Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 115 Pirates and Eunuchs Collude (Part 4)

Upon receiving the imperial edict, Tu Wenfu and Li Chaoqin immediately led over a hundred Imperial Guards out of the Suzhou Textile Bureau and headed straight for Wujiang County in the south.

The atmosphere in Suzhou Prefecture immediately became tense, and many people's expressions became extremely strange.

The case of the Seven Gentlemen of Donglin was originally caused by the Suzhou Textile Bureau.

At that time, the Imperial Guards were also out everywhere, arresting people.

Now that there's a new emperor and a new chief eunuch, these treacherous officials have gone out with the Embroidered Uniform Guard to arrest people again!

The common people of Suzhou Prefecture had no idea that this was a struggle for raw silk, tea, and even the interests of overseas trade.

They were just repeating hearsay and being misled, thinking that it was wrong for corrupt officials and secret police to arrest honest officials who had nothing to lose!

It remains to be seen how this Suzhou government assembly will turn out.

Zhu Jue hadn't even received the news from Suzhou Prefecture when the inner court surprised him again.

Around 9 a.m. that morning, he had just finished reviewing the memorials and was about to go to Desheng Gate to check on the progress of the waterway cleaning when Bi Maokang suddenly rushed in with a joyful expression, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Your expression, could it be...?

Zhu Jue couldn't help but ask, "Lord Meng, has a new type of cannon been developed?"

Bi Maokang nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the problem of cannon barrel processing has been solved, and the new Tiger Crouching Cannon is about to be developed."

At this time, the most difficult part of building artillery was processing the cannon barrel.

This is because artillery in those days was basically just a barrel and a support, with no other complicated parts.

These days, there aren't many requirements for the support frame. Basically, as long as it can support the cannon barrel and prevent it from being blown away when the cannon is fired, that's fine.

Therefore, once the cannon barrel can be manufactured, the cannon is basically ready.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue waved his hand with great interest: "Let's go take a look."

Soon, the group rode out of Chaoyang Gate and headed straight for the former Tongzhou City.

At this moment, Bi Maokang was still developing artillery in the machine factory. However, his artillery development workshop not only had lathes, but also many other newly developed machine tools.

After entering the factory, Bi Maokang led Zhu Jue directly to a newly developed boring machine.

Boring machines are specifically designed for machining internal holes, and even relatively large ones.

At this moment, a three-foot-long cannon barrel was clamped on the boring machine. The boring tool was moving in and out like the lever of a steam engine, seemingly very slowly.

Bi Maokang couldn't contain his excitement and said, "Your Majesty, this boring machine is a really good thing. In the future, no matter how big or thick the cannon barrel is, the inner wall processing will no longer be a problem. As long as we can forge it, we can process it."

When machining internal holes on a boring machine, the size of the hole doesn't matter, because the boring tool on the boring machine pushes straight through, and the depth of cut can be controlled. Therefore, no matter how big the hole is, it's the same for the boring machine.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "Do you have any that are already processed?"

Of course there is.

Bi Maokang immediately had two craftsmen bring over a finished cannon barrel.

Zhu Jue carefully examined the inner wall of the cannon barrel, which had been blasted smooth as a mirror, so there should be no problem.

The problem is that the cannon barrel is just a pipe, open at both ends, without a cannon door.

He then looked at the two trunnions behind the cannon barrel and asked, "Lord Meng, haven't you made the cannon breech yet?"

Bi Maokang nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, we still need to test the connection method of the gun sluice gate. To ensure a reliable connection and easy replacement of shells, we must fire a cannon to test it."

You're already thinking about firing the cannon?

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "What about the shells? Are they ready?"

The shells were, of course, ready.

Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang immediately ordered a craftsman to bring over another cannonball.

This cannonball is different from the cannonballs of later generations. It looks like a smooth cylinder with a sharp cone on it, and the sharp cone even has a blood groove!
Seeing this, Zhu Jue asked with some confusion, "Lord Meng, why did you add a blood groove on it? If it hits, it's definitely dead. Why not use a blood groove?" Bi Maokang shook his head and then explained carefully, "Your Majesty, this is not a blood groove, but a clamping groove. Without this clamping groove, it would slip and wouldn't be able to clamp at all."

