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Volume 1: The Arms Dealer¡¯s Feast Chapter 278: Eunuch Li

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    This kind of professional artillery for breaking up loose prey must have a certain angle, that is to say, a trumpet-mouthed cannon. Fishermen in Baiyangdian once used a black powder trumpet-mouthed cannon called Yanling cannon to shoot wild ducks. The effect was quite good.  The wild ducks that were shot within a hundred meters were left on the river as if they had been swept away by a violent hurricane.

    What caliber is the Yanling Cannon? The outer mouth of the Yanling Cannon made of pig iron is less than 50 millimeters. In terms of performance, it is still above that of the Tiger Zun Cannon - of course, the length of the Yanling Cannon is also far longer than the Tiger Zun of the Ming Dynasty.  Cannon - but for the Ming Dynasty, the longer the cannon was cast, the higher the scrap rate and the higher the cost. Therefore, except for the Hongyi cannon, artillery with double the diameter was rare - it was pitiful.  The diameter of the Hongyi cannon is only 20-30 times.

    The final design plan of the military industry group for the scatter shotgun was an inner diameter of 60 mm and an outer diameter of 70 mm. This gun can cover a distance of thirty or forty meters wide. It is also often said that a slight difference can make a difference of a thousand miles.  .  The total length of the gun body is one meter, which is a little more than a foot longer than the Tiger Gun in metric terms - the most important thing for the Lushan is that this gun can cast two guns at a time - or it can be said that the alloy steel is smelted in a crucible  Two cannons can be cast at one time - because there is the Tiger Zun Cannon in front, the military industry team named this upcoming artillery Big Tiger Zun Cannon.

    Although in the eyes of modern people on board the Lushan, the Tiger Cannon is not considered a cannon at all.  But for the advanced Ming Dynasty, these were the three most powerful general cannons - before the Fran machine cannon and the Hongyi cannon were introduced to the Ming Dynasty, the Tiger Zun cannon and the equally two-foot-long captive-killing cannon were the most powerful cannons.  General cannon.

    There is a reason for its existence. Compared with the Folan cannon and the Hongyi cannon, although this cannon is not as good as the long-range power and range, it is light and convenient for field battles. When the enemy rushes over, it can be used in the field.  It can deal a devastating blow to the enemy at close range - you can even charge with a sports car pushing the prisoner-killing cannon or the tiger-destroying cannon in front of the enemy's formation to deal a devastating blow to the enemy's rows of troops. The pig-iron tiger-zun cannon and the prison-killing cannon  Weighing no more than 100 kilograms, it was a typical lightweight field artillery in this era.

    During the period of returning from southern Australia, in addition to making 1628-type rifles, the military industry team also cast four 110mm smoothbore cannons and 30 large tiger cannons. Anyway, the molds have been made, so why not do more?  Not a waste.

    The trial-produced Big Tiger Cannon is also satisfactory. However, with a weight of 24 kilograms, this is probably an ultra-light artillery. However, the range and power are still considerable. When fired with one cannon, it is about two hundred meters long and thirty to forty meters wide.  Countless scattered splashes of water fell on the sea - these 150 meters are definitely capable of killing people. According to the judgment, the armor-piercing distance is about 120 meters, which is far beyond the muskets and bows of this era.

    Something happened this time. The Lushan ship went to dock for a long time.  Some of the samurai disembarked to pick up their families, and at the same time they brought travel expenses and letters to Nagasaki to the families of the samurai who were far away. The salary of these samurai had been negotiated, five ocean dollars or two and a half taels of silver per month, with an increase every year.  For a salary of one dollar or half a tael, Australia provides support rice for five people in the family - that is to say, no matter whether your family has three people, five people, or ten people, the Australian government will provide one kilogram of rice per person per day.  To provide food, if a samurai died during the three-year civil war, in addition to a piece of land for the family, support rice would be distributed until the youngest child grew up.

    The conditions offered by Australia are quite generous - Jin Sanduo used his thighs to figure out that these people are going to use Japanese samurai as cannon fodder - otherwise it would be strange to be given such good treatment - but Jin Sanduo  It doesn't matter, as the samurai say, I'm just afraid of dying on the bed.

    For professional soldiers like the traditional Japanese samurai, dying in battle is a great joy in life.  Life spans fifty years (the average life span in this era is less than fifty years, didn't Liu Bei also say that people are not young at fifty)? No one has to die. Since you will die sooner or later, what's the use of being afraid.  If your death can bring a better living environment and treatment to your family, then your death will be considered valuable.

