Feeling that his sister-in-law's royal status can unite the people and improve the morale of the soldiers, it is also to show that Liaodong is different from Guannei, Xu Hao boldly appointed Zhu Qiaoqiao as the minister of political affairs, and declared that his sister-in-law is the lord of Liaodong, and his identity is still above himself, intending to replace the influence of the king of Liao.

There was almost no opposition, Zhu Qiaoqiao's identity is too special, deep-rooted feudal traditional thinking, the people don't really mind the princess becoming the spiritual leader of the head, after all, the distance is too far, and there has been no Han regime in the north for nearly eight or nine hundred years, for most Liao people, it doesn't matter who rules Liaodong, and the common people in this era often only have a home and no country in their hearts.

It is not easy to survive in Liaodong because of the relationship between regions, women have always been half a laborer in the family, the status of women of the Mongolian Jurchen and other ethnic groups in the clan is not low, the Han people have naturally been greatly affected, and the women in the north are famous for their boldness and freedom, and their personalities are pungent and spicy, not to mention that the women of the Northeast have been hunting on horseback since ancient times, and dare to take up arms and thieves to resist, and the status of women is much higher than that of Guannei.

In the spacious workshop of the arsenal, the three-zhang high walls made of bricks and cement and the roof are a mixed structure of wood and iron, which can accommodate hundreds of people. Xu Hao's expression was delighted, and the pursuit and attention to the improvement of techniques and techniques kept the family's skills at a level that was a big step ahead of the Beiping Arsenal, and any slight improvement in firearms in Beiping would be used for his own use as soon as possible.

Who could have known that a brand new smoothbore musket could be produced in just one day? On the contrary, Zhu Di prefers the large-scale combat method of traditional cold weapons in his bones, which can be seen from his habit of killing the enemy in person. The fear of new things, whether it is the way of fighting or all aspects, will produce great changes, which makes Zhu Di a little disgusted and instinctively wary of muskets.

Therefore, the scale of the Shenji battalion has always been controlled, the number of people has not exceeded 10,000, the number of muskets has been strictly limited, and a large number of craftsmen have turned to make bows and crossbows and armor, and the development of firearms in the Ming Dynasty has stagnated in history, to a large extent, starting from the Yongle Dynasty, Zhu Di has withdrawn the casting rights of firearms in various places, and the stability of the external world has also lost the enthusiasm for improving firearms.

Historically, the use of firearms was not further developed until the Qi Jiguang period. In fact, both the Franc machine and the new artillery were derived from Western techniques. However, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were soon able to master and cast better muskets and artillery, which proved that Xu Hao's leapfrog development was completely feasible in the early Ming Dynasty, but it is a pity that the decay and decline of the feudal dynasty failed to save the fate of the Ming Dynasty from being destroyed.

Sichang Wang Jian said to Xu Hao and other civil and military officials: "It takes half a year for a good bow to be good, and at least seven days for a crossbow. The musket only takes a day. Ammunition is also much easier to craft than arrows. Riding on horseback and wielding a musket has a longer range than the Tartar's proud art of mounted archery, if a knight carries four or five muskets. Hehe! ”

Xu Hao played with the long musket in his hand and said: "It is not easy to raise horses, we must continue to improve them as much as possible, and when the foreign cavalry can no longer pose any threat to the foot soldiers armed with muskets, then the northern border troubles since ancient times will be completely ended." Mongolian cavalry shooting? Hum! It's only worthy of hunting. ”

Dozens of staff members and secretaries pondered the governor's conversation, and a young man named Sun Ning asked, "May I ask the general, what if the aliens also learned to use muskets and obtained the way to make them?" ”

Xu Hao said with a smile: "This is unavoidable, I have long said that firearms such as firearms have been carried forward since the Song Dynasty, and the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty have used firearms to assist bows and arrows across the world, conquering the Western Regions Persia and a large area of unimaginable vast land, and it is gunpowder firearms that have been spread throughout the entire world. That is, whether we develop a musket or not, similar muskets will appear. Muskets may change the outcome of a war, but they cannot change the fortunes of a country. ”

At this time, no one would understand the deep meaning of Xu Hao's last sentence, and Sun Ning said suspiciously: "Isn't that that nothing changed?" ”

Xu Hao handed the musket to Mu Hui, who rushed back, and said, "Of course it has changed, do you think about the total population of the Northern Yuan?" At most, it will not exceed three million, and it is still a very backward nomadic civilization, which is an unparalleled advantage in the era of cold weapons, and the so-called 100,000 people who control the strings is undoubtedly a nightmare for our Han people. And with muskets? Our Han people now have a population of 40 or 50 million, and the total number of troops mobilized by the whole country is not less than 2 million, and you can go to the battlefield with a musket in ten days and a half months of training, and you have felt the power of the musket many times, a civilian can master the firing technique of the musket in three months after rigorous training, and what about an elite Mongolian archer? It is necessary to practice riding and archery all year round since childhood, human strength is always limited, sufficient muskets and bullets are theoretically unlimited, just ask a million musketeers against millions of Mongolian iron cavalry, who wins and who loses? ”

Sun Ning nodded and said: "I see, with my national strength and population advantage, the longer it drags on, the less the Mongols will be an opponent, because they can't afford to consume it." ”

Xu Hao looked deeply at this handsome young man who was only eighteen years old, and said to the others: "This is the secret, now there is no need to consider that the alien race will have a musket, but in the future, sooner or later, you will have to think about it, how to make the whole army better exert its power, how to defeat the enemy under the same conditions, write an article to me in the vernacular." ”

