Top Scholar

Chapter 602 is complete.
The military parade was followed by a large-scale military drill.

Su Lu knew nothing about military affairs. He sat on the viewing platform with the officials, watching the banners fluttering and the crowds moving in the training ground. He could only watch the excitement from afar.

As for how to deploy troops and arrange battle formations, he didn't understand them, nor were they within his responsibilities. To him, the infantry and cavalry fighting on the field was nothing more than two fully armed streams of people, like two swarms of wasps whose nest had been disturbed, tangled together. The shouts of battle were deafening, yet no one died, and it was impossible to tell who had won or lost.

He only perked up when the firearms drills began.

After the area was cleared, the Imperial Guards who had signed up for the Shenji Battalion pushed out a row of dark, lumpy pieces of artillery—the cannons assigned to each regiment and battalion.

Su Lu took out the "Far-Seeing Tool" from his pocket, unscrewed the copper tube, and carefully observed the gunners' movements.

Beside each cannon, four gunners performed their duties: some carried powder containers, pouring gunpowder into the chamber; others held round stone projectiles, carefully feeding them into the breech. Then, a gunner used a push rod to forcefully tamp the ammunition into the chamber.

After the gunners had all retreated, the gunner took out a propellant from his pocket and sprinkled it on the breechblock. Finally, he lit the fuse in his hand and awaited the order to fire.

At that moment, a signal cannon fired, and a hundred gunners simultaneously brought their smoking matchlocks toward the fuse.

"boom!!"

The world suddenly exploded.

Hundreds of bursts of flame erupted from the cannons at the same time. Caught off guard, the officials saw only a flash of white light before their ears were filled with a deafening roar, and they could not even hear the exclamations of those around them.

A massive blast of air swept up a cloud of yellow dust, which mixed with white smoke, engulfing the hundred cannons and their gunners...

Looking further into the distance, the massive brick and wood target tower had been reduced to ruins.

~~
Su Lu was clearly more interested in the firearms unit, so Zhu Houzhao had already taken him to see the actual combat training in advance.

In those days, the Ming army had cannons such as the General Cannon, the Cup-mouth Cannon, and the Bowl-mouth Cannon, which were indeed powerful, but far from reaching the level of "hitting the enemy tower with every shot".

Not only could they not raze the enemy towers, but hitting the target with a hundred shots was also impossible; at such a distance, the shells would simply disappear into the distance...

The scene before us was actually a special effect added to enhance the exercise, highlighting the superior firearms of the Ming Dynasty and boosting the confidence of the officials.

After the artillery drill, a series of firecracker-like sounds followed.

"Bang! Bang bang! Bang bang bang!"

This time, it was a volley of muskets.

Thousands of muskets fired simultaneously, creating a continuous barrage of explosions, and thick white smoke billowed up, completely enveloping the red-armored figures.

The visual effects are top-notch!
Before the smoke had cleared, another wall of people appeared behind the smoke wall, and another volley of fire followed.

"Bang bang bang!"

A new round of gunfire pierced through the smoke, and bullets struck the wooden fence ahead like hailstones, sending splinters flying and leaving it riddled with holes!

The scholars beside Su Lu, including Kang Hai, covered their ears and gaped, their faces filled with shock. Clearly, this was the first time they had witnessed such a scene.

Compared to the deafening roar of gunfire, the clashes and shouts of the previous battles with cold weapons paled in comparison.

Su Lu secretly shook his head. If the Ming army's cannons were barely passable, their muskets were extremely disappointing.

Those weren't guns at all, but rather cylindrical objects cast in copper and iron, with several iron hoops around the barrel and a long wooden handle inserted at the rear... clearly all to prevent them from exploding and injuring people.

With such a large caliber, wouldn't the explosive power of the gunpowder be wasted? With such crude workmanship, where would the projectile even fly?
He had seen a flintlock musket used by his ancestor Jimin Gong a hundred years ago in the ancestral hall of his hometown, which was more impressive than these fire sticks.

Damn it, how did the unparalleled Divine Machine Battalion become such a wretched state?!

~~
Although Su Lu was very dissatisfied with the performance of the firearms, the military exercise was still a success. It boosted morale, enhanced imperial prestige, and stabilized the hearts of the people in the capital, achieving its objectives perfectly. After the grand review, Zhu Houzhao boldly announced the selection of 30,000 elite regiments to rebuild the Three Great Battalions!
Soldiers who are not selected should not be discouraged. There will be a second round of selection next year. Moreover, all soldiers who participate in the autumn exercises and winter drills will receive full pay, which is enough for them to provide a stable living for their families during this harsh winter when people's livelihoods are poor and all industries are struggling.

Even more shockingly, Zhu Houzhao established a new General's Mansion, completely separating the three newly rebuilt battalions from the Ministry of War and placing them all under the command of the General's Mansion.

Immediately afterwards, another imperial decree was issued, appointing Zhu Shou as "Grand General of Military Affairs and Commander-in-Chief"—in layman's terms, the Grand Marshal of the Army and the Army!
The entire court now knows that Zhu Shou is a pseudonym created by Zhu Houzhao for himself. Yet this seemingly childish and absurd decision still caused an uproar in the court, with officials all harboring the same question—what is the Emperor trying to do?
This is clearly an attempt to turn the imperial guards, which are under the control of the court, into his own private army!
The thought that the emperor would soon have complete control over the military in the capital filled the officials with dread, and they longed to confront him directly, asking, "Is Your Majesty planning a rebellion?"

