After inspecting these recruits who were about to become new troops, Zhu Youzhen led everyone back to the Shuai Si Yamen in the camp.

After the remaining sergeants in the Beijing camp were reorganized, only the three battalions of Fenwu, Guoyong, and Yangwei remained, totaling more than 9,000 people.

After the dismantling and reorganization, the battalion officers of the three battalions were also adjusted, Yuan Xin, the governor of the Fenwu battalion, Liu Guofang, the governor of the Guoyong battalion, and Luo Jingrong, the governor of the Yangwei battalion.

In addition, under the command of the three battalions, an additional mission officer was added to take charge of military discipline and the cultural education of non-commissioned officers.

The two battalions of Fenwu and Guoyong are both full of 3,600 people and belong to the semi-firearms battalion. The Yangwei battalion is a pure cavalry battalion, with a total of more than 2,200 people.

Originally, according to Sun Chengzong's proposal, the two battalions of Fenwu and Guoyong should be built into car battalions dominated by artillery.

However, Zhu Youzhen firmly rejected this idea, and in this era when road construction was almost non-existent, the troops mainly with artillery had very few routes available for marching, making it very easy for the enemy to judge the direction of the army's movement.

Moreover, the Fulong machine guns and tiger squat cannons equipped by the Beijing camp were made with rough craftsmanship and were not tightly breathed, so their power was insufficient. But the gunpowder consumed by these artillery pieces in a battle is hundreds or even thousands of catties.

According to the regulations, the amount of gunpowder carried by a car battalion was 9,000 catties. In other words, if the battle is more intense, you can only fight about 10 battles. As a result, the requirements for logistical transportation become very high, after all, after the cannon loses its gunpowder, it becomes a pile of scrap metal.

As for the red-coated cannon recommended by Sun Chengzong, it was originally a naval gun on a British shipwreck, and 38 were salvaged by Deng Shiliang, the official of Zhaoqing Prefecture in Guangdong, and 22 were sent to the capital, and 12 were immediately transferred to Ningyuan.

Because he claimed to have killed Nurhachi in the Battle of Ningyuan and repelled the Houjin army, he became an artifact in the eyes of Ming officials.

But for Zhu Youzhen, he doesn't believe in such myths. Inferior black powder mixed with debris, a group of gunners who did not know anything about the measurement standards of artillery loading and ammunition, and did not know how to calculate the elevation angle and the distance to the target.

Using such a red-coated cannon to hit a fixed target in the enemy camp is something that only a god can do.

Moreover, although Huang Kezhang, the former secretary of the Ministry of War, recruited 14 craftsmen who had cast Luzon bronze cannons, and successfully imitated 30 red-coated cannons with iron core and copper bodies a few years ago.

But these cannons, which weigh thousands of pounds, are best used for siege, followed by defending the city or naval battles, but letting the soldiers of the car battalion drag the red-coated cannons to the field, which is undoubtedly testing the road construction and wheel manufacturing technology of the Ming Dynasty.

It was Sun Yuanhua's proposal to cast the red-clothed cannon, which was immediately vetoed by Zhu Youzhen. The reorganization of the Beijing camp has also been restored to hand-to-hand combat, with firearms as an auxiliary establishment.

With the exception of the cavalry battalion, both infantry battalions discarded the Three-Eyed Gun. It was changed to two main types of equipment: long guns and firearms.

Among the 3,600 people, 720 were logistics personnel, 520 were officers, 2,360 were combat soldiers, 1,120 were pikemen, sword and shield soldiers were musketeers, and 280 were firearms men who operated Fran machines and tiger squat guns.

Except for what kind of firearms the musketeers will use, Zhu Youzhen has not yet determined, and the weapons of the other arms have been completely updated.

While Zhu Youzhen was still thinking about the establishment of the new army, Yuan Chonghuan was standing below, and he was full of enthusiasm to announce to the generals of the Beijing camp that the General Staff Officer's arrangements for the Beijing camp to set up a staff system.

Gyeongyeong will be officially renamed Gyeonggi Defense Governor's Office, and Yu Zhigao will be the first Grand Governor of Gyeonggi Governor's Office, and he will be the first Chief of Staff of Gyeonggi Governor's Office.

Yuan Chonghuan was able to get this position entirely because Sun Chengzong wanted to recommend him to become the head of the General Logistics Department of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, which was about to be established.

Zhu Youzhen weighed the pros and cons, and decided that it would be more controllable to let Yuan Chonghuan go to Beijing as the chief of staff.

Although he missed out on the General Logistics Department, which was full of oil and water, being able to meddle in the military power of the Beijing camp was a better outcome for Yuan Chonghuan. After all, for him, power is always more important than wealth.

After Yuan Chonghuan finished speaking, after a slight pause, he asked Chongzhen for instructions: "As for the new army that is about to be established, will it also be unified under the jurisdiction of the Gyeonggi Governor's Office?"

Zhu Youzhen thought for a long time before he spoke: "No, the new army will be under the direct jurisdiction of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies. And they can't call it a new army yet, not even an army, let's call it a training battalion for the time being. ”

Yuan Chonghuan was not surprised by the emperor's decision, but he still asked tentatively again: "There are 589 low-ranking military attachés selected from the Beijing camp in the Army Military Academy, and after more than a month of training, the reliability of these people has been fully confirmed.

So now do you want to transfer some of them back and configure them to train military attachés in a battalion? ”

"Ten days later, an examination was held at the military academy, and the top 20 cadets were transferred to the first training battalion to serve as commanders at all levels." Zhu Youzhen said casually.

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, is it referring to the content of the Wujinshi exam?" Lu Shanji asked definitely.

