After lunch, Zhang Hao hurried back to the official office to sort out his report. Wei Jiansu and Zhang Li accompanied Li Ye to the new city for inspection.
The construction of Chang'an New City was completed last month. As long as it expands in the three directions of east, west and south, after discussions between civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty and consultation with tens of thousands of people, the court finally decided not to demolish the existing city walls and move the newly added ones.
Chang'an City is called Waikou City, including Han Chang'an City, and the new city has been integrated with Han Chang'an City.
The old city inside is called the inner city, and then there are the imperial city and the palace city.
In addition, the city walls of the West Inner Courtyard and the East Inner Courtyard were rebuilt into tall and strong walls to increase the privacy of the Inner Courtyard. The West Inner Courtyard was the place where troops were garrisoned, and the East Inner Courtyard was completely the emperor’s back garden. There would be people there every day.
Female cavalry patrol the inner garden.
Li Ye stood on the former west city wall. He looked back at Yonghefang behind him, which was where he lived when he was a boy. The front was originally farmland, but now it has become a city. Thousands of people are busy building roads.
Several spacious and flat official roads have begun to take shape.
A few miles away is the new city wall. There is currently not a single house on the vast land. All villages have been demolished. Each villager will receive one acre of homeland and five hundred guan as compensation.
"Is anyone coming to buy land now?" Li Ye asked with a smile.
Wei Jiansu smiled and nodded, "Of course, there are many every day. The rich and powerful families in all states and counties all over the world want to own a house in the capital, so there is an endless stream of inquiries every day. In two days, the land will be measured. After the measurement is completed, we will
Start selling land.”
At this time, He Yuantu, the chief official of the Ministry of Industry in charge of city construction, came forward to see Sheng. Li Ye smiled and asked, "When will the road to Waikou City be completed?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, it will be completed by the end of the month. Then we will level the land, build river embankments, and plant trees in the spring."
Li Ye saw the craftsmen laying stone slabs and asked: "Are all roads paved with stone slabs?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, if the main roads are paved with stone slabs, it will be impossible to pave the roads in the middle of the square."
Li Ye nodded, smiled at Wei Jiansu and Zhang Li and said, "Ten years from now, this place will probably be completely different."
"Yes! The Tang Dynasty has entered the prosperous age of Zhongxing, which gives people hope. There will be big changes every day."
Li Ye said happily: "I will come back and see you in a few months. I hope there will be new changes!"
After inspecting the city wall, Li Ye then came to the Firearms Supervision and Development Institute. The Firearms Supervision is the newly established military weapons manufacturing department, including the Firearms Department, the Gunpowder Department, the Vitriol Refining Department, the Iron Smelting Department, and the Materials Department. The new supervisory order
Officially known as Duan Xiushi, he was obsessed with new weapons and voluntarily resigned from his high position as Privy Councilor to prepare for the establishment of a new firearms supervisory department.
Li Ye and two prime ministers came to study, and Duan Xiushi happened to be here. After receiving the news, he quickly led a large group of officials to welcome him out.
"The humble minister Duan Xiushi is here to see His Majesty!"
Seeing that he was dark and thin, Li Ye estimated that he had suffered a lot during this period, so he couldn't help but sigh and said: "If Duan Aiqing doesn't take good care of yourself, you will have to beg your old age and retire from office in ten years."
Duan Xiushi smiled and explained: "The main reason is that the Firearms Supervision Bureau has just been established, so there are many things to do and it is quite hard. Once it is running normally, it will not be so tiring."
"Take care of yourself! I can't help you."
Li Ye walked into the courtyard and happened to see the Ordnance Supervisor Hu Jiuling. He was the second person in the newly established Ordnance Supervision. Li Ye saw that he was also sallow and thin, so he had to smile bitterly and said: "Is there anything new recently?"
firearm?"
Hu Jiuling quickly bowed and said: "It's a coincidence that Your Majesty is here. He has indeed been testing a new type of firearm recently."
Li Ye perked up and asked quickly: "Where is it? Let me take a look!"
Duan Xiushi smiled mysteriously, "Your Majesty and the two prime ministers, please come with me!"
Wei Jiansu and Zhang Li accompanied the emperor to visit. They were not very interested. They looked at each other and had no choice but to follow the enthusiastic emperor to the backyard.
When he came to the stone platform in the backyard, Li Ye saw the artillery he had been waiting for for a long time. In fact, he also guessed that it was an artillery piece. After all, the one-piece casting technology has long been mature. After so many years of continuous accumulation and exploration, it was cast last year.
The copper tube is very dense and has no trachoma, and since he, a cheating master, has drawn up drawings and explained the principles, it should be developed soon.
