It is said that after Heshen went to the palace to report, Qianlong quickly agreed to dismantle the "repeating musket", but everything had to be done under the supervision of the guards.
It's easy to dismantle a shotgun, but it's not that easy to dismantle a Beihai Town gun.
This is actually something that is easy for those who don't know how to do it, but it was really difficult for the ancients. Under the gaze of two second-class guards, several craftsmen turned over and over for a long time, feeling that they had no idea how to start.
Although Qianlong left the matter of dismantling the firearms to Heshen, he paid attention to the progress every day. After hearing that the junk snacks in the Military Academy had made no progress, he asked Heshen to take two people to the fowling department.
.
Although the two people brought by Heshen were wearing official uniforms and official hats, they had blond hair and blue eyes.
The older of the two is called Wang Dahong, a Frenchman, who is fifty-one years old this year; the other is called Ba Maozhen, also a Frenchman, who is forty-eight years old this year. They are both Jesuit missionaries, and are currently building offices in the Ministry of Internal Affairs
I work in the Ruyi Pavilion under the department, which specializes in making and repairing clocks.
Wang Dahong came to China in the 31st year of Qianlong's reign and arrived in the capital the following year; Ba Maozhen came to China in the 46th year of Qianlong's reign and arrived in Beijing in May last year.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty recruited Western scientific and technological talents from Macau to serve the court since the Kangxi period. Due to the early relationship between Nan Huairen and Tang Ruowang, these people were selected from among the Jesuit priests. Some of them worked in the Qintian Supervisor, and some worked in the court.
Manufacturing Office; Historically, it was not until the 16th year of Jiaqing that we stopped recruiting people to serve in the Manufacturing Office.
Since Qianlong succeeded to the throne, the recruitment and use of Western craftsmen has reached an unprecedented level. However, the Western missionaries in the court have not been affected by the large and small teaching cases that occur from time to time in various places. The so-called "prevention of leisure at home and abroad must be strictly enforced".
"The sincerity of distant barbarians cannot be ignored."
But once these Jesuit missionaries come to Beijing, they will never think of leaving!
Someone once asked Qianlong to retire and return to his hometown because he was too old and missed his relatives in his homeland. Qianlong specifically issued an edict and thought it was simply unreasonable!
In his opinion, since you priests have parents and relatives at home who need to be taken care of, you should not travel across the ocean to come to the Qing Dynasty to serve the imperial court. And your coming to Beijing to serve is a voluntary act of admiring the Celestial Empire and sincerely seeking change, so you must serve for life.
Serve me until you die!
(So you know why Qianlong later learned about the French Revolution and the king’s head loss, right?)
Among the two Frenchmen who followed He Shen, Wang Dahong was one of the most important clock and mechanical technical backbones in the manufacturing office during the middle and late Qianlong dynasties. This man kept repairing clocks and watches every day. In addition to the emperor's, he also
There are princes and ministers.
According to what later Wang Dahong described in his letters to Europe, every day was not only busy, but simply overwhelmed.
However, Wang Dahong was extremely skilled in mechanics and design. The very famous "Gold-plated Copper Writer's Clock" in the treasure house of later generations was his masterpiece. Before starting, you only need to dip the robot's small brush in ink, and then turn on the switch.
, will be able to write eight characters neatly: "Eight Directions, Nine Earths Come to the King".
Now that He Shen is bringing these two people over, it means that if even they can't understand it, then no one can.
The two French missionaries didn't know what they were going to do when they were called away by He Shen, but they were very happy to have a day off without repairing the clock; but when they saw the musket on the desk, their eyes almost stared.
When I came out, I thought what the hell is this!
"Your Excellency, is this really a musket? I have never seen such a musket before!" Before Wang Dahong and others came to China, the most sophisticated firearms they had seen were the "Charvet Flintlock" and "Brown Bess"
.
Looking at the length of the gun in front of him, Wang Dahong looked surprised and wondered why the gun was so short. Looking at the caliber at the muzzle, he was even more stunned.
