prosperous age

Chapter 448 Firearms 447
There was a gap between Chi Fengxiang, governor of the Xuanfu, and Li Xian, the commander in chief. Ma Fang mentioned it in his letter, but he didn't expect Li Xian to play such a big game, and directly sent Chi Fengxiang to the prison in the capital.

After all, Wei Guangde was pretending to be anxious, so naturally he couldn't hide it from Zhang Juzheng.

Putting away his smile, Zhang Juzheng said: "It seems that Shan Loan has seen through it, and it is also true, it is not difficult to imagine with Shan Loan's cleverness."

"Brother Uncle, don't be a fool, tell me what's going on."

Wei Guangde asked with a smile.

"This time, it was Li Xian and Chi Fengxiang who probably didn't talk well after the silver reward went down, and they had a lot of trouble. I don't know what Li Xian was thinking, and they actually mobilized the relationship in the capital to impeach Chi Fengxiang.

No, Chi Fengxiang went to jail, but he won't feel better either. "

Zhang Juzheng said lightly.

Wei Guangde nodded, it was almost the same as his guess, but he was a little curious about the final result, so he asked curiously: "Then what should I say in the end?"

"Chi Fengxiang will come out in two days, and it's impossible for Li Xian to stay in the Xuan Mansion as the chief soldier. According to my teacher, it seems that His Majesty intends to let Ma Fang be the chief soldier of the Xuan Mansion."

Zhang Juzheng said with a smile, this should be the main purpose of looking for him this morning,

Wei Guangde also beamed at this time, who would have thought that the fight between the two senior officials would end up taking advantage of Ma Fang.

"Does this count as stealing the chicken or losing the rice?"

The two talked and laughed and walked into the palace.

Not long after, this news reached King Yu's ears. In fact, it was mainly because Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde had no intention of hiding it.

Xu Jie told Zhang Juzheng that the natural news was very reliable.

The two went in talking and laughing, and when they met Yin Shizhen who arrived first, they naturally spread the news after curious questioning, and even King Yu knew the news.

Of course, this spread is only limited to Prince Yu's Mansion.

The fight between Chi Fengxiang and Li Xian, in the eyes of the civil official group, is a civil and military struggle. Although Chi Fengxiang has no big boss behind him, he is standing behind the entire civil official group, so naturally nothing will happen.

Those impeachment evidence of corruption and cruel officials, even if they really exist, will become nothing in the civil servants and mud.

As for Li Xian, although he seemed to have offended the civil official group and seemed to be in danger, but he was a general, as long as the emperor did not speak, the military department would not move, and Li Xian was not an unknown person, behind him was the honorable group. Although it is a down-and-out noble.

In the 11th year of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing found out Cao Guogong's descendants who had been deposed by Ming Chengzu on a whim, and chose Li Xing as the first Marquis of Linhuai. The current Marquis of Linhuai is Li Tingzhu, the admiral of Caojiang.

As for Li Xian, he is also a descendant of Li Wenzhong, but he is only a side branch, so naturally he did not inherit the title, but he can be regarded as a member of the noble family.

After the incident was exposed, the cabinet and the Ministry of Criminal Investigation who investigated the case naturally spoke for Chi Fengxiang, and Cheng Guo Gong Zhu Xizhong, British Gong Zhang Rong and others also rushed to Xiyuan to meet Emperor Jiajing to stand for Li Xian.

Under the struggle between the two sides, the incident was naturally held high and gently put down. Chi Fengxiang was released without charge and awaited a new appointment, while Li Xian was transferred from Xuanfu to return to Beijing.

Soon, Xiyuan issued three decrees one after another. Chi Fengxiang was released and returned to the Ministry of Officials to stand by; he ordered Ma Fang, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, to serve as the commander-in-chief; In the book, it is about the affairs of the military governor's mansion.

Wei Guangde was curious about King Yu's position on this matter, so he found a chance to be alone with King Yu, and only after some insinuations did he realize that Xungui's status in the eyes of the royal family is still stable.

Yes, King Yu didn't think that Emperor Jiajing's handling was inappropriate, at least he would not punish Xungui severely, and it would be considered severe punishment if he could reprimand him.

Even though Xungui was unable to fight against the civil servants in the court, the royal family still chose to support Xungui's children and release the eunuchs, which was the last choice.

Everything is for the stability of the imperial power.

At this time, Wei Guangde also realized that he had always thought that he could gain a firm foothold in the imperial court based on his strength, but now that he thought about it, Emperor Jiajing valued Wei Guangde's promotion, perhaps he still valued his status as the son-in-law of Duke Wei's mansion.

Of course, Wei Guangde was able to think of this because of King Yu's point. If King Yu didn't point out that his daughter-in-law came from Duke Wei's mansion, Wei Guangde didn't realize it at all.

"The nobles of the Ming Dynasty will retire with the country, as long as they are not rebellious, naturally everything can be forgiven."

