Chapter 802: Wu Sangui, Off to Pacify the West

Large wooden crates packed with Hongxing Year 3 matchlocks (copies of the Spanish light matchlock) were piled high on the newly opened Pukou dock at Nanjing, where dockworkers used foot-treadle cranes and wheelbarrows to load the crates onto several Yangtze sand-boats about to sail west.

Officers from the Ministry of War's Ordnance Bureau, together with several officers of the Pacifying-the-West feudatory army who had followed Wu Sangui to Nanjing, checked the guns to be shipped against their ledgers and receipts, item by item. Every crate had to be opened and inspected before being loaded aboard; the count was verified, the fittings and guns checked for soundness, and only after everything was found correct were the crates resealed, affixed with sealing strips, and carried onto the boats.

Truly, not the slightest carelessness could be allowed!

Zhu Cilang and Wu Sangui were now at one corner of the dock, strolling and looking about with Chen Keqian, the Director of the Ordnance Bureau, as if at leisure, now and then opening a crate not yet sealed and taking out a firelock to handle it.

Seeing that both Zhu Cilang and Wu Sangui wore satisfied expressions, Chen Keqian hastened to add a few words: "These firelocks bound for Shaanxi are all products of Nanjing Putie, Shanghai Shengang, and Quanzhou Zhengtie, and their quality is most reliable. The three great ironworks have now all hired many master craftsmen from Holland and built refining furnaces, forging furnaces, 150–300-pound water-powered trip hammers, water-powered drilling machines, water-powered blast bellows, and variable-speed reservoirs, and have also introduced their sheet-metal methods.

In addition, the Daye Ironworks has now built a large blast furnace over one zhang in height, and has specially opened a ginseng-iron furnace reserved for military supply, using charcoal to smelt the ore and lime to draw off the slag. The pig iron produced is then sent to Nanjing and Shanghai for refining, while Quanzhou Zhengtie uses Fujian iron to obtain superior pig iron, then works it with great water-powered hammers through a hundred forgings until it is wrought; the wrought iron produced is of excellent quality, and when it is then used to make firelocks and plate armor, the yield of good pieces is greatly increased."

This Chen Keqian came from an artisan-household lineage of the Tianjin Guard — the Ming artisan-household system had collapsed by the middle and late period, and artisan households no longer reported for rotating service but instead paid taxes. After paying their taxes, each went into business for himself; those who did well became workshop owners, while those who did poorly became working people. The Chen family of Tianjin Guard, the iron-forging Chens, were among the artisan households that did well, having made their fortune on the east wind of the Wanli-era war in Korea. Moreover, a son of the clan had passed the juren examination, so now they had not only money but also a political umbrella.

By the generation of Chen Keqian's father, they were already among the foremost wealthy families within the city of Tianjin Guard. Yet their iron-forging skill was not particularly good. To run an iron business for generations and grow rich by forging iron did not make one an expert in iron-smelting. It only showed that their crudely and carelessly made products happened to suit the needs of the Great Ming's poverty-stricken court!

With the Ming's meager fiscal revenues, after paying grain and wages to so many imperial clansmen, officials, and troops, and with the officials in charge still needing to skim a little for themselves, how much money could possibly be left to buy equipment? Naturally, the cheaper the better. Good things did exist — the ones made in Foshan were quite good; if you found them unsatisfactory there were also the ones made in Macau; and failing that, you could import.

But the problem was, there was no money!

Good ironware required superior "ginseng iron" smelted with charcoal, and the cost was high. The Great Ming of that time simply could not purchase it in large quantities, and so the Chen family of Tianjin, skilled in crude and careless manufacture, rose to meet the need.

However, in the two battles of Tianjin Guard, the ironware Chen family was utterly ruined, and they no longer dared remain in Tianjin, so they had no choice but to become "loyal refugees," while the Chen family's eldest son, Chen Keqian, who had already passed the xiucai examination, joined the army and, relying on his considerable knowledge of smelting, forging, and casting, became a quartermaster officer.

Later he even left the army for a time to go into business, becoming the general manager of Nanjing Putie under the Royal Trading Company. It was under his direction that Putie, with ample funds, began hiring foreign craftsmen in large numbers and introducing Western iron-smelting techniques — in fact, the techniques he introduced, including the refining furnace (that is, the puddling furnace), water-powered machinery, drilling machines, blast bellows, and so on, all already existed in China. But they were all rather primitive, and without great demand, who would spend money and time improving them?

Now, if one were to improve them on one's own, it would require a great deal of time and money to make up lost ground, and it was more economical to import them. In any case, in this age there was no concept of intellectual property protection — once you copied it, it was yours!

