"I'm cold! I'm cold! ”

"Sister Xu, hurry up and warm my hands!"

When Mu Chun in Yunnan was still thinking of a way to deal with Luchuan Daoganmeng, who had a population of 2 million, Zhu Di of Beiping had a frozen red face and walked all the way into the front bedroom of King Yan's mansion.

In the former dormitory, Xu was operating a loom, and when she saw Zhu Di coming, she was not surprised, but she turned around, and when Zhu Di came over, she rubbed Zhu Di's hands with her own hands.

Touching Zhu Di's rough hand, although she was used to it, she still felt sorry for everything Zhu Di suffered on the northern tour this time.

She was elected to the palace by Queen Ma at the age of twelve and became acquainted with fourteen-year-old Zhu Di.

I remember that Zhu Di at that time was still a fair-looking prince, and he often stuck to his side.

Because he likes to call himself 'me', he thinks he's funny.

Later, he was dogmatized by the masters of the main hall every day, and from time to time he ran in front of him, and after a long time, he became accustomed to being with him.

So when Queen Ma married her later, she was happy for a while when she learned that the person she wanted to marry was this person who liked to call herself me.

So many years have passed in the blink of an eye, and although he has become the vassal king of Bibian, he has not changed from himself, and he is still the same as before.

"Sister Xu... Sister Xu? ”

Zhu Di looked at the swaying Xu, and sat next to Xu, clinging to her.

"Huh?" Xu came back to his senses, spread Zhu Di's hand away, and found that there were a lot of new scars on it, so he touched it distressedly: "This time, I have suffered a lot." ”

"Bitter? Not really! Zhu Di grinned, he is not the kind of person who likes to tell his daughter-in-law about his grievances outside, he just picked some interesting facts and said: "I got these injuries when they caught rabbits in Qi Wangcheng with Huo Zhen, don't look at me I was injured, but I caught a lot of rabbits." ”

"It's just that those rabbits have been eaten by Huo Zhen's group of fools, otherwise I will definitely bring back one or two to raise and play with you."

"I don't like rabbits." Xu warmed Zhu Di's hand, and at the same time said to a servant girl standing not far away: "Go and bring Gao Xu's letter and good news before winter." ”

"Gao Xu has a letter?" Zhu Di was stunned, he remembered that he didn't arrange for someone to take the letter to the house, and what happened to the good news?

"I don't know yet." Xu laughed and said as if showing off:

"This time, your brothers, uncles and nephews are out of the fortress, and although there are hundreds of them over there, Gao Xu and the seventeenth brother have more."

"How many?" Zhu Di hadn't come back to his senses yet, and when he saw that Xu had received the good news and letters from the handmaid, he turned his head in hindsight and looked at the content with Xu.

"Kill so many?!"

Just after reading the good news, Zhu Di raised his voice with a trembling beard.

Xu was still showing off, and took out Zhu Gaoxu's handwritten letter and handed it to Zhu Di, while explaining: "Gao Xu captured thousands of cattle and horses and tens of thousands of cattle and sheep this time, and also killed 20,000 enemies with his seventeenth brother, look at ......."

"Kill more than 10,000 enemies?" Zhu Di took the letter suspiciously, but he just looked at the content roughly, and a strange look appeared on his face.

As a man who has been fighting on the battlefield in Saibei for more than ten years, Zhu Di knows too well the ratio of killing enemies and capturing cattle and horses.

Take his northern tour as an example, he killed more than 400 Hu soldiers, but captured more than 1,400 cattle, horses and sheep.

However, when he looked at the good news and letters of his second child, he really wanted to grab Zhu Gaoxu's collar and ask: "This is how you fooled your son?" ”

Nearly 20,000 enemies were killed, and the same number of cattle, sheep and horses were captured, and fooling people is not so foolish, even if Zhu Quan's good news wrote that Haragu asked his troops to drive the herds to go first, but Zhu Quan couldn't intercept the herds of some tribes from south to north, but Zhu Gaoxu couldn't intercept them from north to south?

Zhu Di's feeling after watching the good news and family letters was the same as the feeling that Zhu Yuanzhang saw at the time, that is, "You can't fool Lao Tzu (grandpa) if you want to fool him."

Of course, although he knew that Zhu Gaoxu was fooling people, the place in Bohai was too far away from the Central Plains, and it was too difficult to verify the situation.

