Chapter 17: Igniting the Armory Bureau

During the few lively days at Dezhuang Hotpot, Zhu Cilang made a trip to the Armory Bureau, wanting to see if he could first arrange for Adam Schall and Sun Heding to be placed there.

This time he did not go out in disguise, but rather traveled with the Crown Prince's full ceremonial procession. He felt there was no need to show deference to these royal household slaves who lined their own pockets.

The Armory Bureau was located in Anfufang on the west side of the Imperial City—what later generations would call North Long Street, near Fuyou Temple—and had one seal-holding eunuch and one eunuch superintendent of the military stores depot.

Surrounded by a large crowd, Zhu Cilang arrived at the Armory Bureau.

Just as he reached the entrance, he saw the Armory Bureau's seal-holding eunuch and the eunuch superintendent of the military stores depot, along with the bureau's managers, secretaries, clerks, scribes, and overseers—several dozen people in all—kneeling prostrate on the ground, saying in unison: "We respectfully welcome His Highness the Crown Prince. May you live ten thousand years."

"Rise!" Zhu Cilang said, glancing at them, following the prescribed protocol.

The leading seal-holding eunuch stepped forward and first introduced himself: "This slave is Liu Rong, seal-holder of the Armory Bureau. I await His Highness the Crown Prince's instructions."

Zhu Cilang nodded, looked around, and saw no place where guns or cannons were made—this was merely an administrative office.

He got straight to the point: "Where is the place that produces firearms?"

The seal-holding eunuch Liu Rong hastily replied: "To report to Your Highness, the place that produces gunpowder is at the Anmin Works north of Xizhimen Street."

"And the craftsmen?" Zhu Cilang continued.

Zhu Cilang knew that among the twenty-four offices within the Imperial City, only a few head managers were eunuchs; the other officials and craftsmen were all ordinary men.

Ma Xianxiang, superintendent of the military stores depot, replied: "To report to Your Highness, the craftsmen are at the Gunpowder Office and the Anmin Works."

"How many craftsmen does the Armory Bureau have now?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"About two hundred or so," Ma Xianxiang replied. The craftsmen were under his management.

Zhu Cilang had checked the records: during the Zhengtong era, the Armory Bureau had over three thousand craftsmen; by the Longqing era, only seventeen hundred remained; and now there were barely two hundred.

Zhu Cilang frowned and asked: "What is the quality of the firearms produced?"

Liu Rong smiled ingratiatingly: "Your Highness, the firearms produced by our Armory Bureau are absolutely without question of quality. Even Your Highness's own personal guard uses firearms forged by the Armory Bureau."

"These bastards, openly trying to fool me with their eyes wide open!" Zhu Cilang was furious inwardly, but did not expose them on the spot. He asked a few more questions,

and the answers he received were all "fine, fine, fine." Zhu Cilang knew that the few eunuchs of the Armory Bureau were not at all afraid of him going to the Anmin Works to inspect and test the firearms.

Because in the sixth year of Tianqi, the Wanggong Works gunpowder depot had suffered a great explosion, killing and wounding tens of thousands of people, and even affecting the imperial palace—even the Tianqi Emperor's Crown Prince Zhu Cijiong, not yet one year old, had been crushed to death in the palace.

At the time, the matter had not been handled much, mainly because all those involved were already dead—many people had died without even knowing what had happened.

After that, the gunpowder depot was rebuilt north of Xizhimen Street and renamed the Anmin Works, meaning to reassure the people's hearts that there would be no more explosions.

However, due to poor management, several small explosions occurred afterward, causing the surrounding residents to no longer believe in any "reassurance of the people." They moved away one after another, to the point that property prices in the area dropped considerably.

Thus, the area around the Anmin Works became a place that the powerful and noble of the capital would sternly warn their juniors never to go near.

If even the powerful and noble could not go, then the Crown Prince certainly could not go either. Whoever brought him there would essentially be taking off their own head and handing it to someone else.

Zhu Cilang himself did not dare go either. Those fools at the Anmin Works habitually took iron shovels and pried apart clumped gunpowder, with sparks sizzling and sputtering—it would be a miracle if it did not explode. He certainly was not about to go throw his life away.

Before long, Zhu Cilang left the Armory Bureau with his entourage. In his heart, his assessment of the few men in power at the Armory Bureau was: a pack of bootlicking, deceitful, corrupt, and incompetent mediocrities.

He could not count on these fools. It seemed he would have to find another way to arrange positions for Adam Schall and Sun Heding.

That same day, after returning to the palace from the Armory Bureau, Zhu Cilang went to the Qianqing Palace to seek an audience with the Chongzhen Emperor, intending to submit a memorial against the Armory Bureau.

However, the Chongzhen Emperor was busy reading memorials concerning the campaign against the bandits in the south and had no time for him, telling him to seek an audience another day. Zhu Cilang had no choice but to return to Zhongcui Palace to plan for the future.

The Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

According to the battle reports from the front lines, Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and Governor-General of Military Affairs for the Seven Provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Lu Xiangsheng, together with Regional Commander Zu Kuan, had killed the bandit chief Yaotian Dong and scattered the forces of the bandit king Chuang Wang, Gao Yingxiang, and Li Zicheng, who were now fleeing toward the Xing'an area. The government troops were pursuing them relentlessly; barring unexpected events, they could wipe out Gao Yingxiang's roving bandits within half a year.

Upon reading this battle report, the Chongzhen Emperor's face lit up with joy, and his mood became pleasant. Only then did he remember the Crown Prince's request for an audience, and he ordered someone to summon Zhu Cilang from Zhongcui Palace.

"You've recently taken command of the Yongwei Camp—how does it feel?" Chongzhen asked with a smile.

"Cao Huachun is truly capable. He gathered the most elite soldiers of the Capital Camps into the Yongwei Camp, and the supervising eunuchs he left behind are also very competent, saving your son a great deal of trouble." Zhu Cilang said seriously.

These words came from his heart. Cao Huachun had indeed invested great effort in the Yongwei Camp. The two supervising eunuchs he had dispatched not only failed to put obstacles in Zhu Cilang's way but were extremely cooperative. They were also fairly accommodating with the officers and soldiers, without excessive interference—they were practically a breath of fresh air among all the supervising eunuchs of the Great Ming.

The Chongzhen Emperor nodded and said: "I know of Cao Huachun's loyalty. He has always been cautious and meticulous in his work—that is also the reason I transferred him back from Nanjing and gave him such an important position."

"Father, Your Majesty, your son wishes to reorganize the Armory Bureau." Zhu Cilang spoke up.

"What's wrong with the Armory Bureau?" Chongzhen asked, puzzled, looking at Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cilang said: "Our Great Ming has the advantage of firearms—so why do we still lose to the Jianzhou barbarians?"

Zhu Cilang could not expect Chongzhen to answer for him, so he could only answer his own question: "Our Great Ming's firearms are formidable and widely equipped, yet few people actually use them. The reason is simply that the quality is poor—they easily burst their barrels, and soldiers dare not use them."

Seeing Chongzhen lost in thought, Zhu Cilang continued: "If a workman wishes to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools. Only by strengthening firearms manufacturing can we bring out our full advantage. The firearms currently equipped in the Yongwei Camp have a pass rate of only slightly over thirty percent, which severely affects the army's combat capability. Therefore, your son earnestly begs Your Majesty to allow your son to reorganize the Armory Bureau."

Lu Jiude had recently reported that he had already tested all the bird-gun muskets of the Yongwei Camp—of four thousand muskets, only fifteen hundred were qualified. This made Zhu Cilang extremely furious.

Fifteen hundred qualified muskets, plus the five hundred from the Eastern Palace guard, made two thousand in total—enough to arm half the Yongwei Camp.

However, Lu Jiude also told Zhu Cilang that although these muskets counted as qualified, each gun barrel had a limited service life.

Even the best barrel could not exceed eighty total firings under normal conditions. Once that number was passed, barrel bursts could still occur, so barrels had to be replaced frequently.

Additionally, a single barrel could not be fired more than thirty times consecutively. Once thirty was reached, one had to wait until the barrel had completely cooled before continuing to use it.

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang felt increasingly that the Armory Bureau needed to be in his hands, so today he took the opportunity to request the assignment.

Chongzhen was extremely disgusted with these pests who harmed the military, and said with some irritation: "Those bastards of the Armory Bureau—do they want to follow the path of the Wei eunuch? Crown Prince, go investigate them. Investigate them thoroughly for me!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang felt reassured inside, but his face showed nothing of it. He said: "Father, please calm your anger. Your son will certainly give these inner court servants a warning."

Then the two changed to other topics. Chongzhen asked a few more questions, and then intentionally began teaching Zhu Cilang about governance, having him read out the memorials one by one.

At the same time, Chongzhen would also ask Zhu Cilang for his views on certain memorials, and from time to time would explain methods and techniques for reviewing memorials, to demonstrate the inscrutability of a sovereign.

Zhu Cilang noted all of it down—this was all valuable experience. Although he had far more foresight than Chongzhen, when it came to experience in handling government affairs, he was far too lacking.

Time passed quickly. The Chongzhen Emperor saw that the hour was about right, and looked at Zhu Cilang with affection, saying: "My son, let us stop here for today. From now on, after your studies at Wenhua Hall, come to the Qianqing Palace to accompany your father in reviewing memorials. Tomorrow's court assembly—you shall attend that as well."

After taking his leave of the Chongzhen Emperor and exiting the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cilang was extremely pleased, silently giving this imperial father of his wild praise.

The Chongzhen Emperor had not only permitted him to deal with the Armory Bureau but had also allowed him to attend court and listen to governance—truly a double blessing!