In fact, the Portuguese were likewise copying Foshan's iron-smelting techniques, and had also copied China's low-cost hard-sail technology. When the Ottomans attacked Constantinople, they even hired the Christian Hungarian master cannon-founder Urban to cast the great Urban bombard!

Of course, even with the introduction of the most advanced water-powered hammers, water-powered drilling machines, and other such processes, it was still impossible to produce gun barrels and plate armor by assembly-line methods — because the water-powered hammers imported from Europe were merely heavy and adjustable in speed (with variable-speed gears and variable-speed reservoirs), but still could not replace experienced craftsmen in the forging.

These water-powered hammers were in fact tools for repeatedly forging wrought iron to improve its quality and output and to change its shape. But they could only beat out medium and thick plates of wrought iron; they could not be used to beat thin plates, still less to beat steel plates processed by the "Sugang method" — the water-powered hammer's force was too great, and the point of impact was not easy to control, so it would smash the relatively hard and brittle steel plates to pieces!

Nevertheless, with low-cost, high-quality medium and thick wrought-iron plates and high-efficiency water-powered drilling machines, the efficiency of working gun barrels and plate armor was still considerably improved. An assembly line was out of the question, but mass production had become possible.

The three great ironworks, plus several medium-sized ironworks over in Foshan, could now produce a total of 6,000 Hongxing Year 3 firelocks per month; adding the output of a number of small workshops, at full capacity 12,000 Hongxing Year 3 firelocks of superior quality could be produced in a single month.

In addition, there were also many crudely and carelessly made Hongxing Year 3 firelocks, whose exact output could not be counted.

The output of plate armor, however, was still relatively low, since it had to be custom-made — otherwise it could not be worn! But the output of simple breastplates and iron-sheet helmets could easily be increased; it was simply a matter of finding more men to swing hammers, and the Great Ming had no shortage of men!

Thus by the fifth year of Hongxing, the Great Ming's military production was already sufficient to supply an army numbering in the hundreds of thousands for rigorous training and combat needs. And there was still capacity left over to supply feudatory armies such as the Pacifying-the-West Garrison and the Northern Frontier Garrison.

"Changbo," said Zhu Cilang, handing the firelock in his hand to Wu Sangui with a smile, "this time I am giving you 10,000 Hongxing Year 3 pieces. That is one month's intake for the Ministry of War (another 2,000 were sold to the Dongning Army, the Jinghai Army, the Jin'ou Army, and other relatively wealthy feudatory garrisons), and all of it goes to you!

Your Pacifying-the-West Army has plenty of horses, and now that you have firelocks as well, form a few thousand firelock cavalry! Square-formation infantry are also needed. Start with 20 battalions. As for 3-pounder guns, I will first give you 30 pieces; form 10 half-batteries (that is, half a battery), half assigned to the cavalry and half moving with the infantry."

Wu Sangui was overjoyed at these words and pressed further: "Your Majesty, do you intend for this subject to march out from Shaanxi and attack Laoqin in Henan Prefecture?"

Among the Qing's three feudatories in the Central Plain, Ajige's son Laoqin was without doubt the strongest, and also the most obstinate!

His Ama Ajige and a host of brothers and sisters were now all under Dodo's control; if he dared surrender to the Great Ming, it would mean the massacre of his entire family!

Moreover, Dodo had treated him well, allowing him to inherit the princely title and also replenishing his equipment.

"No need," said Zhu Cilang, waving his hand. "You are the Military Governor of Pacifying-the-West and concurrently Grand Protector of Anxi. Your task is one thing only, and that is to pacify the west! The Yarkent Khanate and the Khoshut Khanate are both left to you to deal with.

In addition, you must also keep an eye on the Beiting Army. The guns and cannon We give you will likewise be given to Beiting in equal measure! If Batur Khung Taiji dares to rely on the sharpness of the guns and cannon in his hands, then teach him a harsh lesson!"

Wu Sangui was not afraid of the Mongols, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty may rest assured; these Oirats are no match for us!"

Zhu Cilang nodded: "The old lands of Anxi were sparsely populated to begin with, and after Batur Khung Taiji ravaged them, the population is even smaller. You should organize more Chiliarchs of the Pacifying-the-West Army to transfer their garrisons to Anxi; the court will bear the expenses! The Anxi Army will be accounted separately, and the losses of each Chiliarch will be subsidized by the court for 20 years after their move into Anxi. A fully manned Chiliarch will receive at most 6,000 taels of silver per year in subsidy. After 20 years, the subsidy will be paid at half rate, forever."

(End of Chapter)