Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1493 Dissuade ([-])

"How many muskets are produced now?" Li Laiheng, the new emperor of Dashun, asked in the barracks of the Silver Gun Xiaojie Army on the outskirts of Bal County, holding a flintlock musket imitated from the east bank.

This gun is a classic 32-c gun without a bayonet. The barrel is forged with wrought iron. relatively high.Moreover, since the craftsmen of the Dashun court were already very weak, they had only barely reached a certain scale after accumulating over the years. Therefore, both the production speed and quality were far inferior to those on the east coast, and might even be inferior to the Qing Dynasty on the opposite side.

However, such things as technical strength and industrial foundation cannot be obtained out of thin air, which requires long-term accumulation.If the Qing Dynasty hadn’t quickly taken over Shenyang and BJ Jinzhou—the Huangtaiji period would have focused on the manufacture of military equipment. At that time, the blacksmith shops on the outskirts of Shenyang stretched for more than ten miles, and the sound of jingling was endless all day long. Those craftsmen were also from all over the Northeast and even the mainland. The kidnapped—and other important industrial production bases have quickly retained the local industrial strength, and from the government level, they have attached great importance to and supported the repair and manufacture of military equipment. I am afraid that they do not have the industrial production strength that is now proud of the whole country.

Dashun experienced the bleak management of Li Guo's era, and when it finally passed to Li Laiheng, it had a sliver of handicraft foundation, but it was still quite weak and could not be compared with the areas controlled by the Qing army.This is their inherent disadvantage, and it cannot be changed in a short period of time. It is impossible to think about it. Apart from importing from the people on the east coast, it is impossible to effectively maintain a powerful firearms force.What's more, their ability to repair the existing equipment at hand is very weak. It's not that they can't, but there are too few experienced craftsmen, and the apprentices have not grown up on a large scale, so they can only look like a bird.

As the saying goes, if there is no butcher Zhang, you can only eat hairy pigs. This is the current Dashun court.Although they are also working hard to self-produce and try to get rid of the restraint of the people on the east coast, at present and for a long time to come, their own production capacity is far from enough, whether it is muskets, cannons, armor, bows, arrows, etc. Weapons such as arrows, tents, vehicles, horses, war horses and other materials all rely heavily on imports from the east coast.Especially after these years of reforms in tactics, the army has consumed a lot of various materials, and it has never been able to get rid of the supply of materials on the east coast, and this is why Dashun has always been tolerant to the people on the east coast.Without him, people have to bow their heads under the eaves!

"To produce [-] rods a month, I have done my best." General Guo Yi of the Zhongying Army and General Hao Ping of the Silver Gun Xiaojie Army replied helplessly: "The number of craftsmen is still too small, and the level of apprentices is too low. Over the years, I have spent a lot of time searching and training craftsmen, but the land of the two lakes lacks such talents. Even if there are a few years of fighting, they have already fled. We are starting from scratch. This is so difficult. In addition, I heard from outsiders that there were many instruments for making muskets, which are light and labor-saving to use, and their efficacy has been improved several times. There are some in the East, but they should be used for repairs. If you can get one or two pieces, and then strictly imitate them, you should be able to achieve miraculous results in the future.”

It can be seen that although Li Guo has been proclaimed emperor for almost a year, the various systems of Dashun are still in the initial stage and relatively rough, which can be heard from the titles of the ministers.For example, the Hao Ping in front of me is still used to addressing himself in front of the new emperor Li Laiheng with "I", "we", "we" and he is not used to addressing Li Laiheng as the emperor, and Li Laiheng himself does not care about this, obviously. The top and bottom of the court have not yet fully gotten used to what it means to formally proclaim the emperor and build a country, and they don't know that Nanming's hatred for him not only comes from their occupation of the key node of Ganzhou Mansion, but also from what they have always thought of as "mud legs". "Rogue bandits" and "cannon fodder for the king's forerunner" (referring to blocking the Manchus in front) are now living so well, which makes the monarchs and ministers in Kunming feel so embarrassing!

Well, let’s not talk about anything else, let’s get down to business.This Hao Pingyuan is the youngest son of Hao Yaoqi, a general of the peasant army in the late Ming Dynasty who returned from the Southern Ming Dynasty. He was born brave, strong and resourceful.After returning from Nanming with his father, he entered the Dashun Zhongying Army under the arrangement of his family, and then relied on his own efforts to quickly ascend to the position, which won Li Laiheng's favor. The prospects are limitless.And this time Li Laiheng inspected the craftsman camp in Bal County, and he also brought Hao Ping by his side, which shows how much he loves and trusts him.

