Ever since the news about the train spread in the Dibao, the Scientific Research Department has attracted huge attention.
Especially envoys from other countries, as well as many big businessmen, all came up with the idea of training.
Because this thing is really useful and very important to every country.
And the reason why those maritime merchants are also interested is because if they get the secret recipe of the train, they will definitely be able to sell it for a sky-high price.
For many countries, in addition to wealth, they are even willing to exchange high-ranking officials, generous salaries, and hereditary nobility in exchange.
Therefore, many people have come up with the idea of taking a train.
In the palace.
Song Zhong is reporting.
"Your Highness, since the train was published in the Di Di newspaper, many spies have begun to want to attack the Scientific Research Department. This month alone, twenty-seven spies have been arrested, of which twenty are from other countries and seven are from our Ming Dynasty. Now
He has been imprisoned in the sky prison for interrogation."
"According to the confession, four of them didn't know who the contact person was. They were just doing this for money. Someone was willing to pay half a million yuan in exchange for the secret train recipe. This caused a huge shock in the entire world and the black market, and many people were eager to give it a try.
"
"There are three more people who are officials from the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty. They work for Beiyuan."
Zhu Ying heard this and said with a smile: "I really look down on the Scientific Research Department, so I took out five hundred thousand treasure notes."
"The imperial government's monthly allocation to the Department of Scientific Research is rarely less than ten million. This five hundred thousand is not enough for even two days."
"In the civil and military districts of the Manchu Dynasty, there are still some rat droppings, eating the official food of the Ming Dynasty, and thinking about the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. These people must be severely punished, and their crimes will be increased."
Song Zhong said quickly: "I understand that these treacherous villains really do not deserve to be sons of human beings. They do not care about the grace of the saints and have their hearts set on foreigners. They are a shame to us Han people."
Zhu Ying nodded, and then said with a smile but not a smile: "The Jinyiwei matter was handled well, but I heard that someone impeached you to avenge you and arrested some of your enemies."
"This impeachment document is about to be put on grandpa's desk."
Song Zhong was startled and quickly knelt down and said: "Please be more careful, Grandson, I am absolutely not doing anything to avenge my private life. Everyone arrested by Jin Yiwei is the person who deserves to be arrested."
Zhu Yingdao: "Behead first and report later. It is indeed authorized by the imperial power. I heard rumors outside that my Jin Yiwei does not need evidence to arrest people. Is this true?"
Cold sweat broke out on Song Zhong's back. After a slight hesitation, he said: "Reporting to Your Highness, this is indeed the case. It is the minister's dereliction of duty and poor discipline that caused some subordinates to talk nonsense and ask Your Majesty to punish them."
Zhu Ying calmly said: "In the future, when Jin Yiwei arrests people, they still have to pay attention to some evidence. It is not a good thing to act arbitrarily without evidence."
"Jinyiwei's reputation is already bad. If you do this again, the officials will react violently, and you will suffer the consequences."
Jin Yiwei is a sword, and Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying are the sword holders.
Occasionally, you still need to knock it, otherwise the knife will deflect the will of the knife owner.
"I sincerely follow the teachings of my great grandson." Song Zhong finally breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly kowtowed to express his gratitude.
For the Jin Yiwei, especially the governors like Song Zhong, they had overwhelming power, but all their power came from the imperial charter.
Regardless of whether it is your majesty or your great grandson, all it takes is one word, or one day you just don't like it, and you can easily take away everything they have.
The reputation of the Jinyiwei can be said to be the indignation of both men and gods. If the imperial power does not protect them, they will be like a lost dog.
However, it is also because of this mechanism and situation that no matter how arrogant and domineering the Jinyiwei are, they are loyal to the imperial power.
"I've given you an errand. I need someone I can trust to handle it," Zhu Ying said.
Song Zhong kowtowed: "Please give me your instructions."
Zhu Yingdao: "The Scientific Research Department has produced a batch of new muskets. These guns are completely different from ordinary matchlock guns. They are flintlock guns."
"The information from Tubo has not come over yet, but according to the current situation in Beiyuan, it will definitely be uncomfortable for Wei Guogong."
"I borrowed 100,000 cavalry from Bei Yuan before, but now I have become an enemy. Once the situation changes, Duke Wei will be in danger."
"A few days ago, I sent an order to Jiubian and dispatched 20,000 cavalry to the Western Regions to encircle and suppress the Timur cavalry that was plundering there."
"I need you to secretly go to the Western Regions with the newly developed flintlock guns developed by the Scientific Research Department, and hand these flintlock guns to the Nine-Border Han Cavalry."
When Song Zhong heard this, he said without any hesitation: "I will definitely complete the tasks assigned by His Highness."
