Zhu Yihai came over to teach in person today. The students in the audience were all fifth-grade military attachés. They were newly promoted to fifth-grade and were selected to go to Beijing to enter the martial arts lecture hall for three months of training. After the training, they would be officially awarded the position of battalion officer and serve as
Chief officer of each battalion.
"The innovation of military equipment will inevitably bring about the innovation of tactical thinking. The future trend is the era of firearms. Muskets will inevitably eliminate bows, arrows, swords and spears. Even muskets will affect the development direction of armor and shields, not to mention changes in tactics.
We must all adapt to new developments and actively adapt to the current situation..."
On the stage, Zhu Yihai made the final summary.
Today's class is about the future development direction of the military. Zhu Yihai concluded that the future is the age of firearms, even the age of the navy, and the age of giant ships and cannons.
Traditional cold weapons will be eliminated.
Muskets and artillery are the mainstream, and even the current matchlocks will soon be eliminated by flintlock muskets. Heavy armored infantry and heavy armored cavalry will also be eliminated.
These statements still surprised the officers who were about to become the commanders of the first battalion.
In particular, they also saw the bows, crossbows, knives, spears, as well as the three-eye blunderbuss of the fire gate gun, the bird blunderbuss of the matchlock gun, and the self-generated fire blunderbuss of the flintlock gun displayed by the emperor in class.
After seeing the display, they felt that although the flintlock gun did not use a match rope, it also had many shortcomings, such as being too expensive and prone to problems. Compared with the current Shaotian three-year-old bird musket, it was cheaper, faster to produce, and
There are few accessories and not easy to break.
Especially after the emperor invented a sleeve-type three-edged bayonet for the three-type bird gun, it was obvious that the bird gun could be used for both firepower and close combat, which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the bird gun soldiers.
Improvements such as custom-loaded paper bullets and a three-type gun stock have greatly increased the power of this Shaotian three-year-old bird gun, and the cost has been optimized to one silver dollar each.
The gunpowder lead bullets used cost only one yuan per thousand rounds.
Its two-fire rate per minute and a hit rate of over 70% at 60 meters make this new gun extremely cost-effective.
Compared with the new flintlock muskets, which are several times the cost and have a high failure rate, everyone thinks that the three-year-old bird musket is better.
Compared with bows and arrows, they also admit that blunderbuss is indeed superior.
A good bow can often cost twice as much as a blunderbuss. The key is that the cost of losing arrows is high. Not to mention the blue crane feather arrows used by emperors and generals. Five of them cost 1,000,000 yuan, and a second-class one costs 1,000 yuan.
For arrows made of cicada and goose feathers, the number of arrows made of cicada and goose feathers should be one, two, and seven for the first-class arrows, one-two-five for the second-class arrows, and one-two-three arrows for the third-class arrows.
Even ordinary sesame war arrows cost eight taels per hundred.
Yanling war arrows, one hundred and five taels.
The bow needs to be made of isinglass, beef tendon, horns and other materials, especially skilled craftsmen, which is very expensive and has low production efficiency. Arrows also require various feathers, which are hard to come by and slow to make.
The biggest problem with using bows and arrows is the training of archers.
Archers need soldiers with extremely strong physical fitness. They must be very strong. They must also undergo long-term training to achieve good archery skills. Drawing the bow and shooting arrows in battle is also very energy-consuming.
In comparison, musketeers do not have high requirements for the quality of soldiers, and the training time does not take a long time. In particular, muskets, gunpowder, and lead bullets are not expensive. As long as the smoothbore blunderbuss tube is of high quality, it can be fired for hundreds or even thousands of rounds.
You can continue to use it by replacing the barrel.
The production efficiency of gunpowder and lead bullets is not comparable to that of traditional bows and arrows.
The soldiers themselves could process lead bullets.
Although bows and arrows have many advantages, as long as the number of musketeers increases, archers will not be as good as musketeers in terms of combat effectiveness. Musketeers can be increased quickly, but it is difficult for archers.
Although the requirements for crossbows on soldiers are not as high as those on archers, crossbows are also stuck in manufacturing costs and production efficiency.
Gun soldiers, like spear soldiers, can attack quickly.
The students all admitted that the future should be the era of firearms, and there will be a large number of gun soldiers. An infantry battalion may be composed of 70 to 80% musketeers in the future.
The optimal shooting range of archers is about thirty bows, but the range of bird cannons can reach forty bows (about sixty meters). Archers are subject to various restrictions and cannot be increased in large numbers, but fire cannons do not have such restrictions.