At present, the flintlock guns in Europe are basically about 1.5 meters long and have a caliber between 17 and 19 mm. However, not to mention the short barrel of this gun, the caliber is only a little over 7.6 mm.
Where did this gun come from?
At this time, He Shen smiled and said to Wang Dahong and Ba Maozhen: "Master Wang, Master Ba, you two are rare craftsmen. Let's see how you can take this gun apart so that you can measure the dimensions of each part."
"Master Zhongtang, may I ask where this gun came from?"
He Shen's face did not change, he smiled and said: "Things from overseas."
Seeing that He Shen didn't want to say more, Wang Dahong and the two had to re-measure the dimensions first, and then started tinkering back and forth.
After about a cup of tea, Wang Dahong first opened the silver-white gun bolt, then tried to pull a reed under the gun body, and reached for the black iron box (magazine chamber) under the gun body.
Just pull it and it will open immediately.
Several craftsmen leaders gathered around, but the black iron box could only be opened, but not taken down.
After a while, Wang Dahong found an inconspicuous black steel buckle on the left side of the gun's tail. He asked Ba Maozhen to use a tool to move the buckle upwards. He found that it was a movable bolt, and he turned the bolt.
, Lift it hard, and the black bolt back cover is taken off; the impact spring inside is exposed, and you reach out and pull, and the spring is pulled out.
He Shen also came up to watch at this time. He pointed to the removed spring and the iron rod inside and asked, "What is this?"
Wang Dahong picked up the spring, stretched it to his nose and asked, then shook his head and said: "Your Excellency, please forgive my ignorance. The parts of this weapon are very strange. I have never seen them before in Europe. This spring seems to be
It's made of steel, and although it looks rough in appearance, the processing technology is extremely sophisticated, and it will take time to figure out the principle."
He Shen had to wait in front of Qianlong every day and would not leave until the palace door was locked. He could stay in the Military Academy for an hour which was the limit. Now that he saw progress, he nodded with satisfaction and said: "In this way, you two
Just keep busy, I am going to report to the emperor."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In fact, he was more concerned about when he would be able to produce the imitation in order to report the good news to Qianlong.
Two days later, Wang Dahong and Ba Maozhen finally figured out how to remove the trigger mechanism from under the gun body, and finally completed the separation of the handguard and barrel.
To be honest, compared to an extremely sophisticated mechanical clock, it is much simpler to disassemble a weapon made of steel components and wood.
It was only then that the two Frenchmen were surprised to find that there was not a single trach hole visible on many parts of this strange musket; it was obvious that these parts were not cast at all, but seemed to be cast with some extremely hard tool.
Processed directly from a piece of steel ingot.
At this time, the world's first boring machine had appeared for 12 years. The main purpose of that boring machine is to process gun barrels and steam engine cylinders. However, the British kept this a strict secret and the two French missionaries did not know about it. As for the cutting lathe
, it will take another 11 years to appear in the UK.
Obviously, if this thing is made of steel, even Wang Dahong's genius can't do anything about it.
Seeing that the deadline given by He Shen was getting closer and closer, a head craftsman came up with an idea. He said that since cannons and shotguns can be made of bronze, can this gun also be made of copper?
Everyone thought that there might be a way to do it. Although drilling and cutting bronze was very laborious, it was easier to process than steel.
From then on, Wang Dahong and Ba Maozhen, in addition to continuing to repair clocks in the manufacturing office, would come to the fowling office every other day to instruct the craftsmen on the imitation work.
On the other side, on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, Qianlong summoned Fukang'an, who had returned to Beijing to see his majesty, in the Yangxin Hall.
Looking at Fu Kang'an, who was pale and skinny, and then recalling the young man who talked and laughed freely, Qianlong couldn't help but think of the late Fu Heng. He said with a smile on his face: "What's your trip?"
The mission is not easy, but I did it well, but I am much thinner than before I left. Victory or defeat is a common thing for a soldier. It is good to know your shame and then be brave, but you must also cherish your body."
