Flowers on the other side [Comprehensive Red House]

Chapter 798 The Carpenter Emperor 53

During this period of time, the ministers of each ministry basically took the officials of the headquarters with them to ponder behind closed doors the financial plan of the headquarters for next year that will be submitted.Only Shangshu Huang Kezuan of the Ministry of Punishments finalized the basic framework of the Ministry, and the rest were handed over to Qiao Yunsheng, the only servant of the Ministry of Punishment, to fill in the gaps and make up for it, and go with Dali Temple Minister and Zuodu Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Discuss and check relevant matters.

As for himself, he devoted himself to the development of new artillery with full enthusiasm.Zhu Youxiao saw that he was so obsessed with the research and development of artillery, so he entrusted some skillful eunuchs in the internal servant prison, as well as Xu Guangqi, the Yushi of Henan Province who was specially transferred back to train in Tongzhou, to him to lead, and he often participated in it. These people are in the research of artillery updates, fire/powder formula adjustments, and shell remodeling.

Huang Kezuan was able to break away from the government affairs of the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, thanks to Zhou Jiamo's selection of a good servant Qiao Yunsheng for him.Zhu Youxiao initially disapproved of Qiao Yunsheng, the minister of punishment nominated by Zhou Jiamo.The reason is nothing but his age.

Because Qiao Yunsheng was born in the 29th year of Jiajing (1550) of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, there was no age gap between him and Huang Kezuan.Another reason why he couldn't say it was that Qiao Yunsheng once gave lectures at home and belonged to the Donglin Party.Besides, after meeting many young Jinshi in his early twenties, Zhu Youxiao didn't really want to promote Qiao Yunsheng to be the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment for Qiao Yunsheng, who was only a Jinshi in the 20th year of Wanli (1592) and entered the official career in the middle age.But Zhou Jiamo actively endorsed Qiao Yunsheng.

"Your Majesty, if it's someone else, the old minister will agree to His Majesty's suggestion and choose another candidate for the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment. But Qiao Yunsheng is very suitable to be the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment."

"Zhou Qing, age, life is seventy years old. These six books are basically from the age of seventy. If the servant is like this, wouldn't it be impossible for talents to be out of stock after ten years?"

Zhou Jiamo knew in his heart that the emperor was looking for a long-term plan, so he was a little shy, trying to find a way out for himself.

"Your Majesty, for another candidate for the Ministry of Criminal Justice, the veteran must choose someone of the same age as the servant of the Ministry of Justice? For the positions of doctor and chief officer in the Ministry of Criminal Justice, the veteran will also carefully select some young, promising and promising people."

Seeing that the emperor was indifferent, Zhou Jiamo had no choice but to continue to recommend Qiao Yunsheng.

"The veteran advocated Qiao Jifu to be the Minister of the Ministry of Justice. In fact, this person is the most suitable minister of the Ministry of Justice. He has a taciturn disposition, and he is a character who speaks after careful consideration. Disputes such as enlisting and urging traitors and cheating. Transferring to Taigu County, where government affairs are diverse, was able to eradicate violence and bring peace, and won the love of the people. Chu Xun and Chu Minwei, who were then Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, wrote a stele of virtue and government for him. Later transferred to Jiangxi Dao Yushi, He has been ordered to patrol Xuan, Da, Confucianism and politics, patrol Shanxi, take charge of the salt law, issue three assistants, and manage the capital. , not hesitate to offend Shenzong and Zheng's mother and son."

Zhu Youxiao understood Zhou Jiamo's subtext that the officials who fought for the interests of the late emperor should be his first choice for appointment.After Guangzong succeeded to the throne, Qiao Yunsheng was also in Fang Congzhe's first recovery list.Because he arrived in the capital relatively early, he was successfully appointed as the Minister of Taichang Temple.

In the end, Zhou Jiamo's following words moved him.