Moreover, Zhu Quan also said that Zhu Gaoxu did not capture many herds, which was considered to have helped him commit perjury in disguise, and Lao Zhu was not easy to pursue.

But for Zhu Di, as soon as he saw this good news, he immediately thought of the fact that he was cut off half of the herd by his father, so after reacting, he specially asked Xu: "After this good news came to Nanjing, didn't my father let Gao Xu and the seventeenth brother share half of the herd equally to other military households?" ”

"The seventeenth brother seems to have been assigned some cattle and horses to go to the capital of Liaodong, but Gao Xu didn't." Xu recalled, and Zhu Di was very heartbroken after hearing it.

The reckless dick of his own family, after going to Nanjing, became so bright.

It turned out that it was so easy to fool the south, and I knew that I was also fooling, my own herd......

Thinking of the herd he was separated, Zhu Di couldn't breathe in pain.

But he hadn't come to his senses yet, and Xu continued: "By the way, there have been a lot of wars in the south, and I have asked people to keep the "Di Bao", waiting for you to come back and show you." ”

As she spoke, she motioned to the maid to bring a thick newspaper and put it next to Zhu Di to read it slowly.

Zhu Di was close to Xu's, picked up the newspaper and read it.

From the Huguang Dongman and Guzhou rebellions, the king of Chu and the king of Hunan went out to quell the rebellion, to the rebellion in Guangxi, Sichuan and other places, and finally his eyes were on Yunnan, where the war was going on recently.

Looking at the news of Daogan Meng's rebellion and Mu Chun's leading troops, Zhu Di frowned slightly, and seemed to feel a little tricky: "This Daogan Meng, I'm afraid it will be a mess for a long time." ”

"That's what I thought too." Xu bowed his head and said the reason why she thought so: "If the war is not tense, Yun Gong should not give up this opportunity to go to the battlefield to command tens of thousands of troops." ”

"This time he chose to stay in Kunming to coordinate grain and grass, thinking that the battle in front was too heavy, and only by letting Mu Spring Festival control the three armies and exert his hands and feet to the fullest can it be pacified as soon as possible."

"Hmm......" Zhu Di nodded and closed the newspaper, roughly calculated the progress of the war in the southwest, and then said: "It took two years for Ning Zheng and Mu Ying to lead the troops to quell the rebellion, although there are more soldiers in the southwest now than back then, but this time I am attacking the enemy and defending, I am afraid it will not be so easy to take." ”

Although Zhu Di had never been to Yunnan, he restrained Fu Youde in his early years and trained with him to go out of the fortress, so he naturally heard about the situation in Yunnan from Fu Youde.

Yunnan's Wuchi Road determines that it is very difficult to transport grain locally, so if you take it step by step, Mu Chun will definitely be dragged in the area of Song Pass for a long time.

Even if it enters the Song Pass and captures Nandian, this is only the periphery of Luchuan, and it is still more than 300 miles away from the capital of the country, Deyun Jiemu.

The deeper the Ming army went, the less grain and grass could be supplied to the rear, and the greater the burden.

Zhu Di knew a little about the situation of the Yunnan Dusi, and with the number of local tuntians, it was very difficult to supply 30,000 troops to penetrate into Yunjiemu.

Even if you want to transfer grain from Sichuan, the grain and grass from Sichuan can be smoothly transported to Kunming at most, and the remaining thousands of miles of roads are narrow and rugged five-foot roads.

It's not a good idea to go and fight a protracted battle against Luchuan without building roads.

"You can write a letter to Yun Gong and ask him to widen the five-foot road from Kunming to Jinya first, so as to ensure the smooth flow of grain and grass."

Zhu Di came up with an idea for the Xu family, and after hearing this, the Xu family also asked people to write a letter to Xu Huizu, and after the letter was sent, he glanced at the goose feather snow outside the hall, and couldn't help but miss it: "Such a big snow, I don't know what happened to Jilin." ”

"The second child must eat and drink well, you don't have to worry." Zhu Di thought of Zhu Gaoxu's hidden herd of cows, horses and sheep, and spoke with a sour taste, which provoked Xu to look back at him complainingly.

However, Xu blamed Zhu Di this time, because Zhu Gaoxu really ate well at this moment......

"Shhh...... It would be even better if there were chili peppers. ”

"What is a chili pepper?"

In the Blackwater City Ordnance Bureau, when Zhu Gaoxu set up a copper pot in the hall of his study.