    Why do the retainers of famous families who were defeated and destroyed in the war commit seppuku? It has nothing to do with loyalty, but the loss of their iron rice bowl.

    This time when we came to Nagasaki, most people were finally getting used to the big armored ships - Lord Nobunaga also built small armored ships - these people comforted themselves in this way.  The important thing is that wherever the Lushan went, it was all about fair trade, and there was no piracy that was so popular in the East and the West in this era - for modern people, robbing and robbing is not productive, and it was the same as in the late Ming Dynasty.  How different are the bandits?

    Destroying production and life is a great crime for modern people, because no country can produce all the products and raw materials it needs - the Sino-German United Empire merged in the late 1940s because the two countries were economically incompatible  There is quite strong complementarity. After becoming a country, the tariff will disappear, which is very beneficial in many aspects. In addition to reducing costs,It can strengthen international competitiveness and eliminate duplication of research and development in science and technology, and avoid a lot of waste.

    This time the Lushan did not dock in Nagasaki for long - originally, we were planning to leave the people and load some cargo before leaving, but Saigo Hanbei, a figure like the castle lord's staff, came again.

    ¡°Probably because they knew that the Lushan did not accept money or goods, the gift that Saigo Hanbei brought this time was 800 Japanese immigrants ¨C a population of nearly 200 households. I don¡¯t know where this person was brought back from.

    "You don't go to the Three Treasures Palace for nothing. There must be something for you to give a big gift."  Jin Sanduo, the head of translators, reluctantly met with Xixiang once.

    Having a request for help, Saigo Hanbei kept his posture very low: "This is causing trouble to His Highness. I wonder if we can send craftsmen to learn how to make these nine-gun iron cannons."

    Jin Sanduo immediately poured a basin of cold water on him: "Don't be ridiculous, you can't learn it. This mirror-making technology and gun-making technology are top secrets in our country. With my identity, I can't even get through the door."

    "That's really rude. This treasure mirror and the nine-gun iron cannon are indeed treasures, and none of my craftsmen in Nagasaki can imitate them. However, the bullets are getting less and less"

    "I have long said that you can't make bullets. Well, I can bring some bullets every time. If there is gold, it is easy to say. If there is no gold, silver is easy to say. By the way, do you want artillery? They use black powder.  , you can make as many cannons as you want."

    Saigo Hanbei heard that there were artillery, but he couldn't make up his mind: "You know, the Tokugawa shogunate hates the foreign surnames in places like ours. The Kokub¨­ (the Japanese name for artillery) is certainly a good thing.  , but once the shogunate gets the news that a foreign surname is purchasing the country or building a city privately to recruit troops, what awaits us is probably a war to destroy the country. "

    Jin Sanduo asked: "How many meters can the muskets equipped by your Tokugawa shogunate's army shoot?"

    Saigo Hanbei replied: "The iron cannons equipped by the Tokugawa shogunate's army are also sophisticated. The iron cannons are sharp weapons that can kill people within about a hundred meters. If they hurt someone, the death will be even worse."

    Everyone knows this. The mortality rate of wounded soldiers in the Napoleonic era was as high as 80%. A single wound infection left countless doctors in the East and the West at their wits' end. Although some antibiotics were stored on the Lushan, the medical team and the chemical team had joined forces to prepare sulfonamides first.  Besides, although it is highly toxic, sulfonamides are not antibiotics anyway.

    Jin Sanduo held out two fingers: "Now, there are two weapons on the ship that can be sold to you City Lord. One is an artillery that can kill and injure a large number of soldiers at a hundred steps away. The other is an artillery with a range of more than 200 meters.  A musket that can also break armor. Of course, it is fired with the black powder you can use. As for what you can exchange for it, copper, grain, silk, gold and silver, sulfur"

    With that said, seeing this man¡¯s yearning, Jin Sanduo shouted: ¡°Come here, test fire an artillery round and a 1628-style rifle rapid fire.¡±

    "I'll discuss it with the city lord. Your Highness, please wait." Saigo Hanbei was moved when he saw the effect.  That kind of overly complex bullet may not be imitable, but iron cannons and Kokubang using black powder should be no problem.  The city lord hiding at the dock must have also seen it. In the end, we still have to ask the city lord for his opinion.

    Considering that the intensity of the war in Japan is much lower, it is enough to sell some big tiger cannons first - although the Europeans who came here before also sold a small amount of artillery - what Japan calls the national collapse, but  Similarly, if the quantity is too small, it will only be in the hands of the shogunate, and due to the weight and distance, it is unlikely to be transported to Kyushu.