In the past, if the emperor had overstepped his bounds and made such a blunder, the court would have been in an uproar long ago—the six censors would have jointly rejected the order, the Censorate would have taken turns admonishing him, and civil officials would have knelt at the palace gates and submitted memorials, never giving up until they forced the emperor to retract his decree!
But now, with Eunuch Liu holding absolute power in the court, which civil or military official dares to make a move? They don't even dare to utter a word openly... otherwise they would have to kneel in the sweltering heat of summer and the freezing cold of winter.

In this freezing winter, if we kneel at Fengtian Gate again, I wonder how many people will freeze into icicles...

Of course, they couldn't protest openly, so the 'deep government' could try to sabotage them covertly. However, Minister of War Liu Yu was a member of the eunuch faction, and he followed only the orders of Eunuch Liu and the Emperor. As soon as the decree was issued, he handed over the military register of the Imperial Guards without a word, obediently cooperating to be separated from the Imperial Guards' jurisdiction.

Moreover, once the weather turned cold, Zhu Houzhao stopped attending court, refusing to see civil officials or read their memorials. Even if a civil official had the courage to offer their stern advice, they couldn't find a way to do so. Completely unable to communicate with the emperor, how could they possibly offer any advice?
~~
While Zhu Houzhao put his worries aside and became a hands-off manager, Su Lu and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices were extremely busy.

In reality, the so-called Grand General's Mansion was merely a name on paper, with neither subordinate officials nor a formal structure. All the general affairs, big and small, ultimately fell onto the shoulders of the Chamberlain's Office...

The newly selected 30,000 soldiers of the Three Great Camps needed to be allocated farmland one by one, and the land grant procedures needed to be completed. The old military records were in disarray and needed to be checked from scratch to compile a new military register. This matter directly affected the soldiers' pay and rations, and could not be delayed in the slightest.

Although Zhu Houzhao was very carefree, he also understood the principle that "an emperor will not starve his soldiers." He issued a strict order that all other matters could be put aside for the time being, but matters related to provisions and pay must be settled before the end of the year.

Otherwise, we'd have to work overtime during the Spring Festival. In short, we can't delay the first distribution of grain and wages at the end of the first lunar month.

This kept Su Lu and his colleagues extremely busy. Even Su Lu, the prefectural magistrate, had to work overtime without a break.

Su Man, who was extremely busy that day, walked to his desk and placed a rather heavy brocade box on it.

Hearing the crisp sound from inside, Su Lu's expression brightened. He opened it and saw ten bright white silver coins and ten slightly darker ones.

"Guess whether it was hand-stamped or hammered?" Su Man asked with a smile.

“Since my elder brother has said so, then it must not have been handmade.” Su Lu also smiled and picked up the two silver coins. He examined them according to the method taught by the two master craftsmen. Sure enough, they were neither handmade nor cast, but perfectly matched the characteristics of a hammered stamp!
Moreover, it is much more exquisite than the Spanish double-column coin—the portrait of Zhu Houzhao on the obverse is raised in relief, with his eyebrows and eyes being majestic and clear, and his outline being concave and convex, giving it a strong three-dimensional feel; the two characters "壹圆" on the reverse are vigorous and powerful, and the two dragons on the rim are even more detailed, with their scales and claws clearly visible. Coupled with the clear and upright horse-tooth edge pattern, the whole coin has an inner luster, is extremely beautiful, and is irresistible!

He closed the file, stood up excitedly, and called out, "Come on, Zihe, let's go take a look. It'll be a good way to clear our heads."

Zhu Zihe came over for a look and was overjoyed, "It's only been a little over half a month, and it's already done?"

"There's nothing we can do. Hongzhi pays them high wages, so they have to work their hardest for you," Su Man said with a smile.

"Actually, the pay isn't that high," Su Lu said as he put on his coat. "Even in a famine, a cook won't starve, and a granary won't starve. Even if you don't pay him such high wages, he'll find a way to get the money himself."

"Yes," Su Man nodded. They had carefully calculated how much each person would be paid, and there was a reason for doing so.

“There is heat loss when melting gold and silver, and there is also loss when making coins. There is a lot of room for error here. Usually, when merchants buy loose silver, they will add at least 10% for heat loss. But according to our investigation, even half a percent of the loss is used.”

“If we pay them too low, even if they reluctantly come, they’ll find ways to fleece us.” Su Lu put on his mink hat and walked out of the duty room, saying:
"So it's better if we issue the licenses to him and then keep an eye on his hands—whatever amount of silver I give them, they have to give me the same amount of legitimate silver coins. The loss absolutely cannot exceed three percent!"

He paused for a moment and then added, "Moreover, this standard will continue to rise year by year, forcing them to improve their technology."

"Haha, it seems you didn't pay that much," Zhu Zihe said with a knowing smile.

"Of course. With the size of the mint, even a 2% reduction in losses per year would save at least 100,000 taels!" Su Man laughed.
"Don't worry, even if we spend a fortune to buy a horse's bones, the horse still has to earn us a fortune in return!"

The three of them talked as they walked toward the courtyard where the Royal Mint was located.

Minting coins is a matter of national importance, and all the processes involved are core secrets. Su Lu didn't have a safer place to go for the time being, so he temporarily settled them in the Leopard House as well... Anyway, the entire southwest corner of the Leopard House belonged to him, and the place was quite spacious.

(End of this chapter)