Chapter 6: The New Army

  "Master Sun, this isn't even my original idea. Didn't the Song Dynasty's Xiang Army do the same thing? When a place was hit by disaster or rebellion, they would recruit and pacify them with money, so the imperial court wouldn't have to worry about the rebellion too much, and people who were starving and poor would also have a place to settle."

  "What Your Majesty said is absolutely right. However, the combat effectiveness of the Xiang Army is not that high, and Your Majesty's expectations for the new army are not just a little bit."

  "Master Sun, don't you have a manual for training soldiers in your hand? Hahaha..."

  "That's right, Your Majesty. With this manual, I'm sure you can train elite soldiers. However, there is something that I don't know if I should say or not."

  "Speak up, Master Sun, don't hold back. As a teacher of two emperors, you also have the responsibility to correct my mistakes and shortcomings."

  "Where does the military funding for this new army come from?"

  "I myself will go out and won't prepare for the Ministry of Revenue."

  "This is still okay, but if it's one or two thousand, it's still okay. If it's ten or twenty thousand, eighty or a hundred thousand, how can Your Majesty afford it? I also know that in recent years, the imperial treasury has almost always been supporting the Ministry of Revenue. I'm afraid this is not a long-term plan!"

  In response to Sun Chengzong's reminder, Yang Reform was clear-headed. First and foremost, he had to make a fortune from the Wei case, and then prepare to auction off his family property. With these two starting points, combined with the several million taels of silver left behind by his brother, the emperor, he should be able to hold on until the first wave of new troops was trained. Once the new troops were trained, he would have guns in hand, and wouldn't need to fear anything anymore.

  "Master Sun, I appreciate your reminder, but I already have a plan in place. You don't need to worry about it, Master Sun. At least for now, supporting one or two million new troops is absolutely no problem."

  "How many new troops does Your Majesty plan to train?"

  "I am preparing to recruit some, no more than two thousand, I plan to take them as the foundation, and later new recruits will be brought out by them, thus forming a tradition of old soldiers bringing in new ones."

  Sun Chengzong thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, this might not be appropriate. The first batch of the new army is almost all from the same place. If they win battles in the future, promotion is inevitable. In the future, the generals will almost all be from the same place...". Sun Chengzong's words were not finished, but his meaning was already expressed. He meant that in the future, the new army would inevitably achieve merit, and the high-ranking officials of the new army would inevitably be from the same place. If the emperor relies on such an army, it is easy to have problems, such as collusion. That would be a tragedy for the emperor. Prevention before it happens refers to this situation.

  "This... Master Sun, you are absolutely right. I have another plan, I intend to recruit people from all over the world to come to the capital and serve as my attendants. Also use new methods to train them, let them mix with the new army, what do you think?"

  "Invite all the people in the world to come to Beijing!" Sun Chengzong's voice suddenly rose several decibels. This idea was both too crazy and too brilliant.

  Sun Chengzong clapped his hands and praised, "Your Majesty, this is indeed an excellent idea. In this way, Your Majesty's new training method will soon spread throughout the country. If there is anything in the future, with these guards by the Emperor's side, the military generals of the world will be even more loyal. When these guards return to serve as commanders of thousands of households, they will surely follow closely behind Your Majesty. In this way, all the armies of the world will be devoted to Your Majesty! It is truly a brilliant idea that achieves multiple goals at once."

  (The term "Sheren" here refers to the hereditary military officers of the Ming dynasty, such as the Commander-in-Chief and the Thousand Households. They would select one of their sons to inherit their position, usually the eldest son, who was called a Sheren. When their father died or retired, they would become the new Commander-in-Chief and Thousand Households.)

  The wrinkles on Sun Chengzong's old face have all been smoothed out, and from these few things, it can be seen that the Emperor's wisdom is truly unparalleled, very clever, and he doesn't worry about the Emperor being taken advantage of.

