prosperous age

Wei Guangde had a love-hate relationship with the breech-loading cannon.

What I love is the high rate of fire and the small breech-loading cannon, which should actually be called a breech-loading gun, as its firing method is already somewhat similar to that of a single-shot rifle.

However, the sealing performance of that era was really poor, and the problem of the weak power of the Franz Cannon was indeed unsolvable.

Take, for example, the few electric muskets still in service with the Xuanfu cavalry. They were weak and their range was nowhere near that of the arquebuses.

This is also why nobody liked the small Franconian cannon; even the Southern Garrison disliked it.

Therefore, the cannons that the Ministry of Works is currently casting for the Ministry of War are mainly medium and large-sized cannons, which at least have a larger propellant charge and can fire further.

As for the navy, they had no interest in small breech-loading cannons; what they wanted were medium-sized or larger ones that could be loaded with shotgun shells and could sweep across the enemy's decks.

"Last time at the workshop, I mentioned designing a new type of musket by combining the electric musket and the matchlock gun. Is there any progress?"

Wei Guangde then looked at Jiang Zhi and asked.

"Uh"

Jiang Zhi was surprised that Wei Guangde would suddenly ask about this matter again after nearly two years.

To be honest, the fact that he didn't report to Wei Guangde on his own initiative naturally led to a bad outcome.

If there were really something good, he would have taken the credit long ago.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Zhicai said, "The craftsmen in the workshop have been paying close attention to the new type of musket and have made several."

Everything was done according to your original requirements. The bullet doesn't need a clip; it's fixed directly through the groove in the barrel.

Later, the craftsmen felt that one nut was unstable, so they changed it to two, with grooves on both sides of the barrel for fixation.

The weapon was made, but due to the small amount of propellant, its range and power were still limited.

They also tried various methods to improve the airtightness, but the performance improvement was limited.

Apart from changing the firing mechanism to a matchlock, everything else…

At this point, Jiang Zhi fell silent again.

Wei Guangde knew that it was definitely unusable.

The individual firearms currently used by the Ming army include arquebuses, which can fire at a range of 100 paces, and heavy arquebuses, which are twice as powerful and still have considerable lethality at a range of 200 paces.

Even the three-barreled gun favored by the Northern Army could be as powerful as 40 paces.

However, the actual range of this newly designed musket was only 30 paces, mainly due to the small amount of propellant, poor airtightness, and loss of most of the kinetic energy.

30 steps, which is about 40 meters in later times.

At this range, the advantage in rate of fire is almost negligible.

In fact, the Ministry of Works of the Ming Dynasty did have ways to improve airtightness.

However, applying this to a musket would be too complicated to operate; it would be better to just use a modern musket.

"Nowadays, craftsmen are more focused on improving upon the multi-barreled musket design you mentioned back then."

To be honest, it would be better to make muskets and equip more soldiers with those things than to use them that way.

To maintain its power, it was made according to the design of a bird gun barrel.

"Trying to shorten the length will also reduce the range."

Due to technological limitations, even if Wei Guangde taught the Ming Dynasty craftsmen everything from later generations, they would still be unable to truly implement it.

At the very least, it should resemble the shape.

"Maybe I'm being too optimistic."

Wei Guangde said helplessly.

"In fact, the border generals had been looking for a combination of arquebus and breech-loading cannon, but they had never succeeded."

"As for lending money savvyly, you don't need to ask anything of it."

Zhang Ke suddenly said.

The reason why the lightning gun appeared was actually an experiment by border army officers.

The electric cannon was not powerful enough, but even so, the governor-general of Xuanda still had a batch made.

It is evident that even if its power is insufficient, it still has some practical value.

However, this stripped-down version of the rifle was mostly just Wei Guangde's wish.

However, the officers were already quite satisfied.

"The Ministry of Works will continue to do this work and will submit a written report on the progress to the Cabinet every year thereafter."

Not only arquebuses, but all improvements to cannons, warships, and other weapons must be reported separately.

Wei Guangde thought for a moment, nodded, and then said.

This marked the first time he truly began to focus on scientific research during the Ming Dynasty.

The cabinet needs to know exactly what research has been conducted, what has been developed, and what the progress is.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhi simply nodded slightly.

When Wei Guangde first proposed the concepts of rifles and machine guns, Jiang Zhi took it very seriously.

However, as time went on, the artisans encountered various insurmountable problems.

When these problems were presented to Jiang Zhi, he finally understood how difficult they were and how impossible they were to solve.

Even now, he doesn't want to mention this matter in front of Wei Guangde.

If Wei Guangde hadn't asked about it this time...

“Good loan, after talking with Robert these past two days, and after reading the intelligence sent back by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, I now understand why the government troops think the breech-loading cannon is useful, but the Western countries seem to have no interest in it at all.”

Even the Persians did not choose the breech-loading cannon, which we consider a powerful weapon.

Zhang Ke then interjected at the opportune moment, drawing the attention of the two men.

Why?

