Only half an hour later, Gao Pragmatic had already led Huang Mengyu to the gun warehouse in Datong City.

The so-called "gun warehouse" was defined by Gao Pragmatic himself, what is actually called Huang Mengyu did not introduce, and Gao Pragmatic did not ask here.

This warehouse is very large, and there are not only one or two rooms, but about 20 rather large bungalows, which are arranged horizontally and vertically, and it can be seen that there are a lot of handcuffs stored. Of course, Gao Pragmatic can't check one by one, only spot checks, but in order to show strictness, spot checks have to be randomly checked in each warehouse.

Just walked into the first warehouse, Huang Mengyu began to introduce Gao pragmatic very responsibly: "Gao Shi read Rong Yu, there are two major sources of firearms manufacturing in my Ming Dynasty, one is made in Beijing, and the other is made locally. The sources of Beijing are mainly the three major bureaus, that is, the Ordnance Bureau, the War Bureau, and the Saddle Braid, and the local self-creation cannot be elaborated, as long as the imperial court has approved the place. Our Datong is one of the important towns on the nine sides, and the source of firearms has always been complicated, some are made in Beijing, and there are also those made in the local area, and now this warehouse is ...... Liu Ping, this warehouse—"

Among the eunuchs behind him, a young eunuch hurriedly walked out, bowed down and said, "Guard, this warehouse is filled with all kinds of handcuffs from the War Bureau." ”

Huang Mengyu nodded with satisfaction and looked towards Gao Shishi.

Gao Shi saw that the warehouse was full of neat and tidy wooden boxes, and he couldn't see the firearms inside, so he said, "Open it and take a look." ”

Huang Mengyu didn't wait for Gao to be pragmatic and elaborated, and waved his hand at the little eunuch named Liu Ping, Liu Ping hurriedly waved his hand to the group of people behind him, and shouted: "Gao Shi has an order, open it and take a look!" Liu Ping is the gun supervisor here, and he is the "leader in charge", and of course there are a group of people below, and it is impossible to even open the wooden box himself.

Because Gao Pragmatic did not explain which to open or which to open, these people did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly opened the wooden boxes in front of and around Gao Pragmatic one by one.

Gao Pragmatic stepped forward to check, and coincidentally, the first thing that appeared in front of him was a three-eyed gun, but he reached out and took it and found that this thing was quite heavy, and it was a little difficult to pick it up, and his face couldn't help but be slightly embarrassed.

Huang Mengyu saw the opportunity quickly, pretended not to see Gao Shishi's situation, and happily reached out to pick up the three-eyed gun, stretched out his hand and put it in front of Gao Shishi's eyes and smiled: "Gao Shi read you, this three-eyed gun is ......" He said that he also leaned his head closer to the three-eyed gun, looked at it carefully, and said: "Shengzi No. 43,674 - Liu Ping, what year should this number be?" ”

Liu Ping hurriedly replied: "Go back to the town guard, this should be produced in September of the forty-fourth year of Jiajing." ”

Gao Shishi saw the surprise, and also leaned over to take a look, and sure enough, the gun was engraved with the words "Shengzi 43,674", he was a little surprised, and asked: "Does every firearm have such a number?" ”

This time, Huang Mengyu didn't answer, but only gestured to Liu Ping with his eyes, and Liu Ping stepped forward and said respectfully: "If you go back to the high office, every firearm has a number, but the firearms produced by the three major bureaus in Beijing have different numbers and different numbers, and the numbering systems produced by local bureaus are also different. The pole you see now is produced by the Beijing Division Military War Bureau in the Jiajing period, and the first word at the beginning is the word 'victory', if it is made by the Ordnance Bureau in the Jiajing period, the first word is 'electricity'. If it was produced during the Longqing period, the War Bureau started with the word 'Wei', and the Ordnance Bureau started with the word 'Ying'. ”

Gao pragmatic nodded, and said in his heart: It seems that this management system is not very bad, it is numbered to every handcuff.

He was afraid that he didn't know much and made jokes or misunderstandings, and saw that Liu Ping seemed quite familiar with his "business", and Huang Mengyu asked him to answer directly several times, maybe he meant to promote him, so he simply smiled: "Liu Ping, I see that you are quite familiar with these rules and regulations, so it is better for you to explain it in more detail - I mean the manufacture and management of firearms." ”

Liu Ping was secretly happy in his heart, and hurriedly stepped forward to introduce Gao Pragmatic, Huang Mengyu saw Gao Pragmatic and glanced at himself with a smile, and immediately understood that Gao Pragmatic was intentionally fulfilled, and hurriedly replied with a smile to show his gratitude.

In fact, this Liu Ping is Huang Mengyu's nephew, although Huang Mengyu is not ten years older than Liu Ping, he is the latter's uncle. However, although the two are related, Gao Pragmatic found from Liu Ping's detailed introduction that this person is really "proficient in business", not just a spare salary.

According to Liu Ping, the production of firearms in the Ming Dynasty was indeed strictly controlled by the state: "All weapons, except for the number of weapons in storage, are put into storage and are not allowed to be private." Although the imperial court in the twelfth year of Yongle ordered the world's capital guards to set up bureaus and manufacture weapons, this was limited to ordinary cold weapons.

As for firearms, the manufacture of firearms has always been prohibited locally, "all firearms are under the control of the internal government and war bureau, and they are not allowed to be made outside." For example, "in the sixth year of orthodoxy, the border generals Huang Zhen and Yang Hong requested the establishment of a Shengong Bureau in Xuanfu Dushi to manufacture firearms", but the imperial court thought that "firearms were made outside, and they were afraid of spreading Xi Mei's leakage, so they were stopped". Therefore, before Hongzhi, the Ming Dynasty had always taken the Ordnance Bureau and the War Bureau as the main firearms production departments.

It was only four years after Hongzhi that the imperial court successively approved the manufacture of firearms restricted by some local guards. For example, Hongzhi approved Huguang and Guangxi in four years; In the last years of orthodoxy, Sichuan was approved to make its own weapons; Zhengde approved Qingzhou Left Guard in five years; Seven years to approve Xuzhou; Ten years of approval for Liangzhou and other places, a certain number of general firearms such as the bronze general god gun can be manufactured. This is where the self-made weapons at the border gates began.

In the fourth year of Jiajing, Liaodong made its own poisonous fire cannons. In thirteen years, Shanxi made some firearms. However, for the weapons manufactured by the local guards, only some hand-held bronze guns and large general cannons used in castles were allowed to be produced. At the same time, the firearms manufactured should also prevent others from stealing or learning: "Keep it close and do not leak the style, violators are guilty of felonies." ”

The imperial court also strictly controlled the raw materials necessary for the manufacture of firearms and gunpowder, such as saltpeter. First of all, in the provinces where saltpeter is produced, factories and bureaus are set up to implement official sales, and it is not allowed to fry nitrate without permission, and violators will be severely punished. Secondly, it is to strictly control the circulation of saltpeter. The government issued a letter to the governor of the provincial firearms manufacturing bureaus, such as Fu, Yuan, Bingdao, etc., indicating the amount of sulfite used by the bureau, and only then was the merchant allowed to pay taxes and traffick, and other official documents were not allowed to be used. In order to prevent the merchants from communicating with the Japanese invaders, they also ordered a sea ban, and did not allow the merchant ships in Fujian, Guangzhou, and other places to have sulfur, and after being found, they were severely punished.

Gao Pragmatic was a little surprised when he heard this, it turned out that the sea ban was still related to this?