"A soldier who surrenders without a fight, and a good man who is good." Zheng Yan praised the North Strike Festival, "North Zheng and South Ruan are incompatible, the longer they fight, the more money and food are needed." Coupled with the Zheng family's arrogance and indulgence, how can the people under his rule have a chance to breathe? He treats the people with cruelty, I treat the people with leniency, and the days go by, and the hearts of the people are attached, and they will be able to collect the effect of bloodlessness. ”

"That's exactly what happened." Zhu Yongxing nodded, admiring Zheng Yanbei's train of thought, which coincided with himself, and said with a smile: "When the people's grievances are boiling and the people's hearts are towards me, take the place like a bag and take things, why rush for a while?" ”

"Hehe, Your Highness is far-sighted, and the lower officials can't reach it, and they have been taught, and they have been taught." Siwei complimented and diverted the topic.

In fact, Siwei knew about the Zheng clan of Annan gathering troops to the south, and he wanted to take this opportunity to expand the territory of the Mengshan Ke tribe a little more. But Zhu Yongxing had already made his words clear, and he temporarily dispelled this idea. After all, Mengzhu will become a princess next year, and for the sake of his daughter's status and favor, he can't make Zhu Yongxing unhappy.

Singing and dancing are indispensable, Mengzhu has not been so relaxed for a long time, and she dances happily with the sisters of the clan, like a happy butterfly. Zhu Yongxing smiled and applauded, and remembered that when she first met Mengzhu, she was also so cheerful, and she even bit herself.

"Your Highness." Zheng Yanbei leaned forward and said, "The lower official has sent someone to inform the tea merchant and tea man that he has collected all the goods, and he can go south to the sea along the Red River." In addition, Xiaguan is recruiting manpower and is preparing to go to Yuxian to set up a merchant hall first. The specific regulations and measures have been prepared, and after the banquet, the lower officials will present them to His Highness for inspection. ”

In the middle of the 16th century, the Annam Zheng clan set up a commercial port in the southeast of Jiaozhou City (present-day Hung An, Haixing Province, Vietnam) as a commercial port where merchants concentrated in the market. In 1637 (the tenth year of Chongzhen), Zheng Zhu Zheng allowed the Dutch to set up a merchant house in Yuxian, and the Japanese and Siamese also entered Yuxian in large numbers, and there were about 2,000 merchants from all over the world. In addition to the right of navigation on the Red River, the peace treaty also included the conditions for the establishment of a merchant house.

The history of Annam City "Gyeonggi is the first. "Yuxian is secondary", which shows that Yuxian's foreign trade has been quite prosperous. Moreover, many merchants from Guangdong and Fujian engaged in intermediary business there, dealing in traditional Chinese medicine, fabrics, spices, honey, silk and silk fabrics. Because it is the only source of Chinese raw and cooked silk, the Dutch and the British have established trading houses here. Engaged in the silk trade. At that time, Chinese merchants largely manipulated the commercial trade of the Yuxian until the decline of the Yuxian in the thirties of the eighteenth century.

Zhu Yongxing nodded and praised a few words.

Trade is necessary, not only to sell Yunnan tea overseas, but also to strive to open up the tea and horse trading routes with Mongolia and Tibet after the counteroffensive in Yunnan Province. Although Yunnan Province is in turmoil, Pu'er tea production areas are mostly outside the Sanjiang River, and the impact is small, if the introduction of incentive policies. Yields should be assured.

However, all these must have a premise, that is, the counteroffensive operations in September and October, which were taken as an opportunity for the Yuanjiang Incident, could be victorious. Zhu Yongxing exhaled a long breath gently, it was really difficult step by step, and he must not relax!

Zhu Yongxing didn't like wine, and Zheng Yanbei said that he would present the business charter after the banquet, so he drank less, just ordered it.

After the banquet, Zhu Yongxing summoned Zheng Yanbei alone. Mengzhu took the dragon and the sisters to play together.

"Explore the road first, and master the methods and skills of trading with Xiyi as soon as possible." Zhu Yongxing knew that Zheng Yanbei had never dealt directly with Westerners. He didn't have such talents, so he was cautious, "first a small amount, and then gradually increase, with the main purpose of accumulating experience and cultivating talents." After all, doing business on Annam's turf is not a long-term solution. The risks cannot be ignored. ”

"In addition, in addition to business, we also need to find out more information. News from Beizheng, Nanruan, Champong, and Zhenla are needed, and Xiyi should also try to find out. Zhu Yongxing pondered. He continued: "There are also many businessmen in the coastal areas of China, such as Fujian and Guangdong, and they can also get a lot of information from them. If there is a chance to go to sea, I have to ask a few people, whose names are ......"

