Chapter 145 If you are in doubt, just pay more!
The next moment, the roar of artillery sounded.
The black powder inside the barrel exploded rapidly, and the gunpowder gas produced expanded, pushing the long cylindrical new explosive bomb out of the barrel.
Amid the smoke, a long black projectile flew out of the muzzle and fell towards the target in the distance.
The shell landed and accurately hit the target one thousand meters away.
The next moment, flames rose.
With a loud bang, a cloud of yellow smoke burst out on the test site, and the wooden target was engulfed by the flames and shock wave generated by the explosion.
When the smoke cleared, a large hole appeared on the ground, surrounded by loose soil that had been blown away.
Seeing this, Li Yi couldn't help but smile and asked.
"Not bad!"
"Whether it's a breech-loading rifled cannon or an explosive shell, I'm very satisfied."
"The funds allocated to your R&D department are not wasted after all."
When Old Pete heard this, his face smiled like a blooming chrysanthemum.
Li Yi continued to ask.
“When will the breech-loading rifled guns and new explosive shells be put into mass production and deployed to the troops?”
Zhao Ke heard this and spoke.
"Your Majesty, the technical difficulties of the current breech-loading rifled cannon and the new explosive shells have been overcome."
"The problem now is that these two new weapons have high production process requirements and high production costs, so it is difficult to put them into large-scale production."
Upon hearing this, Li Yi asked with a serious expression.
“So what is the current production capacity?”
Zhao Ke spoke up.
"On the premise of not affecting the steady increase in the production capacity of other weapons in the arsenal, a maximum of five breech-loading rifled cannons will be produced each month."
"As for explosive bombs, the quantity will be greater. We can produce 500 per month."
Li Yi looked thoughtful after hearing this, and spoke after a moment.
"The scale of the arsenal must continue to expand."
"How about this, I will allocate a sum of money to you later, which will be used exclusively for the research and development and production of breech-loading rifled cannons and explosive shells."
"Increase the production scale for me as soon as possible!"
Li Yi now handles things in a simple and rough manner.
When in doubt, just pay more!
Adding money can solve eighty percent of the world's problems.
As long as there is money, there will be no shortage of equipment and workers, and the arsenal's production capacity will naturally increase.
Anyway, he had just seized the Eight Banners and Thirteen Hongs in Guangzhou, so the last thing he lacked was money.
Afterwards, Li Yi went to inspect other projects in the R&D department.
For example, metal fixed bullets, new breech-loading rifles (Mauser rifles) suitable for metal fixed bullets, rotary machine guns (Gatling guns), etc.
Among them, samples of metal fixed ammunition and new breech-loading rifles have already been produced.
The rotary machine gun is still under production and development due to its complex gun structure.
By the time he finished reviewing all of this, it was already evening.
Li Yi sat in the carriage heading to his residence, fatigue evident on his face.
Rubbing his brows, Li Yi asked Du Shundao who was standing beside him.
"What plans do I have for the next few days?"
Du Shun heard this and replied.
"Your Majesty, according to the schedule, you will go to the Foshan Machinery Factory for inspection tomorrow morning."
"I will go to Foshan Industrial Park to inspect it this afternoon, attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for its completion, and then rush back to Guangzhou."
"You need to personally preside over the opening of the imperial examination the day after tomorrow morning."
"I'm going to inspect the shipyard outside Guangzhou this afternoon."
"The day after tomorrow morning, I will attend the founding ceremony of the Military Academy."
"In the afternoon, we will go to the military camp to confer titles on a new batch of generals and officers."
"Later, you will need to attend the opening ceremony of the newly built Guangzhou University and inspect the Mint..."
"..."
Li Yi couldn't help but rub his face, and the fatigue on his face became more and more severe.
Damn, the donkey in the production team can’t be made like this!
He was really curious about how a wise and holy ruler of the Qing Dynasty could find the time and energy to travel to the south of the Yangtze River while handling state affairs?
Seeing that Li Yi looked unhappy, Du Shun opened his mouth and asked tentatively.
"Your Majesty, do you want to cancel part of this trip?"
Li Yi heard this and shook his head.
"No, these trips are very important, try to catch up."
Seeing this, Du Shun spoke hurriedly.
"Your Majesty is wise."
The carriage soon arrived outside a house.
This is a traditional Chinese garden, and the original owner was a member of the Thirteen Hongs.
Later, the Thirteen Hongs were confiscated and the garden was planned as public property.
When Li Yi came to Foshan for inspection this time, he used this garden as his temporary residence.
