1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 218: Mushkot Matchlock

For the lower-class people of the Eastern Roman Empire, the spring of 1464 was happy and joyful. Last year's winter came early and went away quickly. The ice and snow melted quickly under the warm sun, and the hard ground greedily absorbed the melted water. Under the ground, the grass and trees that had been silent for a winter were sprouting.

There are more animals in the forest, the fish in the rivers and lakes have become active, the wheat seedlings in the fields have drunk enough melt water and basked in enough sunlight, the wheat leaves have gradually turned green, and the stems have gradually become thicker. Some of the wheat seedlings in the south have already bloomed tender white flowers, exuding a faint fragrance.

Spring is the season of production. Herders are busy working for the estrus and mating of their livestock, farmers are ensuring the growth of wheat, silkworm farmers begin to select silkworm seeds, miners go into the mines, fishermen board their boats, municipal officials are busy registering last winter's newborns, and vendors are preparing goods to take to the market.

The whole empire was busy.

Nobles and wealthy merchants did not need to engage in production. In addition to managing their industries, they always liked to take their families on outings, hunting, drinking, and enjoying a good time.

However, as the actual ruler of the empire, Isaac did not have the leisure time. He was intensively preparing for the wars against Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. The army was frequently mobilized, and all kinds of food and supplies were gathered to Constantinople. There were also many civil affairs, and each one had to be reviewed by Isaac personally.

Having just seen off several colonial governors who had come to report on their work, Isaac got on a carriage and headed non-stop towards the outer city area.

There are so many things I want to do and so many changes I want to make, and many of them are beyond the understanding and execution of officials. I have no choice but to do it myself.

Twenty years have passed, and Isaac's former subordinates are getting older. The spy chief Albert has passed away, and the Minister of Commerce Andrei has entered old age and is no longer in charge. Although the Minister of Military Affairs Mikhail is in good health, he is almost sixty years old and is preparing to officially retire after the Cretan War.

Foreign Minister Sfrangis and Prime Minister Isult are both over 50 years old and are working hard to train their successors.

The two territories of the Eastern Roman Empire were in very different situations, and it was not realistic to govern them entirely with the old system. Many tribal shaikhs, manor owners, and governors of overseas colonies in Africa had no idea about the empire at all, and their loyalty was entirely to Isaac and his descendants, not to this country.

It was for this reason that Africa and the overseas colonies needed a Prince Palaiologos who could control the situation and use the fame and prestige that Isaac had earned in the past twenty years to maintain the balance.

After Constantine XI completely stopped caring about government affairs, Isaac was forced to travel back and forth between the two territories, meeting with important people, and dealing with disputes, which made him exhausted.

Therefore, over the years, Isaac gradually delegated power to his two sons, hoping that they could take on some of the burdens, free Isaac from the complicated but necessary chores, and carry out macro-strategic deployment.

After the eldest son Justinian went to Crimea for training, the North African territory was handed over to the second son Alexios and Queen Leonor, and Prime Minister Isurter was responsible for assisting them.

Leonor was very willing to help share the burden, and was indeed an expert in court politics, but she still had no idea where to start with the complex government affairs.

Alexius had even less interest in government affairs. He spent all day at the training ground and the stable. Military and political affairs were either handed over to the prime minister or sent to Isaac's desk.

Justinian did have some talent for governing a country and was quite good at smoothing things over, but he acted entirely on emotion and always helped his relatives instead of others.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing. He will judge the closeness and distance of people based on their own interests, and he will also win people's hearts and know how to put the right people in the right positions. However, some talents are unwilling to please their superiors, and some loyal advice is irritating. If you want to be a qualified monarch, you cannot act solely based on your own preferences.

Isaac placed him in the most barbaric and cruel steppes of East Europe so that he could learn, grow and make up for his shortcomings.

The royal brother Manuel has learned a lot of skills in the Royal School. It is still unclear how capable he is, but at least he is conscientious and hard-working. We can try to cultivate him.

The carriage continued to move forward. The spring breeze blowing in their faces lifted Isaac's spirits a little. He sighed softly, shook his head, and put aside all distracting thoughts.

