I Build an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty

In Shaoxing, Zhu Yihai was also discussing with several confidant ministers whether they could take the opportunity to send troops to capture Suzhou Songjiang and other places.

These two places, one has the weapon workshop and the other has the foreign trade zone, are of great significance to them.

After winning Suzhou, they will be able to form a new type of army, and if they capture Songjiang, they will be able to obtain a huge amount of tax and silver there, so as to expand their army and strengthen their strength.

Today, the taxation of Songjiang Prefecture has officially surpassed that of Suzhou. Every overseas trade is a big deal, often a few or a dozen large ships.

In addition to foreign trade, Songjiang is also a distribution center for various goods. With the support of Wu Changqing, this place has developed rapidly and has become a business center.

Zhu Yihai thought very well, but if he wanted to realize this plan, it was extremely dangerous, which meant that he officially broke his face with Wu Changqing.

"Wu Changqing's main force is in Jiujiang, and the rest of the troops are in Nanjing. Suzhou and Songjiang are very empty. It is a good opportunity for us to seize."

Fang Guoan said that he and Wu Changqing now have a big grudge, and he can't wait to find some trouble for Wu Changqing immediately. At the same time, he also coveted Suzhou's weapons workshop.

"Nanjing is not far from Suzhou. Their support will arrive soon. It is not yet ripe to attack Suzhou."

Another leading general, Wang Zhiren, disapproved of attacking now, mainly because their strength was too weak.

He currently has more than 40,000 troops, Fang Guoan still has 30,000, and Zhu Yihai saved 20,000 soldiers during this time.

They add up to a total of 90,000 people, which is quite a lot.

However, its combat effectiveness is a big question mark. These people are not opponents even if they are fighting against the Wu army, let alone sieging the city.

If they can't take Suzhou in a short period of time, when the reinforcements from Nanjing arrive, they will be miserable, they will not get any benefits, and they will completely tear their faces.

At that time, Wu Changqing would even have reason to attack Hangzhou and Shaoxing directly. Once these places are captured by Wu Changqing, they will even lose the foundation for a comeback.

Therefore, Zhu Yihai did not dare to make up his mind easily because the stakes were very important.

"How about the imitation of the new weapon?"

Zhu Yihai asked.

The last time Fang Guoan and Wu Jun fought, it was not that there was no gain at all. At least a few grenades were seized, and then he also ordered the craftsmen to imitate them.

"No, in order to imitate this grenade, we have killed six craftsmen. The final imitation grenade is much less powerful. According to some craftsmen, their gunpowder formula is different from the one we use, and their gunpowder power is different. bigger."

Fang Guoan said helplessly.

The structure of the grenade was simple, and they quickly copied it.

But the thing about gunpowder formula, but it takes countless trials to find out. This requires a lot of time and capital investment.

At present, the hand grenade they imitated can also explode, but the power is small. There is also a grenade with enough power, but it is loaded with more gunpowder, resulting in a volume and weight far exceeding the standard, and people can't throw it very far.

In actual combat, this kind of cumbersome thing can only be used to defend the city.

This is their only gain.

The most progress in imitation belongs to the Manchu court.

After all, the territory they occupy is large, the population they control is large, and the number of artisans they have is large, so the chances of appearing high-level artisans are even greater.

Today, they have not only successfully imitated hand grenades, but also successfully imitated flintlock guns, but there has been no progress in howitzer shells.

However, the grenade they imitated was only about two-thirds of the power of Wu Jun. The problem, of course, is the gunpowder formula.

They have a lot of manpower and financial resources, so they have a lot of advantages when looking for gunpowder formulas, and they can keep looking for mistakes.

As long as you keep trying, you can always find it. This is a stupid method, but also a very effective method.

Their imitation flintlock guns are also much worse than Wu Jun's.

In terms of firing rate, their flintlock guns are about one-third slower, their failure rate is about 20% larger, and there are other operating feel, comfort, etc., there are small gaps.

Overall, if Wu Jun's flintlock gun is one hundred percent, then their flintlock gun can only hit sixty at best.

However, this is already quite good for the Qing army. With this copycat version of the flintlock troop, it can also hang the cold weapon troop.

Relying on this flintlock gun, and then relying on the numerical advantage, they are qualified to fight Wu Jun to the death.

However, after solving the problem of imitation, they faced a new problem, that is, the manufacturing speed of this weapon, they can't be faster.

The Qing court used at least twice as many craftsmen as Wu Jun to participate in the manufacture of flintlock guns, but the manufacturing speed was only about half that of Wu Jun, about 2,000 per month.

If you want to equip troops on a large scale, it is far away.

However, in fact, this performance of the Qing court has been considered very good.

The advancement of technology has always required a lot of time to explore and improve. Only Wu Changqing can directly come up with the molding technology, so that their inventions and creations can avoid a lot of detours.

In the Forbidden City, Dorgon is meeting Da Yuer.

Dorgon seemed to be in a good mood, he said: "Weapon Workshop has entered the right track, and it is expected that 10,000 flintlock guns will be built in a few months to equip troops.

You can go south again. "

"Is 10,000 enough? As far as I know, Wu Changqing's subordinates now have tens of thousands of flintlock pistols. Moreover, their weapons workshops are also constantly being manufactured. After a few months, they may have two or three. Wan's flintlock troops.

In my opinion, it is still better to send envoys to negotiate with them to see if they can rule across the river. In this way, Azig and the others can also be put back to avoid death. "

Da Yu'er didn't have such big ambitions. She was satisfied with a small piece of land outside Guan before, and now she has gained the land of the Central Plains.

In her opinion, the empire's territory is already large enough, and there is no need to expand it.

Of course, the main reason was that the risk was too great. Wu Changqing, who was rising from the south, kept defeating them, which made her panic.

"Yu'er, you are overthinking it. I have ordered to continue recruiting craftsmen, and we will also expand the scale of production. As long as there are enough weapons, coupled with the heroism of our army, it is enough to conquer the south."

Dorgon is obviously unwilling to occupy only the north, and is still dreaming of unifying the world.

Unifying the world is probably the highest achievement a man can achieve. As long as there is a chance, who wouldn't want it?

Just as they were talking, a eunuch trembled and handed over the latest issue of the battle report.