Zhu Ying's words made Lan Yu a little confused, but when he heard that it would only take a few months to get such a powerful weapon, Lan Yu suddenly felt relieved.
Now Zhu Ying goes directly to the Armory Bureau, his purpose is to solve the problem of production.
One of the most important influences involved was the lathe that Zhu Ying had always been thinking about.
Lathes were not unfamiliar to Zhu Ying. Various types of lathes were very common in later generations and had many uses.
If you want to mass-produce muskets and fireballs while maintaining quality, you must inevitably use a lathe.
In fact, in recent times, Zhu Ying had already ordered the Jinyiwei to bring various books related to craftsmen in an attempt to find out the production direction of lathes.
To be honest, although Zhu Ying knows about lathes, it is really beyond his ability to actually use one, or to guide others to make one.
He is not an omnipotent genius. If he had worked in an electronics factory tightening screws in his previous life, he might have been more familiar with it. Unfortunately, he didn't.
I looked through many documents related to craftsmen, but couldn't find any clues.
You know, lathes first appeared in the Tang Dynasty, so how could there be no relevant records?
Later, when Zhu Ying saw someone doing carpentry work in the house, he realized that he had gone in the wrong direction.
This is because he was blinded by his past life. In his previous life, lathe processing, especially the production of various materials, was mostly done in the machinery industry.
So Zhu Ying subconsciously went in the direction of the craftsman.
However, in reality, all inventions and creations from ancient times to the present, especially those involving small structures, are mainly made by carpenters.
In fact, carpenters in later generations would use wooden boards to build temporary lathes during construction to cut wooden boards and check size standards.
When Zhu Ying turned his attention to carpentry, he discovered that primitive lathes had actually been frequently used in the Ming Dynasty today.
Reading through the documents related to the Military Equipment Bureau gave Zhu Ying enough surprises.
The most commonly used machine in the Armory Bureau is the power lathe, which is already a model of the lathes of later generations.
The precision of the workpieces it processes has reached the level of two to five threads of later generations, and the accuracy and surface finish have also reached a very high level.
At present, in the Armory, it is mainly used for the mass production of arrow shafts and gun barrels, with turning technology replacing the previous grinding.
At first Zhu Ying was a little surprised.
The Armory Bureau clearly has lathes and other technologies. Wouldn't it be a very simple matter to modify them and use them to make gun barrels or other parts?
It was not until then, when Zhu Ying casually asked the eunuch Guo Zhong a few questions, that he finally understood what the so-called sectarianism and cherishing one's own possessions meant.
Due to the difference in social environment, carpenters and blacksmiths, although collectively called craftsmen, do not interact with each other.
In other words, the master carpenter in the Gunpowder Department is not just a little bit inferior to the Armoury Bureau.
Even in the carpenter's circle, helping a blacksmith is considered shameless.
Any master chef with a little fame would not be willing to go to the Gunpowder Department. In their opinion, it was just a miscellaneous job.
Zhu Ying had originally planned to go to the Armory Bureau to take a look, but he was too busy these days to have time.
Today happened to be the day when the matchlock gun was made, so we solved the problem in one go.
The Bingzhang Bureau was one of the Eight Bureaus of the Ming Dynasty and also the most important department. It had a eunuch in charge of the seal, a eunuch in charge of the armory, managers, assistant secretaries, directors, and supervisors.
The Armory was not located in the imperial palace, but in the inner city to the right of the imperial court.
This area is also where other departments such as the Silver Bureau, Wine, Vinegar and Flour Bureau, and Garden Bureau are located. Ordinary people cannot reach here.
With the Embroidered Uniform Guard paving the way and Duke of Liang Lan Yu accompanying him, Zhu Ying had a smooth journey even though he did not have a specific identity yet.
When Zhu Ying arrived at the gate of the Armoury Bureau, the eunuch in charge of the bureau's seal was already waiting at the door.
"Greetings to His Royal Highness Changsun. I did not know that Your Highness was here in person and did not come to greet you. I beg Your Highness to forgive me."
As a royal servant, the eunuch in charge of the Armory Bureau knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
"Not guilty, get up."
Zhu Ying said casually, he has become completely accustomed to this routine.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the eunuchs not to interfere in government affairs, he actually still used them as his confidants.
