Outside the city, the Gunpowder Department.

When he came to the Gunpowder Department again, Zhu Ying could clearly feel a great difference. As soon as he entered, he could smell the smell of gunpowder.

Obviously, in just half a month, Ye Yueqing's progress in guidance here was quite different.

Zhu Ying's arrival was not announced. Ye Yueqing, who got the news, rushed over immediately. At this time, Ye Yueqing's face was dark, and it was obvious that he was conducting experiments personally not long ago.

"Hello, Boss." Ye Yueqing was unaware of the change on her face, but saw that Boss's expression became somewhat excited.

"It seems that the progress of the matchlock gun is going well." Zhu Ying walked up to Ye Yueqing, took out a handkerchief from his arms and handed it over.

He motioned Ye Yueqing to wipe it.

A blush appeared on the dark face, and Ye Yueqing only then realized that there was something wrong with her face.

After taking the handkerchief from her boss, she was still reluctant to use it, but under her boss's gaze, she turned her head slightly and began to wipe it carefully.

After wiping, Ye Yueqing looked at the dirty handkerchief and said, "I will help you clean it and then give it to you."

Zhu Ying nodded slightly, not continuing the topic of the handkerchief, and then asked, "What's the situation with the matchlock gun now?"

Hearing the boss asking about the matchlock gun, Ye Yueqing immediately became excited and began to report:

"I followed the master's instructions and started to disassemble and forge the matchlock guns. In particular, the power-accumulating lathe made by the carpenters from the Armory Bureau is making very fast progress now."

As Ye Yueqing spoke, Zhu Ying began to gradually understand the current production situation of matchlock guns, and also understood why the smell of gunpowder in the Gunpowder Department was so strong.

Before Ye Yueqing came, Zhu Ying gave her individual instruction on the matchlock rifle and even gunpowder.

Of course, Zhu Ying's teachings were mostly theoretical, such as the disassembly and assembly of matchlock guns, the proportion and purification of gunpowder, etc.

The most important thing is about the power lathe.

These carpenters who came here are all master craftsmen. Nowadays in the Ming Dynasty, carpenters who are able to work in the Armoury Bureau almost all have a heritage.

When Ye Yue listed his requirements, the carpenters jointly made a power-charging lathe that could be used to polish the gun barrel in just two days.

There are even several styles that appear directly.

Carpenters in the Ming Dynasty today are very similar to scientists in later generations, not to mention the two hundred master carpenters, all of whom are masters and can make many things with ease.

Don't underestimate the wisdom of the ancients. Once you understand the mortise and tenon structure, you will know how superb the skills of carpenters are. Things like power lathes are really not worth mentioning.

To carpenters, this thing is actually no different from a loom.

Several power-storing lathes for matchlock guns and fire bombs appeared, and soon these lathes were produced in large quantities.

Except for the previous sample matchlock guns which were made of fine iron, all the current matchlock guns are made of copper.

After the power lathe was completed, the assembly line processing concept conveyed by Zhu Ying was also well arranged by Ye Yueqing.

After mastering the production of the matchlock gun and fire bombs, Ye Yueqing turned his attention to the purification and proportioning of gunpowder.

In the past six or seven days, we have been conducting experiments at different stages to refine the ratio of gunpowder.

"The output of matchlock guns has begun to increase. After the steps were refined, many apprentices became very familiar with the process, especially the rifling inside the barrel. Carpenters also made new methods."

"We can now produce at least 500 muskets per month, and we can produce even more when we expand our scale in the future."

Ye Yueqing said excitedly, From just a few dozen per month, to 500 per month now, and even thousands in the future.

It won’t be long before the army can be equipped with it on a large scale.

After finishing speaking, Ye Yueqing said with some annoyance: "It's just that regarding the ratio of gunpowder, there hasn't been much improvement yet. I have changed it many times, but I still don't feel any change in the power. It seems that there is not much difference."

Zhu Ying heard this and said comfortingly: "You are already very impressive. It has far exceeded my imagination to reach this level in just half a month."

Zhu Ying was really shocked. He came here just to take a look and see if there were any mistakes on the power lathe, or to rely on his memories from his previous life to give some pointers and speed up the progress.

However, he did not expect that everything would go so smoothly, and the process was faster than he had imagined.

In fact, Zhu Ying didn’t know that this had a lot to do with the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.

First of all, Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to firearms and armaments, so no matter what kind of job the Armory Bureau offered, the salary was relatively generous for the current Ming Dynasty.

In terms of quality, Zhu Yuanzhang had extremely strict requirements. All weaponry produced had to be engraved with the maker's code, and if defective products appeared, the maker would be held accountable.

By taking these two approaches, the Ming Military Equipment Bureau has gathered a large number of outstanding talents, and the way of holding people accountable has also forced everyone to be cautious when working.

With such a foundation, everything went so smoothly. If it were the end of the Ming Dynasty, it would be considered extremely good to achieve such results in a year or two.

"Tell me about the gunpowder ratio and the experimental method." Zhu Ying asked.

Ye Yueqing replied: "According to the method given by the boss, I refined it according to the ratio of one nitrate, two sulfur and three charcoal, and reduced other impurities as much as possible, but it has no effect yet."

