Yesterday, after Zhu Ying left, Lan Yu and Lan talked for a long time and talked about a lot.

In fact, in Lan Yu's heart, the appearance of Zhu Ying was a surprise, and other than that, he had no other knowledge of him.

Unlike Li Jinglong, Lan Yu was not aware of the existence of the Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce.

That's why Lan Yu was so shocked today after seeing just the tip of the iceberg of Zhu Ying.

Once the matchlock gun was mass-produced and became popular, Lan Yu, who was well versed in military affairs, understood that this would change the pattern of war.

The training for matchlock muskets is too simple, completely different from that for crossbowmen.

The cost of training a good crossbowman is very high, and the lethality is also incomparable.

Lan Yu had trained musketeers before, so it was too easy. Even a novice could master the firing of a musket with just a little training.

The subsequent training is about queue and stability.

There are already many musketeers in the army, and matchlock rifles can be used without any obstacles.

"It's too late to go to the Armory today, let's go to the Gunpowder Bureau in a few days." Zhu Ying said.

Lan Yu nodded. It was almost time to go back at this point.

Moreover, Lan Yu was supposed to attend the morning court today, but was delayed because he went to the Gunpowder Department.

As the Left Commander-in-Chief of the Central Military Governor's Office, no one dared to gossip about him even if he didn't go to work.

As for His Majesty, there isn't much of a problem with him and His Royal Highness Zhang Sun.

Zhu Ying and Ye Yueqing had just arrived at the mansion and were about to enjoy dinner when Guo Zhong, the eunuch in charge of the palace's Imperial Household Department, came over.

Looking at the two young eunuchs carrying a large wooden box behind Guo Zhong, Zhu Ying said speechlessly: "Can't you let me take a break? I've been busy all day."

Guo Zhong was at a loss when he heard this. He bowed and said in fear, "Your Highness, please forgive me."

"What crime has he committed? Okay, let him go." Zhu Ying couldn't possibly make things difficult for him. This was the old man's intention, and there was nothing a eunuch could do about it.

However, Zhu Ying did not have much favorable impression on these memorials.

In most people's minds, an emperor is one who holds power over the world when he is awake and sleeps on the lap of a beauty when he is drunk.

In reality, the emperor gets up earlier than the chickens and goes to bed later than the dogs. He has endless memorials to review and endless state affairs to deal with.

Occasionally, natural disasters or man-made disasters occur, and we have to find ways to solve them.

After placing the wooden box in the study, Zhu Ying said, "I'll look at it later. You guys go back to the palace first."

Guo Zhong replied, "Your Majesty has instructed that these memorials are all about 'work-for-relief'. Your Highness, please take a closer look."

"Okay, I got it. Come and get it tomorrow afternoon." Zhu Ying nodded in response.

"Yes, sir."

After Guo Zhong and others left, Zhu Ying opened the box and took a look. There were hundreds of memorials piled inside.

"It's really uncomfortable. If I had known earlier, I would have gone to Annan to establish a country. It's a better system. With such a large scale, I can't take drastic measures. I can only take it step by step."

Zhu Ying was speechless. The territory of the Ming Dynasty was too vast. The complexity involved in handling many things was completely unpredictable. He could only take one step at a time.

Zhu Ying could guess the meaning of these memorials sent by the old man. It was simply to see whether there was any corruption.

Even without looking at these reports, Zhu Ying dared to guarantee that in projects like this, corruption was absolutely common, it was just a matter of how much.

If we follow the old man's way and the current way of dealing with corruption, all these officials who reported the case will be executed one by one.

But Zhu Ying didn't want to do that. Executing too many people at once would cause problems in the grassroots operations of the entire Ming Dynasty.

It was originally similar to the "work-for-relief" method of state-owned engineering contracting in later generations, and the detailed profits were too tempting.

Many officials can intervene at will and earn a considerable amount of money just by making some adjustments to the accounts.

He had talked to the old man about this matter before. If his guess was correct, when these projects started, the old man had already arranged for the Jinyiwei to conduct undercover investigations.

Throwing the memorial to myself now is nothing more than a test.

It is almost impossible to completely eliminate the problem of corruption. Just look at the current salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty. If they are not corrupt, they cannot maintain a decent life and at most they will just starve to death.

It is definitely not enough to study hard for more than ten years and just barely survive.

However, Zhu Ying currently has no intention of dealing with the issue of officials' salaries. Compared with those officials who are not starving to death, there are obviously many more people who starve to death.

The salary reform should be started after the Ming Dynasty's treasury is full and has a steady flow of income.

Judging from the experience of later generations, the current income of the Ming Dynasty treasury is actually very easy to generate income.

The simplest way is for Zhu Ying to transfer the snowflake salt business to the national treasury. Zhu Ying could foresee that the profits generated would increase overall, but in reality they were pitifully low.

When Snowflake Salt became a state-owned business, it only made the pockets of the salt officials fatter. Due to the various losses, the actual profit that reached the national treasury was estimated to be less than 20%.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ying suddenly smiled coldly: "You have benefited from me for so many years, and now it is almost time to spit it out."

In recent years, in order to solve the sales channel problem of Snowflake Salt, he has secretly bribed the salt officials, and not only that, he also took a commission.

Now, hehe, the evidence is irrefutable and no one can escape.

"It seems like we should hurry up with this matter. We need to have someone keep an eye on it first. It would be best if we could find the place where the silver is hidden. Otherwise, it would be a big loss."

