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Volume 13 Reviving the Ming Dynasty Chapter 644 A new page (2)

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    After two years of development, Daming's situation has been greatly improved.  Although the harsh weather of small glaciers has not changed much in terms of climate, and it is still extremely cold, but because they have received sufficient food from overseas tropical countries, and because sweet potatoes and other crops that are easier to feed are now commonly grown in various places, the people are actually  Better than before.

    Of course, this is inseparable from the opening up of sea trade in many cities in the south.  Nowadays, a large number of coastal cities, led by Suzhou and other places, no longer look like a feudal dynasty.  Not only is everyone well-fed and well-clothed, many handicraft workshops have been established in the city, but there are also many people of all skin colors and hair colors coming and going.  Under Tang Feng's decrees, the road guide and other systems that had always restricted the development of the country were completely abolished. As long as you have enough travel expenses and do not violate the law, you can go to any place you want to go without any hindrance.  , regardless of whether you are Han Chinese or not.  []

    Of course, this also has its side effects. For example, the number of people committing crimes has increased with the increase in population mobility.  Often if something is done here, people will flee elsewhere, causing a headache for the government.  Regarding this point, Tang Feng just asked the local governments to cooperate and relaxed the conditions for issuing official sea arrest documents, so that it would not be so easy for some people who had committed crimes to hide elsewhere.  Although this will bring a lot more things to each government office, but compared to the development of the entire country, this little trouble is not worth mentioning.

    Tang Feng's various reform methods completely broke the Ming Dynasty's understanding for hundreds of years. It can be said to have completely subverted the rules set by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.  This made many conservative people in the court very dissatisfied, but due to Tang Feng's current status, they could only complain in private.

    And two years later, in the summer of the second year of Zhengyuan, as the country became increasingly powerful and the people's lives became better, those opposing voices no longer appeared.  Now, those conservatives are also turning towards Tang Feng because the younger generation of their families have made enough money through this change in the court. After all, these people also want to seek benefits for their children and grandchildren.  Even these most prestigious people no longer objected, and Tang Feng's transformation became even smoother.

    Time has entered the hottest dog days of the year. Even the capital city in the north feels sweltering, and many people no longer go out.  The imperial court also issued a decree, changing the morning court to the evening court, and discussing state affairs after dinner every evening.  This is also a newly created rule that Tang Feng really couldn't stand this office system, so there were very few people on the streets of the capital in the early morning.

    But today was a little unusual. A team wearing armor appeared on the empty street. Just by looking at the small apricot flags they waved, a few pedestrians on the roadside knew their identities. It was now.  The de facto master of the Ming Dynasty was Tang Feng, Duke of Anguo.  Seeing An Guo Gong suddenly heading east, the people were full of curiosity. Some who knew the inside story smiled and whispered to the acquaintances next to them: "I think An Guo Gong is going to see those secret weapons again."

    Thirty miles away in the eastern suburbs of Beijing, the original families have been resettled elsewhere, and now the place is under the control of the government and the army.  There were a thousand people, officers and soldiers armed with various weapons, and dozens of people with bows and crossbows patrolling the area from time to time, making the common people afraid to approach this place.  This is the location of the newly established Firearms Bureau of the imperial court, in order to help the Ming Dynasty create sharper and more flexible firearms.

    This was of course Tang Feng's idea. If he wanted to fight the Jin people who lived on horseback all year round, it would be impossible to succeed with only cavalry and infantry. What's more, this time the Ming Dynasty wanted to take the initiative to attack, and they completely lost the location and city.  If you don't have the backing, then the only thing you can do is use your brains on weapons.  As the most lethal weapon, which the Jin people did not care about yet, it became the Ming army's trump card at this time.  However, most of the Ming Dynasty's firearms are still immature. They are either too weak in power, too complicated to operate, or too heavy to be used in long-distance combat, so Tang Feng thought of asking professionals to improve them.

    With the success of Xu Cang's father before, Tang Feng knew that those craftsmen should not be underestimated. Although the Han people were not as good as the Western countries in some aspects, that was only official. In fact, there may not be people who can make better firearms among the people, just because  The official's lack of attention makes them useless.  So this time Tang Feng gave people instructions to invite back all the old craftsmen who had been idle at home, and opened such a firearms bureau research institute outside Beijing.

    Because this matter was related to the success or failure of the war against Jin, Tang Feng sent a lot of soldiers from the three battalions to guard and not allow people to approach easily. In addition, because of the danger of gunpowder, the location of this firearms bureau was also very difficult.  It's remote.  However, this made the craftsmen feel more at ease, and the progress of research and development was not low.

    Every once in a while, Tang Feng will come here personally to see the progress here. On the one hand, he will cheer up the craftsmen, and on the other hand, he will also provide them with?Some reference opinions.  Although Tang Feng was a complete layman on modern weapons, he still knew something.  Although these are nothing in this modern era of advanced information, it was also a great breakthrough for the ancients.  Sometimes, scientific inventions often come from someone's flash of inspiration.  Some of Tang Feng's reminders were of great help to the craftsmen. They had never thought that there was such a way to make firearms. Although it was a bit difficult, it was much better than before when they had no clue.

