In this secret report, this news is the most important to Huang Taiji and others.

If the Ming army, especially the Jingshi garrison, is sorted out according to the standards of the Nanyue Army, even if it cannot reach the combat effectiveness and discipline of the Nanyue Army, as long as it can have one-third or one-half, then it will be difficult to think of the Ming Dynasty to fight the grass valley in the future.

"It's like the Nanyue Army, as long as there are Sancheng Ming troops like Lu Xiangsheng, it will be difficult for my Qing soldiers to enter the customs again."

Huang Taiji put forward his own opinion on this matter.

"The emperor doesn't have to worry like this, from the perspective of slaves, in the Ming Kingdom, there are only a few people such as Lu Xiangsheng and Li Shouhan, and there are many people like Gao Qiqian. is slightly stronger than Gao Qiqian, but it is Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou. ”

"If it weren't for the fact that there were too many high dives, how could the minions be able to snatch this good drink for the emperor to enjoy?"

Dolgon made a deliberate grimace, and picked up the delicate glass in his hand, in the cup, the yellow juice was very beautiful, and the teasing Bumu Bu Tiger couldn't stop laughing.

"Fourteenth brother, when you sent Zilharang to escort those seized items back to Shengjing, he was quite complaining at first. thinks that you blocked his path to meritorious service, and it is a move of jealousy and jealousy. Huang Tai Jiyun lightly put some eye medicine between Zilharang and Dolgon.

"However, after examining the seizures, especially the cannons you have sent, I have reprimanded him severely. In my will, I said that nothing would be achieved from this entry, and that these cannons alone would be enough. He was able to escort these cannons back to Shengjing safely. It's a great achievement. ”

"Thank you for your understanding of the minions!"

Dolgon was very involved in the play to cooperate with Huang Taiji's performance, kneeling on the ground, with tears in his eyes.

"Get up and talk!"

Huang Taiji glanced at Dolgon on the ground.

When Jilharang escorted the looted gold and silver materials, the plundered more than 100,000 people and a huge number of artillery returned to Shengjing, Huang Taiji was overjoyed.

He didn't expect that this time he would be able to kill a Ming governor, defeat and capture tens of thousands of Ming troops, and then conquer the provincial capital where the governor was stationed.

What surprised him even more were the captured artillery.

For the casting and use of artillery, since Huang Taiji ascended to the throne and took power, the so-called Tianyou Cheering General Artillery was manufactured during the Tiancong period. Used for quadripartite expeditions. Since the surrender of Kong Youde and others. Casting artillery was a strategic task of the Manchu regime.

For the Han people in Liaodong at this time, casting firearms was a good job, which could become a passage to escape the fate of slaves.

Qing army on excellent craftsmen. Especially for the cannon coppersmith, it is a reward. Those who are skilled can be given official positions. Those who do not want to be officials. Two taels of grain and silver will be rewarded every month, five stones and three buckets of rice will be given every quarter, and houses and acres of land will also be given. It is also rewarded to the generations of golden fire to worship Tang A.

When Tiancong was four years old, due to the triumphant return of Houjin, he was rewarded with a special edict for the iron official Fan Jucannon. In the fifth year of Tiancong, Wang Tianxiang, a cannon maker, was promoted from a slave to worship him Rabul Hafan, and in March of the seventh year of Tiancong, he was promoted to reserve the emperor with the merit of creating and casting.

The capture of these many artillery pieces naturally made Huang Taiji happy, especially since there are many artillery pieces made in Nanzhong, for these cannons, he has been dreaming of them in his heart for a long time, but he has not been able to do it, and today he finally has the opportunity to see them.

At that time, he ordered the Han officials Ma Guangyuan, Ding Qiming, Ji Shichang, Zhu Shiyi, Wang Tianxiang, as well as a large and small iron official, and an important caster, to summon the loyal and obedient Wang Kong Youde to go to the bank of the Hunhe River to test the cannon.

Although most of the captured Nanzhong artillery pieces were Franc machines and the like, they were so well made that they really surprised experts such as Ma Guangyuan, Ding Qiming, and Wang Tianxiang.

Ding Qiming was responsible for the production of the Qing Dynasty's Hongyi cannon and bird gun, and he was originally the deputy assistant of the Beijing Camp Rongzheng and the standard general of Liu Zhilun, the right attendant of the military department, and the deputy general, and had the reputation of "good at casting red cannons" in Daming.

