Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 283 The Birth of a Prince Stabilizes the Foundation of the Nation (Part 1)

September, the golden autumn month, is the harvest season.

This year also happens to be a year of imperial examinations, with not only the civil service examinations and palace examinations, but also the military examinations and palace examinations.

In early September, military candidates from the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty began to gather in the capital.

At this time, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was filled with masculine energy, and the common people were overjoyed.

It's good that the Ming Dynasty has a strong martial spirit; at the very least, it can protect the safety of the capital.

At this time, neither the rebels nor the Jurchens could enter the capital region. The people of the capital were living in peace and prosperity, and the development of the Ming capital was changing rapidly. In terms of prosperity, Nanjing could not compare with the capital.

The capital city today is one of the most prosperous places in the world.

Of course, this prosperity still needs to be protected by force.

Therefore, Zhu Jue was quite concerned about developing military strength.

He not only devoted himself to building firearms, cannons, and warships, but he also attached greater importance to the military examinations than any previous emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

On the first day of the ninth month, around 9 a.m., he led Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua and others to the drill ground in the eastern outer city.

At this moment, Lu Xiang-sheng was directing the soldiers of the Beijing garrison to clear the site in preparation for transforming it into a dedicated venue for the imperial military examinations.

At this time, although the strength of the Beijing garrison had reached one million, more than 300,000 had been sent to Liaodong alone, more than 300,000 had been sent to operate warships, and there were 100,000 stationed in Jizhou, 100,000 sent to Southeast Asia, and 50,000 sent to the Americas, etc. The total strength of the Beijing garrison remaining in the capital was only about 100,000.

The East Outer City Great Parade Ground could originally accommodate over 100,000 troops, and these 100,000 Beijing garrison soldiers were scattered throughout it without feeling crowded at all.

Zhu Jue rode his horse all the way to the command platform in the middle of the training ground without any hindrance.

Lu Xiang-sheng seemed to be deep in thought, frowning as he picked up his pen, and didn't notice anyone coming up.

Zhu Jue stepped forward and saw that there was a rough sketch of the East City Military Training Ground in front of him. However, it only showed the barracks around the perimeter and the command platform in the middle, while the rest of the area was blank.

He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Jiandou, what are you thinking about?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng looked up, quickly stood up, put down his pen, bowed respectfully, and then carefully said, "Your Majesty, I was pondering how the venue for the martial arts examination should be arranged."

Is there anything difficult about this?

Zhu Jue asked, somewhat puzzled, "Aren't the items for the martial arts examination all predetermined? Why don't you just arrange the test according to the items for the martial arts examination?"

How do you say this?

Lu Xiang-sheng thought for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, you should know that one part of the martial arts examination is a martial arts competition. If it is to be conducted in a formal manner, then there must be a ring."

Your humble servant is wondering whether we should build a fighting arena. If we don't build one, the martial arts competition seems a bit irregular. If we do build one, it can not only be used for martial arts competitions, but also for testing military strategy, lifting stone weights, and other events.

The problem is, we only have half a month left. A stone arena is definitely too late to build, and a wooden arena isn't durable; it won't last more than a few years after being exposed to wind and rain, and it could easily be damaged during a fight.

Oh, so you're thinking about building a fighting arena.

Zhu Jue pondered, "There's no time to build a stone arena. You can use reinforced concrete to build one. It's just an arena, not a house. Half a month should be enough, right?"

Uh, you think there are only a few or a few dozen arenas?
Lu Xiang-sheng shook his head slightly, then said cautiously, "Your Majesty, the martial arts examination also has a time limit, and now more and more people are participating in the martial arts examination. If we want to complete all the tests within the specified time, we will have to build at least several hundred or even thousands of arenas."

"With so many arenas, we might not lack steel bars, but the problem is cement. I'm afraid we won't have enough."

The cement production is really too low right now. He needs to consider finding a limestone mine in the capital region and building a super-large cement plant nearby. Otherwise, once the demand for cement increases, even hundreds of thousands or millions of kilograms of cement a day won't be enough.

Fortunately, at this point, cement is only needed for laying tracks and building bridges, and they are only laying tracks leading to Liaodong. The bridges there are already built, and the tracks are almost finished, so they have enough cement for the time being.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Then let's use reinforced concrete. Don't worry, we still have enough cement for the time being. We still have enough cement to build a thousand arenas."

Is there enough cement?

That would be great!
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng immediately picked up a pen and began to draw on the map.

The East City Grand Training Ground can easily accommodate several thousand Wuhan Iron and Steel tanks, so setting up a thousand arenas is no problem. The arenas don't need to be too big; a radius of three zhang (approximately 10 meters) is enough, and the height doesn't need to be too high either; a height of half a zhang (approximately 1.5 meters) is sufficient.

Once the size and number of arenas are decided, the archery range, horse racing track, and other facilities can be easily determined.

He gestured carefully before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, I believe that the main weapons on the battlefield in the future should be muskets and cannons. Should we compile military books related to muskets and cannons, and then include the testing of muskets and cannons in the military examinations?"

This is absolutely necessary.

The reason he hadn't considered having the martial arts examination test firearms and cannons was mainly for the sake of secrecy.

It seems impossible to keep it a secret now, because they have recruited too many men and equipped them with too many muskets and cannons. It is simply impossible for them to keep hundreds of thousands or even millions of men quiet.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, then slowly nodded and said, "Yes, from now on we will mainly equip ourselves with muskets and cannons, and the battlefield will gradually become the domain of muskets and cannons."

The operation of muskets and cannons should indeed be included in the military examination. You will be in charge of compiling the military treatise. Also, all those who pass the military examination should be sent to the capital in rotation to familiarize themselves with muskets and cannons, especially muskets. They should be allowed to fire live ammunition and practice their accuracy.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. If we are to reserve a testing ground for muskets and cannons, then these arenas need to be separated. How about we set up the firing range in the middle aisle?"

This seems necessary, because the firing ranges for muskets and cannons are very long, especially for cannons, which require a range of at least five or six miles. This training ground is only so big, and if the firing range is not interspersed in the middle of the arena, there will not be enough space.

Zhu Jue glanced at the map, then nodded slightly and said, "Well, let's set the firing range in the middle of the arena. Anyway, we'll do the tests one by one. When it comes to testing the muskets and cannons, we can just have them all stand to one side."

Lu Xiang-sheng nodded repeatedly, and then began to draw on the map.

The scattered arenas, the firing ranges for testing bows, muskets, and cannons, and the horse racing tracks gradually appeared on the map, filling up the entire training ground.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue would occasionally raise his hand to gesture, and then discuss it with him with great interest.

As they were discussing, a fast rider suddenly galloped up. Fang Zhenghua quickly walked up to the command platform, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, an urgent report from the inner palace: Her Majesty the Empress is about to give birth."

what?
Zhu Jue was taken aback upon hearing this.

He's been busy lately. He knows that Empress Zhou's belly is getting bigger and bigger. He would ask her how she was doing and comfort her every time he ate or went to bed. But he just forgot to ask when Empress Zhou was going to give birth.

Empress Zhou seems to have conceived between November and December of last year, and after about ten months of pregnancy, she was due to give birth this September.

I'm about to become a father!

He paused for a moment, then immediately burst into joy and said, "Jiandou, that's settled then. Get them to start work right away. I'm going back to the palace now."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng quickly put down his pen, cupped his hands, and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

Great joy! Great joy!

Zhu Jue waved hastily, then dashed off down from the command platform.

(End of this chapter)