Ming Dynasty: Tanks blocked the door and you said to me, "Long live Ming Dynasty"

Zhu Youxiao can now draw the blueprint for a simple machine tool. What he lacks is the materials to make the tool!

If there were machine tools, the metal manufacturing level of the Ming Dynasty would have a qualitative leap!

Xu Guangqi did not think too deeply about it. In his opinion, it was normal for Zhu Youxiao to just want a sword that could cut through iron like mud.

He just smiled and took the craftsmen to deal with the flint in the box.

Large pieces of flint were placed in a mortar and crushed into powder, then sieved to select suitable particles and set aside for later use.

The experimental method is simple. Stick these particles on a stone slab, then take an iron rod and glue iron filings and gunpowder on it.

After the glue dries, use an iron rod to scratch the stone slab hard.

"Crack!"

The friction between the rough iron filings and flint particles instantly produced sparks, and the gunpowder particles mixed in the iron filings were ignited at the same time!

"It's done!"

Zhu Youxiao and Xu Guangqi exclaimed at the same time.

The craftsmen nearby also cheered.

"Quick, deal with all these flints. We need to make adequate preparations before the clay molds dry in the shade!"

Among the craftsmen, an older one was the first to come to his senses and directed the other craftsmen to continue working.

Being able to successfully ignite the fire means that the manufacture of the artillery shells has finally taken shape.

Although this method is a bit cumbersome, it is all worth it!

Just keep improving while you are at it!

After handing over the affairs here to Xu Guangqi, Zhu Youxiao left the East Factory with full of expectations.

The next day, as usual, he came to the Qianqing Palace early to deal with memorials.

He had not yet formally taken back Wei Zhongxian's power to approve documents, but he rarely gave Wei Zhongxian the opportunity to exercise his power.

Wei Zhongxian knew this very well, but he didn't dare to say anything.

After reading a memorial, Zhu Youxiao would throw it to Wei Zhongxian, explain his opinion, and have Wei Zhongxian write it on his behalf.

Most of the conclusions are like: I know, nonsense, etc.

But when another memorial was opened, Zhu Youxiao frowned as soon as he read the beginning.

This is a memorial from the Minister of Personnel in Nanjing, requesting the reinstatement of Qian Qianyi.

When he saw this name, he thought of the story of the water being too cold, and he always had the urge to push Qian Qianyi into the pit and drown him.

He casually threw the letter to Wei Zhongxian.

"Approved! Wasn't the magistrate of Mizhi just killed by Li Zicheng? Let him take over!"

Wei Zhongxian was stunned when he heard this, and then he almost laughed like a pig with pride.

"Your Majesty is wise. These so-called idiots keep saying they are as capable as Yao and Shun. I really want to see their faces when they receive the imperial edict!"

He shook his head and raised his index finger as he spoke.

Zhu Youxiao felt instantly disgusted upon seeing this. He glared at him and picked up the memorial behind him.

Another letter of recommendation!

However, the person recommended in this memorial was the former Vice Minister of Rites Wen Tiren.

In the original history, this guy was reinstated after Chongzhen ascended the throne and entered the cabinet as the second assistant in the third year of Chongzhen. Then in the sixth year of Chongzhen, he overthrew Zhou Yanru and took the position of the first assistant. He retired and returned home until the tenth year of Chongzhen.

Chongzhen reigned for seventeen years and changed nineteen prime ministers, and Wen Tihen was the one who served the longest!

This is a capable person!

Wen Tiren returned home to mourn his father's death three years ago. Now that the three-year period has expired, it is time for him to be reinstated.

This memorial was submitted by Wu Zongta, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. Interestingly, according to official history, this guy was also on the list of people who entered the cabinet in the third year of Chongzhen!

However, Wu Zongda was not well-known, and Zhu Youxiao did not know him well, so he threw the memorial to Wei Zhongxian and said, "Transfer Wen Tiren back to the capital and have him serve in the cabinet first!"

"Yes!"

Wei Zhongxian did not have much feeling towards Wen Tiren, simply because this guy never showed his position. No matter whether it was the Eunuch Party, the Donglin Party, or the Qi, Chu and Zhejiang Party, he always kept a respectful distance from him.

In addition, since Zhu Youxiao was talking about a hearing, Wei Zhongxian quickly wrote his comments on the memorial.

It is very strange that in today's memorials, there are many recommendations for officials to be reinstated, and they are all officials from the south.

Zhu Youxiao didn't notice anything unusual at first, but after receiving more than a dozen memorials recommending him for reinstatement, no matter how slow-witted he was, he could see that something was wrong.

"Who are these people?"

He frowned, put down the letter, turned around and looked at Wei Zhongxian and asked.

Wei Zhongxian quickly opened the memorial he had reviewed and checked the names on it one by one. After a moment, his expression became solemn.

"Your Majesty, I have never heard of half of the names here. Why don't you call Elder Huang over to take a look?"

Zhu Youxiao nodded in agreement.

After a stick of incense, Huang Liji arrived at the Qianqing Palace. After paying his respects, Wei Zhongxian grabbed him and brought him to the imperial desk.

"Master Huang, take a quick look at the origins of these people!"

Huang Li Ji was puzzled at first, but after flipping through a few letters, he immediately came to a conclusion.

"Your Majesty, except for Wen Tiren, all of these people are members of the Donglin Party who were previously deposed!"

Zhu Youxiao laughed when he heard this.

"This group of people who are bringing disaster to the country and the people are really good at scheming!"

"Seeing that there were vacancies in the court, they all jumped out one after another!"

"What? Do you want to give me another round of justice?"

Chapter 31: I will make the assignments after I have examined you!

