There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 24 Firearms Workshop
The reason why the recruit camp is located near the county outskirts is not only because there are many recruits, but also because there is a firearms workshop here.

The firearms workshop, as the name suggests, is a simple workshop that Nie Yu set up by recruiting craftsmen from Yidu County in the name of the General's Mansion.

These craftsmen certainly did not want to "follow the thieves", but Nie Yu used a stick and carrot offensive.

The "carrot" means improving the treatment of craftsmen, because the social status of craftsmen in the Qing Dynasty was extremely low. How low was it?

We can see this from the examples of the reigns of Kangxi and Yongzheng: Kangxi relied on muskets and cannons to beat his Mongolian son-in-law, while the craftsman who developed a new type of musket and repeating gun for Kangxi and helped him win a great victory was rewarded with just an opportunity to chat in the Hanlin Academy, and then he was falsely accused and exiled three thousand miles away.

It was not until several years after Yongzheng ascended the throne that he remembered this person and issued an order to pardon him. However, he died of illness on the way back.

The craftsman who developed the new artillery later was luckier and was rewarded with double salary for one month...

After you ask?

There is no aftermath! Cannon packaging, the craftsmen are left alone wherever they are comfortable.

After all, the most capable Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty said: "The Manchus have always valued horsemanship and archery. We should not focus on musketry and neglect bows and arrows."

Nie Yu was willing to improve the treatment of the craftsmen. All craftsmen who came to work in the firearms workshop were given an additional 2 acres of land.

Two acres of land sounds like a small amount, and it actually seems to be small.

But when it comes to putting it into practice, it’s really a lot.

After the redistribution of land and resettlement in Yidu County, the principle of distribution adopted was that the army was given priority, tenants were second, and registered refugees were third.

Each of Nie Yu's 400-plus old camp households was allocated 20 mu of land;

Each household of the 3000-plus new recruits in the expanded army was allocated 15 mu of land;

They supported the land distribution by the General's Mansion and rebelled to kill the tenants who had surrendered their land, with each household receiving 10 mu of land;

Tenants who did not participate in the uprising but remained obedient and waited for their land to be divided, with each household receiving 6 mu of land;

There were the fewest registered refugees, with each household only allocated 5 mu of land.

If we count them in detail, strictly speaking, the craftsmen are considered obedient citizens waiting for land distribution, so in principle they can only be allocated 6 mu of land. However, now if they join the firearms workshop, they can get an additional 2 mu of land, which is already a lot.

Because according to the basic grain yield per mu, under Nie Yu's new policy of low taxes to support the people, one mu of land is more than enough to feed one person.

After so much land was distributed, Nie Yu actually still had a large amount of land on hand. All of this land was used as military farms for the General's Mansion, to provide additional subsidies to the people who were allocated to the barren mountain areas, as well as as land rewards for officers and generals who had made meritorious service (for example, He Shunan and several thousand commanders were rewarded with a few extra acres of land) and for the army's food supply.

Of course, if they were just given more land, those craftsmen might still be able to hold on, because they all have urban household registration, not tenants in towns and villages.

The rural tenants are eager for land, and they naturally will not refuse the land that they get for free, but what if the government takes it back later?
Those officials are ruthless and if you really become a "traitor", you will lose your head.

Therefore, after giving the carrot, Nie Yu also did not forget to give a big stick.

This stick was not meant to threaten to kill people. Those craftsmen who were unwilling to work in the firearms workshop were regarded by the General's Mansion as potential rioters who still had illusions about the Qing court.

I’m sorry, but the General’s Mansion can only strike hard against the potential rioters!
Increase taxes, increase taxes, increase taxes on everything!

In fact, it is not a complete tax increase, but the taxes of other people have been reduced, but your family still has to pay such high taxes. At the same time, you will be labeled as a rioter by the General's Mansion, and even your business will be visited by officials every now and then.