Zheng Yanbei wrote them down one by one, and then asked: "Your Highness, do you want to buy some goods back with the business income?" In this way, the two ends are not short, and it is easier to make profits. ”

Zhu Yongxing thought for a while and said: "Saltpeter and sulfur are still the main purpose of military supplies. As for the rest, if you have any suggestions, you can present them to me. ”

"Let the subordinate go back and think about it." Zheng Yanbei nodded in agreement, his expression was obviously a little hesitant, and he paused for a moment before he said cautiously: "Your Excellency, please ask Your Highness to take the position of concubine for the sake of the great cause of rejuvenating the king and trying to dominate, so as not to be in turmoil." ”

Zhu Yongxing lowered his eyelids and was silent for a moment before sighing helplessly: "I know that I will only set up Azhu as a concubine next year, and I will not say anything about it." ”

"Your Highness is wise and decisive, not disturbed by personal feelings, and the country is fortunate." Zheng Yanbei bowed and bowed, and walked out.

The Zheng family is afraid that their big tree will fall, but they still have to bow to the world and tradition! Zhu Yongxing shrunk into his chair, feeling helpless and pathetic. Since Guo Zhiqi wrote a book to advise, he has thought deeply and conducted a comprehensive examination of what he has done. The Zhu Ming Dynasty was the world of the Han family, which was an encouragement and propaganda to the people, but an insurmountable obstacle to themselves.

Not to mention that it is difficult for civil and military officials to accept a woman of different races as a concubine, even the Han people in the world will not agree. It is obviously not convincing to say that all ethnic groups are part of China and should be treated as equals.

"I don't live up to me, and I don't live up to me." Zhu Yongxing muttered, although it seemed to be self-deceptive comfort, he still decided in his heart to compensate Mengzhu emotionally and in other aspects.

………………

After only staying in Shenyuan for one day, Zhu Yongxing took people on the road again. Two days later, the group arrived at Shaba.

Shapa is very close to Lao Cai and the estuary of Yunnan Province, but it is not as crowded as Lao Cai, and there is no trouble under the jurisdiction of the estuary Tusi. After the selection and relocation, almost all of the people living in Shaba were the dependents of the Ming army and the Han people of the former Yunnan Province. The establishment of a military industrial base here can prevent espionage to the greatest extent and keep secrets.

Moreover, Sapa is located in the valley of Hoang Lien Son, with high terrain and cool climate. The surrounding mountains are picturesque. There are silver waterfalls, rattan bridges, cloud mountains, wind caves, heavenly gates, water palace caves and other scenic spots in the mountains. In later generations, it was a famous inland summer resort, along with Da Yu and Mishima Mountain.

Of course, at this time, the sand bar was far from being developed. It is full of nature and tradition. Deep in the valley is the destination of Zhu Yongxing's trip - the military factory.

As a habitual mindset of a traverser, Zhu Yongxing always hoped to make a breakthrough in weaponry so that the war could be carried out as much as possible according to his own ideas. To put it bluntly, it is opportunistic.

Of course, time and skill were the biggest obstacles, so Zhu Yongxing could only start with the weapons that were the easiest to build and most likely to equip the troops and play a role. Focus on supervising the progress of two projects, one is the bronze mortar cannon. One is the pull-out mine and grenade.

Iron cannon and steel cannon are certainly the direction of development, but to smelt steel that meets the requirements of hardness and toughness, it is by no means possible overnight. Frying steel? Blast furnace steelmaking? Top blowing converter? Forget it, these unreliable ideas are put on the shelf first, and there is not so much free time to do this.

Bronze is different, the smelting and casting technology is quite mature, whether it is the thickness of the gun body or the size of the caliber, it can be manufactured according to certain specifications. And. Because casting is relatively simple, it can also be produced in large quantities.

