The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty

The craftsman is at peace.

They didn't dare to be restless.

Because this Ming Zhongshan Marquis really dared to kill people.

No craftsman would take it to heart about those Lumi bonuses he mentioned.

After all, after so many years, they have never met an official who gave them both rice and money.

However, no matter what, this commotion originating from within the craftsmen was successfully suppressed with blood.

Regardless of anything else, just looking at those two ferocious heads of flesh and blood, no one will not feel scared!

When human life begins to become worthless, the craftsmen can only choose to accept their fate!

After solving this small matter, Tang Hao immediately set his target on the firearm.

Yes, it's a firearm.

He has not forgotten that the last time he went to sea in a hurry, he was suddenly attacked by Japanese pirates. Due to lack of preparation and lack of experience in naval battles, the Ming soldiers suffered heavy losses in that battle. More than 300 soldiers lost their lives. This book It can be directly avoided.

So now that he had some spare energy, Tang Hao decided to develop the Daming Firearms.

Anyway, there are many craftsmen in the Qinghe Shipyard now, and there are many military craftsmen who have been temporarily transferred to make firearms.

Tang Hao summoned his confidants such as Tang Mu, Zuo Yidao, and Chang Kuohai, and asked them for their opinions on firearms.

The unanimous conclusion is, why use those fire sticks?

Wouldn't it be fun to stab the enemy to death with real swords and spears?

This answer was indeed so powerful that Tang Hao couldn't even be fucked.

Their understanding of firearms, or the current Ming Dynasty soldiers' understanding of firearms, is biased.

In their eyes, firearms are actually of little use on the battlefield.

The only advantage may be in attacking the city.

A salvo of artillery can destroy the city wall instantly, but that's all.

The lethality of ordinary firearms and artillery is really limited, and their accuracy is only so, and there is even a risk of the chamber exploding at any time, so soldiers do not like to use firearms.

In fact, the level of Daming firearms is not bad.

This is because the uprising army led by Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang used the most firearms and made great contributions to establishing the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, after the founding of the country, Zhu Yuanzhang continued to take various effective measures to develop weapon manufacturing and turn the primary weapons created in the Yuan Dynasty into The fire guns were standardized and unified, and according to the needs of actual combat, they were developed into the Hongwu series of fire guns, including large, medium and small.

The first is a handgun for individual soldiers, the second is a medium-sized bowl-mouth gun for warships and pass guards, and the third is a large-scale gun for city defense fortresses.

This is the standard firearm used by the Ming Dynasty soldiers in the Hongwu Dynasty. It can be roughly called the Hongwu series of firecrackers.

Then in the Yongle period, the Ming Dynasty firearms ushered in a rapid development. After Zhang Fu was in peace in the fifth year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty acquired the Shenji gunnery method and Hu Yuancheng, a firearms expert, and set up a special Shenji camp for training. The Shenji camp had its own Only then did they begin to appear, and the development of firearms also ushered in a wave.

However, even so, firearms have long become a joke in the Ming Dynasty today.

Why are Daming firearms so often boycotted by craftsmen?

Because of shoddy manufacturing, because of corruption and bribery, because someone is profiting from it!

Of course, in addition to human reasons, there are quality problems in itself.

The core reason lies in the raw materials and technology of iron smelting.

Because the iron ore and coal raw ore stored in the Ming Dynasty have relatively high phosphorus and sulfur content, the smelted pig iron is extremely brittle and hard, far less tough than charcoal iron smelting. The firearms made from it are not only very heavy, but also extremely hard. Easy to explode!

Exploding the barrel, in a battle, the enemy has not yet been hit, but the gun in his hand explodes first, and he is injured and killed first. This is the real reason why soldiers resist firearms!

They would rather trust the sword in their hands than use the "poisonous" firearm!

In fact, since ancient times, most of the dynasties have used charcoal to make iron, and also used high-quality iron ore to create magical weapons.

But even if a large amount of forests are cut down, the efficiency is far from keeping up with the army's demand for cold weapons, and it has also greatly damaged the natural ecological environment.

Therefore, starting from the pre-Song Dynasty, the imperial court basically used coal to make iron on a large scale, replacing charcoal with coal.

But after personally experiencing the bitter consequences of exploding the chamber, I had no choice but to resort to casting firearms out of copper.

Although the performance of copper cannons is much higher than that of previous iron cannons, copper mines in the Ming Dynasty are scarce and the copper shortage is large. This results in copper cannons with excellent performance that can only be manufactured on a small scale and are completely insufficient. To meet the equipment needs of the army.

