The Red Mansions

Chapter 300 Field visits, generally lagging behind

In the middle of the afternoon, Li Zan, Minister of the Ministry of War, finally entered the General Affairs Office from the Dudu Mansion of the Five Armies. When he saw Jia Heng, a smile appeared on his face, and he said, "Zi Yu is here."

Jia Heng got up quickly, cupped his hands at Li Zan and called out, "Ge Lao."

Li Zan waved his hand, motioning for Jia Heng to sit down. At this time, there was a book office next to him offering tea, and the two sat down to talk.

"I'm going to the north next year. Recently, there have been a lot of affairs in various aspects." Li Zan explained, and then said: "The structure of the economic and strategic appeasement department you submitted has already been established, but the military intelligence department has been established from scratch. There are so many things to think about, and there is no corresponding ability to rely on for a while.”

Jia Heng thought for a while, and said, "My lord, why don't you transfer people from Jinyi Mansion? Earlier, when the officials were suppressing the Sanhe Gang, they used scouting, which saved a lot of effort."

Li Zan looked surprised, and said, "Jinyi Mansion... Does Ziyu have any recommendations?"

Jia Heng said: "To spy on the enemy's situation and go deep into the enemy's territory, one must be a diligent and prudent person to take on this great task. But I heard that in the Jinyi Mansion, Qiu Liangzheng, the Governor of Beizhen, sent people to stab the enemy to the north."

Li Zan nodded, and said, "Qiu Liang? I heard that in the Jinyi Mansion, he was diligent and frugal, so it's appropriate to use him as the deputy of the Military Intelligence Department to do meticulous work."

When Jia Heng heard the words, his face remained calm, but he was a little surprised in his heart. This old man Li Ge had heard the name of Qiu Duwei?Hardworking and frugal, this evaluation is not low.

Li Zan asked, "What does Zi Yu think of the recent Beijing camp training?"

This can be regarded as the most focused matter in the capital recently.

Jia Heng said: "Just now I discussed this matter with Mr. Shi. Now the Beijing camp is selecting frontier soldiers and weeding out the old and the weak. It is quite methodical."

Li Zan frowned. Although he felt something was wrong in his heart, he couldn't think about it carefully, so he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he asked about some details of the Economic and Strategic Appeasement Department.

Jia Heng sat in the general affairs hall for a while, asking Li Zan about the personnel and basic situation of the Military Weapons Supervision. It was not until about noon that he left the Ministry of War and went to the Military Weapons Supervision.

Ordnance Superintendent

The government office is one street away from the Ministry of War, and there are few residential buildings around, and there are soldiers guarding the outside of the government office.

Chen Hanzhi's Military Weapons Supervision inherited the Tang and Song Dynasties, and also absorbed part of the structure of the Ming Military Weapons Bureau.

There is one supervisor, who is up to the fourth rank; one supervisor, who is the seventh rank; two master bookkeepers, who are the eighth rank;

Jia Heng led the accompanying retinues from the Wucheng soldiers and horses into the official courtyard, and saw Chang Hong, the chief supervisor of the Military Weapons Supervision, Xu Tingye, the chief secretary, and other officials of all sizes.

Chang Hong was wearing a fourth-rank civil official uniform, and with a smile on his face, he greeted him at the gate of the official hall, cupped his hands and said, "I have seen General Yunhui before, please forgive me for not being able to meet him in time."

Now Chen Hanwei and Jia Heng have been granted the title of General Yunhui, and now in the officialdom, most of them are called Yunhui.

Jia Heng looked at Chang Hong. He was a middle-aged civil servant of medium stature with a slightly dark complexion, wearing a fourth-rank civil official uniform.

Although the Military Weapons Supervision was assigned to the Ministry of War by the Ministry of Industry due to the tight border affairs over the years, but because the chief officer is a fourth-rank official, his words in the Ministry of War are very important.

Jia Heng nodded and said: "Master Chang doesn't need to say that, I'm taking the liberty to visit, as long as it doesn't disturb the affairs of the prison."

The few people in front of me are actually somewhat rudimentary technocrats.

