Daming Military Empire

Chapter 111 Change Strategy
Zhu Cijiong watched the memorial slowly turn into ashes, and his face gradually became stern. When the last corner of the memorial was swallowed by the flames, Zhu Cijiong said coldly: "The proposed purpose: Feng Lu Xiang was promoted to the governor of the five provinces, and he was in charge of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Sichuan. , Henan, and North Zhili five provinces to suppress bandits."

Cao Huachun was already familiar with writing imperial edicts. As soon as Zhu Cijiong opened his mouth, he ran to a small table next to him, took out a blank volume of imperial edicts, and wrote carefully according to what Zhu Cijiong said.While writing, Cao Huachun murmured in his heart: "This promotion is a good thing, why is the emperor's tone so cold?"

Of course, these are not what he should ask. He finished writing the imperial decree carefully, handed it to Zhu Cijiong for review, and then stamped the emperor's seal under Zhu Cijiong's supervision, and then arranged for the eunuch to deliver the decree.

Zhu Cijiong raised his hand, and continued to speak in a cold voice: "The proposed decree: make Sun Chuanting the right governor of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion, and order one hundred thousand Qin troops to gather outside Zunhua City immediately to wait for orders."

He hurriedly ran to the small table, put down the written imperial decree, and took out another volume of blank imperial decree to write. After the imperial decree was written, he did not turn around immediately, but stood in front of Zhu Cijiong with his hands down, waiting for the imperial decree.

Zhu Cijiong continued to speak in a cold voice: "I have told you that the bandits are powerful, and it is not appropriate to disperse our forces. The defenders of the five provinces in the Northwest will immediately go to the cities where the Si Yamen is located to gather in the cities of the five provinces and wait for the governor of the five provinces Lu Xiangsheng to dispatch."

Cao Huachun quickly took out another piece of ordinary letter paper to write down Zhu Cijiong's oral instructions. This is not for the ministers to read, but for the eunuch who passed the oral instructions. Naturally, it does not need to be so formal.

Zhu Cijiong thought for a while, and then said: "The secret decree is passed, ordering Lu Xiangsheng to only chase and suppress the main force of the bandits, and leave the rest of the bandits alone for the time being."

Cao Huachun immediately took out another blank scroll without any markings to write the secret decree and stamped it with a big seal. This was directly handed to the recipient of the decree. The more confidential the better, naturally the scroll for writing the decree cannot be used.

Zhu Cijiong thought about it again, and continued to speak: "Send someone to inform Qin Yiming, Qin Gongming, and Shi Kefa to return to Beijing immediately."

Cao Huachun nodded, indicating that he had made a note of it.

Zhu Cijiong then waved his hand and said: "Well, go down, let Bi Maokang and Sun Yuanhua come to see me right away."

Only then did Cao Huachun pick up the imperial decree, secret decree and letter paper, and bowed to leave.

Soon, Bi Maokang and Sun Yuanhua came together. They are all trusted friends of Zhu Cijiong, and they are usually more casual when there are no outsiders present.Therefore, after they entered the imperial study room, they did not bow down, but bowed their hands, and after seeing it for a while, they stood respectfully aside, waiting for Zhu Cijiong's instructions.

Of course, this is not because they are arrogant because of their favor, these are all requested by Zhu Cijiong himself. The number of times they performed the prostration ceremony was interrupted, and gradually changed to hand-off ceremony.

Zhu Cijiong's anger had gradually calmed down, he smiled and nodded towards the two, and then asked Bi Maokang directly: "Meng Hou, how is the production process of artillery improved? How many artillery pieces can be produced in one batch now? How long will it take to build a batch of Type [-] howitzers, and how long will it take to build a batch of Type [-] howitzers?"

Bi Maokang clapped his hands and replied: "Returning to the emperor, the production process of artillery is still being improved. At present, fifty artillery pieces can be produced in one batch, but only about [-] pieces are qualified in the end. It takes about [-] hours to produce a batch of [-]-style howitzers." Twelve days, it takes about fifteen days to build a batch of [-]-type howitzers."

Zhu Cijiong frowned when he heard the words, and asked with some dissatisfaction: "Why did it take so long? What link went wrong?"

Bi Maokang quickly explained: "The casting, processing and test shooting are all okay, but the clay mold is a bit troublesome."

Zhu Cijiong couldn't help asking curiously: "Isn't it all reinforced with steel bars? What's the trouble?"

Bi Maokang replied with some embarrassment: "Uh, there is a problem with the internal reinforcement. The steel bars are easy to make, and they can be directly cast out of sand. Anyway, there is no requirement for the surface, and they can be used after cleaning; the thin steel wire is a bit troublesome. , It can’t be cast at all. Weichen has tried both sand molds and clay molds. The hole is so small that molten iron can’t be poured in at all. Now it can only be forged by hand.”

Hearing this, Zhu Cijiong slapped his forehead. He really didn't expect this question. Ming Dynasty didn't have ready-made steel bars and wires for sale at the moment, so he had to do everything by himself.forging?It's too exaggerated, how much effort would it take to forge such a thin steel wire with a hammer!
He thought about it for a while, and then he came up with an idea, and he criticized with a bit of hatred for iron and steel: "Meng Hou, how many times have I told you that the military industry of Ming Dynasty has entered the era of mechanical processing. You have to think about whether the parts can be processed by machine tools first. If there is no other way, you can consider hand forging. Such a thin steel wire, you have to be forged by someone, don’t you know how inefficient it is? "

Bi Maokang immediately blushed with embarrassment, cupped his hands again and again and said: "My humble minister is stupid, my humble minister is dull, please forgive my sin."