Li Ye gently touched this divine general. It was about one and a half meters long and was polished very smoothly. It had two gun hoops to prevent the barrel from exploding. The bottom was very thick. The muzzle above was about the size of a medium bowl. The gun god was engraved with
Four big characters 'Shenwu General!'
"How many people usually need to operate?" Li Ye asked again.
"Generally three people are enough, one gunner and two assistants!"
"Did the test succeed?" Li Ye asked again.
"Success is a success, but we feel that the range and power are not satisfactory. We are still adjusting the gunpowder formula and trial and error to find the most satisfactory results."
"Solid bullets or fire bombs?"
Hu Jiuling said quickly: "Reporting to Your Majesty, it must be solid bullets now, and we will switch to fire-thunder bullets after complete success."
Li Ye nodded, "You can cast a few more cannons, long ones, short ones, thick ones, thin ones. You can even use pig iron to cast them. A good article is made through repeated revisions. Likewise, a good firearm is also made."
Through repeated trials, the amount of medicine and bullet weight are determined, and then standardized operations are carried out."
Seeing that no one understood, Li Ye explained: "The gunpowder required for each shot must be packed in a special wooden barrel or bamboo tube. There is no need for personal experience to measure it. There are different amounts of gunpowder depending on the range and the weight of the cannonball."
Tube, do you understand what I mean?"
Everyone was an experienced expert, and they immediately understood what the emperor meant. It was just like arrows. Different types of arrows would be chosen for what kind of combat environment, what kind of crossbow, and how far the shooting distance was required.
arrow.
Seeing that everyone understood his standardization ideas, Li Ye was quite pleased and said with a smile: "I won't give you a time limit, you have to be patient and keep experimenting."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. We will try again and again and never disappoint the general's expectations!"
Li Ye encouraged everyone. He turned around and saw Wei Jiansu and Zhang Li standing nearby, confused, and explained with a smile: "This is a trebuchet among firearms. It can project a fire thunder several miles away."
Explosion, if it is a city siege, firing a fire thunder can blow the city gate to pieces or collapse the city wall. If it is a confrontation between two armies, we can attack each other two or three miles away. This can be said to be the furthest.
It is a missile weapon with amazing power. With it, we are invincible."
Wei Jiansu was overjoyed and said with a smile: "Not only is he invincible, but he is also rich in wealth!"
Everyone laughed.
The three of them returned to the Daming Palace. On the carriage, Li Ye thought of something and smiled and said to Wei Jiansu: "I have a private matter that may bother Xiangguo Wei."
"Your Majesty, you're welcome, just tell me!"
"Yesterday I promised my daughter that in the spring of next year, my girls' school will take the Shuguang to study in the south of the Yangtze River. We may need to be received by the government along the route. All expenses will be borne by me personally."
Wei Jiansu laughed, "This is not just His Majesty's private matter! Wei Chen's two granddaughters are also studying with the eldest princess, and they will also go together!"
Next to him, Zhang Li also said: "Weichen's eldest granddaughter is also in Hongwenguan Girls' School!"
Li Ye laughed dumbly and said: "It seems that it's not okay for me to pay alone!"
The three of them laughed together.
Wei Jiansu smiled slightly again and said: "Your Highness does not need to worry about this matter. Weichen asked Hongwen Hall to arrange it himself. Study tours are a part of education, and this kind of expense should not be borne by the students' families."
Li Ye pondered for a while and said: "Because their study tour next year is different from that of ordinary students. First of all, the safety requirements are very strict, there are local officials to receive them, and the food and lodging expenses along the way are not small. They are still taking my 30,000-stone Shuguang.
I will bear half of all their expenses for the building and ship, and the other half will be borne by the internal treasury."
Wei Jiansu shook his head, "Your Majesty does not need to bear the burden personally. This has always been the practice. Wherever the prince or princess of the Tang Dynasty travels, all expenses are borne by the internal treasury. This has been done since the Taizong era."
Li Ye thought for a while and said: "I just mentioned the girls' school, so the same goes for the Hongwen Hall boys' school. Study tours can be arranged tomorrow spring. Male students can go to Longyou and Hexi to study on horseback and live in tents. The conditions will be a little more difficult, Prince.
We will also go together to train them to endure hardships and endure hardships, and all expenses will be borne by the internal government."
Zhang Li laughed dumbly and said: "Your Majesty, I am still partial! Girls are favored by many, but boys have to endure hardships and stand hard work."
Li Ye also smiled and said: "There is no way. Girls are the treasures of every family. You can't do it without pampering. You're such a brat! If you have to take on the responsibility of the Tang Dynasty in the future, of course the requirements will be stricter."
Wei Jiansu nodded, "Wei Chen agrees with training to endure hardships and endure hardships, but after all, the prince is here too, so we can't be careless about safety and security!"
Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "I will arrange internal guards to be fully responsible for safety."