If we ignore the ecological environment and devote all our efforts to using charcoal to make iron on a large scale, it should be enough to meet the army's demand for artillery. In this way, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army can be improved by several levels!

However, Tang Hao, who later learned basic chemistry, naturally knew that in order to remove harmful elements such as sulfur and phosphorus from pig iron, coke must be added when making iron instead of using coal to make iron. Today’s level of iron smelting is not impossible!

"Yidao, are there any large-scale iron smelting plants in Shandong?"

Zuo Yidao was startled when he heard the words, and then a lot of information quickly flashed through his mind.

"have!"

"The largest iron smelting site run by the imperial court is the ironworks in Zunhua, which is under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture. There are more than 2,500 craftsmen, 25 iron smelting furnaces, and more than 50 casting furnaces. It is the largest iron smelting base in the Ming Dynasty and the heyday of the white smelting factory, which is dedicated to the needs of the nine frontier military equipment!"

"During the Hongwu period, there were thirteen iron smelting sites across the country, namely the Jinjian Smelting Site in Nanchang Prefecture, Jiangxi, the Xinyu Smelting Site in Linjiang Prefecture, the Fenyi Smelting Site in Yuanzhou Prefecture, the Xingguo Smelting Site in Huguang, and the Huangmei Smelting Site in Qizhou... There is one in Laiwu, Shandong, which was established in the sixth year of Hongwu. It was initially named Laiwu Iron Smelting Tizhusi according to the Yuan system, and later It was called Laiwu Iron Smelting Office, and a Tizhusi was set up. "Shandong produced 3.15 million jin of iron, accounting for 17% of the country's iron production, ranking third in the country. Among them, Jinan Laiwu Iron Smelting Office was the most famous, with an annual output of 720,000 jin of iron!" In fact, the scale, output and technology of the Ming Dynasty's iron smelting industry exceeded any previous dynasty. Since pig iron has a wide range of uses in agricultural production, handicraft manufacturing, daily life and religious beliefs, the iron smelting industry not only provided an important material basis for local economic development, but also promoted commodity trade between Zezhou and surrounding areas. It is worth noting that iron, like salt, is an important strategic material related to the national economy and people's livelihood. Therefore, the government of all dynasties has implemented a monopoly system for salt and iron, that is, "salt and iron monopoly". However, the disadvantages of official iron smelting are also obvious. First of all, official iron smelting is a monopoly policy on iron in order to consolidate national rule and increase fiscal revenue. Its production and sales are dominated by the government, and the products and output are mostly determined to meet the needs of the government. Because it ignores the laws of the market economy, it is easy to cause a disconnect between supply and demand, and it is difficult to adapt to the needs of social and economic development. Secondly, the government-run iron smelting was managed by the government. Due to the lack of competition, low production efficiency and serious waste, the product quality was uneven but the price was high, which was not conducive to social livelihood.

Thirdly, the government forced craftsmen to produce official iron smelting. The social status of craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty was low, and the remuneration was poor, so they often slacked off, which also led to stagnation of production technology.

As a result, due to the poor management of the official iron smelting, the Ming government was forced to stop the official operation. With the decline and bankruptcy of the official iron smelting factory, the Ming government gradually relaxed the restrictions on private iron smelting. The private iron smelting industry only needed to pay a certain amount of mineral tax to the government to mine and smelt freely. As a result, the iron smelting industry developed rapidly among the people in Zezhou.

For example, the Laiwu Iron Factory mentioned by Zuo Yidao is actually a cooperation model between the government and the private sector.

According to the rules set by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, "Let the people mine and smelt by themselves, and pay the annual tax, and take two out of every thirty points."

It is equivalent to opening up the trade of ironware. As long as the government can collect the corresponding taxes, it will no longer care about other things.

Tang Hao touched his chin and thought for a moment, then gave the order brazenly.

"Tang Mu, you lead two thousand soldiers to garrison the Qinghe Shipyard, arrange the craftsmen to start production as soon as possible, and act according to the rules set by this marquis. The money and food that should be given must not be less, and those who should cause trouble will be killed directly!"

Tang Mu received the order loudly, without a word of nonsense.

Tang Hao then stood up and stretched his muscles.

"All the rest, lead the soldiers and follow this marquis to Laiwu Iron Factory!"

Zuo Yidao was stunned when he heard the words, and asked subconsciously.

"Are the three thousand four guards also going?"

You know, although Tang Hou did not lead the troops to go out this time, the three thousand four guards became the standard.