"Huang Shaofu's ambition is to make cannons, and Qiao Jifu is a person who can take on the responsibility of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs. With him, there will be chaos in the Ministry of Criminal Affairs. There are also veterans who have selected Han Jisi from the Imperial Academy to be in charge of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. He is Wanli. Jinshi in the year of Kuichou (1613), now just reaching the age of [-], ten years later, he will be a talent that the Ministry of punishment will use."

Zhou Jiamo saw that the emperor was loose, so he hurriedly put in more strength.

"After Huang Shaofu succeeds in casting the cannon next year, he will go back to preside over the Ministry of Punishment. Although Huang Shaofu is the "Minister of Consolidation of the Base" appointed by Shenzong, if he was a Jinshi in the eighth year of Wanli, if he is replaced by a servant with enough qualifications to be a minister, the Ministry of Punishment will not be peaceful in the future. But if you use Qiao Yunsheng as the servant to take charge of the Ministry of Punishment, you won't have any troubles in the future."

Seeing that Zhou Jiamo had already considered such a situation, Zhu Youxiao had no choice but to pinch his nose and recognize Qiao Yunsheng, the Minister of Punishment.There is Han Jisi, a 40-year-old Lang Zhong, and he also requires that the age of another servant must not exceed 60 years old.

Zhou Jiamo agreed and heaved a sigh of relief.The Son of Heaven is too picky. Some people have the right qualifications and abilities, and it is because of Yin Tian's affairs that they were excluded from the nomination of the Minister of Servant.

Alas, Zhou Jiamo is a little worried, it is really not easy to make up six doctors.

Huang Kezuan, on the other hand, rejoiced at the progress of casting cannons.When he acted as an agent for the military administration in the Beijing camp last year, he invested his own money and entrusted his brother Huang Keli and grandnephew Huang Tiaohuan to recruit skillful craftsmen from southern Fujian who can make Lusong bronze cannons to Beijing, and cooperated with Taining Hou Chen Yanzuo and his son to make it A bronze cannon weighing three thousand gold.Then 28 bronze cannons were built one after another.

These cannons are Huang Kezuan's pride.

Now we are working with Taining Hou and his son again, because of Xu Guangqi joining, and those skillful eunuchs in the inner guard. The main reason is that the emperor often has some whimsical ideas, but after practice, he often has problems in solving the heat of the gun barrel and improving the range of the gun. The convenience of shooting, aiming, especially the easy-to-use method of adjusting the elevation angle and shooting the target calculated by Xu Guangqi's shot, make the gunner no longer need a lot of test shooting, and can basically grasp the essentials.Of course, the requirement for gunners is to be able to read, write, and calculate with a good degree.

After these factors are superimposed, the shells fired in the end, whether it is the accuracy of the landing point or the power of the explosion, are completely different from last year.

What shocked him the most was the new type of shells. The emperor, Xu Guangqi and the eunuchs were all deduced on paper first, and then handed over to the craftsmen to follow the steps.The new type of shells allows artillerymen to no longer have to worry about the hot barrel blasting, the shells will be resisted when they slide into position, and there is no need to worry about "dummy guns" and other phenomena.

At the suggestion of the emperor, the inner eunuch also made several kinds of shells

The new artillery does not use copper at all, nor did he use southern Fujian craftsmen to innovate the iron-copper fusion method last year.Instead, it uses coke near the capital to smelt a new type of iron.It perfectly solves the problems that the gun body is too heavy, the barrel is prone to heating and blasting, and the firing frequency is too slow.

This is a kind of artillery that Huang Kezuan has never seen and never thought about.

In just two months, the range of the newly developed sample gun weighing less than [-] jin was almost the same as that of the [-] jin copper cannon.The range of the new style cannon of more than two hundred catties is comparable to that of the old-fashioned copper cannon of nearly ten thousand catties.

Huang Kezuan and Xu Guangqi have repeatedly calculated the cost of the new artillery, mainly due to the coke in the front, the special iron required for the new barrel, as well as the tedious workmanship of different parts and the skilled craftsmen required.

