Early in the morning, the first ray of sunlight shone into the study.
Reba was sleeping soundly on the desk, snoring softly. She was covered with a blanket.
Zhu Weichu's eyes were bloodshot as he looked at the thick stack of documents on the table. He could no longer control the shock in his heart.
Reba had been drawing and writing for the entire night. She had written down the blueprints of the new rifle, the detailed technical process, and even the machinery for producing firearms. She had even written down the specifications of the bullets in millimeters.
It was unbelievable. After studying the structure of the gun and holding the two pieces of information left by Zhu Zhenglong, he was able to master them and design such a complicated rifle, bullet, and machine?
He had picked up a treasure. He had really picked up a treasure.
This was a treasure!
With a genius like Reba by his side, why would he worry about not being destroyed?
Zhu Weichu was extremely excited. He put down the documents and reached out to pick up the sleeping Reba.
Perhaps she was sleeping too soundly, Reba only twisted a few times in Zhu Weichu's arms and continued to sleep.
Zhu Weichu smiled and gently carried her into the bedroom next door and placed her on the bed. After covering her with the blanket, he returned to the study room to take the documents and rushed to the government office excitedly.
It was urgent to manufacture a new type of rifle.
……
At the government office.
The Minister of Works, Lu Zhenming, had just arrived at the office building. He was carrying the meat buns made by his two wives. Before he could eat, Zhu Weichu strode in.
Seeing this, Lu Zhenming and the others hurriedly stood up and bowed.
Strange, His Majesty had never been to the government office before nine o'clock in the morning. He usually got up at seven o'clock, washed up, started his morning exercises, took a shower, ate breakfast, and changed his clothes before going to the government office to read and study. It was already past nine o'clock.
"Your Majesty…"
"Master Lu, take a look at this."
Zhu Weichu did not give the crowd a chance to ask and passed the information in his hand to Lu Zhenming.
As the minister of the Ministry of Works, Lu Zhenming had received Zhu Zhenglong's direct teaching back then. He could basically understand the structure of the new rifle on the blueprint and its technical features.
"Your Majesty, who designed this?"
"Do you think this new rifle is feasible?”
"It's feasible, it's too feasible. I'm ashamed. Why didn't I think of using other materials to replace the metal-shelled bullets, but instead focused on making metal-shelled bullets, wasting so much time.”
Lu Zhenming felt extremely ashamed. At this moment, he finally understood.
Since the information left behind by the previous emperor was burned, leading to the loss of technology such as rifles, cannons, and steel smelting, coupled with the limited resources of Flower Planting Island, those high-precision weapons and equipment could not be replicated in a short period of time.
The blueprint that the Emperor had given him was very practical. It could be manufactured under the current conditions.
"Your Majesty, did you design this?”
"No!" Zhu Weichu shook his head.
"What? Who was that? Can I see him? An expert, a true expert."
Lu Zhenming was extremely impressed. When he noticed that the elegant and standard words on the paper were simplified characters, he said in surprise,"The people on the island?"
"It's Diliraba. This woman is talented and knowledgeable. She started researching and improving the flintlock a long time ago. After understanding the 1755 rifle in detail, she only used three days to design this new rifle.”
Zhu Weichu gave a brief introduction, which left Lu Zhenming dumbstruck.
Yang Shiqi, Yu Qian, Wang Tingkai, and the other ministers who came over to listen were also stunned. They felt like they were listening to a fairy tale.
They all knew Dilireba. She was an eighteen-year-old Uighur woman that the Emperor had brought back from London. She looked strange, but they didn't expect her to be so capable.
Lu Zhenming came back to his senses, and a trace of doubt appeared in his heart.
"Your Majesty, the history of the development of firearms is long and winding. Flower planting was the first to develop, and it took hundreds of years of development before it shone in the Ming Dynasty, such as the Divine Arms Battalion.”
"During the Chongzhen period, the extremely powerful Mianqing Eight Banners Cavalry were defeated by the Ming army's firearms in the early stages. Nurhachi died from being injured by the artillery and died in the end.”
