Ming Dynasty: The Crocodile King of Han Prince Zhu Gaoxu's Family

Chapter 527 The Kings' Demands 3
"Brother Crown Prince, tell me quickly!" Upon hearing his elder brother's words, the Second Prince immediately asked excitedly. Clearly, he saw a turning point in the situation!

As the saying goes, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

The current imperial court has a wide variety of new firearms, and they are very expensive. If the various vassal states were to purchase them, the cost would be too high, or they might not be able to afford them at all.

Therefore, with the Emperor's permission, it was specially permitted to compile the blueprints, workshop blueprints, and forging standards for the third generation of firearms of the imperial court and exchange them with the various vassal states.

These blueprints include all third-generation firearms, such as muskets, cannons, various thunderclaps, flying thunderclaps, and fire dragons!

"I wonder what the princes think?" Under the eager gazes of the princes, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu solemnly expressed his thoughts, or rather, the court's greatest sincerity.

In reality, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu's meaning was quite simple: he couldn't give them the blueprints for the fifth-generation firearms, but he could give them the blueprints for the third-generation firearms without hesitation!
"Only the third generation!" After hearing Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu's words, the Third Prince, Prince Luzon, muttered with a look of disdain. Clearly, the Third Prince Luzon could distinguish the difference between the third and fifth generation firearms! He was somewhat unwilling to accept this.

After all, this is still very, very different from what the King of Luzon and his people expected!

In fact, not only the King of Luzon, but the other princes also looked dissatisfied, gazing at Emperor Longwu with resentful expressions, their eyes filled with pitiful looks.

"Third Uncle, and two Aunts, please don't be so quick to complain. Listen to what your nephew has to say." Despite his uncle's disapproving look and the resentful glances from his aunts and brothers, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu remained confident.

"Brother, the difference is too big!" At this moment, before Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu could speak, the Third Prince and Prince Ning muttered with resentment on their faces.

"Third brother, let your elder brother explain in detail." Seeing his third brother's brows furrowed, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu remained calm. Clearly, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu possessed the means to persuade everyone!

"Third brother, listen to what your elder brother has to say!" The second prince, the King of Joseon, quickly added. Then, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu continued speaking.

"Third Uncle, two Aunts, and younger brothers."

If I'm not mistaken, the firearms currently used by soldiers in various vassal states are mostly similar to those used in the early days of our Dragon Kingdom.

Even if everyone had some other new firearms bestowed by their father, there probably weren't many, and they weren't widely used.

"So, I'm right, aren't I?" Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu said with a smile after glancing at the Third Prince and Prince Ning.

The princes remained silent in response. Because what His Highness the Crown Prince said was true!

"Hmm~! Let's just call the firearms in everyone's hands the first generation of firearms."

"All the vassal states are currently using first-generation firearms, so the workshops in each vassal state are still workshops that manufacture first-generation firearms!" Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu said with a confident expression. Then, before anyone else could speak, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu continued.

"Let me not say anything else. Even if Father Emperor really gave the fifth-generation firearms and workshop blueprints to the various vassal states, have you all considered that the various vassal states probably wouldn't even be able to build workshops to forge the fifth-generation firearms?"

Even if each vassal state puts all its efforts into building fifth-generation firearms workshops, how much time would it take to become familiar with them? How much time would it take to train the craftsmen? And how much time would it take to actually manufacture the fifth-generation firearms? These are all questions!

Compared to the fifth-generation firearms workshop, the third-generation firearms workshop was built upon the foundation of the first-generation workshop and underwent extensive modifications in order to forge the third-generation firearms.

The fifth-generation workshop was built on the basis of the third and fourth-generation workshops.

The difference is too great.

"So it's not that Father Emperor doesn't want to give them to everyone now, but rather, even if he did, it wouldn't be of much use!" Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu earnestly explained the reason why he was only giving everyone the third-generation workshop and firearm blueprints.

After hearing the Crown Prince's words, the crowd couldn't help but twitch their lips. They knew in their hearts that the Crown Prince was right, but they were just unwilling to accept it! Seeing that everyone's faces were still filled with emotion, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu continued to speak.

"Another point is that the operation of third-generation firearms is not significantly different from that of first-generation firearms, so it is easy for soldiers to learn and train."

But fifth-generation firearms are different. Even if everyone were given fifth-generation firearms now, it would still take a long time to train them to operate them! How can the combat effectiveness of the armies of various countries be guaranteed during this period?" Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu continued to persuade him.

Seeing that his uncles, aunts, and brothers were all unhappy and silent, Zhu Qiyu knew that his words had worked.

"Alright, everyone, once you return, quickly master the third-generation firearms. Then, once each vassal state is proficient in forging third-generation firearms, the imperial court will, as appropriate, assist you in modifying them into fourth-generation, and even fifth-generation firearms!"

"I know everyone is eager for the new firearms. Here, I've taken the initiative to transfer a batch of new firearms from the workshop to all the princes who have been enfeoffed. You can take them with you when you leave!" Seeing the disappointment on his uncles, aunts, and younger brothers' faces, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu promptly comforted everyone.

"Really?!" Upon hearing the Crown Prince's words, everyone's eyes lit up instantly, and Princess Yushu asked with great eagerness.

"Aunt, as you know, we have a large family. Even if I gave each family a hundred muskets, that would still amount to several thousand muskets!" Zhu Qiyu said with a troubled expression, looking at his eager aunt.

"That's true!" Princess Yu Shu nodded helplessly after hearing her nephew's words.

After all, everyone knows the situation in this family: eight sisters, nine brothers, and more than twenty princes! In this way, even if each family has a hundred muskets, that's still several thousand muskets being given away for nothing.

If you were to convert it into money, this nephew's simple act of giving a gift amounted to tens of thousands of taels of silver!

"The Crown Prince is so generous! But we should still try to extort more firearms and ammunition!" Princess Yushu muttered to herself.

Seeing that everyone had been convinced, Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu pressed his advantage and added fuel to the fire.

"Although we are one family, the countries have been divided up, especially for our uncles and brothers, who must continue to expand outwards."

We can't keep relying on the imperial court to allocate weapons.

After all, the best option for each vassal state to forge its own weapons is to do so! If the other words were just Crown Prince Zhu Qiyu's words of reassurance, then his suggestion that everyone make their own weapons really resonated with everyone.

"Big brother is right!"

We have already been granted fiefdoms, so we must rely on ourselves!

I want these third-generation firearms and workshop blueprints.

My elder brother and uncle are so generous; we can't be any less so.

"Brother, just count them. We'll buy these things. We can't let the imperial court suffer a loss!" It has to be said, the Ryukyu king really knows how to flatter! And rich people really do speak with arrogance! He just said, "Name your price, and I'll buy it!" His arrogant manner was truly tooth-aching!

After hearing what the Ryukyu king said, everyone else felt a real pain in their teeth!

Everyone knows that the King of Ryukyu was wealthy, owning gold and silver mines. He usually gave gold and silver as gifts!

But in this situation, the Crown Prince hasn't even quoted a price yet, and you're already asking for the price? What are we supposed to do?! Are we supposed to just chip in with your money?! Where are we going to get that much money?! For a moment, all the princes were speechless at the sight of this Ryukyu King.

(End of this chapter)