    Today is another day when Tang Feng rushes to the Firearms Bureau to inspect.  He is followed by elites carefully selected from the three major battalions. The original guards have now become mid-level officers in various guard posts, which can be regarded as giving them a chance to develop.  And now these guards are also extremely loyal to Tang Feng. Now the status of military commanders has been greatly improved. The court has become as equal as civilian officials, or even better. This is inseparable from Tang Feng's support.  These people also know that as long as they follow An Guogong, they will be successful one day, so naturally they are even more loyal.

    When we arrived at our destination, officials from the bureau had already come out to greet us.  After introducing the improvements in firearms during this period, the official said with a sad face: "My lord, the artillery obtained from the Folangji is good, but it is extremely difficult for us to imitate it. They  The parts are too delicate.¡±

    This is something Tang Feng mentioned when he came last time that caught their attention.  As soon as the maritime ban was lifted, the demand from overseas countries for tea, silk and other items produced in the Ming Dynasty greatly increased.  It is naturally impossible for a small country like Folangji to provide a large amount of gold, silver and other currencies. They are still accumulating capital, and they cannot provide the food that the Ming Dynasty needs now. In the end, Tang Feng  Designate for their artillery.  Because Tang Feng knew very well that the current firearms in Western countries were far more advanced than those in the Ming Dynasty. Since they could not develop by themselves, they had to borrow external help.

    At this time, there was no so-called confidentiality principle, and the Francois were very interested in Ming's products, so they offered dozens of artillery pieces and many muskets in exchange.  Of course, this was only a drop in the bucket and could not change the overall appearance of the Ming army's weapons. However, Tang Feng did not expect to improve the army's weapons by trading alone. He thought of another method, which was copycats.

    In fact, in real history, the Republic after the founding of the People's Republic of China often did copycat things. Obviously the ancients had genes in this regard. In addition, at that time, there was no concept of intellectual property rights at all, so it was even more justified to do this.  However, Tang Feng didn't expect that such a problem would arise. He couldn't imitate others. This was really a problem.

    After listening to the other party's explanation, Tang Feng somewhat understood that France and other countries had entered the early stages of the industrial revolution and had surpassed the Ming Dynasty in terms of production tools. With the help of machinery, they were naturally more sophisticated than manual labor.  Some, this resulted in the Ming Dynasty being unable to imitate their artillery.

    However, Tang Feng still had confidence in the abilities of the working people. He immediately said: "Although this is difficult, it cannot completely stump our craftsmen. They have been working in front of firearms for several generations, even if  If a few people can't come up with a solution, someone will always come up with an idea. Let's pass on an order. As long as he can solve the current problem, no matter what his status is, he will be immediately promoted to the manager of the bureau.  , and a reward of one thousand taels of silver."

    There will be brave men under heavy rewards, and there will be many wise men under heavy rewards.  Less than half a moment after the order was issued, several people came to the hall and told Tang Feng and others about their own methods.  Although Tang Feng didn't know much about this kind of thing, he could guess from the smiling faces of the officials next to him that the problem should be solved.

    Having solved this problem, Tang Feng started walking around the firearms bureau accompanied by a few people.  There are many finished and semi-finished muskets and artillery here. Some are not much different from those seen before, while others have been improved and are much stronger in performance and power.  After listening to the officials' introductions one by one, Tang Feng nodded approvingly and said: "Okay, we will continue to follow this path of research and development. I can tell everyone that in the near future, it will no longer be the bow that determines the winner on the battlefield.  Instead of crossbows, cavalry and other weapons, they will be firearms. As long as our guns and cannons are powerful enough, not to mention the current Jin Kingdom, even the Mongolia during Temujin's time will be just a group of lambs to be slaughtered. So what you have done  Everything is extremely important.¡±

    When the craftsmen heard this, their chests couldn't help but puff up a little more. This was what Duke An Guo said. How could what he said be false?  At this time, there was a "pop" from the other side, followed by cheers. This immediately attracted Tang Feng's attention, and he quickly led people towards the large open space ahead.

    This is a place where the Firearms Bureau tests newly developed weapons. Except for a brand of targets, there are no other objects.  At this time, there was a very ordinary-looking man in the crowd who was holding a musket and trying to fire it.  existA puff of black smoke was rising from the target nearly two hundred paces away. It was obvious that the shot had hit the target.

    Seeing this scene, even Tang Feng was a little moved.  There is an idiom called "A hundred steps can pierce the willow". It is already very difficult to hit the target from a hundred steps away, let alone two hundred steps away.  And this is still referring to bows and arrows. If it is a musket, due to the technical limitations of this era, it is already very rare to hit the target at seventy or eighty steps, but today something unexpected happened.

    Tang Feng looked at the man and the gun in his hand, and asked: "Is this musket from Franji or our own?"

    "My father-in-law, this is based on the Fran machine gun after small experiments for a long time. Although it is not as powerful as the Fran machine gun, it has a farther range than it."

    "Oh, how did you do it?" Tang Feng immediately became interested.