Among the twenty-four yamen, those who could serve as eunuchs were basically all eunuchs.
Of course, not all people working in these government offices were eunuchs. For example, in the Gunpowder Department and the Armament Bureau, except for a few eunuchs in charge and the managers, the rest were normal people.
Eunuch is the name of an official title, and corresponding titles include Shaojian and Zhongjian.
A eunuch who can serve as a eunuch is considered the leader among the eunuchs.
It was precisely because he was the eunuch in charge of the Military Equipment Bureau that he knew of Zhu Ying's existence. Ordinary officials did not have so many information channels.
"I wonder if His Royal Highness Chang Sun has any instructions for coming here."
The eunuch in charge of the Armoury Bureau followed Zhu Ying with a bow and asked carefully in a low voice.
"Take me to the place where arrow shafts and gun shafts are made." Zhu Ying said directly.
"Yes, sir." Upon hearing this, the eunuch in charge of the seal bowed and walked in small steps to the front of Zhu Ying to lead the way.
After many twists and turns, we soon arrived at the area where arrow shafts were produced.
As Zhu Ying expected, the place was filled with a large number of power lathes, hundreds of carpenters operating them skillfully, sawdust flying everywhere, and large quantities of semi-finished products were produced.
The so-called power lathe is a lathe that uses a foot pedal to drive the spindle to rotate, thereby causing the wood fixed on the chuck to rotate.
There is an axle belt under the lathe and a knife edge in the front for turning.
A power lathe is usually used by two people. The master holds the tool in his hand and does the cutting, while the apprentice pedals continuously to pull the rope to turn the wood to provide power.
"Your Highness has arrived. Why don't you hurry up and pay your respects?" The eunuch in charge of the military equipment department shouted. The craftsmen who had already seen Zhu Ying and others coming immediately knelt down and kowtowed, shouting in unison: "Greetings to Your Highness."
"Everyone, get up. I'm just taking a look. Go back to your seats and continue working."
Upon hearing His Highness's order, the craftsmen hurriedly began to work.
"Arrange thirty of the most skilled lathe masters to be transferred to the Gunpowder Department. I will be of great use to you."
Zhu Ying looked at it carefully for a while and then gave instructions.
The eunuch in charge of the Arms Bureau didn't know what His Royal Highness Chang Sun was going to do, but as a royal servant, he naturally had no reason to refuse, so he replied, "As you command."
He did not have any extra thoughts. Not to mention thirty people, even if it was three hundred people, he had to find a way to gather them together and complete the order of His Royal Highness Chang Sun.
Now in the Ming Dynasty Palace, any eunuch with a little bit of status would know the existence of His Royal Highness Chang Sun.
It is not difficult to imagine that His Royal Highness Changsun standing in front of him is basically the future Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the transfer of craftsmen must be reported to His Majesty before a final decision can be made, but we can start preparing now.
Since he was at the Armory Bureau, Zhu Ying looked around after giving his instructions.
However, Zhu Ying currently does not have much interest in cold weapons. With war artifacts such as the matchlock gun, cold weapons, no matter how good they are, are useless.
Lan Yu followed all the way, but was completely confused until he left the Armory.
In his opinion, after Zhu Ying came to the Armory, he just arranged a group of carpenters to go to the Gunpowder Bureau, and there was nothing else to do.
Can that group of carpenters increase the output of matchlock guns?
Lan Yu felt a little skeptical.
Zhu Ying was not surprised to see Lan Yu's expression. Invention and creation and leading troops to fight are two different things. It is normal that Lan Yu did not understand.
However, the perceptive Zhu Ying discovered that there was a look of understanding in Ye Yueqing's eyes.
For this reason, he couldn't help but asked with a smile: "Did you see anything?"
Upon hearing this, Ye Yueqing looked thoughtful, and then replied, "Does the boss want to build an iron lathe like this carpenter's lathe to speed up the production of fire bombs and matchlock guns?"
Zhu Ying's eyes lit up. He didn't expect Ye Yueqing to be so smart and could guess it right away.
You have to know that due to the limitation of vision, most people can't even understand the logic behind it. Ye Yueqing was able to guess it, which shows that he has already given some thoughts about the industry.