After returning to his residence, Li Yi had just sat down for a short while when he saw Du Shun bringing him a thick stack of official documents.
"Your Majesty, these are today's official documents."
Although Li Yi came out for inspection, he certainly could not avoid the official documents that needed his review.
Just stay up late and do it, there’s nothing much to say!
Besides, why sleep for a long time when you are alive? You will sleep forever after you die.
If Li Yi fails to successfully overthrow the Qing Dynasty, he will probably die soon.
This is absolutely unacceptable!
Li Yi nodded and said.
"Put it down. I'll take a look at it slowly."
As he spoke, Li Yi began to review official documents.
The first official document was about the land distribution.
Although the land distribution work in the Tang Dynasty is facing many obstacles, it is still continuing.
But ever since Li Yi announced that he would hold an imperial examination to select scholars and loosened the rules in the imperial examination, this resistance has obviously become much smaller.
A large number of small and medium-sized landlords who had originally fiercely opposed the land distribution work quickly changed their attitudes and began to prepare for the imperial examinations.
Although Li Yi touched their interests, he still gave them official positions.
Only the big landlords were still unwilling to have their land divided up, so they chose to resist.
However, due to the loss of the support of small and medium-sized landlords, their resistance was mostly futile in the face of the powerful military force of the Tang army.
Dare to resist?
If you resist, your house will be confiscated!
Li Yi quickly issued instructions, requiring that the land distribution work must be carried out as soon as possible. If there is resistance, force should be used without hesitation. He also commended the relevant personnel who performed outstandingly in the land distribution work.
Then he opened the second document.
The content of this official document is about the completion of Guangzhou University.
In order to cultivate talents and further promote reform, Li Yi instructed the establishment of Guangzhou University.
The school imitated the teaching model of Western universities, hired foreigners and Chinese who were proficient in Western learning as professors, and ran the school.
Teaching subjects are mainly divided into two categories: liberal arts and science. Among them, liberal arts mainly include Eastern and Western politics, Eastern and Western philosophy, Eastern and Western history, Eastern and Western art, etc.
The science subjects are mainly mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, shipbuilding, finance and other categories.
Well, there is no theology!
The main reason is that Li Yi is not interested in that thing.
In China, religion is at most an embellishment and will never become the mainstream.
Among these, the main focus is on science, supplemented by certain liberal arts.
This official document is asking Li Yi for funding.
Li Yi took a look at the grant list, pondered it for a moment, and felt that there was probably no problem with the numbers, so he picked up his pen and wrote a "approved" on it.
Then came the third document.
This official document reported to Li Yi the details of the current progress of the Tang army's foreign military operations.
Since the beginning of November last year, the Tang army has begun to expand its army while training and conducting external operations.
Overall, the progress is quite good.
At present, the entire province of Guangdong has fallen under the control of the Restoration Army.
The prefectures of Wuzhou, Pingle, Xunzhou, Nanning, Yulin and others in Guangxi were also successively conquered by the Tang army.
In other words, the Tang Dynasty's sphere of influence has now successfully expanded to the entire Guangdong and half of Guangxi.
It can be said that the progress is encouraging!
It is also different from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which only occupied important cities but did not exercise actual control over the local areas.
The Tang Dynasty actually carried out land reform in the local areas and then took actual control!
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the Taiping Army attracted the main attention of the Qing Army, which gave the Tang Army an opportunity to develop quietly.
If the Taiping Army had not been there to resist the firepower in the front, Li Yi might not have been able to get out of Guangxi now.
After reading the official document, Li Yi made an instruction, requiring the General Staff's Personnel Department and the Military Law Department to make a calculation of military merits, and then draw up a list of promotions and appointments and submit it to him for review.
After doing all this, Li Yi continued to review official documents.
It was not until the second half of the night, in the early hours of the morning, when the sky was filled with stars and the moon, that Li Yi finished the work at hand and went to bed.
The next morning, before dawn, Li Yi was called up. After breakfast, he went to the Foshan Machinery Factory for inspection as planned...
……
Similar to Foshan Arsenal, Foshan Machinery Factory was also established in November last year.
At the beginning of its establishment, Li Yi transferred a group of experienced technicians and equipment from Cenxi to provide support.
With the addition of financial investment from Datang government, the structure of the Foshan Machinery Factory was quickly erected and production began.
The flagship product of the Foshan Machinery Factory today is the steam engine.
In addition, there are industrial machine tools, spinning machines, looms, cotton gins, crushers, mechanical forging hammers and other equipment, and the sales are in short supply.
Li Yi reluctantly greeted the workers and engineers, then left the machinery factory, had lunch, and rushed to Foshan Industrial Park without stopping...
