After thinking for a while, he asked, "Lord Zeng, the most important reason why the output of Hongyi cannons is so low, is it not that there is a shortage of refined iron?"

Zeng Qi enlightened, "That's not true. Now I will produce less iron next year, and there will be at least 90 million catties a year. Moreover, we have purchased all the best refined iron in all iron mines in the country, and there are at least five million catties of refined iron a year, which is more than enough to make one or two thousand Hongyi cannons. It's just that now only the armor factory and Wang Gong factory under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry can produce Hongyi cannons, so the production capacity can't be reached!"

Qin Shuhuai also understands this situation.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the ordnance manufacturing of the Ming Dynasty was still very developed, and there were thousands of craftsmen in any weapons bureau at that time, but in the later period, there were fewer and fewer, and there seemed to be only a hundred craftsmen in Chongzhen - all of them had no money to make trouble.

It is said that although a large number of craftsmen have been recruited now, the site and facilities of the armor factory (not only to manufacture armor, but also to manufacture artillery) and Wang Gong Factory are there, and the requirements for manufacturing Hongyi cannons are relatively high.

Qin Shuhuai suddenly remembered, it seems that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, various guards could also make weapons?

So he asked, "By the way, Lord Zeng, since the armor factory and Wang Gong factory can't come sooner, how about letting the weapons of the guards in various places be built together? ”

Zeng Qicheng smiled bitterly and said, "Grandpa Guo doesn't know anything, right? Although the weapons institutes in those places can make weapons, in terms of firearms, they can only make firearms at most, and large firearms such as Hongyi cannons can never be made, otherwise they will be considered to be plotting against each other." ”

Qin Shuhuai said in his heart, this regulation is not surprising, after all, the power of large artillery is there, and it is reasonable for the central government of the Ming court to be afraid of it.

However, judging from the current situation, even if the ban is temporarily lifted for a while, it will not hurt. If today's Da Ding and the beginning of the prosperous era, even if there are still a few careerists who want to rebel, I'm afraid no one will play with him. Besides, looking at the world, there is indeed no force that can still fight with the imperial court now.

Zeng Qicheng seemed to guess what Qin Shuhuai was thinking, and said, "Grandpa Guo, even if we let go and let the local production of Hongyi cannons, I'm afraid they won't be able to produce them for a while." ”

"Why?"

"First, now that all the outstanding craftsmen are concentrated in the capital, how can the local ironsmiths know this? Second, the local weapons institutes have never produced cannons, and there are no such facilities at all! Therefore, even if the imperial court sends the production task down, they can't do it. ”

Qin Shuhuai smiled when he heard this, "Lord Zeng, have you ever heard a saying that money can make ghosts grind?"

Zeng Qicheng was stunned for a moment and said, "This, what does Grandpa Guo mean?"

"Speaking of which, you think that the local area will not be able to build because of the lack of people and facilities. I think that as long as there is enough silver, then the weapons institute will definitely be able to think of a way to make artillery, and to put it bluntly, those facilities are not too complicated, but we should not underestimate the creativity of the people. ”

"Buy? Grandpa Guo, where did this start, the weapons in that place are not the imperial court, how can you talk about buying a word? This is not an exception, if this case is opened, it will be ......."

Zeng Qicheng stopped when he said this, because he suddenly remembered something.

There are still fewer examples set by the grandfather of this country? His position as the governor of Dongchang has not set a precedent that has never been set in this dynasty, and he has even sat on it after breaking the ancestral system? Compared to this, what is the current example?

Qin Shuhuai chuckled, "Why didn't Master Zeng continue?"

Zeng Qicheng smiled, "Grandpa Guo is far-sighted, and the lower officials can't ask themselves, so I still don't say it." ”

Qin Shuhuai said, "Hehe, it's not necessarily far-sighted, but there is a saying in our hometown that a black cat and a white cat can catch mice is a good cat." As long as we can mobilize the enthusiasm of the local government, it is nothing for us to pay a price. ”

Although Zeng Qicheng still felt that Qin Shuhuai's method was not very reliable, he still wisely chose to shut up, and then said a polite word.

"Grandpa Guo is wise. ”

Qin Shuhuai walked out of the Ministry of Engineering with a smile, and then returned home.

Immediately, Li Jingting was called and a recital was drafted.

The general meaning of the song is that now the naval war between the Ming and the Dutch is imminent, and it is urgent to build fifty battleships, but the battleships are easy to build but cannot be equipped with enough Hongyi cannons, so the imperial court is required to open the ban on local cannon manufacturing and let the local government participate. In addition, the imperial court purchased locally made cannons for 4,000 taels of silver per cannon, and this income could be freely disposed of by the local government, and the imperial court did not ask.

Qin Shuhuai's method is a bit of a "state-owned enterprise reform".

