Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 292 The Feudal King's Plea for Help: A Shift of Fortune (Part 1)
By mid-November, the capital region was already a frozen wasteland.

There's no need for the shipyard to rush things now, because during these months of ice, the shipyard can only build one batch of hulls, and they can't even be launched for testing. At most, a batch of hulls can be built in two months, so there's plenty of time.

Zhu Juena began to consider the issue of building cannons again.

If he wanted to develop Southeast Asia, he first had to drive out the Dutch colonial bandits, and he also had to keep Britain and France, who would eventually surpass him, out of Southeast Asia.

This was tantamount to waging war against the European colonial bandits, so he naturally had to find a way to strengthen his military power as soon as possible.

At sea, the military force consists of warships and gunboats.

At this point, shipbuilding was no longer a major problem for them, but the production of artillery was a big issue. Building warships required far too many cannons, and without enough cannons, the warships they built would just be empty shells.

The processing level of the Ming Dynasty is now exceptionally high, so why can't the production of cannons increase?
Around 9 a.m. that day, Zhu Jue had just finished processing the memorials and then, together with Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, Fang Zhenghua, and others, boarded a horse-drawn railcar and arrived at the artillery factory located in the former Tongzhou city.

At this time, Bi Maokang, Song Yingxing, Sun Yuanhua, and others had been waiting for a long time in the newly renovated factory.

This factory is used to forge artillery barrels; this one process alone requires a huge factory.

This is because they are now building cannons weighing 500 jin (250 kg), with barrels as thick as a thigh and about half a zhang (3.3 meters) long.

Such thick and long cannon barrels are simply too difficult to move by manpower. Therefore, hoists and railcars are used to move them in the factory. The heating furnaces and forging equipment are also huge, and a few sets cannot be crammed into a single factory building.

Zhu Jue examined it carefully for a while before asking, "Lord Meng, how many cannon barrels can this factory forge in a day, and how many cannons can the artillery factory produce in a day?"

Forging such a large cannon barrel is a slow process.

Bi Maokang explained in detail: "Your Majesty, this cannon barrel is too big. It takes a long time just to heat it up. In addition, it is very troublesome to move it back and forth. Therefore, it takes us at least three hours to forge a cannon barrel."

This factory has three sets of forging equipment, which work in shifts for twelve hours a day, and can only forge a total of twelve cannon barrels.

We currently have five workshops for forging and five workshops for processing and assembly, so we can only produce a total of sixty cannons a day.

Building sixty cannons in one day seems fast enough.

It was fast enough compared to the Jurchens.

The Jurchens might not be able to build sixty cannons in a month.

The problem is that their speed in building artillery was not comparable to that of the Jurchens, but rather to that of the European colonial raiders.

At this time, the European colonial powers may not have been good at other aspects of processing, but their ability to build warships was comparable to that of the Ming Dynasty, and it could even be said that they were faster than the Ming Dynasty.

This is because the colonial plunderers of this era are only focused on developing their military power and don't care about anything else!

The Netherlands is such a small country, with a total population of only about one million, yet it can build five or six hundred ocean-going warships every year.

If we consider the total area and population of continental Europe, it is actually similar to that of the Ming Dynasty, especially in terms of population. If we don't say hundreds of millions, it is certainly seventy or eighty million. If all the countries in continental Europe went crazy like the Netherlands, the output would be at least fifty times that of the Netherlands alone.

In other words, if these colonial robbers were to focus all their efforts on building ocean-going giant ships, they could build 20,000 to 30,000 ships a year, and the corresponding production of artillery would be at least 100,000 pieces.

This is not an exaggeration. The rapid rise of Britain and France later proved this. These colonial robbers were single-mindedly focused on developing their military power in order to plunder money and resources everywhere. They were extremely enthusiastic about building warships and gunboats, to the point of madness.

Currently, the Ming Dynasty can only produce sixty cannons a day, and a little over twenty thousand cannons a year, which is definitely not enough.

This speed is incomparable to that of the European colonial raiders. They were more than ten countries, not just one. Even if each country built two thousand doors a year, it would surpass their current speed.

Moreover, their slow pace of cannon production would also affect the speed of building warships and battleships.