It is difficult and costly to make an arrow. Although it can be recycled, the recovery rate is very low. The arrow is extremely easy to damage. Although lead and gunpowder are disposable consumables, gunpowder processed from sulfur, saltpeter, etc. is comparable to
Arrows processed with various feathers are easier to obtain.
A small workshop can produce millions of kilograms of gunpowder a year, while an arrow workshop requires a large number of skilled craftsmen and cannot produce many arrows in a year.
"Everyone, although the flintlock muskets you see now are indeed not sophisticated enough and the cost is high, this is the future. The Royal Ordnance Bureau has set up a special flintlock musket research institute to improve these current shortcomings.
, I believe that within ten years, the flintlock gun will be able to completely surpass the matchlock shotgun, not only in terms of performance, but also in cost."
"That's it for today's lesson. You are all the future pillars of the country. I am very happy to teach you. I have prepared a gift for you. Each student has a telescope and a pair of flintlock muskets.
A fine steel dagger, I hope it will help you become even more powerful on the battlefield in the future."
The single-tube telescope is produced by the Ningbo Telescope Arsenal under the name of the Shaofu Supervisor. It is a good thing. In the past, it was bought from Westerners at a high price, but now the Shaofu Supervisor has its own telescope research institute.
, and also has its own Ningbo telescope factory, which produces telescopes with good effects and not too high prices.
But not everyone can buy this thing.
Not to mention the reward given by the emperor himself, it is even more precious.
After class, Zhu Yihai, accompanied by the generals, walked around the Jiangwutang campus and met with students in the senior officer training class.
It was full of senior military attachés of third rank or above, such as Zeng Ying, Wang Xiang and other Sichuan Army admirals, generals, deputy generals, staff generals, etc. who had previously rushed back to the court from Wen'an in Sichuan, as well as Jiao Lian who had been recalled from Guangxi, and those from Jiangxi and Fujian.
Many officers.
These people were all high-ranking people in the past, but most of them were not direct descendants of the emperor. They included former local Ming army generals, some Tusai chiefs, and some who had returned to the Qing Dynasty. Anyway, their background experiences were quite complicated.
Zhu Yihai is also relatively restrained towards these people.
People such as Zeng Ying and Wang Xiang who rebelled in Chongqing should have been killed long ago, but for the sake of the overall situation, after Wen Anzhi sent them here, Zhu Yihai did not kill any of them.
After summoning them in person, he counted their culpability, but also mentioned that they had made contributions to the peace and stability of Sichuan, so they were given a chance in the end, and all they were dealt with were removal from their posts, demotions, fines, and dismissals, etc., and the final arrangements were made
Go to the martial arts hall to further your studies and study in class every day.
Several classes of senior general officers have been opened in the Jiangwu Hall, and two to three hundred senior generals have been brought in from all over the country. Some of them were actual generals before, and some just took advantage of the chaos. But Zhu Yihai doesn't care about this. He doesn't care about you.
Before, he was a grass-headed king or a local warlord. Regardless of whether he called himself an admiral before or was awarded the title of Commander-in-Chief by the imperial court. Now that he is forced to go to Beijing, he must honestly reform.
Zeng Ying and others have been studying in Beijing for more than a year, and even Zhang Guozhu, Li Benzhen, Li Chengdong, etc. have all come here for further studies twice.
Zhu Yihai summoned these guys by the way and let them have a meal together in the large dining hall of the martial arts hall. He also specially gave each of them a pound of royal wine and two chicken drumsticks.
Although Zeng Ying and others were very excited, expressed their loyalty to the emperor, and expressed their strong desire to go to the battlefield, Zhu Yihai just asked them to continue studying.
The implication is that these people have not reformed enough.
Zeng Ying repented to the emperor in public, believing that what he had done was indeed very wrong. Now that Hanzhong was victorious and the situation in Sichuan and Shaanxi was improving, he wanted to go back and contribute.
Even if you let him start as a battalion officer, you can only give him one battalion.
But Zhu Yihai still asked him to further his studies. Fortunately, when Zhu Yihai left, he also gave them some hope. Each training class in Jiangwu Hall should also organize troops to form Jiangwu Hall Xuejun. After class, everyone
They also have to practice, and even act as the blue army against other royal camps in exercises.
"As long as you can defeat the Red Camp ten times while learning to fight, it means that you have completed your studies, and you can then be appointed to the Ministry of War!"
Leave the martial arts hall and return to the palace.
Zhu Yihai specially ordered a new 100,000 silver dollars for the Fusiliary Research Institute, which was drawn from his internal funds. He even issued generous rewards for some of the major problems currently faced by the Fusiliers. For each problem solved, a reward was given.
