prosperous age

Is the Grand Secretary here?

In the afternoon, Wei Guangde was reading a book in his duty room.

There have been few memorials recently, and most of them are congratulatory and lack substantial content, so drafting them is quite simple.

Even just formatting the draft is enough to meet the needs of the dozen or so memorials sent today.

When Wei Guangde was repeatedly drafting memorials in a standardized format, he even considered whether to have a seal made so that he could simply stamp it on any such memorials he saw.

Therefore, after finishing the official documents at hand, I would read miscellaneous books in my spare time.

Wei Guangde had read most of the books that Matteo Ricci gave him; the content was rudimentary, but relatively easy to understand.

After reading it, Wei Guangde didn't just leave it aside. Instead, he sent it directly to the Ministry of Rites, along with a note instructing officials skilled in arithmetic to select the essential points and incorporate them into school textbooks.

Wei Guangde didn't even bother to consider what specific content should be included in the textbook.

Otherwise, what's the point of the imperial court maintaining so many officials? You only need to put forward your opinions, and the Six Ministries will handle the specifics themselves.

Although the Ministry of Rites might ignore the teaching materials he provided, it's likely that as the Grand Secretary, he would at least include some of them.

It wasn't that the Ministry of Rites and Chief Minister Wei were at odds, but rather that most officials in the Ministry of Rites held books other than the Four Books and Five Classics in contempt.

Even though the imperial examinations included arithmetic, the questions were very simple, which shows that the Ministry of Rites, the government office in charge of the imperial examinations, did not attach much importance to arithmetic and other subjects.

At that moment, Wei Guangde, who was reading miscellaneous books, heard Zhang Ke's voice outside the house.

Then, Lu Bu immediately spoke up and welcomed the person in.

After all, Zhang Ke and Wei Guangde had a special relationship and could not be compared with their other colleagues.

Therefore, without prior notice, they brought the person in directly.

"Sit down. What brings you to my office today? Is there news from Japan again?"

Wei Guangde came out, pulled Zhang Ke to sit down, and said casually.

"The message from Japan was only sent back two days ago, how could it be so fast?"

Zhang Ke smiled, but still reached into his sleeve and pulled out a document, saying to Wei Guangde, "A document from Burma. Li Chengliang's son, Li Rusong, led two thousand troops to defeat the Burmese rebels and beheaded more than ten thousand."

After the Burmese king was captured and killed, the Ming army entered Burma, but the situation was not peaceful.

Fortunately, Li Chengliang was ruthless; whenever there was unrest, he could immediately mobilize troops to suppress it.

The military generals he appointed were all decisive and ruthless, which brought peace to Burma.

In fact, later generations of Chinese people have always thought that Burmese people are rather rude and reckless and difficult to educate, which is also a prejudice.

People from all walks of life can be passionate, but most are more likely to prioritize self-preservation.

To pacify a region, you only need to kill those who are reckless, and peace will usually be restored quickly.

Li Chengliang was skilled at commanding troops and had many sons. No matter which route of troops he led, he could send one of his sons to accompany him, supposedly to familiarize them with the battle formations, but it was not without the intention of monitoring the generals leading the troops.

Because he sent his son to the other side, the military commanders felt at ease and were not afraid that Li Chengliang would harm them.

This is a very delicate relationship of trust. Li Chengliang's sons can actually speak on his behalf on the battlefield.

Therefore, the Ming army used even more ruthless methods to suppress the rebels.

They're supposed to be from the Ming Dynasty, but it seems they haven't registered their household yet.

They said they were killing local people, and since the young master of the Li family was backing them up, they weren't afraid that Li Chengliang would take the opportunity to cause trouble.

As a result, those in Myanmar who wanted to profit from rebellion suffered a terrible fate, with countless heads rolling in their hands.

However, since the Ming Dynasty had not interfered in Burmese affairs for many years, even now, a small number of Burmese nobles still believe that the Ming Dynasty might leave at any time.

So, it's worth considering who will become the ruler of Myanmar in the future.

Many people were killed, but even more were preparing for the future struggle for power in Myanmar.

Such preparations, under the intelligence of Ming scouts, could easily have been misinterpreted as a plot to rebel.

Since so many people have been killed, no one bothers to investigate who exactly they killed.

However, if someone is killed, one must still report the crime to the imperial court.

Thus, bloody battle reports were freshly produced, sent to the capital, delivered to the Ministry of Revenue, and then to the palace.

"More than 10,000 people were killed again?"

As Wei Guangde reached out to receive the battle report, he sighed.

"Yes, two months ago we reported that more than 7,000 rebels in western Myanmar had been killed, and today the number has increased again."

Zhang Ke smiled wryly, "This general you selected to guard Myanmar will probably make a name for himself there, enough to stop children from crying at night."

Most civil officials despised the killings committed by military generals, but officials in the Ministry of War were clearly not among them.

They can still laugh and joke in the face of cold, hard death statistics.

"The key point is what came later; the news brought by the Portuguese merchants was quite interesting."

