Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 246 Japanese Big Gun
"This is the Japanese tamarisk?!" Zhu Youjian exclaimed, his eyes sparkling, inside the Jingshan training ground.

The Jingshan military camp had a vibrant atmosphere, housing the first kindergarten of the Ming Dynasty, which opened in the latter half of the second year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign and enrolled 117 students. By the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, the number of students had exploded, reaching 1,600.

Some guys took advantage of others without restraint, having endless children, which seriously affected their normal work, duty and training. Zhu Youjian had no choice but to order these "breeding pacesetters" to start family planning and distribute sheep intestines to them.

Jingshan Kindergarten has five grades: toddler class, junior class, middle class, senior class, and senior class. In the sixth year, children enter the health school for their first education.

Because both husband and wife members of the White-Clad Guards served in the palace for extended periods, they could not raise their children like ordinary families, so they had no choice but to adopt this socialized childcare system:

The mother only has three months of maternity leave: one month before delivery and two months after delivery. During the breastfeeding period, she can switch to day shifts, send breast milk back during her work hours, and return to Jingshan to take care of the baby in the evening.
After a year, normal work arrangements resumed, the child was weaned, and the inner court continued to provide free fresh goat milk for another year. The army canteen provided inexpensive baby food, although sometimes the child's father would sneak over to eat some.

Comparatively speaking, the children's fathers had more free time because they worked three shifts, so they always had time at home during the day. Over time, Zhu Youjian felt that the faces of these fierce-looking imperial guards had changed, becoming much more kind.

After becoming fathers, no one knows what subtle biological changes occurred, but everyone gained a lot of weight, including Zhu Youjian himself.

Zhu Youjian, having spent the military budget of tens of thousands of troops to support three thousand imperial guards, naturally didn't want to raise a bunch of bloated, fat guys. If they got fat, he simply and brutally increased their training until they vomited, and they would naturally lose weight as they trained.

However, when it came to himself, he was a bit hypocritical. His family, the Zhu family, seemed to have a hereditary diabetes, so he was naturally very afraid of gaining weight. But he couldn't control his eating, couldn't exercise, and loved to sleep. What could he do? Even the Sun sisters couldn't stand it anymore and started to drag him to practice martial arts and wield a spear.

In a few days it will be the Lantern Festival. In the year of Ji Si, the Jurchens went mad, and Zhu Youjian stopped the display of the Aoshan Lantern. The people in the capital were also in mourning, and the Lantern Festival was deserted. In war, it is most taboo for the front to be fighting bloody battles while the rear is singing and dancing. Zhu Youjian could not pretend that everything was peaceful.

The war was won in the third year of Chongzhen's reign, but most people in the capital put up white couplets on their lintels for the Spring Festival that year, and there was no celebration on the Lantern Festival.

But life must go on. The fallen soldiers and the people who perished did not want their surviving relatives and friends to continue living in suffering. So, in the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, the festive atmosphere suddenly became much stronger.

In previous years, the Lantern Festival involved inviting foreign officials and celebrating with the concubines in the inner court. Banquets were held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony during the day and in the inner palace at night. Zhu Youjian felt that this was too tiring. He was tired, and the ministers and members of the imperial family who accompanied him were also tired.

So he decided to share the burden, and after whispering and plotting with his sister-in-law, he began to instigate Empress Zhou to hold a grand banquet, inviting ladies of all ranks to attend and strengthen their relationships.

Generally speaking, high-ranking civil and military officials would award their wives the title of "noblewoman" for their merits; this is the meaning of the so-called "granting titles to wives and children." Of course, some would earn it themselves, such as Qin Liangyu.

After the Thousand Autumns Banquet, it was considered that Zhu Youjian had hosted a banquet for the officials behind these ladies. In any case, over the years, the emperor and his ministers had become quite familiar with each other, so there was no need for daily sentimentality; such things lose their value with too much of them.