He heard Li Zan mention in the Ministry of War that although Chang Hong was a Jinshi civil official, he often advocated the benefits of being a soldier, which could change Chen Han's unfavorable situation in the frontier, and he could be regarded as a capable official.

As the chief of the prison, he is mainly in charge of production tasks, such as Jingying crossbows, armor, knives and guns, all of which are supervised by him, at least there have been no major mistakes in the past few years.

As for the supervisor, Xu Tingye, who came from a family of military craftsmen, he donated a family background, and was Chang Hong's deputy in the Military Weapons Supervision, so he was a real technocrat.

Chang Hong smiled, stretched out his hand and said: "It's cold outside, please invite Yunhui to the official hall to talk."

Jia Heng nodded slightly, and was greeted by a group of officials, stepped into the official hall, sat down and finished.

Jia Heng looked at Chang Hong and asked: "Master Chang, I was ordered by the Holy Majesty to supervise the military supervisor. I have been leading troops outside before, and this is the first time I have come here. I need to introduce Master Chang later. business is."

Chang Hong said with a smile: "Supervisor Yun Hui asked about the affairs of the prison. The father-in-law in the palace has already said that the subordinate officials heard that Yun Hui is very interested in firearms?"

Jia Heng nodded and said: "The firearms used by the Twelfth Regiment Battalion in Beijing and the Shenji Battalion are all made by the prison, and we are about to get a glimpse of the details."

Chang Hong said: "My lord, the matter of making firearms is in charge of the Bingzhan Bureau, and Xu Jiancheng has full authority to intervene. Speaking of which, Xu Jiancheng has a deep knowledge of firearms research and is also an expert in this field."

As he spoke, he recommended Xu Tingye, the prime minister at the side.

This is an old man with a thin figure and a short beard under his jaw. Although the eyes under the short eyebrows are small, they are bright and energetic.

Jia Heng said: "I still need to ask Xu Jiancheng for advice."

Seeing Jia Heng cast his gaze, he cupped his hands and said, "Master Jia, there are 700 craftsmen in the military battle bureau, and [-] craftsmen are skilled in refining single-eyed blunderbuss, three-eyed blunderbuss, bird blunderbuss, general cannon, and Flang machine. Cannons, multiple rockets..."

Jia Heng was silent for a moment, then asked: "It sounds like there are many varieties, how powerful is it?"

The Fran cannon, in this life, was also brought to the territory by the Portuguese in the early Jiajing period of the former Ming Dynasty, and later the Ming people imitated and manufactured it, but unfortunately, it still failed to save the former Ming Dynasty.

However, in today's Chen Han, it is also a standard defensive weapon for the Nine Frontiers.

It's just that I haven't heard about the Hongyi cannon. I think Chen Han hasn't built it yet?
Xu Tingye paused slightly upon hearing the question, and said, "The power of firearms varies from one to another. Please, Sir, enter the battle to observe the firearms on the ground."

This Jia Yunhui is good at fighting, but he doesn't necessarily know the benefits of firearms, but he doesn't know why the palace appointed such a young man to supervise the military inspector.
Jia Heng turned to look at the chief supervisor Chang Hong at the side, and said with a smile: "Master Chang, that matter should not be delayed, I will follow Xu Jiancheng to the firearms inspection."

Chang Hong nodded, and said: "Then Yunhui took a look slowly, the official still has some official business at hand, so he can't accompany Yunhui."

Jia Heng nodded and didn't say anything else. Following Xu Tingye and the two clerks, he headed to the firearms operation.

Entering the material workshop, you can see the scene of a school in full swing.

Even though it is winter, the craftsmen are still holding various materials and rushing back and forth, accompanied by the sound of clanging and knocking, and the raging flames in the charcoal stove, which looks like a production workshop of later generations.

"This is making a blunderbuss, casting it into a round iron pipe." Xu Tingye who was on the side saw Jia Heng's gaze resting on the red molten iron poured by the craftsman.

Jia Heng asked: "Is the gun barrel still smooth? Are there any fine cracks in the gun body? For example, if one hundred gun barrels are made, how many can be used in good condition?"

There is no such thing as yield rate in this era, Jia Heng can only ask like this.