"Compared to Wu Yong, I value their leadership and command ability more than not. The content of the test is regulations, topographic surveying and mapping, mathematics and basic official document writing skills, and the detailed content will be sent to Mr. Sun after returning to the palace. Zhu Youzhen said.

Soon the morning ended in the discussion of everyone, and after a brief lunch prepared by the Beijing camp, Zhu Youzhen left with Sun Yuanhua first.

This afternoon, Zhu Youzhen will once again inspect the gunpowder and ordnance workshops that have been rectified. As the ordnance director in charge of rectifying the weapons workshop, Sun Yuanhua also eagerly hoped that the emperor would reconsider and establish a project for cannon casting.

The first place where the group went was the gunpowder making workshop in the northwest corner of the capital. For the production of black powder, the only improvement suggestions that Zhu Youjian can provide are: the best mix ratio, increasing the number of saltpeter purification, and various supervision and quality inspection measures.

When he came to the gunpowder workshop again, looking at the workers in white coats, masks and hats in and out of the courtyard, and the clean ground, he finally felt that this place no longer looked like a black workshop in the countryside.

Zhao Yuansheng, the manager of the gunpowder workshop, explained to Chongzhen the configuration of the gunpowder workshop after the rectification.

“… Now there are five saltpeter purification workshops, two sulfur purification workshops, a charcoal making workshop, two dispensing rooms, two grinding pharmacies, three drying rooms, two finished product packaging workshops, and finally a warehouse for temporary storage of gunpowder...

According to the formula provided by His Majesty, as well as various experiments with the mixing ratio, we confirmed that the ratio of saltpeter, sulfur, and willow charcoal was 75, and the ratio of gunpowder was 10:15, which was the most suitable for musket firing.

The ratio of saltpeter, sulfur and willow charcoal is 78:8:14, which is most suitable for artillery firing.

The above gunpowder can more than double the range, but the power is much greater than the old gunpowder, whether it is a musket or a Furlong machine is easy to cause explosions, and now there is a high demand from the firearms workshop to readjust the gunpowder mixture. ”

Zhu Youjian paused, and said: "Don't pay attention to them, since the mix ratio has been determined, then the production will be finalized according to these two mix ratios." How much can these two gunpowders be produced in a month? ”

Zhao Yuansheng immediately replied: "It is estimated that 80,000 catties of gunpowder can be completed per month, and 20,000 catties of gunpowder is estimated to be completed per month."

Zhu Youzhen nodded, and then under his leadership, he visited the production process of the entire gunpowder workshop, and finally the group came to an empty courtyard in the southeast corner of the workshop, which is also a test site for gunpowder testing.

Zhao Yuansheng carefully poured some black powder particles on a piece of white paper, and then an attendant took a fire sickle and lit a piece of coarse paper and handed it to him.

Zhao Yuansheng immediately took the fire head and approached the black powder on the white paper, the black powder on the paper ignited instantly, and after a burst of green smoke, nothing was left on the white paper, and it was not damaged.

Zhu Youzhen took the leather bag containing gunpowder from Zhao Yuansheng's hand, poured some into his hand, and looked at it carefully for a while.

"The surface of these gunpowder particles seems to be a little rougher, so isn't it easy to absorb water and become wet? Can't you find a way to polish it? For example, graphite or something. ”

Zhao Yuansheng hurriedly said: "The ministers will find craftsmen to conduct experiments, in fact, according to His Majesty's requirements, after all the gunpowder is changed, although the cost has increased a little, but it has been much better than the previous powdered gunpowder hygroscopicity."

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said, "I don't dare to take this credit." Didn't the gunpowder workshop already make granular gunpowder before?

However, Director Sun, now that all the processes in the gunpowder workshop are operated by hand, can't we make some machines to improve work efficiency and reduce errors caused by human factors by the way?

After all, in addition to the pursuit of excellent gunpowder performance, we also need to ensure the stability of each production batch. ”

Sun Yuanhua had to smile bitterly and nodded and said, "The ministers will work hard to fulfill His Majesty's request."

Zhu Youzhen motioned to his entourage to light another piece of coarse paper, and then lit the black powder on his palm, but the gunpowder burned out of his palm, but it was only slightly hot.

After clapping his hands, he said to Wang Chengen behind him: "The fact that the gunpowder workshop can be rectified to this extent in a short period of time shows that they are indeed meritorious.

3,000 taels were allocated from the inner treasury to reward all the members of the gunpowder workshop, and a group of model workers were selected to issue a certificate of appreciation in the name of the ordnance superintendent.

In addition, the officials in charge of the gunpowder workshop were commended once. ”

Under the farewell of Zhao Yuansheng and other gunpowder workshop officials, Zhu Youzhen and the others headed south towards the avenue, preparing to go to the ordnance factory outside the Xuanwu Gate.

Zhu Youzhen, who was riding on a horse, asked Sun Yuanhua, who was half a horse behind him: "If the production capacity of this gunpowder workshop wants to continue to expand, what else is needed?"

Sun Yuanhua replied without thinking: "The main thing is the production of saltpeter, the production of natural nitrate is too low, and it is in the south or northwest.

The saltpeter used in the gunpowder workshop is purified by soil nitrate, and only 8 or 9 kilograms of nitrate can be extracted from 1,000 catties of nitrate, and then purified to the purity required by His Majesty, and about 30-40 catties of pure nitrate can be obtained for every 100 catties of nitrate.

Calculated in this way, the cost of every 100 catties of gunpowder produced by the gunpowder workshop is now 6 taels, which is nearly twice as expensive as before. ”