King Yu said to Wei Guangde with a smile.

Having said that, Wei Guangde also knows that everything is actually in the emperor's heart.

From the Ming Dynasty to the present, how many nobles have been punished, are those all treason?

Of course not, it all depends on the emperor's mood.

"By the way, Shandai, I remember you said that your father and brother's army is equipped with a large number of birdcups and Franco cannons. Are firearms really more powerful than knives and guns?"

Perhaps it was because the Ming Empire was at war between the north and the south at the same time recently, and King Yu gradually became more interested in military affairs. At this time, remembering Wei Guangde's mention of the wars he participated in, King Yu asked curiously.

Wei Guangde answered after thinking about it: "During the Taizu period, large-scale equipment firearms were manufactured, and during the Chengzu period, a Shenji battalion specializing in firearms was established. From this, it can be seen that during the founding of our Ming Dynasty, firearms were already in large quantities in the army. use.

As for the two firearms His Highness mentioned, as far as Shan Loan knows, they both come from the Western Yi kingdoms. Among them, the Fran machine gun was obtained from the trade with the Fran machine man. Both firearms are extremely sharp. "

Wei Guangde replied.

"How about Mingyuan firearms compared to me?"

King Yu frowned and asked, it seemed that because Wei Guangde said that such sharp weapons all came from overseas, King Yu had a long and short thought.

"Your Highness, I heard that the firearms produced by the Bingzhan Bureau and the Weapons Bureau are mainly bird guns and Franco cannons, and the rest are three-eyed guns and other firearms."

Wei Guangde did not answer Yu Wang's question directly, but stated what he had heard.

Of course, King Yu understood what Wei Guangde meant. The original firearms of the Ming army were not as good as others, so now they have switched to producing Xiyi firearms.

"Tell me, how powerful are the blunderbuss and Franco cannon?"

King Yu became more curious now, so he continued to ask questions along the firearm.

"This bird gun has a long barrel and a small mouth. It can shoot a hundred steps to hurt people by firing lead. The firing device of the bird gun is very interesting. It has a matchlock in it. When firing, the lit match ignites the gunpowder in the powder pool and shoots out lead. , I heard that it is because the gun is like a bird's beak, so it is called a bird gun.

In addition, the blunderbuss has a handle and a rear sight, which allow soldiers to aim. Experienced soldiers can achieve nine out of ten hits with very high accuracy.

Of course, there are also disadvantages, which is also a common problem with firearms, that is, it takes time to reload after firing, and it is far less fast than a crossbow. "

Wei Guangde briefly talked about the bird blunderbuss, and then he talked about the Fran cannon. He had seen this thing when he was in Jiujiangwei and Xuanfu, so he could talk about it in front of King Yu.

"This Franco cannon is actually not as good as the general cannon that my Ming originally equipped, but its advantage is obvious, that is, the firing speed can be very fast, almost five times that of the general cannon.

To be able to hit so fast, the mystery lies in his sub-cannon."

Wei Guangde told King Yu again about the power of the Fran machine gun.

To be honest, the design of the Fran cannon is indeed ingenious. After explaining the mystery to King Yu, King Yu was an eye-opener. whimsy.

"In addition, when I was in the Xuanfu, I also saw a firearm called Baichu Frang machine, a reduced individual soldier using a Fran machine gun, because of the sub-cannon, it can shoot a large amount of lead in a short time. It is said that it is more troublesome to manufacture and less powerful, so the frontier army prefers larger Francois machine guns.

However, the Hundred Francophones can be used by the cavalry, and it is also a sharp weapon to fight against the Tartar cavalry. As long as they are hit by a single shot, they will basically lose their power to fight again. "

Wei Guangde told King Yu about the firearms he had seen used by the Ming army during this period, and King Yu also listened with great interest.

"Bianzhen, do you have a lot of firearms?"

Smacking his lips, King Yu asked a little bit more.

"In terms of quantity, it's quite a lot."

Wei Guangde thought about it before he said, "Your Highness needs to know that the frontier defense of our Ming Dynasty stretches for thousands of miles and there are countless military forts. If we really distribute these huge quantities of firearms, in fact, there are not many armies and military forts that can use them.

Moreover, the firearms hand needs to be trained from time to time. Naturally, this training requires a large amount of gunpowder, which is very expensive. The lead is good. Each army can make it by itself, but the gunpowder allocated by the court is not enough. Selling gunpowder to the people is a matter, so most of the firearmsmen in the towns are neglected in training. It is okay to defend the city, but it is more difficult to fight. "

Wei Guangde couldn't say that it was the general who resold the gunpowder, he only said that the soldiers resold the gunpowder because of lack of pay, but with King Yu's thinking, he would understand what happened after thinking about it.

"It turns out that's the case. No wonder there are such sharp firearms, and the frontier army has suffered defeats in battle."