After the surrender, in the year of Tiancong, he was responsible for supervising the construction of a series of 'Tianyou Cheering General' Hongyi cannons, commanding craftsmen Jin Shixiang, Wang Tianxiang, etc., and successfully casting a batch of cannons, which was appreciated by Huang Taiji.

But in his eyes, these cannons were cast in a good way, and the inner walls were smooth and rounded, and the muzzles were the same. What amazed him the most was that the guns were universally interchangeable between the cannons.

He wasn't alone, though.

The gunners who were taken by Kong Youde to the banks of the Hunhe River to exercise these captured guns, including more than a dozen Portuguese gunners, were also amazed by these artillery.

The caliber of each gun is basically the same, and the wheel frame is the same, so that the gunners are accustomed to each group of artillery to drill a gun, so that the concept of the almost golden rule is broken.

After several rounds of shooting, Kong Youdexing rushed to Huang Taiji and said, "This generation of Nanban artillery, the artillery under the slaves, can be operated by a team of artillery, or by each team of people performing a piece of artillery, and the shelling effect is basically the same." ”

The results of such tests immediately aroused the interest of Huang Taiji, Ding Qiming and others.

It must be known that the casting artillery process of this era is popular with one cannon and one model, and the parameters between each gun are very different, so basically each gun corresponds to a group of gunners, and the gunner of the A artillery must spend a period of time to be familiar with the performance and parameters of the B artillery before fighting. And now they are being told, artillery can still be played like this? How can this not excite and surprise Huang Taiji and others?

"In the past, craftsmen's workshops used the method of lost wax to cast cannons, and if the weather was hot, the wax material was not easy to condense, and it was often limited by the season. The method of easy mud casting of Chensi, the mud fan can be dried in April, and the mold mud can be beaten away, which is not limited by the weather. Although this method is not limited by the season, the mud fan cannot be reused. If there are many defects on the inner wall of the barrel, it must also be destroyed and recast. However, this generation of Nanban, I don't know what secret skills there are, but they can make a hundred cannons like a cannon, can make a hundred people practice a cannon, and can also make one person practice a hundred artillery, I don't know what the mystery is. ”

Speaking of the impact of the test on himself and his subordinates, Huang Taiji still remembers it vividly.

"Taste the Western cannon casting. Those who get two or three out of ten are called national hands, and there has never been a hundred and a hundred. Every time I think about it, I don't know what kind of characters under Li can be so skillful! On that day, after the king of Gongshun drilled the artillery, he was full of praise for the sophistication of the artillery, claiming that even the artillery forged by the Portuguese could not do such a subtle way. I have decreed that the craftsman's workshop be carefully copied. This generation of cannons is the weapon of the country. As long as it can be manufactured successfully, there is no need to worry about the material. However, it is not allowed to be wasted. ”

"And the fourteenth brother, what you have offered today. It was an eye-opener for me. If the firecrackers in my Eight Banners can assemble this kind of firecrackers, then, that. ”

For a while, Huang Taiji couldn't think of the right words to describe his vision for the Eight Banners Firearms Unit in the future.

"Your Majesty, the servant just invited the emperor to see the sword. Now. The slave also asked the emperor to take another look at these firecrackers. ”

After Dolgon's confession. Once again, in front of Huang Taiji, he raised the relatively intact fire gun, and Ah Shan and the others, who were standing at the corner of the hall, unconsciously put their hands on the hilt of the knife.

Luckily, Dorgon was the first to remove the spike from the jaw. Throwing it aside, he rummaged through the scattered wreckage of the firebolt for a while, and put a few parts on top of the firebolt.

This is how the captives were shown to the minions that day. Please ask the emperor to send someone outside the palace to try to set off a fire. ”

Seeing this exquisite novelty, Bumu Butai immediately jumped to ask Yingying to go, and some guards filled the gunpowder into the gunpowder pipe, and sprinkled some gunpowder in the medicine pool, but could not find the place where the fire rope was placed.

"You can use flint!"

Several of the guards listened to Dorgon's instructions and placed the flint in the buckle of the dragon's head.

"Bang!"

Hearing a loud bang, Bumu Butai didn't hit anything, but shouted happily: "It's so interesting, let's hit it again." ”

This time, it was Bumu Butai herself who reloaded it with great interest according to the actions of the guards, and after stabbing the projectile and gunpowder in the barrel with her cane, she aimed at a small tree twenty or thirty paces away, and after aiming for a while, she decisively pulled the trigger, and the dragon head fell, firing the flint and igniting the primer in the fire door, and with a loud bang, the small tree was interrupted by the waist.