"Let's go along the Golden Horn first! Then we'll go to the Lycas River Valley!"

Isaac instructed the driver.

The carriage changed direction and drove onto the Golden Horn, the most prosperous area of ​​Constantinople.

With the resurgence of Constantinople, the Golden Horn, which gathered most of the maritime commerce, quickly regained its prosperity. Densely packed shops, taverns and handicraft workshops sprang up like mushrooms after a rain. The former Venetian expatriate community became the most prosperous commercial district, with pedestrians coming and going in an endless stream.

Compared with the real wealthy aristocrats, the middle class of Constantinople had fewer choices for travel and enjoyment. Their favorite thing to do was to take their families on a cruise ship at the Golden Horn port, sailing from Constantinople to Galata, and then from Galata to Constantinople, enjoying the sea breeze and admiring the scenery on both sides of the Golden Horn along the way.

They always put on their best clothes, climb up the Christ Tower in Galata district like the upper class, point at war relics like the upper class, and order an expensive cocktail in the bar like the upper class.

Of course, there were also many "nouveau riche" in Constantinople who were incompatible with the traditional aristocracy. Most of them came from the lower classes, and either made great contributions on the battlefield and became famous overnight, or got lucky in ocean expeditions and became rich overnight.

Some of these "nouveau riche" tried their best to integrate into the upper class and specifically chose to marry the sons of down-and-out nobles in order to get a nice surname and a glorious family tree.

More people are independent and keep each other warm. Their status and wealth are enough to compare with the old aristocrats, but their living habits and life concepts cannot be changed. Finding a comfortable tavern, ordering a few glasses of strong liquor, and chatting with friends who are also nouveau riche, this is the best leisure.

Of course, they were divided into many factions. The army looked down on explorers, and explorers thought the army was old-fashioned. Those in the cotton business looked down on those in the ivory business, and those in the ivory business looked down on those in the slave business. There was cooperation but also differences among them.

The country is the most complex group organization that has appeared since the birth of mankind. Where there are interests, there will be struggles. Where there are struggles, factions will inevitably emerge. Even the most united country will have internal struggles.

Isaac did not care too much about these phenomena. His prestige was high enough and no one dared to directly touch his majesty.

On the newly built gravel road, passers-by saw the carriage with the crest of the Palaiologos royal family and the fully armed guards beside the carriage. Regardless of their status, they bowed and saluted, and their eager eyes followed the speeding carriage until the end of the road.

They all knew that the monarch in the carriage had led them to defeat the Ottomans, the Mamluks, and the Venetians, and would continue to lead them to defeat the Bulgarians until all powerful enemies were retreated and Rome was revived.

"Your Majesty, do you want to continue walking?"

The driver slowed down and asked kindly.

"No, I've seen what I need to see. The city is still normal. They should be waiting impatiently for the trip to the Licas Valley."

Constantinople is very large. After driving for a long time, the carriage finally left the main city and entered the Lycus River Valley.

In Isaac's plan, the Lycus River Valley is the light industrial base of Constantinople. The development of industry is inseparable from water, and the noise and odor are also very loud, so it is just right to put it here.

The Licas River Valley is divided into five major workshop areas, engaged in metallurgy, textiles, glass, agricultural product processing and papermaking.

Of course, this division is very general. The five major workshop areas also include other subsidiary workshops, which together form an industrial complex.

For example, the textile zone includes not only the weaving of various clothes, but also furniture manufacturing, wood production, dye processing, leather tanning, the making of fishing nets and baskets, etc.

Due to the pungent smell, the textile area is located in the most remote corner, and apart from the workers who work there and the merchants who come to purchase, basically not many people are willing to come here.

The glass area is not large, but the prices of goods are very high. It is mainly responsible for the production and carving of glass, pottery, gems, clay bricks and other handicrafts. It is located deep in the river valley, close to sand pits and clay mines.

The agricultural product processing area is much simpler. Sugar, salt, flour, preserved fruits, yogurt and pickled products are all produced here. It is the area closest to the downtown area and also the largest one.

Since the carrying capacity of the Lykas Valley was really limited, Isaac moved the wine-making workshop, which was originally located in the agricultural product processing zone, to Galata, and the vacant land was immediately snatched up by several flour merchants.

