"Launch"

"Bang!!"

In mid-to-late September, when the south had just received the report on the war in the north, Zhu Gaoxu had already brought people to the Ordnance Bureau in Blackwater City at this time.

Compared to when he left, it was only two months, but Meng Zhang had already built the most important armory bureau before winter.

Although the Cement Construction Ordnance Bureau is not large, the empty site has been cleared out of a large area, which is very suitable for experimental artillery and muskets, and there is no primitive feeling at the beginning.

At that moment, Zhu Gaoxu stood not far from an artillery, looking at this artillery, which was not much different from the wrought iron cannon of later generations, and his eyes were full of satisfaction.

Not long after, when the cannonballs it fired hit the ground, Meng Zhang, who was guarding Zhu Gaoxu's side, sent Wu Ming to send light cavalry to measure.

They had a cloth ruler in their hands, and after the light horse ran a distance of more than 800 steps, the cloth ruler was completely straightened, and Zhu Gaoxu looked at the contents of the cloth ruler.

"Two miles and sixty-seven steps!"

Seeing the range of this artillery, Zhu Gaoxu was very satisfied, and Wang Yuan on the side also explained:

"This cannon is the best quality artillery in the first batch of wrought iron cannons, the cannon weighs 800 catties, the bullet weighs 5 catties, the caliber is 2 inches, the cannon length is 5 feet 2 inches, the maximum firing range is about one mile, and the firing range that can effectively hit the target is about 200 steps."

"According to your Highness's orders, we have tested the firing accuracy and range of these 800 catties of artillery."

"As far as the average data is concerned, when using an 800-pound cannon to aim at a target that is 1 foot 3 feet wide and 6 feet high, if the distance between the target and the gun is 400 to 500 paces, then half of the solid bullets can hit."

"If the distance is 500 to 600 paces, the hit rate of the 800-pound artillery is still about 10 to 20 percent, and if the distance is 2 miles, the hit rate is only half of it."

The data and modern terms and nouns that Wang Yuan said were all left by Zhu Gaoxu when he was drawing and all kinds of words that were given to him before testing the musket, and now he is proficient in using them.

"In addition to the type of this 500-jin gun, we have also forged 500 jin, 1,000 jin, as well as 2,000-jin, 3,000-jin, 5,000-jin, and 7,000-jin artillery."

Wang Yuan's forging cannons far exceeded Zhu Gaoxu's expectations, and he couldn't help asking, "Are these cannons successfully forged?" ”

"Xiaguan is ashamed......," Wang Yuan said guiltily: "In the past two months, there have been 124 forged cannons, and only 17 have been successful, of which after testing, only 500 jin and 2,000 jin have been successful. ”

When Wang Yuan was embarrassed to explain, Zhu Gaoxu also saw two horses pulling a large cannon on a gun carriage.

Seeing this, he hurriedly stepped up, and Wang Yuan also introduced it very strongly: "This cannon weighs two thousand catties, the bullet weighs twelve catties, the caliber is four inches, and the gun length is six feet nine inches and four minutes." ”

"On level ground, when the test party used this cannon to bombard a target two and a half miles apart, the hit rate was at most 30 percent."

"If a ricochet shot is used, and the distance is three miles to the target, the hit rate of the shell is about 20 percent."

"If the artillery shoots from a hill about 10 zhang high towards flat ground, then the hit rate of the ricochet at the same distance is still similar to the flat ground test above, but if you shoot from the flat ground below the hill of 10 zhang, only 10% of the ricochet can hit at the same distance."

Wang Yuan truthfully talked about the various data he obtained through the test, which made Zhu Gaoxu very happy.

As far as the measured results are concerned, the range and power of the 800-pound cannon are equivalent to the six-pounder field cannon in Napoleon's hands during the First Opium War.

Even a two-thousand-pound cannon was comparable to a twelve-pounder field cannon in Napoleon's hands.

The only thing they lacked was the experience of casting medium-sized and large artillery.

If Zhu Gaoxu remembers correctly, the six-pounder and twelve-pounder field guns in Napoleon's hands were shorter in length, lighter in weight, and had a longer range than Wang Yuan's two-thousand-pound guns.

The six-pounder cannon should be about 600 catties when converted into the weight unit of the Ming Dynasty, and the twelve-pounder cannon should not exceed 1,000 catties.

Zhu Gaoxu doesn't remember how much, but the content should be like this.

However, Napoleon used bronze artillery, and Wang Yuan used wrought iron cannons, which should be heavier than Napoleon's.