Bal County is the capital of Yuezhou, and it is also an important military stronghold, so it is natural to have a craftsman battalion with hundreds of people as an important part of logistics supplies.Li Laiheng walked around here for a few hours, saw many craftsmen and apprentices repairing damaged guns, armor, and knives with simple tools, and remembered that the Dashun Army is equipped with more and more firearms, so he asked Hao Ping Make an inquiry.Hao Ping, on the other hand, was very familiar with the production capacity of the gun factory in Changsha because he had been in contact with people in the military supply department all the year round. He knew that the current monthly production of [-] East Coast-style flintlock rifles was stable. It may not be stable, and there is no way to do it. There are only so many available manpower, and the accumulation of technical strength also takes time, and it cannot be done overnight.

And the output of muskets is so "touching", let alone artillery.At present, in addition to casting some small-caliber cannons (the quality is also very unstable, some are very good, and some often explode, it is obvious that they have not touched the knack of it and can only rely on luck), other than the cannon casting department of Changsha Guns and Cannon Factory. It can't do anything, and its biggest business is to configure gunpowder and projectiles for the existing artillery, and then it can't do other things, which is also very tragic.

It’s not that they haven’t thought about seeking breakthroughs, such as sending people to the south secretly, and recruiting Portuguese technicians whose living standards have been greatly reduced in Macau. The reputation of Portuguese technicians has always been very loud in China. This may have benefited from the credit of Sun Yuanhua in the late Ming Dynasty. But on the one hand, the distance is far away and separated from other forces; on the other hand, most of these people have been recruited by other forces. For example, people from the east bank have recruited many people to work in Heishui, and most of the rest have been recruited by FJ Zheng, GD Li Chengdong and Nanming. Recruited by the imperial court, how could there be any suitable talents left for you Dashun?

In addition, they also took advantage of the opportunity of trade to collect some Chinese hard sailing ships and sailed down the Yangtze River with the East Coast Fleet, and privately recruited technicians in the Ningbo area, but with little success.The reason is the same. There are not many technicians in Ningbo, and even if there are, they don't like Dashun, a local separatist military and political group.These people are treated well on the east coast, and they are very safe. Why should they follow you to Huguang, where there is great uncertainty?The people of Ningbo, who have seen the vast world outside, have gradually looked down on the bumpkins like Dashun, so this road is also blind.

After the hatchback hit a wall, Dashun really had no choice but to accumulate self-accumulation step by step. Therefore, it is unlucky to be able to produce 32 flintlock rifles a month even today.You must know that the 17-c flintlock rifle used by the people on the east coast was born out of a musket invented by the Ottomans. It is a standard [-]th-century technology, and at most it has been slightly improved. It's not difficult, at most, the production efficiency is low.If Dashun's craftsmen can't even handle this, then they should go somewhere cool and rest. In the future, the battle for hegemony in the mainland will not only focus on the commanding skills of the generals, the combat effectiveness and morale of the soldiers, but also the supply of logistics materials.If you can't get on this one, don't mention anything, is it possible that you, Dashun, can still learn from the Red Army that everything can't be captured?Then you have to have the captain of the transportation brigade come to deliver the equipment to you!

"It's still low!" Li Laiheng said in a low voice, with no expression of joy or anger on his face. It was a long time before he said: "The people from Zuoying still haven't come? Where are He Zhen and his son?"

"Cihou (Liu Fangliang was named Cihou by Li Zicheng, and the current title is inherited by Liu Zhonggui) inferred that the old thief Wu Sangui of SC was always provoking quarrels all day long, and he should not leave lightly. He sent his son to Beijing with generous gifts to plead guilty, and said that today he would rectify the army and fight with Wu. The old thief fought a battle in Dongchuan, frustrating his spirit, and thought it was a gift from the new king." Hao Ping licked his lips, glanced at Li Laiheng, and after seeing that he had nothing to say, he continued: "He Zhen, He Daoning and his son also followed suit. An envoy was sent from Shangluo Mountain, saying that the road is difficult and dangerous, and the enemy is pressing the border. When Emperor Daxing left, he had already been in Changsha for many days. The SX Green Camp occupied many border fortresses for some reason, and they were not allowed to leave for a moment. Therefore, Your Majesty... Please forgive me."