Zhu Ying said to himself.

Zhu Ying was very familiar with those corrupt officials. Many of the big corrupt officials belonged to clan forces.

After getting the silver, he hid it directly within the family. Even if he died, only this much of the silver could be traced.

Although it is a capital crime, it is at least a benefit to the family's descendants.

The old man really doesn't understand this method.

This was the way aristocratic families accumulated wealth before the Mongols, but after the chaos of the Mongols, the aristocratic families became extinct.

Now we are back to the Han Dynasty. In today's social environment, to a large extent, the clan's family rules are stricter than the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

The prototype of the aristocratic family began to gradually emerge after the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

The present noble families are the original form of aristocratic families.

After dinner, Zhu Ying encouraged Ye Yueqing a few words and then took her to the study.

"Here are some documents related to firearms. Take a good look at them. If you don't understand anything, feel free to ask me."

Zhu Ying took out the book on firearms that he had obtained from the bookshelf, handed it to Ye Yueqing and said.

Ye Yueqing’s previous performance in the Armament Bureau was recognized by Zhu Ying.

In the study of firearms, Zhu Ying is currently too advanced in his time. It is difficult for him to find someone to communicate with, and no one can keep up with his thinking.

"Thank you, boss." Ye Yueqing took it with both hands and said seriously.

Paper was not expensive in Ming Dynasty nowadays, but the knowledge on the paper was expensive, especially the knowledge on firearms, which was a banned book in Ming Dynasty. Anyone who was found studying it privately would be executed directly.

"Study hard. Although you have never touched a firearm, the principles are not difficult to understand. Once you have learned it, you can help me."

Zhu Ying said encouragingly. Zhu Ying is actually in great need of help now.

The development of firearms is naturally the focus, but a series of things such as agriculture, military, education, economy, system, etc. must be carried out at the same time.

By now, the Ming Dynasty had already established a model for these systems, and Zhu Ying could only reform them step by step.

If Annan were to establish a country, it would be accomplished in one step.

"Forget it, take your time. It's useless to think about that. Today, let me see which chicken will be killed as a warning to others."

After making arrangements with Ye Yueqing, Zhu Ying piled the memorials on the desk and began to flip through them one by one.

They must be killed, and those who are too greedy must not be left alive.

The so-called killing the chicken to scare the monkey is only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution, but it can have some effect. Once the Ministry of Industry establishes a separate system responsible for engineering, it can also curb the occurrence of corruption to a certain extent.

There is still a long way to go!

…

Inside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Ming Dynasty Palace.

"Your Majesty, I, Lan Yu, pay my respects to you."

Lan Yu did not return to the Lan Mansion at this moment. As soon as he separated from Zhu Ying from the Armory, the Embroidered Uniform Guard came to deliver a message that the emperor had ordered him to enter the palace.

For Zhu Yuanzhang, staying in the capital was like observing lines in the palm of your hand.

As long as he wants to know, the Jinyiwei will try their best to find out.

All the actions of Zhu Ying and Lan Yu were always under the control of Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Get up. We called you back urgently this time. By now, I think you should understand what's going on."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, his tone very intimate.

Zhu Yuanzhang had a high tolerance for all military generals before they turned against him. The Ming Dynasty currently needed to rely on these military generals to guard the country.

When Lan Yu saw His Majesty's familiar smile, he felt inexplicably relaxed. After standing up, he said naturally, "Your Majesty, I really didn't expect that His Royal Highness Chang Sun would come back."

"Today, I will go to the Gunpowder Department with Your Highness. This matchlock rifle really convinces me."

Lan Yu glanced at the matchlock rifle on Zhu Yuanzhang's desk and spoke.

Before, when Zhu Ying arrived at the Armory, he kept one for himself and gave the rest to the eunuchs, who took them back to the palace.

"We have tried it, it is really a good thing. Tell me, is there anyone in this world who can stop our army?"

Zhu Yuanzhang took the matchlock gun and said with some emotion. His tone became more and more heroic.

When the matchlock gun arrived, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to test it. The power it demonstrated shocked Zhu Yuanzhang, who had seen a lot of the world.

It is really too terrifying, it is just a small cannon, the most important thing is accuracy.

Within fifty steps, he could almost hit whatever he pointed at, which was enough to be equivalent to archers who had trained for several years, and could even completely replace the existence of crossbowmen.

The production of matchlock guns was very low, but this was not a big deal to Zhu Yuanzhang.

If there are not enough people, then send more people to increase output. If there are not enough craftsmen in the capital, then recruit them directly from the local areas.

If you can produce a few in a month, you can produce dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of them.

If there are not enough people, then just increase the number of people. No matter what, we must maximize the output.

Lan Yu's eyes lit up when he heard this and he said, "Your Majesty, if we can have thousands of fire-gun soldiers, even if the enemy army exceeds ten thousand, we can easily slaughter them."

"I have tried firing a gun once. With more training, I will be able to fire a gun calmly soon. Then we can form a musket cavalry team and equip them with enough fire bullets."

"Those Mongolian cavalrymen are just like chickens and dogs. They can be wiped out with a wave of the hand."

Lan Yu's words made Zhu Yuanzhang nod slightly. The more he looked at the matchlock gun, the more he liked it.

After studying it carefully for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang put down the matchlock gun and asked Lan Yu:

"You have also met our eldest grandson, but what do you think? As his uncle, you played with him a lot when he was a child, so you are familiar with him."

"Do you think our eldest grandson is really our eldest grandson?"