On the table, several plates of freshly slaughtered mutton were placed aside, while Zhu Gaoxu sat at the table with Meng Zhang and Wang Yuan, and used chopsticks to eat mutton in a copper pot.

Although there is no oil dish for chili peppers, the tahini sauce is enough.

These sesame seeds were bought by Zhu Gaochu from the south last year when he asked Yang Bin to eat mutton in winter.

Of course, he wanted to eat something spicy, but the current Jilin City did not have such conditions, and sesame seeds were easy to store, so he was able to eat a bite of mutton covered with sesame sauce in this cold winter month.

Despite this, he still wanted to eat spicy food, so he talked about chili peppers at the dinner table.

Meng Zhang asked Zhu Gaochu what the chili pepper was, and Zhu Gaochu also explained: "The place we live in is a sphere similar to an egg, and the chili pepper can be obtained from the sea to the east or west, halfway around the world, to a wild land." ”

Zhu Gaoxu was always thinking about taking new crops from the Americas to enrich the products of the Ming Dynasty.

If it weren't for the fact that the Bering Sea was too stormy, even in later generations, ships would often be wrecked and people died, and he would have wanted to send some people to the Americas through the Bering Strait.

However, if you can't go through the Bering Strait, it's okay, and you can solve the problem by taking the North Pacific Circulation.

The only problem with going this route is that it is necessary to establish a port base in Japan.

Specifically, starting from Ningbo, choose a port in the east of Japan to correct and replenish fresh water and grain, and then sail east to the Kuroshio, strive for smooth wind, and then control the latitude between 35~42 degrees, which is no problem for the current Ming navigation technology.

As long as it goes well, the fleet can sail through the warm currents of the North Pacific.

Fifty nautical miles a day is no problem if the wind is favorable, and it takes about forty days to reach the east coast of North America.

As for returning, the time will be taken by the Central Pacific Current, which is the route of the Spanish Triangle trade.

However, this route has to be taken in winter and spring to avoid the dreaded typhoons in the Pacific Ocean.

If it's smooth, you'll be able to run back in about 50 days.

If you're going to Australia, it's just a matter of heading south along the way, with the only caveat being to avoid the Great Barrier Reef in eastern Australia.

These general problems are solved, and the remaining problems are basically side details, such as the sails of long-distance ships should be larger, the speed should be as fast as possible, at least a large number of spinnakers, if you can use soft sails, it would be better, but the Chinese do not seem to be comfortable with soft sails.

In addition, it is better to use a pointed bottom and adopt a keel-like structure.

In short, in a word, that is, to increase the speed and strengthen the structure.

In the end, in order to prevent scurvy, it is best to bring some kimchi when you leave Japan, and then bring some soybeans and mung beans on the boat to make bean sprouts for everyone to eat.

These things contain enough vitamin C, which can prevent and treat scurvy, and it is also the unique life-saving secret technique of the Ming seafarers when Zheng He went to the West.

Of course, there are some hygiene issues that must be taken care of, but none of them are a nuisance.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu was still a little glad that he studied geology, and he was glad that he was not lazy when he was elective, otherwise how would he know these things.

But if you think about it, it would be better if you studied engineering......

"Alas, I regret that I shouldn't have done it at the beginning, I knew that I should have learned more about agriculture and military industry when I was fishing."

sighed, Zhu Gaoxu seemed to feel that the mutton in his hand was not fragrant.

It's just that this kind of exclamation often disappears after a few breaths, and in the main hall of the study, only the sound of three people eating mutton remains.

"How's the arquebus going?"

After eating about the same, Zhu Gaoxu wiped his mouth with coarse paper and asked Wang Yuan, who was eating with a mouth full of oil.

Wang Yuan put down his chopsticks when he heard this, and replied honestly: "After handing over the arquebus and butt to Heishui City for production, the production of arquebuses has also risen, and now there are 12,200 guns in stock, and there are still 1,600 barrels in stock, and 70 barrels can be drilled out of Heishui City every day." ”

"Seventy ......" Zhu Gaoxu leaned back in his chair, and his eyes were very powerful.

He calculated a little that the barrels that Meng Zhang had worked hard in the ironworks for more than two years had basically run out in these two months, and with the speed at which the barrels were drilled in Blackwater City, the barrels in the armory would not last long.

But he didn't need that many arquebuses, fifteen thousand were enough for him.

