activa-t Chapter 100 The Mighty Industrial Revolution!
Chapter 100 The Mighty Industrial Revolution!
Chapter 100 The Mighty Industrial Revolution!
The sea was a deep crimson.
The bodies of thousands of Japanese pirates rose and fell on the sea.
Three steel warships lay silently on the sea. Several small boats were lowered from the warships, and Qi Jingtong led his personal guards ashore in the small boats.
"General Qi Ning, Zhao Chengzhi, and others have been brought under our control."
Qi Jingtong nodded slightly, his gaze falling on the weapons on the ground, his eyes filled with coldness.
"Very good, take me there."
"yes!"
Qi Jingtong came to Zhao Chengzhi, who was surrounded by the Dengzhou Guard's garrison at that moment.
A series of gleaming sharp knives were pointed at Zhao Chengzhi. They neither stepped forward nor retreated, but instead surrounded them in a very small encirclement.
Zhao Chengzhi felt extremely frustrated; he had already prepared himself to fight to the death.
As a result, the garrison soldiers simply surrounded them. When they took the initiative to fight, the garrison soldiers would retreat and slowly force them back to their original positions.
Zhao Chengzhi knew that Qi Jingtong wanted to capture him alive!
While they were still locked in a stalemate, the sounds of artillery fire, screams, impacts, and gunfire rang out frequently and incessantly.
When they came to their senses, Qi Jingtong had already annihilated all the Japanese pirates in such a short time.
Now, Qi Jingtong stood before them, coldly staring at them.
"Zhao Chengzhi, you've been caught red-handed. Let's see how you try to deny it this time!"
"I initially thought you were just tipping off these Japanese pirates, but I never imagined you'd actually dare to smuggle weapons to them!"
"Zhao Chengzhi, you deserve to die!"
"Surrender now and submit to His Majesty's judgment!"
Qi Jingtong's words made Zhao Chengzhi's expression even more ferocious.
His eyes were fixed on Qi Jingtong, and his whole body was trembling slightly with fear and excitement.
"Qi Jingtong, why are you still chasing after your old superior?!"
"Am I the only one smuggling arms in this entire Ming Dynasty?!"
"To hell with His Majesty!"
"No one in this world can judge me!"
Zhao Chengzhi glared angrily, his whole body trembling as he roared, then raised the steel knife in his hand, ready to commit suicide.
"Bang!"
The next moment, a gunshot suddenly rang out.
The bullet struck Zhao Chengzhi's right hand, which was holding the knife, with precision. He cried out in pain, and the steel knife fell from his hand.
Qi Jingtong put down his flintlock pistol and coldly ordered, "Take them all down, alive!"
"Kill them!"
At Qi Jingtong's command, the garrison soldiers launched their offensive.
Several thousand garrison soldiers overwhelmed Zhao Chengzhi and his men, quickly subduing them and capturing them alive.
Zhao Chengzhi was filled with despair and utterly hopeless, while the other officials repeatedly begged Qi Jingtong for mercy.
"General Qi, we were wrong, we were really wrong. This is our first offense. Please, for the sake of our past relationship, spare our lives!"
"Yes, General Qi, we were all driven to this by Zhao Chengzhi. We were blinded by greed. Please, General Qi, give us another chance and spare our lives! We beg you, General Qi!"
"General Qi, spare my life, General Qi!"
"————"
Their desperate pleas for mercy echoed in the air. Qi Jingtong glanced at them with disgust and said coldly, "Go and say those things to His Majesty yourselves, and see if he'll spare your lives!"
"Guards, take him away and keep a close watch on him."
"Yes, General!"
After detaining Zhao Chengzhi, Qi Jingtong began to organize people to clean up the battlefield.
The results of the battle were then recorded and sent to the palace by fast horse.
Forbidden City.
Cining Palace.
Zhu Houzhao looked at the memorial in his hand, his brows furrowed.
He had long anticipated that the threat of Japanese pirates, which had dragged on for so long, must be a result of collusion between internal and external forces.
Unexpectedly, the highest-ranking military officer in Dengzhou Garrison, the commander of Dengzhou Garrison, was a traitor.
He even smuggled weapons to the Japanese pirates. I can't be satisfied until he's torn to pieces!
Moreover, according to Zhao Chengzhi, he was not the only commander smuggling weapons to the Japanese pirates.
Zhu Houzhao put down the memorial and shouted, "Liu Jin!"
"This old servant is here."
"Issue an imperial edict to Qi Jingtong to bring Zhao Chengzhi's entire family to the capital and hand them over to the Eastern Depot for interrogation of his accomplices, to find out who else is smuggling goods to the Japanese pirates—"
fire!
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"The remaining officials involved in smuggling shall be skinned alive and their entire families executed!"
"The straw men made from human skin were sent to various garrisons along the coast and made to stand in the center of the drill ground as a warning."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
After receiving the order, Liu Jin immediately arranged for his men to convey Zhu Houzhao's command.
Zhu Houzhao sat in the Cining Palace, pondering how to deal with these traitors hiding among the garrisons.
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Taizu, the garrison system had gradually collapsed due to the long period of peace.
Perhaps this garrison system should be reformed.
Just then, Li, the Minister of Works, came to request an audience.
