Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 441
Before dawn in the morning, Wang Yan, served by Xu Yanyan, drank a bowl of porridge in a hurry, and hurried out.

The early dynasty system has existed since ancient times, but each dynasty is different. Ming Taizu is a person who can't stand idle, so the officials have very little rest time. Except for important festivals or some major events, the early dynasty can be cancelled. , At other times, you have to go to court early, and officials who do not go to court without authorization, or who lie and do not go to court, will be punished as disrespectful once they are discovered.

Although the early court is a system, it is another matter whether the emperor goes to court, and not all officials in Beijing go to court.

The imperial court generally has a small court every day, and a big court in ten days. The small court is the big scholar, the six ministers, the ministers, and the censors. There are only a dozen people. In the big dynasties, there are more talents. Can go to court.

Long Wu was a diligent emperor. Wang Yan woke up with a cock crow, took care of his appearance, ate breakfast, and then went out. Some ministers walked and some sat in sedan chairs.

When the sky is bright, start to line up, salute, and go up to court.

Wang Yan submitted the memorial he wrote yesterday. Before he went to court, he had communicated with several cabinet ministers, so no one raised any objections to the attack on Zhangzhou. Emperor Longwu also felt that after the court moved to Guangnan, it should be with the The Qing court played a game, and then it was allowed to play.

After the court, some ministers went directly to work in various ministries, and others could go home to sleep for a "returning cage", and Wang Yan went directly to the Cannon Workshop in Guangjing City.

Zhangzhou has been managed by Li Chengdong and Tong Yangjia for several months, and the city walls must be very strong. To take down such a fortified city, you must have heavy artillery.

Wang Yan heard yesterday that the newly cast cannon in the Cannon Workshop had been removed from the mold, so he decided to go to observe and test the cannon today.

Since he settled down in Guangjing, Wang Yan has mainly devoted himself to managing the internal affairs and recruiting new recruits. As for the research and development of casting equipment, he has given full authority to the Song brothers.

In the past few months, although Wang Yan has not been involved in the affairs of the Cannon Foundry, the amount of money invested has not decreased. Now that the cannon has finally been built, he is still very excited.

In the previous battles, when Wang Yan left Guangdong, there were more than [-] people, and the firearm configuration was as high as [-] to [-]%.

Wang Yan defeated Geng Zhongming and Luck Dehun mostly by relying on firearms, so he knew the role of firearms, but the damage of firearms was high, the range was short, and even the problem of bombing the chest also made him very dissatisfied.

Wang Yan made several requests to Song Yingxing before, that is, to solve the problem that official-cast firearms have a shorter lifespan, shorter range, inconsistent standards, and even blasting firearms compared with Xiyi firearms.

Guns are easy to explode, firstly because the quality of iron is not high, secondly because the gun barrels made by craftsmen are too thin, and thirdly, there is no standard for gunners to load gunpowder, and there is no fixed number, once the gunpowder is loaded too much, it will not explode. Strange.

Among these points, the iron smelting technology cannot be improved in a day or two, but a standard should be set for the amount of charge, and the specifications of the cast guns should be the same. With a little hard work, it should be able to solve it.

In the casting workshop, Wang Yan watched while walking, followed by a large number of officials from the Ministry of Industry, Song Yingxing introduced to Wang Yan as he walked: "Ministry, according to your previous request, the officials and craftsmen have redrawn the drawings. , stipulating the size of each type of artillery, making each artillery basically uniform in regulation, solving many problems, and its performance can basically be equal to that of Xiyi artillery."

"It's a mule or a horse, so you have to pull it out for a walk." Wang Yan said with a smile: "Today, I want to try the cannon you made. If it is really that good, I will definitely reward you."

"Your Majesty will transport the artillery out of the city and arrange for a test."

A moment later, a group of soldiers began to carry the cannon. Wang Yan saw a red barbarian cannon, one foot long, with a muzzle of more than three inches. "Yuanyuezhu", there is a line of smaller characters next to it, which reads "Craftsman Wu Yihao, Supervisor Song Yingxing".

Wang Yan was slightly surprised, and said, "Is the craftsman's name engraved on each cannon?"

"Each cannon costs two or hundreds of pieces of silver. In order to make the craftsman pay attention, it is famous. Anyone who explodes the gun or has different regulations will be punished."

Wang Yan nodded and said: "This method is very good, but you can't just punish without rewards. Chang Geng can write a booklet on rewards and punishments to standardize various rules and form a custom."

"I have been thinking about rewards and punishments for a long time. When the test of the cannon is completed, I will send the booklet. I am afraid that the cabinet will allocate more money."

"Money is not a problem. As long as the cannon can be made well, the pavilion will not be stingy with the reward." Wang Yan waved his hand and said, "How many cannons have you built this time?"

"Reporting to the Pavilion Department, this time four Hongyi cannons were built, and twenty small Frangjis. In addition, there are [-] bird guns, fifty Lumi guns, one electric gun and one thunder gun."

Wang Yan stopped and frowned, "So few?"

Song Yingxing quickly explained: "The main reason is that there are not enough craftsmen, and the production of equipment is complicated. The firing rate of the electric gun is the fastest, but the process is extremely complicated. It is difficult for a craftsman to make one in a month, and the cannon is because of dry molds. Too time consuming."

Wang Yan shook his head, "I don't want to hear this, is there a solution?"

"Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, iron molds have been used to cast agricultural tools. I am going to try to cast cannons. It may save a lot of time."

Wang Yan and his party walked and said that they finally came to the southwestern outskirts of Guangzhou City. The sound of Hongyi cannons was earth-shattering. If they tried the cannons in the city, they might startle the soldiers and civilians in the city.

When he arrived at the cannon test site, Wang Yan could only see a group of soldiers waiting in line in the distance. The newly cast artillery was just in front of the line, but it was too far away to see clearly.When Wang Yan walked over, the soldiers held their heads high and their chests straight, without looking sideways. The artillery commander Chen Yujie came out to perform the salute and said: "I am ordered to test the artillery, please give instructions from the cabinet."

Today, the main ones to try are four Hongyi cannons. According to Xiyi, they are [-]-pound cannons. Wang Yan nodded. The cannon body is reinforced with iron rings. It is the part of the medicine chamber where the gunpowder burns, especially thick.

"The appearance is not bad, whether it is good or bad, you will know by firing a cannon, come on." Wang Yan waved.As soon as the military order was issued, Chen Yujie immediately commanded, and several gunners swarmed up, loaded gunpowder, put fuses, sealed it, and loaded iron bullets, everything was ready.

At this time, the small flag waved, and the gunners put the torches on the fuses, and immediately a cloud of gunpowder smoke rose, and everyone covered their ears, watching the sparks whizzing into the fire door.

"Bang" four times in succession, Wang Yan only felt the ground tremble, and saw that the cannon body suddenly shook violently, iron bullets whizzed out from the muzzle, and in the blink of an eye, a cloud of dust was raised in the distance. "Good!" Seeing that the four shells landed at almost the same distance, Wang Yan immediately took the lead in applauding.

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(End of this chapter)