Daming Military Empire

Chapter 108
The production of cannons cannot be accomplished overnight. It requires continuous trial production and test firing to conclude the most reasonable production process. Zhu Cijiong has no way to do this. After all, he participated in the production of modern cannons in his previous life. The material, structure and processing methods are the same as Ancient artillery is not a thing at all.He could only explain the casting method and experimental method of the cannon to Xu Guangqi and Bi Maokang in detail, and asked them to make trial production and test firing. Of course, he had to personally check the final shape.

The trial production of the artillery has not yet come to fruition, but the "Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance between the Ming Empire and the Portuguese Empire" has borne the first fruit.It turned out that after Shi Weila left the capital, he did not return to Macau immediately, but stayed in Jinling for a few days to pay a special visit to Zhennan Wang Zheng Zhilong.

Zheng Zhilong was originally a pirate, and he was the largest maritime merchant on the southeast coast. When he first started doing business, he did business with the Portuguese, so the two of them naturally had a lot in common.In particular, Zheng Zhilong also worked as a translator for the Portuguese. His Portuguese is even better than Shivela's. It was a joy to chat with Shivera.

While chatting about Shi Weila, he talked about the treaty. Now Zheng Zhilong couldn't sit still. He was in charge of the Western Trading Company, and business is not easy now.The Spanish merchants and Portuguese merchants were afraid of being robbed by the pirates instigated by the Dutch, and they dared not come here to buy goods easily. He couldn't sell all the things produced by the four big factories of Jiangnan Tea Industry and Tianjin Weaving.

The output of the four major factories has been decreasing and decreasing, and there is still a lot of goods in his Jinling City. Now that Portugal has become an agent of Daming, why don't you rush to sell it!
The backlog in Jinling City is all high-end porcelain, high-end tea and silk, which are really unaffordable for ordinary people, so they have not been able to be sold.Unexpectedly, when Shivela heard about these things, green light came out of his eyes, good stuff!

In Europe, bowls and plates were also used for eating. There was no imitation porcelain plastic at that time. Those who had no money used wooden ones, and those who had money used metal ones. Not to mention the ugly appearance, it was not easy to clean, so porcelain was used in many countries. Europe is quite in demand, especially in aristocratic families. There are not many cabinets of porcelain bowls and plates in the house. How dare you say you are a nobleman?

The same goes for tea. It is popular in Europe and America to drink afternoon tea. At that time, the common people could not afford it, but the nobles had to drink it. If you can’t afford milk tea, how dare you say you are a nobleman?

Not to mention silk. At that time, balls were popular in Europe, and gowns became an important prop for comparison between nobles, especially ladies' gowns. How dare you call yourself a noble without using silk?

How tight are high-grade porcelain, high-grade tea and silk in Europe?Let's put it this way, there is no sale at all in most places, only in big cities, and most of them are auctions!
Once this thing is shipped to Europe, the profit is more than ten times. Shi Weila opened his mouth and wiped out all the backlog of goods, but when it comes to money in the end, it's not hurting feelings, but Shi Wei I can't get so much money together for a while.

The market price of these things is about 1000 million taels, but according to the contract, it is more than 3000 million taels. He can only collect about 500 million taels in a short period of time, and most of them have to be collected by his boss Kong Dede.I want this batch of goods, but can't get so much money together. I really feel sorry for Shi Weila's tangled look.

Unexpectedly, Zheng Zhilong sold all the goods to him very generously, and even promised to help him deliver them to the territory of the Indian Governor Kong Dede. The money can be paid 500 million taels first, and the rest will be paid after the goods are sold. .

Shivela is naturally grateful. This time, after excluding the cost and various expenses, he can earn at least 3000 million taels this time. What kind of concept is this? You must know that the accumulation of his Kilnino family for more than 200 years is worthless. Not 3000 million taels!And they also help him send the goods to India for free, which means that the danger in transportation has been reduced by more than half.Anthony (Zheng Zhilong's Catholic name), what a good man!

Is Zheng Zhilong a good person?Of course not, he is a great pirate, is he afraid that he will not get back the remaining money?The big deal is to give him Macau, tie up all the Portuguese, and ask people to redeem them with money.

In this way, before Shivela took the treaty back, Daming got the first benefit. Although 500 million taels is not too much, it is just the beginning. Shivela said before leaving, let you Let's run the factories at full capacity, I want as many of these things as I want!
If Jiangnan Weaving, Jiangnan Porcelain, Jiangnan Tea Industry, and Tianjin Weaving, the four major factories are working at full capacity, they can produce at least 500 million taels of high-end goods a month, which is 500 million taels based on the contract price. The combined cost of materials and labor is less than 100 million taels, that is to say, Zhu Cijiong's income has increased by more than 1000 million taels a month!
What are you doing with more than 1000 million taels? Naturally, it’s recruitment. The monthly military expenditure of a 30 army is less than 60 taels. Of course, that’s using cold weapons. If they are fully equipped with hot weapons, it’s about 100 taels. An army of 600 million is only 200 million taels, and an army of 200 million is only [-] million taels!
At that time, Zhu Cijiong told Shi Weila that he was going to bring back all 270 million troops.