"Your Majesty, this humble subject greets you."
After bowing, Li took out a memorial from his bosom and respectfully presented it to Zhu Houzhao.
"Your Majesty, this is a detailed breakdown of the Ministry of Works' expenditures on the construction of flintlock muskets, artillery pieces for the Houtang line, and steel steam warships. Please take a look."
A few days ago, Li, the Minister of Works, submitted a memorial to Zhu Houzhao, stating that more than half of the 20 million taels of silver that Zhu Houzhao had allocated to the Ministry of Works last time had been used.
In order not to slow down the construction speed of the Ministry of Works, they requested Zhu Houzhao to allocate some more silver to the Ministry of Works.
Zhu Houzhao was shocked when he saw it; that was twenty million taels of silver!
In less than six months, more than ten million taels of silver have already been spent?
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had Li send him the Ministry of Works' expenditure details for review.
Zhu Houzhao took Li's memorial and began to read it.
First, there were the initial research and development costs. Just studying the blueprints, training craftsmen, and manufacturing trials cost 2.6 million taels of silver.
The remaining major expenditure was on building flintlock muskets, breech-loading cannons, and steel steamships.
Each gun costs eight taels of silver to manufacture, and a total of 18,000 guns were manufactured, costing a total of 144,000 taels of silver.
The cost of manufacturing a single breech-loading cannon was 2,600 taels of silver. A total of 1,100 cannons were manufactured, costing a total of 2.86 million taels of silver.
An 18-zhang-long steel steamship cost 160,000 taels to build. Eight were built in total, and four more are under construction, totaling 1.67 million taels.
A steel steamship, 44 zhang long, cost 1.2 million taels to build. One ship has been built, and another is under construction, costing a total of 1.7 million taels.
In addition, in order to produce these items as quickly as possible, the Ministry of Works mobilized more than 60,000 artisans to manufacture them.
Each craftsman's monthly wage ranged from two to ten taels of silver.
The more skilled the craftsman, the higher his wages.
In the past few months, the wages of the craftsmen have amounted to 410,000 taels.
In addition, there were miscellaneous expenses such as construction site costs, transportation costs, management costs, etc., totaling 1.92 million taels.
To date, the Ministry of Works has spent over 11 million taels of silver.
Zhu Houzhao was shocked when he calculated how much money it would cost to manufacture these things.
He had previously made a bold statement to Qi Jingtong in front of all the civil and military officials.
They promised Qi Jingtong ten million taels of silver, fifty million shi of grain, one hundred thousand flintlock muskets, five thousand rifled cannons, ten 44-zhang (approximately 16.6 meters) steel steamships, and one hundred and twenty 18-zhang (approximately 33.3 meters) steel steamships, in order to allow Qi Jingtong to destroy the Japanese within three years.
So far, only a few have been made, and it has already cost ten million taels of silver. How much more silver will be needed for the remaining items?
Zhu Houzhao put down the memorial, his brows furrowed deeply.
Of these 11 million taels of silver, more than 4 million taels were a one-time initial investment.
However, the manufacturing costs of muskets, cannons, and steel warships remained high in subsequent production.
To produce more muskets, cannons, and steel warships at the lowest possible price, it is necessary to reduce the manufacturing cost of these items.
But how can he reduce the manufacturing cost of these things?
Zhu Houzhao pondered deeply, wondering if the only solution was to reduce the wages of these artisans.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Zhu Houzhao.
He looked at Li and asked, "How do you craftsmen make these things?"
Li was taken aback by Zhu Houzhao's question, somewhat confused: "That's how it's made. First, you teach the craftsmen all the steps involved, then you let them make the parts, and then they assemble it themselves—"
Zhu Houzhao nodded, then asked, "Have you ever thought about using an assembly line approach, which breaks down these complex processes into dozens, or even hundreds, of simple steps?"
"Each craftsman only needs to repeat a very simple action. After the craftsman of the previous process finishes, it is directly handed over to the craftsman of the next process."
"Multiple craftsmen simultaneously produce different parts, which are then assembled together."
"This will both speed up the manufacturing process and reduce production costs."
Zhu Houzhao's words were like a revelation to Li. He stared at Zhu Houzhao in a daze, his eyes wide as cowbells.
After a while, once Li Xiang understood the key point, he didn't need Zhu Houzhao to explain further; he already grasped the essence of the matter.
This kind of assembly line production in later generations reduces costs exponentially for traditional handicrafts today!
Assembly line production is a complete revolution in production methods!
It allows parallel operations to replace serial operations, and the time required per unit of product decreases exponentially.
At the same time, because each person only does one thing, the cost of training a craftsman will be greatly reduced, and the scrap rate of the manufactured parts will also be greatly reduced.
It is also more convenient to manage, and it greatly reduces the pressure of transportation and storage.
Li estimated that if the assembly line operation method that Zhu Houzhao just mentioned were promoted, it would be very effective.
The production cost of a flintlock musket will plummet to 20% of its original cost, less than two taels of silver!
The production cost of a breech-rifled cannon would be less than five hundred taels of silver!
Moreover, their output in the same amount of time will increase by a thousand times or even a hundred times!
Revolution!
This will be a momentous industrial revolution!
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