The Ming Dynasty: The most ruthless imperial grandson, Old Zhu begged me not to kill him.

Chapter 235 Firearms Base
The group walked through a dense forest and arrived at an open area.

Inside, a group of craftsmen were hammering and tinkering with some iron lumps, while others were bringing out cannons of various calibers and calculating their parameters.

Everyone was so engrossed that they acted as if they didn't even see Zhu Yuanzhang and his entourage.

Looking at the various structures being built, Zhu Yuanzhang was greatly shocked: "Are all of these firearms?"

Zhu Yuanzhang valued firearms highly. He once stipulated that there should be at least ten musketeers for every hundred households in the regular army. In order to increase the number of muskets, he even allowed some local garrisons to cast muskets.

However, he was surprised that he couldn't name most of the muskets Zhu Xiong Ying had.

The cannons lined up there, in particular, looked like steel monsters, which deeply shocked him.

"Are all these cannons? They seem different from the Franco-style cannons and the Hongyi cannons!"

At this moment, Li Jinglong pulled an old man over from the side.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, this man is Elder Li, the one who forged the cannons!"

"He was involved in manufacturing many of the cannons here!"

Then an elderly man, thin and frail, wearing a t-shirt, walked over.

"Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor! Greetings to His Highness the Crown Prince!"

Zhu Yuanzhang had been eagerly anticipating this for some time.

"Alright, no need for formalities. Let's not talk about that now. How are these things made, and what are their functions?"

When these cannons were mentioned, Old Li said excitedly, "These cannons are all very useful!"

"This is a Tiger Crouching Cannon. Although the sound is relatively quiet, its power is considerable!"

"Especially the cannonballs and gunpowder inside were formulated by His Highness the Crown Prince, making them much more powerful than before!"

"This is a mother-and-child cannon. Once a shell is fired, it explodes into many smaller secondary explosions. It is very effective against densely packed enemies!"

"This is a 'Wind Chaser' cannon. Its carrying capacity may not be as good as the Franz Cannon, but its range is very long, making it extremely effective against distant cavalry..."

Mr. Li introduced dozens of varieties in succession, his eyes filled with excitement.

Zhu Yuanzhang and his crown prince Zhu Biao's eyes also began to shine brighter and brighter. These cannons, when combined, were extremely powerful.

It can cover a large area from far to near, making it difficult even for cavalry to break through.

In addition, there were three rows of gun formations with modified muskets trained outside.

Having these things would be ideal for this attack on the Northern Yuan.

Zhu Yuanzhang then deployed several cannons for a fire test.

Just as Mr. Li explained, these lines of fire, moving from far to near, formed a network of fire, and surviving within this network would be no easy feat.

Among these was something called a "flying thunder cannon," which could be thrown forcefully by hand upon entering the station and would explode immediately. It was a simplified version of the hand grenade that Zhu Xiong Ying created based on the hand grenade of later generations.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were many rockets, but these rockets had a short range and average power.

However, after Zhu Xiong Ying improved the gunpowder, the attack range and lethality of these rockets were much better.

So these craftsmen made the rockets into a cluster shape, so that the rain of arrows fired could not only kill a large number of enemies, but also produce an explosive effect.

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were very satisfied, Li Jinglong was overjoyed, thinking that he was about to make a significant contribution. At that moment, he turned his head and noticed that Zhu Xiong Ying's expression hadn't improved at all; in fact, it had become even more unpleasant.

Zhu Xiong Ying knew Zhu Yuanzhang's character very well, but now that Zhu Yuanzhang knew so many valuable things about his base, it wouldn't be so easy for him to protect it.

Zhu Yuanzhang patted Zhu Xiong Ying on the shoulder.

"Good job, Sun! With this great stuff, we're sure to beat the Northern Yuan to a pulp this time!"

"Tell me how much stock you have here, and we'll send someone to pick it up later. It's not safe for a child to have these things in his hands!"

Zhu Xiong Ying gave a bitter smile upon hearing this.

"Grandpa, this is too much! I made all of these with my own money, and the research costs were extremely high. Not to mention anything else, just take the gunpowder for example. I don't know how many raw materials I've used to develop the correct formula for gunpowder!"

"And those cannons, almost all of them are made of gold-plated steel, ordinary bronze cannons simply cannot be used for very long."

"I spent a fortune to manufacture these qualified steel pieces, and even then I only managed to get a small stockpile. It's really unfair of you to just take them away like this!"

Zhu Yuanzhang blushed, realizing that what he was doing was indeed somewhat unreasonable.

But he couldn't think of any other ideas. The entire Ming Dynasty was short of money. Not to mention him, even the imperial court couldn't come up with any extra funds.

Yang Siyi invested almost all of his money.

The remaining money also has its uses, but he probably wouldn't agree to spend it to buy things in order to increase military spending.

As for Zhu Yuanzhang's own money...

That was truly miserable. They scrimped and saved every day, but still didn't have much left.

"Xiongying, it's true that Grandpa was wrong in this matter, but Grandpa didn't have any other choice. You know the situation in Ming Dynasty right now, money is needed everywhere, and we really don't have enough money on hand!"

"If all else fails, just give me the blueprints or have the manufacturing department make it!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xiong Ying refused outright.

"Grandpa, these things are extremely important, we must not let the Ministry of Works do them!"

"Although the Ministry of Works can manufacture it, you know the quality and level of those guys' work. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty is like a sieve. If it were really handed over to the Ministry of Works, those greedy guys might leak the blueprints at any time!"

"If others find out, this battle will probably be much more difficult to win!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. The most important thing in fighting this battle was to catch the enemy off guard.

Therefore, it's best to keep manufacturing such weapons here.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Crown Prince Zhu Biao nodded. It was indeed true; those guys would do anything for money.

It would be a bad thing if something this good were leaked.

"So this thing can only be built here by a little brat like you? Just tell me straight, what are the prices of all these things?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely displeased, thinking that when he returned, he would treat Old Man Yang to a good meal of roast goose, and even if he had to cheat him, he would still squeeze more money out of him.

When Zhu Xiong Ying heard Zhu Yuan Zhang mention money, his eyes lit up.

"Grandfather, we are all doing this for the Ming Dynasty, and we are family. How could your grandson ask you for more money?"

(End of this chapter)