At half noon, Li Zan, Minister of the Ministry of War, finally entered the General Affairs Office from the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. When he saw Jia Heng, a smile appeared on his face and he said: "Ziyu is here."
Jia Heng stood up quickly, raised his hands to Li Zan and called: "Mr. Ge."
Li Zan waved his hand and motioned for Jia Heng to sit down. At this time, a book office nearby offered tea, and the two sat down to talk.
"I will go north next year. Recently, there have been a lot of affairs in all aspects." Li Zan explained, and then said: "The structure of the Economic Strategy and Comfort Department you submitted has already been revealed, but the Military Intelligence Department is planning to build it from scratch.
There are so many things to think about, and there is no corresponding talent to rely on at the moment."
Jia Heng thought for a while and then said: "Why don't you, sir, transfer manpower from Jinyi Mansion? Previously, when I was wiping out the Sanhe Gang, I used detective work, which saved me a lot of energy."
Li Zan looked surprised and said: "Jinyi Mansion...Does Ziyu have anyone to recommend?"
Jia Heng said: "To spy on the enemy and go deep into the enemy's territory, you have to be diligent and prudent to take on this important task. And I heard that in Jinyi Mansion, Qiu Liang, the governor of the North Town, sent people to the north to assassinate the enemy's captives."
Li Zan nodded and said: "Qiu Liang? I heard that he is diligent and thrifty in Jinyi Mansion, so it would be appropriate for him to be the deputy of the Military Intelligence Department and do detailed work."
When Jia Heng heard this, his expression was calm, but he was a little surprised. This old man, Li Ge, had actually heard of Captain Qiu. He was diligent and thrifty, which was not a low evaluation.
Li Zan asked: "What do you think of Ziyu's recent training in Beijing?"
This is considered to be the most focused event in Beijing recently.
Jia Heng said: "We discussed this matter with Mr. Shi just now. The Beijing camp is now selecting frontline soldiers and eliminating the old and weak. It is quite systematic."
Li Zan frowned. Although he vaguely felt something was wrong, he couldn't think about it, so he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he asked about some details about the Economic Strategy and Appeasement Department.
Jia Heng sat in the General Affairs Office for a while, asking Li Zan about some personnel and basic information about the Ordnance Supervision. It was not until noon that he left the Ministry of War and went to the Ordnance Supervision.
Ordnance Inspector
The government office is a street away from the Ministry of War. There are few residential buildings around, and there are soldiers guarding the government office.
The Ordnance Supervision of the Chen and Han Dynasties inherited the Tang and Song dynasties, and also absorbed part of the structure of the Ordnance Bureau of the Ming Dynasty. Under the Ordnance Supervision, there were the Nufang Department, the Jiafang Department, and the Warfare Bureau.
There is one supervisor, the fourth rank; one supervisor, the seventh rank; two bookkeepers, the eighth rank; and four recorders, the ninth rank.
Jia Heng led the retinue of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division and walked into the courtyard of the government office. He saw Chang Hong, the supervisor of the military weapons supervisor, Xu Tingye, the supervisor, the chief bookkeeper, the recorder and other officials.
Chang Hong, wearing the official uniform of a fourth-grade civil servant, with a smile on his face, greeted him at the door of the official hall, cupped his hands and said: "I have seen General Yunhui, but I didn't come to greet him in time. Please forgive me."
Now Chen Hanwei and Jia Heng have been conferred the title of General Yunhui. Nowadays, most people in the officialdom are referred to as Yunhui.
Jia Heng looked at Chang Hong, who was a middle-aged civil servant with a medium build and slightly dark complexion, wearing the uniform of a fourth-grade civil servant.
Although the Ordnance Supervision was placed under the control of the Ministry of War by the Ministry of Works due to tight border affairs over the years, because the chief officer is a fourth-rank official, his voice in the Ministry of War is still very important.
Jia Heng nodded and said: "Mr. Chang, there is no need to say this. I am taking the liberty to visit you, so as long as I don't disturb the affairs of the prison, it's fine."
The few people in front of me are actually some of the embryonic forms of technocrats.