This is because the Minister of War is Yang Yiqing, the stinking stone in the pit.

Tang Hao wants to mobilize the Beijing Army soldiers, and this grandson will definitely refuse for various reasons, anyway, he just doesn't agree to send troops.

After all, this grandson is now the Grand Marshal in charge of the military affairs of the world. If he disagrees, even Tang Hao and Zhu Houzhao can't do anything.

So after thinking about it, Tang Hao was too lazy to argue with him, and directly asked Zhu Houzhao to transfer 3,000 Four Guards to travel.

The Four Guards were not Ming Dynasty soldiers, and they only obeyed the emperor, so Yang Yiqing didn't dare to say anything, and could only watch Tang Hao, the dog thief, go to Shandong with 3,000 imperial guards.

Until this moment, Yang Yiqing, the Minister of War, was still a little overwhelmed, because a large number of officials in the Ministry of War were involved in the damn horse politics, and the Censorate had once again wielded the butcher knife against the Ministry of War. Even Yang Yiqing was summoned to the Qianqing Palace by the little emperor and scolded twice, and ordered him to cooperate with the Censorate to purge the Ministry of War.

This time, Yang Yiqing was even more resentful of Tang Hao.

He even regretted giving a poor horse last time, and he should give this dog thief a big slap in the face!

Tang Hao no longer cared about Yang Yiqing's resentment, because he had already arrived at the Laiwu Iron Factory with 3,000 imperial guards.

The person in charge of the factory affairs was Wang Xianwen, the head of the Ministry of Industry.

It had to be admitted that the head of the Laiwu Iron Factory was a lucrative job, especially after the court relaxed the control measures on the iron factory, a large number of private merchants saw the profit and flocked to it, which greatly gave Wang Xianwen the opportunity to abuse his power for personal gain.

After all, salt and iron, iron, which can be called iron together with salt, the profit can be imagined.

So when Wang Xianwen, the head of the Ministry of Industry, appeared in front of Tang Hao with a big belly and a flattering face, Zhongshan Hou couldn't help but smile, and then whipped him.

The next moment, the shrill screams of Wang Da, the head of the Ministry of Industry, resounded throughout the venue, shocking all the craftsmen and merchants.

No one expected that this Zhongshan Hou would be so fierce!

"Take down this pig!"

"In addition, take down all the officials of the iron factory!"

"Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

As soon as these words came out, the whole place was in an uproar.

Wang Xianwen covered his bloody wound and roared at Tang Hao: "Marquis of Zhongshan!"

"This iron factory does not belong to my Wang family, but to the interests of all the noble families involved. If you dare..."

Before he finished speaking, Wang Xianwen couldn't continue.

Because he suddenly recalled one thing, and that was the matter of salt policy. It was this ferocious Marquis of Zhongshan who skinned Zong Yue, the transport envoy of Changlu Yunsi, and then single-handedly promoted the reform of salt policy!

Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao, he seems to be really not afraid!

Thinking of this, Wang Xianwen immediately panicked.

"Spare your life!"

"Marquis Zhongshan, please spare my life!"

"We have indeed committed corruption, but this is all tacitly approved by the court!"

"There is a lot of money that should be paid to the court. I ask the Marquis of Zhongshan to show your noble hand and ask the Marquis to spare his life!"

Tang Hao was indifferent to this and rode into Laiwu Iron Works.

"Take this pig down and wait for him to be water tortured!"

Zuo Yidao's eyes were cold, he was never merciless in dealing with these corrupt officials.

As the soldiers of the Four Guards entered the Laiwu Iron Factory, the news swept across Shandong like a hurricane, and then spread to the entire Ming Dynasty at a terrifying speed.

All Shandong officials were trembling and frightened at this moment.

Because, the last time Zhongshan Hou came to Shandong, he wiped out the entire Shandong officialdom with blood. Thousands of Shandong officials were beheaded. Even those Shandong officials who were lucky enough not to be beheaded were also killed because of that heinous case. Carrying political stains, your career may be halted for the rest of your life!

This time, Marquis Zhongshan arrived in Shandong again. He also had the power to "act expeditiously" and to control local troops, and he majestically entered the Qinghe Shipyard.

Originally, all the officials in Shandong had made plans long ago and they would never provoke this damn Marquis Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty who was like a lunatic. However, no one expected that this guy would suddenly send troops to the Laiwu Iron Works and directly destroy the country's No. 1 iron factory. The three-year-old Ye Tie sang took over!

No, what do you want to do?

Do we have to kill all the Shandong gentry?

