eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 829 Musket 2nd Generation

There is always a day when state affairs are not settled. Even in a prosperous time, people at the top and bottom have to deal with a lot of things. The rebellion in Xinjiang has just been put down, and something happened again in Luzon.

The fish scale album should be handed in in the 20th year of Zhengde. I don’t know how many ridiculous things will be made next.

An official bank smuggling case has still not been explained clearly. In order to reform the clan, Zhu Houzhao has temporarily refrained from mentioning it, but he does not really want to let this matter go.

At the same time, there are also situations in Sichuan, and in the DPRK and China, the crisis over the establishment of a governor may occur at any time, and even some signs of party strife have arisen.

When he first became emperor, Zhu Houzhao always wanted to put more thought into it. Even if it was harder recently, he still had to settle things.

But twenty years later, he now understands that there is no such thing as hard work in the near future. If you want to work hard, you must keep working hard.

But the body is the capital of the revolution. Recently, he has been bothered by so many things that his head hurts. Even if there is no result for each of them, he has to rest. If he can't do it, he won't get it done, and people will be troubled by these bastards. Gotta fall down.

In fact, what outsiders don't know is that Zhu Houzhao is quite experienced in managing his concubines and children. After all, he is a visitor from later generations. There is one thing to pay attention to when dealing with children, that is, he cannot be partial, at least not too obvious.

And he doesn’t have the kind of plot that the ancients liked him more if he was like me. It looks like he is his child, and there is a difference between smart and stupid people. It’s not just because he is stupid that he is deliberately alienated.

Why do you have to be so smart? There is only one dragon chair.

Not to mention deliberately belittling the child because of his origin. For example, his fourth son Zaiji was just twelve years old. His biological mother was Concubine Shun, who was a Mongolian.

But Zhu Houzhao did not neglect the education and care of his children because of this.

I actually played with him a lot since I was a kid.

Speaking of which, I actually have more fun with him, because Zai Ji really doesn't have much possibility of inheriting the throne, unless he really has the talent of Li Er, who can penetrate directly from the Mongolian Plateau through Central Asia and leap across Eastern Europe. Pingyuan, Zhu Houzhao needs to consider it.

But now he is just a little baby, so naturally he doesn't want to think so much.

The gentlemen who are responsible for the prince's education are always yelling, saying that the emperor is too much and does not pay attention to the education of his children. Almost every month, he summons the prince temporarily, saying that there is something wrong, but in fact, he just takes them to play!

Zhu Houzhao listened shamelessly, and then everything went as usual. It was education, and he didn't just stay in the room and study hard every day.

Now that these children are older, you can take them out to ride horses and archery with them, run sports with them, or even take a boat trip to enjoy the lake.

Especially in spring like now, when the weather is nice and the sun is shining, it’s definitely time to do some activities.

Another one, their third brother, Zai Yao is going to Luzon.

The Ministry of War has already determined the date. In order to catch up with the navy's departure from the port, Zai Yao has to set off south in two days.

Zhu Houzhao heard that his biological mother, Concubine Xian, secretly cried, but she didn't bother him.

Zai Yao has indeed inherited his mother's "virtuous" character, and he always respects etiquette when dealing with others. Compared with Zai Yao's rough lines and Zai Min's boring gourds, he also has a better relationship with his fourth and fifth brothers.

Even other princesses and younger children all like him more.

What Zhu Houzhao took the children to experience today was not archery, but shooting guns and muskets.

Because he, the emperor, attached great importance to the development of firearms, both artillery and muskets had made significant progress over the years.

When Emperor Yongle formed the Shenji Battalion, it was actually a firearms unit, also called Yongle handguns, but at that time it needed to be fired.

To put it bluntly, it's like smoking. After you finish one, you have to light the fire and start another. Such loading and firing is very troublesome during war.

However, humans have always been smart, and Zhu Houzhao had already warned them when he inspected the Ordnance Bureau.

Since it is inconvenient to light a fire,

Why not light the fire in advance that originally needed to be lit by hand?

Then fix it with an iron hook, and fix the iron hook next to the powder chamber where the gunpowder is placed. Every time you want to launch, press the iron hook and press the burning match rope into the powder chamber to ignite the gunpowder.

This is how the early matchlock guns came about.

But this kind of matchstick that can burn for a long time is not easy to find, so Zhu Houzhao can't remember it. Anyway, try various things, soak this one now, apply that one now,

It’s the exhaustive method.

Finally, a method was tested, which is to soak it in a salt solution, which can burn about 80 millimeters per hour, and it can sustain a battle for two to three hours without any problem.

But this gun also has shortcomings.

1. The match rope needs to be burned, so it cannot be used on rainy days. In fact, it can't be used on windy days, because the gunpowder in the musket will be blown away.

2. Although the shooting process has been optimized and does not require constant ignition, the rate is still not fast, with a maximum of three or four rounds per minute. But after all, there is a way to solve this, which is to have the soldiers stand in multiple rows. After the first row has fired, the second row can follow, and so on, up to nine rows can be placed.

The third one is actually a problem with gunpowder. Zhu Houzhao is not a chemist, so he can’t figure out why there is smoke when he shoots a gun now... If this is a battle, then the sky is full of smoke, which is equivalent to blocking his own sight. .

Despite this, this musket, which can shoot at a distance of one hundred meters, is still a milestone in the history of firearms development and directly changed the shape of warfare.

Now, if a pure cold weapon army wants to defeat the Ming Dynasty on the frontal battlefield, it must first come forward and use human lives to fill a wave of bullets and cannons, and then talk about other things.

And although Zhu Houzhao is not an expert, he still understands that the army needs to adjust according to the development of weapons. For example, what proportion of musketeers should be placed in an army and how to use them? Research on these things has never stopped.