He heard Li Zan mention it at the Ministry of War that although Chang Hong was a Jinshi civil servant, he often advocated the benefits of military armor and could change Chen Han's unfavorable situation on the frontier, so he was considered a capable official.
As the chief of the prison, he is in charge of production tasks, such as the production of crossbows, armor, swords and guns in the Beijing camp, all under his supervision. At least there have been no major mistakes in the past few years.
As for Superintendent Xu Tingye, he came from a family of weapons and craftsmen. He had donated his family background. He served as Chang Hong's deputy in the Military Supervision and was considered a true technocrat.
Chang Hong smiled, stretched out his hand to invite me, and said, "It's cold outside, so I would like to invite Yun Hui to come to the official hall to talk."
Jia Heng nodded slightly, walked into the official hall, and sat down, greeted by a group of officials.
Jia Heng looked at Chang Hong and asked: "Sir Chang, I have been ordered by the Holy One to supervise the weapons supervisor. I have been leading troops outside before. This is the first time I have come here. I will need to be introduced by Lord Chang later to introduce the details in the prison."
It’s the business that matters.”
Chang Hong smiled and said: "Inspector Yunhui asked about matters in the prison. My father-in-law in the palace has already said that I heard that Yunhui is very interested in firearms?"
Jia Heng nodded and said: "The firearms used by the Twelve Regiment Camps in Beijing and the Shenji Camp were all made in the prison. We were about to get a closer look."
Chang Hong said: "Sir, the matter of making firearms is the responsibility of the Military Warfare Bureau, and Xu Jiancheng has full authority to intervene. It seems that Xu Jiancheng is very knowledgeable in the research of firearms and is also a good expert in this field."
With that said, he introduced Xu Tingye, the supervisor on the side.
This is a thin old man with a short beard under his chin. His eyes under his short eyebrows are small but bright.
Jia Heng said: "I still need to ask Xu Jiancheng for advice."
Seeing Jia Heng's gaze, he cupped his hands and said, "Master Jia, there are 9,700 craftsmen in the Military War Bureau, and there are 2,400 craftsmen who are skilled in refining single-eyed blunderbuss, three-eyed blunderbuss, bird blunderbuss, general cannons, and folang guns."
Machine guns, multiple rocket launchers..."
Jia Heng was silent for a moment and asked: "It sounds like there are many varieties, but how powerful are they?"
The Franco machine gun was also introduced to the territory by the Portuguese in the early Jiajing years of the former Ming Dynasty. It was later copied and used by the Ming Dynasty, but unfortunately, it still failed to save the former Ming Dynasty.
However, in today's Chen Han, it is also a standard weapon for defending the city in the Nine-sided Fortress.
It’s just that I haven’t heard of the Hongyi cannon. I guess Chen Han hasn’t built it yet?
When Xu Tingye heard the inquiry, he paused slightly and said, "The power of firearms is different. I would also like to invite you to visit the firearms in the military battle station for a real-life observation."
This Jia Yunhui is good at fighting, but he may not know the advantages of firearms, but I don't know why the palace appointed such a young man to supervise the weapons inspector.
Jia Heng turned to look at Chang Hong, the supervisor on the side, and said with a smile: "Mr. Chang, it's not too late to do that. I will follow Xu Jiancheng to the firearms workshop."
Chang Hong nodded and said: "Well, Yun Hui, take your time. I still have some official duties at hand, so I can't accompany Yun Hui."
Jia Heng nodded and said nothing else. Following Xu Tingye and the two recorders, he headed to the firearms workshop.
Entering the material workshop, you can see that it is in full swing.
Although it is winter, craftsmen are still carrying various materials and rushing back and forth, accompanied by the sound of clanking and banging and the blazing flames in the charcoal stove, which looks like a production workshop in later generations.
"This is making a blunderbuss and casting it into a round iron pipe." Xu Tingye, who was standing by, saw Jia Heng's eyes lingering on the red iron juice poured by the craftsman.
Jia Heng asked: "Is this blunderbuss tube still smooth? Are there any fine cracks in the blunderbuss body? If we make a hundred blunderbuss tubes, how many of them will be intact and usable?"
There is no such thing as yield in this era, so Jia Heng could only ask this question.
