prosperous age

Although rifled guns of this era had various problems, their advantage of being accurate was enough to satisfy the aristocracy.

Therefore, they did not think that the slow reloading was a big deal. It was just a small inconvenience and they could do it themselves if they were in a good mood. Otherwise, they would ask the servants to help them with the ammunition.

Wei Guangde was not aware of these twists and turns. He just felt that these two guns were indeed more advanced than the bird guns and heavy bird guns manufactured by the Ming Dynasty at that time. It was absolutely necessary for the Ming Dynasty to introduce them into its own firearms to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops.

Wei Guangde immediately instructed Jiang Zhi: "The Ministry of Industry should first imitate the flintlock rifle, figure out the manufacturing process, and prepare for mass production."

However, as soon as Wei Guangde finished speaking, the craftsman in front of him looked downcast.

Obviously, these craftsmen were aware of the almost harsh restrictions on the materials used to make flintlock rifles.

In fact, it was very difficult for Ming craftsmen to make flintlock rifles at that time, and the success rate was not high.

It would be fine if it was just a small quantity, but if it was mass-produced as Lord Wei wanted, the lives of these craftsmen would be in vain.

"This type of breech-loading matchlock rifle should be easy to copy as soon as possible."

Wei Guangde pointed at the musket with cartridges and said, "This thing is a sharp weapon to replace the Portuguese arquebus. It is an imitation of the bird gun. Each gun is equipped with at least five cartridges, so that it can be fired in a fast rotation. Let's call the new gun the electric gun."

Wei Guangde didn't feel at all that doing so would damage Zhao Shizhen's reputation. If he hadn't seen the firearms sent from Europe today, he would have been embarrassed to do so.

It no longer exists. Firearms similar to the electric gun were developed in Europe decades ago, so it will not damage his reputation.

All Western gifts sent to the palace would be registered. Zhao Shizhen was destined to be unable to invent the electric gun, so he might as well keep the naming rights to himself.

"The lightning gun, what a good name, lightning, lightning, as fast as lightning."

Jiang Zhi clapped and cheered on the side.

Well, this is flattery, but Wei Guangde feels very comfortable being flattered.

"This shouldn't be difficult."

Wei Guangde looked at the craftsman and spoke.

“It’s delicate but it can still be built.”

The craftsman nodded.

They had studied the breech-loading matchlock rifle a long time ago. It was quite troublesome to make, but with their craftsmanship, it was actually not difficult to make it.

However, they are not optimistic about mass production.

It’s not because the craftsmanship requirements are very high, it’s mainly because practice makes perfect. Other craftsmen may be slower at the beginning, but they will become familiar with it after making a few more.

As for sealing, if we think of some ways and try to produce it slowly, we should be able to find a way to deal with it.

But the power of this thing, well, it's a common problem of the falconet cannon, its power is limited due to airtightness reasons.

As for why Europeans said that firearms should be loaded with less gunpowder, they could guess by looking at the luxurious decoration of the gun that the person using the gun was definitely not an ordinary person.

Naturally, when it comes to the muskets they make, there will be no restrictions on gunpowder.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty already had its own list of ingredients, which specified the material of the firearm and the amount of gunpowder that should be loaded.

Although Wei Guangde did not bring much progress to the firearms of the Ming Dynasty, he did develop fixed-load bullets. Now, they are not only the standard equipment for the Liaodong firearms soldiers under Qi Jiguang, but firearms soldiers in other border towns have also followed suit.

After all, it is simple. In the past, when the Ming army fought, gunpowder was stored in gourds, and the gourd lid was used to determine the amount of gunpowder.

In wartime, it is inevitable that people would use too much or too little gunpowder due to panic.

Pre-packing a sufficient amount of gunpowder with oil paper, and even sticking lead bullets on the oil paper, will indeed save some time when loading ammunition.

Even the Ming army in Liaodong was trying out the powder bags used in artillery, an operation mode similar to the packaging of artillery shells in later generations.

The number of powder bags loaded into the artillery can be flexibly adjusted according to the ammunition and range.

Wei Guangde didn't know why people in later generations invented whole-loaded and split-loaded shells for artillery shells, but he thought that Qi Jiguang and others might have figured it out slowly after using them.

Wei Guangde believed that he had made a great contribution to improving the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, not to mention that he heard from Jiang Zhi that the Gunpowder Bureau had spent a lot of money on preparing new gunpowder, but there had been no results, and the inner court was planning to cut off their research.

Faced with this situation, Wei Guangde also greeted Feng Bao and Chen Ju and asked them to continue investing money.

Perhaps there will be no results after ten years of investment, but once there are results, it may greatly enhance the military strength of the Ming Dynasty.

If the inner court is unwilling to pay the money, then the gunpowder bureau can be returned to the Ministry of Works.

Of course Feng Bao didn't dare to agree. The inner court wanted the gunpowder bureau because this thing was too powerful and was a major military weapon that had to be kept under the emperor's nose.

If Feng Bao dared to return the gunpowder bureau to the Ministry of Works, he would probably have difficulty staying in the inner court.

