An also gave a return, he personally led Cao Yue to go around the armory, and in front of Cao Yue, repeatedly instructed the eunuchs in charge to obey Cao Da's orders in the future. Cao Yue has any orders, he must follow them, and he must not be lazy and slack.

The eunuchs in charge naturally agreed, and Cao Yue also prepared benefits for them, and each person was offered a few thousand taels of silver later. His generous gifts touched the hearts of those money-greedy eunuchs, and they repeatedly said that as long as Cao Yue had orders, they would definitely obey them.

used money to open the way, and received the expected results, Cao Yue was quite satisfied. In the next two days, he stayed in these weapons workshops, personally inquired about the manufacturing process of muskets and artillery, and also designed some firearms by himself, including the most commonly used grenades and bomb packs in later generations.

Compared with the previous dynasties, the manufacturing process of gunpowder in the Ming Dynasty did not improve much, and the leading role was still black * gunpowder, and the more powerful yellow * gunpowder was not developed, let alone anything.

The power of black* gunpowder is not great, and it will produce huge black smoke when it explodes, but this is not something that Cao Yue can solve all at once. The upgrading of muskets is not something that Cao Yue can solve all at once, not to mention the improvement of artillery, which can only be done slowly in the future. Cao Yue also hoped that when Cao went to Macao, he would be able to hire some outstanding firearms manufacturing technicians and buy some finished products and equipment.

Cao Yue didn't know much about the manufacture of rifled guns and punches, but he hoped that Westerners had mastered the manufacturing technology.

Cao Yue also knew that during the Ming Dynasty, there were several figures who were quite accomplished in science and technology, one was Song Yingxing, the author of "Heavenly Works", the other was Fang Yizhi, and there was also a firearms expert Bi Maokang. It is rumored that Bi Maokang invented the self-generated fire gun, that is, the flintlock musket, during the Chongzhen period. However, Cao Yue did not see flintlock muskets in the Ming army, and he did not know what the specific reason was.

Before there is no better technological upgrading, what Cao Yue can do is to try to improve the quality of gunpowder, grenades, explosives and other explosives to add some things to increase lethality, and he also plans to establish a set of assembly lines to improve production efficiency.

Cao Yue had to pay attention to the manufacture of firearms, and another important thing ----- to reorganize and rectify the Datong Town Army, which he also had to personally manage, and it had to be carried out immediately. The elite of the Datong Town Army were all buried by Wang Pu, and the 3,000 men and horses brought by Cao Yue originally belonged to the Eastern Association Army, and it is estimated that Cao Bianjiao lost 3,000 men and horses, which is also very distressing. However, Cao Yue did not plan to return the 3,000 people, these horses were originally led by him, and he left the Eastern Association Army, and it was nothing to follow.

The key is that these 3,000 men and horses are still his biggest reliance now, with so many soldiers to command, he will have the confidence to do things.