If you have money, then expand your enrollment. Although Shivira hasn’t even completed the first transaction yet, it’s not a problem to recruit more than 15 yuan first, so let’s expand the Beijing camp first and recruit 20 yuan. Recruits, let's collect [-] first!
Zhu Cijiong is not worried about the spending power of European nobles at all. Now is the peak period of the great voyage.During this period, high-grade porcelain and high-grade tea were fried to be almost equivalent to gold, and silk and spices were even more valuable than gold.The European nobles at this time are really rich, and if they don't make money, they don't make money!
A few days before the recruitment of new recruits started, there was a piece of good news:

The 5-inch mortar gun has been successfully developed. The barrel diameter is 5 inches, the length of the barrel is 600 feet [-], and the range is [-] to [-] steps. start running.

Zhu Cijiong decreed: first make [-] sets, each with ten artillerymen, and send them to help Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting take down Linfen City in Pingyang Prefecture after the training matures.

A few days later, another piece of good news came:

The 3-inch howitzer has been successfully developed. The barrel diameter is 3 inches, the length of the barrel is five feet, and the range is [-] to [-] steps. .

Zhu Cijiong made an order: first make ten sets for the Beijing camp to practice.

A few days later, another piece of good news came:

The 4-inch howitzer has been successfully developed. The barrel diameter is 4 inches, the length of the barrel is seven feet, and the range is [-] to [-] steps. stand up.

Zhu Cijiong made an order: first make ten sets for the Beijing camp to practice.

The recruits are almost finished, and there is another good news:

The 5-inch howitzer has been successfully developed. The barrel diameter is 5 inches, the length of the barrel is nine feet, and the range is [-] to [-] steps. run up.

Zhu Cijiong made an order: first make ten sets for the Beijing camp to practice.

Wait, why does this gun of a few inches sound so awkward? Why did it call it in the previous life?Zhu Cijiong recalled it for a while, and immediately remembered that the guns in the previous life all had models, such as AK47, May 311th, M[-], etc., so it is much more convenient to call them.

Therefore, Zhu Cijiong drew up a simple model naming method:

Like the new flintlock gun, the caliber is 2 points, the barrel length is 4 feet, it is called the [-]th flintlock gun;
Like a 5-inch mortar, the caliber is 5 inches, and the ratio of the caliber to the length is 1:5, so it is called the [-]-type mortar;
Like a 3-inch howitzer, the caliber is 3 inches, and the ratio of caliber to length is 1:17, so it is called the [-]-type howitzer;
Even if the development of artillery has come to an end, it’s not that bigger howitzers can’t be made. The main reason is that the output of iron ore can’t keep up. In the past, only a gun used so much steel, but now the cannon can’t move. Hundreds of thousands of catties, it is normal to use tens of thousands of catties a day, how can the output of iron ore keep up now!

It seems that they are looking for Portugal to buy iron ore, but it does not mean that Ming Dynasty has no iron ore. There is a word called strategic reserve. Iron ore was a scarce commodity in the era of maritime hegemony, and now it is just a cannon. , When the ironclad battleship comes out, that guy, a battleship is tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of catties of steel, who would think that there is too much iron ore!

The artillery came to an end, and Xu Guangqi came to announce the good news again.

He was originally an astronomy enthusiast. He once combined Western star catalogs and traditional Chinese star catalogs to draw the first all-day star map.This aroused his interest in observing celestial bodies, and he had long wanted to build an astronomical telescope himself, but Daming had no glass industry, so he had to give up.

Now that the glass factory has been built, he is naturally very excited. He even asked Zhu Cijiong for funding for the first time to build an astronomical telescope.As a result, Zhu Cijiong poured cold water on him: What Daming needs now is military telescopes, not astronomical telescopes, please, hurry up and study military telescopes for me!
Xu Guangqi did not reject the study of military telescopes, and soon he made a military telescope with a large aperture and three times the focal length according to Zhu Cijiong's request. A transparent cross mark will do.

Zhu Cijiong asked him to make this kind of telescope mainly to measure the shooting parameters of artillery. Artillery is not a flintlock gun, which can be aimed at three points and one line.The positioning of the artillery should consider the scale, height, direction and other shooting elements, especially the mortar and howitzer. The ballistic trajectory is an arc. If the shooting elements are not considered, the target will not be hit at all.

Use artillery to hit cavalry. If the first shot misses, it is estimated that there will be no chance to fire the second shot.The farthest range of the artillery is only two miles now, and the speed of the cavalry is only three to four minutes for two miles. If you finish shooting with one shot, and then adjust the angle, it may not be enough for 4 minutes, then the artillery is basically useless. .

With a military telescope, it is different. A military telescope with three times the focal length can accurately measure the shooting elements of about one mile, and the error will not exceed one meter. A military telescope with six times the focal length can accurately measure the distance of about one mile. When shooting the various elements, the error will not exceed two meters. As long as the commanders and operators cooperate with each other skillfully, they can basically achieve a hundred hits!
Zhu Cijiong used a telescope to carefully observe objects about one mile away. He was very satisfied with the military telescope with a triple focal length. He couldn't help but praise Xu Guangqi a lot and asked him to quickly make a batch of military telescopes with a triple focal length and a sixfold focal length. , in order to cooperate with the drill of the artillery.

Now, Ming's economy and military are booming, and its national strength is getting stronger and stronger. Zhu Cijiong is thinking, maybe it's time to talk to Sun Chengzong about the Liaodong issue.

(End of this chapter)