Chapter 124: Observing government according to orders (6)
Only half an hour later, Gao Pragmatic was led by Huang Mengyu to the gun warehouse in Datong City.
The so-called "gun warehouse" was defined by Gao Jingshi himself. Huang Mengyu didn't introduce what it was actually called, and Gao Jingshi didn't care about it and didn't ask.
This warehouse is very large, with more than one or two rooms. It is made up of about twenty large bungalows, arranged horizontally and vertically. It can be seen that there are a lot of muskets stored. Of course, Gao Pragmatic cannot handle them all.
One inspection can only be carried out randomly, but in order to show strictness, a batch of random checks must be carried out in each warehouse.
After entering the first warehouse, Huang Mengyu began to introduce to Gao Pangshi responsibly: "Gao Shidu Rongcheng, our Ming Dynasty's firearms manufacturing has two major sources, one is made in the capital, and the other is made in the local area. Made in the capital
The main sources of firearms are the three major bureaus, namely the Ordnance Bureau, the Military and War Bureau, and the Saddle and Bridle Bureau. It is impossible to elaborate on the local self-made ones, as long as they are approved by the imperial court. Our Datong is one of the nine important towns, and firearms
The origin has always been complicated. Some were made in Beijing and some were made locally. Now this warehouse... Liu Ping, this warehouse——"
A young eunuch quickly walked out from the eunuchs behind him, bowed and said: "Guardian, this warehouse contains all kinds of muskets from the War Bureau."
Huang Mengyu nodded with satisfaction and looked towards Gao Pragmatic.
Seeing that the warehouse was full of neatly arranged large wooden boxes, Gao Pingshi couldn't see the firearms inside at all, so he said, "Open it and take a look."
Huang Mengyu didn't wait for Gao Jingshi to elaborate, and waved to the young eunuch named Liu Ping. Liu Ping quickly imitated the wave to the group of people behind him and shouted: "Gao Shi has an order, open it and take a look!"
Liu Ping is the prison officer here, the "leader in charge". Of course there is a group of people below him, so it is impossible for him to even open the wooden box himself.
Because Gao Jingshi did not explain which one to open or which ones to open, these people did not dare to neglect and quickly opened the wooden boxes in front of and around Gao Jingshi one by one.
Gao pragmatic stepped forward to check, and by coincidence, the first thing that appeared in front of him was a three-eyed gun. However, he reached out and took it and found that it was quite heavy. He thought it would be difficult to pick it up, and he couldn't help feeling on his face.
A little embarrassed.
Huang Mengyu saw the opportunity quickly and pretended not to see Gao Pangshi's situation. He excitedly reached out to pick up the three-eyed gun, put it in front of Gao Pragmatic's eyes and said with a smile: "Look, Gao Shidu, this three-eyed gun is
..." As he spoke, he also moved his head closer to the three-eyed gun, looked at it carefully and said: "Sheng Zi No. 43674 - Liu Ping, which year should this number be from?"
Liu Ping hurriedly replied: "Go back to guard, this should be born in September of the 44th year of Jiajing."
Seeing the strangeness, Gao pragmatic went over to take a look. Sure enough, the gun was engraved with the words "Sheng Zi No. 43674". He was a little surprised and asked: "Every firearm has
Such a number?"
Huang Mengyu didn't answer this time. He only signaled Liu Ping with his eyes. Liu Ping stepped forward and said respectfully: "Returning to Gao Shidu's words: Every firearm has a number, but the firearms produced by the three major bureaus of Jingying are numbered.
The first characters are different, and the numbering formats produced by the local bureaus are also different. The rod you see now was produced by the Jingshi Military and War Bureau during the Jiajing period. The first characters at the beginning are all "win".
If it was made during the Jiajing period, the first character is '电'. If it was made during the Longqing period, the word "wei" will start with the war department, and the word "ying" will start with the ordnance department."
Gao Pragmatic nodded and thought to himself: It seems that this management system is not very bad. Every gun is numbered.
