Chapter Thirty-two Quality Issues

  Handed over to Guo Huan to take care of the singing, thought out a countermeasure for Mao Wenlong's side, Yang Reform felt much lighter all over. Humming a little tune, strolling in the Forbidden City.

  There is Wang Chengen following beside. In the distance, there are eunuchs, palace maids, and a group of people including General Da Han, quite spectacular.

  Yang suddenly remembered that he hadn't been to the munitions factory for a while, and didn't know how many hand grenades had been made or how many muskets had been produced.

  Yang decided to go and take a look at the "Royal Arsenal".

  ōtomo

  "Your Majesty, I am here." Wang Chengen hastily ran to Yang Gao's side.

  "I won't return to the palace for now, let's go take a look at the Arsenal and see how the firearms are coming along."

  "Yes, Your Majesty. It's still a long way to go, please get on the sedan chair." Wang Chengen was worried that Yang Guifei would get tired from walking and urged her to get on the sedan chair.

  "Hehe, never mind, I'm in a good mood today, let's just go." Yang Reform was in an extremely good mood today and decided to just head out.

  ……

  Before long, they arrived at the "Bing Zhang Ju" within the Imperial City, which was also known as the Imperial Arsenal.

  "Your humble servant, Fu Mingde, pays his respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty live for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, and ten thousand more!" Fu Mingde, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Armory, had received the emperor's summons and was waiting at the gate with a group of officials big and small to greet him.

  "Long time no see! You're looking great, Fumingde!" Yang Gaizhi was overjoyed.

  "The slave is worried and has caused Your Majesty to be concerned." Fu Mingde was delighted that the Emperor still remembered him.

  " Arsenal... Oh, how is the Ministry of War doing? How are the muskets and hand grenades I wanted made?" Yang's reform was straightforward.

  "I report to Your Majesty, I have been working overtime every day as required by Your Majesty to produce firearms and hand grenades, and a batch has been made." Fu Mingde said.

  "Haha, how's the quality of that fire gun of yours? Won't it explode in your hands? And won't the hand grenade be a dud?" Yang Gaofeng joked.

  "Your Majesty... I, your humble servant, have carefully crafted the fire lance and hand grenade according to Your Majesty's requirements! Your Majesty..." Fu Mingde was frantic, the Emperor was playing this kind of joke on him, it was going to be the death of him. The Emperor had said he would let him use a fire lance that would explode in his hands to open fire.

  "Hmm, don't worry, as I said before, I will let people select some and have the makers and supervisors themselves hold the fire guns and shoot. If there's a misfire, it won't be my concern. I'll also take out a batch of hand grenades to test.

  Yang Reform's purpose for coming here this time is simple: he wants to see the quantity and quality of the fire guns, stabilize the quality first, and then discuss the quantity."

  "Yes, sir." Fumingde still seemed very confident in his homemade firearms, seemingly not worried at all.

  "Taiwan, find some people and go to the warehouse to pick out some rifles and hand grenades. I want to test their quality." Yang said to Wang Chengen as he turned his head.

  "Yes, Your Majesty." After Wang Cheng'en responded, he went to arrange the soldiers.

  ……

  The courtyard, Yang reform did not wait long, a string of soldiers carrying box after box of firearms came in, some even carried small wooden boxes, which were estimated to be hand grenades.

  These weapons are still quite a distance from Emperor Yang's reforms. It is not that Emperor Yang is afraid of death, but rather the imperial guards responsible for his safety will automatically keep these "dangerous" items away from the emperor.

  There were also a group of artisans who came along, and it seemed that there were some eunuchs as well. They should be the craftsmen and the eunuchs in charge of supervision.

  "Let's begin." Yang Gaofei said expressionlessly. Yang Gaofei felt some pressure in his heart, if the quality of this batch of firearms was still the same as before, he would not hesitate to use blood to educate these people. The second year of Chongzhen was approaching, and Yang Gaofei did not want to be busy and flustered at that time.

  A small squad of Imperial Guardsmen, led by a junior officer, loaded their rifles with live ammunition and handed them over to the craftsmen who had made them. They then stepped back several meters and waited for the craftsmen to pull the triggers.

  These firearms all have marks on them, so it's clear who made them. They're especially what Yang Reform wants.

  This was truly an unforgettable scene. Some craftsmen were extremely confident in the fire guns they had made, and as soon as they picked them up, they pulled the trigger, "Bang" a loud noise, the bullet flew out at high speed, piercing the wooden board in front of them.