If it were the old Wei Zhongxian, he could have advised Zhu Youxiao not to pay attention to these memorials, or directly punished those who recommended them.

But now, he didn't dare to do so, so he stood aside with his neck shrunk and watched.

However, Huang Liji, as the prime minister of the cabinet, should be the one to make suggestions on the selection of officials.

Seeing that Wei Zhongxian didn't say anything, he gritted his teeth and stood up.

"Your Majesty is wise. In my opinion, these memorials are just tests."

"Once the door is opened, letters of recommendation will pour in like snowflakes!"

"But if we reject all of them, it will be seen as the court is intolerant once the news gets out!"

"So, I think we can reject most of them, approve a small part, and give them some unimportant positions."

Zhu Youxiao shook his head and laughed, "No, no, no! Not only must I agree, but I must agree to all of them!"

"I will issue an edict stating that these old officials are now unemployed and are inevitably a little unfamiliar with government affairs."

"Summon them to the capital first. I will assign them specific official positions after I have examined them!"

Huang Liji and Wei Zhongxian looked at each other, not understanding what he was up to, but the imperial edict had already been issued, so they could only follow it.

The eunuch party still has its advantages. At least, Wei Zhongxian rarely objects to what Zhu Youxiao says, which ensures that government orders can be implemented smoothly.

Although there are many accomplices in the eunuch party, there is no need to worry, Zhu Youxiao has plenty of ways to deal with them.

If I remember correctly, a group of people will come to the fore in next year's imperial examination.

For example, Shi Kefa, Lu Daqi, Guan Shaoning and others were all the main forces in the anti-Qing war during the Southern Ming Dynasty!

These people have clean backgrounds and they all attach great importance to national justice. People like this are the ones you can rely on!

After dealing with the memorials, he asked Huang Liji to draft the imperial edict. Zhu Youxiao asked someone to get some food to fill his stomach, and prepared to go to the East Factory later to see how far Xu Guangqi and others had progressed.

But just as he was eating, a young eunuch quietly entered the hall, handed a map to Wei Zhongxian, and whispered a few words.

After the young eunuch left, Wei Zhongxian came over with a look of great joy on his face.

"Your Majesty, I have some clues about what you asked me to investigate yesterday."

As he spoke, he spread out the picture that the young eunuch had brought over in front of Zhu Youxiao.

The picture shows the flint mine that Zhu Youxiao asked about yesterday. It is near Jizhen, probably the location of Qianxi in later generations!

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Industry said that this flint mine, just as you said, contains a lot of clay!"

"And this kind of clay that is produced with flint is very different from ordinary clay. Not only that, the veins also contain iron ore, mica and other substances."

found it?

Zhu Youxiao was overjoyed. Flint was accompanied by clay, iron ore and mica. This mine was very likely to produce manganese ore!

However, he knew very little about the smelting of manganese ore. The only knowledge he had was some equations he learned in school.

As far as he knew, the melting point of pure manganese was 1224 degrees, and the components of this manganese soil were mostly manganese oxide, which had a melting point of 1650 degrees. With the current level of iron smelting, it is entirely possible to extract it.

Although its purity may not reach the level of later generations, it can still be used.

He immediately gave an order: "Send someone to Jizhou immediately! I want the clay in that mine!"

After saying that, he continued to pick up the bowl and eat his rice.

But to his surprise, after taking two bites of the meal, he looked up and found that the old man Wei Zhongxian was still standing next to him!

"You bastard, why are you standing there instead of going to pass on the message?"

But Wei Zhongxian smiled, took out a cloth bag and placed it on the table. After opening it, there was a fist-sized black lump of soil inside.

"Your Majesty, calm down. When that little naughty monkey came to give me the map just now, he also gave this to me."

"They said it was a sample brought over from the Ministry of Industry!"

Zhu Youxiao: ???

"Is this clay from the flint mines?"

Wei Zhongxian said: "It is the clay from the flint mines. The Ministry of Industry still has a lot of it. They say it can be used as a pigment."

"Snapped!"

Zhu Youxiao slapped himself on the forehead.

China's use of manganese can be traced back to the Neolithic Age. People at that time had already begun to use methane as a pigment. I actually forgot about this!

"Let's go to the East Factory!"

With the manganese soil already in front of him, he had no appetite for food and walked out of the hall with a pile of bowls.

Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian hurriedly put away the manganese soil and trotted after him.

The courtyard of the East Factory was already a scene of bustling activity.

Xu Guangqi and his craftsmen started working early in the morning to check and repair the clay molds made yesterday.

As soon as he entered the yard, Zhu Youxiao shouted to Xu Guangqi with laughter.

"Master Xu, don't be in a hurry, come and see what I brought!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Guangqi turned around and looked at Zhu Youxiao's two empty paws in surprise.

What did you bring?

Wei Zhongxian quickly took out the manganese soil and said, "Master Xu, look, this is what the emperor asked us to find yesterday. We have found it!"

Xu Guangqi took the manganese soil in his hand and weighed it for a while: "Your Majesty, isn't this just a piece of black soil?"

As a literati, especially a literati who was well-versed in encyclopedias, he was not surprised by manganese clay that could be used as a pigment, so he could not understand why Zhu Youxiao was so excited.

Zhu Youxiao walked to the blacksmith's furnace, pointed at the manganese clay in Xu Guangqi's hand and said, "Master Xu, I told you yesterday that there is a kind of unknown metal in this thing!"

"Once it is extracted and added to iron materials, it will be enough to make ordinary steel much harder. Even the finest steel can be cut with it!"

He did say this yesterday, but Xu Guangqi didn't take it to heart.

Now that Zhu Youxiao reiterated it again, Xu Guangqi had to take it seriously.

"Is what your majesty said true?"