Finally, in order to standardize the development of firearms, Zhu Houzhao not only raised the administrative status of the Arms Bureau, but also increased talent cultivation and made orderly plans for the products to be produced. For example, he is now holding version 2.0 of the matchlock gun.

And it also has a brand new name, called Rumi Second Generation.

Although it is not as powerful as fire or fangs, Zhu Houzhao insisted on naming it after the inventor in order to make his name immortal.

Now the Bureau of Ordnance is developing another kind of hand gun, which uses sparks from flints to ignite gunpowder. This eliminates the need for a match rope and avoids the disadvantage of being unable to use it on rainy days.

In fact, it is the prototype of a flintlock gun, but it is simple, but the mechanical structure is not simple.

This is a long-term job,

In order to cultivate the Ming Dynasty's heirs to attach importance to firearms, he also built a shooting range in the palace specifically for shooting. Boys will not change for thousands of years. They like this thing in their blood.

Not to mention the twelve-year-old Zai Ji, even the ten-year-old Zai Hen was particularly interested in these guns and shooting.

Not to mention Zaiyao, he studied at the Naval Academy, shooting is a basic skill, and his posture is even more standard than Zhu Houzhao.

So an adult and three children stood in a row and started shooting.

This is where Zai Hen's cleverness lies. He will watch his third brother, see how he operates, and then learn from him in a decent way.

boom!

"Dad, look!" Zai Hen's voice had a hint of milky color.

"There is progress, there is progress." Zhu Houzhao came over and rubbed his head, then faced the taller Zaiyao and said, "This time, I have added you to the expedition list reported by the Ministry of War."

When the matter was settled, Zaiyao was overjoyed, "Thank you dad for making it happen!"

"Dad, I know that you want to go so much because you want to really use what you learned in the military academy on the battlefield. But you have to understand that after you get to the army, don't act like a prince. After all, fighting is not an ordinary job. What you are facing The enemy is an enemy who can kill, so if you want to learn the real skills, you can't joke around. On the battlefield, people will not listen to the imperial edict of the Emperor of Heaven, so if you act recklessly, the price may be many lives. "

Zai Yao stood at attention and gave a military salute, "Don't worry, Dad, I will never embarrass you!"

Zhu Houzhao smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "I actually prefer to be a general, riding horses on the company camp, which makes me feel full of energy. This is better than criticizing these memorials that can't speak here every day. It's a pity that your grandfather didn't give me so many children." My brother, I have no choice but to treat this as the emperor."

"Dad!" Zai Ji put down his musket, ran two steps over and said, "I also want to go with Third Brother!"

"Are you going? What are you going for?"

"I'm going to protect Third Brother!"

Zhu Houzhao was amused by him, "Just you? A man is not as tall as a horse. If you go, your third brother will still have to take care of you."

Zaiji suddenly pouted his lips, clearly unconvinced.

"Eat more and grow stronger. Then go to the Mongolian grassland for me and conquer the tribes."

"it is good!"

On April 26, the 20th year of Zhengde, under the emperor's order, the emperor's third son Zai Yao went south and accompanied the navy to the Luzon Kingdom to guard Shitang Port. The emperor's second son Zai Yao set off southwest along the road with dozens of horses and one person. , headed to Sichuan.

Both of them were sent on errands, and the remaining Zaihe couldn't be left idle like this.

However, he was still not suitable for the smuggling of official silver, so Zhu Houzhao ordered him to go to Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan to supervise the submission of fish scale albums.

These places have a large population and a lot of arable land, and the contradiction between man and land is relatively prominent. In other places, people can turn a blind eye and survive if something goes wrong, but not here.

The three princes left the capital at the same time, and the officials in the capital began to wonder who would do it more beautifully in the end.

On May 12, the 20th year of Zhengde, Zai Yao arrived at the military port in Ningbo.

This time there was civil unrest in Luzon. The Ming Dynasty ordered Zhang Jing, the Minister of War, and Zheng Bu, the Admiral of the Navy, to jointly lead the Ming Navy's East China Sea Fleet with 45 large and small ships and more than soldiers.

After these ships and soldiers arrived at Shitang Port, they were all under the control of Zhu Fengjie, the governor of Luzon. He was responsible for protecting the lives of the people in Luzon. If there was a casualty but he did not report it to the emperor, Zhu Houzhao would have his skin given to him. Picked up.

To be honest, soldiers on land occasionally behaved in some "disrespectful" ways, but the Ming Navy has been guarding merchant ships and protecting civilians since its establishment, so it has a very high reputation among coastal people.

Whether it is pirates at sea, encountering difficulties with other countries' ships, or even being in danger due to wind and waves, as long as they can be rescued, the Ming Navy will definitely rescue them.

The Chinese are like this. They beat each other to pieces behind closed doors, but once they go abroad, there are family members everywhere.

The slogan given by the court this time is even more exciting: Protect the Ming people in Luzon!

Yan Song said that there are 30,000 people there, which means there are 30,000 families in China, so how can the people not be excited and supportive?

It goes without saying that the literati have some knowledge and national sentiments, but the merchants and hawkers know that they also rely on this mighty navy for their business, so they rush to tell each other and cheer for it even more.

Fifteen-year-old Zai Yao rode on a horse, pretending to be an ordinary general, and followed Zhang Jing and other generals through the streets of Ningbo City. He saw with his own eyes the people along the street who were excited and knelt down to worship. This was his first time. For the first time, I saw people surging throughout the city, and I was deeply shocked.

This is the world under the emperor's rule, and these are their people. Zai Yao feels that he will probably not forget this scene.

And amidst the bustle of people, Zai Yao can also feel a sense of honor, an honor for being a Ming and Han Chinese.