After hearing this, the king was already in tragic state.

This damn foolish monarch.

But at this moment, he couldn't say a word.

Emperor Tianqi and Zhang Jing and a few others had already left.

After one day, I walked around seven or eight workshops.

Most of these were planned by gentry. Although there were not many such workshops, there were very few gentry who really made up their minds to participate in the business.

However, Emperor Tianqi discovered that most of the gentry who participated in the preparation of the workshop supported the new policy.

After one day, I am satisfied.

Emperor Tianqi summoned Zhang Jingyi and asked, "I understand, you are in a circumstance of three, one of them. You must not only block the gentry from the annexation, but also let the gentry borrow this workshop and earn money?"

Zhang Jingyi said: "Every gentry can make money anywhere, but only a part of the gentry. The gentry sold the land and had a large sum of silver in their hands, but... since Emperor Jiajing, the price of silver has been depreciating, which is why land annexation is becoming increasingly serious."

As the colonists colonized the Americas, a large number of private ships from the Ming Dynasty participated in the maritime trade, a large amount of silver began to flock to the Ming Dynasty.

Silver is flooding, and almost every few years, the silver in your hands is worthless. At this time, those gentry with a large amount of silver in their hands tend to buy land frantically because the land will not depreciate, after all, it is limited.

Emperor Aoki nodded.

Zhang Jingyi continued: "So the second step is to find a way to find a new profit point. Continuing to buy land will inevitably lead to the loss of the country and the people. If you deal with land annexation, you must never show mercy. You have to fight to the death and block their path to mergers. At the same time, encourage these people who have money to invest in workshops."

"So the county has taken many measures, such as... giving kiln factories and workshops a low price to help them improve their craftsmanship. In short, those who can help must help. Among them, most of the people who are willing to invest in workshops are gentry with spare money, just like the one named Duan Yan."

"I am here, in fact, let these gentry be an example and tell the people of the world that in addition to land, there are other things that are profitable in this world. When this group of people earn money, sooner or later, more and more people will be willing to participate in it. As long as those who participate, they will become assistants to combat land annexation in the future..."

Emperor Tianqi said in confusion: "I don't understand at all, why do they want to help you attack the gentry?"

Zhang Jingyi said, "In essence, they are also gentry themselves, but their interests have been separated from the land. Let's talk about the problem of hidden households. If they still own a large amount of land in the countryside, of course they need to be able to hide the number of people. After all, these human resources... are their resources, and the vast majority are their slaves. But the new policy requires the inventory of hidden households. In this way, these hidden households and slaves will gain freedom and become human resources that can freely sell their labor. They can hire these human resources at a lower price. If this human resources are still in the hands of gentry in the countryside, how can the human resources be replenished in a workshop?"

"Besides, this grain... If the grain is in the hands of some large households, it is inevitable that there will be unstable food. After all, the land in a county is in the hands of more than a dozen families. Although some of the other people have land, the vast majority of people can barely fill their stomachs. Therefore, these gentry can easily gather together to control the price of grain. If the fluctuations in the price of grain are too large, it is not a good thing for these gentry workshop owners."

"In addition, the interests of each other are different. Naturally, there will be a dispute over ideas. It is not easy to stop this dispute. The final result is that we are afraid that we will become enemies. I am here to deal with the gentry by relying solely on the power of the government... As the officials said, now we have to rely on the Jinyiwei and the teaching team to suppress it. But can such high pressure continue? Therefore, sooner or later, we will rely on the gentry who have left the countryside as helpers in the future."

"Besides, there are actually officials and gentry who do business, but most of them do not produce, but only sell them simply by relying on their privileges. However, the gentry who produces is different. Their assets are landed and a large number of people need to be recruited to work for them. This can alleviate the problems of refugees. The goods produced will also have many benefits in the world. I dare not say that there are all benefits but no harm, but at least... it is worth borrowing now."

Listening to Zhang Jingyi saying so much, Emperor Tianqi said with emotion: "I really didn't expect that you would think so far."

But at this moment, bursts of thunder sounded from outside.

Emperor Tianqi glanced out the window, but saw that it was still bright outside and there was no rain. So he said in confusion: "Why, there is still thunder sounding on sunny days?"

Zhang Jingyi thought of something and said, "It should be the teaching team practicing."

"Start the cannon?" Emperor Tianqi's eyes lit up.

Zhang Jingyi shook his head: "It's a firearm."