First of all, the imperial court did not order a hard apportionment, but purchased Hongyi cannons from local armories, which was equivalent to treating the weapons as an enterprise. And the money for buying guns can be used freely, which clearly means that you can share the profits yourself, which is more enterprise-like.

Most of the local weapons stations are controlled by the guards, so the commanders of the guards are equivalent to the "factory director", and every time a Hongyi cannon is produced, it is a profit for nothing.

How much is this profit?

According to the previous practice of Hongyi cannons, the craftsman was given three times the salary, and all expenses were according to the highest standard, so that it was only 3,500 taels of silver per piece.

If they go to the guardhouse, it is conceivable that they will vigorously control the cost in order to make greater profits, so it is more than enough to earn him a thousand taels of silver without a cannon.

One thousand taels, this is a lot of money, you must know that the salary of the county order after the salary increase is only 15 taels a month, which is enough for the county order to work for five or six years.

And this is only one cannon, what if it is ten? That's 10,000 taels!

Tempting isn't it?

Seductive people are motivated!

Because this money is not earned lying down.

If you want to make cannons, you first have to build a large kiln, run a tool, find craftsmen, ask the imperial court to send people to teach the technique, and you have to apply for a quota of fine iron with the imperial court - the best refined iron can be in the hands of the imperial court.

It's all money.

If you can afford this money, you are eligible to take the job.

And you also have to take risks, if the trade is opened and you can't make the cannon that the court wants, then you will lose everything.

However, Qin Shuhuai knew that all this would be difficult for those commanders in charge of the weapons station.

Isn't it just asking for money? Just go directly to the local rich businessmen and let them vote?

If you lose them, you will earn a share!

The market economy is great, although there are big risks hidden in it, such as collusion between government and business.

But Qin Shuhuai knew that this was inevitable, if he didn't do it today, this situation would still occur in the future. The only thing that can stop corruption is the system - such as the independence of the judicial power and the supervision of the judicial power, but obviously this system, the current Ming Dynasty is not perfect, at most it is just a shelf.

Therefore, he was still relatively conservative and did not fully open up, but suggested that Chongzhen adopt the form of "bidding" and only select the weapons of ten guards for piloting.

Chongzhen couldn't help but smile bitterly when he saw this recital, Brother Qin, Brother Qin, do you really dare to think of it, you can think of this kind of idea? Let the imperial court purchase weapons from its own weapons, after this precedent is opened, if the imperial court does not spend money to buy weapons in various places, won't all the weapons made by the imperial court make weapons? They sell things to the imperial court? What about the money that the imperial court allocates to them every year?

So I pressed it down and didn't see it.

Qin Shuhuai waited for a few days and didn't see a reply, so he went to the palace to find Chongzhen directly.

The two naturally had a good debate in the palace, and even Sun Chengzong participated, and firmly stood on Chongzhen's side.

The noise was so red that Chongzhen didn't even eat lunch.

And when the pastry came up, he didn't say that he invited Qin Shuhuai to eat some, but Qin Shuhuai reached out to take it himself, and Chongzhen rolled his eyes.

Helplessly, in the end, Sun Chengzong came to make peace.

The method he proposed was very simple, that is, the imperial court still sent 4,000 taels to choose ten local guards to build cannons, but this is called "soldier supplement", not purchase.

The military supplement is much better, it is a special subsidy given by the imperial court for this matter, and there is nothing to say in the future.

And there is no bidding, as long as you are chosen, you have to build it.

Well, Qin Shuhuai's "state-owned enterprise reform" plan completely failed, and he originally wanted to use this incident as an introduction to let Chongzhen further understand the benefits of the market economy, but this time there is no drama.

I thought to myself, it seems that this time the steps are a bit big! I am too anxious.

However, I really want to teach Chongzhen everything, so that he can understand the economic rules of later generations as soon as possible, so that he can formulate more favorable policies and let Daming be one step ahead of the world.

Because, I don't have much time left to stay here!

But thinking about the matter of making cannons, it shouldn't be delayed, so I'll just be stupid for the time being.

Chongzhen saw that he had compromised, and happily invited him to eat pastries, and asked if he wanted to make a skewer on the hour?

Qin Shuhuai refused on the spot, saying that he wanted to go home to eat, and then went home with "integrity".

......

The matter of making cannons by local weapons was quickly carried out, and the commanders of the ten guards were originally bitter after receiving the holy decree, but when they heard that the imperial court subsidized 4,000 taels per cannon and would send someone to teach the method of making cannons, they all immediately jumped up with excitement.

Especially in the dead of night, after hiding in the study by himself, and finding that the profit of building a cannon may reach thousands of taels, he was even more excited and sleepy.

As long as you build three cannons, all the investment can be returned, and then it will be pure profit!

