Chapter 489: A Son and a Daughter, Both Complete

Bi Maokang thought Your Majesty still didn't trust him, and hastily said, "Rest assured, Your Majesty, there will be no problem at all."

Seeing Bi Maokang's attitude, Zhu Youxiao knew that no matter what he said now it would be useless, and saying too much would easily dampen his subordinate's confidence. So Zhu Youxiao said directly, "No problem, go ahead. If the results are good, I won't be stingy with rewards."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Bi Maokang said with a somewhat excited tone.

Orders were quickly passed down, and preparations were swiftly completed on that end.

Zhu Youxiao watched with his own eyes as people carried over crates of shells and rapidly began loading, the shells pushed directly into the cannon barrel.

At this moment, if someone shouted out "Italian cannon," Zhu Youxiao felt it would be quite atmospheric.

But still, he said nothing, standing there with his hands clasped behind his back.

Following a command, the cannon roared with a thunderous boom, the shell spinning through the air toward the distance, and upon landing, it let out a tremendous explosion.

Dust and smoke billowed everywhere, mud flew in all directions, and the ground was directly blasted into a large crater.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao felt somewhat emotional — his firearm corps was finally about to take shape, not wasting all the money he'd poured in over these years, nor all the effort he'd spent devising various things.

In fact, in this era, the world's technology was already beginning to develop at a rapid pace. After the Age of Sail began, all kinds of goods would be in demand, and would also be manufactured.

Especially in the realm of weaponry — everyone was colonizing, back and forth, fighting with great relish, so the demand for firearms was even greater.

It was just that no single country could integrate everything together, then develop it through formidable national strength.

Now, what Zhu Youxiao was doing was exactly that.

The Great Ming's deep industrial foundation — perhaps people said it had nothing at all, but in truth, Ming artisans were truly remarkable. They could hand-turn beads of identical size by machine, beads that could be used to make bearings.

Though there was no complete industrial system, no various industrial manuals, these artisans were truly formidable in practical operation. These powerful craftsmen provided the foundation for the Great Ming's research and development.

The over seven thousand books brought by Nicolas Trigault contained all kinds of contemporary knowledge, allowing them to bridge the knowledge currently used by the Great Ming with advanced Western knowledge. In this process, the Great Ming's technology achieved rapid development.

And after this came Zhu Youxiao's planning and guidance.

After all, as someone from a later age, Zhu Youxiao could point the way for many things — for instance, picric acid explosives. This substance was simple to make, but transport and storage were extremely inconvenient. The French and British had spent ages without solving the problem, but it was later solved by the Japanese.

And for Zhu Youxiao, this matter was just an unremarkable secret. Similar things were actually numerous — for instance, the glass bubble problem that once sparked a war; in reality, the secret solution to this problem was stirring.

Just those two words alone had caused an unending war.

Once explained, it was actually a very simple principle; but unexplained, this technique was worth a fortune in gold, even worth a war of national annihilation.

And Zhu Youxiao's role was precisely this, coupled with a massive amount of money, finally yielding the current harvest.

Seeing Bi Maokang walk back, Zhu Youxiao said directly, "Excellent, rewards!"

As for building a production line and then rapidly equipping the troops, Zhu Youxiao set that aside for now. The reason was simple: no money. Though these things could be put into production the moment they were obtained, there was still no way. Right now there were only simple mechanical lathes, and manufacturing speed was very slow.

But if a production line were built, using large amounts of manual labor, mass manufacturing would still be possible.

There was just one thing Zhu Youxiao couldn't manage — all of this required too much money. With his current financial situation, don't even joke about it.

So Zhu Youxiao could only reward the artisans and let them continue their own research.

The next era would naturally have to start with power — that is, the legendary steam engine.

With this thing, the Great Ming could then open the next era.

The things before his eyes were enough for the Great Ming to digest for a while.

But there was still one matter Zhu Youxiao wanted to ask Bi Maokang about.

"How is the matter of metal-cased fixed ammunition progressing?" Zhu Youxiao looked at Bi Maokang and asked directly.

This was what Zhu Youxiao cared about most — once metal-cased fixed ammunition was made, then breech-loading rifles could be put on the agenda. Even the earliest Hanyang-made rifle would be an extremely advanced firearm in this era.

Being able to fire accurately, having rifling — that was a remarkable advancement. No matter how far the current muzzle-loading muskets developed, they couldn't have this advantage. Even if rifling could be used, even if threaded bullets could be used, it still wouldn't work.

Because that way, loading speed would be much slower, and the rate of fire insufficient. Only breech-loading guns could achieve that level of precision.

Once this difficulty was overcome, a type of pistol could also be manufactured — the revolver.

Speaking of which, when the time came, he could get one for himself, wear it at his waist at all times — he'd been thinking about it for a long time.

"Not yet." Bi Maokang said with some hesitation.