Fukang'an's tearful eyes shone brightly and he said: "This is the great blessing of the master that has been spread all over the world. How can a slave be so virtuous and capable? I have been reflecting on myself these days. I was really arrogant and arrogant in the past. I relied on my master
Trust, and take all the credit and ability into your own account.”
As he spoke, Fukang'an looked at Qianlong from time to time, and felt that he was not far from the time when his Majesty resigned. His eyebrows were as vigorous as before, and a man in his seventies looked like he was in his early sixties.
Qianlong shook his head and said: "What do you mean? Who dares to say that you are incompetent! There is no need to say such things again. Tell me, what is your experience when you go to train soldiers these days?"
"嗻."
Fukang'an stood up and sat on the stool, and gave a general summary of the military training situation in the Green Camp in the four provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan during this period. Many of the details had already been mentioned in the memorial delivered before.
It is said that before Fukang'an met Zhao Xin, he had to lead the most elite troops into battle, either the Beijing Camp, the Tianshan Banner Camp, or the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Camp. These originally the most elite troops were slightly added
With practice and a lot of reward money, your combat effectiveness will naturally be high.
But after he went to inspect the green camps in four provinces this time, he discovered that there were so many problems that it was almost shocking.
The most important thing is that the number of soldiers is fake, the number of trained soldiers is insufficient, and some provinces even use craftsmen to pretend to be soldiers. It is common for green camp generals to take advantage of the opportunity to deduct soldiers' pay; what's more, they directly lend usury to their own troops, and then use
Soldiers' military pay is paid back; there are fake equipment and military supplies are deducted, public funds are used to misappropriate soldiers' pay, and there are many other abuses.
In the forty-sixth year of Qianlong's reign, in order to eliminate the vacancies in the green camp, he issued an edict to abolish the famous grain system in the green camp and implement military positions to maintain integrity. However, in fact, the military administration at this time was extremely corrupt. Fukang'an mentioned this in his note to Qianlong. To the point of "accumulating disadvantages, only in name but in reality. The benefit of the increase in troops has not been reaped, and the imperial court has only suffered from the increase in pay."
Just listen to what Fu Kang'an said at the end: "I see that the soldiers are not paid a lot of money every month, and the generals in charge have unfair rules. Under layers of exploitation, they don't have enough to support their parents, and they don't have enough to buy clothes, armor, and equipment. He fights hard on the battlefield and fights with great vigor, but in the end he cannot win!"
After Qianlong listened, he looked at the green smoke rising from the incense burner in the palace, and sighed for a long time: "The root cause is still in the administration of officials. There are soldiers on the books, but there are no soldiers in the army; there are pay on paper, but there is no pay in the army."
Fukang'an looked at Qianlong's face carefully and said: "Nowadays, the officialdom is deteriorating. Since the master knows it, why doesn't he issue an order to rectify it? I tried it this time below and found that things can still be done."
"Some things are easy to say, but too difficult to do!" Qianlong turned to look at Fukang'an and sighed: "Those things you do below, although the soldiers have been trained, they are not enough to be the standard for the world. .Who among the military and political officials in the four provinces dares to challenge you? If you need people or money, you can get everything done at once. The combined strength of the world is enough to meet the needs of several provinces. You can’t use this as an example!"
At this point, Fukang'an also knew that it was time to retreat. He finally requested: "I heard that Sun Shiyi captured a musket from Beihai Town. Please allow me to take a look."
Qianlong said: "I asked Wang Dahong and Ba Maozhen to take charge of this matter, and He Shen supervised it. The gun is placed at the fowling gun. But you have to understand that these strange skills seem to be amazing, but if they are everywhere If the people of the world are rebelling, what's the point of a few cannons? No matter how well-built Zhao Xin's ship is, can it be driven ashore?"
The next day, the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, Qianlong recognized Fukang'an's success in training troops and his ability in doing things, so he resumed his position as co-organizer of the university and was awarded the title of Minister of the Ministry of War.