And this money can be put into your own wallet openly, oh no, it is still more or less to give points to the brothers, otherwise it is easy for people to poke the backbone, and you will not be able to take the brothers in the future.

Where can I find this good thing?

The weapons institutes in the whole country were moved when they heard the news, except for the list of the ten strongest weapons institutes drawn up by Sun Chengzong, other weapons institutes wrote letters one after another, asking for "sharing worries for the country", which made Chongzhen smile bitterly.

If you want to say that the actions of these guys are also neat, after receiving the official letter from the Ministry of War, the ten weapons stations immediately sent people to the capital to greet the master who knows how to make artillery.

And the commanders and envoys in charge of the weapons station were not idle, and those who were able to immediately spend money to build kilns, buy equipment, recruit people, and even sell their houses at any cost. The commander who was almost strong was busy looking for local wealthy businessmen to invest, which was called a hot one.

In just two months, everything needed to build the cannon was ready - there were no large machines at that time, so it was easy to buy equipment.

Everything is being carried out in an orderly manner.

In addition to the construction of artillery, the matter of building "battleships" has also been settled. A total of 32 large shipyards in the country have received orders, each with a minimum of one or more than two, because it is a political task that is purchased by the imperial court, and of course it is a priority to manufacture.

It is expected that by the end of the year, these 50 Hongyi cannons will be able to come out.

It's just that all of this adds up to a bit of a big cost.

The cost of the battleship's hull alone was about 8,000 taels, plus all 18 Hongyi cannons, plus weapons such as firecrackers for soldiers, and the cost of a battleship was about 50,000 taels of silver.

Fifty ships is two and a half million taels.

Qin Shuhuai's face did not change and his heart did not beat, because he had long known that the navy cost money.

But after Chongzhen saw this number, he began to cry again, and always broke his fingers with Qin Shuhuai and said how much money he was going to spend every year now.

But should you invest or vote, and who will let the taxes collected more than the month in January?

In May, the North Korean side came with good news, Li Dingguo led a large army to win successive battles, especially in the battle of Uiju, which broke Amin's main force, and now the victory is decided.

In the case that the retreat route was blocked, the Amin tribe only led more than 3,000 people to flee to the east, and the king of Joseon had already ordered the main force of the whole country to help the Ming army stop the Amin department.

This result is certainly not anyone's expectation. Li Dingguo brought 30,000 main forces plus ten Hongyi cannons, and if he couldn't even win with more than 10,000 elites from the Amin Division, he wouldn't have to come back.

It was also from this month that Chongzhen ordered Governor Qin Shuhuai to prepare the whole country with sea and land troops and train the whole army.

Qin Shuhuai immediately sent a large number of outstanding generals to all parts of the country to be responsible for training.

The focus is on the soldiers and horses of the guards with the weakest combat effectiveness.

There were still trainers of the Demon Sect here, and Qin Shuhuai told them that they would all train in the same way as before, and if they caused a mutiny, he would be suppressed.

In June, Li Dingguo sent another telegram that he had besieged and annihilated the Amin tribe in eastern Korea. Amin fled to a village with only two or three personal guards, where he was surrounded and suppressed by hundreds of Korean officers and soldiers, and was finally outnumbered and captured, and has now been handed over to the Ming army by the North Korean side.

In addition, Dolgon, who had gone to join Amin with 3,000 elite horsemen, was also defeated in this battle, but he was very strong and chose to commit suicide.

In this way, the DPRK was pacified.

Now the army was on its way back, but the envoys sent by the Joseon king Yi Ju were much faster than the troops, and on the third day of the arrival of Tangpao, the Korean envoy arrived to thank them.

The standard of the North Korean mission this time was far higher than before. First of all, the second son of Li Liang, the prince of Fenglin, Yi Hao, that is, Hyojong, who later succeeded the king of Joseon in history.

In addition to him, there are two high-ranking cabinet officials and an entourage of more than 200 people, and these entourages are not all people, and any one of them is a child of the family.

Why?

Go to the legendary Ming Dynasty to pay tribute, that's not called an errand, that's called a reward!

As long as you stay in the academy of the Ming Dynasty for such a month, it is equivalent to gilding, and after you go back, you will have a part in speaking in the Korean academic circles - you must know that almost all the classics of the scriptures in the Korean academic circles are all from the Central Plains, and the scholars worship them to the extreme, but anyone who makes a good commentary on a certain scripture can cause a sensation. In this way, if someone can "study and learn" for a month in the birthplace of Jingyi, the weight of natural speech will be different.

The DPRK mission carried more than 50 cartloads of tribute and walked mightily through the streets, attracting the attention of the people.

If you want to talk about the current Li Liang, I can't wait to hug Daming's thigh. He can see that his own soldiers are enough to scare and frighten his own people, and if he can really keep his country, it will be clear.

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