Dream of the Red Chamber: I can upgrade my entries!

Chapter 23 Planning Ahead: The Firearms R&D Team!
"If you want to see some new things, why don't you go inside?"

A slightly hunched middle-aged man appeared in front of Jia Yan and spoke.

"Who are you?"

Jia Zheng found the middle-aged man in front of him, dressed in a dark blue official robe with egret embroidered patches, somewhat unfamiliar.

"Your humble servant Dai Jing, the chief clerk of the Ministry of Works, pays his respects to Lord Jia."

The middle-aged man bowed to Jia Zheng.

Jia Zheng was a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Works, while Jia Zheng was a sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Works, so they were naturally in a superior-subordinate relationship.

"Dai Jing".

Jia Yan sized up the middle-aged man in front of him and asked with great interest, "Are you saying that these are not the latest firearms developed by the Ministry of Works?"

"Lord Jia, Captain Jia, please come in."

Dai Jing, the head of the Imperial Stud, extended his hand and gestured.

"Ah."

Before Jia Zheng could nod, Jia Yan had already strode into the deeper part of the warehouse. The scene here was different from the previous one; it could be described as spotless.

All the shelves were filled with novel muskets, and even some small cannons, which was dazzling to look at.

"Clap."

Jia Yan took the musket off the shelf in front of him and examined it closely. The musket was exquisitely made, covered entirely in brass, and engraved with special patterns. He had seen this musket before, or rather, he had seen it in his previous life, the Pan Chang bird gun treasured in the Palace Museum.

"In the 25th year of the Shunzhi reign (1686), the red-haired barbarians of Yizhou presented a batch of firearms as tribute, which were hailed as the 'intestine-coiled bird gun'."

"The one in Captain Jia's hand is a replica made by my father, and its power is no less than the original."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Jia Yan's face showed astonishment.

Then, Dai Jing introduced them to the firearms here one by one: bird-beak guns, repeating guns shaped like pipa (a Chinese lute), imitations of Zambalak matchlock guns and Shatunar matchlock guns, cluster rockets, divine fire flying crows, and ten thousand-person enemy guns used for city defense, fire dragons emerging from the water for ships, and a number of cannon models, such as the Hongyi cannon used for city defense, and mother-and-child cannons, strange cannons, and mortars used on ships, most of which are light cannons.

"Your father is Dai Zi, a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy?"

With piercing eyes, Jia Yan uttered a name.

"Yes."

Dai Jing answered without hesitation.

'I see. ’

Jia Yan suddenly realized that Dai Zi was the most outstanding firearms expert in the East from the 17th to the early 18th century. He developed a variety of firearms such as the repeating cannon and the mother-and-child cannon, proving that Eastern firearms were no less than those of the West.

Unfortunately, his talents were not fully realized. The dynasty did not pay much attention to the development of firearms, which were mostly used for defending cities and ships.

"I see matchlock guns all here, but no flintlock guns?"

"The Western barbarians have already widely adopted flintlock muskets."

"Flintlock?"

Dai Jing thought for a moment, then said somewhat uncertainly, "Is Captain Jia referring to a self-propelled musket?" "Yes."

Jia Yan nodded.

As early as the late Ming Dynasty, Bi Maokang manufactured a flintlock musket, named this new type of firearm "self-generating firearm", and included it in his book "Illustrated Explanation of Military Weapons".

"Commander Jia".

Meeting Jia Yan's gaze, Dai Jing smiled wryly and said, "At the beginning of the founding of the Great Qian Dynasty, following the example of the Ming Dynasty, we established the Five Armies Camp of the Capital Army, the Divine Machine Camp, and the Three Thousand Camp."

"Most of the firearms developed by the Ministry of Works were supplied to the Shenji Battalion. After the Yuan Congyi War, the retired emperor established the Twelve Battalions, and the Beijing Garrison existed in name only."

"The muskets here were not issued to the army; they were only used by the retired emperor for hunting."

"Apart from the cannons used on the nine borders, other firearms were not manufactured by the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of Revenue would not allocate additional funds."

"The Fujian and Guangdong navies all procured their own supplies, while the Nanjing Navy..."

He didn't say the rest, but everyone present understood.

Besides being used for defending cities, the only other use of firearms in the Qing Dynasty was on ships. No navy was established in the north, mainly because there was no threat from the sea.

The other three naval forces were the Nanjing Navy, the Fujian Navy, and the Guangdong Navy. The Fujian Navy had always been under the control of the Marquis of Jinghai and was used to defend against the Dutch who were entrenched in Yizhou. It was the strongest, and the Spanish secretly supported them in their fight against the Dutch, so they had no shortage of firearms.

The Guangdong navy could purchase firearms from the Portuguese in Macau, and the Bogarau cannon foundry was the most famous cannon foundry in the Far East.

The Nanjing Navy was already corrupt and didn't care about firearms anymore. They just cruised the Yangtze River and made a show of it.

'So desolate!'

Jia Yan sighed inwardly at this.

The saying "If you fall behind, you will be bullied" holds true in any era. After 78 years of the Great Qian Dynasty, the problems were already too deep to be reversed. The decline of the dynasty can be seen from the development of firearms.

Emperor Shunkang even ordered some firearms to be copied for hunting, but Emperor Yongping only knew how to scheme and plot in the Qianqing Palace all day long. He didn't care about firearms at all, let alone give them strong support.

If he remembered correctly, the Kingdom of Qianxiang purchased a large number of flintlock muskets from Western colonists. In the dense forest, bows and arrows were far less useful than firearms. The original novel of Dream of the Red Chamber mentioned that the Great Qian Dynasty was defeated by the Kingdom of Qianxiang, the southwest was in ruins, and the Prince of Nan'an was captured. Perhaps signs of this have already appeared.

"If Lieutenant Jia is interested in developing firearms, I can introduce you to my father. My father has many dealings with the Sun, Bi, and Zhao families."

Knowing that the young man before him was the legitimate son of the Ningguo Mansion and of noble status, Dai Jing quickly stepped forward to show his goodwill.

"I will definitely ask Master Dai to introduce me to you in the future."

Jia Yan did not refuse his offer. Although he was not yet fully capable, it did not mean that he would not have the strength in this area in the future. Developing firearms was a necessary step.

Sun Yuanhua, Zhao Shizhen, and Bi Maokang were all firearms experts during the early Ming Dynasty. Their family tradition of learning was still intact, and their descendants must also have the ability to develop firearms. With the addition of Dai Zi, this would be the best firearms research and development team.

"it is good."

Dai Jing's face lit up with joy; his trip had not been in vain.

After hesitating for a while, Jia Yan finally left the Ministry of Works. All the soldiers and armor had been sent to the Beijing garrison, where eight hundred soldiers from Longxi were training. Thanks to the Jia family's status, Wang Ziteng, the military governor of the Beijing garrison, had set aside a tent for him.

The training of eight hundred people did not attract much attention; compared to the army of two hundred thousand, these people were insignificant.

PS: Red-haired barbarians – Netherlands, Large Francois – Spain, Small Francois – Portugal

(End of this chapter)