But after all these are added up, the cost of a cannon within a hundred catties does not exceed a thousand taels of silver.And the more you do, the lower the cost of the artillery.This made Huang Kezuan's blood boil with enthusiasm, and he eagerly hoped that he could once again serve as Minister of the Ministry of War and take these new artillery pieces to Liaodong to show off his might.

After the prototype of the new artillery came out, Huang Kezuan privately proposed with Zhu Youxiao to go to the Ministry of War.

"Huang Qing, I know why you want to go to the Ministry of War."

Huang Kezuan blushed, "Your Majesty, the old minister didn't do it for his own liking. The old minister just wanted to avenge the soldiers who died in the battle of Sarhu last year."

Zhu Youxiao smiled, "I understand you, but even if you go to the Ministry of War, it is impossible for you to lead the troops to Liaodong."

Huang Kezuan looked at the emperor in front of him and smiled strangely, a kind of unreasonable tremor made his hair stand on end.He asked incredulously, "Your Majesty, do you want to..."

Zhu Youxiao nodded, confirming what Huang Kezuan thought.

Huang Kezuan immediately said loudly: "Impossible. Your Majesty, this is definitely not possible."

"It is the duty of the emperor to guard the gate of the country. Besides, we, the monarch and his ministers, will work together to build a thousand new cannons as soon as possible, which is equivalent to today's five thousand bronze cannons. With such mighty cannons, we can lead an army of [-] out of Shanhaiguan in one fell swoop. To regain the lost land in Liaodong, Huang Qing also thinks so in his heart?"

Huang Kezuan nodded.

"The old minister thinks so. But your Majesty risked himself, where is the country and the country?"

Seeing that Huang Kezuan was in a hurry, Zhu Youxiao comforted him with a smile and said, "With this new type of artillery, you are not afraid of rain and snow, so what's the danger? Tai/zu and Chengzu also led soldiers to fight in front of the three armies in the past."

"How does Your Majesty agree with Chengzu and Chengzu? In the past, Wang Zhen..."

"Huang Qing, are you saying that I am not qualified to follow Mr. Cheng Zu?"

Huang Kezuan bit his tongue, trying not to argue with the emperor who interrupted him.Instead, he persuaded Zhu Youxiao and the school's idea of ​​personally conscripting with a earnest attitude.

"Your Majesty, when the Tai/Zu went to war, there were already several princes. When he became the Zu, he also had three adult sons. But you, Your Majesty..."

"I'm not yet an adult, so it's impossible to have a son. But Wulang has already studied, so there is no doubt that Daming will have no successors."

It's winter, Huang Kezuan is so anxious that his forehead is covered with sweat.

"Huang Qing, the crisis in Liaodong did not happen overnight. If I can wipe out Jiannu in one fell swoop, it can be regarded as an explanation from the Zhu family to the fallen soldiers. I can also shine through the ages, don't you think?"

Huang Kezuan began to hate himself for being so active in building artillery.

"Hey, the old minister shouldn't have gone to tease His Majesty about those cannons."

If it weren't for this powerful new artillery that aroused the emperor's desire to make contributions, the young county king would not have these thoughts of comparing with Tai/zu and Chengzu.

Huang Kezuan was so regretful that he was about to hit the wall.

Zhu Youxiao quickly diverted the old minister's thinking.

"Huang Qing, I'm not going to lead the army out of customs right now. The craftsman's house is working day and night, and it will probably be half of the thousand gates by March. It's far from enough! I have to think of a way to shorten the time. I'm afraid that Xiong Tingbi will not insist. It's March."

"Increase craftsmen? Expand the cannon-making site in the Beijing camp?"

Huang Kezuan suppressed his idea of ​​opposing the emperor's personal conquest, and decided in his heart that he would go to all the ministers who were in charge of orders at night to discuss a good way to dissuade the emperor.