  Watching Sun Chengzong walk out, Yang Reform let out a sigh of relief, thinking that the military affairs had finally settled down. Thinking about it, there was still more than a year until Chongzhen 2nd year, and from a theoretical perspective, he still had sufficient time to train new troops. With a training speed of half a year per period, he could at least train three batches. The first batch would be around 2,000 people, the second batch could expand to 7-8,000, and by the third batch, it could expand to around 20-40,000. Thinking about this, Yang Reform's heart calmed down again.

  But then he thought of the weapons for battle, and those explosive firearms, Yang Reform felt like a millstone was pressing down on his forehead. Headache. It seemed that he still had to find an opportunity to visit the armory and reform it properly, otherwise his new army would be defeated by their own guns before they even got started. In addition to firearms, there should also be cannons, yes, and hand grenades, landmines... since he had traveled through time, how could he not have these things? Thinking of this, Yang Reform was excited again.

  "Taibei, where is the place that manufactures firearms? Today I want to go and take a look at the firearms." Yang Gaizhi was very excited. As the saying goes, "thinking is not as good as acting", having thought of firearms, he prepared to go to the place where firearms were manufactured to take a look.

  "Report to Your Majesty, there are two places that manufacture firearms: the Military Equipment Bureau and the Arsenal." Wang Cheng'en had been a eunuch for many years and was naturally very familiar with this aspect.

  "Are there two places? What's the difference?"

  "Returning to the Emperor, the Military Equipment Bureau is under the Ministry of Works, while the Arsenal Bureau is one of the Eight Inner Bureaus and is managed by the Imperial Court. Both can manufacture firearms, but if there's a difference, it's that the Arsenal Bureau is slightly stronger."

  "Oh, there are such divisions?" Yang Reform only then realized that the inner and outer courts were not called in vain. The outer court had some things, and generally the inner court would also have them, and they would be even more severe than the outer court. No wonder the eunuchs and civil officials of the Ming dynasty fought with each other with great relish. Civil officials regarded eunuchs as their mortal enemies.

  "Then let's go take a look at the gun shop today."

  This arsenal is the imperial armory, producing weapons, gunpowder, armor and so on. Of course, it has to be located in the Imperial City, as for the Forbidden City, that's impossible unless the emperor wants to sit on a landmine. There were many unrecorded explosions during the Ming dynasty.

  It's actually not far from the Forbidden City, about two or three kilometers away. After a few turns, we arrived at the Imperial Armory quickly. The Imperial Armory is one of the twelve watches, four departments and eight bureaus in the inner court. There are two eunuchs in charge: the Eunuch Director of the Imperial Armory and the Eunuch Director of the Military Equipment Warehouse. They are the real deal among eunuchs.

  For the emperor to suddenly arrive at the Imperial Armory, the eunuch in charge of the armory, Fu Mingde (also known as Hu Che), was completely unprepared and felt anxious. The recent case involving Wei Yan seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, and he didn't know if it would affect him personally.

  "Your humble servant Fuminde pays homage to Your Majesty, may you live for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, and ten thousand more." Behind Fuminde followed a large group of people, who appeared to be the big and small heads of the Ministry of War.

  "No need for formalities, let's just be equals."

  "Thanks to His Majesty's kindness."

  Yang reformed and smiled but did not speak, still treating him with kindness. It seems that these people have gotten into the habit of kowtowing.

  The big and small heads of the Ministry of War all stood up.

  "Fumingde? Then introduce the situation of the Bingshang Bureau." Yang Gaizhi had heard Wang Chengen mention the head eunuch in charge of one of the eight bureaus, and knew that the biggest head of the Bingshang Bureau was this head eunuch, so he had some impression of his name.

  "Reporting to the Emperor, this Ministry of War is in charge of manufacturing knives, guns, swords, spears, whips, axes, helmets, armor, bows and arrows, etc. for military use, as well as iron locks, needles and scissors used in the palace, and bells and drums used in Buddhist ceremonies. In addition, there are also firearms, under the jurisdiction of the Gunpowder Office." Fuminde was very clear about his own duties, people who reached this position had some skills, not just relying on flattery, tens of thousands of eunuchs in the capital were not decorations, the competition was really too fierce.

  "Oh, is it? Then let's take a look at the firearms."

  "I understand, Your Majesty." Fu Mingde then went on to discuss business matters and gradually shed the tension from earlier.