If the Haihe Shipyard were to build small Zhenyuan warships at this time, it could build 2,500 ships in one batch. Even if it were to build medium-sized Zhenyuan warships, it could still build more than 1,200 ships in one batch. Building two batches a year would be no problem at all.

The Zhenyuan warship can carry more than fifty cannons on a single ship, so a thousand ships would carry more than fifty thousand cannons, two thousand ships would carry more than one hundred thousand cannons, and five thousand ships would carry more than two hundred thousand cannons!

In other words, if they were to focus all their efforts on building the Zhenyuan warship, the current rate of cannon production would be far from sufficient.

How to do it?

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then asked, "Chang Geng, can we mass-produce these cannon-making equipment now?"

This is certainly not a problem. Song Yingxing nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem, Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then asked, "Lord Meng, the main problem right now is that there aren't enough factory buildings, right?"

Bi Maokang nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, for the sake of secrecy, this artillery factory can only be built in Tongzhou City."

The problem is, Tongzhou city is already crammed with factories and artisan residences; there's simply no room for the artillery factory to expand.

Secrecy is indeed of paramount importance, but they cannot allow the pursuit of secrecy to slow down the production of artillery.

Zhu Jue pondered, "At this point, the artillery factory doesn't necessarily have to be built in Tongzhou City to maintain secrecy. Other places are fine too, as long as we send more Beijing garrison soldiers to guard it in shifts."

Here's what we'll do: we'll gradually transform the boiler factories and foundries in the northern and northeastern outer cities into artillery factories, and use all the factory buildings to manufacture artillery.

As for the casting and production of boilers, we will gradually move to Jizhou Town. Anyway, there is plenty of land there, so there is no problem in building as many factories as we want.

We must increase artillery production as quickly as possible; next year we must reach 600 artillery pieces per day. Is that alright?

You must convert all the boiler factories and foundries in the northern and northeastern outer cities into artillery factories!

Bi Maokang paused for a moment, then looked at Song Yingxing before nodding repeatedly and saying, "No problem."

As they were discussing, Fang Zhenghua suddenly strode in, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Lord Yang has returned."

Yang Sichang?
This kid is finally back.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue replied without hesitation, "Let him in. There's no need to keep it a secret from him."

Fang Zhenghua hurried away.

Soon, Yang Sichang strode over, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty."

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Wenruo, you've worked hard all these years. How is the situation in Shaanxi? Are there still any disaster victims suffering from cold and hunger?"

Well, it's not exactly hard work; you haven't made us do anything all these years.

Yang Sichang explained in detail: "Your Majesty, the situation in Shaanxi should be considered relatively good, at least much better than in the Central Plains and Shanxi."

Those areas severely affected by the disaster, lacking food and clothing, have almost all migrated. Those remaining are generally able to fend for themselves, so the situation there is relatively stable, with no disturbances from the disaster victims.

well.

Zhang Xianzhong probably thought that by rushing over there, he could not only seize grain and gold and silver treasures, but also greatly expand his army.

This guy can indeed plunder a lot of grain and gold and silver.

As for expanding the army, forget about it. If they weren't starving, who would do something as risky as rebellion?

Now that most of the starving refugees over there have been relocated, this guy can't expand his forces much, so his strength can't grow. Even if he has a lot of money and food, it won't be of much use.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and then asked, "What about Wu Xiang and Zu Dashou? Have they been clamoring to go back to Liaodong?"

How do you say this?

Yang Sichang thought for a moment, then said cautiously, "At first, they often clamored that they wanted to go back to Liaodong, but after clamoring for a few years without any effect, they rarely clamored anymore."

"I believe they haven't given up. Perhaps they're still plotting other ways to make a comeback. In any case, it seems unlikely that these two will change their desire to dominate the region."

Having been used to being a local tyrant, he naturally didn't want to be controlled by others.

Wu Xiang and Zu Dashou were indeed trying to come up with a solution, and one of the solutions they came up with was to have Wu Sangui participate in the military examination.

However, it's no use. I will not give you the opportunity to dominate a region!

Zhu Jue nodded slightly, thought about it carefully, and then waved his hand and said, "Let's go back to Yuxi Palace to talk in detail."

(End of this chapter)