I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 200 The Qing Dynasty is also making progress
After that, Zhu Yijiong summoned his secretary-general and ordered: "Select two people from the secretary's cabinet to go to Chizhou and Nanchang on my behalf to comfort the frontline soldiers and bring rewards."

The Secretariat was the original Secretariat. When it was first created, the Secretariat could only be regarded as the emperor's personal secretary.

There is neither actual official position nor salary (although everyone does not have one).

Now, with Zhu Yijiong proclaiming himself emperor, the secretariat is officially customized.

But the rank of the Secretariat Cabinet officials, even the Secretary-General, is still very low, only a mere fourth rank.

Only one level higher than a court official, but who cares about that.

Except for those new scholars, the entire Ming court knew that the so-called Secretary's Pavilion was a place where documents were stored.

This is a proper military cabinet!

All major military and state affairs must be reviewed by this secretariat, and opinions will be given before being given a reply to the emperor.

It seems to be of extremely low rank, but its power is terrifying.

If it were not for the Secretary's Cabinet, it would only have the right to make suggestions and not have the right to approve.Moreover, although the Secretary Cabinet is in charge of important military affairs, it cannot be re-elected for a long time.

The current customization is that the secretary can only work for one year. During wartime, the emperor can work for an additional half year, and then no more.

But even so, the Secretariat Cabinet still makes the officials of the Outer Court quite envious, even though they all belong to the Outer Court institutionally.

Moreover, even if the secretary retires after serving for one year, a good vacancy will be left.

For example, Zhu Chengxun, the first secretary-general of the Cabinet of Secretaries, is now serving as Privy Councilor, with the same rank as the chief minister of the cabinet.Moreover, it is a department directly under the emperor's jurisdiction, and he also holds the position of senior cabinet minister.

Although this was a good time, the others behind him were not far behind either.

Therefore, it is indeed a serious matter for the Secretary's Office to send people to the front line to express condolences to the soldiers.

It's impossible to really ask His Majesty, who has a body of thousands of gold, to come to the front line in person, right?

If that were the case, people like Yang Gong could commit suicide and apologize.

After seeing this, Zhu Chengxun quickly kowtowed and saluted again, shouting: "Your Majesty is so considerate of the soldiers and loves the soldiers as sons. Even the ancient sage kings are like this."

Although this is flattery, who doesn’t like to hear flattery when they are happy?
Zhu Yijiong smiled, raised his hand and said: "This is the imperial study room. Why does Zhu Qing need to pay such a courtesy? Just get down first!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Zhu Chengxun stood up.

Zhu Yijiong added: "In addition to drawing up a reward list for the frontline soldiers when Zhu Qing returns, he can also start formulating the strategic plan to capture Yangzhou and Luzhou."

"...I obey the order." Zhu Chengxun was stunned after hearing this, and quickly answered with his hands raised.

Finally crossing the river!

"Ah."

Zhu Yijiong nodded, chatted with Zhu Chengxun for a while, and then asked him to leave.

When Zhu Chengxun resigned, Zhu Yijiong thought for a moment and said, "Come here, tell Li Qing from the Ordnance Bureau to come see me as soon as possible."

Not long after, Old Man Li, the Director of Ordnance, came to the imperial study.

"I am here to see your majesty, long live your majesty!" Old Man Li didn't even bother to wipe the sweat from his head and quickly saluted with his hands in hand.

"Li Qing is exempt."

Zhu Pingling didn't show any concern and said straight to the point: "I'm calling Li Qing here today. It's not a big deal. I just want to ask about the progress of the new artillery casting method and the plate armor."

After hearing this, Old Man Li hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau have already produced samples of the plate armor you mentioned earlier. They only need to be tested before they can be reported to Your Majesty for mass production."

"Ah."

Zhu Yijiong nodded slightly, without much surprise.

Plate armor has been popular for a period of time. In addition to better protection against fire guns, another reason is that the production cost is lower and simpler (relatively speaking).

The sum of these two points means a higher armor-to-armor ratio.

The popularity of plate armor is natural, but the shortcomings of this thing are also obvious. It didn't take many years from the advent of plate armor to its withdrawal.

With the appearance of large-caliber fire guns, plate armor came and went quickly, leaving the stage of history at the speed of light.

