The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 357 Daming's Productivity
Zhu Linmei nodded slightly.According to his plan, the Dragon Guards will expand to a scale of 1 people. The [-] hunting rifles will be added to the existing [-]. Since the cavalry and artillery do not need rifles, they are enough for equipment. up.

It's just that the number of Mini bombs is still too small, with an average of only fourteen rounds for a gun.However, with the current level of finishing, this is the fastest speed that can be achieved.

He thought for a while, and if the Northern Expedition started in a short period of time, at most 20 mini bombs could be produced.In the process of pacifying the Southwest this time, the fighting was far from intense, so [-] bullets per person was barely enough.

But if you are fighting against a dozen or even hundreds of thousands of Jiankui, this amount of bullets will definitely not be enough.In the later stage, it can only be used with leather-wrapped lead bullets. Although the accuracy and power are not as good as Mini bullets, they are still much stronger than smoothbore guns.

If you wait until the Northern Expedition a few months later, another six or seven thousand guns will be produced, and nearly 40 Mini bombs will be produced.It is possible to replace some of the Type II Jaeger-guns for the Poluying Camp, but the bullets are still seriously insufficient.

As for delaying the start of the Northern Expedition until next year, Zhu Linmi would not even consider it.Right now, the morale of Daming is booming, which is a good opportunity to recover the rivers and mountains in one go.If it drags on for a long time, people's hearts will be exhausted, and the impact on combat effectiveness is far from being compensated by equipping more new weapons.

Moreover, after Jianlu occupied Nanjing and Beijing, his weapon manufacturing capabilities were not weak. Although the technical content was not as good as that of Ming Dynasty, there were hundreds of red barbarian heavy artillery on the battlefield, which would also increase the casualties of the Ming army several times.

At the same time, Jianlu's military strength still has a clear advantage. Give them more time, and Qing troops from all over the north will continue to gather in Nanjing.For every additional month of delay, there will be at least 3 more Nanjing defenders.

He sighed inwardly, it seemed that it was impossible to replace all the Dragon Guards and the Polu Camp with Type II Jaegering Guns before the Northern Expedition.

After all, Daming put all his efforts into it, and the production of high-tech weapons such as rifled guns and mini bombs was only so much.You know, looking at the whole world, Daming is only mass-producing this extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming weapon.

It seems that as a supplement, another batch of flintlocks has to be made.Thinking of this, he told Song Yingxing, "Mr. Song, from now on, the Suji Tiechang will stop making hunting rifles, and instead go all out to manufacture [-] flintlocks. However, the production of miniature bullets will continue. "

Song Yingxing was stunned for a moment, but he didn't ask why. He never said much about His Highness's use of troops, so he cupped his hands and said, "Student will go to Longnan tomorrow."

After the matter of gun making was finished, Zhu Linmei looked at Xu Erlu again, "How is the progress over there?"

Xu Erlu hurriedly said: "Your Highness, the students ordered Jiangxi and Fujian to separately cast light and heavy artillery, and each added craftsmen and utensils.

"Now Suji Iron Works and Ganzhou Ordnance Bureau can manufacture forty three- to nine-pounder guns and twenty twelve- to fourteen-pounder guns every month.

"The Fujing Military Bureau is mainly responsible for making heavy guns weighing more than [-] pounds, and can also cast more than [-] guns per month.

"According to His Highness's instructions, in recent months, a total of 39 light guns under nine pounds, thirty-nine nine to twelve-pound guns, thirty eighteen-pound guns, and sixteen twenty-four-pound guns have been cast.

"A total of 140 small cannons and 42 heavy cannons."

Zhu Linmei showed a satisfied smile upon hearing this.In three months, nearly 180 light and heavy cannons were cast, and only in Jiangxi and Fujian. This is the strength that Ming Dynasty should have.

Historically, due to the corruption black hole of the Ministry of Industry and the backward craftsman registration system that discouraged the enthusiasm of craftsmen, it was impossible to cast a decent heavy artillery in the late Ming Dynasty.

Now I ordered Jin Yiwei to be stationed in the Ordnance Bureau to supervise, and to block the corruption first.Later, the craftsman registration was canceled, the standardization of craftsmanship was vigorously promoted, and a modern management plan was implemented. The "terrible" productivity of the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty was finally released.

He thought to himself, it's no wonder that Fujing Armaments Bureau spent 11 taels a month on raw materials alone. The money could be exchanged for thousands of rifled guns, tens of thousands of miniature rounds and twenty heavy artillery pieces. Very cheap.

However, these more than 40 medium-sized guns and more than 40 heavy guns sound a lot, but in fact they are not enough to equip the navy.

The characteristic of the Galenic warship is that it can carry a huge amount of guns. A 24-ton warship needs to carry more than [-] medium and heavy artillery.These included two [-]-pounders or six eighteen-pounders, eight to ten twelve-pounders, ten nine-pounders, ten four- to six-pounders.As for the Franc cannon on the open deck, it has not been counted.

Based on this calculation, even if all the cannons in the Ministry of War's inventory are allocated to the navy, they can barely equip two or three [-]-ton warships.

In addition, even a light Galen ship of more than 300 tons requires a total of more than 20 cannons, including two [-]-pounder guns, four [-]-pounder guns, six [-]-pounder guns, and ten [-]-pounder guns.

That is to say, the current three cannon-casting locations are all running at full capacity in order to barely provide for the naval warships.

He then told Xu Erlu: "The gun is the country's most important weapon, and we have to work hard for a long time, and we can take a break when the navy is completed."

"Students should do their best." Xu Erlu paused, and then said, "Your Highness, it's just that [-]% of the copper in the previous storage has been consumed. According to the current speed of casting cannons, it may take another month or so to run out."

Zhu Linmi frowned. On the way back to Fujing, he had read the report by Sun Rui, the chief minister of Guangdong, and said that since the Helan people learned that Daming had signed a trade agreement with Frangji people, they had stepped up their cooperation with Flangji people. Raiding of merchant ships.

Especially the merchant ships transporting ore, because the draft was too deep and the speed was slow, they suffered a catastrophe.It seems that there are indeed fewer and fewer copper mines arriving on the shore.

Helan people again!Zhu Linmi said angrily in her heart, she must get rid of this vicious tiger entrenched next to Daming as soon as possible, so that the sea trade routes can be unimpeded.

"I will find a way to deal with the copper thing. Before that, cast more iron cannons," he told Xu Erlu, "Use the double-layer casting method of raw and wrought iron that I taught you."

"Students obey."

However, Zhu Linming also knows that this casting method has high requirements on iron quality, and currently only the desulfurization pretreated molten iron in Suji Iron Works can do it.

It seems necessary to build a new iron yard in Guangdong.He planned in his mind that Foshan was the birthplace of iron smelting capitalism in the late Ming Dynasty. There are many large and small iron yards, complete supporting facilities, and a steady supply of iron ore from Qiongzhou. All conditions are much better than Longnan.In the future, there will be more and more places that need high-quality steel, so it is better to plan ahead.

In addition, if there is an urgent need to prepare for the Northern Expedition, it is also possible to temporarily buy some cannons from the Bucarao Cannon Factory in Macau, but the cost may be much higher than casting them yourself.

(End of this chapter)