I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 109 Krupp Cannon Heads North (Please subscribe)
Tongzhou City, Beijing.

Tongzhou was the terminal station for grain transportation in the Ming Dynasty. Every year, rice ships arrived here, and the ships turned back and the rice was put into warehouses. Many merchants, merchants, and dignitaries who traveled north by ship from the south of the Yangtze River would also choose to disembark here.

The grain, cotton, silk, tea, timber and other goods shipped here every year made it a large and bustling distribution center and wholesale center at that time.

Even though it is already late November, the canal has long been frozen and ships are impassable, but it still does not affect merchants from all over the capital coming here to make wholesale deliveries.

On the southern outskirts of Tongzhou City, a long team was walking towards Tongzhou.

At the beginning of the road ahead were several vehicles carrying people.Four carriages followed the car.

It's just that this carriage is very strange. Usually only one horse can pull the carriage, but these carriages are hitched by at least two or even three horses.The items carried on the car were even more bizarre and looked like huge objects. They were covered with special compartments so that passers-by could not see what was inside.

When they reached the south of Tongzhou City, the team immediately stopped. A tall man over fifty years old got out of the carriage in front. He walked straight towards the largest vehicle. As soon as he reached the front of the vehicle, he bent down and held his hands in his hands and said:

"Mr. Ye Ge, we have already arrived in Tongzhou. I would like to thank Mr. Ge for resolving the problem along the way. Otherwise, I don't know how many people would have made things difficult for me. Thank you very much, Zhi Zao."

After saying that, he bowed and thanked everyone in the carriage.

"Haha, Zhenzhi (Li Zhizao's name) is too polite. I remember when Matteo Ricci gave lectures in Donglin, and I also listened to his lectures. We had a lot of fun talking with each other on weekdays, and I have always admired you. Not to mention you transporting Krupp cannons to Beijing. The minister is loyal to state affairs, and it is our duty to take care of him together."

"Ye Ge Lao Mi praised it. I received a letter from Zixian (Xu Guangqi's name) in advance. He asked me to deliver the Hongyi cannon (the Hongyi cannon will be called Kru cannon from now on) in Tongzhou. I will not talk to you later. Let's go together. When we get to the capital, I will definitely visit my house to express my gratitude."

Ye Xianggao also knew about this in advance, so he did not hold back. After a brief greeting and farewell, he took his people to leave first and went directly to Tongzhou.

Seeing that Ye Xianggao had left, Li Zhizao looked at the team escorting the Krupa artillery behind him and sighed in his heart that he had finally arrived in the capital. It was not easy along the way.

Last year, he discussed with Xu Guangqi. Seeing that the war in Liaodong was difficult, he thought about buying red cannons from Macau and other places. So he tried his best and finally bought four cannons from the Portuguese and prepared to escort them to the capital.

Unexpectedly, just as they were preparing to set off, they encountered obstacles from Guangdong and other officials, saying that they had not received the approval from the Ministry of War and that it was against the rules to transport artillery hastily.

Li Zhizao also had to persuade Li Zhizao to go on the road. Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived in Nanchang, he received a letter from Xu Guangqi, saying that the new emperor was extremely interested in the Hongyi cannon, and specially gave him [-] yuan from internal funds, and asked the cabinet to issue a document to the Chief Secretary of Guangzhou to cooperate with the purchase of the cannon. .

Li Zhizao was overjoyed when he heard this, so he specially ordered his student Zhang Tao to go to Macau and continue to cooperate with the Chief Secretary of Guangdong to purchase artillery and hire gunners.

And he personally took the four Hongyi cannons northward. After waiting in Nanjing, he happened to meet the cabinet minister Ye Xianggao who was about to go north.

Ye Xianggao is well-informed and a typical politician.

He had learned that the new emperor attached great importance to Xu Guangqi and other Western French parties, so he naturally welcomed Li Zhizao, who was also a Western French party member, and invited him to go north together. Li Zhizao also agreed, so there was a separation in Tongzhou.

After Li Zhizao arrived in Tongzhou, he ordered people to transport the four artillery pieces to the Tongzhou camp, where Sun Yuanhua had been waiting for a long time.

When he saw Li Zhizao, Sun Yuanhua quickly came over to greet him enthusiastically. As a student of Xu Guangqi, he naturally respected Li Zhizao, so he called the people around him to transport the four red barbarian cannons to the camp for dismantling and loading. Take Li Zhizao into the camp to rest.

When entering the camp, Li Zhizao saw many recruitment stalls and notices outside the camp. He had also seen such notices in Shandong and other places and in Tongzhou City.Now that Shandong, Liaodong and other places are experiencing disasters, many people have received the notice and come here to work as soldiers to find a living and make ends meet.

There were long queues at many recruiting booths. The recruiting officers at the booths were selecting based on their background, height, strength, ability, etc. From time to time, there were cheers of joy from people who heard that they could enlist.

Seeing this scene, Li Zhizao also sighed with emotion.

"I didn't expect that Zi Xian's military training in Tongzhou was so effective, and so many people came."

"Yes, the main reason is that the new emperor is determined to make progress and wants to reform the Beijing camp. You must also know that some time ago, the officials of the three major battalions in the southern suburbs of the capital rebelled. After this incident, His Majesty saw that the soldiers in the Beijing camp were extremely weak and wanted to Eliminate the old and weak and recruit new soldiers.

So he followed the rules of training new recruits in the Fifth Army Camp, recruited and trained soldiers in the Tongzhou Camp built by his teacher, and then sent them to the Beijing Camp to serve as soldiers.