The papermaking area is the smallest and is mainly responsible for the production of paper and the printing of books. It is located by the river near the woodland.

Due to its largest water consumption, the metallurgical area firmly occupied the middle section of the river. In addition to the smelting of metals such as iron, copper, lead and the production of metal utensils, it was also home to the largest arsenal in the Eastern Roman Empire, the Constantinople Arsenal.

The carriage passed the agricultural product processing area, saw the papermaking area in the distance, went straight to the metallurgical area in the center, and stopped in front of the Constantinople Arsenal.

The roads in the Licas Industrial Zone were built to the highest standards, and several wooden bridges and floating bridges were built on the river. The mayor of Constantinople did not disappoint Isaac and implemented all his requirements to ensure the prosperity of the industrial zone.

In fact, Isaac did not interfere too much with the development of industry. He just brought together the workshops that originally existed in Constantinople according to his own ideas and connected them through commercial guilds.

There are many benefits to doing this. Each workshop will try its best to improve its technology through communication and competition with each other, which can greatly promote the generation and use of new technologies.

Furthermore, this will also benefit the government's tax revenue and minimize tax evasion.

In addition, after the industry is concentrated, workshop owners only need to focus on production, and the upstream raw materials and downstream sales channels will be left to the commercial trade unions to handle, so they don’t have to worry about them themselves.

There are two main roads in the Licas Industrial Zone, one connecting the raw material production area and the other connecting the commercial area. The commercial trade union will assume the function of lubrication, the upstream and downstream are clear, and the production efficiency is higher.

At the end of each month, the government would work with the trade unions to find the leaders of each workshop area and negotiate with them on the purchase price of raw materials and goods. Notices would also be posted every week to fully inform all workshop owners of market changes to enhance their trust in government departments.

This organized and institutionalized industrial and commercial complex has a wide range of raw material sources and a broad market, and is better able to resist risks when faced with uncontrollable price changes.

In the past, workshop owners found their own sources of raw materials through personal relationships, which was too fragile. If something went wrong at an iron mine, several blacksmith shops would have to tighten their belts and could go bankrupt if they were not careful.

Of course, this model can only work in large cities with dense populations and developed commerce. In the Eastern Roman Empire today, only Constantinople, Thessalonica and Carthage have established relatively complete industrial and commercial complexes.

Among the remaining medium-sized cities, the pilot projects of Mystras and Bilinchi faced difficulties to varying degrees. The former was not close to the sea, and the latter had a too prosperous slave trade, which hindered the development of industry.

As for the more remote small cities, their commercial value is limited, and the development of organized industries is even less likely. The old system they have always adhered to will only gradually disintegrate under the tide of the new era, and eventually become the source of raw materials and dumping grounds for goods for big cities.

This is the tide of the times, it is only a matter of time. Northern Italy, with its developed industry and commerce, has already gone through it, and Isaac cannot change it.

"Your Majesty, we have arrived."

The coachman's words woke Isaac from his thoughts. Looking out the window, he saw Martinez, the head of the Constantine Arsenal, and his entourage already waiting there.

Isaac nodded, jumped off the carriage, and walked towards his old friend Martinez.

"Martinez, you looked sick the last time I saw you. I'm glad to see you're back on your feet."

Isaac smiled and held out his hand, allowing Martinez to kiss his ring.

"Your Majesty, the wheat in Thrace nourishes people. Since I moved here from North Africa, my illness has improved and I have become much younger."

Martinez said with a smile.

The gray-haired Italian in front of him was an old friend of Isaac. He sold his own muskets to Isaac during the Battle of the Corinth Wall more than ten years ago, and thus became connected with the Eastern Roman Empire.

In the subsequent Italian War, Martinez's firearms workshop was looted by soldiers. Isaac found him and asked him to rebuild a small arsenal in the North African territory, specifically responsible for supplying the army.

Later, as the demand grew, the natural conditions of the North African territory restricted the further development of the arsenal. It was at that time that Martinez received an invitation from Isaac to move the arsenal to Constantinople and set up the framework of the Constantinople Arsenal, which has continued to develop to this day.

