Chapter 448 447 Firearm

There was a gap between Chi Fengxiang, the governor of Xuanfu, and General Li Xian. Ma Fang mentioned it in the letter, but he didn't expect that Li Xian would be so big that he directly brought Chi Fengxiang to the prison in the capital.

After all, Wei Guangde pretended to be anxious, so he naturally could not hide it from Zhang Juzheng.

With his smile closed, Zhang Juzheng said: "It seems that Shandai has seen through it, and it is not difficult to imagine Shandai's intelligence."

"Brother Uncle, stop keeping it aside, tell me what's going on."

Wei Guangde asked with a smile.

"This time, it was Li Xian and Chi Fengxiang who might not have agreed after receiving silver hair. They had a big fuss. I don't know what Li Xian thought, but actually mobilized the relationship between the capital and impeached Chi Fengxiang.

Now, Chi Fengxiang is in prison, but he won’t be able to have a good time.”

Zhang Juzheng said lightly.

Wei Guangde nodded, almost the same as he guessed, but he was a little curious about what the final result would be, so he asked curiously: "What should I say in the end?"

"Ch Fengxiang will come out in two days, and Li Xian cannot continue to stay in Xuanfu as the general. Judging from my teacher's wishes, it seems that His Majesty intends to let Ma Fang serve as the general of Xuanfu."

Zhang Juzheng smiled and said, this should be the main purpose of finding him this morning.

Wei Guangde also smiled at this time. Who would have thought that the two senior officials would get a better chance in the end.

"Is this considered stealing a chicken and losing a lot of rice?"

The two walked into the palace with laughter.

Soon, the news came to King Yu's ears. In fact, it was mainly because Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde had no intention of hiding it.

Xu Jie told Zhang Juzheng that the natural news is very reliable.

The two of them went in and met Yin Shidan who came first. After curiously asking, they naturally spread. Even King Yu learned the news.

Of course, this spread is only limited to Prince Yu's Mansion.

The battle between Chi Fengxiang and Li Xian is a battle between civil servants in the eyes of the civil servant group. Although Chi Fengxiang does not have a big boss behind him, he is standing on the entire civil servant group, so naturally there will be no problem.

Even if the evidence of impeachment of corruption and cruel officials is really in the midst of civil servants and miscellaneous matters, it will become a false example.

Although Li Xian seemed to offend the civil servant group, it seemed to be in danger, but he was a military general. As long as the emperor did not speak, the Ministry of War would not move. Moreover, Li Xian was not an unknown person. Behind him was the noble group, although he was a noble group who was already in a down-and-out manner.

In the 11th year of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing suddenly had a whim and found the descendants of Duke Cao, who had been deposed by Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, and chose Li Xing as the first Marquis of Linhuai. The current Marquis of Linhuai was Li Tingzhu, the admiral of Caojiang.

As for Li Xian, he was also a descendant of Li Wenzhong. He was just a subordinate branch and naturally did not inherit the title, but he was also considered a member of the nobles.

After the incident was exposed, the cabinet and the Ministry of Justice, who investigated the case, naturally spoke for Chi Fengxiang, and Duke Cheng Guozhu Xizhong, Duke British Zhang Rong and others naturally rushed to Xiyuan to meet Emperor Jiajing for Li Xian.

Under the struggle between the two sides, the incident was naturally raised high and let go. Chi Fengxiang was acquitted and waited for the appointment of a new position, while Li Xian was transferred from Xuanfu to return to Beijing.

Soon, three imperial edicts were circulated in Xiyuan. Chi Fengxiang was released and returned to the Ministry of Personnel to stand by; Ma Fang, deputy general of the Xuanfu, was appointed as the commander of the commander of the headquarters; Li Xian, deputy general of the Xuanfu, was appointed as the commander of the Central Army.

Wei Guangde was curious about King Yu's position on this matter and found the opportunity to be with King Yu alone. After some indirect attacks, he realized that the status of the nobles in the eyes of the royal family was still stable.

Yes, King Yu didn't think that Emperor Jiajing's handling was inappropriate. At least he would not punish the nobles severely. Even if he could scold him, he would be a serious solution.

Even though the nobles were no longer able to fight with the civil servant group in the court, the royal family still chose to support the nobles' children and release the eunuchs, which was the last choice.