Only then did Zhu Cijiong guide in an old-fashioned way: "Isn't there a punching machine, first make some thin steel plates, then make a mold, see how long the steel wire is, and just punch it out with a punching machine. Menghou, I didn't tell you, You also know that casted things are very brittle and will break when bent. Even if you cast steel wire, can it be used? You are groping in the wrong direction. In the future, you must consider the problem comprehensively, and don’t always be one-sided! "

Bi Maokang replied in shame: "My minister knows, thank you for your guidance."

Zhu Cijiong was just talking about the matter, and didn't intend to hit him. Seeing him like this, he immediately calmed down, and said softly: "Well, how long will it take to process a batch of [-]-type howitzers after this improvement? How long does it take to process a batch of [-]-type howitzers?" How long will the howitzer take?"

Bi Maokang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the emperor's face had softened a little. He made a little calculation and replied confidently: "After the problem of the steel wire is solved, it only takes about eight days to build a batch of [-]-style howitzers. A batch of [-]-type howitzers only takes about ten days."

Eight days plus ten days is eighteen days, which is still a bit slow, Zhu Cijiong asked tentatively: "I will continue to batch the [-]-type howitzers and [-]-type howitzers now, let them work overtime, half a month can make it?"

Even if you don't sleep, you have to make something that the emperor urgently needs. Bi Maokang nodded firmly: "Yes."

Zhu Cijiong nodded, and then asked Sun Yuanhua: "Chuyang, how is the artillery drill going? What's the current rate of fire and accuracy?"

Sun Yuanhua hurriedly cupped his hands and replied: "When you return to the emperor, one hundred thousand recruits are still training basic operations, and one thousand veterans of the Shenji Battalion have almost practiced. Their rate of fire can probably reach about two rounds per cup of tea, and their accuracy can be controlled. Within two steps."

A cup of tea takes two and a half minutes, and two steps are about three meters, which is almost the same. Zhu Cijiong nodded and praised: "Well, you did a good job. Immediately send two hundred veterans of the Shenji Battalion to lead twenty gates. The Type [-] and [-] mortars went to Hongdong County, Pingyang Prefecture to wait for Lu Xiangsheng to dispatch. The rest of the veterans stepped up to practice the firing accuracy of howitzers loaded with shotguns. The recruits are not in a hurry, let them gradually familiarize themselves with the basic operations. "

If the European powers know that Zhu Cijiong drills [-] artillery at a time, they will be so frightened that they will go crazy collectively. What kind of international joke are you making? You must know that the standing troops of the general powers are only about [-]. You only have [-] artillery. The rhythm of killing people to the brim!

It's not that Zhu Cijiong is too ambitious. Now the entire Ming Dynasty has more than 100 million troops, and the [-] artillery is less than [-]%. This ratio is not an exaggeration at all.And sooner or later, Daming will participate in the battle for supremacy at sea. Once at sea, it will be dominated by artillery, and it is not too much to have more artillery.

Watching the backs of Bi Maokang and Sun Yuanhua slowly go away, Zhu Cijiong fell into deep thought. He found that his perspective on the problem was too one-sided.Like this peasant uprising in the northwest, he only saw the superficial drought and corrupt officials, but did not pay attention to the deeper clan problems.

If Xu Guangqi hadn't reminded him this time, he was afraid that he would make a directional mistake. Even if he wiped out all the peasant rebels, even if he resettled all the victims, so what?It won't be long before those clans will force more people to rebel, and when you send people to wipe them out, there will be more people rebelling soon. The northwest has entered a vicious circle. If those clans are not eliminated, the peasant uprising army will not be able to suppress them. Finished!
It’s no wonder that the Chongzhen Dynasty has been suppressing for more than ten years. After the suppression, it reappeared. It's gone!

How innocent Chongzhen was, he did not slack off in politics, did not seek pleasure, let alone licentiousness, on the contrary, he was one of the rare hard-working emperors in history, who exhausted himself and forgot to sleep and eat, but the Ming Dynasty finally died!
It can be said that he was completely eaten to death by the big moth of the royal family. Now that Zhu Cijiong knows the horror of the royal family, he will naturally not repeat the same mistakes. All the arrangements he made today are to change his strategy , Changing direction, anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance that he is going to shift his focus to Liaodong.

That's right, he just wanted to shift his focus to Liaodong and target Houjin. Although it was impossible for him to defeat Houjin in one fell swoop and regain Liaodong in a hurry, the clay figurines were all flaming. After being bullied by Huang Taiji for so long, they always Give him some color!
As for the Northwest, since it has been riddled with moths, it might as well smash the moths together and start over.Anyway, the severe drought in Northwest China will continue for more than ten years. Even if all the rebels are wiped out, it will only be a useless space. There are ten rooms and nine empty rooms!
Lu Xiangsheng didn't plan to increase his troops any more. The Tianxiong Army plus the newly recruited defenders from various provinces, plus the frontier troops, was almost 50. As long as Lu Xiangsheng didn't seek death, the peasant uprising army would have nothing to do with him.

After contemplating for a while, Zhu Cijiong finally came back to his senses. He shook his head, calmed himself down, and then took out the map of Liaodong to look carefully.Looking at it, he even took a pen and paper to draw a sketch on the map, and the content on the sketch was vague and a bit like a battle formation!Does he want to drive himself to conquer it?

That's right, he just wants to drive himself to conquer, not because he is arrogant, but in fact, this cannon-to-cannon battle has never been experienced by anyone in Ming Dynasty, and the command of this battlefield becomes a problem. The duel between hot weapons and cold weapons It can be said that the duel between them is completely different, and none of the generals of Ming Dynasty has any experience in this field.Neither did Zhu Cijiong, but he had watched a lot of combat movies anyway, so he knew how to deal with the enemy's artillery.

Therefore, in order to be sure, he had to make a trip himself.

(End of this chapter)