Chapter 147: The musket that frightened the emperor
The power of the musket has made Zhao Zhen feel scared, but it also made him see the hope of the rise of the Song Dynasty. Ye An is right, if even a child can easily kill a warrior who has fought hundreds of battles, if the army of the Song Dynasty is equipped with
Aren’t these firearms the strongest army in the world?
His idea was too simple. Although the new musket was powerful and could even change the situation of the battle, it also required the leadership of the commander and the cooperation of the user.
If you simply rely on muskets to fight without any tactics or rules, you will also be ravaged by the enemy.
But one thing is certain, tonight's test in front of Zhao Zhen has given him hope. Compared with the crossbow, this musket is more powerful, more accurate, has a longer range, and is a simple-to-operate weapon.
It only requires a little training to be used. Wouldn't that save the army a lot of money?
Zhao Zhen was pacing back and forth on the school grounds excitedly, and the joy of having fun with the people in Xuande Tower was completely forgotten by him.
It’s not surprising that he was like this. An envoy from the Liao Dynasty had just taken away a “huge sum” of 300,000 yuan from the Third Division, and it had to be paid every year. Zhao Zhen was not happy.
He has long had the desire to strengthen the army and prepare for war. However, the Song Dynasty was not peaceful in the first few years. Liu E died a few years ago, and she left many ills. The northwest is also treacherous, and the rise of party members
Right now, there is a dishonest Qingtang.
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhen suddenly felt that the northwest was not unusable. He turned to look at Ye And and said: "Since this musket was made by the Northwest Firearms Department, has it ever been used in the northwest to deal with the Party members or the Qingtang Tibetans?"
Ye An swore that he had not deliberately guided it, and kept saying: "It has not been used in actual combat. After all, it is a new type of musket. The quantity is insufficient and it is afraid of leakage. I only tried it a few times in the Firearms Department of Liangzhou Prefecture. The cost of this musket is not cheap!"
"So what if it's not cheap? Even if such a sharp weapon is made of gold and silver, the more the better..." Seeing Chen Lin shaking her head with an ugly face, Zhao Zhen felt guilty and added: "How much?"
"The cost of a gun is about two hundred dollars. If it is mass-produced, the price will definitely drop..."
"What?! Two hundred guan?!" Before Ye An could finish speaking, Zhao Zhen looked at him in disbelief and said, "This price is already equivalent to the cost of two sets of infantry armor. Even if it costs 200 guan in Tokyo,
You can buy a nice little house in the city, but you can only build a musket?!"
Zhao Zhen's surprise was seen in Ye An's eyes, and he nodded helplessly: "Guan family, this firearm must be made tightly and use the best materials, otherwise it may be difficult to exert its power."
If the Xi Lie Army wants to equip a large number of muskets, it must obtain the order of Zhao Zhen and the appropriation of the Third Division. Otherwise, even if the Puhui Company has the money to equip the Xi Lie Army, it is digging its own grave. Then it will be the same as Ye An's private
What's the difference? He had no choice.
"If it can be reduced to about a hundred guans, it might be okay. Two hundred guans is really too expensive." Zhao Zhen muttered while pacing. As the emperor of the Song Dynasty, he knew the money in the treasury and Zuozangtreas best.
If all the Western Lie Army were to be equipped with muskets, it would require at least one million muskets. Not to mention that the imperial court could not afford them.
A million guan can support all the armies of the Song Dynasty. More importantly, Zhao Zhen himself has concerns.
This is just what is needed to equip a Xi Lie Army. The border army needs more than one Xi Lie Army. If the Xi Lie Army is allocated new muskets, then other border troops will definitely complain. Not only that, the civil servants originally felt that the military expenditures of the country and the DPRK
There is a lot of use, and it is too late to reduce it. How can we spend millions of dollars to pay for the use of an army?
Of course Ye An knew what Zhao Zhen was thinking, and immediately explained: "Reporting to the officials, the technology of the new muskets is not yet mature, and mass production is not possible in many places. Most of the components are handmade by craftsmen from the Firearms Department, so
The fees naturally remain high.”
Zhao Zhen looked at the musket in his hand and couldn't help but flip the hammer. He turned to look at Ye An and said slyly: "It's a good thing, but it's a pity that it's too expensive. Since Ye Hou knows its shortcomings, why do you recommend it to me?"
You are not a random person!"
Ye An blushed. Zhao Zhen's words exposed his little trick, and he immediately said awkwardly: "I am asking for money from the officials, not from the Xi Lie Army, but from the Northwest Firearms Department of Liangzhou Prefecture.
If you need money, you don’t need millions of guans, just 100,000 guans.”
"Hahaha!" Zhao Zhen laughed heartily, pointed at Chen Lin and said: "Master Chen, you are being used for hunting! Ye Hou is not asking me for money to equip the Xi Lie Army with new muskets, but asking me for
The money is for the Northwest Firearms Division!”
Chen Lin looked at Ye An dumbfounded. He never expected that this kid was waiting for the official here, let alone that he would be tricked into becoming a lobbyist by him again.
"The old slave was confused and accidentally fell into this boy's trap, and was tricked into entering the palace to confront the officials."
Zhao Zhen weighed the musket in his hand and shook his head slightly: "You are not wrong. This thing is extremely powerful, and its power to kill enemies from a hundred feet away should not be underestimated. However, the cost is too expensive, and it cannot be spread outside. I can't.
You don’t take it seriously! Marquis Ye came to the palace tonight and gave me this gift, which is the best gift for me!"
Ye An hurriedly climbed up the pole: "What the officials said is true. This thing has pros and cons. I can't make a decision, so I asked the officials."
"In the future, we will avoid those false claims. If something happens, just go to the palace and report it directly. The purpose of setting up such a large array is just to request me to allocate funds to the Northwest Firearms Department. But there is one thing. The Northwest Firearms Department must use this thing."
When the law is delivered, the general will be the prisoner..."
Ye An was shocked and said: "The official family must not do this!"
"Why not? Ye Hou, you have thought about it..." Chen Lin's face changed. At this time, Ye An planned to hide it, which would be asking for suspicion from the officials.
Ye An shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Guardians, think about it, what do the civil servants who will be in prison do? They are all literati, even Qingliu, and their thoughts are more simple. They wish they could be the officials in prison.
If all the manuscripts are published and biographies are published, how can anything be guaranteed that will be known to the whole world?"
Ye An felt chills running down his spine when he thought about the later "Wu Jing Zong Yao". A dynasty could actually write its own "Weapons Manufacturing Encyclopedia" and publish it to the world. This was simply something that made the enemy happy.
Although this book has not yet appeared, we cannot say that the confidentiality awareness of prison officials is "not at all, it can only be said that it is not at all"!
As long as a caring person takes the time to explore, he will be poached sooner or later. Ye An does not want weapons similar to new muskets to appear in the neighboring countries of the Song Dynasty in a short period of time.
Seeing that Zhao Zhen's face was still ugly, Ye An leaned over and whispered: "Guan, have you ever thought about what would happen if such a precise firearm was used for assassination?"
Zhao Zhen suddenly changed his color and even turned pale and said: "That means being able to take people's lives from a hundred steps away...including my life..."
Chen Lin was trembling and speechless. Looking at the looks of him and Zhao Zhen, Ye An knew that they were frightened by his words. They had high accuracy and long-range shooting, making it easy to hide. This thing has a name in later generations.
"spy".
This kind of long-range projector has just appeared in this era, and it has already made Zhao Zhen, an official of the Song Dynasty, deeply afraid. If someone uses this new type of musket to assassinate, the success rate will definitely increase significantly.