When Emperor Tianqi lost interest when he heard the gun was fired.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty's muskets have long been popular.

As early as Zhu Di, there was a special Shenji camp equipped with muskets to sweep across the desert.

Even now, there are many applications for muskets against Jiannu.

However... it is one thing to use for many applications, but combat effectiveness is another thing.

At least at present, Emperor Aoki was not very interested in muskets.

The accuracy is poor, the range is not long, the consumption is huge, and the most important thing is that the lethality is also limited.

He would rather use a bow and arrow than use this thing.

If it weren't for the fact that most of the official troops were recruited military households, and it would take a lot of manpower and material resources to cultivate archers, no one would be willing to use this musket.

Zhang Jingyi said, "It's a brand new musket."

"Brand new?" Emperor Tianqi had a little interest. He understood Zhang Jingyi. If there was nothing special, Zhang Jingyi would not say this to him.

So he said, "Then you have to take a look."

Nearby walking is the camp of Donglin Military Academy in Fengqiu.

The first and second teaching teams are stationed here.

Here, there was a huge schoolyard, but close to the schoolyard, there were rows of houses. The houses were large in scale and were built around a huge workshop.

Here, it is the largest workshop in Fengqiu County, which was built by Zhang Jing earlier.

Fengqiu Construction Bureau has various workshops under it.

Some produce steel, some produce gunpowder, and some wooden tools.

Of course, its main responsibility is to produce weapons.

The most important thing is artillery and muskets.

When Emperor Tianqi allowed Zhang Jingyi to open a mansion and build teeth here, Zhang Jingyi had the idea of ​​making a musket. Anyway, with the emperor's escort, as long as he was on the one-acre and three-point ground in Fengqiu, he would do whatever he wanted.

Here, not only were we recruited a large number of craftsmen from the capital, but also through the Portuguese in Macau, we recruited a large number of European craftsmen.

It’s just to seek wealth. First, fool these craftsmen to Fengqiu in the name of high salaries. At this time, they will feed them with silver. If they want to leave, they will have to eat blades.

After all, they are all here.

This building is a military important place in Fengqiu, and it is almost like a self-contained town, including a clinic, canteen, school, and all living facilities.

Here, we even built our own apartment and allocated it to craftsmen to live in.

What they have to do every day is to constantly improve the muskets.

At this time, European firearms gradually began to become more sophisticated, especially the mesh rope guns, which have even become popular in Japan, Luzon and other places. Occasionally, some people abroad will use the mesh rope guns as tributes and send them to Beijing.

But... the power of these weapons is still too small.

What Zhang Jingyi proposed was a more interesting concept of musket, namely flintlock rifle.

In fact, at this time, the prototype of the flintlock rifle began to appear in Europe.

However, the flintlock rifles of this era have caused many problems in their use due to the problem of bolts. In addition, they are very expensive because they must use a large amount of expensive copper and harder steel. In European countries, this thing is more like a work of art, but it is not popular in the army, and people prefer costro guns.

Zhang Jingyi changed the structure of some bolts.

Make it closer to the mature bolts of later flintlock rifles, and then let these craftsmen improve it.

These craftsmen are treated very well in Fengqiu. Not only that, Zhang Jingyi also launched a craftsman rating system based on their contributions. Different craftsmen set levels based on their abilities and contributions, and then decide on different treatments.

The craftsmen who have no worries about food and clothing are now in this closed environment. In addition to discussing each other, they are constantly improving the process and manufacturing at the same time.

Therefore, the first flintlock rifle in the world that has truly reached a large scale manufacturing will naturally be released.

The first teaching team was ordered to continue to familiarize themselves with the tactics of these flintlock rifles.

Of course, at the beginning, the first teaching team was very unhappy.

They like artillery, and even like purely cold weapons. After all, artillery is powerful, and cold weapons look more brave.

But the musket...it looks a bit vulgar no matter how you look.

It was actually Zhang Jingyi's painstaking efforts to let them explore the tactics.

Because muskets cannot be used by advanced things. In fact, the Shenji Camp during the Zhu Di period may have encountered the Ming army's musket soldiers more than two hundred years later. Even if the firearms of musket soldiers of this era are more advanced, Zhang Jingyi had no doubt that the Ming Chengzu could beat them with these Shenji Camps.

Using muskets... in fact, it pays more attention to discipline and soldiers' proficiency in muskets, otherwise they will never be able to exert their power.
Chapter completed!