Martinez is nearly seventy years old, but surprisingly he is still in good health. He went to the Imperial Medical School and found a Persian doctor with superb medical skills, who even cured his headaches that had plagued him for many years.

"Your Majesty, follow me. Everything is ready."

Isaac nodded and followed Martinez.

"How is the situation recently? Several regiments of the Guards are expanding, and Archduke Thomas has also bought a large number of firearms. You shouldn't have any problems with orders, right?"

"That's right, your majesty."

Martinez still had a smile on his face, and he was obviously in a good mood. "Although the quality of the equipment produced by our arsenal is slightly inferior to that of some exquisite small workshops in Italy, the quantity has increased, and we are still receiving a lot of orders."

"Our production is far ahead of the entire Mediterranean world. In addition to domestic military needs, we also sell some inferior quality equipment to other friendly countries."

"Hungarian King Matthias was very fond of muskets and ordered a large number of weapons for his Black Army at the end of last year."

"We also captured a few spies last month. They were said to be sent by the Hungarians to steal the technology."

Isaac smiled and said nothing.

The arms business always makes huge profits, and Isaac is not prepared to ban its sale completely.

If he didn't sell the muskets to Matthias, he could still find a seller in Italy, or work hard to build his own factory, which would not be a good thing.

Just pay attention to keeping the key technologies confidential. It is not easy to build a large-scale arsenal based on Isaac's model.

Even if we substitute Isaac from the perspective of later generations, it still took more than ten years and countless efforts.

“How are the workers doing?”

Isaac asked again.

"It's pretty good. There are residential areas for workers in the Licas Industrial Zone, as well as their own shops and churches. The wages are also much higher than when I worked alone before."

"Workers were put on government rolls and their children were given priority in attending church schools."

Martinez said.

"You have to work hard. In order to make room for the industrial zone, I moved three nearby villages away. It cost a lot of money just to build new houses for them."

Isaac thought of the villagers' crying and shouting during the relocation period and their gratitude after moving into their new home, and a smile appeared on his face.

"No, the workers all remember your kindness."

The group quickly walked through the office area and some workshops of the arsenal. The workers bowed and saluted Isaac with reserved and respectful smiles on their faces.

After passing through a passage, they arrived at the shooting range of the arsenal, where several engineers were trying out new muskets.

Isaac came to the wooden table full of muskets, and was immediately attracted by a musket that was finely made, beautifully shaped, and extremely gorgeous in appearance, and he started playing with it.

"Your Majesty, this is a decorative gun we made specifically for you. It's not very heavy and has very little power. It can only be used to shoot birds. Its only advantage is that it looks good."

Martinez explained.

"There are two types of this kind of gun. The one you see in your hand is mainly used as a reward for those who have made contributions."

Isaac stroked the gun body made of precious wood and high-quality metal, which was engraved with gorgeous patterns and painted with the emblem of a double-headed eagle.

There is also a line of Greek text under the coat of arms, which was specially carved by Isaac. The message will be different depending on the person to whom it is given.

"The second type is not much different from the reward gun, except that it does not have your message or emblem, and the pattern is also engraved according to the buyer's preference. Anyone can pay to buy it."

"Oh? Has it been sold?"

Isaac stroked the gun and put it down reluctantly.

"We have sold dozens of them. Your son, His Highness Justinian, was the first to place an order. He specifically asked us to carve fiery red pomegranate flowers and snow-white carnations on the gun. We put a lot of effort into finding the right dye."

Martinez laughed.

"Pomegranates? Carnations? Aren't those what the Spanish like?"

Isaac shook his head and sighed, too lazy to care about this boy.

"The gun is well made. Weapons have a certain craftsmanship. Since someone is paying a lot of money for a flashy rapier, I think this thing will sell well."

"You guys keep watching. If there are a lot of orders, you might as well set up a small department to manufacture these noble guns. The profit will definitely be good."

"I understand. Please come with us to the side. That's the highlight of today."

Martinez brought Isaac to the center of the shooting range. On the wooden table, a rough and bold matchlock rifle was placed there.

"This is the new equipment we recently manufactured based on your needs."