  There are also some craftsmen who feel a bit hesitant about their "work", and they dare not fire the gun, picking it up and putting it down again. In the end, they still pull the trigger, "bang", and the bullet flies out. However, it does not hit the wooden board in front of them.

  The first trial shot was generally good. Although some workers were reluctant to get started, they all successfully fired in the end, and not a single gun barrel exploded.

  "Very good, let them fire two or three more shots." Yang Reform praised while having them fire a few more shots to test the quality of the firearms.

  At the emperor's command, those guards had already begun loading the firearms for a second time. Then the guards handed the firearms back to the craftsmen and stood several meters behind them, starting the second test firing.

  Like the first time, some craftsmen were more confident, picking it up and pulling the trigger "bang" a shot was fired. From this, we can see that some of the quality is not bad.

  "Bang"... "Ah!"... "Ahh... save me!"... A craftsman pulled the trigger, a strange gunshot sounded, followed by a miserable howl.

  The shotgun misfired.

  Yang Reform didn't say anything, but his discontent was already written all over his face.

  Fu Mingde, who was still relatively confident just now, has almost collapsed to the ground, kneeling in front of Yang Gaiting, at a loss for what to do.

  The guards dragged away the irate gunsmith, their faces unsmiling and their movements rough. As soldiers, they probably despised this craftsman who produced inferior weapons for them, knowing that one day they might have to use those very guns themselves, and so felt no pity for him.

  The musket was test-fired and continued. The scene became much more tense, with many workers opening fire only after repeated urging by the Imperial Guard instructors. After a single shot rang out, seeing that the musket did not burst its barrel, they finally let out a sigh of relief.

  The first batch of workers finished the test shooting, and then another batch was replaced. The second batch was slightly better than the first batch, with only one worker's rifle having a slight crack in the barrel after firing three shots, which automatically stopped working and was also taken away by the little masters due to poor quality. The only good thing was that he himself was not injured.

  ……

  After several test shots, about 10% to 20% of the newly made firearms were tested. The final conclusion was that more than 10% of the firearms had problems such as barrel explosion and cracking, air leakage, insufficient power, inaccuracy, etc.

  "Fumingde." Yang's reform words carried a chill, gone was the warmth of earlier.

  "Yes, I am here." Fumin De was still kowtowing on the ground, his expression dejected and his voice also became smaller.

  "This is the musket you made for me? More than 10% of them are problematic. That means, even before we go to battle, you've already created more than 10% casualties for me... Is that right?" Yang's reform was already stern and severe by then. It was really frightening.

  Yang has also read some military books and knows what such a high casualty rate represents. That is to say, the battle hasn't even started yet, but ordinary troops will "collapse". When casualties reach over 10%, they collapse, flee, and then turn into a big rout, being chased like ducks, which was a common phenomenon among ancient ordinary armies, especially during the late Ming dynasty when fighting against the bandits.

  "I've told you before, the quality of a single weapon can affect the life of a soldier, and the loss of a soldier can affect the combat effectiveness of an entire squad. If a squad doesn't fight well, it can affect the outcome of a battle, and the outcome of a war is tied to the survival of a nation... The quality of your firearms has already affected the life and death of our great Ming dynasty!" Yang Gaoli shouted angrily.

  "I am guilty, I deserve to die... I am guilty, I deserve to die..." Fumingde had already been scared silly by Yang's reform and was only muttering these few sentences while banging his head on the ground. "Thud thud" echoed out.

  After kowtowing for a while, Yang Gaizhi felt that this was not the way to go either. He originally didn't have many people by his side, and if Fu Mingde continued to kowtow until he died, wouldn't that mean there would be even fewer people left?

  "Stop hitting yourself, just kneel there for now." Yang's reform made Fumingde stop his "self-mutilation".

  He turned back to Wang Chengen and said, "Grand Companion, expand the test firing range, bring out all the new firearms for me to test fire, add ten rounds, I want to see how many of these firearms will explode. Also, let those in charge of supervision take up the firearms and test fire them too, hmm, except for Li Gong and a few others who are responsible for research..." Yang Gaizhi was already furious, gritting his teeth. His new army hadn't even been trained yet, but this group of good-for-nothings had already crippled their own troops by over 10%. This wasn't the final result yet. Yang Gaizhi's anger can be imagined. At the same time, he didn't lose his composure and didn't let those in charge of technical development go test fire the guns.