Chapter 311: Fire Gun
The Dianqian Division was responsible for guarding the palace, with a total of 50,000 people.
There is one Chief Inspector of the Palace Front Department and two Deputy Chief Inspectors.
Duke Cao An of Wei was appointed Chief Inspector of the Palace Front Division, and his two deputy chief inspectors were Rong Xian and Marquis of Xuanping Deng Xinhe.
Rong Xian was the younger brother of Concubine Rong, and Marquis Xuanping Deng Xinhe was the uncle of the retired emperor.
The post of Chief Inspector of the Duke of Wei cannot be moved for the time being, and the post of Marquis Xuanping is also not easy to move. The only one that can be moved is Rongxian.
After his father left the capital, Zhao Xing issued an edict to transfer Rong Xian to the Western Suburbs Camp to serve as the commander of the palace, and Zhang Feng took over as the deputy inspector of the Palace Front Department.
Zhang Feng is still young, just in his early twenties, and he has jumped to become a third-rank military official. Even though civil officials are more important than military officials, it is still a great achievement.
If it were any other position, the court officials would definitely object.
However, the main principle of the Dianqian Division was nepotism, and Zhao Xing made all the arrangements on his own without consulting the court officials, who also had no right to stop him.
Although Rong Xian was transferred horizontally, the Dianqian Division was one of the three yamen and had the power to control all the troops in the world. Although it seemed to be of the same rank, it was actually one level higher.
The most important thing is that the Dianqian Division belongs to the emperor's personal army. To use a saying from later generations, it means high pay and little work.
However, no matter how unwilling Rong Xian was, he could do nothing about it.
Not to mention that Concubine Rong followed the retired emperor to Luoyang, even if Concubine Rong was in Bianliang, it would not affect Zhao Xing's decision.
Zhao Xing didn't know what Rong Xian was thinking, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care.
After arranging the transfer of the Palace Front Department, Zhao Xing was busy setting up the Firearms Department.
There were many skilled craftsmen in ancient times, but unfortunately, most of the time, even if they invented something, they were not taken seriously.
Take war equipment for example. Whenever there is chaos in the world, there will be great breakthroughs.
If the world were peaceful, there would be no progress for many years.
What Zhao Xing needed to do was to let those craftsmen see the court's attention, so as to stimulate their enthusiasm for research and development.
Because the Firearms Department was very dangerous, Zhao Xing ordered his men to set up the Firearms Department in a remote place outside the city.
The place had been built not long ago, and Zhao Xing asked Cao Mian to lead the imperial guards from the Eastern Palace to garrison there.
At the same time, he transferred some skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Works to the Firearms Bureau. Then he gave the booklet on gunpowder and firearms that he had written when he had nothing to do to those craftsmen for them to study.
Zhao Xing also issued an order to recruit skilled craftsmen across the country. Anyone with a skill and a high level of technical attainments could sign up.
Anyone who passes the selection can work in the Firearms Department.
In order to stimulate the enthusiasm of the craftsmen to sign up, Zhao Xing also specifically stated that those with outstanding performance could be given official titles.
If they just entered the imperial court to work, truly capable craftsmen wouldn’t really care much.
After all, people who are highly accomplished in a field never have to worry about not making money.
There is nothing attractive about working in the Firearms Department, but being an official is different.
Although the Ministry of Works was one of the six ministries in the imperial court, its officials were not craftsmen.
Although some craftsmen were able to take up positions such as managers, they were not even minor officials.
Since ancient times, people have always been enthusiastic about being officials.
Among the four classes of people, scholars come first.
In the Song Dynasty, farmers and merchants could cross classes through the imperial examinations, but craftsmen could not.
Now that he has the opportunity to become an official, Zhao Xing doesn't believe that all the craftsmen in the world will not be tempted.
This matter was also opposed by many officials.
Zhao Xing suppressed the opposition by saying that he was only granted a minor official title and would not hold a real position.
