“…… I turned over the records of the previous dynasty, and it was recorded that Emperor Taizong set up the Shenji Battalion, and its firearms were extremely powerful. The so-called god machine musket, with iron for the loss, with fire, can go to a hundred steps away, as wonderful as a god, the sound and the loss is to come. Yongle, Pingnanjiao, the person who made it is especially skillful, ordered the ministers to supervise the construction as their laws, ordered the general to supervise the battalion of the general in the interior, and ordered the officials to supervise the machine gun in the side, and Gai Shenzhi also. ”

"But I look at it today, the garrisons everywhere use miscellaneous wooden arrows, and the national strength of the Ming Dynasty is not as good as a hundred years ago, which shows that it is general. I also know that when I go on the horse to fight the world, I need to get off the horse to rule the world, but does governing the world include governing the army? The armament is slack, weak, once the police, what will my Ming Dynasty rely on to defend the territory? ”

During the Yongle period, the emperor formed 3,000 battalions, five military battalions and a Shenji battalion.

The so-called 3,000 battalions are the army composed of the Mongols who were defeated and surrendered at that time, which was originally 3,000 people, so it was called the 3,000 battalion, but later it was far more than 3,000 people.

The Fifth Battalion is an army composed of elite soldiers drawn from the provinces.

The Shenji Battalion is a unit equipped with guns and artillery.

The specific type of firearm used at that time has its own theories in various history books, but in general, it is a weapon that can be held and fired. It's just definitely not as convenient as it is now. And it's not a gun per person, because it's inconvenient to load, so the Shenji Battalion is actually a team of fifty-seven people, of which thirty-three people are divided into three teams, eleven people are loaded, eleven people pass the guns, and eleven people aim and shoot. The rest of the men defended with shields.

The trouble is that it is a little troublesome, but this setting achieves "the gun is not endless, and there is no strong formation". In the era of cold weapons, the Shenji Battalion certainly showed its might.

Plus three thousand battalions and five battalions.

Zhu Di relied on these armed forces to sweep the desert, and Daming was also a four-way guest. At that time, not to mention the raids on the border as it is today, the minister of the frontier reported that the Mongols might invade the Central Plains. Yes, it is possible. Zhu Di will order the Ming army to sweep around.

Of course, it did cost a lot of money.

However, despite the significant gap over the past 100 years, the issue of armaments is still a source of great controversy when it is raised today.

Because the money was spent, the common people couldn't get good, and the officials couldn't get good, and then they characterized this behavior as the emperor's great joy and recklessness.

Once we really want to start a war, we will have to requisition hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world, and it will cost the people and money, which is indeed a fact.

"Your Majesty, the resumption of the set has become a national policy, and it costs millions of silver, and a small half of the country's wealth is used on it, and in order to fight against the Tatars, the imperial court spares no effort to rectify the horse administration and train the cavalry, and there are still reasons for these. And listening to His Majesty's wishes, it seems that he wants to rebuild the Shenji Battalion, but he doesn't know where to deal with the enemy? ”

It was not someone else who said this, but the left deputy capital Yu Shi Zhangmao.

Later, Lin Han, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, also posted, "Your Majesty." At the beginning, the wood used in the god machine gun was called iron pear wood, and its wood was dense and heavy, red and heavy, and one shot could take 300 steps. Originally, it was a tribute to Beijing for the year of Jiaozhi, and it was used in the spear. After Xuande, the Ming Dynasty withdrew from Jiaozhi, and the imperial court could no longer obtain a large number of iron pear wood, unless it was purchased at a high price, but the Ming treasury was empty, and a large number of iron pear wood could only be used for Chen, so it could not recover the courage of the Shenji Battalion. ”

Zhu Houzhao said: "Listen to your meaning, the imperial court should give up firearms and leave him alone. In this case, why did Emperor Taizong set up the Shenji Battalion back then? Emperor Taizong's martial arts are rare in ancient times, isn't it the Ming monarch I want to emulate? If it costs a lot of silver, I also cost a lot of silver in this Forbidden City, so you might as well dismantle it and sell it! ”

"Your Majesty is angry." Zhang Mao said: "The ministers are just worried that the expenses of the court are too much, Your Majesty is not a mediocre lord, and the enhancement of the strength of the official army is also the meaning of the title. It's just that on the second day of the Great Dynasty Meeting, Henan, Shandong, and Zhejiang fought for a whole day for 400,000 river silver, and all those who asked for it were the hope of the people. The armament of the imperial court has already changed greatly, so why spend more silver? ”

Zhang Fuhua, the imperial historian of the left capital, also admonished, "I heard that Your Majesty allocated one million silver in the north to block the Tatars, and allocated 350,000 silver to Jingping Haijiang, and now it is really not appropriate to mention firearms!" Your Majesty has first ascended to the great treasure, and he should rest with the people, and he must not have a belligerent heart and exhaust the people of the world! ”

Zhu Houzhao frowned a little, "The northwest allocated a million silver, I used the silver of the open sea, and the southeast Jingping Haijiang, I used the silver of the sea trade!" You said that I don't rest with the people, which of these silver comes from additional taxes?! I work tirelessly every day to revive the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, why do you feel that I am wasting the people's power in vain?! ”

"From the Qin and Han dynasties to the Sui, Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, all of them were strong in the early years of the founding of the country, and in the middle and late periods, the officials were corrupt and the army was lax. If you continue to be so groggy and depressed, will the Ming Dynasty lose the country one day! And you, Lin Shangshu, didn't have Tie Limu, so he came to me and told me that the court would simply give up. It's too easy for you to be a scholar, you can't do it with both hands, and you don't say how to do it, do you want me to chop wood for you, so what do I want you to do?! ”

The emperor used to lose his temper.