For example, the M1852 mortar designed by Zhu Yongxing to imitate the American Civil War looks like a stone mortar of one meter, with a caliber of half a foot, about 155 millimeters, but the length of the barrel is only two feet. In principle, it is an improved version of the Sky Cannon. But. Because there is a thick gun chamber, which allows it to withstand the explosive force of a larger charge without breaking.

If you don't count the base made of thick pine planks at the bottom, the weight of this bronze mortar cannon, named "Tianwei Cannon", is only about 80 kilograms. Because of its extremely simple structure and low weight, it is a weapon that is easy to deploy and move, and the manufacturing cost is considerably low. Merely. The Tianwei cannon has relatively high requirements for the gunner's shooting skills, which is a small shortcoming!

The Celestial Cannon can fire at any angle between 20 and 70 degrees, but is best used for shooting at angles. It is precisely because of its special ballistic characteristics that it cannot fire solid shells like field guns, but can only fire grenades or incendiary bombs and other ammunition used to cause damage. It can be loaded with spherical shells, relying on black powder propellants weighing up to five catties, and at an angle of 45 degrees, it can fire shells up to a thousand meters away.

As soon as the Great War of Annam ended, the artillery captain Qian Bangchen left Anpei with some backbone artillerymen, and these days he has been studying and testing this new type of artillery in Shaba. Now, they have been able to operate more proficiently and show it to Zhu Yongxing.

The gunners meticulously inspected the gun, first using a metal needle to check that the door at the end of the barrel was clear, then adjusting the barrel of the gun in place and fixing the barrel with a wooden wedge. Next, they loaded the gunpowder wrapped in linen into the barrel of the gun, and then slightly compacted the bag with a round wooden block attached to a push rod made of a long handle.

After this work was completed, the gunner checked the appearance of the fuse again, and after confirming that there was no damage, carefully inserted the fuse into the shell. This wooden time-delay fuse is in fact a wooden block cut into a conical shape, and after drilling through the middle, the hole is filled with slow-burning gunpowder, and the structure can be described as simple to the point that it can no longer be simpler.

Then, the two gunners hooked the fused shell to the pit near the fuse chamber with a "hook" similar to a fire tong, and slowly loaded the shell into the barrel. The reason for this is that the primitive time-delay fuze, which is extremely rudimentary, relies on the high-temperature gunpowder gas generated by the combustion of the propellant when the gun is fired to ignite the slow-burning gunpowder filled in the fuse in order to work. In order to prevent the high-pressure gunpowder gas from blowing directly into the inside of the projectile body along the hole in the middle of the fuze and igniting the charge and causing the bore to explode, it is necessary to ensure that the fuze is pointed in the direction of the muzzle when loading the shell.

After all the reloading was done, the gunners inspected the guns again, then pierced through the fire door with a long awl, punctured the linen used to wrap the gunpowder, and inserted a fire rope into the fire door.

The fire rope was lit, sparkling and sinking into the fire door. With a roar, the cannonball burst out of the chamber and flew into the distance in the smoke of gunpowder. Because it was daytime, the sparks from the fuse were barely visible, but the white smoke from the tail could be seen.

The shells fell to the ground, and a cloud of smoke and dust could be seen in the distance. And then—

Understandably, in order to avoid accidents in which shells explode in the air, gunners generally install fuses with long explosion delays, some of which can be as long as a minute.

Zhu Yongxing squinted his eyes, observed the error of the impact point, and measured the distance in a decent manner. One thousand meters, only a little more, more than three times the size of the Sky Cannon. In this way, it is much safer, and with the cover of earth ramparts, even if it is bombarded by the Qing artillery on the head of the city, it will not suffer.

"Yongcai, come here, come here." Zhu Yongxing felt quite satisfied, so he stretched out his hand and called Qian Bangchen.

Qian Bangchen was staring into the distance. Waiting for the loud noise and the other gunners to remind him, he ran a few steps and came to Zhu Yongxing.

"Your Highness, this, the delay is a bit long, that-" Qian Bangchen wanted to explain with some shame, but Zhu Yongxing had already interrupted him with a smile and a wave of his hand.

"Safety first." Zhu Yongxing said with a smile: "After all, it's just a demonstration. I only look at the error and distance of the shot. What about those two-"

Boom, a loud bang erupted suddenly. In the distance, large clouds of smoke rose from the distance, and shrapnel, rubble, and dust flew up.

