Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 69 Mysterious Defeat and Bizarre Execution (Part 1)

While Wei Zhongxian was still beheading members of the Dai princely clan in the West Market, Zhu Jue arrived in Tongzhou City with Lu Xiangshan, Bi Maokang, and others.

At this time, all the common people and even the county officials in Tongzhou City had been moved out, and the city was now filled with craftsmen carrying sledgehammers and large logs.

These are all used for demolishing houses. With just one order, ordinary houses can be demolished by simply placing a large round wooden frame on top and then smashing it down with a few sledgehammers.

"Your Majesty, have they all been demolished?"

On the north city wall, Yuan You raised his binoculars and scanned the artisans gathered on the street, and couldn't help but ask a question.

These craftsmen arrived at dawn and have been waiting for over an hour, all eager to get to work.

Zhu Jue carefully examined the area and then asked, "How many artisans can you mobilize right now?"

This isn't a lot.

Yuan You estimated, "Your Majesty, most of the craftsmen have gone to build their own houses. Originally, there were only about ten thousand households with their own houses."

"If His Majesty urgently needs manpower, the more than ten thousand households that already have residences can be mobilized immediately. If manpower is still insufficient, drawing twenty to thirty thousand able-bodied men from artisan households with large populations should not be a problem."

This number of people is only enough to build three factories at the same time.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Lord Meng, how is the development of the new type of firearm going?"

Bi Maokang said somewhat awkwardly, "Your Majesty, the bolt mechanism you mentioned places too high demands on the barrel. It is difficult for a barrel made of thin iron to fit the bolt perfectly. I am thinking about whether we can directly drill a hole in cast steel and make the barrel into a single piece."

This is the right direction.

However, there's a problem with the idea.

Zhu Jue glanced at the steel furnace opposite him, where the thick smoke was gradually dissipating, and shook his head slightly. He said, "The first batch of steel will be ready today. We don't lack steel for testing. However, the castings are too brittle and cannot be used directly to make gun barrels. The castings must be forged before they can be used to make gun barrels. You can try forging them with molds. As for the armored vehicle, how is the development going?"

Do castings also need to be forged?
Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang began to ponder again. It wasn't until his elder brother coughed lightly that he hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the Wugang Chariot has been developed."

The armored vehicle has been developed and can be manufactured directly in the factory across the street. However, it will probably take some time to develop a new barrel for the musket. There's no need to build a musket factory for now; it wouldn't be of any use anyway. As for the artillery factory, there's even less of a rush.

Now that the steam engine has been developed and the boiler plant is about to go into production, the most important thing is to produce more steam engines.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully and then asked, "Chang Geng, when will the lathe be developed?"

This thing is so difficult to deal with.

Song Yingxing pondered and said, "Your Majesty, I will definitely be able to develop it in a month at most."

Then the machine factory must be built.

Another option is to build a glass factory, since glass is the only profitable product right now, and they need to produce more telescopes.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then solemnly said, "Father-in-law Yuan, then gather all the manpower you can, and build the steam engine factory, the machine factory, and the glass factory first. We can talk about the rest later."

Yuan You nodded, then asked, "Your Majesty, where will these three factories be built?"

I won't go into the details of that.

Zhu Jue pondered and said, "You can choose the location. There's no need to demolish all the houses here. The better houses can be moved into by the artisans. In the future, all the artisans who need to keep secrets must move into Tongzhou City."

"Just demolish those haphazardly built residential houses first, and clear out the three factory areas, that should be enough."

Yuan You nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue gazed again at the stone bridge to the west of Tongzhou and the city wall opposite, and then asked, "Do you think there's a problem with building an arched bridge at this river mouth that is the same height and width as the city wall opposite?"

You want to build a bridge here?

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but look at Bi Maokang.

This was all because Bi Maokang had served as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works in the outer court, and he was most skilled in bridge construction.

Bi Maokang looked at the mouth of the Tonghui River, then gazed at the stone bridge in the distance, and then solemnly said, "Your Majesty, the Bali Bridge over there is only a little over ten zhang long, less than twenty zhang, so it is relatively easy to build."

The width of this river mouth is probably over thirty zhang, and in order to allow large ships to pass, the span of the bridge arch must be at least five zhang, making construction quite difficult.

As for the height, it's not a problem. The water level here is less than three zhang (approximately 13 meters) above the top of the opposite city wall, while the bridges over the Qinhuai River outside Jinling (Nanjing) are at least three or four zhang (approximately 13-14 meters) above the water to accommodate sailboats.