After saying that, he ordered the craftsman to bring a special clamp, clamp the bullet, and pull hard, directly pulling the bullet out of the cartridge case.

You are truly intelligent.

Zhu Jue looked at the connection between the bullet and the cartridge case again and understood. There was a step about an inch long under the bullet, which was processed quite smoothly. The inner circle about an inch long on the cartridge case was also processed quite smoothly. It was just stuffed in, so there wouldn't be much resistance when it was fired out.

He nodded slightly and then asked, "These shells should be fine, right?"

Bi Maokang nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem. Your humble servant has already ordered the craftsmen to load the gunpowder and test it. It's just that without a cannon barrel, the projectile can't fly very far."

Uh, I meant the size matching of the shell and the barrel. As long as the size matching is correct, then there's naturally no problem.

You're firing the shells without even a cannon barrel? The shells are going to fly everywhere!

That's too dangerous. You're lucky you weren't hit by a shell.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly, then asked, "If these cannons were mass-produced now, how many could be made in a month?"

Mass production now?
Bi Maokang said with some helplessness, "Your Majesty, Chang Geng has only been able to build this many boring machines. This boring machine can only process two cannon barrels a day. With a few other machine tools, we can only make two cannons like this a day."

For these cannons to be mass-produced, we'll need a large number of machine tools. The problem is, there's no space left for machine factories. Your Majesty, don't you think it's time to build musket and cannon factories?

The musket and artillery factories really should be built as soon as possible.

Zhu Jue pondered, "The craftsmen who have time have all been transferred to build the city gate towers and arrow emplacements. Huang Taiji has led his army back to his stronghold. There's no need to rush the city gate towers and arrow emplacements on the north side. It's no problem to transfer some of them to build the musket and cannon factories for you."

Huang Taiji was ultimately driven to desperation by Mao Wenlong and had no choice but to lead his army back to his stronghold to drive Mao Wenlong away.

I wonder how the Shuangtaizi River defense line is progressing on Sun Chuanting's side.

Now that the artillery has been successfully developed, they can consider gradually recovering Liaodong. After the spring planting season in the capital region is over, he can conscript 50,000 soldiers from the Beijing garrison to replace the chariot soldiers in Jizhou Town.

When the time comes, the chariot soldiers will push the chariots equipped with cannons to the riverbank in a row. If the Jurchens dare to build a pontoon bridge, they can just open fire.

They just pushed their way across the river, one by one. How could Huang Taiji stop them?

At this moment, Song Yingxing, sporting a black eye, strode in, cupped his hands, and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, then asked, "Chang Geng, what brings you here?"

Aren't you a cat that never comes out of your factory?

Song Yingxing said with some helplessness, "Your Majesty, we are running out of copper. The copper ingots that the Marquis of Nan'an sent last year are only a little over 100,000 catties left, which will last for less than a month."

We could buy some copper from Japan to tide us over.

The problem is that only a few days have passed, and Xiong Wencan has probably just received the imperial edict and is currently marching into Dongfan. It's unknown how long it will take to completely recover Dongfan.

As he was pondering this, Fang Zhenghua strode in carrying a memorial, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, Tu Wenfu has sent an urgent report from eight hundred li away."

This guy is efficient.

Zhu Jue took the memorial and glanced at it, then his brows furrowed again.

Tu Wenfu and Li Chaoqin made no progress either.

This guy even attached his interrogation transcript.

Xiong Kaiyuan, the magistrate of Wuxing County, was a native of Jiayu, Huguang. He was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the fifth year of the Tianqi reign (1625) and was initially appointed as the magistrate of Chongming County. In the sixth year of the Tianqi reign (1626), he was transferred to Wujiang County as the magistrate.

The sixth year of the Tianqi reign was precisely when the Qi, Chu, and Zhe factions joined the eunuch faction to seize power.

Is this guy a member of the Chu faction?

Otherwise, why would they suddenly be transferred from Chongming Island to Wuxing, the main production area of ​​raw silk?
This guy seems to have confessed without any torture.

As for why this guy didn't report it, his confession only contained one sentence: "The township won't report it, there's nothing I can do!"
Does this mean that imperial power cannot extend to the countryside?
The local tycoons and gentry in the southeast have such audacity!

(End of this chapter)