Whether an emperor is good or not is all in the comparison. The first three emperors were not like rulers. Even Zhu Youjian, who would strike every few days and only hold meetings for half a day, could be considered a model of diligence.

Zhu Youjian decided to skip the banquet, since the food was cold, unpalatable, and ridiculously expensive. He figured it would be better to use the money to send small gifts to court officials and give them a few Chongzhen Tongbao coins as bonuses.

Although the women's gatherings were politically charged, Zhu Youjian still wouldn't go there to make a fool of himself, so the glorious task of looking after the children fell to him.

Zhu Youjian pondered that he hadn't really let the children play wildly in a long time, so he gladly accepted this glorious task. The Western Garden was too far, and the emperor's travels involved a great deal of fuss; everyone was on holiday now, and he didn't want to trouble these palace guards.

Although the work of the Imperial Guard is special, they are also made up of real people who need to have their own lives, reunite with their families, and spend time with their wives and children.

Then Zhu Youjian had a flash of inspiration and rushed straight to the headquarters of the Imperial Guards. There was probably no safer place in the entire Forbidden City.

Riding on his baby horse, Yuan Chonghuan was sent back to his hometown. Perhaps he had found a Shaoxing clerk to rely on before leaving Fujian and Zhejiang, because suddenly he became very capable and traveled a long distance to present the emperor with a brood of fruit-shaped horses.

This is completely unlike Yuan Chonghuan's style. Zhu Youjian felt that it would be more reasonable for him to offer a few bandit heads as tribute. Could it be that he was just trying to appease the emperor in a moment of desperation?

A mighty and imposing man like Zhu Youjian would naturally not ride a small horse that doesn't even reach his armpits. Even if he did, he wouldn't do it in front of everyone; he would have to hide and ride it secretly!
When Yuan Chonghuan sent the horse, it was a family of three. After arriving in Beijing, the mare had just given birth, making it a family of four. The mare was very intelligent, almost like a spirit. With her around, she could manage the young stallion and her two foals, and even help the emperor look after his children.

Zhu Youjian, with a stroke of his pen, appointed him as the Director of the Imperial Horse Administration, with a monthly salary of eighteen dou of fine grain and one hundred bundles of hay.

"Zhouzhou, shut up!" Zhu Youjian was holding the large tube with great affection when he caught a glimpse of his second daughter's actions and was shocked. His youngest daughter was half-squatting under the supervisor's stomach, trying to snatch milk from the foal!
While it's true that dairy products don't keep well these days and need to be consumed fresh, this is way too fresh! It hasn't been boiled; drinking it could cause serious problems!

Zhu Youjian tripped his youngest daughter, knocking her to the ground, then hooked her ankle with the instep of his foot and pulled her out.

Zhouzhou, dressed like a ball, didn't seem to get hurt from the fall. She turned her head to look back, then firmly reached out and protested loudly, "Grandma, I want Grandma's drink! Father Emperor is annoying!"

"Ugly, take your sister away and don't let her eat anything!" Zhu Youjian shouted.

"Understood!" Ugly Ugly galloped over, carrying a boy who was only a year taller than her. With a graceful flip, she dismounted, took two steps, and then her little boots kicked a pebble, causing her to fall flat on her face with a "thud."

A burst of incredibly annoying laughter and clapping came from not far away. The tears that were already welling up in her eyes were instantly swallowed back because of her younger brother's mockery.

She wiped her face, changing the shape of the dust, wrinkled her nose like a little tiger, and shouted fiercely, "Zhu Ciyan, you just wait, if I don't beat you to tears, I'm not your older sister!"

"Waaaaah, Daddy, my sister is bullying me!" Zhu Ciyan was young, but he had already learned to fake cry.

His actions did not elicit Zhu Youjian's fatherly love. Zhu Youjian said to his eldest daughter, "You are only allowed to spank her, but you are not allowed to use a stick."

"Alright!" Chou Chou clenched his fist, but couldn't quite grasp the essence, and no crisp sound rang out.