    Seeing that Duke An was so interested in this, the craftsman was very excited. After all, he was the Duke of the dynasty and the leader of the government. With his praise, he would definitely be reused.  After a long time, he said in a trembling voice: "Go back to the Duke, the young man's family was originally the one who made this musket, and with the guidance of the Duke, he made this musket based on the Franco machine gun. Today  Try it, it¡¯s not bad.¡±

    "Well, you did a good job." Tang Feng nodded approvingly: "I will reward you with one hundred taels of silver. I hope you will not be complacent and build a better musket for our Ming Dynasty based on the Fran machine gun. By the way, your name is  what name?"

    "Thank you, Duke, for the generous reward! The villain's surname is Ma. He doesn't have a serious name. He is just called Ma San because of his three deeds."

    "Let me give you a name, just Ma Huateng. I hope you can imitate our Ming Dynasty's own firearms based on other people's firearms. Don't live up to this name."

    "Yes, I will call him Ma Huateng from now on. I will definitely live up to the Duke's respect!" The craftsman agreed happily.  But he felt strange, why did the Duke of Guo see something different in his eyes?

    These two things spread immediately in the firearms bureau. The effect of this kind of example is much stronger than the repeated orders of the court.  It turns out that solving a problem can lead to such a rich reward, and that a breakthrough in firearms can be so valued by the prince. This has greatly increased the enthusiasm of the craftsmen. Everyone is trying to develop new weapons.  I hope one day I can be praised and rewarded by the Duke.

    This kind of positive effect is exactly what Tang Feng hopes to see. He knows that in the near future, the rigid thinking formed due to two to three hundred years of inaction will be completely broken, and the Ming Dynasty's strength in armaments will have a sharp decline.  Big changes.  There will no longer be the tragedy of the late Qing Dynasty when the Chinese nation was oppressed by foreign powers, because we are no longer weaker than them in terms of firearms and ships.

    Although Tang Feng often mentioned the superstructure as the key to backwardness in the knowledge he had learned in the past, he believed that the methods of feudal rule were very backward.  But in fact this was not the case. After seeing the political system of the Ming Dynasty, he did not think there was anything wrong with the system at this time.  The imperial power was also limited by the cabinet, which was no worse than the constitutional monarchy of some later countries, and it was most in line with China's national conditions, so he had no intention of changing this.  Of course, if some progressive people can appear in a few hundred years to make new changes, Tang Feng will be happy to see it happen, even if he won't be able to see it by then.

    ¡°In stark contrast to the Ming Dynasty¡¯s growing national power, there are nomadic peoples who make a living by grazing on the grasslands and rely entirely on God for their food.  The increasingly cold weather in recent years has made the grass on the grassland very sparse, which has led to livestock going out of food from time to time. In winter, white disasters have continued, and a large number of cattle, sheep and other animals have been frozen to death.  Even ordinary shepherds froze to death because their tents were not sufficiently cold-proof, which made life extremely difficult for both the Jin people and the Mongolians.

    Since they can no longer think about themselves, the Jin people can only seek breakthroughs from the outside.  Like them, the neighboring Mongols also lived a precarious life. Only the Ming Dynasty in the south was still prosperous, which made them suddenly want to go south again.  At this time, Huang Taiji's body was getting weaker and weaker, and state affairs had been handed over to his eldest son, Hauge. He was young and vigorous, and had no previous fear of the Ming army, so naturally he would not have any scruples.

    However, the Jin people are on guard against the Mongols in the west, because the Mongols have always been a big threat to themselves over the years. If the Jin Kingdom sends troops to attack the Central Plains this time, and the Mongols take the opportunity to attack, it will not be a good thing.  .  So Haug sent people to the Mongolian grasslands to hold peace talks with the people there.

    This time, we really found the right time. It turned out that Mongolia also coveted the Ming Dynasty again.  There is no way around this. Although the two parties have a mutual market agreement, due to the different economic structures, in general it seems thatDaming took advantage.  In the past two years, many cattle and sheep have frozen to death, and the Mongols have fewer goods to trade with the Han people. This makes them no longer want to communicate with the Ming Dynasty through peaceful means, but want to harvest grass and grain.

    The Jin people and the Mongols actually had the same idea, which made the peace talks between the two parties extremely smooth.  Since everyone is thinking about the Han people's wealth and wealth, there is no reason not to cooperate.

    In the late autumn of the second year of Zhengyuan of the Ming Dynasty, the Jin people and the Mongols found an excuse at the same time, and then brazenly sent troops to invade the Ming Dynasty's border defenses.  Immediately, both the Datong and Liaodong fronts took up defensive postures. At the same time, the fast horses from these two places rushed towards Beijing to report to the court that an enemy was incoming.

    A few days later, the imperial court issued instructions, ordering the local garrison to strictly guard the gates, and at the same time ordering officers and soldiers from various security stations to send troops to rescue.  In fact, Tang Feng's real intention was to take this opportunity to completely wipe out Mongolia and the Jin Kingdom, the two enemies that had been threatening the Ming Dynasty's borders, so as to achieve the effect once and for all.  Now is the time for those firearms that are constantly being produced to show their power
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