Zhu Ying nodded. The best formula for gunpowder certainly couldn't be worked out in one go, but there was a general direction, so it shouldn't take long.

"Take your time, summarize the previous proportions, and record all the methods. It won't take long." Zhu Ying advised.

Upon hearing this, Ye Yueqing said helplessly, "It's just that, Boss, I have tested these formulas and found that the differences in power seem to be similar."

Zhu Ying frowned and asked, "How did you conduct the formula experiment?"

Ye Yueqing didn't think much about it and directly stated his method.

After hearing Ye Yueqing's description of the method, Zhu Ying couldn't help but smile bitterly.

No wonder there was such a strong smell of gunpowder in the Gunpowder Department. It turned out that Ye Yueqing wanted to save money, so he mixed the ingredients directly into the fire bombs and tested the matchlock gun at the same time.

"How can you test the formula like this? You can't see any change in power at all." Zhu Ying said.

"Then what should I do?" Ye Yueqing asked vaguely.

Zhu Ying explained: "Subtle changes are difficult to show on fire bombs. At this time, you can increase the dosage of gunpowder and use artillery to test the formula. The effect of the artillery will be more obvious when it is fired."

After hearing this, Ye Yueqing suddenly realized that she had been dwelling on a dead end and had not even thought of such a simple truth. She suddenly felt a little ashamed.

"You have done a great job. The research and development of firearms cannot achieve a huge leap overnight. I believe that under your leadership, the Gunpowder Department will be able to achieve success soon."

Zhu Ying couldn't help but smile when he saw Ye Yueqing's expression and said comfortingly.

"I will try my best." After receiving the praise from his boss, Ye Yueqing felt full of energy.

Next, Zhu Ying and Ye Yueqing chatted for a while and prepared to leave.

It is estimated that starting from next month, the Xuanjia Guards will be able to introduce fire musketeers.

Seeing Zhu Ying about to leave, Ye Yueqing hesitated for a moment before saying, "Boss, regarding the Goryeo Princess Zhao Xiangxi, I recently discovered that she is very active in firearms and seems to want to explore the secrets of firearms."

"Especially the matchlock gun and the gunpowder formula. I am worried that they might leak it out."

At this point, Ye Yueqing hesitated and added: "Zhao Xiangxi participated in the production of the matchlock gun, fire bombs, and gunpowder formula, and made many useful suggestions, so I would like to ask for your instructions on how to deal with it."

Zhu Ying heard this and said with a smile: "If she can speed up the progress of the matchlock gun, there is no need to separate them. Besides, how much of a splash can a small Fengrang Zhao family make?"

After finishing speaking, Zhu Ying thought for a moment and continued, "Tell her that if she can contribute enough to the subsequent muskets, fire bombs, and gunpowder formulas."

"We can provide some care to the Zhao family in Fengyang, Goryeo."

After hearing this, Ye Yueqing finally put his mind at ease.

During this period of time, Zhao Xiangxi has completely let go of herself and been with Ye Yueqing.

From a psychological point of view, as a woman, Ye Yueqing was suddenly given an important task by her employer. This put a lot of psychological pressure on Ye Yueqing, and she was afraid that she would not do a good job.

Zhao Xiangxi was good at socializing, and at this time, the familiar Zhao Xiangxi gradually became Ye Yueqing's friend, or bestie.

Ye Yueqing's thoughts are still very positive. Even though her favorability towards Zhao Xiangxi has increased recently, she must explain it to her employer because it involves Zhao Xiangxi's identity.

Fortunately, the boss did not have much aversion to Zhao Xiangxi, otherwise, in Ye Yueqing's opinion, Zhao Xiangxi, who knew too many secrets, would be ruthlessly destroyed.

…

Ming Imperial Palace, Huagai Hall.

The speculations of many princes and grandchildren about Zhu Ying's identity soon reached Zhu Yuanzhang's ears.

"It seems that the identity of our eldest grandson will soon be known. By the way, Quan'er, Yunwen, Yunxun and others didn't tell anyone."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked Liu He, the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department.

Liu He was responsible for collecting and conveying all the news from the palace.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Seventeenth Prince and the two Imperial Grandsons have not revealed the identity of the Eldest Grandson." Liu He replied respectfully.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "I'm not surprised that Quan'er and Yunhu are like this, but I didn't expect Yunwen to be like this. It seems that the last meeting between Yunwen and his grandson had a profound impact on Yunwen."

Liu He usually would not respond to Zhu Yuanzhang's sighs.

Jiang Li also remained silent.

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, he handed the memorial he had just read to Liu He and said, "Give this coastal intelligence to Da Sun to take a look."

"I obey your order." Liu He took it with both hands and replied respectfully.

"The development of the Gunpowder Department has exceeded our expectations. Yueqing is a very good girl. Our eldest grandson has good taste. But you, I asked you to find a good girl for our eldest grandson, but you haven't found one yet. It's better for our eldest grandson to bring her here himself."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with some emotion.

Faced with His Majesty's rebuke, Liu He was terrified.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to find it, it’s just that it’s hard to find.

