The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 679 Taking Over Ahead of Schedule
The reason why Emperor Wanli had his crown prince Zhu Changxun learn to handle government affairs was actually because he wanted the young man to take over the throne ahead of time.

Because he had too many things to handle personally, and he couldn't neglect the affairs of the court.

This was the Age of Exploration, and sea routes could easily stretch for tens of thousands of miles.

He needs to go overseas to take care of some business, which will take at least a few months.

If it's something as significant as establishing a defense system in the Americas, six months to a year wouldn't be enough.

The problem is, he can't just not go there in person for something this important.

Now that Qi Jiguang is gone, and he hasn't yet cultivated any trusted and capable ministers who can handle things independently, he has no choice but to go and deal with this matter personally.

In fact, even if Qi Jiguang were alive, he would have had to personally go to establish such an important defense line in the Americas.

There was no other way; it involved not only the movement of troops, but also the relocation of border towns, the governance of the territory, the dispatch of vassal states, and so on. No one else had such great power except him.

Therefore, he had to let Xiao Zhu Changxun take over ahead of time in order to feel at ease handling overseas affairs.

Xiao Zhu Changxun did not disappoint his expectations.

This little guy has only been learning from Li Tingji for about ten days, but his speed in processing important memorials has obviously increased a lot.

He could even write down his own approval for some memorials without asking Li Tingji. After reading and approving them, Li Tingji would nod in approval, indicating that there were no problems.

That's fine. With Li Tingji's assistance, the little guy should have no problem handling government affairs.

On February 26th, news came from the Summer Palace that Bi Maokang had already rifling the gun barrels, so he decided to let the young man try to take over.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., Li Tingji had just arrived at the Imperial Study with a stack of memorials when he stood up and said, "Xun'er, you and Erzhang stay here to process the memorials. Your father will take Chang Geng to the Summer Palace to check on the progress of the rifling of the gun barrels."

what?
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun immediately stood up and said, "Father, take me with you. It's the same to review the memorials at the Summer Palace."

This time, Father Emperor only went to the Summer Palace; next time, he might go to the Eastern Capital in North America.

Such a long distance, it would take at least two or three months for a memorial to be sent back and forth, how can they be the same?

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "You don't need to go with us this time. You don't understand rifling."

Besides, the rifling is only just beginning to be tested, there's no finished product to show you yet, and it's not appropriate for your father to explain its intricacies to you in detail. There's not much point in you going; you should stay here and focus on learning how to handle government affairs.”

Uh, I really don't understand rifling.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhu Changxun had no choice but to sit down.

Upon seeing this, Wanli immediately gave Li Tingji a wink.

Li Tingji quickly presented the memorial with both hands, asking Zhu Changxun to review it.

Wanli gave Song Yingxing a wink, then turned and walked out.

Song Yingxing quickly followed.

Soon, they set off under the escort of tens of thousands of Imperial Guard light cavalry.

By now, the snow and ice in the capital region have mostly melted, the weather is gradually warming up, and the grass is sprouting tender shoots.

Their group of over ten thousand riders rode out of Desheng Gate and were immediately greeted by a sea of ​​lush greenery.

Emperor Wanli even felt a sense of joy, like riding a horse on a spring outing.

Actually, being an emperor is not fun at all.

The endless political affairs were like shackles, essentially imprisoning the emperor.

To put it bluntly, the daily routine of an emperor is dealing with state affairs; he has no choice but to do so.

The affairs of state were never-ending, and the emperor had to deal with them constantly, leaving him with no freedom whatsoever.

Deep down, he still yearns for a free and unrestrained life, to do whatever he wants.

This has been true throughout history and it is true now.

Perhaps, this is the true nature of his body.

However, in history, he chose to simply give up, ignore politics, and do whatever he wanted.

At this moment, however, he chose to let the Crown Prince take over the reins ahead of schedule and help him handle state affairs.

To be honest, it feels really great not having to deal with politics.

He rode swiftly and felt incredibly light and nimble, and before he knew it, they had arrived at the Summer Palace.

At this time, Yongnian Earl Wang Wei and Bi Maokang had been waiting for a long time at the new south gate of the Summer Palace.

Wanli readily raised his hand and said, "Mount up, let's go to the workshop where the rifling is processed to talk."

Yongnian Earl Wang Wei and Bi Maokang quickly mounted their horses and led him to the workshop where rifling was processed.

How exactly are these rifling lines manufactured?
To be honest, even Emperor Wanli didn't know.

After all, he wasn't an expert in this field; he was just a dabbler.

He vaguely remembered seeing rifling before, but he had no idea how it was made.

So, how exactly are the rifling grooves engraved inside gun barrels and cannon barrels manufactured?

Before long, they arrived at the workshop where rifling was processed.

The workshop was small; the machine for processing rifling was only about ten feet long and half a person's height.

However, this machine was equipped with two steam engines, one large and one small, with the larger one installed at the bottom and the smaller one at the top.

When Wanli saw this, he was somewhat bewildered.

He really couldn't tell how the rifling was processed if the machine wasn't in motion.

He examined it carefully and then asked, "Lord Meng, are there any unprocessed gun barrels left?"

"Of course there are," Bi Maokang said, immediately taking a copper pipe from the iron rack next to him.

This copper tube is much thicker than a regular gun barrel, and its walls are also much thicker.