Thinking about how powerful the firearms Wei Guangde said earlier, and thinking about the record of the Ming army against the Mongolian Tartars, King Yu felt that he understood what was going on.

"There are still too few firearms."

King Yu sighed: "However, the imperial court lacks money and is unable to manufacture firearms and gunpowder in large quantities. It is really annoying."

"That's why the Ordnance Bureau recycled the general cannons of the guards and transformed them into Fran cannons. Although the range is shorter, the rate of fire is much higher, and it is more sharp against the Tartar cavalry."

Wei Guangde said with a smile: "Also, there should be a large number of firearms in the warehouses of the Bureau of Military Warfare and the Bureau of Weapons. It is also a waste to manufacture them but not distribute them to the towns in time."

"Really? And this thing?"

King Yu frowned and said, "The firearms are sharp and insufficient, why don't the towns report to the Ministry of War?"

"The inner court is in charge of firearms, and the firearms manufactured by the imperial court are also in the Ministry of Industry. If the war is not urgent, the Ministry of Industry will not easily hand over these things to the Ministry of War for distribution. After all, the imperial court has spent a lot of money."

Wei Guangde couldn't say it too bluntly, it actually involved money, and he had to pay for the firearms from the warehouse of the Ministry of Industry.

Therefore, Wei Guangde can only say that the coordination between the ministries is not good. As for the poor quality of the Ming army's firearms seen on the Internet in later generations, Wei Guangde only heard that the firearms were manufactured in different grades, but what he came into contact with were all of high quality. firearms, so I don't think there is a problem with that.

Thinking about it, I can understand that the bird guns that Wei Guangde first came into contact with were the earlier bird guns imitated by the Nanjing Bingzhan Bureau.

In the beginning, the materials were picked up little by little without affecting the quality. Afterwards, the appetite got bigger and bigger, and then the completely unusable firearms were produced.

Corruption is also a gradual process.

Not long after, Yin Shizhen came to report the recent affairs and disposal of the palace, and the topic naturally changed.

It's just that what Wei Guangde, Yu Wang, and other people in the palace didn't know was that the conversation between him and Yu Wang today was turned into words and sent to Xiyuan at night.

These things are naturally done by people arranged by the Supervisor of Ceremonies, or in other words, all the servants in the palace still have to obey the Supervisor of Ceremonies. That is the highest power center of the eunuchs, and it is the place that all eunuchs yearn for. Just like the status of the cabinet in the hearts of scholars.

At night, Emperor Jiajing dealt with the memorials sent in the afternoon, and finally saw the document "The Affairs of Prince Yu's Mansion" presented by the Supervisor of Rituals alone, and was quickly attracted by its content.

Border affairs were major state affairs that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty could not ignore.

Tapping lightly on the imperial book table with their fingers, Huang Jin on one side and Gao Zhong on the bottom naturally knew that this was the habit of the emperor when he was thinking about things, so they carefully made a silent gesture to the servants around them.

Some things that Wei Guangde didn’t say clearly could fool King Yu for a while but not Emperor Jiajing. He has fought wits with civil officials all his life.

It is really a disease that has penetrated into the bone marrow, and it is difficult to cure it with medicine, and it is difficult to be effective with non-iron blood methods.

But can he do it?
No.

What's the use of getting rid of one group of corrupt officials and promoting another group of corrupt officials? You can only pick out people who are a little capable of doing things from among these people.

If Yan Song can do things, he can be the chief assistant. If he can't do anything else, just go down and cool down.

However, what Wei Guangde said seems to make sense.

Emperor Jiajing was thinking about how to do this.

It is actually very easy to directly order the Ministry of Industry to hand over the firearms, but it is hard to say what it will look like when it is implemented next.

They can only find out after the East Factory inspects. Maybe they handed over some inferior firearms to fool things. Now those people are getting more and more daring.

"Prepare pen and ink."

Emperor Jiajing suddenly stopped tapping his fingers on the table and ordered.

Huang Jin hurried forward to make preparations, and then Emperor Jiajing wrote on the imperial paper: "I heard that the captives have been waiting for a long time, and there are small guards on all sides. If you know how to be afraid, you can use firearms all over the castles to guard against them." Therefore, stick to it and not fight, in the hope of God's blessing."

After finishing writing, he put down his pen and told Huang Jin next to him, "Send it to the cabinet tomorrow morning, and send a copy to the Ministry of War."

"According to the order."

Huang Jin replied hurriedly, waiting for the pen and ink to dry before putting away the note and preparing to send someone to deliver it tomorrow.

On the second day, Yan Song and Yan Shifan entered the cabinet, and soon received a letter from Emperor Jiajing.

This order is not difficult to understand, it just asks the Ministry of Industry to issue firearms to the Ministry of War, and Yan Song directly hands over the matter to Yan Shifan.

Yan Shifan naturally understood that he couldn't resist the order, so he just dialed in some more, and there were not any defective products.

(End of this chapter)