Chapter 475 , thinking about old and new equipment (debt repayment~)
"One two one, one two one~"
On the huge cement playground, more than 10,000 new troops shouted loud slogans and ran in the cold wind in the morning. There were more than 10,000 people, and their voices were very loud.
With the continuous running, it seems that heat is rising continuously on everyone's body. At first, everyone felt very cold when they got up, but after slowly starting to run, everyone felt very hot.
With every breath, you can see the obvious white air rising, and the entire playground seems to be no longer affected by the cold and is filled with steam.
The British Duke Zhang Mao, the first principal of the Royal Military Academy of the Ming Dynasty, was wearing a mink coat, followed by Liu Jin and Liu Jin. The three of them were walking on the edge of the playground, watching the morning jog of tens of thousands of people.
"Liu Jin, will nothing happen if you run like this?"
Zhang Mao's eyes were fixed on Zhu Houzhao in the crowd. He was the prince of the Ming Dynasty, and nothing could happen to him in the future of the Ming Dynasty.
The prince grew up in a deep palace, pampered and well-fed, but now in this winter, he gets up every morning for a morning run, the wind is biting, and if something happens, Zhang Maoke cannot bear it.
As for his grandson Zhang Lun, he didn't even look at it. After this kid came back from Ryukyu, his whole person changed. He became calmer and more mature. The most important thing was that his body became stronger.
As fragile as before.
Lao Zhang's family is not prosperous, and Zhang Mao's son died early. This grandson is naturally a treasure. He always holds it in his mouth for fear of melting, and holds it in his hands for fear of falling.
Because of excessive pampering, Zhang Lun became like a playboy, so Zhang Mao promptly sent him to Tianjin Maritime Academy to study for a period of time, and all his bad habits were corrected.
"Yes, the weather is really too cold, and Your Highness is wearing such thin clothes. If the cold air enters your body and catches the wind chill, I won't be able to chop off ten thousand heads."
Liu Jin also looked very anxious and said that the three of them were wearing thick clothes and felt cold. If they took off their coats and stood in the cold for a while, they would have runny noses.
"Don't worry, what's the matter? I don't see that everyone is the same, and everyone is lively and energetic?"
Liu Jin said nonchalantly, the ice and snow is the best time to exercise. Haven't you seen the polar bears in later generations, even their babies, taking off their clothes and rolling around in the snow in the snow?
The more the body exercises, the less afraid it will be of wind and cold. If you don't exercise, it will become afraid of wind and cold.
Most of the ancient emperors and princes were not healthy. Why?
A very important reason is the lack of exercise. Growing up in a deep palace, there are always people watching over you. Not to mention exercising your body, even running a little faster will scare the maids, eunuchs and the like half to death.
.
On the other hand, the founding emperors of the past dynasties basically conquered the world on horseback. They conquered the south and north, and traveled east and west. Their bodies were exercised, so the founding emperors were basically in good health and could live to old age.
But as time goes on, the emperors of the past dynasties are basically inferior to each other, and those who can live to be over fifty are rare. What is the reason for this?
There are various reasons for this. Some emperors were addicted to wine and sex and exhausted their bodies, so they died early. Some emperors were overworked and busy with state affairs.
But lack of exercise is the common reason.
After hearing Liu Jin's words, Zhang Mao and Liu Jin also looked at Zhu Houzhao. They saw that Zhu Houzhao was full of life, very energetic, not tired at all, shouting slogans, and running like a tiger and a tiger.
Being able to join the army has always been Zhu Houzhao's dream. Now he finally has the opportunity to come to the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy. He is a real dragon returning to the sea, a tiger entering the mountains and forests, like a fish in water. His performance has been very outstanding during this period, and he is the best
One of the students.
Seeing Zhu Houzhao's performance, Zhang Mao and Liu Jin felt slightly relieved.
"Liu Jin, isn't it bad for all the new recruits to use firearms?"
"There are many limitations in the use of firearms. For example, it is difficult to use the firearm on rainy days. In addition, the loading of the firearm is very slow and it can easily collapse under the impact of the cavalry."
Zhang Mao said as he walked.
The construction of the new army has always been a very large project, involving many things in various aspects, one of which is very important is weapons and equipment.
Liu Jin advocated the use of all firearms, artillery and firecrackers to arm the new army and create a purely firearms force.
But Zhang Mao has been hesitant, even though the Miyun Iron Works has now manufactured a brand new flintlock musket, which has a very good range and power, and the rate of fire is much faster than traditional muskets.
The earliest flintlock musket in history was born in 1547. It is now the 13th year of Hongzhi, that is, 1500. It was half a century later that Europeans developed the flintlock musket.