You also know the treatment of soldiers in the Beijing camp. The monthly salary is one or two or four qian plus one dendrobium of rice. Such a high income attracts people from the surrounding area to join the army. "

Hearing what Sun Yuanhua said, Li Zhizao also nodded in agreement.

Li Zhizao naturally understands that having money makes it easier to do things. With such a high reward, it is much better than the border army, and since he is also a personal soldier of the emperor, everyone will definitely sign up enthusiastically.When Sun Yuanhua led Li Zhizao and his party into the barracks, he immediately asked someone to come over and serve tea.

"Shibo, the teacher is really busy right now, but he has already told me that he will host a banquet for you at home tomorrow night. You can rest here for now while I send the firearms from the imperial court to Liaodong. Transport it to the car and return to Beijing with you."

"It doesn't matter. National affairs are the most important thing. You can go about your business. I'm not tired. Just let me follow you around the camp and have a look. I think this is quite novel."

Sun Yuanhua readily agreed, so he asked Li Zhizao to follow him. He walked out of the camp gate and went directly to the camp warehouse of Tongzhou Daying, explaining as he walked.

"You don't know, the emperor puts a lot of emphasis on the teacher now. Now the teacher is the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and His Majesty also asked the Gunpowder Department of the Inner Warfare Bureau to merge with the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of Industry.

Let the teacher master it together, specializing in the production of firearms. Nowadays, the main firearms are bird cannons, Lebanese cannons (Flang cannons), Krula cannons and other firearms.

Since the two institutions merged into one, the work efficiency has greatly increased. The teacher also used the Luzon bronze cannon that was newly built last year to cast the Krupp cannon according to our Ming cannon casting method. It is lighter than Western artillery and can be pulled by a car. It can also be used in field battles. Currently, about 20 guns can be produced in a month, and other firearms are not counted.

However, the war in Liaodong was urgent, so the emperor ordered [-] newly cast Krupp cannons and [-] blunderbuss and other firearms selected from the Beijing camp warehouse to be sent to Liaodong. Thanks to you, here are four more guns. Ready to use. "

Listening to Sun Yuanhua's explanation, Li Zhizao felt like the world had changed. This change was really too fast.

When he went to Macau to purchase artillery last year, the court officials blocked him in every possible way, saying that it was a waste of money. Now that the new emperor has cast Krupp cannons as soon as he ascends the throne, he laments in his heart that things are unpredictable and the situation is changing. Fortunately, the teacher is now in the holy family. .

"As long as you can catch up, the current emperor is really resolute. He does what he says."

Li Zhizao couldn't help but sigh, and Sun Yuanhua also nodded in agreement.

After saying that, the two of them came to the warehouse. At this time, the clerk was counting the amounts one by one. After registering and registering, they had people move the guns and other firearms onto the carriage.

"Originally, these things could be done by water, but now that Tianjin Prefecture has newly established a navy and the navy has not been built, we can only do it by land. We have to work non-stop all the way. We should be able to reach Liaoyang before the year."

Sun Yuanhua looked at these firearms and sighed. In fact, he had always wanted to lead troops in battle.

He followed Xu Guangqi to refine the Krug Cannon step by step, and knew its casting, performance and how to use it well.Seeing that there was an opportunity to go to Liaodong this time, I wanted to suggest to Xu Guangqi that he should escort these firearms to Liaodong, and then stay in Liaodong to lead the troops in battle. If this was not possible, he could be responsible for casting the firearms.

But Xu Guangqi thought that Zhu Youxiao had asked Sun Yuanhua to develop a flintlock gun, and that Liaodong was too dangerous, so he did not agree, which made Sun Yuanhua very regretful.

Li Zhizao also knew that the imperial court established governors in Denglai and Tianjin, and built a new navy to launch maritime transportation to Liaodong. He was from Jiangsu and Zhejiang and advocated Western learning, so he naturally knew the importance of maritime transportation.

"Sea transport is indeed important. I once heard Mr. Matteo Ricci say that Westerners sailed across the ocean. I have seen their ships. They were much smaller than the treasure ships built by the Sanbao eunuchs of the Yongle period of our dynasty, but they relied on these ships. , traveled thousands of miles to come to our court and made a lot of profits.

At present, the imperial court only operates Liaodong sea transportation. If grain can be transported northward via the sea in the future, then there is no telling how much food can be saved. "

He had long wanted to start shipping, so after learning the news, he asked his student Li Tao to collect Krug artillery in Guangdong and find more shipping talents for the court.

The task of counting firearms was already tedious. Thanks to the large number of clerks and the help of the sergeants in the camp, the progress was accelerated a lot. By noon, they were all loaded onto the vehicle.

After Sun Yuanhua saw that the inventory was completed, he went to escort the officials to prison and ordered them to set off directly without delaying the military plane.

After finishing this matter, Sun Yuanhua's affairs here were settled, so he respectfully invited Li Zhizao to get on the carriage and escorted the group to the capital. Tongzhou was more than forty miles away from Beijing, which was not close in ancient times. In the evening, at the post After staying one night in the hotel, the group arrived in the capital the next day.

After settling Li Zhizao, Sun Huayuan went directly to the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and met Xu Guangqi who was busy in the artillery workshop.Although he is now the Minister of Household Affairs, he knows that the development of Krupp cannon is crucial.

During this period, in order to increase the production and quality of Krug guns and develop lighter models at the same time, after finishing my own affairs every day, I would spend time in the firearms workshop discussing plans with the gunsmiths to see what was better. Good idea.

It was this kind of enthusiasm for research that allowed him to achieve results quickly.

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(End of this chapter)