Wang Jian looked at this scene with a smile, Xu Hao turned his head to him and said: "All factories must set up a joint-stock system, my Xu family will own the majority of the shares, and all the masters will give a few shares, and distribute money in proportion to profits every year." For the time being, except for the factories of muskets and artillery, any other industry encourages big guys to open their own factories, such as shipbuilding, mining, production and supply of firearms parts, and more welcome to produce goods such as agricultural machinery, porcelain, glassware, etc., I guarantee that the status of craftsmen and merchants will be equal to those who read, at least in this Liaodong, anyone's descendants can study and become officials, can wear silk and can change their profession at will, and will not be subject to any discrimination. ”

Even if Wang Jian and other hundreds of craftsmen knew that Xu Hao would treat them well, they didn't expect to be treated so well, and they were all stunned.

"Your Excellency." Wang Jian's expression was complicated, and he was just about to continue. Xu Hao stretched out his hand to stop him, "Don't say anything, even if the prince blames it, I will bear it, and I will never implicate the big guy, I will definitely fulfill my promise to you back then, as long as Xu does not die, I will definitely stick to it, and I will never regret it." ”

Not to mention that the craftsmen have a lot of discussions about this, some believe and some doubt, but anyway. Everyone has great respect and gratitude for Xu Hao, who keeps his promises. Even if it's short-lived.

Getting rid of the shackles of generational inheritance and low social status, future generations can study and become officials or serve in the army to learn martial arts to glorify the lintel, which is the dream of countless craftsmen since the Song and Yuan dynasties.

If you treat me as a soldier, I will repay you as a soldier. This is what many men think at this moment. Immediately, they scattered and devoted themselves to their work.

Wang Jian, who was in great spirits, pulled Xu Hao towards the cave. After a long tunnel, you will come to the very heart of the Arsenal.

From time to time there was a clanging sound in the depths of the cave, and wheelbarrows pushing gravel went back and forth. Xu Hao is very familiar with this place, because it is the place he personally chose, and in the past two years, he will also build a more secret and strong family core arsenal and security base when he builds the city of Dalian.

In a secret room, Wang Jian pointed to the things on the shelf and said: "Fortunately, my lord is really a genius, and the seemingly simple suggestion has solved the current bottleneck in one fell swoop." ”

Lined with greased paper-shelled bullets on the shelves and with sharp bayonets hanging from the stone walls on the other side, this is a small invention in history that is no less than the stirrup, but has made an immeasurable contribution to the development of firearms.

Xu Hao said with satisfaction: "Immediately start equipping the troops, and finally you can eliminate the spearmen, how much has the rate of fire increased?" ”

Wang Jian said: "It can reach three or four rounds per minute, if it is changed to rifled guns, it can hit the cavalry three hundred meters away, if the number of people is not very different, three thousand muskets and nearly 10,000 cavalry rush to the front, it should be able to completely defeat the cavalry, even if there are one or two thousand fish that slip through the net, loading bayonets is enough to replace the spearmen and Mongolian knights in a battle." ”

Xu Hao said with a smile: "I have a total of less than 10,000 troops, and I will strive to replace them with rifled guns within a year, and continue to produce smoothbore guns, and sooner or later we will have to popularize one gun per person." ”

The secret room was full of all kinds of tools and parts, Xu Hao had smokeless gunpowder and thunder mercury in his hands, and Wang Jian was going all out to develop a fire cap, that is, a primer necessary for all kinds of bullets and shells.

The current flintlock pistol is a front-loading gunpowder projectile, and it is very troublesome to have to stand and load, Xu Hao knows too well that the breech gun is the ultimate form of the musket, and when the fire cap is invented, the breech firing pin can be introduced.

Xu Hao suppressed the ecstasy in his heart, he didn't expect that it would span four or five hundred years in just a few years, of course, it would take a long time to test and test it repeatedly, in short, the appearance of the bayonet will make the problem that has plagued the commanders since ancient times, the long-range troops are not good at close combat, and the melee troops cannot be completely solved by long-range shooting, which is why the Mongolian cavalry can conquer the world, but the mobility is the strongest in the near and far.

The rear-loading rifled gun with a firing pin has been greatly improved in terms of range, power and accuracy, and the problem of reloading speed has also been solved.

Just as Xu Hao moved to the barracks to practice with the soldiers and began to study the impact of new equipment on the Ming Dynasty army structure, Zhu Di, who returned to Beiping, ushered in Zhang Xin, the commander of the capital, Guo Zi, the political envoy of Youbu, and Mo Lin, the deputy envoy of the inspection, and other officials to jointly submit a joint petition and ask him to take the throne of the emperor.

Want the king of Yan has been raising troops for three years, the soldiers brave the frost and dew, commit arrows and stones, bloody battles, although often take advantage of the victory to chase the north, but also often in danger, the city, the soldiers go to the rotation for the imperial court to guard, three years to stop Yongping, Daning, Baoding three mansions, in addition to a Saiwai Liaodong.

In the past three years, it has inevitably made the whole army tired of it, so many people have died on the battlefield, and those who survived have to continue to follow King Yan to fight in the south and the north, and now it has become a seemingly endless tug-of-war between the court and the court, too many people can't wait to raise Zhu Di to the emperor's throne, and everyone will follow the chicken dog to ascend to heaven. (To be continued......)