Li Laiheng was a little silent when he heard the words.He Zhen, Liu Zhonggui, Yuan Zongdi, Gao Yigong, Guo Sheng and others are several large and small military leaders in the current Dashun army system. Waqi, Liu Tichun, Dang Shousu, Ta Tianbao and others.Among these people, although Guo Sheng was born in the peasant army of Luo Rucai, he has always been relatively loyal. His wife and family also live in Changsha as hostages. , now I can’t get out of bed, and his son is temporarily taking pictures of his ministry, and he is also more respectful to his own family, especially when his adoptive father was alive, the Gao family had repeatedly proposed to return to the army, but Li Guo rejected them all, and comforted him with warm words , To show trust in the Gao family, Li Laiheng believes that with the old lady (Gao Guiying) around, the Gao family can still be trusted and relied on.

Now the problem lies in the left battalion and the right battalion, that is, the teams commanded by Liu Fangliang and Yuan Zongdi, two veteran generals in the Shunjun system.These two troops are self-contained and relatively independent. Although they will not oppose themselves, there are frequent incidents of arrogance and rebellion.Especially the Zuoying, commanded by Liu Fangliang's son Liu Zhonggui, with [-] to [-] troops stationed in Yunyang Prefecture, was somewhat inconvenient geographically with the main group of Dashun. Yuan Zongdi's old man's army is even more obvious, which is quite a headache.

The same is true of He Zhen and his son, because they have always used the Shangluo Mountains as their base, and the main attack area is also the area controlled by the Qing army in SX, so they have always been alienated from Changsha.In addition, he relied on Zuoying a lot, so he had a close relationship with Liu Fangliang before, and he was not very obedient.

Although Liu Zhonggui, He Zhen, Yuan Zongdi and others may not have any objections, these veterans are very annoying because they are rebellious and unruly.Especially Yuan Zongdi, who has never been very respectful to himself because of his old qualifications (this gentleman was one of the main generals when Li Zicheng founded the five-battalion military system in Xiangyang), he is quite hateful. Qi Jun, destroy his aspirations, take care of it, otherwise it will be difficult to dispel the bad breath in his heart. Of course, he still needs to bear it now.

"The current situation, although it seems to be stable, but if I am not careful, I will lose everything. Many times, I can't sleep well! I don't know that Emperor Daxing was in such a critical situation back then. How did you survive? I really can’t understand this unless I sit in this position.” Li Laiheng said a few words in a dull mood, then put down the musket in his hand, and said to the attendants behind him: “Go back, change your clothes, Is the envoy from the Eastern Kingdom waiting in the Yueyang Tower? I hope he won’t be overwhelmed these days. I’ve forgiven the past few days, and I should show my attitude. We also got benefits in Ganzhou, so we should give them some face. You said that these Dongguo people, who are full of food, are not allowed to do this and that are not allowed. They are more lenient than the old lady. Hey, the old lady hit me with a rolling pin, and this Dongguo person uses a weapon. I’m stuck with the military funds! Forget it, let you do it once, the heads of Zhu Ming and those people will be stored for a few years, and we will take them off together in the future.”

Having said that, Li Laiheng has turned around and strode out. At the age of 37, he has been fighting in the army all year round. It is the time when he is most energetic and confident.He is well versed in the mutual use of Dongshun, and he knows that as long as he does not go too far, and does not try to wipe out all the Nanming forces in one fell swoop, so that Dashun's strength increases sharply, then it is probably still within the tolerance limit of the Dongguo people. Inside.Because they still need Dashun to be nailed to the front line of Huguang, as the first and most important barrier against the Manchus, Dashun too strong or too weak is not what they want to see, this test is actually not very sad, He has found out the bottom line of all parties through the Ganzhou incident, and he is very confident in this.

The big deal is that in the future, weapons and military supplies will be withheld and withheld, and the Dongguo people have been swept away. Let them vent their anger.However, Ganzhou Mansion, which has been swallowed by him, is determined not to spit it out again, no matter who comes.If Li Chengdong and Zheng Sen, who have also coveted Ganzhou for many years, are brave enough, just come and get them, and wait for them!

(End of this chapter)