Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 333 A Cover-Up to a Plot to Conceal One's True Intentions Beyond the Great Wall (Part 2)

The issue of counterattacking beyond the Great Wall is not whether or not it can be captured.

If we only consider military strength, their forces are enough to conquer all the grasslands beyond the Great Wall, and they could even fight all the way to the Arctic Ocean coast.

The problem is that once you capture a territory, you have to hold it. If you can't even hold it, then not only will you not be able to create any benefits, but you will also become a burden.

This is the key issue. For example, after they take over the Beiping Commandery, they will definitely need to raise cattle, sheep, and horses to generate profits.

If they can't hold Beiping Commandery after it's captured, the Jurchen cavalry will definitely invade frequently. At that time, let alone raising cattle, sheep and horses to generate profits, it would be good if the Jurchens didn't plunder all the cattle, sheep and horses that Beiping Commandery originally had.

Therefore, the key to the counterattack beyond the Great Wall is not offense, but defense.

The Ming Dynasty had many periods of strong military power over the past two hundred years, especially during the Hongwu and Yongle reigns, when the northern barbarians were driven into a panic and had no chance to fight back.

However, even during the powerful Hongwu and Yongle reigns, the Ming Dynasty essentially gave up its conquests of the grasslands beyond the Great Wall. The problem it faced at that time was actually defense, not offense.

If the Ming Dynasty had been able to defend the grasslands beyond the Great Wall back then, there would be no Northern Barbarians or Jurchens now.

The same applies now. With the current military strength of the Ming Dynasty, taking over the grasslands beyond the Great Wall is not a problem. The problem lies in how to defend it.

Regarding the issue of defense, the Ming Dynasty actually had a lot of experience. To counter cavalry, it was necessary to build more cities and fortresses. Once cities and fortresses were everywhere, cavalry would have no place to fight.

The key now is how to make cities and fortresses everywhere on the grasslands beyond the Great Wall.

Zhu Jue had already convened a meeting with his confidants to discuss this matter.

However, he still felt that the considerations were not thorough enough.

Therefore, he summoned all his confidants to discuss the matter, and this time he even brought Sun Chuanting along.

Around 9 a.m. that day, he had just finished reviewing the memorials and summoned all his trusted confidants.

Once everyone had arrived, he asked directly, "Boya, how many brick kilns are there in Liaodong now?"

Uh, I haven't counted them all.

Sun Chuanting thought for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I have not counted the number of brick kilns. I only know that there are roughly two hundred brick kilns in Liaodong."

These two hundred or so brick kilns cannot be wasted.

Zhu Jue nodded slowly and said, "Next year we will launch a counterattack on the grasslands beyond the Great Wall. At that time, we will definitely need to build a large number of cities and fortresses, and building cities and fortresses will require a lot of bricks."

Therefore, the brick kilns in Liaodong cannot stop now. You must organize enough manpower to make bricks, keep making them, until we conquer all the grasslands beyond the Great Wall.”

Making bricks is simple.

Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "Lord Meng, can our cannons also be loaded with shotgun shells?"

How do you say this?

Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang cautiously replied, "Your Majesty, any cannon can be loaded with shotgun shells. However, shotgun shells have a short range, and when they are fired, they can scratch the inner wall of the cannon barrel. Basically, a cannon barrel that has fired shotgun shells cannot be used to fire live ammunition again."

What I need are cannons specifically designed to fire shot.

Cities and fortresses are the bane of cavalry, while artillery that fires shotgun shells is the bane of siege infantry.

They weren't without artillery, but they never equipped themselves with a large number of cannons to defend the city.

This is because they did not have enough artillery when they needed to defend in the early stages, and during this period they were almost always on the offensive and rarely on the defensive. Therefore, they have not yet equipped themselves with a large number of artillery pieces to defend the city.

However, they attacked less frequently after that, and spent most of their time on defense. It was still very necessary to equip the city with a large number of artillery pieces to defend it.

The power of artillery in defending a city is no joke, especially artillery that fires shotgun shells. A single shotgun can easily take down a dozen or even dozens of siege infantrymen with a single shot, and a dozen or so shots can wound hundreds of siege infantrymen.

In other words, if a fortified city only needs to be equipped with a few dozen cannons, it is equivalent to having several thousand or even tens of thousands more soldiers to defend the city. As long as there are enough cannons to defend the city, they can save a lot of soldiers.

Of course, artillery that fires shotgun shells isn't just about being able to fire them; even if it fires shotgun shells, its range must be greater than that of arrows. Otherwise, if an enemy gets close and unleashes a barrage of arrows, the defending soldiers will suffer heavy casualties.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then asked, "A 500-pound cannon shouldn't have any problem firing shrapnel two or three hundred paces away, right?"