In fact, Bi Maokang had also been keeping close watch on this matter, and the entire Hundred Works Institute was extremely devoted. But this kind of thing wasn't something that could be made with devotion alone.

The reason metal-cased fixed artillery shells worked was because they were large and easy to handle. But bullets were different — metal-cased fixed ammunition just couldn't be done yet; it would still take some time.

Zhu Youxiao said, "No matter, take it slow."

In truth, Zhu Youxiao was very anxious inside, because even if metal-cased fixed ammunition could be made, it wouldn't matter if breech-loading rifles couldn't be produced — because this thing could be fitted onto a hand-cranked Gatling gun.

Once paper-cased cartridges were replaced with metal bullets, the rate of fire would be greatly increased. Currently it was 200 rounds per minute; if switched to metal bullets, it could reach 1,200 rounds per minute. What did that mean?

Even hand-cranked, it had such a rate of fire — truly a weapon of the battlefield. With this thing, even without breech-loading rifles, it would be formidable enough.

But judging from the current situation, this would still require some more time to overcome. So Zhu Youxiao didn't plan to keep staying here — let them continue working on it; his own task now was to go make money.

Without money, these weapons couldn't be equipped. Having such good equipment and not equipping it — Zhu Youxiao absolutely couldn't let that pass.

Having the ability to forge a modernized force, yet not doing it, would simply be a waste. Such a thing could not happen to him.

After rewarding all the artisans, Zhu Youxiao left the Hundred Works Institute and returned directly to the palace.

When Zhu Youxiao returned to the palace, a little girl was toddling about joyfully.

A circle of palace maids and eunuchs surrounded her, shouting and fussing, afraid the little girl might accidentally fall to the ground.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Youxiao helplessly shook his head.

In these past few years he hadn't done anything but stay in the palace, which had resulted in quite a lot of output within the palace.

Besides giving him a son the first time, Empress Zhang had given birth to a daughter in her second pregnancy.

In addition, Noble Consort Tian had also borne a son, while Noble Consort Yuan had borne a daughter.

The one before him was Zhu Youxiao's eldest daughter, born of Noble Consort Yuan, only slightly younger than the eldest prince, and she had never been one to stay still.

Ever since she learned to walk, no one could hold her — she insisted on running on her own two little short legs.

Watching a crowd of palace maids and eunuchs running along with her, she giggled and laughed merrily.

Zhu Youxiao walked straight over, scooped the little girl into his arms, rubbed her little face, pressed his cheek against hers, and gave her a kiss before saying, "What are you running around for again?"

The little girl seemed somewhat impatient from Zhu Youxiao's fussing, rubbed hard against him, and then burst into giggles.

At this moment, Noble Consort Yuan also walked up from behind. Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, she hurriedly bowed and said, "Your servant pays respects to Your Majesty."

Compared to when she first entered the palace, Noble Consort Yuan had grown considerably—not only was her figure fuller, but she also carried an air of maturity and composure.

Glancing at the little girl held in Zhu Youxiao's arms, Noble Consort Yuan's face broke into a smile.

Zhu Youxiao's harem was still relatively harmonious, after all, there weren't many women in it to begin with.

Empress Zhang's authority was unshakable. Not only was she the Empress, she had also borne the eldest imperial son, and she was favored by His Majesty—that went without saying.

Aside from Empress Zhang, there was only one Noble Consort Tian and one Noble Consort Yuan—no one else.

With only three of them, it was hardly possible for them to scheme against one another, so things were basically stable. There were some minor frictions during the day, but nothing serious. Thus, Zhu Youxiao lived quite comfortably in the harem.

It was only the ministers outside who were somewhat displeased—"Your Majesty, this isn't right, you should take more wives."

Zhu Youxiao couldn't be bothered with them. Having too many people in the harem was no good. Even distribution of favor—he simply couldn't spread himself that thin.

With only this little bit of broth he had, how could it be enough for so many people? Even these three were already more than he could handle.

So Zhu Youxiao directly rejected those ministers' proposals.

Placing the child into Noble Consort Yuan's arms, Zhu Youxiao said with a smile, "Don't be too soft on her. If she misbehaves again, spank her bottom."

Hearing this, Noble Consort Yuan shot Zhu Youxiao a helpless glare.

Her lord and master only had such a temper when he was speaking. On ordinary days, with this one daughter, he doted on her to death—holding her in his arms and unwilling to let go, let alone striking her even once.

Whenever someone needed to be scolded or disciplined, he always made her do it.

After she finished, His Majesty would play the good guy and coax the child—it truly left one at a loss for words.

And wasn't the daughter's behavior all his own spoiling anyway?

Now he came saying such things again—Noble Consort Yuan was displeased.

Seeing Noble Consort Yuan's expression, Zhu Youxiao felt somewhat embarrassed and directly changed the subject, saying, "There are still matters to attend to up front. I'll come back once I'm done."

Having said this, Zhu Youxiao walked off with his hands clasped behind his back.