Take the bronze cast cannon, let alone Zhu Gaoxu, even the old Zhu is difficult to extravagant, so the number of bronze cannons in the Ming Dynasty that survived in later generations is not much.

After all, copper was currency in the Ming Dynasty, and it was not in line with the concept of governing the country when it was used to cast cannons.

But even so, with these two wrought iron cannons, Zhu Gaoxu could easily deal with the artillery of the Southern Army.

The importance of the modulus is incomparably precious at this moment, but the ratio of the shape of the artillery to the caliber has been slightly modified, and the modulus has been adjusted, and as a result, Zhu Gaoxu has obtained an artillery that spans more than 400 years.

One step further, there are such things as smokeless gunpowder and primers.

Zhu Gaoxu had only heard of these things, and he didn't know what the specific content was, so the artillery he was forging now was the highest military technology he could reach.

In fact, he was also very glad that if he hadn't come to Daming, then he might not have been able to make these two cannons.

From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty to the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, it was the peak period of Chinese metallurgical technology, but if we talk about the history of world metallurgy before the nineteenth century, it is impossible to bypass the history of Chinese metallurgy.

The key to the West's choice to use bronze cast cannons is that the metallurgical technology is not up to standard, and it is impossible to make qualified wrought iron cannons.

If it weren't for the Bugarao Cannon Foundry, which flowed out of the hands of Foshan craftsmen to the Portuguese in Macao at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Bugarao Cannon Foundry would not have become the No. 1 munitions factory in the Far East for the next 200 years, providing a large amount of arms to the British army invading India.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, European artillery was imitated, and then better artillery than European artillery was cast, because of the advanced metallurgical technology.

The only thing that limited the artillery of the Ming and Qing dynasties was actually only the modulus of artillery, and the loss of artillery modulus after the Kangxi period was also one of the reasons why the artillery technology of the Qing Dynasty was becoming more and more regressive.

In terms of metallurgy, the advantage of wrought iron cannons is that the artillery made of wrought iron is lightweight, the gun chamber is thin and the muzzle is large, and the light cannon can fire large shells.

In the case of the same catty, the forged wrought iron cannon barrel can be filled with twice the amount of gunpowder as the pig iron cannon barrel, and there is no problem of exploding.

Therefore, for Zhu Gaoxu, the use of wrought iron cast iron cannons was enough for him to command the Bohai Navy.

Artillery with such artillery is also well trained, and there is no need to study ballistics in depth.

After all, in this era when artillery manufacturing standards are not uniform and accuracy is not high, the gunner's experience in determining the firing range of the cannon and how many degrees it is lifted and how far it can be hit through test firing is far more reliable than pure mathematical calculations.

Historically, even though Fontana's book "Ballistics" was written and disseminated, it was of little use in practice, except for the repercussions of some mathematicians, and there was very little mention of ballistics in artillery monographs written later by experienced professional gunners.

Ballistics really came in handy after the nineteenth century, when rifles replaced smoothbore, smokeless gunpowder instead of black powder, and steel instead of wrought iron developed.

Before the nineteenth century, gunners had far more reliable experience in determining the range of a gun and how far it could be lifted by test firing than purely mathematical calculations.

European gunners operated in this way, and the Ming and Qing gunners also operated, such as how many steps to hit by one inch of height, how many steps to hit by two inches, etc., which are clearly recorded.

Therefore, what Zhu Gaoxu has to do is very simple, that is, to keep feeding the artillery shells, and let them fight and practice more.

As for what rifled guns to make, even if that thing is made, it can't be standardized for production, at least he can't think of any way at the moment, so ballistics can be had, but it is not a necessary knowledge.

After sorting out his thoughts, Zhu Gaoxu also put his hand on the two-thousand-pound cannon, and asked at the same time: "If these two guns are added to the gun carriage and ammunition box, how much do they weigh?" ”

"The former is almost 1,200 catties, and this one is almost 3,000 catties."

"It's too heavy......" Hearing Wang Yuan's answer, Zhu Gaoxu felt slightly dissatisfied.

Whether it is 1,300 catties or 3,000 catties, this cannot reach the quality of the field artillery that Zhu Gaoxu wants.

At present, the artillery in the Ming army is not as capable of fighting several miles as boasted by later generations, even if it is a 3,000-pound general cannon, the range is only one and a half miles.

The rest of the artillery, such as the Hongwu Iron Cannon, the Bronze Cannon, and the Wankou Cannon, have a shorter firing range, and it is difficult to exceed even one mile.