The power of this weapon is so great, it is no wonder that those warriors in heavy armor have no room to fight back in the face of dense projectiles.

"Fourteenth brother, you said that the Nanyue Army that fought against you was to fight with my Qing soldiers with guns on one side and stabs on the other?"

Huang Taiji, who stood in front of the pillar of the temple and watched Bumu Butai test firing the firecracker, looked at this scene with a frown.

This concubine of his own, after watching the guards demonstrate it, after opening a gun herself, she can complete the loading with a skillful hand, and then open another gun. A mere woman's family can operate a fire gun to fire a gun at an imaginary enemy, if ......

He didn't dare to think any further.

"Prince Rui, this firearm can actually be used by all parts?" Fan Wencheng, who hurried over when he heard the sound of the gun, was very curious and pinched a dragon head and looked at it in his hand.

Although he is a civilian official, he is no stranger to military affairs, and he has also sent troops and horses with Huang Taiji many times, and he is well aware of the power and operation of firearms and artillery.

"Not bad."

According to Ding Qiming's words, among the manufacture of this gun, only the barrel and the gun body are the most rare. It can be called the soul of a weapon, but the minions watch the various guns offered by Prince Rui, and the guns are completely consistent. Exquisitely crafted, it is so so! ”

"Mr. Fan, that's not all. Most of the Ming munitions we have seen before were ignited by fire ropes, and very few flintlock guns were used. This is because the number of flintlock dumb fires is much higher than that of arquebuses. But Mr. Fan, Concubine Zhuang tried it twice, and both of them were successfully ignited, which is the work of this thing. ”

Dorgon ostentatiously shook a spring in his hand.

"Fourteenth brother, what is this?"

"The minions under the minions don't know what this is, but they know that this thing can put the force on the trigger on the dragon head to ensure that the dragon head hits the flint and fires."

"This thing, the herald's workshop, let them imitate it! In addition, in the future, the firecrackers and artillery, as well as swords and armor made by our Qing Dynasty, must also be interchangeable between parts. ”

He can't say the words of standardization and versatility of parts when he kills Huang Taiji, but as the commander of a group, he has an instinct that is close to that of a beast when it comes to these strategic techniques. He knew that the popularization and application of this technique would unlimitedly improve the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners Army, and even reduce consumption.

Think about it. When a fire gun is scrapped, it will be scrapped, and it can only be re-cast. And if you use these techniques, you can replace the same part with one if it is broken!

"Master, according to the confessions of those captives under the minions, a barrel of Nanban gunpowder is 20 catties, and only three Nanban silver coins or three taels of silver. If you buy more than 500 barrels at a time, the price will drop to 2 taels or 2 silver coins per barrel. In this way, it is much cheaper than making gunpowder ourselves. Moreover, the strength of Nanban gunpowder far exceeds that of the gunpowder we make ourselves. Concubine Zhuang's two guns, if you use Nanban gunpowder......"

"What is Uncle Fourteen talking about me behind my back?"

The flush of excitement on Bumu Butai's face had not yet completely receded. There were still slight beads of sweat on the corners of his forehead.

"This king is praising to the emperor that Concubine Zhuang is really a lark on the grassland, not to mention that she is skilled in swords, guns, bows and horses, and this Nanban's fire gun is also so sharp."

Dolgon said a perfunctory remark, but his eyes were carefully observing Huang Taiji's expression. At the same time, he wantonly searched on Bumu Butai's delicate figure.

"Your Majesty. Is Uncle Fourteen lying to me? Bumu Butai deliberately made a delicate and delightful little daughter in front of Huang Taiji.

"The fourteenth brother is indeed praising you in front of me." Huang Taiji also didn't want this Mongolian woman to know too much about her military affairs. Especially right now, Wu Keshan, the brother-in-law and nephew of his wife's mother's family, who commands the Forty-Nine Banners of Horqin for him (no way, who asked him to get the three aunts and nephews of the Bumu Butai family on his kang?) So this generation and title are naturally very confusing. It's in the palace. If some rumors leak out, it will inevitably bring unnecessary trouble to yourself.

"Go and talk to your brother, say that the fourteenth prince is here, and I will use it with the fourteenth prince for lunch!"

Hearing that the emperor intended to let his brother and Dolgon accompany him to lunch, Bumu Butai naturally knew that this was a good thing, and hurriedly got up and left to spread the word to the courtyard where his brother lived.