Xu Tingye was surprised when he heard the words, put away the contempt in his heart, and said solemnly: "The barrels needed for bird guns are quite high, and out of ten, two or three can be used."

Jia Heng nodded and said, "Is there a ready-made barrel?"

Xu Tingye ordered: "Wang Lushi, take the root gun and bring it here."

Immediately, a middle-aged civil official went, and after a while, he took a jet-black gun barrel.

Jia Heng took the barrel of the gun and rubbed it in his hand. He could clearly feel a difficult touch, and he couldn't help shaking his head secretly.

From this point of view, the overall smelting process of this era is still relatively rough and backward in terms of details. What kind of seamless steel pipes, don't even think about it in a short time.

As for ironmaking, he was not a worker in a steel factory in his previous life, so he didn't know much about it.

Therefore, the improvement can only be the firing method and other ammunition loading.

As for the bullet technology, he actually knows a little bit, but smokeless gunpowder, stamping machines, and various molds are also difficult problems. He can only help these craftsmen broaden their technical ideas based on the existing technology.

With this in mind, he handed the barrel to the recorder at the side, and continued to observe the craftsmanship.

Afterwards, Jia Heng followed Xu Tingye to visit the production process of the Folang machine gun. They had lunch in the middle and watched the production skills of multiple rockets in the afternoon. It was not until the evening when the twilight faded that the firearm was produced.

And Xu Jiancheng on the side also gradually put away his disapproval at the beginning, because Jia Heng's questions often pointed to the key points along the way, which inspired Xu Tingye a lot, and even in the end, Xu Tingye's face was already eager.

After watching the art of military weapons supervision, Jia Heng was somewhat unsatisfied, and said, "I don't know how to make gunpowder and projectiles. Where is it?"

Xu Tingye looked solemn, and said: "The preparation of gunpowder is easy to cause the disaster of Zhurong. It is not here, and it is more than ten miles away from the Military Weapons Supervision."

Jia Heng thought for a while and said, "It's getting late, so let's do this for today."

The two turned and returned. On the way, Xu Tingye asked: "What Yun Hui said earlier is that the flint is fired, and that the gunpowder is loaded into the projectile, and the two phases are separated when it comes out of the chamber. Can you elaborate?"

Jia Heng smiled and said: "If Xu Jiancheng is interested, how about Xu Jiancheng studying it slowly when I go back to draw the blueprint?"

When Xu Tingye heard the words, his eyes lit up, and he said: "Then I will wait for the good news from Yun Hui."

The two returned to the official hall while talking. Chang Hong was waiting there, went up to meet him, and asked, "Yun Hui, have you seen the firearms? How about it?"

Jia Heng nodded, and said: "The craftsman makes the utensils in an orderly manner, and Mr. Chang usually manages them properly."

In fact, after some on-the-spot visits, he already had an impression of Chen Han's military technology - generally backward.

He had to admit the fact that whether it was the current level of technology or the scale of production, the current Chen Han was not enough to build a firearms army as he had imagined, and he still needed to improve patiently.

On second thought, if Chen Han had advanced firearms, it would not be his turn to ask questions.

"Try to improve the bird gun first. In addition, there are Portuguese entrenched in Haojing, so we can mobilize Jinyiwei to find all kinds of craftsmen from there. At least the smelting technology needs to be improved." Jia Heng thought.

Hearing Jia Heng's words of approval, Chang Hongwen felt a little pleased, and said, "Then Jia Yunhui will continue to watch the matter in prison, or will we watch other things tomorrow?"

Jia Heng said: "I'll continue watching tomorrow, let's go here first."

Declining the banquet invitation of Chang Hong and other military supervisory officials to keep him, Jia Heng returned to Ningguo Mansion under the retinue of the soldiers and horses from the five cities.

　Really, the more information I checked, the more I felt that under ancient conditions, one person alone could not handle an industrial system, unless the protagonist was designed as an all-round warrior proficient in smelting and chemical engineering.

Therefore, in the later stage of improving firearms, the steps will not be written in detail, and a result that will not surpass the era at that time will be produced directly, so as to facilitate the advancement of the plot.

　
(End of this chapter)