Yunxi didn't wait for the carriage to answer. After he finished talking about what happened in the Royal Horse Prison, he turned around and headed to the Neiguan Prison. Most of the craftsmen belonging to the Inner Palace were in the Neiguan Prison, so he had to go to the Neiguan Prison.
As Yunxi walked, he was thinking: "It seems that it is time to take control of the Ministry of Industry. Should we directly promote Kuai Fu, who is a craftsman from Wu County and is now a foreign minister in the Ministry of Industry, to be the minister?"
Kuai Fu was a craftsman in the Ming Dynasty, a craftsman from generation to generation. But he was not an ordinary craftsman. He once participated in the construction of the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and was appreciated by Zhu Yuanzhang at that time and became a formal official. By the way, his Historically, the son later participated in the construction of the Peking Palace and became the Minister of Works.
Adhering to the idea of leaving professional matters to professional people, Yunxi wanted to completely turn the Ministry of Works into a place where craftsmen could serve as officials. Craftsmen with outstanding skills could not serve as officials in the Ministry of Works.
This was of course difficult, and even in terms of official qualifications, Kuai Fu was not qualified to be a minister.
Therefore, after much thought, Yunxi decided to find a civil servant he could accept to be the Minister of the Ministry of Industry first, with Kuai Fu as the doctor, and then gradually be promoted to the Minister.
After a while, Yunxi walked to the Neiguan Prison. The two yamen were not far away.
The eunuch of the Imperial Palace was named Tingshan. It is said that he came from a place with mountains and rivers, so he was named Tingshan.
Tingshan had known that Yunxi would be coming back today, so he had made preparations early. Now that he saw Yunxi coming, he immediately stepped forward to salute.
Yunxi sat down, asked him to stand up, and then asked: "A few days ago, I asked you to count all the craftsmen in the inner official prison. How many people are there in each category? Can you count them?"
Tingshan said: "Your Majesty, I have done the math. There are now a total of 3,575 craftsmen under the supervision of the Imperial Guard, all of whom are from the capital and can be recruited at any time. And among them, carpenters..., blacksmiths...,... …”
Yunxi thought for a moment. In addition to glass, Yunxi's immediate projects include large-scale iron-making and muskets. Because iron-making in blast furnaces is expensive and has a long deadline, it is better to solve the muskets issue first. Bar.
Yunxi said: "Call over the chief craftsman who is in charge of making fire guns, as well as Lu Chengfeng and Feng Mo, who are in charge of these craftsmen."
Tingshan immediately went to call him personally. After a while, a dark-skinned craftsman came over with Lu Chengfeng and Feng Mo.
Yunxi waited for them to finish their salutes and asked: "How many types of fire guns are there in the Ming Dynasty now? What do they look like?"
The craftsman said: "Your Highness, my Ming Dynasty's firearms are now divided into..."
At this time, the firearms of the Ming Dynasty were very advanced and can be divided into: incendiary weapons, which are firearms that can burn and have different functions such as smoke, poisonous gas, obstacles, and killing. They can be divided into rockets, muskets, fireballs, flamethrowers, fire birds, and fire weapons. Five major categories including animals.
Among them, rockets have the same principle as various modern rockets, but Yunxi, who is aware of the progress of firearms development, knows that this kind of weapon is basically useless in modern times, so he decides to abandon it; Firebird Yunxi also feels that it is useless and decides to abandon it; Fireballs also have some uses; I think the other three types of weapons can actually be classified as something similar to modern flamethrowers, but they are divided into several categories because of different ways of using them, so keep them.
The second largest category is explosive weapons, which can be mainly divided into bombs, landmines and sea mines.
No matter what kind of category it is, there is a future for development, so Yunxi decided not to give up all of them and develop them all. Among them, sea mines are relatively useless with the current technical means, but Yunxi still decided to continue to develop them, which can be regarded as a technical reserve.
The third major category is artillery. If this category has not been mentioned, it will definitely be displayed. At this time, there are many types of artillery in the Ming Dynasty, many of which Yunxi has never heard of, such as large-mouth cannons, whirlwind cannons, and small-mouth cannons.
, tassel cannon, big copper blunderbuss, two ends
Yunxi was confused about copper blunderbuss, swarms of lead bullets, and thunder cannons. Yunxi didn't know the development history of artillery in the world, and he didn't know which kind was the most promising. After seeing the real objects, he combined similar ones into one.
item, and ignore the rest.
The fourth category is muskets. Yunxi is extremely enthusiastic about muskets. He has always regretted that there was no "line up to shoot" era in Chinese history. Now with the Ming's technical means, it is basically impossible to create a breech-loading gun.
, but it should still be possible to create a broken musket. Well, Yunxi is actually not sure.
When Yunxi looked at the cannons listed, he asked: "Are these artillery equipped with aiming equipment?"
The head craftsman said: "Your Highness, what is aiming equipment?"
