Forget it, if the young Emperor were truly a puppet emperor, he wouldn't have come to seek refuge here either.
He is seeking refuge with the Emperor, not Grand Secretary Fu.
Zhu Ci leaned forward slightly and asked, "Why not?"
Your Majesty possesses a body of immeasurable value; how could you possibly take such a risk?
Zhu Ci gave an "oh" and asked, "Then can you find someone who can fight the Tartars to a standstill without being driven back?"
Actually, Zhu Ci was being quite tactful; what he originally wanted to say was whether they could find someone who would dare to fight the Qing Army without running away.
However, such words could easily dampen morale and discourage everyone, so he did not say them aloud.
Huang Chunyao immediately said, "I believe the Grand Secretary is the most suitable."
As he spoke, he gave Fu a meaningful look, as if to say, "Why don't you try to persuade him?"
One can only say that this tripod formation is indeed stable; the three parties are "enemies" to each other, yet also allies.
When the Emperor starts causing trouble, the Grand Secretary and the Left Censor should have joined forces.
However, Fu stood there as motionless as an old dog, seeing his posture, Huang Chunyao felt that something was wrong.
As expected, he immediately heard the Emperor say, "Oh, the Grand Secretary shall also join me on this expedition."
Huang Chunyao felt his vision go dark. No, if both of you leave, what will be left of the imperial court?
No, this is absolutely out of the question.
Going on a campaign was out of the question; it wouldn't work even if the Emperor and the Grand Secretary both left.
What followed was a long period of remonstrance. It wasn't just Huang Chunyao; essentially, except for Fu Chunsheng and Zhu Ci, everyone stepped forward one by one to persuade him.
Zhu Ci had certainly witnessed the prowess of this group of people.
Setting aside everything else, Chen Zilong could quote classics and ancient texts with ease; he truly possessed the gift of eloquence.
Zhu Ci felt that if it weren't for this chaotic world and the fact that he possessed some more advanced concepts from several hundred years in the future, he truly would have had no way to compete with these people.
Even now, while Chen Zilong was speaking, he was daydreaming.
There was no helping it; it was just too exhausting to listen to.
Standing below, Fu Cai saw his expression and knew Minister Chen was simply playing the lute to a cow, he couldn't help but smile helplessly.
Zhu Ci noticed his subtle smile and couldn't help but shoot him a sideways glance.
Huang Chunyao, standing to the side..
What a sin.
They are worrying about the country and its people, while the Emperor and the Grand Secretary are flirting.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: What kind of look is that, Huang Chunyao? I was clearly expressing my dissatisfaction! *Cat ears twitching in anger while staring intensely. jpg*
Next update at noon~
Chapter 103
This entire imperial court session discussed nothing else from beginning to end, focusing solely on the matter of the Emperor personally leading the campaign.
Finally, Zhu Ci took a step back, neither mentioning a personal expedition nor agreeing to return to Nanjing immediately. He hoped everyone would stop writing memorials to advise him to leave; they should use that time to do something practical instead!
At present, this broken imperial court is leaking from every side; what everyone should be doing now is focusing all their strength on fighting the enemy, rather than considering their own safety!
It must be said that perhaps the Emperor's style of conduct represents the conduct of the entire imperial court.
Gradually, no one worried anymore about whether it was dangerous for the Emperor to stay here, no one discussed whether or not to leave; at least, there was no more public discussion, no one cared what happened in private.
Under the pressure from the Qing Army, the entirety of Huaian began to operate with high efficiency.
Lately, the person Zhu Ci sees most often is no longer Fu or Huang Chunyao, but rather Xi Hongxuan, a Director in the Bureau of Supervision of the Ministry of Works.
This official from the Ministry of Works' Yuheng Qingli Bureau was a member of the Xi Family. Originally, his arrangements for the Xi Family and the Weng Family were to provide them with positions that were relatively leisurely and would not affect the overall situation—the kind where it wouldn't matter even if they were a bit useless.
As it turned out, there really was someone in the Xi Family who actually took him by surprise.
Xi Hongxuan was mainly in charge of the Xi Family's fireworks business. That being said, in reality, Xi Hongxuan himself was the leading researcher for the Xi Family's fireworks, he had quite a few ideas regarding gunpowder.
Zhu Ci summoned him to ask a few questions, only to find that Xi Hongxuan's eyes lit up the moment gunpowder research was mentioned; upon closer inquiry, he realized that this man was even more passionate about developing gunpowder.
However, manufacturing gunpowder privately in the民间 was a crime punishable by death; no matter how powerful the Xi Family was, they would not dare to cross that red line.
After hearing this, Zhu Ci asked a few more questions and found that Xi Hongxuan indeed possessed some talent in this area. He decided on the spot to appoint Xi Hongxuan as the Director of the Yuheng Qingli Bureau, primarily responsible for firearms research and development; as for things like ceramics and smelting.. those could be handed over to the other two Vice Directors.
In fact, under the current circumstances, ceramic smelting could also be put on the back burner for now; Zhu Ci did not care whether he was using unique imperial wares or not.
Anyway, what is being used right now is all presented by Fu Chunsheng, it is said that he has plenty more there, which will be enough for a while.
Zhu Ci and Xi Hongxuan worked intently on their research for a long time before finally perfecting the Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows.
Strictly speaking, the Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows were actually just an enlarged version of a Swarm of Bees, they were significantly larger.
The entire Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows consists of one hundred small compartments, each containing a single-shot rocket. When ignited, all the fuses are clustered together, causing all one hundred rockets to fire in a simultaneous volley.