For a time, craftsmen who thought they had great skills rushed to Bian Jing after hearing the news.
Zhao Xing originally wanted to have local governments conduct a round of selection first, but after thinking it over carefully, he gave up.
If local governments do not pay attention, they will miss out on some talents.
Capable craftsmen would not lack a little travel expenses. If a craftsman could not even earn the travel expenses, he would not have much ability. Choosing Bianjing as the place of origin was itself a selection.
As for the task of selecting craftsmen, Zhao Xing gave it to Sheng Hong.
Now Sheng Hong is the right vice minister of the Ministry of Works. Having him in charge can also demonstrate the court's emphasis on craftsmen.
Sheng Hong was depressed for a long time because he failed to become the prefect of Kaifeng.
After thinking about it carefully, he understood where the problem lay.
He had originally been prepared to work as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works until retirement, but he did not expect that Zhao Xing would actually entrust him with such an important task.
The fact that Zhao Xing promised to give those craftsmen official titles showed how much importance Zhao Xing attached to this matter.
As long as he handles this matter well, there may be a possibility of further progress.
Sheng Hong, who was very eager to make progress, put great enthusiasm into selecting craftsmen.
When the new emperor ascended the throne, he wanted to hold an imperial examination, and many scholars rushed to Bianliang. For a while, Bianliang was even more lively than usual.
…………
Long Tuge
Zhao Xing was handling official business when a eunuch walked in and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works wishes to see you."
"Let him in." Zhao Xing said.
After a while, Sheng Hong walked in, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!"
"No need to be polite." Zhao Xing waved his hand and said, "What brings you here, Lord Sheng?"
"Your Majesty, today I was screening craftsmen and found a remarkable man. He made something called a musket, which only uses a piece of bamboo, filled with gunpowder and gravel, and can be fired dozens of steps away." Sheng Hong said.
"What?" Zhao Xing was shocked and asked, "Are you telling the truth?"
"How dare I deceive Your Majesty? I saw this with my own eyes," said Sheng Hong.
"Bring this man into the palace. I want to see the power of this musket with my own eyes!" said Zhao Xing.
"Your Majesty, this thing makes a loud noise when it is launched, and the craftsman said that it is somewhat dangerous, Your Majesty..."
"I won't get close. I'll just watch from a distance. How dangerous can it be? You just need to bring the person into the palace." Zhao Xing interrupted Sheng Hong.
In his previous life, he had learned about the development of muskets. The earliest musket was called a fire lance, which was fired from a bamboo tube filled with gunpowder and gravel.
However, this thing seems to have been made during the Southern Song Dynasty.
Could it be that someone has created it now?
If that's true, then we've found a treasure.
This person was able to develop the musket without any foundation, which shows that he had in-depth research on gunpowder.
Even if its power is average, by providing him with some ideas, it will still be possible for him to create a firearm with the power of the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty.
Although there is a gap of two or three hundred years between them, iron firearms were invented during the Yuan Dynasty.
Given the nature of nomadic people, they may not care much about things like skills.
There were several hundred years from the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty to the end of the Yuan Dynasty, so the technological gap should not have been too big.
The reason why it was not made in the Song Dynasty was that the craftsmanship lacked time to improve, not because of the gap in technology.
Technology and skill seem to be the same concept, but in fact they are not the same thing at all.
Take papermaking for example. Papermaking was invented during the Han Dynasty, but the technology was immature at the time. The paper produced was not only brittle and not conducive to writing, but was also very expensive.
Later, after hundreds of years of development, papermaking technology improved and paper became the mainstream medium for carrying text.
Technology is limited by factors such as the materials of tools and equipment. It is difficult to make a breakthrough without progress in the materials of equipment. However, skills are a process from nothing to something.
It’s just like the firearms of later generations. Even if we knew how to make them, we couldn’t make them in ancient times.
However, if the musket technology of the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty were brought to today, it could be made.
(End of this chapter)