East Factory Governor

Chapter 784 Great battleship (two chapters in one)

After thinking for a while, he asked, "Master Zeng, is the shortage of refined iron the most important reason for the low production of Hongyi Cannon?"

Zeng Qicheng said, "That's not true. Now I will produce less or less iron next year, and there will be at least 9000 million catties a year. Moreover, we have purchased all the best refined iron from all iron mines in the country, and there will be at least 500 million catties a year. [-] million catties of refined iron is more than enough to make one or two thousand Hongyi cannons. But now only the armor factory and Wang Gong factory under the Ministry of Industry can produce Hongyi cannons, so the production capacity cannot reach it!"

Qin Shuhuai also understood this situation.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the ordnance manufacturing of Ming Dynasty was still very developed. At that time, there were thousands of craftsmen in any weapon bureau, but it became less and less in the later period. It seems that there were only a hundred craftsmen in Chongzhen—all of them were none. It's about money.

It is said that although a large number of craftsmen have been recruited now, the sites and facilities of the Armor Factory (which can not only manufacture armor, but also cannons) and Wang Gong Factory are there, and the requirements for making Hongyi cannons are relatively high. Of course, there is only this amount in a year.

Qin Shuhuai suddenly remembered, it seems that in the late Ming Dynasty, the guards in various places could also make weapons?
So he asked, "By the way, Mr. Zeng, since the Armor Factory and Wang Gong Factory can't come here long ago, how about letting the armory factories in various guards build together? I don't believe that our big country can only build two armor factories a year. A hundred cannons come."

Zeng Qicheng smiled wryly and said, "Isn't the Duke aware of this? Although the weapon institutes in those places can make weapons, in terms of firearms, they can only make firearms at most. Large firearms like Hongyi cannons are absolutely impossible. Made it, otherwise it would be regarded as treason."

Qin Shuhuai thought to himself, this regulation is not surprising, after all, the power of large artillery is there, and it is reasonable for the Ming court to be afraid of it.

However, judging from the current situation, even if the ban is temporarily lifted for a period of time, it doesn't matter.Now that the world is settled and the prosperous age is just emerging, even if there are some ambitious people who want to rebel, I am afraid no one will play with him.Moreover, looking at the world, there is indeed no force that can still fight with the imperial court now.

Zeng Qicheng seemed to have guessed what Qin Shuhuai was thinking, and said, "Grandpa, even if we let the locals produce Hongyi cannons, I'm afraid they won't be able to produce them for a while."

"Why?"

"First, all the excellent craftsmen are now concentrated in the capital. How can the local blacksmiths understand this? Second, the local weapons workshops have never produced cannons, and there is no such facility at all! So the imperial court dispatched the production tasks. , they can’t do it either.”

After hearing this, Qin Shuhuai chuckled, "Master Zeng, have you ever heard a saying that money can turn ghosts around?"

Zeng Qicheng was stunned for a moment, and said, "This, what does the Duke mean?"

"Speaking of it, you think that the place will not be able to build it due to lack of people and facilities. Then let's change our thinking. What if the imperial court buys it from them? I think that as long as the money is enough, the Weapons Institute will definitely think of making cannons. To put it bluntly, those facilities are not too complicated, so don’t underestimate the creativity of the people.”

"Buy? Where did the Duke start from? The weapons in that place are not from the imperial court. How can we talk about buying? This is not a rule. If this case is opened..."

Zeng Qicheng stopped at this point because he suddenly remembered something.

There are still fewer cases issued by the Duke of this country?Didn't he take the position of Duke of Dongchang as an unprecedented precedent in this dynasty, and even broke the ancestral system?Compared with this, what is the case now?
Qin Shuhuai smiled softly, "Why didn't Mr. Zeng continue talking?"

Zeng Qicheng smiled, "Grandpa Guo is far-sighted, and I can't do it myself, so I don't want to talk about it."

Qin Shuhuai said, "Hehe, it's not necessary to be far-sighted, but there is a saying in our hometown that a black cat and a white cat can catch mice is a good cat. As long as we can mobilize the enthusiasm of the local people, it doesn't matter if we pay a little price."

Although Zeng Qicheng still felt that Qin Shuhuai's method was unreliable, he wisely chose to shut up and said some polite words.

"The Duke is wise."

Qin Shuhuai left the Ministry of Industry with a smile, and then returned home.

Immediately, Li Jingting was called to draft a memorial on his behalf.

The approximate meaning of the memorial is that the naval battle between the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch is imminent, and there is an urgent need to manufacture 4000 battleships, but the battleships are easy to build, but they cannot be equipped with Hongyi cannons in sufficient quantities, so the imperial court is required to open the ban on the construction of cannons in local areas, so that local governments can participate Come in.Moreover, the imperial court used [-] taels of silver for each cannon to purchase local-made cannons.