……
In Guangzhou city, Zhou family, firewood room.
Although it was a woodshed, it was kept very clean.
It was almost spotless inside and out. There were a few books on the table. Although they were visibly old, there was no stain on them.
This shows the owner's love for the books.
Sitting in front of the desk was a woman, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a beautiful face, delicate features, and a heroic look between her brows that was rarely seen in ordinary women.
At this moment, she was flipping through the book with one hand and writing with the other, copying the book.
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and then a middle-aged woman walked in from outside holding a porcelain bowl.
"Shanxiang, it's getting late. Tomorrow is the imperial examination. Have a bowl of Tremella soup and go to bed early."
Upon hearing this, Fu Shanxiang looked up and said.
"Don't worry, Auntie. I'll save it."
As she spoke, she took the bowl of soup from her aunt and began to drink from it in small sips.
Her aunt spoke up from the side.
"If you were to say so, my aunt, you would just find a good husband and marry him, take care of him and raise the children, wouldn't that be enough? Isn't that how women have lived throughout history?"
"With your appearance and character, you won't have trouble finding a husband even if you've been a widow."
"Why bother taking the imperial examination? Your aunt has already picked one for you. The man from the Zhou family on the corner is quite good."
"Their family owns several shops along the street in Guangzhou. They are very wealthy. If you marry them, you will be blessed..."
Fu Shanxiang frowned when she heard this.
"Aunt, I've inquired about it. Although the Zhou family is well-off, the young master of the Zhou family is a gambler."
“No matter how wealthy a family is, once they get involved in gambling, they will eventually be ruined.”
"My good-for-nothing brother is the best example!"
"I won't marry a gambler."
When my aunt heard this, she opened her mouth but didn't know what to say.
Although she accepted the red envelope, her opinion on Fu Shanxiang's affairs did not count. It would have to be decided by her husband, Fu Shanxiang's uncle.
However, Fu Shanxiang's uncle was very kind to her.
Even though Fu Shanxiang wanted to take the imperial examination, which was an extremely rebellious idea, her uncle did not object.
Not only did he not object, he also spent money to buy her various books for the imperial examination.
He certainly wouldn't force his niece to marry a gambler.
Fu Shanxiang was from Jiangning. Her parents died when she was young, and she was later married to the Li family as a daughter-in-law by her brother according to a marriage contract.
Her husband is six years younger than her and is a complete little kid.
At the beginning of last year, Fu Shanxiang's husband, who was only twelve years old, died of illness, and she became a widow before she even consummated her marriage.
Her husband's family was planning to sell her for money, so Fu Shanxiang fled from her husband's home overnight and went to live with her uncle.
Then, news came that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was marching from Hunan to the south of the Yangtze River. She followed her uncle's family south to Guangzhou to seek refuge with relatives in Guangzhou to escape the war.
Unfortunately, they had just arrived in Guangzhou for a short time before Guangzhou became an occupied area.
Fortunately, the war in Guangzhou ended after just a few days.
The leader of the rebel army was a kind and generous man, and he was very strict in disciplining his troops. Not only did Guangzhou not suffer any military disaster, but it also quickly restored stability.
In fact, as Li Yi opened up Guangzhou and actively attracted foreigners to invest in Jingshan, Guangzhou became more prosperous than before.
As for the biggest change to Fu Shanxiang.
It’s still about the imperial examination!
After the leader of the rebel army captured Guangzhou and proclaimed himself king, he announced that he would hold an imperial examination to recruit officials.
A women's examination was also established, allowing women to take the imperial examination.
After seeing the news, Fu Shanxiang became interested.
In the first half of her life, her fate was always controlled by others. When her father was still alive, she listened to her father, before she got married, she listened to her brother, and after she got married, she listened to her husband's family.
If her husband's family had not wanted to sell her for silver, she would probably not have had the courage to escape from her husband's family and escape her own fate.
However, after escaping from her husband's house and arriving at her uncle's house, she lost her own opinion and began to obey the arrangements of her uncle and aunt.
Although her uncle treated her well, her aunt wanted to control her marriage.
For Fu Shanxiang, who had suffered a loss and been a widow once, this was like dancing in a minefield.
Fu Shanxiang was fed up with the feeling of having her fate controlled by others.
She wants to take control of her own destiny!
And for her, this imperial examination may be her best chance!
Throughout history, I have never heard of any dynasty that allowed women to take the imperial examinations.
Of course, she would not miss this opportunity!
She wants to be the first female number one scholar in the world!
(End of this chapter)