"Your Majesty, Prince Rui, just now you mentioned Prince Wu Keshan, but the slave remembered something."

"What?"

Huang Taiji's face immediately sank, and he had always been worried that the Mongols in Horqin would have different intentions after the loss of his Eight Banners. In that case, there is no need to worry about the two wings and the rear, even if the strategic advantage of facing Fu Mingguo in the south will be broken.

"A few days ago, the slave's family happened to talk to the slave that several Shanxi businessmen in Shengjing City sent men to negotiate business with Wu Keshan, the princes of Horqin, and exchanged grain, rice, and cloth for cattle."

"Huh? How to exchange? ”

"It is said that an adult bulf can be exchanged for two stones of grain and rice, or one zhang of flower cloth, and the calf can be halved. If it's a bull, a mullet, or something like that, you can double it. ”

"What does the shopkeeper of your own family Fan say?"

Huang Taiji has a little bit of ridicule and banter. He didn't care too much about this kind of trade, there were many cattle and sheep on the Mongolian steppe, as long as the war horses were not sold to the interior by the Mongols in large quantities, so he would continue to maintain the advantage of mobility. You can't give no benefits to the Mongols and Jin merchants, right?

"Master, the slave's family got the inside information from the guys of the Fan family's business, after these cattle were transported to the Guannai, except for a small part of them were bought and eaten by the officials and soldiers and wealthy people from all over the country, they were sold to the Nanzhong merchants in the capital. They bought it at the price of five stone of grain and rice per adult bulf. This back and forth, Fan Yongdou and others earned several times the amount of money! ”

Fan Wencheng said in his mouth, secretly observing Huang Taiji from the corner of his eyes, watching the change in the expression on that black face.

"Two stone rice harvest, five stone rice out? Sure enough, it's a good deal! ”

Dorgon sneered. Because of his close relationship with Li Peiting, he naturally has a natural dislike for the eight masters of the Jin Dynasty, which is the so-called ass commanding the head. If it weren't for the fact that the Eight Banners could get the grain, weapons, iron and other things that Li Peiting refused to sell, he Dolgon wished that the entire trade of the Eight Banners would be operated by Li Peiting, so that his two white flags could get more benefits.

Fan Wencheng could probably guess the dissatisfaction of this Prince Rui with Jin Shang, but he didn't have the courage to guess deeply. He just kept his head down and continued to say what he thought.

"Master, the servants thought that if the master wanted to build firearms, he would have to smelt them in large quantities, and at the same time, the number of apprentices and craftsmen in the craftsmen's workshops everywhere increased, and the consumption of money and food was huge. If you don't open up your financial resources, you will inevitably have to worry about sitting on empty waters. ”

"Master Fan, then, in your opinion, how should we deal with this matter?" Not only Huang Taiji, but also Dolgon understood that if you want to manufacture firearms in large quantities, especially copycat imitations of Nanzhong firearms, it is bound to consume a lot of money and food, and if you can't find a road that can provide enough food and iron materials stably, I am afraid that it will be a problem to feed the craftsmen in those craftsmen's workshops.

"Slave courage, please give the emperor an order. It was expressly forbidden for the Mongol princes to trade with outsiders without authorization. ”

"No trade? 1 "Huang Taiji is almost about to jump from the throne, if you don't let those Mongol princes and Jin merchants trade, I am afraid that these two times will be in chaos, which is much more terrible than hundreds of thousands of Ming troops.

"The minions' words are not clear, but they say that they are not allowed to trade with outsiders without permission. If several wealthy people in Shanxi want to purchase certain types of items and local products, or sell certain types of items, they can only communicate with the emperor like the second son of Li who is prevalent in Long, and cannot act with the banner lords and princes without authorization. According to the rough calculation of slaves, the Horqin grassland and the Chahar grassland can produce no less than hundreds of thousands of cattle every year, and if 200,000 heads are used to trade with the wealthy east of Shanxi, they can also be exchanged for hundreds of thousands of stone grain, feed those craftsmen, and support the master to cast firearms. ”

On the same day, at lunchtime, Dolgon proposed to Wu Keshan in front of Huang Taiji that the cattle in this autumn and winter should not be slaughtered on a large scale, and that the emperor should appoint a special person to purchase them for trade with southern merchants.

In this regard, Wu Keshan, as the leading figure of Horqin Mongolia, is naturally full of promises. (To be continued......)

PS: It's the weekend, ask for a monthly pass.