Zhu Ying looked at Song Zhong's expression of desperation and said with a smile: "It's not that exaggerated. I have already passed the message to the station. You just need to move forward secretly."
After listening to these words, Song Zhong realized that it was not His Highness who wanted to punish, but that there was indeed something important.
If the eight hundred miles were required to be expedited, Song Zhong would have lost half his life on this trip.
After all, he doesn't have the ability to sleep on horseback like the Mongols.
Immediately, Song Zhong kowtowed: "Thank you, Your Highness, for your kindness."
Zhu Ying nodded: "Go ahead and set off early tomorrow morning."
"I will obey the order."
The current Scientific Research Department has achieved considerable development in many aspects.
This is attributed to Huang Guan, who, under the name of James, has actually been working in the Ministry of Works.
You must know that the main responsibility of James Mansion is to help the prince make plans.
But Zhu Ying doesn't need this now. He rarely interferes too much in government affairs. Except for the general direction, government affairs are basically left to the ministers of each ministry to resolve by themselves. Only when something goes wrong will he be held accountable.
This makes the ministers very helpless now. Such decentralization of power is really rare in the history of dynasties.
Usually only a foolish king would do this.
But now that the Ming Dynasty is so rich and powerful, who can say anything?
Zhu Ying has always wanted to make a real flintlock gun. If he can make it, it will be a real battlefield weapon.
The current difficulty lies in the spring steel and the mercury fulminate in the primer.
However, the quality of steel now, after being forged with steam sledgehammers, is already of quite high quality.
Zhu Ying couldn't tell the specific extent of the reason. The Scientific Research Department called it Thousand Forging Steel. Without a steam hammer, it couldn't be made by manpower.
However, after brainstorming, the breech-loading flintlock gun was actually created.
The problem of chamber pressure is not a big one, and the thousand-forged steel can withstand it.
The solution to air tightness is to use spiral sealing and twisting the spiral.
At first glance, it seems that the breech-loading flintlock gun came out immediately.
But it's actually pretty bad.
Because this type of flintlock gun is roughly similar to the flintlock gun Zhu Ying imagined.
No matter in terms of accuracy, range, or strength, there has been a huge improvement.
The most important thing is loading and shooting becomes more convenient.
The only problem is that after about a dozen rounds, no more than twenty at most, the breech-loaded flintlock gun becomes useless.
Without mercury fulminate, it can only be ignited by gunpowder, and the residue left by the gunpowder can easily cause the spiral patterns on the steel to get stuck.
Therefore, it needs to be cleaned after about three or five rounds.
After more than ten rounds, the threads will be deformed due to chamber pressure.
It's like saying that the breech-loaded flintlock gun is useless.
It must be processed and repaired again before it can be used.
When Zhu Ying saw this situation, he ordered the Scientific Research Department to secretly manufacture 5,000 of these almost disposable breech-loading flintlock guns.
When an order is issued, no matter how absurd it is, you can only do it.
This time, Zhu Ying wanted Song Zhong to transport the five thousand breech-loading flintlock muskets.
In the opinion of others, these breech-loading flintlock muskets are first of all expensive to make because they require a large amount of thousand-forged steel.
The cost of one or two thousand forged steel is equivalent to one or two taels of gold.
This is no different from using gold to build it. Maybe the cost will be lower if it is actually made of gold.
Who can see such extravagance and waste without shaking their heads?
Five thousand breech-loaded flintlock muskets can only fight one war. Basically, after the war, these guns will be useless.
Even if it is recycled and re-repaired, it will cost a lot of money to come and go, plus re-forging.
To put it simply, use these breech-loaded flintlock guns to fight, regardless of whether you win or not, the starting discount is about 800,000 Guanbao.
Equivalent to eighty thousand taels of gold.
Who can afford this?
The cavalry pension is as high as this breech-loaded flintlock rifle.
But only Zhu Ying knew that the power of the rear-mounted flintlock gun would only be revealed on the battlefield. It was already extremely close to the guns of later generations. No matter how many shortcomings it had, it could not cover up its own advantages.
Sometimes, the importance of a battle cannot be compared with hundreds of thousands or even millions of coins.
The envoys from the Northern Yuan Dynasty came to the capital of the Ming Dynasty, but they could not even see Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying in person.
They came to protest, but this matter was obviously not negotiable, so Zhu Ying didn't bother to meet them.
"When our warriors ride on galloping horses and arrive at the gates of your Nanjing city, I hope you can still be like this."
The envoy of the Northern Yuan Dynasty roared in anger and incompetence.
It seems that he has lost his mind, but in fact he is using provocation to get a chance to meet the Ming emperor or the Ming grandson.
