The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 81 Breaking the situation
On May 16, the 47th year of the Wanli reign, the east and west cities of Yehe were successively captured by the Later Jin army. Beilei Jin Taiji of the west city was captured, and Beile Buyanggu of the east city went out of the city to surrender. Both of them were executed.

It is worth mentioning that Buyanggu, who stabbed the Bordered Blue Banner in the back to save Liu Zhaosun at Hunjiang last time, had the same ending as his father.

Jirgalang personally split Dongcheng Beile into two halves, brought half of the body back to Hetuala and handed it over to the Khan, and threw the other half into Haixi to feed the dogs.

From then on, the Yehe tribe (Yehenala means sun), which had dominated Haixi for two hundred years and called itself the sun, was declared extinct.

Under Nurhaci's order, Jirgalang and Huang Taiji led the Bordered Blue Banner and the Plain White Banner to gradually relocate civilians from the east and west cities of Yehe to the Later Jin.

Of the 68,000 Yehe people, except for a small number who committed suicide, most of the rest were incorporated into the Eight Banners and became the new subjects of the Later Jin.

With the reinforcement of Haixi Yehe and the continuous influx of Han people from Liaobei, by August of the fourth year of Tianming, the population under the control of the Later Jin had expanded to 820,000.

The troops of each flag were replenished and their strength increased rapidly. The Bordered Blue Banner, which suffered heavy casualties, gradually began to recover.

Compared with the period before the Battle of Kaiyuan, the Later Jin Dynasty was more powerful. Some small Mongolian tribes around Liaobei surrendered to it, and the attitude of the Kingdom of Korea became more ambiguous.