Of course, they have not completely quit. After all, French dragoons still use plate armor (breastplate).Moreover, the West has large-caliber fire cannons for plate armor, but the Qing Dynasty does not have them here.Unless the clear fire gun improves, the plate armor is invincible.

To be honest, if it weren't for the lack of good enough war horses, Zhu Yijiong would really want to build a dragoon that would be more effective in both efficiency and actual combat.

Zhu Yijiong has already received the war horse that Yang Gong sent back. It is 1.4 meters high at the shoulder, which is not high from the current angle.

But compared to the current Southwest Horse under Emperor Zhu, which has a shoulder height of 1.1 meters and 1.2 meters, it is simply a dimensionality reduction blow.

Strictly speaking, this kind of horse is not suitable for use as cavalry, but there are no tall horses in the south.

Now Emperor Zhu's war horse has been raised in the royal stables. It's a pity that the war horse has been gelded, otherwise he could have done a war horse breeding by himself.

Old Man Li continued: "But the new artillery casting method that Your Majesty mentioned... At present, the craftsmen under Wei Chen are still thinking of a way. Please give me some more time."

Old Man Li hesitated, not daring to say anything, but even less daring to lie.

"..."

After Zhu Yijiong heard this, although he had expected it, he was still a little disappointed.

"Well...it doesn't matter. I'm not in a hurry. I'm just asking casually. Li Qing just go ahead and do it."

"I would like to add one more thing here. If anyone can think of a better casting method to solve the problem of artillery blasting, I will grant him a knighthood."

The promise of a knighthood?

Good guy, this is really a waste of money.

You must know that the title of the Ming Dynasty is very rare. You have to achieve military merit and great merit to obtain it. This is still a reduced-level hereditary title. There are very few iron-hatted knights who can truly be hereditary.

Even the founding heroes are not all iron hat lords.

Now we have to knight the craftsmen, which is a lot of pressure!
Zhu Yijiong actually also had a sense of crisis. In Zhu Chengxun's letter reporting victory, Yang Gong specifically mentioned that they had discovered a pseudo-Qing firearms workshop in Anqing.

The products produced there are actually similar to the Tang Lei that Zhu Yijiong used when he was in Taiwan.

The Qing army actually discovered the secret of sugar medicine?

Fortunately, Yang Gong also said that the craftsmen of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty simply mixed the two, and the proportions were all confusing.The sugar is not heated into syrup, and no oxides such as rust are added to it.

This kind of simple mixture can also explode, but the increase in power is far less powerful than the Ming army's current sugar bombs.

This made Zhu Yiling breathe a sigh of relief, but also instantly felt a sense of urgency.

No matter how the Puppet Qing discovered the secret of sugar ammunition, the Puppet Qing used it after discovering it, which means that the Puppet Qing is making progress.

This is also in line with the consistent operation of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty. If you can't beat it, you can learn it.

The so-called Qing Dynasty conquered the world on horseback is pure nonsense. In fact, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing army's artillery had surpassed the Ming army's border army artillery in both quantity and quality.

The Qing army even recruited and captured craftsmen in the pass to make guns and cannons for them.

If Zhu Yijiong keeps sticking to the same old routine, he may overturn sooner or later.

However, there is no need to rush scientific research, and Zhu Yijiong can only give a reward of sufficient weight to motivate the craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau and let them research the new cannon casting method as soon as possible.

"Long live Your Majesty!"

Old Man Li was in high spirits. He couldn't help but kneel down and prostrate himself on the spot: "I will definitely live up to your majesty's great trust. I must help your majesty figure out this new method of casting cannons."

There is no way, this is a knighthood!

Even the lowest baron is a noble person.

Craftsmen like them, in the past, it was a luxury to be able to take the official examination, but they never thought that they could even hope to be knighted now.

Zhu Yijiong smiled slightly, encouraged Old Man Li again, and then let him go.

After everyone left, Zhu Yijiong returned to the boring and busy work of reviewing manuscripts.

But today, I learned that Anqing was a great victory, and the fate of Jiangnan was certain.

Zhu Yijiong's mood also became surprisingly good, and she became more motivated even for this work.

Motivation is motivation, and the memorial will never be finished.

(End of this chapter)