My father is Jiajing

"Prepare for the sea trial!"

At Zhu Zaigui's command, everyone started moving.

This sea trial was actually very simple and did not involve many complicated tests.

The main purpose is to test the power of the sails and the power of the cannons that will be equipped on the treasure ship.

Therefore, after Zhu Zaigui gave this order, the craftsmen from the Firearms Department of the Ministry of War who had been waiting at the Tianjin Port dock also started to move.

They also pushed out the new artillery that had been heavily escorted long ago.

Then, with the help of the naval officers and soldiers on the "Yongle" treasure ship and the design craftsmen from the Longjiang Shipyard on board, a group of craftsmen finally moved the artillery pieces used to test the combat effectiveness of the treasure ship onto the ship.

Zhu Zaigui stood in front of Xu Jie and others, and watched with them the new cannons that were pushed onto the deck of the treasure ship through the pier. He was also extremely excited.

Zhu Zaigui stretched out his hand and pulled open the red satin on the new cannon. Suddenly, a new cannon with a slender shape and a black muzzle appeared in front of everyone.

"Xiao Zhao, you're here."

Zhu Zaigui waved to a boy who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old.

The young man called "Xiao Zhao" immediately walked quickly to Zhu Zaigui's front, and from his appearance, he had the arrogance that a young man should have. He was not intimidated or respectful by Zhu Zaigui's identity or the identities of the senior officials around him.

It can be seen that this young man called "Xiao Zhao" also has a bit of the feeling of a newborn calf who is not afraid of a tiger.

"My Lord, I am always here."

Xiao Zhao held his head high and stood in front of Zhu Zaigui with his chest puffed out.

When Xu Jie and others saw that this young man was standing in front of Zhu Zaigui without any fear at all, they couldn't help but take a closer look at him curiously, and wondered in their hearts whose child this "Xiao Zhao" was?
How dare he stand in front of Zhu Zaigui so fearlessly, and Zhu Zaigui did not blame him for his "rudeness" at all.

But in fact, this "Xiao Zhao" was not the "child from which family" that Xu Jie and others imagined.

He was just a piece of unpolished jade that Zhu Zaigui discovered by chance.

Of course, this unpolished jade is not the kind of "scholarly seed" that everyone envies, but the kind of good seed that is extremely keen on engineering inventions.

He seemed to be a natural inventor. Many problems that troubled many craftsmen could be solved quickly by him, and then he could think of corresponding solutions.

Therefore, after his ability was discovered, Zhu Zaigui treated him as if he were his own son.

"Xiao Zhao, come and introduce these new cannons to these grandfathers and uncles."

Zhu Zaigui happily asked "Xiao Zhao" to come out and explain to everyone the new firearms that Zhu Zaigui had just opened the red silk for.

Xiao Zhao took the lead and said excitedly to Zhu Zaigui: "Okay!"

Xiao Zhao stood in front of everyone with full confidence, not at all stage frightened.

"This cannon is a new one we modified based on the Tessi-French cannon."

Xiao Zhao pointed to a new long-barreled cannon in front of him, "The muzzle of this cannon is two inches and nine tenths of an inch. It can fire solid bullets, flower bombs and other types of shells. The farthest range is about eight miles away!"

Although Xu Jie and others did not understand firearms, they still had a good idea of ​​the distance of eight miles.

So when they heard that this cannon could fire up to eight miles away, they all gasped!
Xu Jie couldn't help but asked excitedly: "Is it really eight miles?"

Xiao Zhao looked at the excited old man with a white beard in front of him and said confidently, "Of course!"

"The original Portuguese cannon had a range of three to four miles, but after our special improvement, the range of this cannon has doubled, surpassing most artillery and achieving the longest-range strike."

As the chief minister of the cabinet, Xu Jie had heard about how powerful the Portuguese cannon was.

It's just that he didn't pay much attention to the issue of military equipment. Moreover, in Xu Jie's subconscious mind, the Western barbarians on the sea were not enemies of the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Jie believed that these Westerners came across the ocean just to buy some luxury items such as silk, tea, porcelain, etc., and then transport them back to the West to make huge profits.

Therefore, not only Xu Jie, but even most of the gentry and scholars who knew of the existence of these Westerners never regarded them as enemies.

After all, they are too far away from the Ming Dynasty, and the power they have to reach the border of the Ming Dynasty is too small.

Even though their firearms looked more powerful than those of the Ming Dynasty, they had fewer people and fewer ships.