This bridge must be built because it will be the only gap in the city walls after the new capital is built, and it must be connected to the two sides for defense. Zhu Jue thought for a moment, and then said decisively, "This bridge must be built no matter how difficult it is. What do you think is the fastest way to build it? You don't need to worry about manpower and materials. I guarantee there will be enough."

You can't rush the construction of a bridge.

Bi Maokang estimated, "Your Majesty, I estimate that such a long bridge will take at least three years to build."

three years?

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "Three years is too long. Can we build it within a year by recruiting more people?"

This isn't a matter of more or fewer people.

Bi Maokang explained in detail: "Your Majesty, this is not a matter of manpower. This bridge is only about thirty feet long. Even if a hundred people stand on each foot, it can only hold about three thousand people. Moreover, each foot is not even enough to accommodate a hundred people."

The most troublesome part of building this long bridge is the piers. If Your Majesty wants the bridge deck to be level with the top of the opposite city wall, the foundation of the piers must be dug at least ten feet deep. Digging the bridge foundation underwater is too troublesome. Even if we build only five large piers, it will still take at least two years to complete.

As for the above, once the water level rises above the bridge piers, it will be quick; a year should be enough.

Without professional equipment, digging a foundation underwater is really troublesome, and the riverbed is mostly mud and sand, so digging it open will only bring more mud and sand over.

In later generations, there was a way to build tall buildings in muddy ground: to demolish rows and rows of steel column foundations.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, then asked, "Lord Meng, do you think it would be feasible for us to cast some steel pillars that are ten feet long and as thick as thighs to be used as the foundation for bridge piers at the bottom of the river?"

Steel columns as foundation?

Bi Maokang pondered, “This method should work. We can fill the spaces between the steel columns with perforated stones. Once the spaces are filled, the bridge piers can be built. However, Your Majesty, a steel column that is ten feet long and as thick as a thigh weighs at least a thousand pounds. Five bridge piers would probably require hundreds of such columns, which would weigh over a hundred thousand pounds of steel.”

My goal is to produce 100,000 catties of steel per day!

What's a little bit of steel?
Zhu Jue replied without hesitation, "You don't need to worry about the steel. Just focus on building the bridge. Ideally, it should be completed next year. Any problems?"

Once the basic issues are resolved, there will naturally be no more problems.

Bi Maokang nodded slowly and said, "Your Majesty, there is no problem."

No problem, let's get started.

The steel produced in the steelmaking furnace still needs to be tested and improved. The steel that fails the test is sufficient to cast steel columns. Even the worst steel, if cast as thick as a thigh, will not break.

Zhu Jue is busy building the new city of the capital, while Hong Chengchou seems to be busy gathering troops to suppress the rebels.

This guy is really strange.

A few days later, this fellow actually submitted another report.

Around 9 a.m. that morning, Zhu Jue had just finished reviewing memorials and was about to go to Tongzhou City to see Bi Maokang and the others laying the ground stakes when Fang Zhenghua suddenly rushed in with a memorial in his hand, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, good news from Shanxi."

Good news from Shanxi!

How many days has it been?

Zhu Jue took the memorial, opened it, and found it all rather perplexing.

Hong Chengchou reported that he had led his army to recapture Hequ County, and had killed more than 400 bandit leaders and captured more than 1,000 bandits. The bandit leader Wang Jiayin had led more than 30,000 bandits into the Lüliang Mountains and was heading south.

How did this fellow manage to retake Hequ County? Taking a city isn't that easy.

Twenty thousand troops attacked a county town defended by thirty to forty thousand troops, and captured it in just a few days!

This is too weird.

Could it be that Gao Yingxiang or Zhang Xianzhong deliberately abandoned the city and fled?
The loss of Hequ County was inexplicable, and now it has inexplicably been taken back!
Are the three powerful clans and eight imperial merchants of Puzhou giving Hong Chengchou military merit?

Wang Jiayin led his army south. Was he going to Henan to deal with the vassal kings?

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, then sneered and ignored the memorial.

He didn't need to care about any of that. Hong Chengchou was just a scapegoat. What did it matter how many military achievements he had? Even if the Donglin Party and the Qi-Chu-Zhe Party petitioned for Hong Chengchou to be promoted to Governor-General of Shanxi and Henan provinces, it wouldn't matter. Once the princes were in trouble, let's see what those guys could do.

(End of this chapter)