Everything is for the stability of imperial power.

At this time, Wei Guangde also realized that he had always thought that he had gained a foothold in the court based on his strength. Now that he thought, Emperor Jiajing valued the promotion of Wei Guangde, but he could not say that he was the son-in-law of the Duke of Wei's Mansion.

Of course, Wei Guangde could think of this, but it was the result of King Yu's suggestion. King Yu didn't point out that his wife was from the Duke of Wei's Mansion, and Wei Guangde didn't realize this at all.

"The great-grandmother of the Ming Dynasty is with the country. As long as it is not a rebellion, everything can be forgiven."

King Yu said to Wei Guangde with a smile.

Having said that, Wei Guangde also knew that everything was in the heart of the emperor.

Until now, how many nobles have been punished? Are those who are all treasons?

Of course not, it all depends on the emperor's mood.

"By the way, Shandai, I remember you said that your father and brother's army were equipped with a large number of bird guns and Fran machine cannons. Are firearms really better than swords and guns?"

Perhaps it was because the Ming Empire had fought at the same time at the same time recently, and King Yu gradually became concerned about military affairs. At this time, he remembered that Wei Guangde had participated in the war, King Yu asked curiously.

Wei Guangde thought about it and replied: "In the Taizu period, we manufactured firearms on a large scale, and in the Chengzu period, we even created the Shenji camp, which was mainly firearms. This shows that during the founding of our country in the Ming Dynasty, firearms were already used in large quantities in the army.

As for the two types of firearms mentioned by His Highness, as far as Shandai knows, they all come from Western barbarian countries. Among them, the Fran machine cannon was obtained through trade with the Fran machine man, and both of them were extremely sharp."

Wei Guangde replied.

"How about my original firearms in Daming?"

King Yu asked frowned, as if because Wei Guangde said that such sharp weapons all came from overseas, King Yu had a long and short mind.

"Your Highness, I heard that the firearms produced by the War and Weapons Bureau are mainly bird guns and Fran machine cannons, and the rest are three-eyed guns and other firearms."

Wei Guangde did not answer King Yu's question positively, but instead stated the news he had heard.

Of course, King Yu understood what Wei Guangde meant. The original firearms of the Ming army were not as good as others, so now they have changed to producing Western-style firearms.

"Tell me how powerful are these bird guns and Fran cannons?"

King Yu became even more curious at this moment, so he continued to ask along the firearm.

"The bird gun has a long barrel and a small muzzle. It can shoot lead to a hundred steps to hurt people. The fire device of the bird gun is very interesting. It is a fuse rope that is lit during firing. The fuse rope ignited during firing to ignite the gunpowder in the medicine pool to shoot lead. I heard that it is because the bolt is like a bird beak, so it is called a bird gun.

In addition, this bird gun has a grip and a gate, which allows soldiers to aim. Experienced soldiers can achieve 8 or 9 of the tenth shots, with very high accuracy.

Of course there are also disadvantages, which is also a common problem with firearms, that is, they are time-consuming to load after firing, and are far less likely to come than the crossbow."

Wei Guangde briefly talked about the bird gun, and then talked about the Fran machine cannon. He had seen this thing in Jiujiangwei and Xuanfu, so he could also speak in front of King Yu.

"This Franco cannon is actually not as good as the general cannons originally equipped by my Ming Dynasty, but its advantage is very obvious, that is, the firing speed can be very fast, almost five times that of the general cannon.

The secret to be able to fight so quickly is still on his cannon.”

Wei Guangde told King Yu again about the power of the Fran machine cannon.

To be honest, the design of the Fran machine cannon is indeed clever. After explaining the secrets to King Yu, King Yu was also very eye-opening. He also praised the Westerners who were really good at doing it, and they could have such wonderful ideas.

"In addition, when I was in Xuanfu, I saw a firearm called Baichao Franc, a reduced single soldier who used a Franc cannon. Because of the sub-cannon, a large number of lead cannons can be shot out in a short time to kill the enemy. It is said that the thing is troublesome and has less power, so the border army prefers larger Franc cannons.

However, these 100 Francs can be used by cavalrymen, and fighting with Tartar cavalry is also a powerful tool. As long as you are hit by a shot, you will basically lose the power to fight again."