That's hard to say. Bi Maokang shook his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, it depends on how much gunpowder is loaded into the shot. If there is too little gunpowder, the shot may only travel a hundred or so paces or even a few dozen paces."

This problem is also easy to solve.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Have someone make some shells filled with gunpowder, enough to make the shotguns travel two or three hundred paces. Just seal the front with oil paper. Also, make some shotguns and put them in tin cans."

That way, all you have to do is load the shells in, then pour the loose rounds in from the front, and then fire. How about that, no problem?

Uh, how about this?
Bi Maokang said blankly, "Of course there is no problem. Just loading the gunpowder is too simple to process. The shot is also easy to make. We can collect the iron slag from casting boilers, cannons, iron pipes, etc. and that is shot. We just need to put it in tin cans."

That's good.

Zhu Jue solemnly said, "Then you should allocate factory buildings and manpower to manufacture this kind of shotgun. In the future, all the garrison cities on our border should be equipped with this kind of shotgun. Each city wall should be equipped with at least ten guns, and each garrison city should be equipped with at least 10,000 shotgun shells."

"Next spring, the Northern Pacification Command will need a batch of supplies. You can allocate enough for fifty garrison cities. What do you think? Any problems?"

We need to do the math. Fifty citadels, each with forty cannons and ten thousand rounds of shot, that's two thousand cannons and five hundred thousand rounds of shot.

After careful calculation, Bi Maokang was speechless and said, "Your Majesty, we can make this amount of cannons and shotgun shells in less than a month."

Then make more.

Zhu Jue nodded slightly and said, "Then you should allocate factories and manpower to keep building. You should build at least fifty garrison cities every month."

"We're not just aiming to recapture the Northern Pacification Commandery; we want to take over the grasslands beyond the Great Wall as well. That will require a huge number of shotguns."

Uh, they actually make this kind of thing?
Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang cautiously said, "Your Majesty, the cannons used on the warships might be affected. We would need to divide the production of so many shotguns and shotguns into at least a dozen factories every month."

The warships have enough cannons for now.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "Our warships cannot all be equipped with 500-jin cannons. Others already have 1,000-jin cannons, so our warships behind them must also be equipped with 1,000-jin cannons."

We don't need to build too many of these 500-jin cannons. I plan to have the Haihe Shipyard build the Zhiyuan merchant ship for a year next year, and then we can continue building the Weiyuan and Zhenyuan warships once the 1,000-jin cannons are developed.”

Oh, the warships will be out of service for another year.

Even if they could spare more than ten factories to manufacture shotguns that year, it wouldn't be a problem. They could still store more than 100,000 500-pound cannons.

Upon hearing this, Bi Maokang nodded repeatedly and said, "If the warships stop for a year, then there will be no problem at all."

Now that we have a city and cannons that fire shot, we still need enough boilers for heating, because the grasslands beyond the Great Wall are no ordinary place to be cold.

The problem is that they also need boilers to manufacture ice-cooling fans. Most of the boilers manufactured in the capital and even in Jizhou Town are used to power ice-cooling fans, so they simply can't store many boilers.

It looks like we need to build more boiler manufacturing plants.

Right now, both the capital and Jizhou town seem to be completely full, making it really hard to find a place to build a factory.

If we were to build cities near the capital or even in Jizhou, and then construct factories, it would take a lot of time. By the time the cities and factories were completed, it would probably be too late.

In this situation, he could only look for solutions elsewhere.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully again, and then asked, "Bo Ya, are there any empty spaces in the five newly built cities in Liaodong?"

There are plenty of empty spaces there.

Sun Chuanting nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, those five cities were built to accommodate 100,000 troops. At this time, there are not many troops in Liaodong. Only about 10,000 soldiers are stationed in each of the five cities. There are some steel-making and rail-casting workshops built inside. There is still plenty of empty space."

That's good.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue decisively said, "Then build more casting boiler workshops in the vacant areas of the five cities. Yuan Jiu, you are in charge of this. At least one hundred should be built before the ice freezes."

This isn't a big problem; we can just bring over 100,000 or so able-bodied artisans over.

Upon hearing this, Song Yingsheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, I understand."

The city now has everything: cannons for building cities, cannons for firing shotgun shells, boilers for heating, and even cement factories. It seems all that's left is to build like crazy.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully again before waving his hand and saying, "Alright, everyone hurry up and get ready."

(End of this chapter)