On the 20th of February in the first year of Longwu, three days after the relocation of the Myanmar Firearms Manufacturing Bureau under Xu Guangqi's leadership, Xiao Ruxun and his men arrived at Shijingshan, where the new Firearms Manufacturing Bureau of Daqin was located.
From the third day after the establishment of the country, Xiao Ruxun began to search for the most suitable location for the Firearms Manufacturing Bureau. Daming originally had a Royal Firearms Manufacturing Bureau, which was the famous Wanggongchang Gunpowder Factory. It was located in the inner city of the capital, about three kilometers away from the Imperial City.
Perhaps the Royal Family felt that this distance was safer, but in reality, it was useless. The Wanggongchang explosion forced the Emperor to issue an imperial edict.
Xiao Ruxun could not understand why the Royal Family would allow the production of gunpowder to be so close to the Imperial City, and in a populated area.
In this era, there was no such thing as a strong sense of safety and operational standards as in the modern era. There were also records of a gunpowder factory explosion in the 30th year of the Wanli Calendar. The reason was because some soldiers had chosen to use a sharp axe to split open the damp gunpowder that had caked up after being manufactured for a long time!
As a result, many people died.
Based on this information, the cause of the mysterious Wanggongchang explosion was clear. It was an explosion caused by operational errors and a lack of safety awareness.
The power of the gunpowder explosion at that time was definitely not as great as it was now. The powder was probably scattered in the air due to the dry weather, and when it came into contact with an open flame, it caused such a serious consequence.
Taking these things into consideration, Xiao Ruxun moved all the factories related to gunpowder and open flame to Shijingshan. He built a brand new Firearms Manufacturing Bureau of Daqin and appointed Xu Guangqi to manage it.
The relocation of the Myanmar Firearms Manufacturing Bureau took a lot of effort. It was moved from Myanmar to Shijingshan, the capital, so that Xiao Ruxun could have full control and management of the factory. It also prevented any accidents from happening due to improper operations.
Of course, this was, after all, a place where firearms were manufactured. In a sense, it was a national secret. In order to protect the national secret, Xiao Ruxun had deployed 5,000 elite soldiers around the firearms manufacturing headquarters. Among them, there were 1,000 elites from Myanmar. They were responsible for the comprehensive management and protection of the firearms manufacturing headquarters.
At the same time, he arranged for spies from the Black Poison to be in charge of personnel management, surveillance, and identification. Anyone who did not belong to the bureau was not allowed to come near unless they had Xiao Ruxun's handwritten token.
Of course, Xiao Ruxun himself could enter by showing his face.
When the Emperor came personally, all the people in charge of the manufacturing bureau had to come and welcome him. However, Xu Guangqi was nowhere to be seen. It seemed that Xu Guangqi still held a grudge against Xiao Ruxun for proclaiming himself as the Emperor. However, it did not matter. Xiao Ruxun had enough tolerance for Xu Guangqi as long as he worked hard, just like Yuan Huang.
Yuan Huang had already started the construction of Dazhi Road. He was organizing the refugees and refugees around the capital. It was done in an orderly manner. There was also a large group of young officials following him to learn from him. Later on, they would all be involved in the construction of Dazhi Road.
Xu Guangqi was also quietly researching firearms. In a short period of time, he managed to produce two results, Mini Grenades and short-handled pistols. The results were indeed great.
Although these developments could not be used on a large scale, at least they were produced. There were enough results and records. Xiao Ruxun's investment of hundreds of thousands of silver was not in vain.
The results were rather obvious.
Therefore, Xiao Ruxun approved a research fund of one million silver to the Firearms Manufacturing Bureau and gave it to Xu Guangqi. At the same time, the newly established Central Audit Department under the Ministry of Revenue would supervise the use of the funds.
Xiao Ruxun used a group of new officials who were in charge of the allocation of rations to form the Audit Department. Nominally, they were under the Ministry of Revenue, but in reality, they were directly responsible to Xiao Ruxun. Their authority was to supervise the use of the funds allocated by the Central Government. They all used simple Arabic numerals and statistical tables to conduct the audit.
The conclusions they came up with would be directly reported to Xiao Ruxun. Xiao Ruxun would then compare the results with the statistics of these organizations. If the results matched, then it would be great. If not, then sorry, Hei Du would treat you to tea.
It was not that Xiao Ruxun did not trust Xu Guangqi. It was that he did not trust other people. The intentions of the Central Government would always deviate from the local authorities. The deviation in execution was the reason why Xiao Ruxun set up the Audit Department. However, this did not affect his trust in Xu Guangqi.
Even if Xu Guangqi did not want to talk to him, it did not matter. He could look for Xu Guangqi himself. After all, Xu Guangqi was really capable.
During this period of time, he had integrated the results of Xiao Ruxun's three years in Myanmar. He had become the best expert in the Firearms Manufacturing Bureau. He was in charge of various research projects, and the progress was very gratifying.
Xiao Ruxun could tolerate him in certain aspects if he showed his work attitude and results.
Therefore, he personally went to Xu Guangqi's office to look for Xu Guangqi.
When Xiao Ruxun entered, Xu Guangqi was reading a document carefully. When Xiao Ruxun walked in, Xu Guangqi looked up and saw Xiao Ruxun. He hesitated for a moment before he stood up and walked to Xiao Ruxun, intending to kneel down to greet him.
Xiao Ruxun lifted Xu Guangqi with one hand.
"This is not a formal occasion. Why are you kneeling? There is no need to kneel. Sit down!"
Xiao Ruxun found a chair and sat opposite Xu Guangqi's desk. Xu Guangqi was slightly surprised, but he did not hesitate. He walked to his seat and sat down, facing the emperor Xiao Ruxun.
He did not know how he felt in his heart.
"How is the research going? How many lead bullets and flintlock muskets can we produce now? "
Xiao Ruxun had issued a decree a few days ago to name the new flintlock muskets and minigun bullets as Light-Awakening Flintlock Muskets and Light-Awakening Lead Bullets to commend Xu Guangqi's great contribution in this matter. Then he was granted land and a house, and his family was brought to the capital to settle down. This could be considered as reassuring.
At the same time, it also gave him a faint warning.
"Do your job well!"
Xu Guangqi clearly understood Xiao Ruxun's intention, so he did not say a word and continued to do what he should do, appearing somewhat indifferent.
It did not matter. As long as he did his job honestly, Xiao Ruxun did not care too much about other things.
"The key is that there are not many craftsmen who can meet the requirements. Therefore, although there are many craftsmen who can produce muskets according to Your Majesty's requirements, when it comes to the rifling and light-awakening lead bullets, only a few skilled craftsmen can do it. Therefore, the production has not been able to increase. Based on the current production rate, we can only produce 50 muskets per month at most."
Xiao Ruxun calculated for a moment.
If he wanted this army to have a fighting force, he would need at least 10,000 of these muskets to equip the army. 50 muskets per month meant that it would take 20 months, or one year and eight months, to equip an army.
More importantly, there was no guarantee that all of them were good quality. There were still a considerable number of substandard and substandard products, which were equivalent to being discarded. The funds required were astronomical. Now that there were so many things that needed to be done, and money was needed everywhere. Although Xiao Ruxun had a lot of money on hand, she couldn't provide it to the General Firearms Manufacturing Bureau without limit.
"It is enough to produce 10 light-awakening flintlock muskets per month. We must guarantee that they are of good quality. As for the other muskets, we need to improve the production method as much as possible. After all, manual production is slow and unstable. We need to research the method of making tools, just like weaving machines. Do you understand?"
Xu Guangqi nodded.
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