Liu Jin, who came from Houzhi, naturally knew the development history of this musket, from the matchlock to the flintlock gun, and finally to the mature percussion gun of later generations.
At the same time, the loading method also started with bulk gunpowder being loaded in the front, then compacted with wooden sticks, and then lead shot was inserted. It slowly developed into rear-loading gunpowder, and finally developed into the bullets of later generations.
It is not difficult to make a flintlock musket. Liu Jin has tens of thousands of skilled craftsmen under his command. They don't have to do anything and just sit down and study various things.
The textile loom, loom, and flintlock musket were all conceived by Liu Jin and then manufactured by these skilled craftsmen.
Flintlock muskets have lasted for more than two hundred years in history. They were invented in 1547 and became mature in the 17th century. It was not until the 19th century, that is, the advent of percussion muskets in 1848 that they withdrew from history.
stage.
From here you can know the superior performance of this gun.
"What Zhang Gong said is reasonable, but the advantages of the flintlock musket are very obvious. The attack distance can reach hundreds of steps, and the power is also quite powerful. This is still the current musket. If the technology of the powerful musket continues to improve, we can also create
More powerful muskets come out."
"Just like this artillery, the artillery manufactured by our Miyun Iron Factory now has a very long range, its power is also quite amazing, and its rate of fire is also very fast. It is much more powerful than traditional artillery."
"How can we not use our good weapons? How can we still use swords and arrows to fight the enemy?"
Liu Jin thought for a while and replied.
After Emperor Hongzhi took back military power, he attached great importance to military armaments. He abandoned the original manufacturing method from the Ministry of Industry and switched to purchasing directly from private enterprises.
There is no doubt that this military industry order will not fall to other companies. Miyun Iron Works naturally became the first military industry enterprise in the Ming Dynasty and obtained the military industry production license issued by the imperial court.
The armor, weapons, and artillery produced by Miyun Iron Factory were tested in the last war with the Little Prince, and won unanimous praise from the frontline soldiers.
The most important thing is that the arms and weapons produced by Miyun Iron Factory are not only of good quality, but also very cheap. The same thing originally cost 10 taels of silver from the Ministry of Industry, but only 5 taels from Miyun Iron Factory.
Two taels of silver are enough, but the quality of the products is vastly different.
Emperor Hongzhi and Zhu Houzhao of the Miyun Iron Works were the major shareholders. Naturally, this large military industrial order fell on them. They made their own money. The key was that they knew and guaranteed the quality.
It will not be like before. The money from this department has been diverted. After layers of deductions, in the end, less than two taels of silver may be used to build weapons and equipment, and it will be impossible to build high-quality weapons.
Especially the quality of firecrackers and artillery was so terrible that the soldiers on the front line did not dare to use them. They would rather fight the enemy with their swords than be killed by the explosion of firecrackers or artillery.
"Muskets and artillery are indeed very powerful~"
"I know it too, I've seen it too~"
"However, some things are very complex. We cannot guarantee that this thing will always be of this quality, nor can we guarantee whether there will be some problems in the future."
"When the Ming Dynasty was founded, artillery and muskets were also powerful in the world, but what about now?"
Zhang Mao nodded slightly, then thought about it and asked with a smile.
He considers problems in the long term and clearly understands that corruption is the real big problem. No matter how good things are, they will turn into rubbish when they encounter corruption.
Guns and artillery are very good, but they were also very good when the Ming Dynasty was founded. The quality was very good, but what about now?
After hearing Zhang Mao's words, Liu Jin immediately fell into deep thought. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1895, were the Qing's warships and cannons really worse than those of the Japanese pirates?
In fact, this was not the case. At that time, the warships and artillery of the Qing army were the most advanced in the world at that time, and the artillery was the Krupp cannon manufactured by the Krupp Arsenal in Germany.
But it failed in the end, why?
Because the money to buy cannonballs was diverted to gardening, some of the cannonballs were filled with sand instead of gunpowder, and there was a blind fear of war. Military expenditures were also diverted to celebrate the birthday of the old lady. How could we not be defeated?
"Mr. Zhang is right. It seems that our courses still need to be modified. We must add traditional swords and arrows, riding and archery and other events."
After pondering for a while, Liu Jin nodded solemnly and said.
Muskets and artillery are very good, and they are also the future development trend, but if the pace is too fast at once, it may be really easy to get into trouble. Step by step, continuous progress and gradual improvement.
Muskets and artillery are indispensable, and they must be mastered thoroughly. The traditional weapons, armor, horseback riding and archery cannot be given up. After all, this is still an era dominated by cold weapons.
Both hands must be grasped, and both hands must be strong. Only in this way can we create an army that can truly sweep all directions, expand territory for the Ming Dynasty, and sweep the world.