After the winter solstice, the news of Zhu Gaoxu's killing of Xiyangha began to spread, which represented that the rebellion in the northeast of Liaodong caused by Xiyangha had finally been temporarily quelled.

As for whether the troubles in northeastern Liaoning can be completely quelled, it depends on what route Ataiwailan takes, and whether the Bohai Navy can hold Andong City and curb the ambitions of Ataiwailan and others.

But in any case, at least at the moment, the military households in Liaodong have been given a chance to breathe, and Zhu Gaoxu's move has naturally attracted the dissatisfaction of some people.

"He's really capable!"

In the East Palace, Zhu Yunwen, who had just returned to the East Palace from the Wuying Palace, poured out his dissatisfaction with the two classes of more than a dozen ministers in the palace.

In this regard, Storm Zhao also said: "Although His Majesty has raised the age of Jilin City and wants to move 1,000 households from Shandong, the land of Jilin is barren after all. ”

"What's more, we have also watched the New Year's loss, with the current situation of losing the New Year, Jilin City can only rely on the imperial court, so you can rest assured."

"I'm just too relieved......" Zhu Yunwen was a little dissatisfied in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face after all.

However, from his words, it was not difficult for everyone to hear his thoughts.

"Now it seems that Atai Wailan, the son of Xiyangha, may not be able to be the enemy of Jilin City in a short period of time."

"What needs to be paid attention to at the moment is the Wuliangha tribes on the ground of the Suwen River."

Qi Tai has always been very concerned about Zhu Gaoxu, and now that he has achieved meritorious achievements and his power has gradually taken root outside the border, Qi Tai naturally has to find a way to curb the expansion of Zhu Gaoxu's power.

Therefore, after Zhu Yunwen expressed his dissatisfaction, he took the wat board and said:

"Now that the road to Jilin has been covered with heavy snow, we will have to wait until the end of March next year to deliver the will."

"Therefore, the minister suggested that Jilin City encircle and suppress the remnants of the seven Jurchens after the beginning of spring, so as to not only ensure the safety of my Liaodong, but also contain the King of Bohai on the ground of Azhemi."

"Even if the guards in the hands of the King of Bohai are counted as a thousand households in this migration, there are only more than 2,000 people."

"More than 2,000 people are afraid it will not be so easy to ......deal with the seven Jurchens in the vast mountains and forests of Azhemi, I'm afraid it won't be so easy."

Qi Tai's words were already very explicit, and he almost didn't write the words weakening Zhu Gaoxu on his face.

However, the ministers of the two classes in the Chunhe Hall did not react to his words, as if all this was as it should be.

The vassal king is powerful, and it should have been contained, Zhu Gaoxu is only a county king, and it is already an unbelievable situation to have more than 2,000 troops outside the gate.

If it weren't for Jilin City's lonely hanging, they would even want to catch Zhu Gaoxu's sore feet and give him a few copies.

"Just do what Mr. says."

Zhu Yunwen looked at Qi Tai, who rarely echoed him once, and his originally not very good mood was slightly better.

He left this matter to Qi Tai, and he discussed more important matters above the temple with the rest of the ministers.

"How is the encirclement and suppression of barbarians in Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan Xingdusi and other places?"

Zhu Yunwen talked about the rebellion in the southwest caused by the gold and silver mines.

Since the news of the gold and silver mines spread in July, the land contradiction between the Ming Dynasty and Tusi has also become increasingly serious.

In August, Miao Yao entered the Kou and plundered in Fengyi, Qingyuan, Huguangyuan, Guizhou Zhenyuan and other places, so Zhu Yunwen had to transfer Gu Cheng back to Guizhou, and at the same time was responsible for encircling and suppressing the barbarians in Guizhou and Guangxi.

In addition, the kings of Xiang and Chu were also transferred by Zhu Yunwen to pacify Yaokou in Yuanzhou.

Before these rebellions ended, the 36 Yuan thieves such as Pingchuan in Guangxi and the bandits in Bingui took the opportunity to make trouble and plundered the prefecture and county.

In addition to these rebellions of more than 1,000 people, there were dozens of rebellions of more than 100 people on the ground.

Fortunately, these rebellion places are all in Liangguang and the southwest, with Xu Huizu in charge, Qu Neng, Gu Cheng, Song Sheng, Mu Chun and others can quell the rebellion with peace of mind.