Qin Shuhuai's method is a bit like "reform of state-owned enterprises".

First of all, the imperial court did not order a hard apportionment, but purchased Hongyi cannons from the local weaponry, which is equivalent to treating the weaponry as an enterprise.And the money for buying guns can be freely controlled by them, which obviously means that you can share the profits yourself, which is more like an enterprise.

Most of the local weapon stations are controlled by the guards, so the commanders of the guards are equivalent to "factory directors", and every production of a Hongyi cannon is a waste of profit.

How much is this profit?

According to the previous practice of Hongyi Cannon, the craftsmen were paid three times the salary, and all expenses were paid according to the highest standard, so that it was only 3500 taels of silver per door.

Then if they go to the guard, it is conceivable that they will vigorously control the cost for greater profits, so it is more than enough to earn him 1000 taels of silver without a cannon.

1000 taels, which is a lot of money. After the salary increase, the salary of the county magistrate is only 15 taels a month, which is enough for the county magistrate to work for five or six years.

And this is just one cannon, what if ten?That is 1 taels!

Tempting?
Attractive people have motivation!

Because this money is not earned lying down.

If you want to make cannons, you must first build a large smelting kiln and work equipment, find craftsmen, ask the imperial court to send personnel to teach the technology, and apply for a refined iron quota with the imperial court—the best refined iron can be all in the hands of the imperial court. where.

These are all money.

If you can afford the money, you are qualified to take the job.

And you also have to take risks. If the business fails to make the artillery that the court wants, then you will lose all your money.

However, Qin Shuhuai knew that none of this would trouble the commanders in charge of the weapons station.

Isn't it just asking for money?Just find wealthy businessmen locally and let them vote?

If you lose to them, you earn a share!

The market economy is great, although there are great risks hidden in it, such as collusion between officials and businessmen.

But Qin Shuhuai knew that this was inevitable, if he didn't do it today, it would still happen in the future.The only thing that can stop corruption is the system—such as the independence of judicial power and the supervision of judicial power, but obviously this system is not perfect in the current Ming Dynasty, at most it is just a shelf.

Therefore, he was still relatively conservative and did not fully open up. Instead, he suggested that Chongzhen adopt the form of "tendering" and only select the weapon stations of ten guards for pilot projects.

Chongzhen couldn't help laughing wryly after seeing this memorial, "Brother Qin, brother Qin, you really dare to think about it, can you even come up with such an idea?Let the imperial court purchase weapons from its own weapons institutes. Once this precedent is set, if the imperial court does not spend money to buy weapons from all over the country, won't the imperial court stop making weapons?They sell imperial things?What about the money allocated to them by the imperial court every year?
So he just pretended not to see it.

Qin Shuhuai waited for a few days without seeing a reply, so he ran to the palace to find Chongzhen directly.

The two naturally had a good debate in the palace, and even Sun Chengzong participated in it, and stood firmly on Chongzhen's side.

His face was flushed from the quarrel, and Chongzhen didn't even eat lunch.

And when the cakes came, they didn't say to invite Qin Shuhuai to have some, but Qin Shuhuai reached out to get some by himself, and Chongzhen gave him a supercilious look.

Helpless, in the end Sun Chengzong came to make peace.

The method he proposed was very simple, that is, the imperial court still paid 4000 taels to select ten local guards to make artillery, but this is called "military supplement", not purchase.

The military subsidy sounds much better. It is a subsidy specially given by the imperial court for this matter. Whether there will be any in the future is irrelevant.

And there is no bidding, as long as you are selected, you have to make it.

Well, Qin Shuhuai's "state-owned enterprise reform" plan has completely failed. Originally, he wanted to use this incident as an introduction to let Chongzhen learn more about the benefits of the market economy, but this is no longer possible.

Thinking in my heart, it seems that this time the stride is a bit big!I was in a hurry.

However, I really want to teach Chongzhen everything so that he can understand the economic rules of future generations earlier so that he can formulate more favorable policies and let Ming Dynasty be one step ahead of the world.

Because, I don't have much time to stay here!
But thinking about the matter of making cannons, there shouldn't be any delay, so let's just do it in resentment for the time being.

Seeing that he had compromised, Chongzhen happily invited him to eat pastries, and asked if he would like to order some skewers?

Qin Shuhuai refused on the spot, saying that he wanted to go home to eat, and then went home with "honesty".

……

The cannon made by local weapons was quickly carried out. After receiving the imperial decree, the command envoys of the ten guards all looked bitter, but when they heard that the imperial court subsidized each cannon 4000 taels, and would send staff After coming to teach the method of making cannons, they almost jumped up excitedly.

Especially in the dead of night, when I hid in my study and found out that the profit of making a cannon could reach thousands of taels, I was so excited that I lost my sleepiness.

