The substitute prince: Reported the emperor's brother at the beginning

Ning Yi wanted to raise a large army and build a new army, and weapons and equipment were the most important.

Making a musket is not as simple as just making one or two samples.

Even if he made a few poles, others would think that the Sixth Prince was just making a toy.

A single musket doesn't have much power at all.

Everyone would think that it is not as convenient as a bow and arrow, and it is extremely troublesome to load. It is nothing like a bow and arrow where you just need to bend the bow and put the arrow on.

This kind of primary fire gun still needs to be used on a large scale to be powerful.

If you want to make a musket, you need good craftsmen.

At the moment, I am just making samples. I found three good craftsmen and gave them some reward money, which is enough to help me make it.

However, large-scale production requires a lot of craftsmen, and good craftsmen are absolutely indispensable.

Everyone knows that the best craftsmen are in the Armory Bureau in the palace, who are responsible for making weapons specifically for Emperor Wu.

Ning Yi had wanted to recruit them for a long time.

Qin Haifeng smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, it's not easy to poach craftsmen from the Armoury Bureau. The palace treats them very well, and their status is different, so few are willing to come."

Ning Yi frowned: "Where's the Ministry of Industry?"

"That's easy," Qin Haifeng said. "The craftsmen in the Ministry of Industry are paid very poorly. I've asked people around and found many willing to come, but they don't dare come casually."

The Ministry of Industry openly treated craftsmen very well, providing them with wages and various subsidies.

But they were all embezzled, and some supervisors even punished and beat them.

If they fail to complete the task, they will be fired, and the materials given are also deducted in various ways, so the quality of the products is naturally not very good.

The works of the Ministry of Works were distributed to border troops and the Beijing camp.

The Beijing camp is better. They will select high-quality ones specifically to fool the inspection.

Other than that, apart from looking like weapons and armor, their quality is actually very poor.

The Ministry of Works kept a register of craftsmen, and if someone disappeared, the whole family would be in trouble.

Ning Yi thought for a moment and said, "How about this? First, we should select a few skilled blacksmiths to work in our house, and bring their families over as well."

"Tell the Ministry of Works that if they dare to make things difficult for the person I want, I, the prince, will take the dragon-patterned sword and seek justice for all the craftsmen in the Ministry of Works."

Since the soldiers from the Armoury Bureau couldn’t dig any more, they had to use the craftsmen from the Ministry of Works first.

The craftsmen in the Ministry of Industry have inherited their skills from their ancestors, so there shouldn't be too many technical problems.

Qin Haifeng accepted the order and admired it in his heart. Only His Highness had the courage to make the officials of the Ministry of Works behave themselves.

Of course, this is because the Sixth Prince only needs a few good blacksmiths. The reason can be said that your Ministry of Works is so busy, so I can find a few blacksmiths myself to make weapons and armor for the guards. That’s no problem, right?

No one would go head-to-head with the evil Sixth Prince over such a small matter.

What's more, Qin Haifeng brought six blacksmiths that day.

Just look at them, their clothes are tattered, they are skinny, their family members are also in patches, and some children are even kneeling naked in front of Ning Yi, their eyes full of fear and expectation.

Ning Yi frowned: "Just arrange accommodation and clean clothes for them. How can we work like this?"

They are all technical personnel, and the Ministry of Industry treats them like this. They deserve to be killed.

Just let them settle down for a few days and let them make weapons for the 100 servants.

A few days later, these blacksmiths who were grateful to Ning Yi had already started hammering and forging weapons in the side yard.

When Ning Yi was inspecting, he saw that they were very enthusiastic and motivated.

Qin Haifeng was worried: "Your Highness, it's nothing for them to build weapons for a hundred servants to train."

"But it would be troublesome if those damned civil servants reported you for secretly forging weapons."

Ning Yi waved his hand slightly: "Don't worry about them. This prince only makes weapons for his own guards. Is that not allowed?"

"Who told their Ministry of Industry not to accept the order?"

Ning Yi was not afraid of being sued. There were only a few blacksmiths and it was not a large-scale production.

Or when the Ministry of Industry refused to accept my order, I went to the Ministry of Industry to ask for the craftsmen.

If you want to report him for no reason, then report the Ministry of Industry as well.

Of course, Ning Yi looked down upon the ordinary swords and guns made by these blacksmiths.

Ask the blacksmith to transform the ordinary waist knife into a slender knife.

They also make harrows, javelins, and three-pointed arrowheads.

Looking at the various weapons that had been made, Qin Haifeng was puzzled: "Your Highness, can these be practiced?"

Now most of the troops are composed of spearmen, equipped with shieldmen and archers, and they are all absolutely heroic and powerful troops.

But the weapons that the Sixth Prince ordered to be manufactured seemed so childish no matter how you looked at them.

Ning Yi smiled nonchalantly and said, "This is a weapon specially made by this prince for the truly elite. You will know when the time comes."

It was this sentence again, and Qin Haifeng didn't know what to say.

He often heard His Highness say how powerful his new army must be, but it was useless if he couldn't see it. At least he didn't believe it now.

The servant reported that three blacksmiths came to ask for a meeting.

Ning Yi was very interested: "Let's go and see how their firearms are progressing."

Also, let the six blacksmiths stop and take a look together.

The three of them were already waiting in the front yard training ground. Seeing His Highness, they took the initiative to salute and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."

"Good." Ning Yi smiled and said, "It's only been a few days, and you've actually achieved some results. Let this prince take a good look at the good stuff you've made."

All three of them took out a crude musket, one long and one short.

Ning Yi first looked at the three short ones, and after looking at them one by one, he tested them again.

The quality was indeed better this time: "It's OK, it can be used."

But look at the musket, it looks no different from a fire stick.

The drawings Ning Yi gave them used curved wooden handles, but their production was very awkward.

"It doesn't look very good."

The oldest of the three bowed and smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, we are, after all, not very good at carpentry."

This sentence reminded Ning Yi, and he ordered on the spot: "Haifeng, go and gather a few skilled carpenters immediately."

This is a small matter, Qin Haifeng just needs to tell his servants to do it.

There are many people in Beijing who are good at carpentry.

Looking at the long muskets made by these three people, they are of different lengths.

Some are wide, some are thin. Ning Yi frowned: "The barrel must be of good quality, otherwise it will explode easily."

None of the three had ever handled gunpowder themselves.

Ning Yi had someone collect materials and make some himself, and they are only in the trial stage now.

No one has ever seen what a barrel explodes.

"Snap" Ning Yi aimed at the wooden sign placed in front of him and pulled the trigger.

The bullets on the wooden sign penetrated significantly deeper than those on the pistol.

Qin Haifeng had also heard the sound of gunpowder several times and had become accustomed to it.

He asked curiously, "Your Highness, this long iron pipe can hit farther than the short one?"

"That's right." Ning Yi nodded slightly: "This is the best for ordinary soldiers."

"Unfortunately, the anger rate is too low."

I just tried to do it several times and only got angry once. The quality is indeed average.