The three-thousand-pound artillery will basically not appear on the battlefield of this era, because the road conditions do not allow it, and it is a snail if it leaves the official road.

Therefore, for himself, he only needs to maintain a range of more than one and a half miles, which is enough to crush all the artillery in the south.

Zhu Gaoxu held the cannon in one hand, and instructed Wang Yuan without looking back:

"The weight of the artillery, if you try to lower it again, you really can't lower it, so you can make a lighter 300 catties or 500 catties of artillery."

"As long as the weight of the lightest artillery with the gun carriage and ammunition can be controlled below 1,000 catties, and the firing range can be controlled to more than one and a half miles, then the artillery I want will be successful."

He said this, and Wang Yuan also said after hesitation: "Your Highness, it's easy to say about the cannon casting, but this iron consumes too much and scraps too much, and it needs to send more people to keep up with the speed ......of forging cannons, and the same is true for clay molds."

"Meng Zhang!" Zhu Gaoxu turned around and shouted Meng Zhang, who had not spoken.

Meng Zhang didn't dare to slack off, and stepped forward to return the salute, and Zhu Gaoxu also asked, "How did you do it?" ”

Wang Yuan basically didn't care about things other than the Ordnance Bureau, so he also looked at Meng Zhang curiously.

In this regard, Meng Zhang said neither humbly nor arrogantly: "Most of the Jurchen Udiha here have heard of His Highness's name, so there are many people who come to worship. ”

"In just two months, the last general has already included six tribes, large and small, with more than 1,800 people and 267 soldiers."

"Although there are not too many, I will continue to do my best to let them pull the rest of the brother tribes into each other and grow their momentum."

Meng Zhang replied truthfully, Zhu Gaoxu also knew that in this era of communication by legs, it was not easy to appease the savage Jurchen, so he helped Meng Zhang, who was in trouble: "If there is any difficulty, tell me together, I will handle it for you." ”

"Nope!" Meng Zhang's answer surprised Zhu Gaoxu, he didn't expect Meng Zhang to ask for anything from him.

But without waiting for him to ask, Meng Zhang gave a full explanation: "What the last general didn't want, it's because the palm prints have sent everything to the last general." ”

"Thirty officials of the military academy of the guards, twenty officials of the thousand households, more than 70,000 catties of iron, 7,000 catties of gunpowder, 160,000 stone of grain, 20,000 stone beans......"

Meng Zhang explained the materials and manpower that Yishiha sent for him, and the configuration was complete.

Although Zhu Gaoxu also guessed that Yishiha would manage the palace in an orderly manner, he didn't expect him to manage it so properly.

He pondered for a moment, then nodded, stretched out his hand and patted Meng Zhang's shoulder: "I will live in the Ordnance Bureau this winter, and I will ask someone to send me some paper, pen and ink, I will take advantage of this winter to compile some things, and I may use them in the future." ”

"The last general commands!" Meng Zhangying, from Zhu Gaoxu's appearance today to the present, he has not mentioned anything about the war in the west, because he knows very well that Zhu Gaoxu's attention to Blackwater City is definitely greater than that of Wuliangha.

Not to mention anything else, the single sentence "The more troops recruited in Blackwater City, the better" has already determined the status of Blackwater City.

How big an official you can be in the future and how many soldiers and horses you can lead depends entirely on your current level of effort.

What he has to do now is to appease the Jurchens in the mountains and wilderness and pull out enough men and horses for his Highness.

Without any other words, Meng Zhang left the Ordnance Bureau when Zhu Gaoxu was testing the two-thousand-jin artillery, only to strengthen the guards here.

After that, he sent someone he trusted to cook for Zhu Gaoxu to prevent anyone from harming His Royal Highness.

Time passed little by little, and soon the cold wind of Beishan swept away the pass, not only Blackwater City was covered with snow, it can be said that the entire north has become a country of ice and snow in less than half a month.

On such days, both military and civilian forces in the north have greatly reduced outdoor activities.

But the north is quiet, but the south has never stopped making noise.

"Xu Huizu, the minister of Wei, brought the peace and Burma to comfort Si Lunfa to see Your Majesty, Your Majesty is blessed and healthy......"

On the sixth day of the first month of October, when Xu Huizu, who had gone through twists and turns, returned to Nanjing City from Yunnan with Silunfa and arrived in front of the golden platform of Fengtian Palace, the civil and military officials on and off the stage looked at them and secretly speculated about the emperor's thoughts.

