Chapter 251: Taking advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang's weakness, the flintlock rifle, which is more advanced than the matchlock rifle, was invented

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes suddenly widened, his gloomy face was full of anger, and he angrily scolded: "How dare you! You unfilial son, how dare you disobey me like this!"

Zhu Gang stood up straight without fear and refuted righteously: "I am only telling the truth!

If the eunuchs can only flatter and curry favor, and cannot provide real advice and opinions, then how can Dad know the real situation of the people? "

Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a moment, with a hint of thought in his eyes.

He knew in his heart that what Zhu Gang said did make sense.

However, as the emperor who ruled the entire Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's majesty was unquestionable, and he would not allow others to challenge him at will.

After hesitating for a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang finally said slowly: "Okay, from now on, we will pay attention to this matter.

But you must remember not to act rashly again."

Zhu Gang was secretly happy in his heart. He knew that what he had just said had made Zhu Yuanzhang start to think about this issue, and he had successfully attracted his father's attention.

Perhaps the pension fund for eunuchs and palace maids launched by the Ming Dynasty Money House this time will become an important opportunity to change the future destiny of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, eunuchs have no children, and the wise and powerful emperor of the Ming Dynasty will not allow them to interfere in state affairs.

Therefore, eunuchs in history devoted a lot of energy to the long-term cause of "how to make money".

Money has become the eunuchs' only hope, and their greedy nature is fully displayed in them.

Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty can be roughly divided into chief eunuchs, leaders and ordinary eunuchs. Among them, although the position of the chief eunuch was fifth rank, he had the highest status because he was a close minister to Zhu Yuanzhang.

In addition, there are two eunuchs in charge of the third rank and four eunuchs in charge of the third rank.

There are four eunuchs of the fourth rank and ten eunuchs of the fifth rank.

These upper-level eunuchs who competed with each other also made Wang Jinghong's position as the eunuch chief more stable.

According to Zhu Gang's daily understanding, ordinary eunuchs are divided into several levels.

Among them, the eunuchs in the cleaning department have the lowest status among all the eunuchs.

They are responsible for doing the dirtiest and most tiring work in the palace. Although the eunuchs here do a lot of work, they receive very little monthly salary.

Besides, the eunuchs in the cleaning department had too low a status, and apart from the fixed monthly salary, they had almost no extra income.

However, the situation of the upper-level eunuchs is completely different.

Although they also have a fixed monthly salary, this amount of money is just a drop in the bucket for these people.

Their real income comes from various kinds of "extra income".

These eunuchs have various ways of making extra money, almost to the point of "plucking feathers from passing geese".

But wherever you want to ask for something from them, you can't accomplish anything without spending enough money.

The reason why Zhu Gang promoted the pension fund for eunuchs and palace maids through Wang Jinghong, the eunuch chief, was because he valued Wang Jinghong's position as a link between the upper and lower levels.

Rather than waiting until the money in the palace is embezzled by eunuchs and palace maids in the future, it is better to let this money flow into the Ming Dynasty Money House as a reserve.

However, what he did not expect was that someone would file a complaint with Zhu Yuanzhang so soon.

Of course, Zhu Gang did not take seriously the "flower drum" hidden among the eunuchs and palace maids, nor the two eunuchs in charge who were worried that their status would be threatened.

After all, in history, Zhu Yuanzhang was cruel and ruthless to his ministers, but he was completely different to his sons. In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, only his own people were the most trustworthy, so he gave the princes the right to "rescue the rebellion and serve the king", which also provided a justification for Zhu Di's rebellion later.

Therefore, the scene during the Hongwu period was that meritorious officials and heroes would have their entire families beheaded if they were not careful, while princes and dukes were cruel and tyrannical but no one was held accountable.

In history, King Zhu Gang of Jin had openly hidden his troops in Mount Wutai and planned to rebel.

However, at the earnest request of Crown Prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Gang was ultimately free of all charges and was still able to continue to serve as a vassal king.

If it were any other royal relative or noble, even if they didn't die, they would have been stripped of their titles and demoted to commoners.

Now Zhu Gang was only helping the eunuchs and palace maids solve their retirement problems for the sake of the Ming Dynasty's thousand-year foundation, so it was even less likely that Zhu Yuanzhang would investigate further.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gang reached into his sleeve and took out the "Cowpox Vaccination Clinical Experiment Report" accumulated during this period of time.

"Ever since I saw that my mother was troubled by the adverse reactions after being vaccinated with cowpox, I have been working day and night with Qian Ning to find the cause and study solutions."

Empress Ma has always been Zhu Yuanzhang's weak spot. When he heard Zhu Gang mention this matter, he immediately turned his attention to the "Clinical Experimental Report on Cowpox Vaccination".

"After understanding the structures of the two firearms, I believe that it is technically possible to skip the matchlock and go directly to the hand-held flintlock.

The biggest difference between the two guns is the ignition method, and there is no difference in the barrel.

As long as there is suitable steel, the firing mechanism of the flintlock can be made.

I think the matchlock is too troublesome to use, as the matchlock alone takes a lot of effort.

Not only does it cause trouble, but it is also difficult to train soldiers to use it.

With the Ming Dynasty's current advantage in firearms, there is no need to manufacture relatively backward weapons such as the matchlock gun.

Moreover, the difference in firing rate between the two guns is twice that of the other, which means that the matchlock gun is doomed to be eliminated..."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Gang with a puzzled look on his face, "Are you sure you came up with this after working day and night with Qian Ning?"

Zhu Gang pretended to be panicked and slapped his forehead, "Because you summoned me rather hastily, I took the wrong memorial when I left.

Please wait here for a moment. I will ask Zhang Long to bring the real "Clinical Experiment Report on Cowpox Vaccination" to the palace."

In fact, Zhu Gang did it on purpose!
As early as after the Taiyuan Gun Equipment Research Institute sent the "Flintlock Rifle Experiment Report" and its samples to the Prince of Jin's Mansion, he planned to find an opportunity to show them to Zhu Yuanzhang to broaden his horizons.

Sure enough, Old Zhu’s subsequent reaction did not surprise Zhu Gang.

"What is this flintlock rifle? Is it more advanced than the matchlock rifle currently in service with the Shenji Battalion?"

Zhu Gang nodded and said, "The caliber of a flintlock rifle is generally close to 2 centimeters, and it can penetrate most armor, including plate armor and lamellar armor, at medium and long distances.

In addition, because the caliber of each flintlock rifle was not exactly the same, soldiers could only use lead bullets made by themselves.

They were unable to load their comrades' lead bullets into their own gun barrels.

This meant that even if the enemy was able to capture the flintlock, they would not be able to use the lead bullets of others as a supplement unless they also captured the soldier’s bullet bag.”

In fact, if the lead bullet is slightly larger than the caliber of the barrel, the soldiers must use a small wooden hammer to hammer it into the barrel.

Although such lead bullets and barrel closure are better and can increase the range, they also greatly reduce the firing speed of the flintlock.

However, what Zhu Gang really valued was the next generation product of the flintlock rifle - the breech-loading rifle.

(End of this chapter)