In summer and autumn, the Later Jin scouts frequently appeared in the suburbs of Liaoning and Shenyang, causing shock in Liaodong.

~~~~~
While the Later Jin was recovering its losses by conquering cities and territories in Haixi and Yehe, Liu Zhaosun was also not idle.

On June 12, the 47th year of the Wanli reign, Kaiyuan City.

General Liu Zhaosun led 300 soldiers, 600 boatmen, 28,000 dan of grain, and a large amount of gunpowder and cold weapons, and finally returned to his old nest Kaiyuan City safely.

When Qiao Yiqi, who was as still as a mountain, looked at the nearly one hundred horse-drawn carriages continuously transporting all kinds of supplies into the city, the military supervisor, who already had a big mouth, grinned even more happily. He turned around, picked up an artillery captain, and kept shouting "We're rich, we're rich."

I have indeed made a fortune.

Xie Yang, director of the Quartermaster Department, Song Yingxing, the prefect of Anle Prefecture, Jin Yuji, captain of the Central Army Guard, and two accountants took a whole day to take inventory of the supplies in Kaiyuan City.

In March, Xiong Tingbi sent supplies to Kaiyuan. Together with the supplies captured from the Jiannu, and the grain, gunpowder, and cloth shipped back from the capital Tianjin, Kaiyuan City currently has a total stockpile of:

More than 429,000 ounces of silver, 12,000 ounces of gold, and 7,300 bolts of cloth;

There were more than 56,000 dan of grain. Even if each soldier consumed four jin of staple food per day, this amount of grain would be enough for 6,000 people to eat for more than 12 months, and this was assuming that the mountain was completely depleted.

Four thousand kilograms of gunpowder, one thousand bows...
In addition to these mountains of military supplies, Liu Zhaosun's biggest gain from this trip to the capital was bringing back three great talents.

The three talents are:
First, he excelled in agriculture, handicrafts, machinery, and military affairs, and was well versed in bricks and tiles, ceramics, sulfur, candles, paper, weapons, gunpowder, textiles, dyeing, salt production, coal mining, oil pressing, agriculture, firearms, and city defense. He was a master of the 17th-century Oriental encyclopedic science, Song Yingxing, who could easily surpass Leonardo da Vinci.
Second, a living map of the Ming Dynasty. He possesses the mountains, rivers, and vegetation of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, including mountain ranges, waterways, geology, and landforms. He reaches places unreached and explores unknown regions. He has dedicated thirty years to surviving in the wilderness of the Ming Dynasty, defeating even the weaklings of Bear Grylls and Democracy in seconds. He is also a remarkable figure, praised twice by his teacher.

3. One shot destroyed the area for dozens of miles. In five years, he pacified Liaoning. He led the army to win great victories in Ji-Liao, Ningyuan and Ningjin, and turned the tide with all his might. He was a desperate Yuan Chonghuan.

In addition, there are military expert Mao Yuanyi, Jiangnan tycoon Qiao Yiqi, military strategist Kang Yingqian, mainstay Sun Chuanting, and Ming loyalist Shao Jiechun...

As well as strong support from 3,000 elite combat soldiers, Zhejiang soldiers, White Spear soldiers, and Liaodong refugees.

Is Mao Wenlong still missing?

Don't worry, it's already been arranged.

Liu Zhaosun wondered if he had saved the Milky Way in his previous life, so that God gave him such a great team.

In this way, he would be embarrassed to be like other weak time travelers who use all kinds of cheats as soon as they travel through time.

Oh, in order to prove that I am a serious time traveler, I’d better use some cheats.

Let’s start with the flintlock rifle.

On the second day after returning to Kaiyuan, Liu Zhaosun summoned Mao Yuanyi, Song Yingxing, Wang Erhu and two blacksmith representatives to the living room of the lieutenant general's office to discuss matters.

Six people gathered around an octagonal table, on which were piles of gunpowder, paper bags, a bird gun disassembled into several pieces, and a piece of rice paper with a charcoal sketch of a flintlock rifle drawn on it.

Six grown men gathered around an octagonal table, pointing and talking as if they were eating hot pot, and they were still short of six pairs of chopsticks.

Mao Yuanyi stared at the sketch for a moment:

"General Liu and Magistrate Song are here,..."

Liu Zhaosun became impatient and interrupted him with a wave of his hand:
"Brother Mao, there are no outsiders here. You are my confidant and a close friend of Lord Song. Let's not go through so much red tape and get straight to the point. The Nu chieftain is attacking Yehe, and next is Shenyang. In addition to protecting the border and the people, I also have to immediately manufacture red cannons, Minié rifles, grenades, field artillery, and install bayonets on rifles... In short, military affairs are very busy. If everyone is as fussy as you, how much more time will be wasted.

Tell me quickly! Can this flintlock rifle be made?

Mao Yuanyi was secretly shocked when he heard this. He didn't know what the Minié rifle, grenade, field gun and the bayonet on the rifle were, so he just bowed and agreed.

Now Liu Zhaosun had been promoted from lieutenant general to general, and had been granted the title of Xuanwu General by the imperial court. He also served as the deputy governor of two Kaiyuan garrisons and received over 200,000 taels of silver from the emperor. With money, soldiers, and food, he was a true leader. The fact that he could still speak so approachably to a lowly official like him touched the feudal lord. After a moment's thought, he continued:

"This combined gun, oh, is what adults call a flintlock rifle. In fact, it just has a hidden trigger compared to a bird gun. When your finger pulls the outer trigger, the hidden trigger is also activated. It's what the picture says, the positive trigger ignites, the negative trigger opens the door. Compared to the musket with a ignition cord, this saves the ignition step and is faster to fire. But..."

After Mao Yuanyi finished speaking, he looked up at Song Yingxing. Mao Yuanyi and Song Yingxing knew each other in the capital. They had studied this kind of combined firearm when they were in the capital. Of course, it was just an idea at that time and had not been actually manufactured.

Seeing Mao Yuanyi looking at him, Song Yingxing came to the rescue of his old friend and bowed to Liu Zhaosun, saying:

"General Liu, the manufacturing process for this combined gun is actually not difficult. As long as we give the craftsmen the blueprints, they can make it quickly. The difficulty lies in the reed. A combined gun requires at least three qian of reed. The reed must be able to retract and retract strongly. If it is made too thin, it will not last long. If it is made too thick, it will be difficult to fire. In addition..."

Song Yingxing felt a little embarrassed. He rubbed his hands and looked up at Liu Zhaosun.

"Song Zhizhou, please speak."

"These reeds require fine steel, plus the cost of drilling the barrel and the carpentry... When I was in the capital with Mao Shimin, I calculated that each gun would cost five taels of silver, more expensive than a bird gun."

After Song Yingxing finished speaking, he stared at Liu Zhaosun without saying a word.

Liu Zhaosun pondered for a long time. A flintlock rifle cost five taels of silver, plus the cost of maintenance, repair and daily training, it would cost at least seven or eight taels. Equipping a thousand people would cost eight thousand taels. He could afford the money, but there were definitely not enough craftsmen at the moment. Regardless of that, he would make a batch first.

Thinking of this, Liu Zhaosun nodded to Song Yingxing and replied:

"The silver is not a big problem, but I'm worried about the firing rate of this flintlock." Before traveling through time, Liu Zhaosun had some knowledge of flintlocks. Although he was not even an amateur, he had heard that flintlocks of this era malfunctioned frequently and had a low firing rate. This was one of the reasons why flintlocks had not replaced matchlocks.

He didn't want to spend a lot of money and end up with a bunch of defective products.

Liu Zhaosun saw a gray-haired blacksmith sitting next to Mao Yuanyi. Seeing the superiors talking nonstop, his throat moved and he wanted to speak several times. Liu Zhaosun said to him:
"What's the name of this old craftsman?"

When the craftsman heard the general asking him a question, he quickly stood up from his seat and was about to kowtow to Liu Zhaosun.

"Old man, sit down and talk!"

Mao Yuanyi glanced at the old carpenter, who then carefully sat down and bowed to Liu Zhaosun, saying:
"My name is Lei Youcai, and I'm a master craftsman from Shenyang. Last time, Master Mao paid to redeem our family. I brought dozens of blacksmiths with me and followed Master Mao to Kaiyuan."

Liu Zhaosun glanced at Mao Yuanyi and nodded, indicating that he had done a good job. Then he looked at the craftsman Lei, who was in his fifties but had the physique of a young man in his twenties.

"Master Lei, what specific changes do you think should be made to convert this matchlock rifle into a flintlock rifle?"

Lei Youcai bowed to Liu Zhaosun and said:

"As for the development of flintlock rifles, the two lords have already explained it very well. To make the ignition better, we need to add a Yinji. Please see, lord. It's here."

As Master Craftsman Lei spoke, he pointed his finger at the drawing on the table. Liu Zhaosun looked in the direction of his finger, smiled and nodded.

Mao Yuanyi was Lei Jiang's superior after all. After listening to Lei Youcai's words, he felt that there were some omissions and quickly added:
"The linkage mechanism must be carefully checked to ensure that the faucet can fall in time to fire the flint when the firing door cover is opened. Opening the firing door too early or too late will not work. The key to this requires repeated research by the craftsmen in actual practice."

After listening to him, Liu Zhaosun nodded. It was rare for Mao Yuanyi to focus on firearms all the time, so he asked him about the progress of the manufacturing of the Red Cannon.

Although the Red Cannon was extremely powerful and had an astonishing hit rate, it also had obvious shortcomings. In summary:

Good at siege, but poor at field battles.

The Red Cannon had a low firing efficiency. It was said that the most skilled European gunner of the time could only fire one shot every two minutes. In addition, the gun was heavy and could not be moved quickly.

Although this type of artillery has many shortcomings, Liu Zhaosun still wants to build one. Kaiyuan will soon be surrounded. With the red cannon, it is very likely that he can repeat Yuandudu's history and kill Nurhaci with one shot.

Mao Yuanyi used the traditional method of clay modeling cannons, which is to make a mold with mud, pour in molten iron, and cast the various parts of the cannon.

Although this type of clay mold is inexpensive, it has many problems. The main one is that after the molten iron is poured in and cooled, the surface of the casting will become extremely rough.

It should be noted that the precision of the barrel is directly related to the distance and direction of the projectile. The inner wall of this clay barrel is inherently rough. In actual operation, if there is any problem with the gunpowder dosage, it is easy to cause a terrible explosion.

Liu Zhaosun knew a little about the manufacturing of the Red Cannon. He knew that the cannon was very prone to explosion, and the only way to improve it was to improve the casting process and casting materials.