Zhang Ke noticed that Wei Guangde seemed to be distracted while reading the battle report, glancing at it frequently, and quickly reminded him.

"What happened behind us?"

Wei Guangde hesitated for a moment before asking a question, but then he focused his attention and read on.

Before long, Wei Guangde laughed and said, "What did I say? It turns out that fighting has broken out in Europe too."

"Yes, I heard that the ceasefire in Europe lasted for more than ten years, but recently fighting has broken out again in the Netherlands and Cologne."

Spain is quite remarkable; the King of Spain not only became the King of Portugal but also inherited the title of Duke of the Netherlands.

Before I came, I looked at a map, and it does indeed encircle the country of France from north to south.

With the Papacy to the east as well, France's position is quite awkward.

Zhang Ke said with a chuckle.

"you mean"

Wei Guangde looked up at Zhang Ke and asked.

"Based on the information we have so far, I think the current system of religious administration in Europe is going to run into problems. The Church has too much power, and conflicts have already arisen between it and the kings and nobles of various countries."

Zhang Ke was speaking there, and Wei Guangde kept nodding in agreement.

“I met Matteo Ricci a few days ago. According to him, most European countries are subject to the Pope, and the local papacy also collects taxes. Haha, no wonder some kings and nobles choose to convert to Protestantism.”

Protestants would never infiltrate secular power, let alone attempt to control the king.

Zhang Ke spoke up and shared his thoughts.

"You mean, if this war can't be quelled in a short time, it might escalate?"

Wei Guangde's expression turned serious, and he immediately spoke.

"It's possible, but it depends on the balance of power between the two sides. If they are evenly matched, then there could be a fight."

However, they are too far away from us to care too much.

Zhang Ke still joked.

"However, the main buyers of our Ming Dynasty's exported goods are Arab and European royalty and nobles."

"If they spend all their money on war, will they still buy our silk and handicrafts?"

Wei Guangde suddenly asked.

"This"

Zhang Ke's relaxed smile vanished immediately, and he became serious.

He came here by chance, only to find the news mentioned in the battle report as coming from the Portuguese merchants quite interesting.

Since there wasn't anything major going on at the yamen lately, he simply brought it over for Wei Guangde to see. He knew that Wei Guangde was very interested in news about foreigners.

"Those barbarians, even if the imperial court intervenes to mediate, there's nothing they can do. It would take a year for them to come and go."

Zhang Ke hadn't expected that wars in other countries might affect the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade, and he immediately took it seriously.

The reason for the large-scale construction of the navy is that the Ming Dynasty's merchant ships have begun to travel around for business, and the navy needs to frequently enter and exit various sea areas to demonstrate its military strength and protect the safety of the Ming Dynasty's merchant ships.

"If they break out into war, a small-scale war will be fine, but a large-scale war will inevitably affect the economy and trade of our Great Ming."

At that time, we might temporarily abandon our production of silk, porcelain, and tea, and instead focus on procuring war-related goods, primarily weapons.

Wei Guangde spoke slowly.

"Sell them over? The most powerful firearms we use now were actually obtained from them."

Zhang Ke reacted quickly; perhaps because he was too familiar with Wei Guangde's tone, he immediately guessed what Wei Guangde was thinking.

After all, Wei Guangde gave the impression of being a chief minister who was adept at doing business.

In business, you have to provide what others need in order to get a good price.

It's a miracle if you can sell something you can't use.

Do you know the difference between the firearms of the government troops and those of Europe?

Wei Guangde suddenly looked at Zhang Ke and asked, "He is the Minister of War, so he should know."

After all, firearms were now the most important weapons of the Ming army.

Although the government troops were still equipped with a large number of cold weapons, they relied most heavily on firearms in battle.

"There are definitely differences. As far as I know, European armies are mostly equipped with muskets."

Although the government troops were also equipped with a large number of muskets, they seemed to prefer matchlock guns such as the three-barreled gun, so the firearms they requested from the Ministry of Works were also split 50/50.

Oh, right, it seems that the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works studied European firearms together before, which were brought back by the mission in its early years.

In comparison, European firearms were thicker and longer, and their projectiles had a longer range.

The heavy arquebus was actually made based on this requirement, since there was a concern that if they were to fight against the Europeans, the range of their firearms would exceed that of the government troops, and the battle would be impossible to win.

However, the Ministry of Works said that their method of construction would lead to high costs and extremely low yield, making it very uneconomical.

"and many more."

Just as Zhang Ke was recalling the problems discovered by the two government departments when they were studying Western firearms together more than a year ago, Wei Guangde suddenly stopped him.

Wei Guangde decided to set aside artillery for the time being and focus on the most widely used firearm, namely the rifle.

Now Wei Guangde realized that the arquebus manufactured by the Ministry of Works was actually a scaled-down version of a Western-style firearm, a product that took cost-effectiveness into account.

He hadn't actually noticed this before.

"Can the Ministry of Works manufacture Western-style firearms?"

Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Ke and asked.

"It's possible, but it requires more materials and the yield rate will be lower."

Zhang Ke immediately said that he seemed to have already said those words.

Wei Guangde is now starting to understand why the Ming Dynasty's government troops were so easily defeated by the barbarians at the end of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty reduced the range and power of its arquebuses to reduce costs.

Therefore, it is probably not true to say that firearms were defeated by the Jurchens in the Northeast due to technological limitations.

The truth is that the Ming army used second-rate firearms to fight the Jurchens, and these were a bunch of Jurchens who didn't care about their lives. How could they not be defeated?

"Reed cloth".

Wei Guangde immediately summoned Lu Bu and instructed him, "Go to the Ministry of Works and invite Minister Jiang over."

Wei Guangde felt that this was a serious matter and needed to be carefully considered.

Just as Lu Bu stepped out, Wei Guangde called him back, saying, "Please also invite Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Revenue."

"Yes, sir."

Lu Bu immediately went out to send someone to deliver the message, but Zhang Ke hesitated and asked, "What does this have to do with the Ministry of Revenue?"

"Zhang Ziyu has been in the Ministry of Revenue for almost six years. I intend to appoint him to head the Ministry of Works or the Ministry of Personnel."

I haven't decided yet, but he is the governor of Liaodong, so he is familiar with battle formations and also has expertise in economics.

So I called him over, to get his input on this matter.

Wei Guangde explained, "But I'm still considering it. Just keep this in mind."

"Well, I see."

Upon hearing that it involved the rotation of the six ministers, Zhang Ke naturally knew the gravity of the situation.

Not long after, Jiang Zhi and Zhang Xueyan arrived at the duty room one after the other.

After Lu Bu served tea and left, Wei Guangde explained why he had invited them over.

"Ziyu, because you are the governor of Liaodong, you also understand military affairs."

"Since you are also in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, you are familiar with economics. Since this involves the cost of military equipment, I'd like to ask for your advice."

In a situation like today, whether it's Lao Kanyi, Wei Shiliang, or Chen Kai, none of them have experience leading troops, so naturally they wouldn't have any meaningful opinions.

As for accounting, Lao Kan had served as the Fujian Provincial Governor and knew a little about it, but not much.

Even if he later went to the Ministry of Revenue, it's unlikely he could be more capable than Zhang Xueyan.

In reality, not many people around us could get involved.

"Western-style matchlock guns have longer barrels, larger powder charges, a range of up to 160 paces, high accuracy, and enough power to penetrate plate armor."

Although the muskets used by the government troops were imported from Portugal, their range was limited to about 120 paces due to the limited experience of the craftsmen. Furthermore, the barrel technology was not as good as that of Spain, resulting in significant fluctuations in range and accuracy.

The Ministry of Works manufactured a large number of muskets. In order to reduce costs, the barrels were short and thin, the range was about 110 paces, the accuracy was high but the power was slightly less.

However, the Ministry of Works had noticed these issues years ago, and therefore had been studying and revising the gunpowder formula recently.

Jiang Zhi was indeed very familiar with the Ministry of Works. After Wei Guangde explained the reasons, he immediately began to speak eloquently and accurately explained why the Ming army's arquebuses lagged behind those of Europe. He also mentioned that the Ministry of Works had begun to study gunpowder formulas.

"Gunpowder formula?"

Wei Guangde frowned slightly. He had noticed this matter before, but had not taken it seriously.

Now that Jiang Zhi has brought it up, I'm starting to care.

"The last time the barbarians paid tribute, they brought not only firearms but also gunpowder."

After making contact, the craftsmen reported that the foreigners' gunpowder seemed to be more than 20% more powerful than that of our Ming Dynasty's gunpowder, so they have been working on developing a new type of gunpowder.

Jiang Zhi explained.

魏广德自然不知道，欧洲通过实验优化了配方，将硝、硫、碳的比例调整为7.5:1.5:1，威力比大明传统的8:1:1火药配方提升了约20%。

The Ming Dynasty, however, adhered to its ancestral proportions for a long time without scientific experimental support, which led to the gradual decline in the performance of gunpowder.

Fortunately, through contact with the foreigners, the Ming Dynasty's craftsmen discovered the differences between the foreigners' gunpowder and the Ming Dynasty's gunpowder. They reported this to the government, which attracted the attention of the Ministry of Works, who then arranged for people to conduct experiments in this area and optimize the formula.

"I understand this matter. The production of three-barreled muskets should be gradually reduced so that the government troops can become familiar with the use of muskets. This is one aspect."

Secondly, we need to find ways to improve the range and power of the musket, at least to the level of Western firearms. Cost is important, but ensuring cost control should not compromise firearm performance.

Wei Guangde said to Jiang Zhi.

If Wei Guangde had previously intended to replace Jiang Zhi, he has now temporarily abandoned that idea.

Jiang Zhi cannot be rotated out until the issues discussed earlier are resolved. (End of Chapter)