Therefore, in the subconscious of many people, these Westerners are not a concern.

However, since the Japanese Navy discovered that they were building a fortress in Taiwan three years ago, Xu Jie and others had to admit that these Westerners might have evil ambitions that they had never imagined.

Therefore, in recent years, Zhu Zaigui has devoted a lot of resources and manpower to develop the East China Sea Navy and consolidate the coastal defense decision, and traditional civil servants such as Xu Jie did not express any explicit opposition.

After all, the Japanese pirates and thieves on the sea have not been completely wiped out. If anyone is ignorant enough to stand up at this time to stop Zhu Zaigui's decision to build the Japanese Navy to defend the outer seas.

Even if Zhu Zaigui did not say anything, perhaps the heroes who fought against the Japanese pirates in the southeast, led by Hu Zongxian, would have accused those who prevented the development of the Japanese navy of "colluding with the Japanese pirates."

Therefore, under such "political correctness", no one dared to easily stand up to stop the Ming Dynasty's decision to build a powerful navy.

Now that Xu Jie heard what "Xiao Zhao" said, that this new type of firearm has definitely surpassed the Western firearms, he must be extremely excited.

Because in Xu Jie's opinion, if this kind of artillery is really so powerful, then the Ming Dynasty can allocate part of the silver for shipbuilding in the future to build more artillery positions in some key coastal landing places to deter enemies coming from the open sea.

In this way, not only can a large amount of military expenditure be saved for the Ming Dynasty, but also more and better reputation can be earned for oneself. Why not do it?

Of course, these ideas were just the beginnings of Xu Jie's mind.

If Zhu Zaigui knew that Xu Jie was thinking this way, then his position as Prime Minister would definitely be over.

Because Zhu Zaigui did not need a prime minister who was so "good at saving money", what Zhu Zaigui needed was a prime minister who could take a bird's-eye view and have a foresight.

Zhu Zaigui would never allow a prime minister who was traditional, conservative and ignorant of the general trend of the world to continue to sit in the government and poison the ambitions of generations of people to advance.

Zhu Zaiqi looked at "Xiao Zhao" with a smile, "Continue introducing."

Xiao Zhao straightened his chest again and continued to introduce the cannon in front of him with confidence.

Xiao Zhao said: "The reason why this cannon has such a long range is related to the principles of mathematics and physics."

When Zhu Zaiqi heard this, he also laughed and stopped her, saying, "You don't need to explain this knowledge to them. They won't understand even if you explain it to them. Just tell them something simple."

Xiao Zhao was interrupted by Zhu Zaigui, and he felt very sorry. In his opinion, this knowledge was the most important.

As a result, Zhu Zaigui did not allow him to elaborate here, which was undoubtedly a pity for a teenager who wanted to show his talents but had no place to show them.

The reason why Zhu Zaigui didn't let Xiao Zhao say these things was because these things involved the core secrets of the Ming Dynasty's weapons development. Once these words were revealed, with so many people present, it would definitely not be possible to keep the secret.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui stopped Xiao Zhang in time and asked him to continue focusing on introducing the power of the artillery.

Xiao Zhao sorted out his thoughts and continued, "This cannon is extremely powerful. If it is used with a special bomb shell for long-range fire, its maximum explosion radius is about three meters. Within three meters, there is no chance of survival for flesh and blood bodies. Within three meters and six meters, the lightest will be seriously injured, and the worst will be killed. With this cannon, whether it is a cavalry attacking from a distance or a pirate coming from the distant sea, they can all be killed in one shot!"

"S-"

After Xiao Zhao finished saying these words, everyone present took a deep breath.

They couldn't even imagine what the scene would be like with such artillery power?
With such weapons equipped in the Ming army, they couldn't imagine what kind of enemy would be so desperate as to continue to be the enemy of the Ming?

Qi Jiguang was even more excited.

He is a hereditary military officer and has been familiar with many military matters since childhood.

So during these years he not only taught himself, but also improved the various weapons used by his soldiers according to actual combat needs.

Therefore, when he heard that this cannon not only had an extremely long range of eight miles, but also had such powerful damage, how could he not be excited?
Qi Jiguang asked: "Is it really so?"

Xiao Zhao looked at Qi Jiguang's excited eyes and replied confidently, "Of course!"

But then Xiao Zhao also raised other important issues.

Xiao Zhao said: "This powerful special shell is difficult to produce, and the final test and mass production have not yet been completed. In addition, the risk of using this shell is also very high. Even experienced gunners cannot guarantee success."

