People in Zongwu: Starting with the Yin Gui Sect

Chapter 333

"Food crisis?"

When Bi Ziyan said this, Wu Yu thought he was hallucinating. He didn't expect that people in this era could say these four words.

But it's good this way. He originally intended to reduce some agricultural taxes, but now Bi Ziyan has spoken, it saves him from wasting his breath.

"Bi Aiqing said it well. I do know some of the situation in this regard. But since Bi Aiqing has brought it up, how much do you think should be reduced?"

Since Bi Ziyan, this old man, wants to be famous, no matter what he thinks, he will fulfill his wish.

Of course, the most important reason is that the sweet potatoes that Wu Yu asked Song Yingxing to plant in his imperial farm have begun to be harvested for the first time. Needless to say, the yield is also the main reason why he dared to agree to reduce agricultural taxes.

Bi Ziyan naturally didn't know what Wu Yu was thinking. After hearing that the other party agreed to reduce agricultural taxes, he became excited.

"Since the commercial tax has been increased to 15%, it would be better to subsidize the agricultural tax. So I think it would be better to reduce the original 20% to 30%."

"Okay, is Bi Aiqing so kind and righteous? Then I will agree to it!"

Seeing that someone was about to jump out to object after Bi Ziyan finished speaking, Wu Yu directly agreed without giving those people a chance to object.

"I, Bi Ziyan, thank your majesty for the grace of the 100 million people of the Ming Dynasty!"

Hearing that Wu Yu really agreed to his request to reduce the tax by half, Bi Ziyan immediately knelt down and kowtowed to thank him.

"Okay, let's stop here for this morning court!"

Seeing that some officials were going to bother him with some trivial matters again, Wu Yu directly announced his withdrawal from the court.

After returning to the Qianqing Palace, Wu Yu ordered Wang Chengen to call Fang Zhenghua. He did not think that the policy of increasing commercial taxes could be implemented after the officials in the court agreed. Those people would definitely try every means to sabotage it.

Therefore, this policy will inevitably require many people to die before it can be implemented. Therefore, he planned to let Fang Zhenghua personally lead the Tengxiang Four Guards to implement it. He wanted to see whether those people were stubborn or his own sword was hard.

Yes, since Wu Yu ascended the throne, he arranged Fang Zhenghua, who was also the third supervisor of the East Factory, back to the Imperial Horse Administration, and let him take charge of the Tengxiang Four Guards. As for the original eunuch Wang Zhi, he had been sent to Guangzhou to form a navy.

It is a waste of talent for a eunuch like Wang Zhi, who has both ability and strength, to stay in the Imperial Horse Administration.

He did not forget that Wang Zhi in history was a great general who not only tore apart the Tatar Wala with his bare hands, but also beat the Jiannu for hundreds of years.

Since it has been decided to revive the Ming Dynasty, it is necessary to form a large navy, otherwise how to take back the territorial waters that should belong to him from those red-haired ghosts and Portuguese.

Just after seeing Fang Zhenghua off, Wu Yu heard the eunuch come to report that Xu Guangqi and Bi Maokang were outside the palace asking for an audience.

When he heard that it was these two firearms experts, Wu Yu was immediately excited. He had planned to take some time to visit the Military Equipment Bureau and the Armory Bureau. After all, half a year had passed, and he also wanted to know how many flintlocks and howitzers had been produced, and how long it would take for them to be equipped to the entire army.

"Call them in!"

After Xu and Bi finished their greetings, Wu Yu went straight to the point and said, "Lord Xu, Lord Bi, it has been more than half a year since I asked you two to be in charge of the Military Equipment Bureau and the Armory Bureau. I want to know how many howitzers and flintlocks have been produced now."

Xu and Bi came to the palace for this matter, so they naturally did not dare to hide it after hearing Wu Yu's question.

Bi Maokang spoke first: "Your Majesty, the breech-loading flintlock rifles that you asked me to produce have now produced about 4,000. Except for the first two months when production was a little slow, we can now produce about 800 per month."

"Four thousand, so few?"

Wu Yu was a little bit unbelievable when he heard that only about 4,000 rifles were produced in half a year. You know, even in the Jiajing period, more than 10,000 muskets could be produced in a year. How come after a hundred years, the production speed has slowed down?

Seeing his majesty's surprised expression, Bi Maokang naturally understood what he meant, so he explained: "Your Majesty, it's not that the productivity today is not as good as it was back then, it's just that the rifling of the barrel is difficult to make, and there are strict requirements for the quality of the barrel, so the speed is even slower.

Almost every time a gun is made, there will be two or three guns that do not meet the quality standards, and then they have to be re-made. Even though I have increased the number of people in this process, the production speed is still not much higher, and the stock of coal can't keep up with the consumption."

Well, Wu Yu understood what Bi Maokang said, and he was like before.Compared with the smoothbore barrel of the matchlock gun, the manufacturing process of the rifled barrel is much more difficult.

With the current level of official industry in the Ming Dynasty, if you want to make such a difficult barrel, you can only rely on manual labor. In addition, in order to prevent the barrel from exploding, each barrel has strict requirements, so it is impossible to speed up.

"What about Xu Aiqing?"

Knowing the difficulties encountered by the flintlock, Wu Yu looked at Xu Guangqi again.

"Your Majesty, there is no problem here. Now 80 cannons have been produced. According to your majesty's order, they are divided into two types: land and water, and can be put into use at any time. Even the problem of coal is the same as that of Lord Bi."

After hearing that 80 howitzers have been produced, Wu Yu nodded affirmatively.

Indeed, compared with the rifled barrel of the flintlock, the smoothbore barrel of the howitzer is much easier.

But since he also encountered the problem of coal, he had to solve it, and he had already thought of the solution.

If Wu Yu remembered correctly, the West Mountain outside Beijing, where Chongzhen hanged himself in history, was a huge coal mine, and it was also close, so there was no place more suitable than mining the West Mountain.

"I will solve the problem of coal myself. As for the problem with Lord Bi, you can try to recruit more civilians, not necessarily craftsmen.

Anyway, they only need to be responsible for one of the processes, so there is no need to worry that they can't learn it. In short, we must do our best to increase the annual output of flintlock rifles to more than 15,000. In addition, the reward system must be firmly implemented. The court cannot let those hard-working workers feel cold."

When Wu Yu thought of the Jisi Change two years later, he couldn't help but become anxious. This battle could be said to be a battle that determined the fate of the country. No matter what, we must win, otherwise the revival of the Ming Dynasty would be just empty talk.