More than three months have passed, and when the time enters winter, the southwest has finally stabilized a lot, and it is still strong, and it is only in the Wumeng Mountain and the Daxue Mountain.

"You are really my good ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and it is a ......blessing to be alone with you."

Seeing that Qi Tai, Storm Zhao, Huang Zicheng and others had finished their reports, Zhu Yunwen was inevitably polite.

"I don't dare to accept ......" The ministers of the two classes returned the salute when they heard this, and at this time, Zhu Yunwen also took out a note and said triumphantly:

"This is the Ministry of Works' recital, since the emperor's grandfather sent 20,000 tributes to the local yamen, to the beginning of the month, 4,987 county pond weirs, 4,162 rivers, and 5,448 canal embankments have been opened......

"With so much done at the local level, I think next year's tax will be much higher than this year."

"I wonder how much money will be used to deduct taxes this year?" Zhu Yunwen asked about the question he was most concerned about, and the head of the household department walked out and said:

"The following brochure has been delivered, but I'm afraid the amount is a little ......."

The words of the chief made everyone's hearts tighten, and Zhu Yunwen's smile was also a little stiff, but he had good qi cultivation skills, and said with a smile: "After all, it is the policy of the imperial court, if there is a problem, make changes." ”

"This year's ......" the director said worriedly: "This year's autumn tax policy is still Susong Erfu, but the second government paid more than 3.97 million stones, but in the end it was more than 964,000 ingots of treasure money, and the actual tax and grain paid were only less than 700,000 stone ......."

Shocking...... Zhu Yunwen never thought that the gentry and wealthy businessmen of the Second Mansion of Susong would do this.

Of the nearly 4 million stone tax grain, only 700,000 stone was paid in the end, and the rest was deducted from the tax with treasure money.

It is true that the use of money to offset taxes is a policy promulgated by the imperial court, and they can do so, but the consequences of doing so are equivalent to eating out of the household.

If the emperor sees this account, I am afraid that it will be difficult to implement the use of money to offset taxes next year.

"How about you guys......" Zhu Yunwen gritted his teeth, he didn't expect this group of people to be so insatiable.

This is already the second year that Su Song's second mansion has used banknotes to offset taxes, and last year's actual tax of 1.4 million guan was made by them to the imperial court to only get less than 400,000 guan.

This year, it is even worse, nearly 1.5 million guan, and the imperial court may not even have 200,000 guan......

said that they were insatiable, Zhu Yunwen felt that he was promoting them, but now he had no heart to investigate, he was only thinking about what his grandfather would think after seeing this document.

"Suspend the use of money to offset taxes in the summer tax of next year"

Suddenly, Zhu Yunwen announced his choice, and such a move also made everyone in the hall look at each other.

Obviously, Zhu Yunwen wanted to use this means to remind the gentry and wealthy families in Su Song's second mansion not to be too ugly.

In the face of his approach, the ministers did not say anything, but just responded one after another.

As for whether they will say anything behind their backs, that is no longer something that Zhu Yunwen is considering.

He must choose a balance between the two forces of the Jiangnan gentry and his imperial grandfather, otherwise if he lets the Jiangnan gentry go on like this, who knows if they will become even worse?

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen retracted his eyes, waved his sleeves to signal the ministers to retreat, and at the same time put his eyes on Huang Zicheng among them.

"I'm waiting to retire ......"

The ministers signaled, and left one after another, only Huang Zicheng stayed.

After they left completely, Zhu Yunwen said to Huang Zicheng:

"It's been four months, how are things going at the Southwest Gold and Silver Mine?"

"The mining progress is good, and in four months, more than 700 taels of gold, more than 14,000 taels of silver, and 120,000 catties of copper ingots have been mined, and nearly 40,000 taels have been discounted."

"I asked the officials of the Ministry of Industry and the Yunnan Metropolitan Division, if there is no turmoil of thieves and bandits, and more than 10,000 households can be immigrated every year to enrich the mines in various places to ensure mining, then the annual income should be 300,000 guan next year, and then double every two years thereafter, until the annual income is more than 2 million guan......

When Huang Zicheng reported, although he had tried his best to calm down, his tone was still excited.

"Are there really so many?"