He was afraid that if he didn't know enough about it, he might make a joke or misunderstand him. He also saw that Liu Ping seemed to be quite familiar with his "business", and Huang Mengyu asked him to answer directly several times, maybe with the intention of promoting him.
He simply smiled and said: "Liu Ping, I think you are quite familiar with these rules and regulations. Why don't you explain it in more detail - I am referring to the manufacturing and management of firearms."
Liu Ping was secretly happy and quickly stepped forward to introduce Gao Jingshi. When Huang Mengyu saw Gao Jingshi smiling and looked at him, he immediately understood that Gao Jingshi was determined to fulfill his wishes and quickly smiled back to show his gratitude.
In fact, Liu Ping is Huang Mengyu's nephew. Although Huang Mengyu is less than ten years older than Liu Ping, he is the latter's uncle. However, although the two are related, Gao Pingshi discovered from Liu Ping's detailed introduction that this person was not the same person.
It can really be regarded as "proficient in business", not just living on an empty salary and doing nothing.
According to Liu Ping, the production of firearms in the Ming Dynasty was indeed strictly controlled by the state: "All weapons, except for those kept for preparation, are stored in the warehouse - private production is not allowed." Although the imperial court issued an order in the twelfth year of Yongle
All the military offices in the world have their own arrangements to manufacture weapons, but this is limited to ordinary cold weapons.
As for firearms, the local government has always prohibited the manufacture of firearms. "All firearms are under the control of the War Bureau of the inner government and are not allowed to be manufactured outside. For example, "in the sixth year of Zhengtong, Huang Zhen, a general on the border, made a request to set up a shrine in Dushi, Xuanfu.
"The Gun Bureau manufactures firearms", but the imperial court believed that "firearms were made externally, fearing that the practice would spread to the Mei Dynasty, so they were prohibited by edict." Therefore, before Hongzhi, the Ming court had always used the Ordnance Bureau and the Military War Bureau as the main firearms production departments.
After the fourth year of Hongzhi, the imperial court successively approved the restricted manufacturing of firearms by some local guards in Huaihe. For example, Huguang and Guangxi were approved in the fourth year of Hongzhi; Sichuan's self-made weapons were approved in the last year of Zhengde; Qingzhou Zuowei was approved in the fifth year of Zhengde; Xuzhou was approved in the seventh year;
In ten years, it was approved that Liangzhou and other places could manufacture a certain number of general firearms such as bronze generals and sacred blunderbuss. This was the beginning of the border customs manufacturing of weapons.
In the fourth year of Jiajing, Liaodong was ordered to make its own poisonous fire cannons. In the thirteenth year, Shanxi was ordered to make some firearms. However, for the weapons manufactured by the local guards, they were only allowed to produce some hand-held copper blunderbuss and general cannons used in castles.
, if there is a loss or needs to be replaced, local officials must report it before they can make it themselves. At the same time, the manufactured firearms must also be prevented from being stolen or learned by others: "Tightly guard against leaking the pattern. Violators are guilty of serious crimes."
The imperial court also strictly controlled the raw materials necessary for making firearms and gunpowder, such as saltpeter. First, factories and bureaus were set up in saltpeter-producing provinces to implement official sales. Private frying of saltpeter was not allowed, and violators were severely punished. Secondly, strict control was
The circulation of saltpeter. For merchants who transport saltpeter and sell it, the government issues business invoices. These business invoices are issued by the chiefs of the provincial firearms manufacturing bureaus, such as Fu, Yuan, Bingdao, etc., and the quantity of saltpeter used by the bureau is stated on them.
Vendors paid taxes for trafficking, and other official documents were not allowed to be used. In order to prevent merchants from communicating with Japanese pirates, a sea ban was also ordered, and merchant ships in Fujian, Guangzhou and other places were not allowed to have nitrate and sulfur on them. If found, they would be severely punished.
Gao Pangshi was a little surprised when he heard this. It turns out that the sea ban is related to this?