When Wanli took the copper tube, he understood it roughly. The reason why the copper tube was made so thick was to increase the thickness of the tube wall, so that the strength of the gun barrel could still be guaranteed after the rifling was processed on the inner wall.

There's nothing particularly special about this copper pipe.

He took it, glanced at it briefly, and then handed it back, gesturing, "Process it and let me see."

Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang immediately summoned two experienced craftsmen and ordered them to begin processing.

One of the experienced craftsmen took the copper pipe and immediately and skillfully clamped it onto the machine.

Another old craftsman took out a drill bit longer than the copper pipe, carefully passed it through the front of the copper pipe, and then clamped the protruding part at the back onto the machine.

Then, they carefully adjusted it before opening the steam valve.

The drill bit immediately started spinning and was slowly retracting.

A short while later, the drill bit emerged from behind the gun barrel.

Bi Maokang raised his hand and ordered the two old craftsmen to turn off the machine, then brought over the finished gun barrel and respectfully handed it over.

Wanli took the copper tube and peered inside. Sure enough, there were several regular spiral lines inside.

He finally understood that the rifling was created by rotating the machine while pulling it out.

Bi Maokang is really amazing; he even came up with this idea.

The rifling produced by this method is remarkably uniform, with the same degree of helixity, and the processing speed is also quite fast.

However, the rifling didn't seem to be the same as the rifling he remembered.

He thought about it carefully for a moment, then asked, "Lord Meng, have you tried mounting this kind of gun barrel on a gun? How was the result?"

Bi Maokang nodded slowly and said, "I have already tested it on the gun, but the effect doesn't seem to be very good. The range has not increased significantly."

The rifling is definitely wrong.

Wanli thought for a moment, then raised his hand and gestured, saying, "Lord Meng, the meaning of rifling is not simply to carve a few regular spiral lines inside."

This doesn't reduce friction much. If we want to reduce friction as much as possible, we need to make the grooves and protrusions carved by the rifling about the same width.

Furthermore, this protrusion should ideally be carved into a rounded shape to minimize friction.

So rifling isn't actually lines.

Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang nodded thoughtfully and said, "Your Majesty is wise, I understand."

Wanli nodded slightly, then solemnly said, "Lord Meng, you must test this rifling as soon as possible, and find a rifling that can truly increase the range."

Furthermore, we should build as many workshops as possible to manufacture muskets and cannons.

We are currently manufacturing muskets and cannons far too slowly. The Shenwu Battalion hasn't even finished equipping itself with the rotary flintlock muskets yet, and the Shenji and Shenshu Battalions are still using the old-fashioned flintlock muskets.

Although our muskets and cannons are far superior in rate of fire to those of the European colonial powers, without sufficient numbers, we will find it difficult to achieve absolute superiority.

Uh, do we need to build more workshops?
This doesn't seem to be my responsibility.

Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang couldn't help but look at Yongnian Earl Wang Wei.

Upon seeing this, Earl Wang Wei of Yongnian carefully explained, "Your Majesty, please forgive us, but we can't just build as many workshops as we want."

There is hardly any open space left in and around Miyun County. Moreover, muskets and cannons require machinery for processing, so we need to equip them with as many machines as we build workshops.

The problem is, our steam engine production is limited. Even if we had the space to build workshops, we wouldn't have enough steam engines to manufacture the machines needed to produce muskets and cannons.

These are just minor obstacles.

Emperor Wanli pondered, "If we don't have enough space, we'll continue to expand the area of ​​the Summer Palace."

Perfect timing! The western side of the Beiping Regional Military Command and the Liaodong Regional Military Command will be vacated for the Beijing garrison soldiers to use for farming and grazing.

We can easily relocate the soldiers of the Beijing garrison along the Chaobai River and even the Wenyu River to the west of the Beiping Regional Military Command and the Liaodong Regional Military Command, which would give us enough space.

As for the limited production of steam engines, it's the same reason why the production of muskets and cannons is insufficient.

We don't lack materials right now; we have as much copper as we need. We can also build more steam engine workshops, which will increase steam engine production, right?

Well, that makes sense.

However, there is still a problem.

Upon hearing this, Earl Wang Wei of Yongnian cautiously said, "Your Majesty, these workshops need people to work on them. We already have a shortage of manpower, and if we build so many more workshops, we'll be even more short-handed."

If you don't have enough manpower, find a way to add more.

Wanli thought for a moment, then asked, "So many years have passed, and it seems that the artisan families have had quite a few children. Can't you take in more?"

I confessed.

Earl of Yongnian, Wang Wei, explained in detail: "Your Majesty, I have been recruiting. As long as the male members of the craftsmen's families reach the age of fifteen, I will recruit them to the workshop for training."

The problem is, we've built far too many workshops over the years. The workshops just making trains and railway tracks alone have consumed most of our newly recruited workforce.

You only recruit males?
Upon hearing this, Wanli replied without hesitation, "Father-in-law, you can also recruit and train the women from the artisan households in the workshop. Nowadays, we use steam-powered machines to produce most things, which don't require much physical strength. Aren't the women the same?"

Are you recruiting women?
In ordinary households, there is no such thing as women not being allowed to show their faces in public.

Upon hearing this, Earl Wang Wei of Yongnian was taken aback for a moment, then nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. If we recruit all the women, our manpower will be nearly doubled, which is more than enough."

That'll do.

Emperor Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Then hurry up and recruit people, build workshops, and produce more steam engines, muskets, and cannons."

(End of this chapter)