Jiang Zhi, out of curiosity, asked directly.

Wei Guangde, naturally, also turned his head to look at Zhang Ke, his eyes full of thirst for knowledge.

"Wars between Western countries were mostly evenly matched, and both sides used similar firearms."

If both sides used the breech-loading cannon, the cannon's flaws would naturally go unnoticed.

However, now that others are using long-range, powerful firearms like the General's Cannon, the shortcomings of the breech-loading cannon have been completely exposed.

Even the Persians abandoned the Franco cannon, which was insufficient in range and power, because of this.

In contrast, although our Great Ming Dynasty has powerful enemies around it, neither the Mongols in the north nor the Japanese pirates in the east have the strength to contend with our Great Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, even if we use a large number of breech-loading cannons, we can still suppress the enemy with such firepower.

However, if we encounter a country with advanced firearms in the future...

"The government troops now possess firearms; they are likely to suffer a defeat."

Zhang Ke spoke up, revealing the facts he had come up with.

Wei Guangde listened attentively, and after a moment's thought, he nodded repeatedly.

"so."

Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Ke and said.

"Therefore, after the Ministry of War planned to select elite officers and soldiers from the north and south to build separate camps, it followed the model of Western countries and equipped them with a large number of general cannons, and only a small number of breech-loading cannons for close combat."

Of course, the Tiger Crouching Cannon had already demonstrated its power on the battlefield, so it would naturally be deployed in large numbers.

Zhang Ke's mixing of the new military system and equipment reform was clearly influenced by the negotiations with the British mission.

Although the Ministry of War's ledgers recorded more than three hundred inner and outer guards and dozens of garrison commanders.

But today, most of them are just numbers on paper.

The actual combat effectiveness of the garrison troops has been greatly weakened.

Under these circumstances, Zhang Ke sent people down to conduct in-depth research at the garrisons and concluded that even if the Ministry of War sent people down to supervise and strengthen the training, it would be difficult for the hundreds of garrison units to restore their strength at the beginning of the dynasty.

It would be very difficult to directly merge or abolish the military garrisons.

After all, these garrisons had many hereditary positions, and were connected to the power bases of the court's nobles.

Although the Ministry of War is not afraid of nobles, there is no need to break off relations.

Therefore, the Ministry of War chose to reduce the size of the garrisons and, in effect, merge some of them, effectively abolishing them. Originally, according to the requirements of the Hongwu Emperor, the garrison system should have had 5600 soldiers, and the garrison of a thousand households should have had 1120 soldiers.

But what about those vacant positions? They're just drawing salaries from the government without working.
Therefore, after discussing with Wei Guangde, they decided to downsize the garrison.

The original ten centurion garrisons under the jurisdiction of the thousand-household commander were directly cut in half, leaving only five. As a result, the number of soldiers in the garrisons was reduced to 2800.

The same approach was taken with the garrison commander, who was reduced by half to a size of 560 people.

Although such changes would nominally reduce the number of soldiers in the Ministry of War by 60, everyone knows that these are actually empty salaries.

In reality, even if the number of soldiers were cut in half, the garrisons might not be able to muster enough soldiers to meet that quota.

But there was no other way; we couldn't just implement the "three-thirds system" directly in the Ming Dynasty.

Given current weapons technology, if this were done, the military's combat effectiveness would likely decline significantly.

Of course, reducing the number of soldiers is only part of the military reform; the real focus is on establishing new-style military camps.

Similar to the reform of the New Army at the end of the Qing Dynasty, elite soldiers were drawn from the garrison troops to form new military camps.

The infantry, chariot, and cavalry units designed by Qi Jiguang will be used as models for training, and it is expected that more than 100,000 new troops will be reorganized into ten divisions.

Each town was organized into one cavalry battalion, three infantry battalions, one chariot battalion, and one supply battalion, with each town having nearly 20,000 soldiers.

Such an organization, in later generations, would be equivalent to an army-level organization or a heavy division organization.

Six or seven of these military towns would be relocated in the north, while the rest would be set up in the south.

In short, although Wei Guangde came from a military garrison, he actually began to weaken the strength of the garrison.

It's too time-consuming and laborious to make changes, so it's better to start from scratch.

As for the remaining garrisons, they will be responsible for internal defense from now on, while the responsibility for external defense will be borne entirely by the military towns.

At this time, the Ministry of War had been planning for quite some time, and Zhang Ke personally made the arrangements.

Among the Ming Dynasty's military generals, only a few, such as Qi Jiguang, had participated in providing consultation and advice.

Wei Guangde reported this proposal to the Wanli Emperor alone and did not present it to the emperor publicly, so not many people in the court knew about it.

Even Jiang Zhi was hearing for the first time about the government troops forming new military camps in the north and south.

"The government troops are going to build a new military camp?"

Since he was curious, Jiang Zhi naturally asked.

Fortunately, the three of them were practically inseparable, so Zhang Ke didn't hide anything.

Jiang Zhi will need to keep an eye on the workshop for the remaining equipment.