In fact, there were more than ten portraits and identities of women that were passed down to Liu He, but they were all denied by Zhu Yuanzhang.

It always feels like something is missing.

In the past, the marriages of the Ming royal family were basically handled by Empress Ma, and Zhu Yuanzhang never cared much about it.

Now the royal descendants are also under the charge of Concubine Ning.

However, the eldest grandson's situation was special, and Concubine Ning didn't know about it before, so it was Liu He who had been looking for him.

Zhu Yuanzhang just said it casually and didn't really intend to punish Liu He. He was more concerned about his eldest grandson.

Naturally, Zhu Yuanzhang could not hide the fact that Zhu Ying went to the Gunpowder Bureau.

Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang paid much more attention to the Gunpowder Bureau than Zhu Ying.

Ever since Ye Yueqing entered the Gunpowder Department to take charge of the research and development of the matchlock gun and take overall charge of the overall situation, every detail of the Gunpowder Department's situation would be reported to Zhu Yuanzhang.

These days, Zhu Yuanzhang has been extremely satisfied with the research and development progress of the matchlock gun, which is much faster than his previous development of the matchlock cannon.

It turned out that Zhu Yuanzhang still thought that these matchlock guns would not be able to be initially equipped to the army until next year.

However, according to the current production volume, by the time we set out to invade Japan in the spring of next year, we will be able to equip them directly and use them directly on the battlefield.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "These Japanese countries really pissed me off a few years ago. This time my grandson has created such a magical weapon, and I must let these Japanese know how powerful we are."

"Send a message to Feng Sheng. This old guy has nothing to do recently. Go and supervise the construction of sea vessels for us. We must build enough sea vessels to go to Japan before the beginning of next spring."

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when the Ming Dynasty was founded, the Huitong River section of the Grand Canal opened in the Yuan Dynasty in Shandong was blocked by silt due to the Yellow River bursting its banks.

At that time, the military pay from Jiangnan to Beiping and Liaodong depended on sea transportation, and it was Tang He who was in charge of supervising the construction of seagoing ships.

Later, Wu Zhen, Marquis of Jinghai, established the Suzhou Shipyard at the Xiaobei Gate of Taicang and built large sea-going vessels.

However, Wu Zhen died of illness in the 12th year of Hongwu. After being posthumously named Duke of Haiguo, he was stripped of his title because he was considered to be a member of Hu Weiyong's party.

After the maritime ban, the focus gradually shifted to the production of river ships.

If we are to go to war with Japan now, we have to rebuild the ships. It will definitely be too late to cast all of them. We still have to convert some large water transport ships into warships and equip them with enough artillery.

…

When Zhu Ying returned to the palace, it was still some time before dinner.

After taking a stroll around the Imperial Guards training center, he returned to Kunning Palace.

For now, the old man didn't give him much time to rest. In the study room of Kunning Palace, no matter how much Zhu Ying reviewed, the eunuch Guo Zhong would considerately fill it up for him the next day.

So whenever he had free time, Zhu Ying would review memorials.

Reviewing memorials may seem tedious, but it is also the fastest way to understand the current grassroots conditions in various parts of the Ming Dynasty.

According to the current system, the submission of memorials already includes even the county magistrate.

Every month, the county magistrate had to report the current situation in his county directly to the emperor.

There were 1,427 county towns in the Ming Dynasty.

This means that there are at least 1,427 normal work reports alone, and these are just the county magistrates.

All local officials above you must report.

Moreover, if Zhu Yuanzhang felt that there was something wrong with the reported situations, he would arrange for the imperial censors to inspect.

This is why Zhu Yuanzhang’s power and influence were so profound during the Hongwu period, because his edicts actually reached the county.

The county magistrate was able to communicate directly with the emperor, so he naturally had more awe in his heart. When reporting the situation in the county, he did not dare to describe it carelessly. After all, everyone knew that His Majesty came from a poor peasant family.

As for the affairs of the common people, he might know more about them than the county magistrate.

As soon as Zhu Yingcai entered the study, the eunuch Guo Zhong handed him a piece of information.

Zhu Ying opened it and saw that it was about the situation of Prince of Yan Zhu Di and Prince of Jin Zhu Gang.

Prince of Yan Zhu Di thought he was doing it secretly, but the killing of civilians and the clearing of the countryside were clearly recorded in the intelligence.

After watching it, Zhu Ying didn't feel much.

He was not surprised that Zhu Di had such means. After all, in later generations, this was Emperor Yongle.

I just looked at what I had and learned about the military deployment of Prince of Yan and Zhu Di, as well as the army's armaments, logistics, control, etc.

Zhu Ying suddenly frowned.

As far as the current Ming Dynasty is concerned, the time it takes to act in war is very slow.

As of now, everything has just begun regarding the Japanese pirates along the coast.

According to the calculation of time, a large number of Japanese pirates should have gathered along the coast, while on the side of Prince Yan and Prince Jin, except for some troops, the surrounding troops have not yet been fully integrated.

In ancient times, marching was inherently slow, relying entirely on soldiers moving on foot.

Thinking of this, an idea suddenly flashed through Zhu Ying's mind.

Perhaps, animal-powered tracks could be built first.