Unfortunately, they succeeded in angering the Rites Yamen.
"Just drinking Maoru's blood, how dare the barbarian clan be so rampant and bully my Ming Dynasty?"
"This is the Great Heavenly Realm Temple, not a place where you can run wild."
"Since you dare to disrespect me, the Ming Dynasty, you should suffer a lot."
"Left and right, hit me, hit them hard, teach them a lesson, keep your mouth shut."
The speaker was Zhang Jian, the chief guest of the Ministry of Rites, a doctor in charge of the Qing Dynasty.
He is the father of Zhang Wenjie, who once had an affair with the sisters.
Although he was worried for a while, Zhu Ying did not punish him.
The Department of Rites, Host and Guest, and the Qing Li Division are equivalent to the direct administrative offices of Tianjie Temple, and all the monks and officials of Tianjie Temple are equivalent to their subordinates.
It can be said that all foreign envoys are subject to their jurisdiction.
Zhang Jian can serve as Yuanwailang, which is equivalent to the position of the top leader of Tianjie Temple. Naturally, he is somewhat capable in handling affairs.
The Ming Dynasty was strong, and both His Majesty and the Grand Sun were also extremely strong externally.
Therefore, as a representative of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Jian knew exactly how he should react when faced with such a situation.
To scold someone, first stand on the moral high ground.
Then it was straight to work.
"Isn't your Ming Dynasty known as a land of etiquette? How can you be so rude?" The envoy from Beiyuan saw the officer coming with a killing stick. He didn't look like he was joking, so he suddenly became anxious.
"You are the barbarians who are dissatisfied with Wang Hua. Only by giving you a good beating can you learn what etiquette is."
"Why are you still standing there? Call me."
Under Zhang Jian's scolding, the eight officers rushed forward, swung their killing clubs and started fighting.
The envoy from the Northern Yuan Dynasty scurried away with his head in his arms, but the place was so big.
When that stick went down, the skin and flesh were really torn apart.
The officers naturally knew that killing someone directly would not work, but they had rich experience in killing powerful gangs, and they knew very well where to hit someone without killing them, and it would still be very painful.
The lamentations of the envoys of the Northern Yuan Dynasty came from Tianjie Temple.
After hearing the news, envoys from other countries came to see the excitement and felt guilty.
This is a real fight.
"It's so annoying to scream. I'm kind-hearted and can't bear to hear such a miserable sound." Zhang Jian snorted and said.
The leading officer immediately understood and hit his mouth with a stick.
The strength was so clever that several teeth flew out without knocking anyone unconscious. The Beiyuan envoy who screamed the loudest suddenly changed from howling to whimpering.
When the other Beiyuan envoys saw this, their mouths that had been opened wide immediately closed tightly.
In fact, there was no need to shout so loudly. They also deliberately wanted to take this opportunity to attract envoys from other countries, so that the matter would escalate.
It's a pity that such a little trick can't be hidden from such an experienced person as Zhang Jian.
As for the people and sophistication in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, if such tricks can be compared, then how could Zhang Jian get the official position of Yuanwailang?
Such a move will not only kill the chicken, but also scare the monkey.
Afterwards, the envoy from Beiyuan immediately sent a letter to Beiyuan, and the letter must have been filled with embarrassment and jealousy.
What's interesting is that the letter sent to Beiyuan still went to Daming Station.
On the day it was sent, the letter was placed on Zhu Ying's desk.
"Let them send it away. It is impossible to keep this matter secret. I want to see how they will attack our Ming Dynasty." Zhu Ying glanced at it and said.
Naturally, this letter cannot be sent expressly through the inn, it can only be sent in the ordinary way.
It took almost a month to go to Beiyuan.
Song Zhong had already set off with his breech-loaded gun.
Bei Yuan could not receive this letter until the Jiubian Han cavalry obtained the rear-loaded flintlock rifle and fought in a battle.
At that time, facing the powerful threat of the rear-mounted flintlock gun, what should Beiyuan do?
If you want to withstand such breech-mounted flintlock guns, you can only equip heavy cavalry with iron pagodas.
However, the Tiefutu unit has long since disappeared in the long river of history.
Of course, the construction of trains and railways leading to Jiubian cannot be stopped, and the war with Beiyuan is obviously unavoidable.
This time, it is very likely to trigger an all-out war on the grassland.
The construction of trains and railways may be almost completed and open to traffic by the end of the year. Both the local government and the people on this line are vigorously cooperating.
When the interests are related to oneself, this is more positive than corvée.
It's like the difference between contract work and spot work in later generations.
Once it is opened to traffic, in Zhu Ying's opinion, it is time to completely solve Beiyuan. ()