Reward accordingly.
"Nowadays, the performance of the new bird muskets far exceeds that of Tatar firearms, and they are sufficient. Why does Your Majesty continue to invest more money in the research of flintlock muskets?"
Zhu Dadian, Minister of the Ministry of War, was a little puzzled.
The performance of the three-year-old bird blunderbuss surpassed that of the Tatar shotguns in all aspects. It was sufficient and there was no need to study the flintlock gun in such a hurry.
"We must take a long-term view and not just focus on the present. The Tatars will not be our only enemy. In the future, the Ming Dynasty will go to the sea and face competitors coming from long distances. Maintain funding and research new equipment.
, it is necessary to make good reserves."
Zhu Dadian didn't agree with this, but he didn't object either.
He came to see the emperor not for this reason, but because of the order for gunfire.
"According to His Majesty's order, the Ministry of War is preparing to order 20,000 Type 3 bird guns. At present, it has sent notices to all bird gun factories, asking them to provide sample guns and order quotations. Now each gun factory has responded as required and sent them
I have received the sample gun and the quotation, and I would like to ask your Majesty to take a look at it."
Zhu Yihai nodded, "Did these new requirements for this batch of gunshots be added?"
"Well, our Ministry of War provided them with the latest prototype guns from the research institute."
Zhu Yihai looked through the report.
He attaches great importance to firearms. Now, not only does the Ministry of War have a Firearms Bureau, but there is also an Arms Supervision Bureau under the Imperial Household. In addition, there is also a Weapons Bureau under the Shaofu Supervision. These major military industry departments have established various research institutes.
Among them, the research institutes of muskets, artillery, and battleships have the most sufficient funds and the strongest strength.
In addition, the military industry system is also developing rapidly. There are many military factories under the names of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, the Shaofu Supervisor, and the Armed Forces Supervisor. For muskets alone, there are more than a dozen manufacturers, and all have musket workshops.
Zhu Yihai now has a new set of rules for ordnance. The imperial court gives various research institutes weapons research directions. They set up research, and the imperial court allocates a certain amount of funding. After there are results and progress, more funding will be given. If the research has major results, it will also be given a huge reward.
reward.
The Ministry of War invites bids and collections for various military factories according to the needs of the army. They must provide samples, budgets, etc. as required. Whoever has the advantage will get more orders.
Although they are all from the imperial court, Zhu Yihai also has many business requirements for their operations. It does not mean that they don't have to compete if they eat from the public family.
If you do a good job, you will be rewarded. If you can't grab orders or make money, the workers in your factory will not get bonuses, and the officials in charge may even be demoted or even exempted from official punishment.
The purpose is to maintain competitiveness and ensure product quality and efficiency.
The Ministry of War obtained the best design samples from various research institutes, and then handed them over to various musket factories, asking them to provide mass production samples and quotations based on the design samples.
The comparison is the scale of production capacity and cost.
Doing so can greatly reduce costs and even improve efficiency.
In order to win orders, get bonuses, commissions, and even officials in charge must go all out for political performance and promotion.
"There are a total of seven musket factories, and the quotations are within one silver dollar each. The specific difference is only a few cents. The quotations are quite realistic."
Zhu Dadian told the emperor that the Ministry of War had already calculated the cost. One silver dollar, a new fire gun, and a sleeved bayonet were indeed the limit.
This time, we are purchasing 20,000 bird cannons and matching bayonets. We also need an additional order for one cannon with three barrels.
"The Ningbo Bird Gun Factory has the lowest price this time, and their production capacity is guaranteed. They promise to expand the production line, add workshops, recruit more workers, etc. I think it will be the Ningbo Bird Gun Factory."
"Your Majesty, what about the other six gun factories? Their quotations are similar, and their production capabilities are not weak either?"
"Give the order to Ningbo Gun Factory, and then ask Ningbo Gun Factory to subcontract some to them. Since it is a bidding and collection, they are not as good as Ningbo Factory, so they can only eat second-hand food from Ningbo Factory."
The Ningbo factory distributes the orders to the other six factories. There is no doubt that the Ningbo factory has a benefit, but since it is competition, there must be rules. We cannot say that we invite bids here, and in the end the orders are divided equally among everyone.
If you can't compete with others, you can only be their OEM processing company and share a profit with them.
Even though this Ningbo Musket Factory is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, among the other six gun factories is Zhu Yihai's Royal Zhoushan Musket Factory.
Rules are rules.