But after so many years, in fact, there are fewer and fewer of them.

But today I couldn't hold back this temper.

The main reason is that Zhu Houzhao suddenly felt that it was so difficult to do something, he didn't toss the treasury, and as a result, he still had to face a lot of resistance, as if the emperor got some money, and it should be handed over to them to decide how to spend it.

When the courtiers saw that the emperor was angry, most of them did not dare to say more, and knelt down silently, all bowing their heads.

Zhu Houzhao flicked his sleeves, "University scholars Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, Wang Bing, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and Zeng Jian, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, listened to the order,"

The four old men stepped forward and knelt together, "The minister is here." ”

"I want to transfer a guard group from the top guards to the Shenji Battalion, and allocate 300,000 taels of silver for the purchase of firearms!"

Procurement?

When everyone heard this word, they were a little surprised.

"The imperial court asks the world to buy firecrackers, and all capable craftsmen, who can make firecrackers and artillery, can recommend themselves to the court. The cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Industry worked together to prepare for the test launch ceremony, and those with high quality and low price won the victory. It's for the new god machine battalion!

】

”

After the announcement, Zhu Houzhao didn't want to say anything, "Retreat from the dynasty!" ”

He couldn't have done that before.

But now that the court is completely under his control, what is this and that, when an issue is discussed, it is a play, and he has already said that the things on the issue are not whether they should be done, but how to do it.

Since you want to do this, then don't act in this play, just make a holy decree, and do what you say. Who else dares to resist the decree?

In fact, when I put it on the last day, I vaguely thought that there would be this possibility.

That's fine, it's over tomorrow anyway.

After the court meeting, the emperor was further exempted from the court for three days, but it was inevitable that the court would be exempted, and the attendant room would go to watch it anyway, whether this holy decree had been drafted or not.

In fact, Zhu Houzhao has also been brewing for a while about the procurement method.

For things like weapons, it is indeed possible to set up a research institute by the imperial court itself and invest in it by itself. Originally, it could have been purchased from the private sector, but once a weapon was ordered, a relatively large factory could be set up very quickly.

The method adopted in later generations is still of a certain scientific nature.

In this way, not all the money spent by the imperial court was exchanged for a few houses, at least something could be made.

In the same way, the war horse is also a 'weapon' in this era.

Therefore, the imperial court allocated silver for the officials and soldiers to buy from the Taifu Temple, and the silver taels obtained from the purchase were then used to maintain and expand the official horse farm. At present, the number of war horses is insufficient, so it is only for the army, and in the future it can also be sold to the civilian sector for transportation.

Only the horses that are sold have to be profitable, and this is a healthy model.

Of course, even if there is money, it is estimated that it will not be enough to continuously expand the horse farm, so the imperial court will also allocate silver to the Taifu Temple, which is another matter.

And what Zhu Houzhao is doing is to slowly straighten out these relationships and logic. These groups can be called quasi-state-owned enterprises, and they need to grow step by step and become a new group of vested interests in order to be able to confront the old, conservative groups of vested interests.

The most important thing in reform is to cultivate new interest groups, otherwise it will definitely be the death of the people.

To put it simply...... When there are several large weapons factories that always need 'orders' from the imperial court every year, they will naturally have the impulse to gain political weight in order to maintain or even expand the idea of equipping firearms that Zhu Houzhao is currently proposing.

If someone says that there is no war, there is no need for these things. Simple, it's enough to make a war.

By that time, the agrarian culture will also like to wage war. Because one of the reasons for peace-loving is that it does not make money by fighting wars.

If Ma Zheng also has a group of people, and people rely on this to gain benefits, then the imperial court wants to abolish Ma Zheng, and naturally there are people who oppose it.

Now there are a bunch of landlords in the court, of course, they don't do anything, they take agriculture as the foundation every day, and let the common people become tenants and farm the land honestly.

It's a coincidence,

At the end of the meeting, a light rain began to fall in the sky.

Spring rain, the light rain in the sky street is as moist as crisp, and the grass is close but no.

The carriages and horses that want to go back from all over the country are blocked by the rain, but it does not prevent people from taking pictures and having fun in Beijing, listening to the rain and tasting tea. Several eunuchs held paper umbrellas and knocked on the door of the Mei Mansion through the alley.

There was a decree in the palace, and the Meifu Gu clan was allowed to enter the palace to visit the two nobles of Yongshou Palace.