"If you dare hit me, I'll tell your mother!" Zhu Ciyan said timidly, looking at her eldest sister.

This trick really worked, making Chou Chou's face distorted with anger. Sun Shiwan is also a double-standard dog. Although she often beats her younger sister under the pretext of martial arts competition, she insists on teaching her daughter the way of filial piety. Chou Chou is not allowed to bully her younger siblings. Anyone who dares to disobey will be beaten.

Zhu Youjian felt sorry for his eldest daughter for a second, then picked up his younger daughter and put her in her hands. The second daughter, like her mother, was a typical gluttonous girl. As her older sister dragged her away, she still lingered on the supervisor's lower abdomen.

Although the little mare was very clever, she still couldn't understand why Zhu Youjian would stop Zhouzhou from drinking her milk. She stared at Zhu Youjian with her large, bright black eyes and fluttering long eyelashes, as if to say, "I have no objection, why are you in such a hurry? My child can eat it, so why can't yours? It's good stuff!"

"Hmm, what was I supposed to be doing here?!" Zhu Youjian looked at the three little ones, lost in thought. If he remembered correctly, he was supposed to be here to make up for lost fatherly love and play with the kids, but it seemed they didn't really need his company. Oh well, never mind that, Zhu Youjian's attention returned to his large toy.

Putting performance aside, this Japanese barrel is definitely a very cool-looking weapon. It was crafted by the master craftsman of the barrel maker, and the surface of the barrel has at least 999 hand-forged marks.

The stock is made of hard, fine-grained white wood, planed from a single piece of wood. It has a two-inch caliber and can fire bullets the size of lychees or shotgun shells.

With a weapon in hand, the desire to kill arises naturally. But how can one succeed by merely holding a gun without firing it? Zhu Youjian aimed with one eye, shouted "biubiu" twice, and then, feeling bored, decided to load a gun and fire a few rounds to satisfy his craving.

Wang Chengen immediately became furious and repeatedly advised, "Your Majesty, you mustn't! Firearms are dangerous and could easily explode. Your Majesty is of inestimable value; you absolutely must not put yourself in such danger!"

"This is a wrought iron gun, it's rare for it to explode, right?" Zhu Youjian said, unconvinced.

Wei Zhongxian snatched the magazine and the ox horn filled with gunpowder pellets from his arms and said, “Your Majesty, please let me test this Japanese hand cannon for you! A wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall. Even if there is only the slightest possibility of it exploding, Your Majesty should not try it.”

"Are you sure you can do it?! You can even fire a gun?! The recoil of this cannon is extraordinary, probably not much less than that of the Spotted Dove Gun. Your physique isn't even as good as mine!" "This..." Wei Zhongxian was momentarily apprehensive. People easily overlook the age and health of eunuchs, but in fact, he was already sixty-three years old, older than Bi Ziyan. Some people become more carefree with age, while others become more afraid of death. Wei Zhongxian, however, valued his life.

“Your Majesty, let me do it!” said Ma Xianglin, the commander of the White Pole Guard and the twelfth chieftain of Shizhu.

This guy has a broad back, a wasp waist, and mantis legs, and he even earned the nickname "Little Ma Chao." If his brilliance hadn't been overshadowed by his more powerful mother, his fame would be far greater than that.

The Chongzhen era was full of talented people. While he might not be the best at military strategy, few were better than him as a charging general. He was indeed a suitable test subject, but there was no need for it!
Zhu Youjian paused for two seconds, then said, "Let's find a few more soldiers to come."

Ma Xianglin shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, if even the commander-in-chief doesn't dare to use this gun, how can the soldiers feel safe using it? If I don't even dare to fire it at the firing range, how can I guarantee that my hands won't tremble when I'm on the battlefield?!"

