I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 321 Zhu Houzhao is eagerly waiting
Zhu Houxuan understood what Jiang Jianmin meant. It was very troublesome to make a qualified bird gun barrel. If it was cut into three parts, it would be a waste.

"The last time I visited the gun factory, I saw a lot of defective gun barrels. You didn't dispose of those, right?" Zhu Houxuan suddenly asked.

"No." Jiang Jianmin looked at Zhu Houxuan in confusion, not understanding why he suddenly asked this.

"Although those gun barrels are defective, it should be only a certain section that has problems. Most gun barrels do not have problems from beginning to end. Can we cut off the parts without problems to make flintlock pistols?" Zhu Houxuan said quickly.

Jiang Jianmin showed an expression of sudden enlightenment. The barrel of a bird gun has a certain length requirement. Although those defective barrels cannot be used to make bird guns, the intact parts can be used to make flintlock pistols with very short barrels!
"Yes! Absolutely." Jiang Jianmin said excitedly, looking at Zhu Houxuan with admiration.

"Then mobilize the best soldiers and generals to make flintlock pistols. This matter must be made the top priority. You must use one month to produce at least 5,000 flintlock pistols. The more the better! Can you do it?" Zhu Houxuan looked at Jiang Jianmin seriously.

Jiang Jianmin quickly calculated and said loudly: "Yes!"

Zhu Houxuan nodded with satisfaction and said, "You have the right to ask any department to cooperate with your work."

"Yes! Your Highness! I will ensure that the mission is completed." Jiang Jianmin answered more confidently.

The reason why Zhu Houxun suddenly became so interested in flintlock pistols was that he suddenly remembered that a type of soldier called pistol cavalry was once very popular on the European battlefield.

Pistol cavalry is a type of light cavalry equipped with a breastplate, pistol and saber.

The pistol is definitely a revolutionary offensive weapon for cavalry, and it directly changed the cavalry's combat tactics.

The earliest pistol cavalry used spring-loaded rifles, but the bolt mechanism of spring-loaded rifles was complicated, so Zhu Houxuan skipped it and went straight to the flintlock rifle.

The reason why cavalry were not equipped with matchlock pistols was that the matchlock was a dangerous and unstable object for cavalry, and the loading procedures of the matchlock pistol were too cumbersome.

The earliest pistol cavalry was used to deal with infantry, but later it was found to be very effective against cavalry as well, and the dragoons were directly eliminated on the battlefield.

Although the Mongolian cavalry that the Ming Dynasty now faces is very different from the cavalry on the European battlefield, the emergence of pistol cavalry can also greatly change the combat situation between the Ming Dynasty and the Mongolian cavalry.

The reason why cavalrymen are equipped with pistols is that today's rifles are all muzzle-loading rifles, and it is almost impossible to complete the loading of a nearly two-meter-long muzzle-loading rifle on horseback. The short pistol allows the cavalrymen to complete the loading of the pistol while running.

A flintlock rifle with a firing rate of only about 60% is relatively useless for the current new army infantry, but a flintlock pistol with a firing rate of about 60% is a revolutionary change for the cavalry because it solves the problem of whether or not to have it.

There is no cavalry in the new army because the horsemanship requirements for cavalry are too high and the training cycle is too long. However, there is no cavalry in the new army, and there are still some cavalry in the border army.

Yes, but not too much, because the money to support one cavalryman is used to support three or four infantrymen.

These cavalrymen must be under the command of Zhu Houzhao now, so Zhu Houxuan planned to transform them into the Ming version of pistol cavalry.

In fact, pistol cavalry is a variant of mounted archery, but the traditional mounted archery with bows and arrows requires very high riding skills from the rider, and it takes many years to train one.

But pistol cavalry was different. The flintlock pistol allowed the rider to hold it with one hand, aim with one hand, and fire with one hand, which required much lower riding skills. The training cost of the flintlock pistol was also much lower than that of the bow and arrow. However, the penetration of the flintlock pistol was much greater than that of the bow and arrow, and armor could not stop it at all. It can be imagined that when the Mongolian cavalry was preparing to engage in close combat with the Ming cavalry, the Ming cavalry took out a pistol and fired one shot, then reloaded and approached again and fired another shot.

This kind of combat method can greatly narrow the gap in riding skills between the two sides and also give the Ming cavalry greater courage.

According to the normal configuration, because flintlock pistols are relatively light, a pistol cavalryman should be equipped with two or three flintlock pistols, so as to ensure the firepower in a single contact. But now Zhu Houxuan can only equip one person, and the rest can only see how many more can be produced.
Then other departments put forward some suggestions from various angles, and Zhu Houxuan listened to their suggestions one by one.

After this meeting, the entire Ming Royal Group was mobilized to prepare for the coming war.

Xuanfu.

Jiang Jiangong carefully marked the locations in the intelligence he had just received on the map. As the border troops continued to spy on the grassland at night and as more and more information was obtained, a lot of information pointed to the Mongols' plan to march south in large numbers this year.

This made Jiang Jiangong feel a sense of urgency. He was now organizing his staff to analyze the possible direction of the Mongols' southward movement and to make corresponding combat plans in advance.

He now works with Zhang Yong. He is responsible for analyzing and processing military intelligence sent from various places, while Zhang Yong is responsible for processing memorials sent from various places.
After a while, Zhu Houzhao came in hurriedly with a group of followers.

Jiang Jiangong, with a group of staff officers, and Zhang Yong, with a group of eunuchs, hurriedly saluted Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand casually, signaling them not to be polite. He looked unhappy.

He walked up to Zhang Yong and asked, "What's going on today?"

"Reporting to the mighty general, we have received another 34 memorials today, all of which are against the emperor leading the army in person and advise the emperor to return to Beijing as soon as possible." Zhang Yong said carefully.

Zhu Houzhao's face became even uglier. He slammed the table hard and shouted angrily: "Return to Beijing! Return to Beijing! Return to what Beijing? The Mongolian prince is coming with 10 troops to attack us. How can this great general return to Beijing?"

No one present dared to speak.

Jiang Jiangong looked at the angry Zhu Houzhao and sighed in his heart. He understood why Zhu Houzhao was so angry. Anyone would be angry if they encountered such a thing.

At this time, half a month had passed since Zhu Houzhao ordered the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War to provide supplies and food.

Xuanfu is not far from the capital, and if the 800-li express is sent, it will arrive in one day. As a result, the imperial edict stirred up a hornet's nest, and the number of memorials Zhu Houzhao received in the past half month suddenly increased a lot. These memorials were all against his leading the army in person and persuaded him to return to the capital.
Not only the officials in the capital city advised him to do so, but also the provincial governors and vassal states of various places submitted memorials to persuade him.

This annoyed Zhu Houzhao greatly, and what annoyed him even more was that he had not received any supplies in the past half month.
"Is there a letter from Prince Jing?" Zhu Houzhao hesitated and asked hopefully.

Zhang Yong could see what Zhu Houzhao was thinking, and he sighed in his heart and said carefully: "No, I haven't received any documents from the King of Jing."

The room fell into deathly silence again.
Zhu Houzhao kept silent with a sullen face.
Zhang Yong, who was standing by, felt sorry for Zhu Houzhao. In the past seven days, Zhu Houzhao came every day to ask if the King of Jing had received any letter, but every time he got the answer that there was no letter.
I finally finished the two chapters I owed. It took me two weeks to finish them. I feel a little embarrassed about it, but there is no way. My working hours have become 996 now, which has squeezed my writing time. After writing two chapters every day, I want to go to bed quickly. I only have time to finish the chapters on Sunday. I hope you can forgive me.

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(End of this chapter)