The output of the Yunnan mine made Zhu Yunwen stunned, and Huang Zicheng nodded firmly: "The miners of Yunnan Dusi reported that as long as there are enough miners, Yunnan alone can produce millions of catties per year, and more than 100,000 yuan can be minted." ”

"Taisun, if the imperial court can mine silver ore in Ansheng, Yunnan, then even if the amount of tax deduction with banknotes is too large, it can also make up for the deficit with Yunnan ore according to what King Bohai said."

"What's more, now the price of the treasure banknotes in the six provinces of Jiangdong has risen back to 700 yuan per guan, although the number of treasure banknotes recovered this time is large, but it is also worth more than 600,000 yuan, but the imperial court does not use them for the time being, and it cannot be said that the imperial court has lost more than 100,000 yuan......

Huang Zicheng's words sound like sophistry, but Zhu Yunwen needs such sophistry to excuse himself at the moment, so he can't help but bow his head:

"That being said, we still have to stop this tax deduction with banknotes next summer, so as to knock on the gentry and rich households in the six provinces of Jiangdong."

"Taisun Yingming......" Huang Zicheng saw that Zhu Yunwen couldn't move, so he could only sing and approve of his behavior.

His singing voice made Zhu Yunwen very useful, so he couldn't help but calm down and prepare to deal with other things.

As for Zhu Gaoxu's matter, I am afraid that he has long forgotten about it, and Huang Zicheng also talked about something about Zhu Yunwen himself when he saw this.

"Taisun, the Ministry of Rites and His Majesty have already selected the Taisun Concubine, who is rumored to be the daughter of Guanglu Shaoqing Ma Quan."

"In addition, the princess of Yan Shi, the princes and the princesses were all elected, among which the youngest granddaughter of the Marquis of Wuding was selected as the princess of Bohai, and His Majesty is ready to move a thousand military households to the north in the spring of the next year, let her go north with the army and marry the king of Bohai......"

"Guo Ying's little granddaughter?" Hearing Huang Zicheng's words, Zhu Yunwen was a little jealous.

Now that Fu Youde and others are dead, among the founding fathers of Hongwu, only Geng Bingwen and Guo Ying are still alive.

Although Guo Ying has not made a move to form a gang, his old department is not small, and now that his granddaughter is married to Zhu Gaoxu, it is not surprising that Zhu Yunwen is not at ease.

But fortunately, Zhu Zhi, the king of Liao, married Guo Ying's daughter last year, so Zhu Gaoxu couldn't share any benefits.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen was also indifferent: "Let him go, it's just a granddaughter." ”

"Yes......" Seeing that Zhu Yunwen didn't care, and had nothing else to explain, Huang Zicheng also withdrew from the Chunhe Hall after returning the salute.

Seeing him leave, Zhu Yunwen sat for a long time before looking out the window, and then set his eyes on the "Theory of Cutting the Domain" that Zhu Yuanzhang had let him hang for more than a year.

Looking at the "Theory of Cutting Domains", Zhu Yunwen showed a sneer on his face.

"What about talent? Not yet a courtier. ”

"Boom !!"

Just when Zhu Yunwen was mocking Zhu Gaoxu, a dull explosion broke out in a snowy mountain forest.

It's just that many people in a stone castle in the mountains are accustomed to this explosion, and at this moment they are more concerned about the tall man holding an iron bar.

"The sound of this bombing is quite loud......"

Holding the iron rod in his hand, Zhu Gaoxu teased Yizha on the side, and then set his eyes on the iron rod.

The rod was four feet long, about the thickness of a thumb, and a hole had been drilled into it with an unknown tool.

Such a wrought iron hollow stick, others may not know what it can be used for, but Zhu Gaoxu knows it very well, because this thing is what he made people.

"Let's go, go inside and talk."

Grabbing the wrought iron hollow roller, Zhu Gaoxu walked into a simple wooden house with Yishiha and the hundred household officials of Shibao.

When they entered the hut, Lin Su, who had followed, surrounded the hut and ordered everyone not to approach ten paces.

After all this, he walked into the wooden house.

After entering the wooden house, he silently walked to Zhu Gaoxu's side, and Zhu Gaochu took the iron rod and asked the hundred household officials in front of him:

"Meng Zhang, you are the old brother of the hundred households, so I left this matter to you."

"Tell me now, whether this hollow rod of wrought iron can be used as a firebolt."

Meng Zhang, as the elder brother of the hundred households, Zhu Gaoxu assigned him to come to the iron-making stone fort, where he supervised the iron-making and the secret manufacture of gunpowder.