    During the period of docking, the Lushan used money to buy several barrels of gunpowder from the Portuguese merchant house. Although this gunpowder is an extremely simple thing, it is still not possible for the Lushan and even the Australian base to make it due to lack of raw materials.  ¡ª¡ªConsidering the future usage of mining and manufacturing 1628-type paper shell bullets, it is right to buy some every time you encounter them.

    In addition to granular gunpowder, paper also needs to be purchased from Japan. After arriving here, the Lushan has already released the wind, and the Lushan will buy any paper - because the Lushan's reserve of toilet paper is almost exhausted, it is also possible to buy some straw paper.  When going to the toilet, better paper is naturally used as paper shells or written records - Japanese paper is quite famous.

    As expected, this time Saigo Hanbei bought several hundred rounds of rifle bullets as well as thirty 1628-type fast guns and four large tiger cannons.  After obtaining a large amount of red copper and sulfur, Jin Sanduo wrote in his notebook, today is August 15th in the Gregorian calendar. On this day, we once again opened the Japanese arms market with small steel cannons and fast guns.

    On August 20, after most of the people and cargo were on board, the Lushan left the port of Nagasaki. The remaining people probably had to wait for the Lushan to come again in a few months. Those who went to pick up their families were in  Everyone from Kyushu has returned.

    This time I¡¯m going to Busan againAfter making a circle and scaring everyone away, the Lushan entered the northern waters of Jeju Island and continued to recruit workers in the shouting mode - anyway, there are either criminals or the family members and descendants of the criminals, and there will always be those who want to run away.  The call this time was made by the family members of two North Korean criminals who ran away from here last time. They used electric speakers to call their friends' names one by one at the beach - and at the same time described to them the daily rice, fish, pickled radish strips here.  A full and good life.

    There were quite a few people who took the bait. Those whose names were called quickly ran out with their families and families - what if they don't come? When your big iron ship leaves, all the officials will come out of Jeju City.  Immediately punish you for being a bandit. Although these people don't dare to do anything to pirates, they are ruthless in punishing their own people. This is the legendary gangster.  After staying on the shore for one day, the Lushan recruited about 300 households of Korean immigrants, which was almost the same as the immigrants recruited in Nagasaki Port in several days.

    After setting sail from near Jeju Island, the Lushan arrived at Tianjin Guard early the next morning.  Seeing this big iron ship moving without sails, the commander of the Tianjin Guards Station, Yang Yi, slapped his forehead: "When will these days of losing money and eliminating disasters come to an end?"

    Chongzhen also rewarded those precious mirrors and quick guns that Yang Yi presented last time, including a few hundred taels of money, a royal horse, a silver medal, a Shang Fang sword all he needed was a gold-plated yellow mantle.  But what's the use of this? Although the thing given by the emperor is a kind of honor.  But it can't be exchanged for money. Commander Yang spent almost all his family's money to buy these goods - the Yang family still has a net worth of millions, but more of it is real estate such as houses, houses and shops, and the funds in hand are not that abundant.  ah.

    But fortunately, this time Commander Yang did not need to board the ship alone. This time, there was also a servant of the emperor on board the ship with Commander Yang - the eunuch.

    "Please, Eunuch Li, please go slowly, Eunuch Li, be careful, Eunuch Li" Yang Yi, a third-grade commander, pretended to be the same as his grandson in front of a low-grade eunuch.  Although it is said that the eunuchs in the first year of Chongzhen are still living with their tails between their legs after falling at the age of nine thousand, the eunuchs are the people around the emperor after all. This is exactly what it means: if one falls at the age of nine thousand, thousands of other eunuchs will stand.  stand up.

    Even civil servants with integrity have to give three cents to the emperor's domestic slaves these days, not to mention the most worthless military attache in the daimyo - not to mention the eunuch, even the seventh-grade magistrate may not take this third-grade commander seriously.  ¡ª¡ªAnyone who can be a county magistrate is also a Jinshi with a title on the golden list. Let them see that even if he sits in the position of military commander, he is still a martial artist. This is also because it has not yet reached the end of Chongzhen. At that time, the emperor killed civil servants like killing chickens. Faced with  No matter how arrogant and domineering the generals are, they will not dare to attack as long as the opponent has soldiers in Chongzhen's hands - what if they are forced to rebel? These days, they are both rogue bandits and Tatars.