And it was during these two short hours that he saw the matchlock rifle for the first time, and then when he went to the power-accumulating lathe at the Armory, he guessed the connection between the two.
In fact, this is also something Zhu Ying forgot.
In the forces under Zhu Ying's command, although there is no last-in-first-out promotion system, it is easy to imagine how difficult it is to reach Ye Yueqing's level, especially for a woman.
In order to replace the Goryeo princess, while ensuring loyalty, he also had to learn music, chess, calligraphy, painting, the Goryeo language, and even the etiquette of the Goryeo royal family and the Ming royal family.
The difficulty of this can be imagined, it is almost one in a thousand.
Although Zhu Ying didn't say anything in his heart, he had already begun to take Ye Yueqing seriously.
Apart from other aspects, in Zhu Ying's heart, perhaps Ye Yueqing has an extraordinary sense of smell for industrial mechanization.
In fact, even Zhu Ying himself, in this respect, only relied on the knowledge from his previous life. It was nothing short of a fantasy for him to really make a machine tool by himself.
What he can do is to guide and better direct the current productivity of the Ming Dynasty in the right direction.
In fact, as far as the current Ming Dynasty is concerned, it is leading the world in many core technologies.
For example, before this, the matchlock gun involved composite barrel technology.
It is because of the existence of this technology that we can successfully manufacture a barrel that is stable enough for the matchlock gun.
This technology is currently used in artillery, but guns and artillery are inseparable, it’s just a matter of size.
The composite gun barrel technology is now also called "iron core and copper body". The cannon that was originally cast with pure copper was changed by craftsmen to use wrought iron to create the inner layer, and then the mold was made using the lost wax method, and the copper wall was cast on the outside.
This unique technology not only reduces the cost of casting guns and cannons, but also makes the weapons stronger and more durable.
After receiving Zhu Ying's request, the Gunpowder Bureau used this technology.
We currently do not have the ability to produce seamless steel pipes. If we want the barrel of a matchlock gun to withstand sufficient impact without being damaged by explosion, we can only improve the technology.
Therefore, the current matchlock gun is much larger than the one Zhu Ying used in his previous life, especially the barrel, which is actually made of two layers of fine iron.
The Ming Dynasty currently has more similar core technologies, including waterwheel technology.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, faced with constant wars on the borders and a devastated domestic economy, the anxious Zhu Yuanzhang personally took charge of agricultural construction.
By the 25th year of Hongwu, more than 50,000 water conservancy projects had been built at single rivers and ponds, and millions of farmers had been relocated.
In this hot construction, a low-key agricultural technology, the waterwheel, played a key role.
As an irrigation "magic tool" for ancient agricultural production, ancient waterwheel technology has been the world's "high-tech" in all dynasties.
During the Song and Yuan dynasties before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, new technologies such as "wind-powered water wheels" and "animal-powered water wheels" emerged earlier.
But in the chaotic years at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, these "new tricks" were mostly limited to individual regions and their contribution to production was very limited.
It was not until the early Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang took great care of agriculture, that officials from all over the country took agricultural books and blueprints and taught farmers how to build water wheels.
This type of waterwheel, which was originally a "local feature", soon began to rumble across the country. Today, it helps the once impoverished Ming Dynasty to achieve a direct surge in agricultural output.
There is also the world-famous silk, among which the jacquard machine technology is the pinnacle of silk textile technology.
At present, the Ming Dynasty had not yet opened its seas. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, silk fabrics were manufactured using the jacquard machine technology, which caused silver from countless overseas countries to flow into the Ming Dynasty crazily.
After coming out of the Armory, it was almost dusk, and Zhu Ying did not notice it at this time.
The look in Lan Yu's eyes behind him when he looked at him was completely different, and there was even a hint of reverence in them.
Since seeing the musket in the Gunpowder Department in the morning and testing the power of the musket with his own hands, Lan Yu's mentality has begun to change.
War is not just about soldiers, but also about logistics, equipment and military strength.
Lan Yu, who had experienced many years of war, naturally knew all this.
Although he has not yet witnessed Zhu Ying's ability to command and train troops, from today's perspective, His Royal Highness Changsun's familiarity with military affairs, especially combat readiness, far exceeds his own.
Among all these, what Lan Yu saw most deeply was the ambition of His Royal Highness Chang Sun.