It has been a year since Jinhua Mansion was liberation. In this year, Ma Jinbao and his subordinates did not have any invasion and plunder. The recovery of people's livelihood is very fast. At least through the purchase of autumn grain, grain will not be a problem for the time being. But if you think about it carefully, if it weren't for Jiangnan, which produces hundreds of kilograms of rice per mu, a place, or if you suffer from drought, locust plague, flood and other natural disasters, this grain would probably become the biggest obstacle to restricting the development of the Ming army in Zhejiang.

In addition to the problem of land and soil, the renewal of military weapons and the manufacturing of meeting demand, the key points of fortresses, the barracks of troops stationed in various counties, and the construction of post stations and outposts in various places, all the silver required are astronomical figures. In addition, the tax exemption of newly occupied areas this year and the repayment pressure of the first year of the two loans for the aftermath and the conscription of the capitulation next year, Chen Wen, who is said to have gained a lot this year, has begun to worry about whether he can support this army.

However, no matter what, we must try to persevere, and it is not just as simple as persistence. The development and renewal of new weapons, as well as technological innovation of craftsmen, are also necessary.

After the negotiations with Sun Yu were over, it was already afternoon. Chen Wen left the prefect's office and hurried to the military industry workshop responsible for weapons and armor manufacturing.

After the cleaning and reform, the Military Industry Department had already changed. The civil servant in charge of the Military Industry Department's office is Xu Yi, the former county magistrate of Dongyang County. During the Cao Conglong Rebellion, he refused to agree with the magistrate Yan Zhiheng's counter-action behavior. Later, he was recognized by Chen Wen and Sun Yu. Not only based on the consideration of merit, but his ability is obvious to all. Therefore, Chen Wen appointed him as the head of the Military Industry Department to manage the military weapon manufacturing department.

The Military Industry Department has several large workshops, including the Sword Academy, the Bow and Crossbow Academy, the Musket Academy, the Artillery Academy, the Firearms Academy, the Armor Academy and the Military Academy, which are fully responsible for the military equipment manufacturing affairs of the Ming Army in Zhejiang.

Among them, the Sword Academy does not only make swords, and the cold weapons used by the Ming army all belong to the manufacturing scope of this workshop. The Armor Academy not only makes armor, but helmets are the basis. Military uniforms, cloaks, and even shoes and socks are also responsible for the creation of crossbows. Although this is the case, it does not actually make crossbows. On the contrary, the Musket Academy is not only responsible for the manufacture of guns, but also for the manufacture of guns and firearms. The Firearm Academy seems to overlap with cannons and muskets, but in fact it is responsible for the production of gunpowder and the manufacturing of water war firearms such as fire bricks. As for the Military Academy, it is completely miscellaneous, kettles, hats and other workshops that do not do, and even some training facilities are also responsible for them.

Originally, the efficiency of these workshops has always been quite high. Not only is it compared with the labor department office where dead pigs are not afraid of boiling water, but it is also relatively efficient even compared with other Ming army weapons workshops.

The ability to achieve such a result has a great relationship with the supervision of Wang Yi and Wang Jiang, especially Wang Jiang, who is in charge of logistics and common affairs. Even if he was dissatisfied with Chen Wen for a long time, he had never dragged his back on the output of military weapons. Of course, once they played, they would naturally be a big deal.

After the cleaning, the work efficiency of the craftsmen was further improved under Chen Wen's piece-based wage policy. Many craftsmen even worked overtime every day, always thinking about making as many finished products as possible in order to get more wages.

However, with the implementation of the standardized system, the speed of craftsmen's creation has decreased. This is an inevitable phenomenon of hand-made standardized components. Logically speaking, if you want to increase the output, you must increase the number of craftsmen and increase the output through the increase of manpower.

However, today's craftsmen teach skills and go to private schools. Under normal circumstances, a craftsman in handicrafts cannot bring a few apprentices, unlike later technical schools.

Hand-made creation is not something that can be accomplished by changing the learning methods and contents like Chen Wen’s teaching in the senior class. The process of craftsmen creating finished products is far from being as simple as production through machinery, but it requires too much relevant knowledge and skills that have been trained over a long time.

There are only so many craftsmen in their hands. Apart from seeking help from merchants and asking them to find ways to recruit from the occupied areas of the Qing Dynasty and bringing some craftsmen, they can only recruit by expanding the occupied areas.

However, standardized production will also lead to the inadequacy of these craftsmen. It will take time to recruit from the Qing Dynasty and the new occupied areas, and the output will be difficult to increase rapidly and effectively for a while. Now, with the expansion, the Ming army's weapons and equipment will soon face a large number of shortages. In this regard, Chen Wen could only ask the officials and craftsmen of the Military Industry Department.

