Capital, outside the imperial city.

Under the protection of the Jinyiwei and Yongweiying, Chongzhen left the palace.

This was the first time he saw an ancient city with his own eyes.

Everywhere I looked, there was desolation.

Too shabby.

The huge city of Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, actually has loess paved roads...

It’s okay if there’s no concrete and asphalt, but there must be red bricks, green bricks and so on, right?

It makes no difference!

The yellow soil under my feet was mixed with white ash. The eunuchs in front were sprinkling water to reduce the dust. The dust on the ground slowly settled under the crushing of the wheels of history.

Roads like these crisscross Beijing, creating prosperity while also heralding a century of vicissitudes.

Chongzhen did not ride in the imperial carriage. He rode on horseback and slowly moved towards the direction of Wuziku.

There are ten warehouses in the inner palace.

They are Neichengyun, A, B, C, D, E, Stolen Goods Recovery, Guangji, Guanghui and Guangyingku.

The Neichengyunku was under the management of the eunuchs in the Imperial Palace.

The Yi character library belongs to the Ministry of War.

The Jia library, Bing library, Ding library, stolen goods recovery library, Guanghui library and stolen goods recovery library are under the management of the Ministry of Revenue.

The Wu Zi, Guang Ji and Guang Ying warehouses were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works.

The Wu Zi Warehouse is next to the Anmin Factory. The predecessor of the Anmin Factory was the Wang Gong Factory. It was renamed and moved here after a major explosion in the sixth year of the Tianqi reign.

The reason for the relocation was simple: it was too close to the imperial city and the emperor felt unsafe.

However, Wanggongchang is indeed a weird place. It was bombed again in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Wu Zi Warehouse is responsible for storing firearms and armor, and the assets of the three major camps in the capital are all stored here.

Whether we can defend the capital depends entirely on these firearms!

The firearms of the early border troops were all produced by the Ministry of Industry. Due to the long distance and the high production cost of the Ministry of Industry, the border troops strongly requested that they have the right to make their own firearms.

The border troops cannot be blamed. The cost of making a musket by the Ministry of Works is two and a half taels of silver.

If the performance of the border troops' homemade muskets is consistent with that of the Ministry of Industry, only half of the price will be required.

This shows how serious corruption is.

The Minister of Works Fan Jingwen brought officials from the Ministry of Works to welcome Chongzhen in front of the Wuzi Warehouse early in the morning.

Among these people, two had anxiety written all over their faces.

One of them was a middle-aged man with a burly figure, dark skin, a full beard, and a slightly ferocious face. It was early spring and the wind was still cold, but he was only wearing a thin shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing two strong arms.

The other man was tall and had slightly brown skin, a head full of golden hair, a high nose bridge, deep eyes, and prominent cheekbones.

Fan Jingwen took the lead in saluting: "Your Highness, your Majesty!"

"No need to be polite. I am just taking a look. You don't need to greet me. Just do your job."

"yes."

Except for Fan Jingwen and these two people, the rest left quickly.

What happened in the court had already spread throughout the capital. No one was willing to stay with the emperor at this time. There were countless examples of serving the emperor like serving a tiger. Saying the wrong thing could result in murder.

"Your Majesty, Jiao Xu, the Deputy Minister of Works, and Johann Adam Schall von Bell, the Director of Works, are here to hear your orders. I wonder what your Majesty wants to say?" Fan Jingwen took a step to the side to make room for Jiao Xu and Johann Adam Schall von Bell.

"Your Majesty." The two men bowed again, lowered their heads and dared not say more.

They are scared!

Anyone would be scared. The prime minister of the cabinet had just been beheaded during the morning court session. One of them was from the fifth rank and the other from the sixth rank. They could be punished in minutes.

"I'm here to take a look at the firearms, don't worry too much."

"Your Majesty, please come this way. The firearms are all stored in the warehouse and are inconvenient to move." Fan Jingwen took over the conversation and pointed to the gate of the Wuzi Warehouse.

"Is it all rusty?"

"Ah?" Fan Jingwen blushed. "Your Majesty, you are joking. The warehouse is very dry and will not rust."

"I mean, it's time to take out the firearms in the warehouse and try them out."

"Yes, I will send someone to test the firearms in the next two days."

"These two days?" Chongzhen wanted to slap him in the face. "What's the point of trying again when the bandits reach the capital!"

Fan Jingwen knew he had said the wrong thing, and he quickly knelt down and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will arrange it right away."

The group walked into the yard of Wuziku and saw the busy figures of craftsmen.

One by one, firearms were delivered from the nearby Weapons Bureau and the Armory of the Imperial Household. After the people in the Wu Zi Warehouse checked and found no problems, they were registered in the warehouse.

Firearms were mainly matchlock guns and muskets, and the rest were matching lead bullets and gunpowder.

Under the command of Fan Jingwen, craftsmen from the Ministry of Works carried firearms out of the warehouse one by one and handed them over to the Jinyiwei.

Then the Embroidered Uniform Guards either moved or pushed them to a row in front of Chongzhen.

For the emperor's safety, the Jinyiwei could not allow these craftsmen to touch firearms in front of the emperor. If an accident occurred, it would be a serious crime and the nine generations of the family would be executed.

When everything was almost moved, Fan Jingwen began to introduce.

"Your Majesty, this is the Red Cannon!"

"Your Majesty, this is a falconet, a falconet..."

Chongzhen listened and watched, and got a general understanding of the Ming army's firearms.

The first is the Red Cannon, which is an imported product and was improved from the Portuguese naval gun. Later scholars have shown that this improved copper-iron composite cannon was one of the best cannons in the 17th century.

Chongzhen looked at the huge copper-iron composite cannon and felt a little relieved. With this guy, he had the confidence to defend the city.

The disadvantages are also obvious: expensive + heavy.

If high-strength steel is used to make artillery, the cost and weight will be reduced, and the performance will be improved.

"How many red cannons are there in the capital?"

"Your Majesty, there are twenty-four red cannons!"

"How long does it take to make a cannon?"

"It will take about half a month."

It was too late. Even if he had time, Chongzhen had no plan to modify the artillery.

He was a liberal arts student and could not produce steel cannons in this dynasty with a very weak industrial foundation.

The Ming Dynasty was able to produce steel, but it could not produce steel that could be used to make cannons.

Neither the iron frying furnace in The Exploitation of the Works of Nature nor the steel produced by the crucible steelmaking method can be used to make cannons.

Too many impurities make the steel too brittle and easily explode.

The reason for the large number of impurities is not poor technology, but the high sulfur and phosphorus content in the coal.

The West was facing the same problem at this time, but with the development of Western basic industries, they found ways to desulfurize and dephosphorize coal.

Since then, China's smelting technology and artillery technology began to lag behind the West.

"This is a hand cannon, a bird gun (matchlock gun), a three-barreled hand cannon..." Fan Jingwen continued to introduce.

"Wait!" Chongzhen pointed at one of the firearms and asked, "You said this is a self-propelled musket?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. This gun was made by Bi Maokang in the eighth year of Chongzhen. It can ignite gunpowder and shoot bullets without open flames. The Ministry of Industry produced it in small batches and has kept it ever since."