He won't do anything to you, but just stand by, wearing an official uniform, staring at you with a pair of fierce eyes like an official who is ready to bite anyone.

After a few days, the craftsmen who had been holding on could no longer bear it. They had to pay more taxes, and the officials came to scare them every day. All the customers were scared away in a few days.

In order to pay the tax, these craftsmen no longer cared about whether they joined the bandits or not. After all, the rebels from the General's Mansion promised that as long as they could come to the firearms workshop, they would not have to cut their braids like other rebels.

If you don't cut your braids, you still have a way to survive.

Nie Yu finished his meal with He Shunan and others in the barracks, and then trained with the soldiers for a while before going to the firearms workshop to inspect the work.

"General, please look, this is a cannon made according to the drawings you mentioned." The person in charge of the firearms workshop was not afraid and directed two people to lift up the newly cast cannon.

This cannon looks very simple and is relatively small in size, but its appearance is very similar to the tiger squat cannon that Nie Yu purchased.

There is no way. It’s not that we can’t make more powerful cannons, but the casting cycle of cannons is too long, and Yidu’s existing cannon casting technology is not up to standard.

Without exception, these craftsmen were all "new recruits" who had never cast a cannon before, and could only cast it by following the instructions.

Even so, being able to develop a tiger squat cannon in half a month is already quite good.

Although the caliber of the Tiger Crouching Cannon is not large, it is faster to cast and more convenient to use. If it can be mass-produced, at least the shortage of firearms in the early stages of the war will not be a big problem.

"Let's try firing one first!" Nie Yu looked around and still wanted to see the actual effect of the launch.

The launch site is not difficult to find. Yidu County is surrounded by mountains, so you can just find a site anywhere to launch the bomb.

In order to prevent the danger of explosion, the craftsmen added several layers of iron hoops to the outside of the barrel for fixation.

Two men stepped forward and clumsily loaded the gunpowder and shells, sealed the chamber, and left the fuse.

Then, light the fire and run!
"boom!"

When the shot was fired, the barrel was blown away by the recoil.

It took the craftsmen a long time to retrieve the fired shells. The shells were still steaming hot, and people were afraid to reach out and touch them.

Nie Yu smiled, very happily, because the craftsmen he had found in the county town had actually succeeded in casting the cannon.

Even if he cast the cannon according to the blueprint, he could cast it successfully in one go. That meant that his firearms workshop had already half-mastered the cannon-casting technology, and mass production of cannons would no longer be impossible.

How could there be a rebellion in the Qing Dynasty without artillery?

Even though Emperor Qianlong was an old dog who did not attach importance to artillery, the Qing army still maintained a certain number of firearms. Although they might be a little backward, no matter how backward they were, they were still better than having no firearms at all.

Nie Yu smiled and said, "The firearms workshop has done a great job. All the craftsmen and officials involved in casting this cannon will be given an extra acre of irrigated land. I, the general, will not take this Tiger Crouching Cannon with me. I will leave it to you as a sample. I don't ask you to cast new cannons right away. First, mass-produce as many Tiger Crouching Cannons as you can."

"If you do this well, this general will reward you handsomely!"

Upon hearing that there would be a reward, the official in charge of the firearms workshop immediately became excited.

Just one small cannon is equivalent to one acre of paddy field. If dozens of them are mass-produced, won’t you immediately become a small landlord?
Of course, it is definitely impossible to produce dozens of guns, as the production capacity of the firearms workshop is limited, but it is still possible to mass-produce a few more guns.

Even the craftsmen in the firearms workshop were a little surprised. They just cast an iron lump according to the requirements of the General's Mansion.

This can also get an acre of water for free to irrigate the fields. Although they are all craftsmen, it does not mean that the land is not attractive.

Anyway, they have already joined the bandits, and the "rebels" are willing to give them land and money. If they don't work hard and wholeheartedly, they will even feel guilty about it.

　Continue working overtime today

　　
　
(End of this chapter)