"Flat"

"Thanksgiving ......"

Zhu Yuanzhang's state is still the same as more than half a month ago, without any illness.

He watched Xu Huizu and Si Lunfa get up, and this was not the first time he had met Si Lunfa.

Since Silunfa was defeated by Mu Ying, he has been very honest to the Ming Dynasty, even if he has invaded Burma, Laos, Bago and Sukhothai and other Ming vassal states several times, but as long as the Yunnan Metropolitan Division sends officials to mediate, he will obey the arrangement, which is also the main reason for the incident of Daogan Meng and others.

As for the alleged murder of the chief by his wife, it is just one of the pretexts.

Perhaps it was because Si Lunfa's obedience made Zhu Yuanzhang, who thought about peace in his later years, feel comfortable, so Zhu Yuanzhang still had the heart to fight against his overthrow.

In front of Si Lunfa, Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice: "As the old saying goes, what the people like is good, it's good." What the people are evil is evil. This is where the parents of the people cover the hearts of the people......"

"The current El Silun Dharma Chief has a peaceful side of Burma and is different from the people's likes and dislikes, so it is not tolerated by his subordinates and belongs to me."

"Once you lose the hearts of the people, betray the customs of the country, abandon the grave and leave your relatives, and if you don't return for a long time, you will have a lot of land."

A few days after Si Lunfa arrived in Nanjing, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to repatriate him back to Luchuan, and it was obvious that he had already made a decision.

Sure enough, in Si Lunfa's apprehension and the listening of the ministers, Zhu Yuanzhang rewarded Si Lunfa with one hundred taels of gold and one hundred and fifty taels of silver as a reward for coming to Nanjing, which can be regarded as giving him a sum of capital.

After the reward, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Xu Huizu: "Now the Duke of Wei led troops to escort Er back to China, and sent officials from Yunnan to adjust the relationship between Er and his state and sort out the interests. ”

"If Dao Gan Meng doesn't know the number of days and doesn't know the royal way, then he will be guilty, and the Duke of Wei will discuss it with the Marquis of Xiping."

Zhu Yuanzhang set the tone, that is, let Dao Gan Meng and Si Lunfa shake hands and make peace.

If Daogan Meng is willing, then Zhu Yuanzhang is very willing to help Daogan Meng divide half of Luchuan's territory and let Luchuan fall into the balance of infighting.

As for Si Lunfa, he naturally knew Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts, but now he was willing to obey him except for a dozen small toasts, and the rest of the large toasts ignored him at all.

Relying on those dozen or so little toasts, he can't fight with a knife to dry Meng, so even if he knows Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts, he can only be obedient, after all, he can get back half of the territory if he is obedient.

Of course, in his heart, he wanted to be stupid even more.

In this way, he can ask Xu Huizu to send troops and bring the sword to justice, a chaotic minister and thief.

Thinking like this, Si Lunfa and Xu Hui's ancestors took over the order, and Zhu Yuanzhang also got up and left Jintai.

With the singing of Honglu Temple, today's noon dynasty is over.

However, when the dynasty was dispersed, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Xu Huizu to Wuying Palace, obviously looking for him.

Xu Huizu took the summons and went to the Wuying Hall to find it, and about two quarters of an hour, he came to the door of the Wuying Hall and got publicity.

"Xu Huizu, the prince of Wei, see Your Majesty, the grandson, and the prince ......"

"Yungong, it's all your own family, let's get up first."

Entering the Wuying Palace, Xu Huizu performed five bows and three bows that had not been saluted for a long time, and slowly got up in Zhu Yuanzhang's voice.

He set out for Yunnan for a few years, and when he came back, his skin was dark and his temperament was much calmer.

Looking at him, Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his white beard with satisfaction, and then asked, "Have you ever paid attention to the things in the north?" ”

"Regardless of the north and south, the ministers are all Ming courtiers, so they naturally need to be paid attention to from time to time." Xu Huizu replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, this attitude made Zhu Yuanzhang more satisfied.

He turned his head to look at Zhu Yunwen and the three of them who were standing on the side of the dragon case, and said to the three of them: "There are your uncles in the north, and Xiping Hou and Wei Guogong in the south, you can rest assured that you can enjoy your happiness." ”

"Grandpa is talking about ......" Zhu Yunwen took the lead in echoing, Zhu Yuanzhang also turned back with satisfaction, and while smiling, he also asked Xu Huizu:

"Then Yunnan, is it too peaceful now?"