"If it wasn't for the fact that Miqing had taken in the traitors like Hong Chengchou and Fan Wencheng, developed firearms, and had Li Zicheng attack the city and destroy the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, forcing Wu Sangui to surrender to Miqing, the Ming Dynasty wouldn't have died in Miqing's hands.”
"Mianqing realized the power of firearms, so they banned the development of firearms. The Qing army also gave up on developing firearms, so much so that the Westerners surpassed them.”
" As for the development of firearms in the West, thanks to their respect for science, the speed of technological development is very fast. From the large-scale equipping of the army with muskets and flintlocks, they have already entered the era of hot weapons from the cold weapons era.”
" If the previous emperor didn't create more advanced firearms and cannons, our technology would have fallen far behind the West..."
Zhu Weichu frowned as he listened. After talking for so long, what exactly are you trying to express?
"Master Lu, make it short!"
"Your Majesty, I don't believe that Dilireba developed this independently.”
Alright, I knew it.
Zhu Weichu had long guessed that Lu Zhenming would question him.
So be it if you doubt him, but don't you feel tired talking so much nonsense?
"Master Lu, are you trying to tell me that firearms development cannot be achieved overnight? Dilireba couldn't have developed such an advanced flintlock in such a short time, right?”
Lu Zhenming nodded honestly." That's right. Because the firearms in the West are too backward, if they wanted to improve, they would have done so long ago."”
Alright, this thinking was really too conservative.
In Zhu Weichu's memory from last night's awakening, the western powers had started to use rifles with metal shells in the next century. Steel warships had also been built, almost similar to the warships that Zhu Zhenglong had obtained from the future.
The powerful western countries had their eyes on the Qing Dynasty. After some probing, they discovered that this huge empire was already rotten. They then used their ships and cannons to open the Qing Dynasty's gate. With the advanced weapons in their hands, they defeated the Qing army. Tianjin fell, Beijing fell, and the western alliance army was like bandits entering the village. They burned, killed, and robbed all the way. A large number of national treasures were stolen, and corpses piled up like mountains. The flower planting people suffered an unprecedented terrifying calamity.
The first invasion by the western powers was in 1840, launched by Great Britain. The Miqing army was completely defeated and signed the first unequal treaty of humiliation, the Jinling treaty.
This year was 1776, only 74 years away from 1840!
Combined with the tips in Zhu Zhenglong's notebook, Zhu Weichu understood that the first technological revolution that began in Great Britain, the industrial revolution, would bring earth-shaking changes to the Western world in the 80 years from 1760 to 1840.
The West is already in the process of industrializing. Do you still think they can't make more advanced firearms? If he didn't change his mind, would he only wake up from a dream when the ship arrived at his doorstep?
Don't think that the Ming Navy is invincible!
The reason why the western powers were called great powers was not only because of their comprehensive national strength, their weapons and equipment, but also because of their shocking numbers.
The Ming army only had six warships at most. How could they resist the siege of dozens of ironclads?
The bigger danger was that the fuel for the cannonballs was limited. If they couldn't produce them before they ran out, then the giant ship would be useless.
Zhu Weichu's mood was heavy. Last night, when Reba was concentrating on drawing, he sat at the side and thought for the whole night.
In the end, he came to a conclusion. Defeating the Manqing and restoring the Ming Dynasty was only the beginning. The first thing to do was to increase the country's strength.
Decades later, the reason why the foreign powers were able to defeat the Miqing Empire so easily was because the Westerners valued education for all. All kinds of talents were constantly emerging, allowing technology and industry to develop rapidly. This perfectly explained what it meant to be an industrial country that thrived through education.
On the other hand, the Manqing Empire did not want to improve and remained stagnant. The Kang, Yong, and Qian Dynasties used their lives to suppress the Han people and spent more than 200 years to create the world's number one wonder.
In a great country with a population of 400 million, the illiterate rate was as high as 95%. The people were so ignorant and backward that it was unbelievable and incomprehensible.
Education!
To get rid of Mianqing, the first thing they had to do was to educate and train talents, and complete the industrial revolution before the western countries.
"Master Lu, I suggest that you communicate with Dilireba before making a conclusion.”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。