"And the lines in this gun barrel. Use bird guns and other firearms to test the effect. If it works, replace all firearms with this kind of gun barrel."

As soon as Wei Guangde opened his mouth, he arranged everything he had seen today.

Although giving such an order in front of Jiang Zhi was a bit of an overstepping of authority, Wei Guangde didn't notice it because he was too excited.

He really didn't expect that the British would send such advanced firearms to the Ming Dynasty, including flintlock rifles and rifling rifles.

"Yes, we will do it right away."

The craftsman immediately nodded and replied.

In the eyes of the common people, the cabinet minister is the biggest, higher than the minister. Although on the surface the rank of the cabinet minister is only fifth grade, the power is different.

Wei Guangde left the workshop contentedly. It was only after he left that he calmed down a little. He felt that he had been too reckless, so he immediately said to Jiang Zhi beside him, "Shunqing, I was too happy when I saw the gifts sent by the Aneliya delegation just now. Please forgive me, brother Shunqing."

“That’s okay, that’s what I saw at the time.

There are many ideas that the craftsmen of my Ming Dynasty do not have. Although I don’t know their meaning, I think they must have some outstanding features.

It was Shandai who asked the Jinyiwei to spy on their latest firearms technology from Europe, which was far-sighted.

Although I believe that the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty are not bad, it would be a blessing for the court if we could be inspired by the ingenuity of Europe and create better firearms."

Jiang Zhi didn't care. Wei Guangde usually treated them with courtesy and rarely took actions that exceeded his authority. He usually discussed things with them.

Today, when Wei Guangde saw the breech-loading matchlock rifle, his face obviously changed, but he really couldn't help himself at that time.

Their Jiangxi Gang still needs Wei Guangde to lead the army, so naturally he would not have any grudges with him at this time.

When Wei Guangde returned to the Cabinet from the Ministry of Works, he happened to meet the Secretary who came out to look for him, saying that an imperial decree had been issued from the palace.

"A decree?"

Wei Guangde was already in a sedan chair, heading towards the cabinet. He was stunned when he heard the imperial decree from the palace.

He did not receive any news of an imperial decree for him, but on the way to the cabinet, he vaguely guessed something.

The emperor's wedding must be held in the palace. What about the future?

That is, the Emperor will gradually begin to rule the country himself, and the Cabinet will return power to Your Majesty.

It can be considered as a reward for the past few years.

Wei Guangde understood it this way, which was actually the reason why Empress Dowager Chen and Empress Dowager Li planned to reward them handsomely, if they needed such a reason.

The cabinet has already set up the incense table. This is an imperial decree to confer an award, so naturally a full set of procedures must be followed.

The Imperial Household Department has approved the lists of the six departments, which is considered an official decree.

After receiving the imperial edict, Wei Guangde was promoted from Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace to Grand Secretary of Jianji Palace and Shang Zhuguo, while Zhang Juzheng was also promoted from Grand Secretary of Jianji Palace to Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace and Shang Zuo Zhuguo.

Others such as Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing were also promoted and rewarded.

After receiving the imperial edict, Feng Bao came up happily and congratulated everyone.

He came in person to deliver the order and asked for a drink.

"There's a new Yucheng Garden opened in the capital, why don't we go there tonight?"

Wei Guangde smiled.

"I've heard before that the food and wine are good, why not go there."

Feng Bao's purpose in getting close to Zhang and Wei was naturally not pure. He had both official tasks and private transactions. He didn't care where they went to drink, as long as they were close to each other.

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to go over there and book the place for tonight."

Zhang Juzheng nodded and smiled.

At their position, these rewards actually didn't matter to them, but they still had to show surprise and joy on their faces, as they did this for the people in the palace to see.

Celebrate, of course we should celebrate.

"Shandai, your wife should have received the imperial edict in the mansion by now."

Finally, Feng Bao said to Wei Guangde again.

"First-rank imperial decree?"

Wei Guangde asked hesitantly.

Wei Guangde's wife Xu Jianglan had previously been a second-rank imperial lady, and this time she was given the title.

The Ming Dynasty continued the Song Dynasty's system of bestowing titles and honors on the wives or mothers of foreign ministers and improved it.

Initially, the wives of officials of the first and second ranks were granted titles and were all called Madam. Later, the first rank was called First-rank Madam, the second rank was called Madam, the third rank was called Shu Ren, the fourth rank was called Gong Ren, the fifth rank was called Yi Ren, the sixth rank was called An Ren, and the seventh rank was called Ru Ren.

The wife or mother of an eighth-rank or ninth-rank official could also be given the title of eighth-rank Ruren or ninth-rank Ruren, but it was relatively rare because their rank was too low to be favored by the royal family.

According to the rules, there are clear regulations on the rank of the title that the wife or mother of an official can be awarded. Wei Guangde had already been promoted to the first rank, and his wife should have been promoted as well.

However, when the award was given, his mother was conferred the title of a first-rank lady, and his wife received the imperial decree of a lady. After that, there were not many changes in her official position, so there was no thought of promoting her, mainly because of other restrictions.