On the same day, he issued an order to recruit 2,000 troops from the Manchu and Mongolians in the Eight Banners in Beijing later in the year. Each banner would recruit 2,000 troops. Another 5,000 troops would be recruited from the Han army under the Eight Banners, and 2,000 troops would be under the command of Fukang'an. .At the same time, 2,000 Eight Banners soldiers were selected to practice automatic musket formations in the Old Summer Palace.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, Qianlong held a banquet at the Baohe Palace to the imperial vassal, with princes from various Mongolian tribes on his left, and hundreds of people from Taiji and Beile. Last year's defeat of Fuldan City, The left-wing Mongolian troops suffered heavy losses; in order to show comfort, Qianlong specially rewarded the Chahar banners that participated in the Battle of Fuldan City after the banquet.
On the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, Qianlong drafted another troop deployment order, planning to mobilize 20,000 green troops from the four provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan after the 15th day of the first lunar month to go north and leave the customs. They must arrive before the snow melts in spring. Jilin Wula is used to strengthen the defense of Ningguta and Hunchun.
It’s always joyful to celebrate the New Year, and it’s the same in Beihai Town, thousands of miles away.
Beginning on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, the civil affairs authorities in Beihai Town and the two places organized residents to kill pigs and sheep, and distributed half a pound of meat to each person, regardless of age or age. This alone is more than 50,000 pounds of meat. .
In addition, to the newly arrived refugees this year, the Civil Affairs Bureau also distributed food, salt, oil, pickles and other daily necessities, which made many refugees who were once under the Manchu rule burst into tears.
In Zhao Xin's view, if his physical fitness cannot keep up, he will not be able to serve as a soldier or work as a farmer. Instead of doing this, in order for these people to devote themselves to spring plowing and land reclamation next year, they can only strengthen their nutrition now.
Relying on adequate food rations, modern medical technology and drugs, the newborn mortality rate in Beihai Town was only 57 per 1,000 in the 51st year of Qianlong's reign. The nursing team led by Liu Siting won the title of "Ten Thousands of Buddhists" among the refugees. At the end of the year, many families came to our door with a variety of homemade mountain snacks to express their gratitude.
These people didn't even enter the house. After kowtowing respectfully three times outside the door, they placed their things outside Director Liu's house and turned around to leave. Looking at the mountains of gifts piled up outside the door, they were surprised. Director Liu Da was deeply moved.
On the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, the Thunder God returned with the people stranded in Lei Yue Mun and Shen Jingdan's family.
Among the group of people brought by Shen Jingdan were his wife Shen Wu and his youngest daughter Ayu, which made Shen Xuan extremely happy. In addition, Guisheng and his father Asi also came, and in addition there were several Shen The family's children also accompanied him.
Zhao Xin knew in his heart that Shen Jingdan's little ninety-nine, he planned to let these children of the Shen family go to civil affairs after the new year and start as ordinary clerks. Those who are capable will naturally be promoted. Those who want to dominate by relying on Shen Xuan's status Get out of here as soon as possible.
As for Wang Rongfu, a famous Yangzhou scholar whom Zhao Xin asked Shen Jingdan to invite, he fell ill as soon as he got off the ship because he was not adaptable to the dry and cold climate in the north. After being sent to the hospital for examination, it was found that this man had symptoms of pneumonia for a long time and has never fully recovered. After After repeated persuasion by Zhao Xin, Shen Jingdan and the Wu brothers, Wang Rongfu reluctantly agreed to hospitalization.
The soldier who died in Guangzhou had already been cremated in Lei Yue Mun, and the grieving family members held the urn and wept endlessly. But it was not suitable to hold a funeral during the New Year's Day, so it was arranged to wait until after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. However, it was not appropriate to hold a funeral. Some pensions and related certificates were sent to family members within one day.
On New Year's Eve, except for Liu Sheng, Wang Yuanfang and Fang Hua, all the other time-travelers in Beihai Town signed their names and fingerprints on the trust document. This made Zhao Xin quite worried. The issue of time travel confidentiality has finally been resolved.
By the end of this year, the total population under Beihai Town reached 112,000, with an additional population of more than 43,000 throughout the year.