While Zhou Yuji was thinking anxiously, Emperor Chongzhen had already come to his senses.
Seeing his serious expression, he stared at Zhou Yuji and asked, "If you spend this money, can you really create a strong army?"
Hearing this, Zhou Yuji felt a little unsure, and he couldn't figure out what the emperor meant, so he quickly replied: "The general thinks that there is no need to imitate Marshal Qi's reward and punishment in the same way, beheading one level, and giving him four taels of silver is fine.
.The most important thing is that the ordnance is excellent, especially the muskets. If it is guaranteed to be excellent, we will definitely be able to expand and strengthen the army!"
"Oh?" When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, the serious expression on his face relaxed. The pressure of forty taels was really too much.
At this time, I heard him immediately ask, "I heard that Jianlu was good at riding and shooting. Is it possible that sophisticated firearms can deal with Jianlu?"
As soon as he heard this, Zhou Yuji immediately replied seriously: "The method of firearms training is to stand at eighty paces with a five-foot-high, two-foot broad wooden sign. Three shots will hit one, and ten shots will hit seven. ...
Rewards and punishments: If one of the three bullets hits the bird gun, it will be a draw; if it hits two times, it will be rewarded with one silver point; if it hits three times, it will be rewarded five points; if it misses once, it will get three sticks; if it misses twice, it will get six sticks; if it hits three times, it will get six sticks;
Anyone who misses will be beaten with nine sticks; if he misses five times, he will be beaten with forty sticks and dismissed."
Having said this, he thought for a moment, and considering Emperor Chongzhen's level of military knowledge, he added: "This method of military training was pioneered by Marshal Qi and is recorded in Volume 6 of the "New Book of Ji Xiao"."
After finishing speaking, Zhou Yuji saw a look of confusion on Emperor Chongzhen's face, and knew that he probably didn't understand, so he had to explain in more straightforward terms: "The blunderbuss used in the army is used for daily training and test firing.
The target is one step wide, five feet high, and two feet wide. This is the size of a human-shaped target. One hit out of three is standard, two out of three or seven out of ten is considered excellent, and a hundred hits out of ten is considered excellent."
Emperor Chongzhen was a little surprised when he heard this, and asked: "Is it really so far away?"
"None of the last generals have sophisticated muskets!" After Zhou Yuji answered, seeing Emperor Chongzhen showing a hint of disappointment, he quickly continued, "But Marshal Qi's "New Book of Ji Xiao" Volume 5. Camp Training Camp No. 5 (Scene 5)
Cao) once said that when a thief comes within a hundred steps, he should sound the trumpet of the palm swan once, and the soldiers in the outer infantry and the gunmen on the first level should raise and release it once. It can be seen from this that the starting shooting distance of a sophisticated bird gun is one
A hundred steps."
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he quickly asked: "What about the range of the bow and arrow?"
Until now, he had never cared about these specific martial arts, but now he listened to them with great interest.
Especially at this time, he discovered that it seemed that he actually hid a treasure at home, which he had not discovered before.
"Your Majesty, the effective range of bows and arrows is generally only sixty or seventy steps, which is much shorter than the range of sophisticated bird guns!" Zhou Yuji said this, and in order to prove that he was not lying, he quoted Qi Jiguang's practice and said, "
"New Book of Jixiao" Volume 6. A crossbow with sixty steps as arrows, a handle five feet high and one foot five inches wide, and two out of three arrows are considered good at shooting."
Emperor Chongzhen was filled with joy after hearing this. If it was so powerful, although it was not as powerful as those firearms of later generations, it could at least defeat the powerful Jianlu, right?
When he thought of this, his doubts arose again, and he quickly asked Zhou Yuji: "In that case, why are the imperial officers and soldiers always defeated by the Jianlu, and they even never win a single victory in the field battle?"
When Zhou Yuji heard this, he immediately replied without any hesitation: "Your Majesty, Marshal Qi has already said it before, saying that the blunderbuss is worse than the arrow, but the skill of the blunderbuss is worse than the arrow. It is better to use arrows to let the enemy use his skills. The general will eventually think that this is the truth!"
The key to the problem ultimately comes down to whether the weapons are sophisticated or not.
And this is what Zhou Yuji expected!
He just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that Emperor Chongzhen trusted him and had money to put forward his request for ordnance manufacturing.
No, didn't Emperor Chongzhen just have another great idea to make money?
Maybe there will be some drama!
He thought this, and after Emperor Chongzhen understood it, his face turned ugly.
Because he discovered that even if he suffered consecutive defeats on the battlefield, the final result would still be attributed to the corruption of his ministers.
If your ministers are not corrupt, even if they have no money, then it is always okay to provide the army with fewer but better weapons, right?
However, no, the ordnance provided to the army is still shoddy, so that nowadays most of the imperial officers and soldiers mainly use cold weapons.
At least this could be seen when he inspected Yongwei Camp.
The corruption of officials has reached this point, and the Ming Dynasty is seriously ill!
If it weren't for Liu Weichao, I would still be kept in the dark about all of this. The things I am busy with every day are just chores that appear on the surface and cannot solve the fundamental problems!
In other words, I am just a tool, a tool used by those who share the same party and oppose different things! It’s a pity that I don’t know it!
Sad, ridiculous, and hateful!
After thinking about it, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly slapped the table in front of him and shouted sternly: "I must deal with them severely!"
His anger made Zhou Yuji startled. But after hearing his words, he immediately became happy again.
Because he knew that by taking this risk, he should have achieved his goal!
The emperor is a wise king after all, but he has been deceived by treacherous ministers before!
"Qing Zhou, you did a great job!" Emperor Chongzhen became angry, looked at Zhou Yuji and said, "I grant you the right to report secretly. If there is any violation of law or discipline, you can report it directly to me!"
If this were not the case, Zhou Yuji’s memorial would probably never reach Emperor Chongzhen’s desk!
Naturally, the secret folding system that started during the Manchu and Qing Dynasties was used in advance by Emperor Chongzhen.
When Zhou Yuji heard this, he was overjoyed and quickly received the order to thank him.
Afterwards, Emperor Chongzhen began to ask some questions about military training, which is the prerequisite for the army to win the war, and listened to the famous general Zhou Yuji explain to him in detail the basic knowledge of military affairs.
After arriving at the glass factory, Emperor Chongzhen was not as excited as before. He just summoned the craftsmen and the eunuch Gao Shiyue in charge of the glass factory to explain the methods he had learned from Liu Weichao one by one, and then put them under control.
The Military War Bureau under the supervision of the Horse Supervisor personally inspected the manufacture of ordnance.
He wanted to see everything related to the ordnance in person to understand the details, and he didn't want his subordinates to have the opportunity to deceive him.
This busy work lasted a whole day.
On the way back, Emperor Chongzhen no longer looked relaxed and looked very worried.
When Zhou Yuji said goodbye to him, Emperor Chongzhen still forced a smile and comforted him: "You may train your troops with all your heart, but I will solve the money issue and won't hold you back!"
The cost of building a strong army was astronomical, even if the silver reward for beheadings was reduced to four taels each, far exceeding Emperor Chongzhen's expectations.