The casting process is extremely complicated and there is no room for improvement in the short term. Liu Zhaosun does not understand casting technology, so he can only start with the casting material.

It is recommended that Mao Yuanyi be cast using a mixed copper and iron method. Simply put, bronze is poured on an iron base using the different melting points of iron and copper. After the copper cools, it can compress the iron base through thermal expansion and contraction, thereby strengthening the cannon and resisting pressure. The cannon made in this way is stronger than a pure iron cannon and cheaper than a copper cannon.

Of course, another method is to combine the wrought iron core and the pig iron outer wall, which is said to be better than the combination of copper and iron.

Liu Zhaosun could only provide some theoretical knowledge. As for how to cast it specifically, it was up to the craftsmen to slowly explore it.

Before going to Beijing this time, Liu Zhaosun heard from Mao Yuanyi that the craftsmen had already made the clay mold according to the above method and were ready to pour molten iron into the clay mold.

"Brother Mao, how is the production of your Red Cannon going?"

Mao Yuanyi quickly replied:
"The barrel of the gun is basically formed, but it still needs some time to be polished. Currently, the head craftsman is polishing the barrel with a file every day to remove burrs and sand holes, and also using a boring tool to polish it."

Liu Zhaosun nodded. The casting speed of this red cannon was much faster than he had imagined. He just didn't know what the quality would be like. When testing the cannon, he must stand far away to avoid killing Nurhaci before he died.

In any case, the flintlock rifle must be manufactured quickly. Liu Zhaosun turned to Lei Youcai and said:
"Master Craftsman Lei, you and your craftsmen will first use wood or paper to adjust the mechanism. If there are any problems, make corrections immediately. Once you have completed the sample, please hand over the flintlock rifle to me. I will also submit the manufacturing cost to Lord Xie of the Quartermaster General. I will review it and determine the actual cost. If it is too expensive, we will manufacture fewer for the time being."

Liu Zhaosun looked up at the two craftsmen and said with a slight smile:

"Captain Lei, if this flintlock rifle passes trial production, your workshop will be awarded 1,000 taels of silver, with each worker receiving 50 taels. Lord Song and Director Xie will conduct performance reviews based on each worker's daily work progress. Furthermore, inform each craftsman that whoever can first come up with an effective and feasible method to improve the firing rate of the flintlock rifle will receive a one-time reward of 300 taels of silver! Also, I will be adjusting the craftsman ranking system and will inform you in a few days. From now on, everything will be organized and structured."

Liu Zhaosun couldn't help but sigh that the bizarre system of the Yuan Dynasty that Zhu Yuanzhang had followed was full of anti-human characteristics.

For example, the artisan household system of this era, like the military household system, was also a hereditary status and was affiliated with the Ministry of Works.

The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty could be said to be one of the most miserable groups of their time.

Craftsmen are divided into two categories: shift workers and live-in craftsmen.

Early Ming regulations stipulated that shift workers were required to serve in official workshops on a one- or five-year rotation, with each shift lasting an average of three months. Resident craftsmen were required to serve ten days per month in official workshops. This was similar to the practice of regular soldiers, allowing the government to maximize labor force utilization while minimizing costs.

To put it simply, many shift workers work almost for free.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, this anti-human artisan system naturally collapsed, and artisans only needed to pay silver to be exempted from military service.

Each shift worker pays four and a half cents of "shift worker silver" every year, while the resident worker has to pay one cent of silver per month.

Under this system, craftsmen have almost no enthusiasm.

For this group, good things never happened, only bad things kept happening. Rewards were few, and punishments were many. From the smallest bricks and stones for city walls to the largest hulls for treasure ships, if there was a problem, the people in charge of production would pay a heavy price.

The local artisans in Kaiyuan City, plus those who came from Shenyang, now totaled over thirty people. Putting aside their current monthly salary of three taels, Lord Liu suddenly gave them a bonus of five hundred taels, equivalent to nearly three years' wages. How could these hard-working artisans not be tempted?

After hearing this, Master Craftsman Lei stopped talking to others and immediately gestured at the drawings on the table, studying how to improve this flintlock rifle. The Master Craftsman named Yan next to him was not willing to be left behind. He looked at the drawings and muttered to himself like Liu Zhaosun summoning a soul, probably calculating something.

Liu Zhaosun did not blame the two of them. A craftsman should have the temperament of a craftsman. One cannot become a craftsman by just cooking rice.

He looked up at Captain Wang Erhu, this burly man from the southern army. After experiencing two bloody battles and following him to the capital, his personality became much more stable, and he had a bit of the demeanor of a general.

"Captain Wang, I'm also planning to install bayonets on the flintlock rifles. Look, they're this long. From now on, we'll reduce the proportion of spearmen in the army and focus on musketeers. What do you think?"

(End of this chapter)