There were actually many restrictions on bestowing imperial edicts on officials in the Ming Dynasty. There were detailed regulations on the number of times, recipients, grades, conditions, etc., and it was not something that could be awarded casually.

"If the mother of a third-rank official receives a title from the court, if her husband is still alive, the title will be "Madam", but if his husband is not, the title will be "Tai Furen".

"As for the order of titles and honors, those from the seventh to the sixth rank can do so once, those from the fifth rank can do so once, and those from the third, second, and first rank can do so once each." This stipulates the number of times an official can protect his mother or wife. For an official in the Ming Dynasty, when he was promoted to the first rank, he could only give his wife or mother the opportunity to receive a title and honor five times at most.

For example, if an official made great contributions when he was at the seventh rank, and then the emperor issued an edict to confer the title of Ruren on his wife or mother, then before he was promoted to the fifth rank, his wife or mother would generally not have the opportunity to be conferred the title again. Only when he was promoted to the fifth rank and made great contributions again, would his wife or mother have the opportunity to be conferred the title again.

"Three mothers cannot be given titles at the same time, two of them will be given titles of higher rank." First of all, the legitimate mother, stepmother, and biological mother cannot be given titles at the same time. If the legitimate mother dies and the stepmother is still alive, the stepmother will be canonized; if the stepmother and biological mother are still alive, only one of them can get the title.

Secondly, if a mother has two sons who have made great contributions at the same time, the one with the higher rank will be given priority when it comes to canonization. For example, if the eldest son is a fourth-rank official and the second son is a second-rank official, then their mother will be given the title of second-rank lady when it comes to canonization.

"If the father's position is higher than that of his son, then he will be promoted one level." If a woman gets the opportunity to be granted a title because of her son, and her husband is also a person of rank, and his rank is higher than that of her son, then the woman's title can be automatically promoted one level.

For example, if her son is of the fifth rank and her husband is of the third rank, her title will be promoted from the fifth rank "Yi Ren" to the fourth rank "Gong Ren".

"If the father should stop giving the title and the son becomes a successor, the title can be transferred." This means that if the title of a woman of noble birth cannot be inherited, the title will be automatically cancelled after the woman dies.

At the same time, if the woman remarried, or if her son who was given the title was adopted by someone else, the title would be cancelled.

"If the legitimate mother is still alive, the biological mother cannot be conferred a title; if the biological mother has not been conferred a title, the wife cannot be conferred a title first." If the legitimate mother is still alive, the biological mother cannot be conferred a title; if the biological mother has not been conferred a title, the wife cannot be conferred a title, and so on.

After returning to the duty room, Wei Guangde began to deal with the memorials on the desk today.

Soon, a memorial from the Ministry of War fell into his hands.

The memorial stated that the Ministry of War believed that the soldiers in Liaodong had not received new cotton-padded clothes for three years, so it requested the court to allocate funds to purchase a new batch of cotton-padded clothes for Liaodong. At the same time, the clothes also needed to be distributed to the two towns of Yansui and Ningxia, totaling more than 300,000 sets of cotton-padded clothes.

With such a large number, the imperial court must have made preparations early and sent them to Liaodong, Yansui and Ningxia before winter. Otherwise, the soldiers would have to continue guarding the border this winter wrapped in worn-out cotton clothes.

Wei Guangde didn't say anything and directly voted "Yes, purchase it as soon as possible", and put the note aside in the memorial.

The court's various towns did not purchase cotton-padded military uniforms at the same time. Instead, a military town would purchase them every year. This avoided the heavy task of purchasing hundreds of thousands of sets of military uniforms at one time, which would push up the prices of cotton and cloth and increase additional costs.

Each memorial was drafted and put aside, and Lu Bu would come in and take it out after a while.

After more than an hour, all the memorials on the desk had been read and drafted. Wei Guangde's work for the day was completed and he could take a break.

I waited until the court was dismissed to sit in the Prime Minister's duty room. Today's task was completed. In the evening, I went to Yucheng Garden for dinner and drinks. The day passed.

That's what happened next. There was nothing important today, so the four of them just chatted in the duty room for a while. However, Shen Shixing mentioned that the three northern provinces had completed the land survey, but several southern provinces were slow and had not yet completed it.

"No matter what, the thirteen provinces must complete the land survey this year, and implement the Single Whip Law next year."

After hearing what Shen Shixing said, Zhang Juzheng immediately said.

The land survey has been going on for more than two years. Now, nearly half of the land survey has been completed in Ming Dynasty. However, the remaining provinces do have various difficulties, but these cannot be a reason for them to delay.

“To the southwestern provinces, please send back some of the Burmese troops.

The land survey there could not be completed smoothly due to obstruction by the chieftains.

The chieftains dared to disobey orders, mostly because they saw that the troops in the garrisons had been transferred away and their numbers were small. "

Shen Shixing spoke.

"The Ministry of War did not mention this."

Wei Guangde frowned slightly. He didn't see any Dusi reporting any illegal acts of the Tusi. He thought that things should not have happened to the point where they were irreversible.

"I'll ask the Ministry of War to find out what's going on so we can prevent any problems before they happen." Wei Guangde said. (End of this chapter)