    This Eunuch Li is not the old man from the Xinwang Palace - this matter is not worthy of those people - mainly because it is difficult to handle and it falls on Eunuch Li who has just entered the palace not long ago.

    Before entering the palace, Eunuch Li was still a scholar, and he also wrote some eight-part essays with good reviews. However, he was criticized as "nonsense" by the marking officer, so he was not even admitted as a scholar. This was also because Eunuch Li's family was poor and he had no education.  It was because there was money in the greeting note that Qian sent to the marking officer before the exam.

    "That's right, money will be given to those who take the scholar examination.  Moreover, in the late Ming Dynasty, the price was almost clearly marked - the Donglin Party members controlled the imperial examinations in Nanjing and other places - only the Donglin Party members and those who spent money could get in - even the second-ranked Jinshi and the third-ranked Jinshi.  The price was clearly marked. By this late stage of the Ming Dynasty's imperial examination system, it had become a means of making money for the marking officers and examiners. It didn't matter whether the eight-part essay was good or not. It was the yamen gate that opened to the south. People with no money and talent should not come in.

    ¡° Of course it costs money to litigate a lawsuit these days, but those who want to be officials cannot be extremely poor.  If you have no money, even if you get Jinshi along the way, you will have to spend a long time on the waiting list, and then go to a remote place to become an official, such as Guangxi, Hainan, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places - Qianli Do  Officials are only for wealth. If you don't feed the officials up and down the staff, where will the oil and water units be waiting for you?

    ??????? Eunuch Li failed to study, so he had no choice but to cut off Na Huan and become a eunuch for the sake of money. This was in the sixth year of the Apocalypse. At that time, he was still powerful in the world at the age of 9,000.

    "Those who know the direction of history will know that Eunuch Li was in bad luck. In the sixth year of Apocalypse, Eunuch Li entered the palace, and in the seventh year of Apocalypse, Wei Eunuch fell.  As soon as Wei Eun fell, the prestige of the eunuch group was suddenly wiped out. Even the old people who came from Prince Xin's Palace lived with their tail between their legs in the early years of Chongzhen.

    Emperor Chongzhen was still somewhat interested in a group of Australian maritime merchants who owned large iron ships and fast guns and mirrors. In the world, it was not the royal land, and the best things should naturally belong to the emperor - that is, he Zhu Youjian  of.  So an edict was issued, asking the Australian merchant to present a large iron ship when he came back, as well as several mirror-making craftsmen and bullet-making craftsmen - the best.The shipwrights who built the big iron ships also offered them.

    Of course, Emperor Chongzhen didn't want to ask for it in vain - the tribute from the vassal countries below would be generous, so just give some titles and official positions to these Australians - the court was not stingy with those who had the ability, even those from overseas.  Guanjue, don't you see, the foreign priest Tang Ruowang has been an official in Beijing since the Ming Dynasty because he has mastered the technology of making Hongyi cannons, as well as knowledge of calendars and optical telescopes.

    When Eunuch Li finally got on the big iron boat, he said angrily: "Humph, he actually asked us to get on the boat to announce the decree to him. It's so rude. We are angels."

    Commander Yang consoled him and said, "It's normal for Australian seafarers to not understand etiquette if they haven't read the saint's books."

    "I haven't read it yet." Jin Sanduo's voice came from far away: "When three people are walking together, there must be my teacher. This is what the sage said, but this sage said one thing and did another. I  When looking at the Analects of Confucius, one should add one sentence: Confucius said: If one has power, he must first kill Shao Zhengmao. There is a famous saying in Australia: Only between peers can there be naked hatred."

    After hearing this, Eunuch Li slapped his thigh and said, "Ah, this sentence has touched my heart. I think back then I couldn't study. Why? It wasn't because other people gave money to the teacher. I  I didn¡¯t have any money to give it away. My article was criticized with the comment ¡°Bullshit, I don¡¯t understand¡±, which made me not even qualified to take the scholar examination. I also read his article that won the imperial examination. If I gave him four words, then  Even if you 'know shit', there's a limit to how you can be better than me.

    I originally thought that after entering the palace, everyone would be disabled, and they would be able to take care of each other if they had the same disease. However, the strife in the palace turned out to be even more intense.  Now I know that being a eunuch is more difficult than doing eight-legged essay.  If you don't find a good godfather, you won't be able to survive your whole life.  "

    Jin Sanduo nodded and thought: It turns out that this is true in ancient and modern times.  (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!)
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