"Tatar shotguns are said to cost at least one, two or three gold coins each. Their quality and performance are far inferior to ours, and their production efficiency is also far behind. We still have great advantages, but we cannot be arrogant.
I plan to make the infantry and musketeers in the imperial camp reach 70% of the infantry within three years. In the next ten years, we will even completely eliminate the bows, crossbows, swords and spearmen, and all of them will be equipped with muskets.
The number of artillery must also be expanded, and artillery units must be established in each town.
After this batch of 20,000 fire guns is completed and delivered, we will continue to place orders. If the Ningbo factory does well with this batch of orders, we can give them priority next time."
Zhu Yihai had no intention of developing cold weapons such as archers. Although the Tatar bows and arrows were powerful, in terms of development, they were definitely not as potential as the musketeers.
"You go back and study it carefully with the people from the Ministry of War, select a few good cannons from several artillery research institutes, write a report, and prepare for bidding for the artillery collection."
"General cannons, buy more Krupp cannons!" Zhu Yihai specifically explained that if you match blunderbuss with artillery, you will be invincible.
Zhu Yihai has long demanded that a Ming Dynasty's own artillery system be established. Army field artillery, siege artillery, and naval naval artillery should be separated. The navy should mainly use long artillery, which was the previously sealed Krupp cannon.
The army mainly produces general artillery (cannon), producing two types of cannons and short cannons, which are used to undertake fortification and field missions.
He also proposed to increase the research on iron cannons to replace copper cannons. After all, copper materials are scarce. In addition, the new artillery system should be simpler, not too complicated, and should meet the needs of war. Even warships are best on land.
It is compatible and interoperable.
"Don't neglect the research on gun carriages and gun mounts."
"After the order is confirmed, you need to pay a 30% deposit first, then pay part of it when the batches are delivered, and leave a 30% balance at the end. The payment will be completed after all the goods have been accepted and the quantity and quality are guaranteed. But if there is a problem with the quality, you can also
We still need to find them, they must have quality assurance, and all guns and cannons must have manufacturing inscriptions to ensure that the person responsible can be traced."
"Ordnance is not something to be trifled with, and there can be no quality issues at all."
"Also, the purchase of ordnance must be prevented from corruption and bribery. Your Ministry of War must supervise it yourself. I will also ask the Admonition Yuan, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and even Jinyiwei, Dongchang, etc. to strictly supervise it. If anyone dares to reach out here, a
You can't escape. As the Minister of the Ministry of War, you must manage your subordinates well."
Zhu Dadian felt a little embarrassed after hearing this.
After all, Zhu Dadian is a famous corrupt official. Although some of it was caused by Dong Lin's previous efforts, he is indeed not an honest official. Now that the emperor is reminding him of this, it always feels like he is talking about him.
"Please rest assured, your majesty, I will guard my door and my own conduct, and I will never let anyone embezzle a piece of silver dollars used to purchase ordnance!"
The atmosphere was a little awkward.
Zhu Yihai put down his report and poured Zhu Dadian a cup of tea.
"I heard that Wanhua is doing very well in Shu, and the Guizhou imperial camp will be established. I plan to let him go to supervise the Guizhou camp. What do you think?"
Zhu Wanhua is the son of Zhu Dadian. He previously served as the deputy admiral in the Sichuan Guixing camp, partnered with Zhang Guowei and Shen Tingyang's son, and his performance is indeed acceptable.
Lao Zhu is also very proud.
After all, he himself failed to start well and end well in Huguang, and he always felt regretful when he returned to the DPRK.
Fortunately, his son performed well. After receiving the news about the battle in Hanzhong, he drank three glasses of wine and was very excited.
"Wanzi Wanhua was in Sichuan, and he was well commanded by Wen Jinglue and President Qin. He only had a secondary position and had no merit."
"Da Sima is so humble. Wan Hua will be rewarded for his merits. Although he is your son, he is a minister's son who has made meritorious deeds, and I want to reward him even more."
After the First World War in Hanzhong, the situation in the west has finally been stabilized. The Tatars now only control Guanzhong. Longyou, Hanzhong, and Bashu are basically controlled by the Ming army.
Baocheng Town is still under siege, but even if Wu Sangui returns to help, Zhu Yihai doesn't think he can do anything.
"Years ago, could we capture Xu and Ying?" Zhu Yihai asked Zhu Dadian.
"The Tatars can only defend one of Jinan and Xuzhou. The Tatars cannot defend Xuzhou. Their best option is to abandon Xuzhou and defend Qi. If they defend two places separately, they will be unable to defend both places."
"It seems you are very confident, I hope so!" Zhu Yihai said with a smile.