  ……

  "Your Majesty, this is the bird gun. The front end has a sight, and the back has a touch hole. It's used for aiming. Gunpowder is poured in, compacted, then the bullet is loaded, followed by the loading of the door medicine, covering the fire door, and finally installing the fuse. This way, everything is ready. When it's time to shoot, open the fire door, pull the trigger, and fire." Fu Mingde explained while demonstrating with his hands, detailing the entire firing process of the bird gun.

  "This seems too cumbersome. Yang Reform was really surprised by the complexity of this operation, and he wondered if they could even fight like this. Probably can't even fire two shots in a minute."

  "Back to the Emperor, this is already much simpler and more convenient than the previous firearms. The previous fire lance was even more cumbersome, and its power was not as great as that of the current one..." This Fu Mingde is quite knowledgeable about weapons. His explanation is clear and to the point.

  "Oh, is that so? Is this kind of weapon equipment common? Is it the main combat equipment of my great Ming dynasty?" Yang reform nodded, knowing that this was probably the evolution history of firearms. He also knew that during this period, musketeers needed courage, first to not be afraid of their own firearms exploding, and secondly to face the enemy rushing like a tide without feeling anything, only by achieving these two things could one be considered a qualified musketeer.

  "Reporting to Your Majesty, this kind of gun is the most equipped in our Great Ming Dynasty. In the 37th year of Jiajing (1558), a batch was made, with about 10,000 guns. Now, our Great Ming Dynasty basically equips it." While saying that, Fu Mingde also bowed to the sky.

  "Ten thousand? You're not mistaken, are you? How can there be so many?" Yang Gaofei had thought that producing a batch of one or two thousand would already be a demonstration of the mighty power of the Ming dynasty, but unexpectedly they produced ten thousand.

  "Your Majesty, how could I possibly remember wrongly? There were indeed 10,000 of them. It's recorded in the files. Not a single one less." Fu Mingde said with certainty.

  Yang's reform had a new understanding of the military manufacturing industry in the Ming Dynasty. He said, "Then tell me about its production cost and process." Yang's reform was somewhat eager to know the cost and process of this gun, if it wasn't expensive, he could first make some bird guns as teaching weapons, and slowly improve them into flintlock guns.

  "Back to the emperor, good. This bird gun, selects ten kilograms of crude iron, refines one kilogram of fine iron, and uses this fine iron to roll out two pipes, large and small. Then use the large pipe to wrap around the small pipe, the two pipes are tightly attached, then use a steel drill to drill out the smooth inner wall of the gun barrel, after drilling the gun barrel, install the front sight at the front end and the rear sight at the rear end. The inner wall of the tail of the gun barrel is engraved with a left-hand thread, which can be screwed in and out with a screw, when screwed in, it has the effect of closing the air, after screwed out, it is convenient to clean the inner wall of the gun, there is a chamber at the rear, with an open fire door, and a fire door cover is installed. This gun barrel is basically completed, then on a dense and hard gun bed. The rear of the gun bed is connected to a curved gun stock, and a dragon-shaped trigger is installed on the gun bed......" Fu Mingde's explanation was very complete and very convincing. It seemed that a pile of crude iron had become a brand new bird gun in his hands.

  However, Yang Reform interrupted him: "What, you said a hard and dense lathe bed? What is this thing?" Yang Reform was suddenly "shocked" in his heart. A lathe bed, could it be an early lathe? If so, then the technology of the Ming Dynasty would be too against heaven.

  "Return to the Emperor, it's just a cannon!" Fumingde was baffled, wondering why the Emperor would be so shocked by this.

  "Go, take me to see." Yang Reform was eager, wanting to see this Ming Dynasty "lathe".

  The slightly curved piece of wood in front is the gun bed mentioned by Fu Mingde.

  "Is this the wooden bed you were talking about?" Yang Gaofei waved the piece of wood in his hand.

  "Your Majesty, this is indeed a gun carriage." Fu Mingde explained carefully, afraid of accidentally offending the Emperor.