A month ago, Zhu Gaoxu asked someone to send him another drawing, and asked him to make a hollow iron pipe of wrought iron according to the things on the drawing, which was what Zhu Gaoxu was in his hand at this time.

Today, Zhu Gaoxu came to the iron-making stone fort, and what he wanted to know was whether this wrought iron hollow iron pipe could be used.

In this regard, Meng Zhang did not disappoint him, and said confidently:

"Your Highness, I made a wooden lathe according to the drawings you gave, and I also used this wooden lathe to make this wrought iron hollow stick."

"I asked the blacksmith who made this stick, and he said it works a lot more than a copper gun, and although I haven't tried it, it will definitely work."

"If it works!" Zhu Gaoxu picked up the wrought iron barrel and felt that it was very hot.

Making arquebuses in large quantities, Zhu Gaoxu can't do this kind of thing, but this doesn't mean that he has to sit back and wait until he can do it.

Although the arquebus had not yet been designed by Zhu Gaoxu, he knew what the most time-consuming thing about the arquebus was.

Without him, it's nothing more than the barrel of a gun.

Before the Industrial Revolution, gun barrels were the most time-consuming, laborious and in-demand firearms material among firearms.

Zhu Gaoxu could not make firearms, but he could first make a barrel of sufficient strength for backup, and when the time came, as long as the problem of gunpowder magazine and firing was solved, he could immediately assemble the barrel and other parts with the technique of hot forging of wrought iron, and pull out a batch of arquebuses that could be used on the battlefield in the shortest possible time.

The arquebus barrel in the middle and late Ming Dynasty is simply wrought iron hot forging, taking the wrought iron sheet and knocking it into a long stick with holes in various ways, heat welding at the interface, and then drilling the ignition hole at the predetermined position, and then processing the inner chamber to the compliant size, and finally sealing the tail of the barrel with a screw structure.

In the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, the Han people had already invented pedal lathes and vertical lathes to drill pipes.

Today's Zhu Gaoxu is just bringing this thing to this era more than 100 years in advance.

I have to say that these two lathes are really easy to use, and the wrought iron barrel drilled can be said to be perfect.

This barrel is better than the arquebus barrel that Zhu Gaoxu saw in some Ming and Qing firearms museums in his previous life, which shows how mature the wrought iron technology was in the early Ming Dynasty and how solid the materials used by craftsmen were.

"How long does it take to make this barrel? How much does it cost? ”

Zhu Gaoxu asked Meng Zhang while observing the barrel of the gun, to which Meng Zhang also replied:

"With a vertical lathe, it only takes three days for three people to work together to make one, and this job is simple, that is, just pull three people back and forth, and you can drill one in three days."

"This barrel was only made by three masters in three days, and we don't need money to open an iron mine by ourselves, so just count the master's salary, and the cost is only one hundred and fifty yuan."

"However, if you calculate according to the price of purchasing iron materials and hiring craftsmen in the customs, this barrel will cost at least 400 yuan."

Zhu Gaoxu's benefits in infrastructure construction began to manifest themselves, and the price of a gun barrel of 150 wen was enough for him to continue to produce.

If he didn't have iron ore, he would have had to spend money on iron to make the barrel, and the price more than tripled.

In addition, what surprised him was the speed of drilling the barrel, you must know that in his previous life, he clearly remembered that it was explained on the Internet that it took a month to get a barrel out in the Qing Dynasty, why did it only take three days to get here?

But when he thought about it, he didn't think it was strange.

Some things seem to take more than 20 days, but in fact it only takes half a day to finish, such as some materials from Zhu Gaoxu's previous life unit.

As long as some unnecessary processes are removed, it is difficult to improve productivity and mobility.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu was no longer entangled, but continued to ask: "How is the production of gunpowder?" ”

"There is a lot of consumption in mining every day, and now we can save more than 400 catties per month, and now we have more than 1,600 catties in the powder magazine, and if we add 20 people, we may be able to get 5,000 catties every month."

Meng Zhang lowered his voice, obviously he also knew that it was against the law for Bo Haijun to make gunpowder privately, but he was still willing to make gunpowder for Zhu Gaoxu.

His words lifted Zhu Gaoxu's spirits, and then he turned his head to look at Yisha: "Transfer two hundred Jurchen healthy women to Meng Zhang......"