Zhu Yongxing was stunned for a moment, turned his face to look, smiled and bowed, and then said: "I am still quite satisfied with these two points." Well. That's not bad, either. You must continue to work hard, strive for excellence in artillery operation and shooting, and train more excellent artillerymen for our Ming Army. ”

"Your Highness, rest assured, the lowly and subordinate people will definitely live up to Your Highness's expectations." A stone fell to the ground in Qian Bangchen's heart, and his face became relaxed.

"It seems that there is room for improvement in the airtightness of this shell." Zhu Yongxing pondered and added: "Is it possible to make some special linen covers?" Only leave a place for the shell to be fitted with a fuse. Well, you guys can give it a try. ”

"The same as the pellets of a musket?" Qian Bangchen asked tentatively, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he immediately nodded and said, "The lowly position will be tested, and the results will be reported to His Highness soon." ”

Zhu Yongxing comforted several gunners who participated in the exercise, and then turned around and left the test site accompanied by Cai Ming, a waiter from the Ministry of Works.

"If the Tianwei cannon is finalized and manufactured, it can cast six guns a day, plus one day of grinding and trimming, that is, the output of three guns per day." Cai Ming reported to Zhu Yongxing as he walked, "The cannonballs are a little more troublesome, and about ten can be made in a day." There are also tasks in the foundry workshop for mine shells, grenade shells, which are already the maximum production capacity. ”

Although they tried to recruit craftsmen and apprentices as much as possible, they were still understaffed. It will take two or three months for the production to make a breakthrough, that is, after those apprentices have matured. Zhu Yongxing knew that Cai Ming was able to bring the Ministry of Military Industry to this level, and in addition to his own strong support, his efforts were also indispensable. Therefore, he praised Cai Ming again and again, sweeping away Cai Ming's somewhat uneasy psychology.

"The Tianwei cannon first cast fifteen guns, and then went all out to produce all kinds of ammunition, as well as mines and grenades."

Zhu Yongxing calculated the time and felt that it was still too late, as a kind of siege artillery, Tianwei Cannon could meet the counteroffensive operation in a month. Besides, there is also a bombardment cannon as a supplement, and the strength of the artillery is not weak. Divide a part to Yuanjiang Nasong, plus mines and grenades, delay the Qing army, and hold on to Yuanjiang is more certain.

"Nine Tianwei cannons have already been produced, and it will be able to meet His Highness's requirements in two days." Cai Ming knew Zhu Yongxing better, and he frowned bitterly when he heard the words of Concubine Wu and Six, so he spoke in an easy-to-understand manner, which has gradually become the secret of officialdom, "The manufacturing procedures for mines and grenades have also been smooth, and His Highness is still wise and intelligent, and the methods taught are fast and good." ”

Zhu Yongxing smiled slightly, some of the division of labor procedures similar to assembly line production can certainly improve efficiency. For example, in the production of grenades, the carpentry workshop is responsible for the production of wooden handles and maceration to prevent moisture, the casting workshop is responsible for the production of cartridge shells, as well as the fuze workshop and the assembly workshop.

As for hollow spherical shells, they are not as difficult to cast as many people think. Make a spherical core, set a core brace to suspend the core, and then close the box and pour. After cooling, the molding sand is cut out or poured out from the reserved process holes, and then the excess holes are sealed by molten iron welding, and a hollow iron ball is created.

"It's not just about speed, it's about safety, it's about quality." Zhu Yongxing said uneasily: "Especially in the pharmaceutical workshop and assembly workshop, the roof should be framed with lightweight beams, and it should be evacuated. Don't accumulate too much and pay attention to fire prevention ......"

Although there are some clichés, Cai Ming still listens respectfully and remembers them one by one.

"In a few months, we are likely to occupy a larger space, and the materials and supplies will be more abundant." Zhu Yongxing ended his old woman-like nagging, stopped, turned his gaze into the distance, and his tone became deeper, "At that time, skilled craftsmen should also be trained, so that they can make more and better weapons, so that the officers and men of our Ming army can shed less blood on the battlefield and achieve more and greater victories." ”

Cai Ming was silent, not daring to interrupt Zhu Yongxing's longing, for a long time, and when Zhu Yongxing turned around, he asked in a low voice: "Your Highness, are you going to lead the army again?" The body of a daughter does not sit in the hall. There are many generals available, and His Highness should not be lightly involved in the battle array. (To be continued......)