"So, I suggest that unless you are faced with an absolute last resort and cannot make a decision, you should try not to use this type of shell lightly. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, the consequences will be extremely serious."

Xiao Zhao's words also made the originally excited Qi Jiguang sober up a lot.

Yes.

How could a cannon with such great power be able to fire indefinitely without any restrictions like ordinary cannons?

There will definitely be problems.

Qi Jiguang said with emotion: "It is great to have such a choice. Now I want to test this gun at sea immediately."

Zhu Zaigui laughed and said, "Qi Qing, don't be anxious. Once Xiao Zhao finishes explaining the characteristics of these artillery pieces, I will have them load them onto the ship immediately and let you personally test the power of these new artillery pieces!"

Qi Jiguang bowed to Zhu Zaigui and said with some embarrassment: "It was I who lost my composure."

Zhu Zaigui laughed again and said, "It's okay, it's okay. This cannon is actually a peerless weapon that heroes like. When a good general sees such a treasure, how can he not be tempted?"

Zhu Zaigui sighed again, "If Emperor Chengzu had such a magical weapon when he swept through Mobei, why would the Ming Dynasty have to worry about the nine borders for nearly two hundred years?"

"However, it's not too late to have it now. At least to a certain extent, it can make the Anda people become more hospitable and good at singing and dancing. Therefore, the research and development and progress of this artillery is so important to the border of the Ming Dynasty!"

"They not only protected the people living in the border areas, but also gave the Ming Dynasty more initiative, more energy and means to divide and deal with the once capricious grassland enemies."

"The problem in the north is not serious now, but the problem at sea has emerged. I hope you can practice the methods of naval warfare and try to maximize the combat power of this treasure ship 'Yongle' at sea."

"Let those small countries that do not know the rule of the king and have forgotten the glory of the Ming Dynasty recall how magnificent and majestic the Ming Dynasty was during the Yongle era!"

Qi Jiguang immediately bowed and said, "I will remember your teachings, and will never let down the Yongle treasure ship!"

Zhu Zai nodded and raised his hand to let Qi Jiguang stand up.

"Xiao Zhao, continue."

Then Zhu Zaigui gave another instruction to Xiao Zhao.

Xiao Zhao immediately got into the mood and began to introduce the remaining artillery and firearms.

Xiao Zhao's wonderful introduction opened the eyes of the ministers who were watching the ceremony. It also made Qi Jiguang and other naval officers and soldiers unable to help but be excited, wanting to immediately verify whether these artillery firearms were really as powerful as Xiao Zhao said.

Zhu Zaigui looked at their reactions and did not continue speaking.

At this time, instead of using a dry tone to describe the power of these artillery pieces, it would be more intuitive to just fire one!

So in the following period of time, the performance of these new artillery pieces was tested on the Yongle treasure ship.

As everyone watched these cannons being installed at the muzzles on the side of the "Yongle" treasure ship, they couldn't help but reveal their excited anticipation.

Qi Jiguang stood beside Zhu Zaigui and bowed to him again, "Your Majesty, please give the order!"

Zhu Zaigui chuckled, "No, you are the commander of the Yongle treasure ship and the person in charge of the sea trial of the Yongle treasure ship at this time, so you will give the order. I am here to watch the ceremony with all the officials and the people who are excited about the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty's martial virtue. I will not interfere in other matters."

Qi Jiguang was deeply moved when he heard Zhu Zaigui's words.

You have to know that in many cases, when there are opportunities to gain attention and face, many leaders will naturally bypass the actual person in charge and grab all the limelight and credit for themselves.

However, Zhu Zaigui was not tempted by this, but instead emphasized the purpose of his visit.

How could this not move Qi Jiguang?

If the Ming Dynasty can trust these military officers in this way in the future, and give them more opportunities and respect, then how can they not work hard when it comes to making achievements?

After all, since the Battle of Tumu, the status of military officers has been like Wang Xiaoer's New Year - getting worse every year.

In some places, it is even worse, military officers of the same rank actually have to kneel down and greet civil officials of the same rank?

Let me ask, under such strong constraints?
How many military officers can continue to fight for their lives sincerely?
Therefore, if he wanted to further explore and reshape the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, Zhu Zaigui had to show respect and trust to capable military officers through his own actions.

Only in this way could Zhu Zaigui make these soldiers who risked their lives believe that the court would truly and fairly view their merits and abilities.

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Ask for monthly ticket~~(End of this chapter)