Zhu Youxiao did a simple calculation and found that this was indeed reasonable. Making so many guns at once would indeed require a large amount of money.
This Shenwu gun project alone requires a budget of at least 1.5 million taels.
Now that the arsenal has another big project like the Franco machine gun, the resources, money and food consumed are astronomical.
An improved, carefully polished and cast large-scale Folan cannon costs as much as eighteen taels of silver. A small Folang cannon also costs almost ten taels.
Zhu Youxiao's Shenji Battalion currently lacks everything, but the only thing it lacks is large artillery with high power and long range.
Without the blessing of cannons, the firepower would be greatly reduced.
If we want to fight an offensive or defensive battle, it is also a fatal flaw.
Even a powerful man like Qi Jiguang relied heavily on artillery when fighting cavalry with infantry.
Most of the artillery currently used by the Shenji Camp are old cannons that were dug out of the Beijing Camp warehouse, and the quality is really not flattering.
If it wasn't for the fact that he had no other choice, he wouldn't want to use it at all. The main long-range firepower now relies on more than a hundred small bronze cannons.
Now that he has a suitable cannon, Zhu Youxiao naturally wants to build it and install it as soon as possible.
What's the use of a mere 180 artillery pieces? His initial expectation was to equip at least a thousand artillery pieces.
Moreover, the discard rate of cannons is much higher than that of firecrackers.
Why did the Ming Dynasty not build their own cannons but directly purchase these cannons from foreign countries? In addition to being expensive and cumbersome, the biggest reason was that the craftsmanship and technology were not up to par.
Even the general cannons developed by oneself cannot reach half of the finished product qualification rate, let alone imitating other people's cannons.
The time required to cast a cannon is also very long. For the cannon to reach its best condition and highest standards, it will take at least five months.
All the gun barrels, as well as the frame and sub-cannons need to be polished by craftsmen purely by hand. This step alone will not take more than two months.
There are also a series of projects that are currently under construction, such as the Streaming Divine Machine Arrow, Ten Thousand Enemies, and the Divine Fire Flying Crow. Without the support of a million taels of silver, they simply cannot operate.
At this time, Zhu Youxiao finally understood why the peaceful and prosperous dynasty had relaxed its armaments and no longer wanted to make progress.
Because the expenditure on armaments projects is really expensive, the civil servants are naturally unwilling to throw so much money and food into this bottomless pit that cannot be seen to the bottom.
In addition to the wages and daily rewards of the craftsmen, they also received more than one million stones, grains and rice, and nearly one hundred thousand taels of silver. This is all money.
Zhu Youxiao roughly calculated these expenses and found that the five million taels of silver requested by Bi Maokang was already very conservative.
Even though he had tens of millions of assets, he started to have difficulties at this time.
Finally, after careful consideration, he finally came up with a solution.
He proposed that the standard of money and food for craftsmen should be lowered, and the monthly ten shi of grain and rice for small and medium workers would be reduced to five shi per month, but the monthly silver would remain unchanged.
Five stones of grain and rice, for ordinary people, would not make them hungry at all, and they could even have surplus grain to store.
However, in order to avoid causing chaos and other uncontrollable factors, he would still personally draft a decree to inform them of the difficulties the court was currently facing.
He shot himself in the foot. He did not understand the market at the time and had no sense of the concept and use of money and food.
As a result, we recklessly set such high standards for them.
After going through the battle against the chieftains in the southwest, he truly understood how much food a person eats in a day and how much rice a family of five needs to fill their stomachs.
In addition to lowering the wage standards for craftsmen, he also gave Bi Maokang a clear target for the whole year.
Except for Shenwu Guns, Folang Machine Cannons, and Liuguang Shenji Arrows, all other projects have been temporarily suspended to save costs.
Since we don't have enough economic and industrial strength, we can only settle for the second best and supplement what we urgently need first.
Zhu Youxiao's Yulin Army has reached a strength of 120,000, plus Li Songping's Zuowei Army Town and Xiong Tingbi's newly integrated Liaodong Town, as well as Yuan Keli and Mao Wenlong's troops.
The current military strength of the Ming Dynasty is already very strong, several levels stronger than before the Battle of Saarhu, and it is completely enough to stabilize the situation in Liaodong.
As long as his Yulin army is finished changing their uniforms, they can launch a large-scale military operation at any time to completely eliminate the scourge of Lao Nu.
No matter how brave Lao Nu's Eight Banners soldiers are, no matter how good they are at fighting, they are already lying on their backs half-dead.
What's more, Jiannu's strength is far from strong enough to crush the current Ming army.
In order not to put pressure on him, Zhu Youxiao still promised that the five million taels of silver would not be less, so just go ahead and do it boldly and it will be done.
Of course, when he went to court, he would have to change his words. It was still necessary to act like he was poor.
Bi Maokang was greatly moved. In fact, he didn't have much hope for the five million taels of silver he asked for.
After all, the treasury has been empty for so many years, and the entire court is aware of it.
Unexpectedly, the emperor actually agreed, which was beyond his expectation.
"My dear, all you have to do is to forge fine fire cannons for me. You don't have to worry about the rest. I will fully support you, so just relax!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Bi Maokang shouted loudly with a hint of choking.
The greatest wish of a courtier is to be able to fully display his knowledge and talents and realize his full ambitions.
Bi Maokang had been confused for decades. Finally, when his hair was about to turn gray, he met such an emperor. How could he not be moved?
Before leaving, Zhu Youxiao also summoned Zhang Zhiji, the chief producer of the arsenal, and Li Yongzhen, the chief eunuch.
Zhang Zhiji is now much busier than his father Zhang Weixian. He holds many positions, and they are all extremely important positions that the emperor attaches great importance to.
Just the affairs of the arsenal alone are enough for him to keep him busy, but now he has the errand of Admiral Yu Linjun, and he has to run back and forth every now and then.
He also understood in his heart that this was the emperor training himself and training himself to be able to replace his father as soon as possible.
My father is old and is unable to do many things.
As the eldest son of a British prince, he naturally wanted to inherit his father's position and responsibilities, share the emperor's worries and contribute to the country.
It was actually no big deal when Zhu Youxiao called the two of them in front of him. He just wanted them to strictly control the inventory and statistics of all weapons and equipment.
Without the approval slip from the three of them, no one in the arsenal, not even a piece of iron, is allowed to leave the factory. Anyone who violates the order will be sent to prison for severe interrogation!
It's not that Zhu Youxiao is too suspicious, but that there are too many secrets of self-stealing and self-stealing. Once the secret is leaked and those big-mouthed officials find out, it will be another troublesome matter.