"If you're not afraid, why should I be?!" Zhu Youjian argued somewhat childishly. He understood the logic, but the allure of a gun was simply too great for him; he had never used one in both his lives combined!
Ma Xianglin's eyes darted around, and he didn't answer. Zhu Youjian was deflated again. Cowards are destined to be cowards. If he were really that brave, he would have personally led the army and personally killed enemy soldiers on the battlefield long ago. In the pre-Qin period, it was common for one or two monarchs to die in battle.

Seeing that the emperor finally resigned himself to his fate, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the emperor was still willing to listen to advice. If he had forced the emperor to give the order, they would not have been able to disobey him in the end. Hearing that the emperor was going to test the new gun, the idle White-pole Guards also gathered around to watch the excitement.

Jingshan Training Ground was large enough to accommodate another three thousand people, but too many people would make it noisy and unpleasant to look at. So Ma Xianglin simply had the three armies line up in formation. Zhu Youjian felt that being too solemn was also not good, so he asked everyone to sit down, and he himself sat down on the ground.

Thirty, fifty, and a hundred paces away, several archery targets and scarecrows were set up. Ma Xianglin was holding a large bamboo tube, in a half-squatting support position.

Zhu Youjian held his eldest daughter and covered her ears with his hands; Chou Chou reached out and covered Zhou Zhou's ears; Zhu Ciyan covered his own ears and lay on Zhu Youjian's lap. He originally wanted to squeeze into his father's arms, but he had just angered his eldest sister, and Chou Chou held a grudge and did not let him in.

It was right for everyone not to let the emperor test the gun. Ma Xianglin tightened his abdominal muscles, moderately tightened his shoulder muscles, pressed the butt of the gun tightly against his shoulder socket, and maintained a stable grip with his arm muscles, but not stiffly.

This kind of moderate tension and relaxation in exertion is something that Zhu Youjian, a novice, could not learn. It's something that's easy to understand at first glance, but impossible to master in practice.

Zhu Youjian thought that he could just tense his whole body and press down on the gun with all his might. But if he actually did that, he might suffer internal injuries or even vomit blood.

Ma Xianglin slowly pressed the smoldering fuse, "Bang!"

The sound of the large cannon was unexpectedly crisp. Zhu Youjian clearly felt Chou Chou's body tremble involuntarily. His small body went limp and he almost couldn't stand up. Of course, Zhu Youjian himself also shivered, even though they had both prepared themselves mentally beforehand.

Looking at the other two little ones, they were pouting, about to cry. Zhu Youjian had a headache; he hoped they wouldn't cry at night, or their mother would get angry with him again!
As the cannon fired, Ma Xianglin's arm swung backward with the immense recoil, but he still held the cannon firmly in his hand. A plume of white smoke rose, making the high-speed projectile even more indistinct, its trajectory almost invisible to the naked eye.

With a loud crack, the nearest thirty-step wooden target shattered, not by leaving a hole, but by crumbling into a pile of sawdust. Although it wasn't high-quality wood, the effect was still astonishing.

Ma Xianglin seemed to have found his rhythm. He casually placed the large tube he had just fired on the ground, gripped the handle at the back, lowered it, and then released it with a swift and elegant movement, without causing any damage to the tube.

He reached out, and his personal guards, working in perfect unison, handed him another large tube, already loaded and with the matchlock lit.

Ma Xianglin swiftly rose and fired, his movements so fast it was almost without thought. The slightly upward-pointing muzzle launched the bullet in a curved arc, knocking down a scarecrow fifty paces away, man and gun. Ma Xianglin shook his head slightly and took the third shot, this time targeting a target a hundred paces away.

In the Ming Dynasty, the step was used as a military unit of measurement, with one step being approximately two meters, so one hundred steps was two hundred meters. Even with Ma Xianglin's exceptional eyesight, this shot unsurprisingly missed the target.

Ma Xianglin sighed slightly, thinking that if it were archery, although he couldn't hit the bullseye from a hundred paces away, he wouldn't miss such a big target.

He reached out again, but no large tube was handed to him. He looked at his personal guard with some displeasure.

"General, again?!" His subordinate was taken aback and said.