In the final analysis, arquebuses and cannons could not help the Bohai Navy completely become a pure hot weapon force, and it was a certain thing to match a certain number of pikemen and cavalry.

The ratio of arquebuses accounted for five achievements of the whole army.

15,000 arquebuses, plus 10,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, the 30,000 Bohai navy was enough to defeat the Liaodong Dusi, which had a maximum of 40,000 soldiers.

As long as he wins the Liaodong Metropolitan Division, he can completely use the human resources of the more than 100,000 military households in the Liaodong Metropolitan Division to build ships, forge cannons, and cast guns.

At the moment, arquebuses are definitely sufficient, and the only thing that is lacking is artillery to storm the important cities of Liaodong.

"Once the arquebus reaches fifteen thousand, you can stop, and then you can forge the cannon with all your might."

Zhu Gaoxu gave the answer and asked Wang Yuan: "What happened to the field artillery and siege artillery?" ”

Field artillery and siege artillery, these are the two standard artillery pieces set by Zhu Gaoxu.

The standard for field artillery is to carry a gun cart and a base of 12 shells and gunpowder weighing 1,000 catties or less, and the firing range is more than 1 and a half miles.

As for the standard of siege artillery, it is about the same as that of field artillery, but the weight is required to be more than 1,000 catties and the firing range is more than 2 miles.

In addition to these, Zhu Gaoxu also set different standards for shore defense artillery and naval artillery.

For these standards, Wang Yuan, a former bell craftsman, and now the hundred household officials of the Ordnance Bureau already know it well.

It's just that in the face of the standard set by Zhu Gaoxu, Wang Yuan still replied with a solemn expression: "There are still some problems with the field artillery, we have used the latest modulus, and the forged field cannon can only reduce the weight to about six hundred and twenty catties. ”

"As for the technical parameters of the field artillery, the caliber is three inches, the length of the body barrel is four feet eight inches, the diameter is 16 times, and the maximum firing range is about one mile and two hundred and forty steps."

"Counting the weight of a 150-pound gun truck and the weight of 50 pounds of ammunition, it can basically be controlled within 840 catties, and the deviation is about 10 catties."

"In fact, if you can use copper to cast cannons, you can completely control the weight of field guns and gun trucks within 700 catties."

"If it only needs to be controlled within 1,000 catties, then after using the copper forged cannon, the firing range should be kept at about two miles, and the effect is better when used in siege artillery."

For forging artillery, copper is undoubtedly the best material, and Zhu Gaoxu naturally knows this.

But for Bohai, it is simply unrealistic to use copper cannons, not to mention that Zhu Gaoxu does not know anything about the burial ground of copper mines in Northeast China, and the difficulty of mining copper mines and the manpower required are enough to stump him.

He would rather have an extra horse to haul the heavy siege cannon than take the copper to cast the cannon.

Moreover, as long as Liaodong is conquered, he can build a powerful naval division, and the naval division will cover the southward movement of the army, and there is no need to worry about attacking the city along the way.

As long as the Huai River is crossed, there are few cities south of the Yellow River that can be called fortified cities.

The city walls demolished by the Mongols have not been restored even if it took Lao Zhu thirty years, and the land of Lianghuai is just an enemy who has taken off his armor for Zhu Gaoxu.

"For the time being, use the wrought iron cannon first, the weight of eight hundred and forty catties is enough for my needs."

Zhu Gaoxu took a sip of a glass of warm water and explained to Wang Yuan: "In the next few days, you only need to forge 200 field artillery, and then 2,000 catties of 100 siege artillery cannons. ”

"......" listened to Zhu Gaoxu forging siege artillery, even though Wang Yuan was already mentally prepared, he was still very nervous.

Although he did not understand military affairs, he knew the power of artillery.

To fight the Uliangha and the Udiha savage Jurchens, the power of the field artillery is enough.

As for the siege artillery, this thing is heavy, it is best to use it for siege, if there is no need for siege, there is no need to forge it at all.

Thinking of this, Wang Yuan couldn't help but worry about his life.

Just without waiting for him to think about it, Zhu Gaoxu comforted him and said: "You don't have to think about it, I will be the king of the county outside the Guan, and I will not think about doing things that are not good for the court." ”

"These artillery, I'm just using it just in case, you should have heard the story of the Wind Wave Pavilion."