  Yang Reform finally understood that the gunstock was actually a wooden holder for placing the barrel, commonly known as the gun handle. Yang Reform's heart suddenly cooled down by half. The flames that had just been ignited were extinguished again.

  After a moment of silence, Yang Gaizhi finally broke the silence and continued to ask: "Then how long does it take to make this bird gun? Especially this barrel?" As a pseudo-military enthusiast, Yang Gaizhi naturally knew that the most difficult part of this fire gun was the barrel.

  "Your Majesty, the difficulty with these firearms lies in the barrel. Each person can only polish one inch per day, and it takes about a month to complete an entire barrel." Fu Mingde was very clear about these numbers.

  "It takes a month to grind out one?" Yang reform was shocked by this data. In his impression, making guns were all about using ready-made pipes and then adding some accessories to make a gun. He didn't expect that it would take a month to grind out just one here.

  "What is the yield rate?"

  "Reporting to Your Majesty, about two out of every ten gun barrels will be defective. About 70 or 80 percent of the products are usable." Fu Mingde hesitated for a moment before speaking his mind.

  "A 70-80% completion rate? Hmm, it's not high, but not low either." In fact, the actual completion rate would be even lower, depending on the management and the quality of the creators. Eighty percent is probably the highest record. Fumingde wouldn't say something so bluntly, of course, if you said 100%, then the guns taken to the battlefield would explode.

  "What's the cost of making a gun?" Yang Guan was concerned about the cost. Only if the cost is low, there is a possibility for large-scale production.

  "Replying to Your Majesty, it's around 4 to 5 taels. If it's a skilled worker, the price can be lowered to 4 taels. But if there are many unskilled workers, then it would be 5 taels." Fu Mingde answered the emperor's question with caution, fearing that if he said too much, the emperor would investigate his accounts, and if he said too little, the emperor would use this price to make guns, which would be impossible even if he sold himself. So he gave a vague price.

  "Four or five taels for one rifle? It doesn't seem too expensive." Yang Gaofei thought to himself, four or five rifles isn't expensive, ten thousand rifles would be around forty to fifty thousand taels of silver. That's just the salary of an ordinary soldier for four or five months. He thought again, the price of this rifle is basically just labor costs, a skilled worker can only grind one rifle barrel in a month, and the labor cost alone would be at least two taels. As for iron, carbon, steel drill bits, and other miscellaneous items, it's probably around this price too.

  Thinking of this, Yang Gaofei also had a number in his heart. He asked: "Fu Mingde, how long do you say it will take to make two thousand bird guns?"

  "Replying to Your Majesty, I estimate that it will take at least four or five months." Fu Mingde replied cautiously.

  "Four or five months? So long? Didn't you say that one year can produce 10,000 rods? How come producing 2,000 rods takes four or five months? Are you deceiving me?"

  "I'm doomed, I'm doomed. I didn't deceive the Emperor. We used to produce 10,000 guns a year, that was during the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing's reign. Over the years, the number of craftsmen who can make bird guns has been decreasing, now there are only about 400-500 people left, so we can't keep up with the speed of Jiajing's time."

  "That's to say, you can make at most 400-500 muskets in a month?"

  "Your Majesty, yes, even if it's not a waste product, at most 400 to 500 gun barrels can be produced in a month. As for wanting more, it's not impossible."

  "What's the solution?"

  "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works' Arsenal Bureau still has some craftsmen who make bird guns, although not as many as the Armory Bureau. If we call them over, the speed will be much faster." Fu Mingde explained carefully, showing that he was also familiar with the affairs of his colleagues.

  "What's going on with the Ministry of Works? Forget it. I'm supposed to be making weapons at the Arsenal, not at the Ministry of Works. Fu Mingde, the number of craftsmen is decreasing, are you mistreating them? This country's military industry hub, and yet the number of craftsmen producing weapons is decreasing. You're really not doing a good job as the head."

  Fu Mingde was already a nervous wreck. He was scared out of his wits.

  "Fumingde, I am preparing to forge a batch of weapons. You treat the craftsmen so cruelly that they flee and their skills decline, hindering my plans. Do you want to lose your head?"