Isaac nodded and weighed the gun; it was quite heavy.

Isaac measured it by feel and found that the gun was about 1.8 meters long, with a caliber of more than millimeters and weighed about ten kilograms.

This type of musket, like other matchlock guns, uses a curved rod to drive the match to ignite and fire, but it has a wooden buttstock and mechanical sights, which can be considered a significant improvement.

After loading the gunpowder and lead bullets, Isaac mounted the musket on the stand, took casual aim, turned the fuse, and ignited the gunpowder.

With a loud bang and a puff of smoke, the bullet hit the scarecrow used as a target, shattering one of the scarecrow's arms.

"Your Majesty, you have great marksmanship!"

The officials of the arsenal quickly flattered and applauded.

Isaac smiled casually, knowing that they had made the scarecrow huge on purpose to avoid embarrassment, and didn't say much.

"It has good power and fair accuracy. It's much better than the previous few sample guns. It's up to standard."

Isaac commented.

As early as two years ago, Isaac told Martinez the design concept of this heavy musket and asked him to make a similar sample gun based on his description.

After two years of hard work, they finally succeeded.

"Why is this sample gun so different from the previous ones? Did you suddenly get the idea?"

Isaac put down his gun and looked at Martinez with a smile.

Seeing Isaac's keen interest, Martinez felt a little embarrassed.

"This gun was not designed entirely by us. After the last failure, I sent people to various European countries to steal a lot of blueprints. I got inspiration from a Spanish blueprint."

"That blueprint is actually very close to your requirements. Combined with our previous experience in making guns, we quickly came up with the final result."

"They call these things 'heavy muskets', or mushkot muskets."

Isaac nodded, automatically ignoring Martinez's unethical behavior.

The Mushkot musket is the pinnacle of the matchlock musket. It first appeared in the Reconquista War at the end of the 15th century. It has a very complete structure and has already taken shape as the prototype of the modern musket.

According to historical records, this gun fired lead bullets with great power and an effective range of about 150 meters, which could shatter the armor of most heavy cavalry in the world at that time.

Furthermore, compared with arrows and crossbow bolts, musket bullets are very dirty and have a lot of gunpowder residue on them. Once they are shot into the human body, whether it can heal depends entirely on luck.

The famous Spanish general Gonzalo de Cordoba was the first to equip the army with Moushcotte muskets on a large scale. He created the famous Spanish Grande based on the Moushcotte musketeers. Despite the numerical disadvantage of the army, he defeated the French Knights of the Order. The musketeers officially appeared on the historical stage as an independent branch of the army.

Later, the Spanish explorer Pizarro, armed with mushcot muskets, broke through the Inca court with less than two hundred troops, creating a myth of the era.

Later, this type of musket accidentally flowed into the Ming Dynasty through the Portuguese. A commander named Qi Jiguang took the captured Western weapons and realized that the gap in weapons between the two civilizations had been widening. He determined to work hard and eventually formed the first organized musket team in Eastern civilization, which played a significant role in suppressing bandits in the southeast.

Of course, Western muskets also flowed into Japan through Ming Dynasty pirates. They were even more obsessed with this thing and modified it, which to some extent affected the military situation in the late Warring States period.

The Mushkot musket was heavy and unevenly distributed, so it needed a stand to support it.

"Don't use the tripod anymore. Switch to the Banmen Axe. It will also give the musketeers more melee capabilities."

Isaac thought for a moment and looked at Martinez.

"That's no problem. A normal military axe only needs to be slightly modified."

Isaac looked at the musket shining in the sunlight, his eyes full of joy.

With a wave of his hand, a guard picked up the Mushkot rifle.

Seeing Isaac preparing to leave, Martinez hurriedly stopped him in a hurry.

"Your Majesty, are you leaving now?"

"Our funding..."

Isaac turned back and looked at Martinez.

"We did a good job this time. We will receive more and more orders in the future. Let's prepare to expand the factory!"

"Then you——"

"Me? I'm going to expand my army, too."

Isaac laughed loudly, rode on the horse brought by his servant, and ran towards the entrance of the arsenal regardless of the surprised looks of the crowd.

(End of this chapter)