"The humble duty is only to cast cannons, and only listen to the military orders of His Highness." Wang Yuan hurriedly replied, he was worried about his life and Zhu Gaoxu's rebellion, but this kind of thought could only be hidden, and it was impossible to say it.

He and Zhu Gaochu are grasshoppers on the same rope, and it is impossible for him to expose Zhu Gaoxu.

At present, he only hopes that Zhu Gaoxu is really as he said, just casting cannons for defense, not rebellion.

"Your Highness, since you have eaten well, then you will go to cast cannons."

Wang Yuan didn't want to stay in the study for a long time, but Zhu Gaoxu raised his hand to stop him and asked, "What about the flintlock pistol?" ”

"There are still many problems that have not been solved, and the cost is very high, almost three times that of arquebuses." Wang Yuan's face was embarrassed, and Zhu Gaoxu also comforted him: "Don't worry too much, take your time." ”

Although the difference between flintlock pistols and arquebuses is not very large, there are still some small skills in the end.

If you want to make a handicraft for Zhu Gaoxu to play with, then Wang Yuan and they can naturally make a fine flintlock pistol.

But now Zhu Gaoxu wants not a fine flintlock pistol, but thousands of fine flintlock pistols.

Among the difficulties, Wang Yuan and the others have to work hard to overcome them.

"Yes, retire from your duties."

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu had nothing else to explain, Wang Yuan also left the study after returning the salute.

Zhu Gaoxu saw him leaving, although there was no expression on his face, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

If the arquebus and field artillery are solved, then he will not have much to worry about, the only thing that can bother him is the problem of money, food and soldiers.

Faced with these two questions, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Meng Zhang: "It's already Layue now, can those Jurchens in the mountains still endure it?" ”

"I can't bear it anymore!" Meng Zhang laughed and talked about the results of this month: "Since we cut off the mutual market, many tribes have struggled to feed so many people, and since the winter, the sentinels of Blackwater City have been able to meet the Jurchens who have come to accept the appeasement every few days. ”

"Right now, there are already more than 3,600 households in Blackwater City, and the reserve has also recruited 3,672 people."

Meng Zhang waited for Zhu Gaoxu's praise, but Zhu Gaochu said solemnly: "It's still too slow." ”

"Slow?" Meng Zhang was dumbfounded, in his opinion, this speed was not slow.

In fact, Zhu Gaoxu also knew that this speed was not slow, but compared to his ambitions, this bit of soldiers and horses was still too few.

The Jurchens outside the Guan, to say that there are only hundreds of thousands, although it sounds like a lot, but they live in the vast land outside the Guanxi of more than 2 million square kilometers.

With such a population density, it is very difficult to convey the message to every tribe, let alone appease.

The reason why the Qing army at the end of the Ming Dynasty was able to pull out so many Jurchens was mainly because the Ming Dynasty had recruited the Jurchens in the mountains through mutual trade for more than 200 years before and set up guards.

For Nurhachi, he only needs to capture the location of the Guan Wai Guard established by the Ming Dynasty, and he will definitely be able to meet the Jurchens.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the population of the Jurchens in the Northeast was empty, and a large part of the reason was because of the capture of the savage Jurchens by the Qing army.

For example, the city of Yaksa, which was originally a large city of the Saurons, was inhabited by more than 20,000 Sauronians.

As a result, Huang Taiji gave an order, and the 8,000 Sauron army was defeated, more than 20,000 people were captured and went south, and the city of Yaksa was burned.

Years later, when the Russian expedition arrived, they simply used the abandoned materials of the old Yaksa City to build a new Yaksa City.

The Qing army had predecessors who planted trees, and it was very easy to search for the Jurchens, but Zhu Gaoxu was the one who planted the trees.

With such an identity, it was destined that it would be very difficult for him to do this, so he did not pursue making more arquebuses, because he did not dare to guarantee whether he could pull out 30,000 troops now.

"After the beginning of spring next year, you send someone south to find Fudaha, and ask him to bring the savage Jurchens from the East China Sea to Blackwater City."

Zhu Gaoxu thought of Fudaha, the guy who ate at both ends.

After hearing this, Meng Zhang also bowed his head and said that he knew, and then got up and asked the two soldiers at the door to clean up the mess on the table, and he led people back to Blackwater City.

After he left, Zhu Gaoxu also returned to his desk and continued his journey of writing.

It's just that while he is writing, his acquaintances in the south are not idle......

(End of chapter)