As he spoke, he looked at Meng Zhang again, handed over the barrel in his hand, and explained at the same time: "Twenty people make gunpowder, and the rest are used to make barrels." ”

Zhu Gaoxu did the math in his heart, one hundred and eighty people can make 600 barrels almost every month, which is more than 7,000 a year.

Now is about to enter the 29th year of Hongwu, Lao Zhu died in May of the 31st year of Hongwu, Zhu Yunwen began to monitor his father in December, and the Battle of Jingyan broke out in July of the following year......

If you only count until December of the 31st year of Hongwu, you still have 35 to 36 months to go, even if you only count 35 months, you can get more than 20,000 barrels.

"More than 20,000 ......," Zhu Gaoxu muttered the number, he was not sure how many troops he could pull out in the Battle of Jingjing.

At least for now, even if he integrates the sixty-nine troops that have taken refuge in him, it is unlikely that the number of soldiers and horses under his command will exceed 30,000.

20,000 arquebuses are enough to equip these 30,000 people, after all, he can't have all the arquebuses.

In the days before rifled guns, the dominance of cavalry and heavy infantry on the battlefield remained.

There must be enough pikemen and cavalry for Zhu Gaoxu to exert the power of firearms.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu's heart itched, because he knew that if he wanted to defeat the southern soldiers, the first thing was to have enough powerful artillery.

To cast artillery, he already had manpower, that is, the clocksmith he had sought from Nanjing City.

Before the nineteenth century, there was not much difference between the method and method of casting cannons and bells, and the size of the bell could be cast.

The bellsmith Zhu found only needed a few experiments to make the cannon he needed.

But the problem at the moment is that firearms are no better than firearms.

Zhu Gaoxu figured out the barrel of the gun, and others may not be able to see what it was, but the artillery could be seen at a glance.

Now Zhu Gaoxu can't be sure whether anyone other than the four of them is a Jinyi Guard, but if one of the Jinyi Guards sees the artillery, then he will have to face Lao Zhu's severe accountability.

Because of this, Zhu Gaoxu delayed again and again, and he didn't even dare to let people make artillery clay molds, for fear of leaking the news.

But now it is different, as long as the Songhua River basin is controlled by the Bohai Navy after the beginning of spring next year, then Zhu Gaoxu can build a stone fort anywhere upstream and downstream, and select a team of soldiers and horses that he can trust to station, and then study the appropriate modulus of artillery.

As soon as the research is successful, destroy the artillery immediately, and then make enough artillery clay molds according to the proportion.

When Lao Zhu leaves, a few months is enough time to forge hundreds of artillery pieces to deal with the next battle.

In the middle of his thoughts, Zhu Gaoxu explained to Lin Su, Yishaha and Meng Zhang respectively:

"There aren't many people I can trust right now, and apart from you, the only person I can trust is Fu Rang."

"There are other people's eyes in this army, and if what we do is known to them, it will inevitably be played by my grandfather."

"I want you to choose fifty trustworthy brothers in the army, preferably before the beginning of spring."

Zhu Gaoxu had never been so serious about explaining one thing to them, and when they heard this, they also reacted, and his Royal Highness probably wanted to do something terrible.

However, they didn't think about rebellion, they just thought that Zhu Gaoxu was going to do something against the law, so they made a joke: "Please rest assured, Your Highness." ”

Zuo got up, as a person who walks in the palace all the year round, he also lost his unthinking suggestion:

"Your Highness, in fact, the best candidate is the captured Jurchens, especially the Jurchens who can't speak official language."

"I know that too, but can you make sure that they will be obedient and will not be bought?" Zhu Gaoxu had his own worries, but he thought about it and said:

"There are also words among the Jurchens that ordinary Jurchens can't understand, if Your Highness is willing, you can ask the Fudaha of the Zhenbu to bring some Udha savages from further east."

"If you use these Udiha savages to do things, even the inter-visitors who are proficient in the Jurchen language will not be able to buy them."

"Good!" Zhu Gaoxu bowed his head, looked at Yishu and said: "This matter is left to you, it is best to bring more people to avoid being mixed with sand in the future." ”

"Your Highness, rest assured, the slave maid will be able to finalize this matter in a few days!" He also lost his respect.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu was also a lot more relieved, and the idea of promoting firearms research became stronger and stronger......

(End of chapter)