Wei Guangde told King Yu about the firearms he had seen used by the Ming army during this period, and King Yu was also very interested in listening.

"Bianzhen, do you have many firearms equipped?"

As he smacked his lips, King Yu asked with some unfulfilled desire.

“In terms of quantity, there are quite a lot.”

Wei Guangde thought about it and said, "But your Highness, you must know that my Ming Dynasty border defense stretches for thousands of miles and countless military forts. If you really distribute these huge amounts of firearms, in fact, there are not many military and military forts that can be used.

Moreover, the firearms are often trained, so this training naturally requires a lot of gunpowder, which is very expensive. It is okay to say that each army can make it by itself, but the gunpowder issued by the imperial court is not enough. There are also border soldiers who sell gunpowder privately to the people because of low military salaries. Therefore, most of the firearms in various towns are negligent in training. It is okay to defend the city, but it is more difficult to go to fight."

Wei Guangde couldn't say that it was the military general who reselled gunpowder, but he only said that the soldiers reselled gunpowder because they were short of wages. However, with King Yu's thinking, he would understand what was going on again and again.

"So that's the case. No wonder there is such a sharp firearm, and the border troops have lost their results during combat."

Thinking of how powerful the firearms were mentioned earlier, and when thinking about the Ming army's achievements against the Mongolian Tartars, King Yu felt that he had a little understanding of what was going on.

“There are still too few firearms.”

King Yu sighed: "However, the imperial court lacks silver and money, and it is also incapable of making large quantities of firearms and gunpowder, which is really annoying."

"So the Weapons Bureau had recycled and transformed the general artillery from each garrison into Franc cannons. Although the range was shorter, the firing rate was much higher, and it was more sharp to deal with the Tartar cavalry."

Wei Guangde smiled and said, "There should be a large number of firearms in the War War and the Weapons Warehouse. It is also a waste to manufacture them but not distribute them to the towns in time."

"Is that so? There's still something wrong?"

King Yu frowned and said, "The firearms are sharp and insufficient. Why don't the towns report to the Ministry of War?"

"The firearms in the inner court are in charge of the inner court, and the firearms made by the court are also in the Ministry of Works. If the war is not a tight end, the Ministry of Works will not easily hand over these things to the soldiers. After all, it will cost the imperial court a lot of money."

Wei Guangde couldn't say it too bluntly. It actually involves money. If you want to mention firearms from the Ministry of Industry and Technology warehouse, you have to pay money.

Therefore, Wei Guangde can only say that the coordination between the various departments is not good. As for the poor quality of Ming munitions seen in later generations, Wei Guangde only heard that firearms were manufactured in different levels, but he was exposed to all the high-quality firearms, so he did not think that there was this problem.

It can be understood that the bird gun that Wei Guangde first came into contact with was an earlier bird gun imitated by Nanjing Military Affairs Bureau. Its quality is naturally excellent. As for cutting corners and shoddy production, it will only happen after the technology and technology matures.

At the beginning, I used the material bit by bit without affecting the quality, and then my appetite became bigger and bigger, and I would produce a completely inoperable firearm.

Corruption is also a gradual process.

Not long after, Yin Shidan came to report on the recent affairs and handling of the royal palace, and the topic naturally changed.

But what Wei Guangde, King Yu, and others in the royal palace didn't know was that his conversation with King Yu turned into words at night and sent to the West Garden.

These things are naturally done by people arranged by the Silijian, or in other words, all the eunuchs in the royal palace still have to obey the Silijian. This is the highest power center of eunuchs and the place that all eunuchs yearn for, just like the position of the cabinet in the hearts of scholars.

At night, Emperor Jiajing handled the memorials sent in the afternoon and finally saw the document "The Affairs of Prince Yu's Mansion" submitted by the Silijian alone, and was soon attracted by the contents.

Border affairs are major national affairs that the emperors of the Ming Dynasty could not ignore.

He gently tapped his fingers on the imperial desk. Huang Jin on one side and Gao Zhong below naturally knew that this was the emperor's habit when he was thinking about things, so he carefully made a gesture of silence for the eunuchs around him.

Wei Guangde's words were not explained thoroughly, but he could not deceive Emperor Jiajing for a while. He had fought wits with civil servants for a lifetime. He understood the nature of civil servants, but he didn't know how to change them.
To be continued...