Xu Tingye was surprised when he heard this. He put away the contempt in his heart and said solemnly: "The quality of the gun tubes required for bird guns is quite high. If you can get two or three out of ten, you can use them."
Jia Heng nodded and said, "Is there a ready-made gun barrel?"
Xu Tingye ordered: "The king recorded the matter and brought a blunderbuss over."
Immediately, a middle-aged civil servant came over, and after a while, he took out a jet-black gun barrel.
Jia Heng took the blunderbuss tube and rubbed it in his hand. He could clearly feel a rough touch and couldn't help but secretly shake his head.
From this point of view, the overall smelting technology of this era is still relatively rough and backward in terms of details. It is impossible to even think about seamless steel pipes in a short time.
He was not a steel mill worker in his previous life and didn't know much about ironmaking.
Therefore, the only things that can be improved are the firing method and other ammunition loading.
As for bullet technology, he actually knows something about it, but smokeless gunpowder, stamping machines, and various molds are also difficult problems. He can only help these craftsmen broaden their technical ideas based on the existing technology.
Thinking of this, he handed the gun barrel to the recorder aside and continued to observe the craftsmanship.
Afterwards, Jia Heng followed Xu Tingye to visit the production process of the Folan cannon. He had a lunch in the middle, and in the afternoon he saw the production techniques of multiple rockets. It was not until the evening, when the dusk gradually faded, that he started making firearms.
Xu Jiancheng on the side also gradually put away his initial disapproval, because along the way, the questions raised by Jia Heng often pointed to the key points, which inspired Xu Tingye. Even in the end, Xu Tingye had an eager look on his face.
After Jia Heng saw the craftsmanship of the weapons and weapons, he was somewhat unsatisfied and said: "I wonder where the gunpowder projectile production is still?"
Xu Tingye looked a little more solemn and said: "Preparing gunpowder can easily lead to disasters. It's not here. It's still more than ten miles away from the Ordnance Supervision."
Jia Heng thought for a while and said: "It's getting late, so let's do this for today."
The two of them turned back. On the way, Xu Tingye asked: "What Yun Hui said before was about firing the flint, and loading the gunpowder into the projectile, and the two phases separated when it came out of the barrel. Can you elaborate?"
Jia Heng smiled and said: "If Xu Jiancheng is interested, how about I go back and draw the drawings, and Xu Jiancheng can study it slowly?"
When Xu Tingye heard this, his eyes lit up and he said: "Then I will wait patiently for Yunhui's good news."
As they talked, the two returned to the official hall, where Chang Hong was waiting. He stepped forward to greet him and asked, "Yunhui, have you seen the firearms? What do you think?"
Jia Heng nodded and said: "The craftsmen make the utensils in a very orderly manner, and Mr. Chang usually manages them properly."
In fact, after some on-the-spot visits, he already had an impression that Chen Han's weapon craftsmanship was generally backward.
He had to admit the fact that no matter the current technical level or the scale of production, Chen Han today was not enough to build a firearms army as he imagined, and he needed to patiently improve it.
Then I thought, if Chen Han had advanced firearms, it would not be his turn to ask questions.
"Let's try to improve the blunderbuss first. In addition, Haojing is occupied by the Portuguese. We can mobilize the Jin Yiwei to find various craftsmen from there. At least the smelting technology needs to be improved." Jia Heng thought.
When Chang Hong heard Jia Heng's words of approval, he felt a little happy and said, "Does Jia Yunhui continue to watch the things in prison, or will he watch other things tomorrow?"
Jia Heng said: "We will continue reading tomorrow, but we will stop here today."
After declining the banquet invitation from Chang Hong and other military officials to stay, Jia Heng returned to Ningguo Mansion accompanied by soldiers from the Wucheng Army and Horse Division.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
The more information I checked, the more I felt that under ancient conditions, it was impossible for one person to handle an industrial system alone, unless the protagonist was designed to be an all-round warrior proficient in smelting and chemical engineering.
Therefore, the steps for improving firearms in the later period will not be elaborated, but a result that will not be too far ahead of the times will be produced to facilitate the advancement of the plot.