As long as three cannons are built, all the investment can be returned, and then it will be pure profit!
And the money can be put into your own wallet openly, oh no, some points should be given to the brothers, otherwise it will be easy for people to poke the spine, and the brothers will not be able to take care of them in the future.

Where can I find such a good thing?

All the weaponry institutes across the country moved upon hearing the news. Except for the list of the ten most powerful weaponry institutes drawn up by Sun Chengzong, other weaponry institutes wrote letters one after another, demanding to "share the country's worries", which made Chongzhen laugh bitterly.

To say that the actions of these guys are also agile, after receiving the official letter from the Ministry of War, the ten weapon stations immediately sent people to the capital to meet the old master who knows how to make cannons. .

And the commanders who are in charge of the weapons station are not idle, and those who are capable immediately spend money on building kilns, buying equipment, recruiting people, and even selling the house.Commanders with less strength are busy looking for local wealthy businessmen to invest, and it is full of enthusiasm.

In just two months, everything needed to make guns was ready-there were no large machines at that time, so it was easy to add equipment.

Everything is going on in an orderly manner.

In addition to building guns, the building of "battleships" has also been settled.A total of 32 large shipyards across the country have received orders, each with as few as one ship and as many as two ships, because the procurement by the imperial court is equivalent to a political task, and of course manufacturing is given priority.

It is estimated that before the end of the year, these fifty Hongyi cannons will be released.

It's just that these add up, and the cost is a bit high.

The cost of the bare hull of the battleship is about 8000 taels, plus eighteen red barbarian cannons, plus military firecrackers and other weapons, the cost of a ship is as high as 5 taels of silver.

Fifty ships are 250 million taels.

Qin Shuhuai didn't change his expression, because he knew the navy was expensive.

But when Chongzhen saw this figure, he began to cry poor again, and kept wagging his fingers with Qin Shuhuai and telling him how much he would spend every year now.

But the vote is still voted, who will collect more taxes every month?
In May, there was news of success from the North Korean side. Li Dingguo led the army to win consecutive battles, especially in the Battle of Uiju, which defeated Amin's main force. Now the victory is set.

With the route of retreat blocked, the Amin tribe only led more than [-] people to flee to the east. The king of North Korea had ordered the main force of the whole country to help the Ming army stop the Amin tribe.

This result certainly did not surprise anyone.Li Dingguo brought a full 1 main force and ten Hongyi cannons. If he couldn't win even the more than [-] elite of Amin's department, he didn't have to come back.

It was also from this month that Chongzhen decreed that Governor Qin Shuhuai would prepare and train the entire army.

Qin Shuhuai immediately dispatched a large number of outstanding generals to various parts of the country to take charge of training.

The focus is on the soldiers and horses of the guards with the weakest combat effectiveness.

There are still trainers from the Devil's Cult here, and Qin Shuhuai told them that they will all be trained in the same way as before, and if there is a mutiny, he will suppress it.

In June, Li Dingguo sent Tang Bao again, saying that he had encircled and wiped out the Amin Ministry in eastern Korea.Amin fled to a village in a hurry with only two or three bodyguards, and was surrounded by hundreds of North Korean officers and soldiers. In the end, he was outnumbered and captured alive, and has now been handed over to the Ming army by the North Korean side.

In addition, Dorgon, who took [-] elite riders to join the Amin Department, was also defeated in this battle. He had a lot of backbone and chose to commit suicide.

In this way, North Korea is pacified.

Now the army is retreating, but the envoy sent by the king of North Korea, Li Ji, is much faster than the army. On the third day after the arrival of the Tang newspaper, the North Korean embassy who came to thank him arrived.

The specifications of the North Korean mission this time are far higher than before.First of all, Li Hao's second son Fenglin Dajun Li Hao, who was the successor of the Joseon king in history, was Xiaozong.

In addition to him, there are two senior cabinet officials and more than 200 entourages. Not everyone can be these entourages.

Why?

Going to pay tribute to the legendary Ming Dynasty is not an errand, but a reward!
As long as you stay in Daming Academy for such a month, it will be gilded, and you will have a place to speak in the Korean academic circle after you go back. You must know that almost all the classics and classics in the Korean academic circle are from the Central Plains, and the scholar-bureaucrats are very concerned about them. This worship is extremely extreme, and anyone who makes a good commentary on a certain scripture can cause a sensation.In this way, if someone can "study and discuss" in the birthplace of the scriptures and come back for a month, the weight of speaking will naturally be different.

The North Korean mission pulled more than 50 carts of tribute and walked on the street in a mighty manner, attracting the attention of the people.

As for the current Li Zhen, he wished to hug Daming's thigh tightly.He finally understood that his own soldiers were enough to frighten the people of his own country, and if he could really keep his country, he would be Ming.

(End of this chapter)