"Change to shotguns!" Ma Xianglin said in a deep voice.

"Yes, General, please wait a moment!"

Ma Xianglin rubbed his sore arm, pondering why he had missed the target. Although Zhu Youjian thought he had done a great job, Ma Xianglin didn't see it that way. He felt he had lost face in front of His Majesty, and was somewhat annoyed.

In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the large cylinder, freshly filled and compacted with lead, was once again handed to Ma Xianglin.

"boom!"

This time there was more smoke, and the sound wasn't as crisp as before. The bullets from the large cannon were wide, the lead pellets weren't concentrated, and the range was quite poor, only reaching a target fifty paces away at its furthest point. Ma Xianglin fired three shots in quick succession, ending the shooting demonstration.

Zhu Youjian clapped his hands and sighed. Seeing that the leader was clapping, the others followed suit, except for Ma Xianglin, whose ears turned a little red.

“Your Majesty, this musket is suitable for surprise attacks or equipping cavalry, but it is not suitable for use in military formations,” Ma Xianglin said earnestly.

"That's enough. It was originally intended for the Koreans to use for guerrilla warfare in the mountains. Their old firearms couldn't penetrate the Jurchen armor, so they were chased and killed. With this gun, they can at least kill a few Jurchens by surprise."

Moreover, this thing is quite reliable; it basically won't misfire or explode. You know how reliable our own guns are.” At this point, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

When it comes to artillery, the Ming Dynasty was undoubtedly among the world's best, but its matchlock muskets were somewhat lacking. In recent years, tens of thousands of substandard matchlock muskets have been discarded, and the number of newly produced matchlock muskets exploding has decreased, but there are still quite a few strange and minor problems.

After all, they are handmade products, and the precision and standardization are a mess. The reason why the output is so large is entirely due to the huge number of craftsmen.

Bigger is better, and artillery is more reliable. Even if the barrel explodes, it's usually due to overheating from prolonged use causing a gunpowder explosion. Normal firing causing a barrel explosion is rare. Japan's large barrel is a kind of clever trick.

Layered armor is a dead end; we should pursue high firepower. Zhu Youjian plans to popularize these large cannons throughout the country. Three thousand five hundred cannons are still too few for the size of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youjian plans to buy more, but the first batch of Japanese cannons hasn't been produced yet. It seems unlikely that they can be relied on. In the end, we will have to imitate them ourselves.

Regarding arms manufacturing, Zhu Youjian's thinking was: we cannot be completely dependent on imports and thus subject to others' control, nor can we completely avoid importing anything. Without some competitive pressure, who knows how badly the Ming Dynasty's arms factories would shuffle off.

Ideally, different units should compete with each other, just like the different design bureaus in the Soviet Union. Those with excellent designs and superior quality can win orders and have a prosperous year; those who are unambitious and try to fool each other will have to eat chaff and wild vegetables!

Zhu Youjian may not have been able to make small inventions, but the folk scientists of the Ming Dynasty were quite capable, even inventing the repeating gun. They just lacked widespread social recognition and positive incentives.

Although Zhu Youjian himself was not an inventor, the systems he established might have fostered a group of inventors, which might have been more effective than his direct intervention in the course of history.

"Commander Ma, if you and my brother-in-law, General Cao, were to fight each other, who would be stronger?!" Zhu Youjian suddenly asked, voicing a long-held question in his mind.

Ma Xianglin thought for a moment and replied seriously, "If we are talking about fighting on horseback, I am no match for General Cao. But if we are fighting on foot, he is no match for me!"

“Good! In a few days, Princess Le’an will return to the palace, and General Cao will also be there. You can have a contest! My Imperial Horse Stables has five hundred fine horses lying idle. If you draw, you can split them equally. But if anyone loses both horse and foot battles, they will have no horses left!” Zhu Youjian said with a smile.

Ma Xianglin's eyes narrowed. Five hundred warhorses as a prize—the emperor was really generous. He was determined to have those horses!
(End of this chapter)