Who the hell doesn’t know, huge profits from salt and iron!

Who wouldn’t be tempted by the huge profits at hand?

In addition, the imperial court relaxed the control of ironware, which caused a large number of merchants to flock to the iron smelting plants in the country. In fact, the iron smelting plants in the country have long become a place of competition for interests. For example, Wang Xianwen is the Langya Wang family in Laiwu. Spokesperson of the iron factory!

Langya Wang family, a medieval family!

The founders of this family were Wang Ji and Langya Gao Yu of the Western Han Dynasty. It developed in the Cao Wei and Western Jin Dynasties, was established in the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and reached its peak period. It was known in history as "the king and the horse share the world", and continued until the Southern Dynasty, the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. weak.

But a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. In all dynasties, the descendants of the Langya Wang family entered the court as officials. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, there were not a few children of the Wang family who entered the court as officials. This is why Wang Xianwen can represent the Langya Wang family. The real reason for being located in Laiwu Iron Works.

Naturally, all parties are not afraid of Wang Xianwen, a fat man, but they are afraid of the Langya Wang family behind Wang Xianwen and the Wang family's officials in the court!

However, they were afraid of him, but Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan, was not afraid. It could even be said that there was no one in the world that the Marquis of Zhongshan was afraid of.

Three days later, when Tang Hao saw Wang Xianwen again, the latter had been tortured to the point of collapse.

It wasn't that there were any physical injuries. In fact, except for the whip that Tang Hao rewarded him with, there were basically no scars visible on Wang Xianwen's round body.

However, the torture he suffered during these three days was frightening and heinous!

So when Wang Xianwen saw Tang Hao again, he immediately fell to his knees on the ground and cried bitterly, begging the Marquis of Zhongshan to spare his life!

Tang Hao glanced at this guy coldly, and then looked at the list handed over by Zuo Yidao.

"Master Marquis, these are the lists given by Wang Xianwen. All the merchants and nobles are here."

Tang Hao stared at the list one by one, and then gave the order directly.

"According to the list, we will only arrest the person in charge, the so-called head of the family. The others will be left alone for the time being. Do you understand?"

Zuo Yidao was stunned when he heard this. This is not in line with your style, Mr. Hou!

However, he did not dare to ask any more questions and immediately took action with the four guards.

After Zuo Yidao left, Tang Hao looked at Wang Xianwen with a smile.

"Wang Xianwen is from the Langya Wang family, a son of a famous family!"

As soon as he heard this, Wang Xianwen almost burst into tears and kept kowtowing.

"Master Hou, spare your life!"

"Master Hou, please spare my life!"

"Okay!" Tang Hao waved his hand impatiently, "Stop talking so much nonsense, I will ask you once, do you want to die or live?"

Nonsense, only a fool wants to die!

Wang Xianwen immediately cheered up and wiped away the blood on his forehead.

"If you have anything to say, Lord Marquis, just give me your orders. I'll go and do it right now. I won't hesitate to go up to the mountain of knives and to the sea of ​​fire!"

Well, no wonder this damn fat man can be in charge of Laiwu factory affairs, he is not stupid!

"Simple, go look for something called graphite. If you find it, you can stay alive. If you can't find it, prepare to die!"

"Not only are you going to die, but I will also let the Langya Wang family vomit out all the national interests they have embezzled over the years. Without Wang Xianwen, the Langya Wang family will be the sinner. It is impossible to say that they will be expelled from the clan, and even the ancestral graves will be included. No more!”

vicious!

It's so vicious!

Wang Xianwen was so scared that his face turned pale!

To be expelled from the clan, this is the most vicious curse for a son of a noble family!

But the key is, what on earth is this "stone mill" that this damn thief just mentioned?

"Graphite is soft, black-gray, greasy, and can leave marks on paper. There are many in Jiaozhou and Jimo County, Laizhou Prefecture. Go find it now!"

"You and the Wang family of Langya behind you have half a month. Don't challenge my patience. If I can't see the graphite after half a month, you know the consequences."

As soon as the voice fell, Wang Xianwen rushed out immediately. He was racing against time.

Didn't you hear that this damn lunatic had just ordered the arrest of the heads of the noble families?

That naturally includes the head of the Wang family of Langya!

In other words, the only chance of survival now is to find that damn "stone mill"!

Not only the Wang family of Langya, but also all the nobles who suffered because of this, this is clearly the signal released by the Marquis of Zhongshan!

If he wanted to massacre these nobles, he would have ordered the imperial guards to do it directly, and would not have waited until now!

Then, Shimo, where are you?