Compared to the craftsmen who unanimously expressed their confusion about standardization, after the craftsmen dispersed, Xu Yi, the head of the Military Industry Department, made a special proposal, which made Chen Wen's eyes lit up.

"Sir, the minister has seen it in the workshop. Many of the apprentices of those craftsmen have actually had the ability to build independently. However, according to the rules when apprenticing, they have to work under the master for a few years before they can get a master. It is better to recruit these apprentices to do things, which should be able to increase the output."

This proposal is very constructive, but the requisition is wrong, because no one except their master can guarantee whether the apprentice can create the finished product according to regulations, which is prone to unnecessary losses, so you have to change your thinking based on this.

"Master Xu, your opinion is very good, but it needs to be adjusted in details." Chen Wen invited several masters who are civil servants again, and said, "In response to the issue of lower output than expected, I and Master Xu have just discussed that in the future, all the apprentices brought from all the craftsmen and masters below the teachers can get a master as long as they can learn the skills and create objects by themselves. However, the master can get a share of the finished products made in the first three years after they go out."

Chen Wen's order itself was breaking the rules, but as soon as this statement was made, several masters all showed surprise.

They are more experienced in age, but the reason why their physical strength begins to deteriorate makes them more keen on teaching skills. There are naturally more apprentices who have not mastered than ordinary craftsmen. However, according to the rules of the ancestors, apprentices have to take action under the master before they get off. In fact, a few years of helping the master not only accumulate more experience, but also part of the payment of tuition fees.

Nowadays, Chen Wen’s regulations allow the master to get the apprentice’s share, which is an additional bonus, so they naturally flock to it, especially the apprentice’s time to go to school is also determined by them.

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"I know that craftsmen's craftsmanship needs to be tempered for a long time. In order to prevent too many defective products from being inadequate in the apprentice's craftsmanship, apprentices need to go through strict assessments if they want to enter the workshop as formal craftsman. Those who pass the assessment will enter the workshop. Those who fail the assessment will go back and study for another year before they can retake the exam. In addition, during the period when the master is divided, the master will be punished if there are too many apprentices."

As soon as this statement was said, most of the surprise just now was extinguished. Apprentices who could reach the level of educating but could not get out due to tradition were not much more than the total number of apprentices. This craft requires slowly accumulating and honing, so the speed of teaching apprentices will not be too fast. Once this rule is released, their share will inevitably be reduced a lot.

But, it's better than nothing.

According to the rules, the master can be divided into pieces, the apprentice can be promoted in advance, and the output will inevitably be improved. This is the best of all. For this reason, Chen Wen praised Xu Yi very much, which led to more ideas from him.

"Sir, I have checked that the production speed of self-produced muskets cannot keep up. One of the big reasons is that there are too few craftsmen who can create finished products with qualified fire rates. I have thought that some parts of the bolts seem to be similar to locks. If you hire some locksmiths to build them, you may be able to increase the output."

The flintlock gun bolt has always been a big rock in Chen Wen's mind, but the flintlock gun bolt has a problem with the firing rate. The gun opportunity that does not meet the standard greatly affects the shooting speed, causing more mistakes from the musketeers, which instead loses the significance of this technological innovation.

Among the existing craftsmen of the Ming army, only those masters were able to build qualified bolts more stably. So in the past two months, there were only a few dozen flintlock guns that could equip the troops, which was not enough to bear enough damage on the battlefield, let alone eliminate the flintlock gun.

Locksmith, Chen Wen thought for a moment. The locks of this era are very different from those of modern locks. They are in various shapes. Although they are far from similar, they are not completely different. Perhaps, it is possible that stones from other mountains can be polished with jade.

After making a plan to ask Xu Yi to find a few locksmiths to try it out, Chen Wen suddenly remembered a joke I saw on the forum before, saying that the early European artillery casting craftsmen were all from casting big bells for churches.

However, if you think about it carefully, it seems that there are not many craftsmen who cast the big bells in the occupied areas of the Ming army. Moreover, from casting bells to casting cannons, it also requires an adaptation process, and it is accompanied by frequent occurrence of phenomena such as blowing. At most, it can only be used as a supplement but not enough to increase too much output.

It seems that we still have to start with machinery, especially hydraulic-driven machinery, which is more natural for the southwest Zhejiang, which has rich hydraulic resources.

Using hydraulic power is extremely popular in China in the agricultural society, such as roller trucks, water mills, and water mills. But what Chen Wen needed was machinery such as hydraulic boring machines that could be used in military manufacturing. After all, with long spears, muskets and cannons, there would be a stable life for ordinary people. Otherwise, no matter how complete the civil machinery is, it would be just used to exploit the Tartars, and the people would not benefit from it.
Chapter completed!