"I think I can."

After Zhang Ke and Jiang Zhi briefly explained the reform of the Ministry of War, Wei Guangde finally spoke.

"The new military camp's goal is to target the Western countries."

In terms of weaponry, the government troops' firearms must be of the same or even higher quality than theirs; they are absolutely not allowed to lag behind.

Wei Guangde nodded slightly, "Those officers, the Ministry of War needs to pay attention when selecting generals, and make sure to explain to them the purpose of such equipment."

They must thoroughly understand the differences in quality between various firearms.

Otherwise, if one relies on ancestral or past experience to fight on the battlefield, it could lead to disastrous consequences.

Zhang Ke nodded slightly. Only now, having reached this position, did he realize that it was a completely different matter from when he was leading troops to suppress the Japanese pirates in Zhejiang.

We must take a holistic view.

Fortunately, Tan Lun supported him for more than a year, which allowed him to almost completely control the Ministry of War now.

"From this perspective, it is still necessary to interact more with European countries."

"It's been several years since we sent a delegation to Europe. Should we arrange for someone to go again?"

Jiang Zhi then made the suggestion.

Wei Guangde shook his head and said, "There's no need for that. Besides handling its current affairs, the Ministry of Works is arranging for special personnel to prepare for the voyages to the Western Ocean and to find a site to build the Great Ming City."

In the future, contact with Europe will likely primarily take place through the city of Daming.

There, I intend to establish a governor's office, and send an assistant minister from the Ministry of Rites to be stationed in Daming City to be responsible for diplomatic affairs with Western countries.

Wei Guangde didn't mention the Embroidered Uniform Guard. That government office was special; he saw that it would set up a Hundred-Household Office for the Embroidered Uniform Guard, responsible for intelligence gathering, but there was no need to make it public.

"Isn't it too low?"

Jiang Zhi suddenly said, "We should send a fifth-rank official, and we should also build a meeting hall and a foreign quarters hall there."

Daming City was not a war zone, so Wei Guangde had no plans to elevate it to the level of governor.

Even thousands of miles away, Wei Guangde did not want the Ming Dynasty to be drawn into the Western wars.

Even if the Ming Dynasty were powerful, it would be difficult to take care of such a distant place under the current circumstances.

"We can talk about these things later; there's plenty of time."

Now, we should complete the agreement with Anelia as soon as possible and submit it.

I plan to wait a few more days, then have the Imperial Guards set off with firearms to Persia to complete the transaction.

"The Ministry of Works needs to confirm the information of the officials and craftsmen involved as soon as possible, and have them make initial contact."

Wei Guangde arranged the matters at hand, and what he had just mentioned was not actually something that urgently needed to be resolved.

"Within two days, I finalized the selection and submitted the list to the Cabinet."

Jiang Zhi remembered that the Embroidered Uniform Guard was waiting for him to arrange for someone to accompany them on a trip to the Western Red Sea to help the Ming Dynasty with site selection.

I've been negotiating with Robert these past few days, and I'd completely forgotten about this.

Wei Guangde didn't say it outright, but the meaning was still implied.

Jiang Zhi blushed slightly, realizing he had been so focused on making money for the government office and providing benefits that he had completely forgotten about national affairs.

"When do Wang Xijue and Qi Jiguang plan to return to the capital?"

Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Ke and asked.

"The plan is around September, which is about six months from now."

The garrisons stationed in Japan need time to familiarize themselves with the situation, so the main force cannot be withdrawn in the short term.

Zhang Ke hurriedly said.

After the battle was over, it would take time for the troops to be rotated out, and Qi Jiguang used this time to build border fortifications.

It's fair to say that the aftermath for Japan will likely involve a long period of time.

In fact, according to the Ministry of War's plan, the troops will be transferred to the garrisons that were assigned there in the last two months, and the families will arrive in succession in the next one or two years.

This further strengthened Zhang Ke's determination to carry out military reforms.

Open the Ministry of War's ledgers; there are hundreds of garrisons throughout the land.

But the number of people who can actually get it right is very small.

It made him, the Grand Marshal, feel extremely frustrated at times.

They have a million-strong army, but they don't know where they are.

If the military reform is completed, it would simply be a matter of directly dispatching one or two towns, and then rotating the troops from those towns regularly. There wouldn't be so much trouble involved.

"By the way, the Ministry of War should organize the garrison data, as His Majesty may need to access it at any time."

Wei Guangde reminded Zhang Kedao.

Previously, when the topic of reducing the size of the garrisons was brought up with the Wanli Emperor, the Qianqing Palace never inquired about it again.

The Wanli Emperor is very patient now.

This is Wei Guangde's assessment of the young emperor.

However, the emperor had no idea what he was thinking about the Ministry of War's actions.

Even Liu Ruoyu and Wang An were confused.

Perhaps Zhang Jing knows.

The current emperor can think independently and is no longer the obedient emperor of the past.

Therefore, Wei Guangde had to be even more careful in his dealings. (End of Chapter)