Yunxi then explained what the aiming equipment was. The leader of the craftsman suddenly said: "So it can be like this!" But he immediately said doubtfully: "But the gunpowder loaded every time is slightly different, and the gunpowder is fired in the same muzzle direction.
The location won’t be the same.”
Yunxi was puzzled: Even this point has not been solved at this time? But he still said calmly: "Then just fix the amount of gunpowder for each loading. Divide all the gunpowder into one point in advance to ensure the same
Each portion of the cannon has the same amount of medicine, and it should be packed in oil paper or bamboo tubes. When the time comes to fight, wouldn't it be possible to ensure that it is in the same direction and in the same position as when the cannon was tested?"
"And this can also speed up the loading of gunpowder."
What Yunxi proposed was actually fixed gunpowder. Even in the era of matchlock guns, fixed gunpowder could be used.
This time, not only the leader of the craftsmen, but also other people present were shocked by Yunxi's idea. There had been nothing like this in the East before, and Yunxi was the first to do so, which also greatly improved the use value of artillery.
In this way, the artillery's aiming, range, etc. can be improved, and it can also avoid the gunner's nervousness when facing the battle and the amount of gunpowder loaded too much or less, which will lead to explosions and other incidents.
Yunxi ignored the thoughts of others and continued to look at the muskets. He abandoned all the types of muskets that he was basically sure had no future, and told the head craftsman that the muskets could also use the methods he just mentioned for artillery to improve the muskets.
Usefulness on the battlefield.
And Yunxi determined that the bullets and cannonballs should be made uniformly. At this time, the bullets and cannonballs were still randomly made by hand. Yunxi had no objection to handmade manufacturing, but the specifications should be similar.
Yunxi ordered the manufacture of standard specifications of bullets and shells for each type of artillery and muskets, and made hemispherical molds for each type of artillery and muskets. All bullets and shells must be put into the molds for acceptance. Only those of similar sizes can pass the inspection.
.
In order to prevent careless acceptance, Yunxi stipulated that each acceptance personnel should accept the bullets and artillery shells for use by only one unit. If there is a problem with the bullets or artillery shells of this unit, it is the responsibility of your acceptance personnel.
Losing your head.
A long time ago, the craftsmen who made all the artillery had to have their names engraved on them. If the artillery had problems, the craftsmen were responsible. The Ming Dynasty also continued this practice, but the so-called clear rewards and punishments were stipulated in the regulations.
As long as none of the ten cannons are defective, he can be rewarded with an additional sixty gold coins, which is quite a lot.
Then Yunxi asked again: "What are the gunpowder used in these artillery and muskets of the Ming Dynasty composed of?"
To Yunxi's expectation, the chief craftsman mentioned more than twenty kinds of components, some of which Yunxi had never heard of.
Of course, Yunxi decided that, except for those formulas specially used for smoke, fog, and poisonous gas, all other normal gunpowder formulas for artillery and muskets were changed to only mononitrate, disulfide, and charcoal.
Then Yunxi wanted to tell the most suitable ratio of these three items. But before blurting out, Yunxi thought of a question: as an emperor who had never been exposed to firearms before, how could he explain that his ratio was the most suitable one?
What about the appropriate ratio? This ratio is the most suitable and can be found through an experiment.
This is different from the previous ones, which can be interpreted as the emperor's interest, and it doesn't matter even if the subordinates criticize Yunxi for being a layman and guiding an expert.
But this is different. This is a direct ratio, which should not be something he can know at all.
After Yunxi struggled with his thoughts, he finally decided: 'Just say it! Anyway, he is the emperor, so he only needs to give a reasonable reason. Even if they doubt it, it will not affect him.'
So Yunxi said: "In the future, when preparing gunpowder, saltpeter should account for 75%, charcoal should account for 15%, and sulfur should account for 10%." Then Yunxi hurriedly said before the leader of the craftsmen could say anything, "This is
The recipe I read in a book says it is the best recipe. You try it and tell Tingshan if it is the best recipe."
Now that the optimal ratio has been stated, the granular gunpowder can also be stated. This is what Yunxi thought and did. He continued: "There is also a method in this book that changes gunpowder from powder to a powder.
A grain-by-grain approach.”
"Shake the gunpowder evenly, spread it on the board, and then spray the glutinous rice juice on top, making sure it is even."
"Then shake the board and the gunpowder powder will stick together. Then just dry them in the shade."
"In this way, it can reduce the situation where the heavier sulfur in the gunpowder sinks and the charcoal floats on top." It can also reduce the gunpowder from getting damp, and it is much more powerful than powdered gunpowder. It is the pinnacle of the black powder era.
Already.
Although the chief craftsman was dubious, he, a craftsman, naturally did not dare to argue with the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention him, even all the eunuchs in the inner palace prison did not dare to disobey the emperor's orders. Although the chief craftsman did not know that it was the emperor who gave the orders.
, only thought that he was the county king, but he could not afford to offend the county king, so he said: "Yes, your highness." Tingshan on the side also said: "Yes, your highness."