If one only considers the area of coverage, even the Red-coated Cannon cannot compare to the Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows, it cannot even match them in terms of range.
Of course, when sieging a city, the Red-coated Cannon is still more useful than the Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows; the destructive power of a Red-coated Cannon against a single target is unmatched by any rocket in this era.
The only thing that could compare was the Dingyuan General Bronze Cannon, but as of now, the Dingyuan General Bronze Cannon had not yet been completed, conservatively estimated, it would not be of any use for at least a year.
Even so, Zhu Ci still gave his full support to the Dingyuan General Bronze Cannon; even if funds were insufficient, he would rather cut his own expenses.
This was the time when the benefits of Fu holding the position of Minister of Revenue were truly evident.
This person wouldn't complain about being poor to him; he basically gave him whatever he wanted. Zhu Ci could finally experience the pleasure of spending money without having to keep track of the cost.
The Dingyuan General Bronze Cannon couldn't be used, so the only option was to continue improving the rockets.
The previously improved Flying Sand Cylinders were primarily for interference, with the warheads carrying toxic sand.
This toxic sand is made by stir-frying a mixture of arsenic, croton seeds, lime. Once the Flying Sand Cylinder explodes, it can directly affect the eyes of both men and horses in the Qing Army.
However, the lethality of the Flying Sand Cylinder was still insufficient, which is why the Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows were improved.
The Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows might be called arrows, but their overall scale can no longer be compared to a Swarm of Bees or a Fire-Dragon Water-Spout, because the base of this thing has already been turned into a cart.
So it could also be called the Hundred Tigers Charging Launching Carriage.
The Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows were originally made from bamboo cylinders, but now that he had the money, Zhu Ci also began to spend lavishly, waving his hand as he said, "The arrow shafts shall be made directly from wrought iron!"
When he said these words, Fu Cai was also present. After hearing this, Xi Hongxuan couldn't help but gasp. He studied fireworks, but that didn't mean he was disconnected from reality; in fact, while researching, he was very clear about the funds required.
After all, no matter how wealthy the Xi Family was, once the costs were split among everyone, it wouldn't be much per person, so every investment had to be carefully calculated; if they lost too much money, they could expect to be exiled.
With this one sentence from the young Emperor, the silver would flow out like water. Based on the number of rockets they currently required, a conservative estimate would be ten thousand taels of silver, that was only for the start. Rockets were single-use items; once they exploded, they were gone. Therefore, if they were truly effective and required for every battle, the money would truly flow out like water.
Xi Hongxuan stole a subconscious glance at this quiet and reserved Grand Secretary and Minister of Revenue.
He didn't expect him to remain speechless, not even blinking, as if it weren't ten thousand taels of silver, but ten thousand copper coins.
He couldn't help but click his tongue in surprise. He had known this man was incredibly wealthy before, but he hadn't expected him to be this incredibly wealthy.
But what exactly is the relationship between the young Emperor and this Grand Secretary?
Even if the eldest son of the Xi Family's direct line dared to spend money like this, Xi Yuncheng wouldn't have agreed, yet the Grand Secretary didn't even oppose it?
Fu not only did not object, but he even asked an extra question: "And what else?"
Based on his understanding of Zhu Ci, once he started, it was impossible for him to only modify such a small area.
For Zhu Ci, changing the materials of the arrow tube was essentially no different from not improving it at all.
After all, as long as there was money, it was naturally easy to change to better materials.
Zhu Ci tapped the blueprints and said, "Also, the warheads for the Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows need to be changed to three different types."
He had already improved the Single-shot Rocket to a great extent; at least, with his current knowledge, he was unable to make any further improvements to it.
If he truly wanted to continue, he would have to rely on experts; he wasn't capable.
The core of the Hundred Tigers Charging Arrows is the Single-shot Rocket; since the rockets cannot be improved in other aspects, it is better to continue improving them in terms of their applications.
Or perhaps it shouldn't be called improvement, but rather making more different types of Single-shot Rockets.
Three types of warheads?
Xi Hongxuan grew interested, casting aside his previous gossiping thoughts; rockets were far more attractive to him.
The three types of warheads designed by Zhu Ci were meant for different scenarios. The first type was the method used in the landmines earlier, where the rockets were equipped with crushed stones, seashell fragments, other materials.
In fact, it would be best to use iron plates or iron nails, but Zhu Ci felt that sometimes it was necessary to save money.
Although the money wasn't his, if he emptied Fu's purse, there would be no future.
In any case, a small amount of gunpowder will be placed inside the rocket, so it won't necessarily shatter the shells; moreover, even if they do shatter, it doesn't matter—as long as they don't turn into fine powder, they will still be lethal.
Fu glanced at the improved plan and said, "Use iron plates."
Zhu Ci couldn't help but look at him and say, "It will cost a lot of money."
Fu Cai remained calm. "It's not like this amount of money is much."
Zhu Ci..
Xi Hongxuan looked at the Emperor and then at the Grand Secretary, feeling as though he had truly gained some new experience. He was an educated man himself, but this was the first time he had seen an Emperor who wanted to save money and a Minister of Revenue who did not care about spending it.
In fact, Fu was not indifferent to spending money either; lately, he had also been racking his brains to increase revenue and reduce expenditures.
He just liked to get things done in one go. Using shells wasn't free; if the results were poor, it might even cost more than using iron plates from the start. He still knew how to do the math.
Zhu Ci saw how certain he was and immediately said happily, "Alright!"
Since Fu does not object, he can directly go for the "top-tier configuration" for every single item!
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Fine, if you're this generous, I'll show you what it means to spend money like water. Happy cat throwing money. jpg
Next update at 6:00 PM~