I am Da Song

Chapter 365 Another way to solve the problem

The ministers present have not yet recovered from the huge sum of arms purchases. Zhang Shuye continued: "Army purchases are just one of them, and there are more important arms research and development."

"After the artillery was completed, the army did not only need this type of artillery. The army paid more than [-] million yuan to the third department of military equipment to study various types of artillery. From heavy artillery, mortar artillery, to tiger squatting artillery, and short artillery , cannons, sub-cannons, etc.”

"There are still more than [-] million guns given to the Third Division of Armaments to continue to improve the casting process, loading structure, time-delay fuze, explosive shells, etc."

"The musket is the most important thing. In order to improve the process, reduce the explosion and structural layout, the research and development cost alone has more than [-] million guns."

"So excluding research and development costs, excluding soldiers' logistics and food, retirement allowances, and training and military consumption, the cost that can be used for procurement is only more than 3 million yuan. The Privy Council feels that the military expenditure is not high, but slightly insufficient."

The military expenditure of nearly [-] million yuan is not enough for the army?
The ministers all felt a little dizzy.

Zhao Huan was in high spirits, and asked, "How is the development of muskets now? How many goals have I set?"

Zhang Shuye immediately replied: "I want to report to the official, the muskets that have been finalized by the Yuqian Armament Institute have already met more than half of the conditions set by the official. Now the musket has a gunpowder tray installed on the back, and the gunpowder can be poured directly into it. Loading changed from front loading to rear loading."

"The flint ignition mentioned by the officials has also been achieved. The rifling and the butt are not a problem. The only thing that is difficult to achieve is the copper-wrapped bullets mentioned by the officials. The three military supervisors are doing their best to improve."

Zhao Huan nodded, probably understandable.

Zhao Huan gave them clear ideas for the first three items, and they could complete them as long as they were added to the musket according to Zhao Huan's guidance.

Whether it is flint ignition, gunpowder discs, or rifling, they are all existing technologies in the Song Dynasty. The military supervisor only needs to try more and work together to finalize the shape.

But bullets are different.The Bullet required that everything fit into a very small space.

Extremely demanding refinement and standardization.This requires a very rigorous industrialized assembly line system as a whole.

Asan, a great country in South Asia in later generations, faced the same problem as Song Dynasty.

It can also make rifles, but it can't make bullets well.

That's right, it is the country with a population of 14 billion that claims to be most likely to surpass China and win against China.

Their bullet production is a huge problem.

It's not impossible to make it, but whether it can be used after it is made is a huge problem, and the overall yield rate is too low.

The same is true in the Song Dynasty. The craftsmen rubbed their hands forcibly to get the bullets out.

After all, it is nothing more than four parts, the shell case, the bullet head, the propellant, and the primer.

The copper shell was polished a little bit, and the gunpowder was put in a little bit, and a bullet that Zhao Huan requested could be stitched together.

But it is this pass rate, only God knows.

As soon as the soldier pulled the trigger, it failed to ignite, or the shell directly jammed, or the ammunition was deformed, and it could not be loaded into the gun directly.

Anything can happen.

And even if the army can live with all these drawbacks, production is an unsolvable problem.

After all, bullets are consumables, and tens of millions of bullets are consumed every year for normal training.

Wars together, at least hundreds of millions every year.

Even if the arms craftsmen of the Song Dynasty broke their hands, they would not be able to produce such a huge number of bullets every year.

Zhao Huan ordered: "The army should use granulated gunpowder for the time being. At the same time, we will still provide sufficient funds to the third military supervisor every year to let them study copper-cased bullets."

"The minister takes orders." Zhang Shuye smiled brightly.

Seeing that the Privy Council had fooled around with the officials, the other ministers immediately became agitated and indignant.

Right Prime Minister Mei Zhili stood up in person and objected: "Officials, now that there is nothing wrong with the world and the border is peaceful, it is really inappropriate to maintain such a high proportion of military expenditure."

"The minister thought that more financial investment should be invested in the development of internal affairs. Increase investment in education and culture, health care, infrastructure construction, encouragement of industry and commerce, imperial scientific research, pensions for orphans and widows, and relief for the elderly and weak."

This obviously involves a dispute over fiscal division.

The attitude of the civil officials is obvious. The Song Dynasty is now prosperous in martial arts, no one dares to be in the army, and its combat power is completely sufficient. There is no need to invest so much military expenditure in military replacement and advanced military research and development.

But without waiting for the military generals to object, Zhao Huan directly refuted: "The martial arts of the Holy Dynasty have just started, and the martial arts and martial arts have not yet surpassed the former Tang Dynasty. How can we have a peaceful mind now?"

"You think that the current military investment is a waste. But I think this is the real way to save money for the country. Only with more advanced weapons and stronger combat power can we quickly defeat the enemy army and prevent it from falling into long and arduous consumption war."

"One stalemate war is more costly and burdensome than ten hearty victories."

"Since money has to be spent, instead of wasting it in the anxiety of war, I prefer to spend it on weapon research and development and weapon procurement."

"This can also reduce the casualties of our soldiers and benefit the grassroots soldiers."

The casualties of young soldiers are obviously not considered by these grizzled ministers.After all, they are only responsible for giving orders, and those who die are humble soldiers.

The financial distribution is closely related to their power.

They are very clear about which is more important!

So the Ministry of Rites immediately jumped out to object, saying: "Nowadays, there are still a lot of difficulties in the country that need to be resolved. There are still a large number of people who are extremely poor and hungry, and need a lot of money to improve. At this time, militarism is definitely not good governance."

"My minister agrees!"

"My minister agrees!"

"The minister seconded the proposal! There are still a large number of schools that do not have enough teachers, and a large number of students are not clothed. The minister thinks that more funds should be spent on internal affairs."

Facing the turbulent ministers, Zhao Huan was calm and calm.He also didn't understand why some emperors were afraid of the minister's spittle?The officials who were outraged by the crowd were too frightened to speak.

Apart from using their mouths, do these people dare to deceive the king?
Amidst the uproar, Zhao Huan slapped the table and said, "Enough! Don't limit your attention to this corner of the country! Why are there fiscal surpluses every year? Isn't it because the rapidly expanding financial appropriations cause corruption? , can’t spend it at all?”

"Even if I distribute [-] million military expenses to you, how can you solve the problem of extreme poverty among the people?"

"I want every household to have a hundred acres of fertile land, silk and satin, and a wife and good matchmaker! Who of you in China can solve it?"

A group of ministers dared not speak out.

The common people want to live in a big house, want to have good food and clothing, want to have a decent job, and a beautiful wife and wife.

However, involution in the Central Plains obviously cannot provide such ample conditions.

Left Prime Minister Zhang Jun asked: "Then investing such a huge military expenditure can solve the problem?"

Really!
Zhao Huan looked at Yue Fei.

(End of this chapter)