"Back to Your Majesty......" Xu Huizu replied: "Many military households have moved in, and many thieves who have made trouble have been pacified, but now it is much more peaceful than before." ”

"When the minister was in Yunnan, he often reclaimed the cultivated land in the river valley plains such as Dianchi, Yangzonghai, and Fuxian Lake with the Marquis of Xiping, and Dali moved into the military household, and the mines in various places were successfully mined, so Yunnan can also be regarded as living and working in peace and contentment."

"The local problems are mainly epidemics and earthquakes, and there is little famine."

"After the minister arrived in Yunnan, he governed Yunnan according to some of the concepts handed over to him by the king of Bohai County, and the local epidemic disease was reduced by more than seventy percent compared with previous years."

"Good ......" Zhu Yuanzhang said yes, obviously he knew that Zhu Gaoxu had exchanged experiences with Xu Huizu, but he didn't know that it could be so effective.

"Now in Yunnan, how many tuntian and available soldiers are there?"

Zhu Yuanzhang continued to ask, and Xu Huizu also knew everything: "There are more than 17,000 hectares of military tuns and more than 9,000 hectares of civilian tuns in Yunnan today, and the number of military and civilian households that the imperial court can directly intervene in is as high as more than 600,000 households. ”

"So much?" Zhu Jixi exclaimed, but Zhu Yunwen explained with a pleasant face: "When Yunnan was in Dali, there were more than 3 million people who could be checked, and although they were killed and injured after the struggle with the former Yuan, they were not washed in blood like the north of the country. ”

The population of Yunnan has always been very large, but very few of them can be registered by the Ming Dynasty.

Before Zhu Gaoxu saw the mine, there were only 300,000 households in the local area that could be registered by the imperial court, but now it has doubled in just four years.

Among them, the newly acquired population did not rely entirely on Xu Huizu's encirclement and suppression, but more on immigration.

From the 27th year of Hongwu to the 30th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang moved the population to Yunnan many times since Zhu Gaoxu visited the mountain and point mines, and successively moved 70,000 households into Yunnan in four years, more than 50,000 more than in history.

It can be said that Zhu Gaoxu only lifted the veil of gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan, and helped Yunnan to sinicize decades ahead of schedule in disguise.

Zhu Yuanzhang knows more about the situation in Yunnan than Zhu Yunwen, so he asked Xu Huizu to see how Yunnan has changed.

Now it seems that Yunnan has changed more than he expected, and this is a good thing.

Previously, Yunnan was only a military location used by the Ming Dynasty to protect Sichuan, but now it has become an indispensable economic province of the Ming Dynasty.

The gold, silver and copper ore shipped out of Yunnan is worth more than 2 million yuan per year, which greatly alleviates the money shortage of Daming and makes Daming more and more relaxed in recovering treasure money.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang must be attentive to Meng's matter this time.

Looking at Xu Huizu, Zhu Yuanzhang also slowly spoke: "Yunnan is an important place for the imperial court to mint money, and it must not be lost. ”

"After you escort Si Lunfa back this time, if the barbarian chiefs such as Dao Gan Meng are unwilling to give up the land to Si Lunfa, you and Mu Chun don't have to restrain themselves, and you can recruit soldiers and horses from Sichuan and Guangxi and Guiyang to quell the rebellion."

"No matter what, Yunnan can't be messed up."

Zhu Yuanzhang drew a bottom line for Xu Huizu, and gave him the power to control the southwest again.

Hearing this, Xu Huizu immediately made a move, and Zhu Yunwen also took out the holy decree written earlier, walked up to him, and handed it to him with both hands.

Xu Huizu took it with both hands, and Zhu Yuanzhang also waved his hand: "It's rare for you to come back, go back to accompany your relatives." ”

"Minister, retire ......" Xu Huizu heard the words and left, Zhu Yuanzhang also looked at his back, turned his head and taught Zhu Yunwen:

"If you want to continue to use money to offset taxes, you still have to rely on the southwest, so you must stabilize the southwest."

"Grandpa Xie pointed out, and my grandson is clear." Zhu Yunwen responded, but he couldn't help but think of the relationship between Xu Huizu and Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu.

If Xu Huizu is also beaten into the Yan Mansion faction, then the strength of the Yan Mansion may have surpassed that of the Jin Mansion.

At this moment, Zhu Yunwen recalled Xu Huizu's words that Zhu Gaoxu taught him how to govern Yunnan, and that face couldn't help but appear in his mind.

"Gao Xu ......"

(End of chapter)