noveltune Chapter 039 Making Zhu Youjian Cry
Chapter 039 Making Zhu Youjian Cry
Chapter 039
Lu Jiucheng didn't know much about armor, but plate armor felt thick and looked good. In particular, the plate armor that Chen Ying took out was a semi-finished product, not painted, and had a bright blue metallic luster on its surface.
He had just seen it clearly: Chen Ying shot an arrow at it, sparks flew everywhere, but it only left a shallow mark. Chen Ying seemed somewhat dissatisfied with him, so he drew his sharp sword and slashed at the armor, which also sparked everywhere, leaving only a few shallow marks.
Lu Jiucheng hurriedly asked, "How many taels of silver does this armor cost?"
According to the armor produced by the Ming Dynasty's Armor Bureau, the cost of iron was 6.9 taels of silver, charcoal was 1.3 taels of silver, and labor and food costs were 2.4 taels of silver. In addition, the cost of the lining, cowhide rope, raw lacquer, etc., totaled 12 taels of silver.
Of course, due to corruption, the actual cost was definitely less than twelve taels of silver. The problem was that the armor produced in this way was merely lamellar armor for ordinary soldiers. It could barely stop an arrow shot from a stone bow at a distance of fifty paces, and apart from the area protecting the chest, it could not stop spear thrusts and could only reduce the damage from sword and axe cuts.
Chen Ying smiled faintly and said, "How about ten taels of silver per set?"
Chen Ying discovered that the Imperial Armor Bureau had devised ingenious cost-saving measures. Standard lamellar armor required 1,620 armor plates, woven using a dotted weaving technique. However, in reality, they produced lamellar armor using only 1,089 armor plates, thus saving about one-third of the iron.
At the same time, they reduced the size of the lamellar armor. People of Chen Ying's height could not wear the armor produced by the Armor Bureau. Both the shoulder guards and the front armor were scaled-down versions.
More importantly, the armor manufactured by the Armor Bureau was extremely thin; the thinnest pieces were practically as thin as a soda can. They couldn't protect against arrows, and could even be pierced by a wooden stick. For particularly ruthless officials who took kickbacks, they had to resort to using cardboard plates and painting them with raw lacquer to reduce costs.
When Ming soldiers encountered the Jurchens on the battlefield, they were extremely helpless. They dared not add even half a pound of gunpowder to their muskets, otherwise the barrel would explode. If they added too little gunpowder, the range was insufficient, and they could not hit the enemy. Some soldiers could only fire blanks. What was even more frustrating was that their swords and spears were completely ineffective against the white-armored soldiers wearing three layers of iron armor.
Although Chen Ying was aware of the disadvantages and problems of plate armor, and knew that plate armor was not as flexible as Ming-style lamellar armor, the problem was that plate armor made by cold casting of molten steel was produced in a process similar to casting an iron plow. Pig iron was melted into molten iron, and through stirring, the carbon elements in the molten iron came into contact with oxygen in the air to generate carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide, thus turning the molten iron into molten steel.
The steel was then cold-cast into plate armor. At the Ordnance Bureau, the cost of the armor they produced was spread out so that each set of plate armor only required 38 catties of pig iron. At 9 wen per catty, plus transportation costs, the cost reached 12 wen per catty, and the cost of the iron material was only 4.6 qian of silver.
Adding the coal costing two qian and three fen of silver needed by the old man, and including the cost of other auxiliary materials, the total material cost was two liang and four qian of silver. On the contrary, the cost of labor and food became five liang and four qian of silver, bringing the total cost to seven liang and eight qian of silver.
This was mainly because Chen Ying provided the craftsmen with good food. If he hadn't purchased and resold military rations through bribery, the cost would have been even higher.
"Ten taels?"
Lu Jiucheng naturally understood what the ten taels of silver meant: it meant that Chen Yong could have a suit of armor made by the Armor Bureau at a price two taels cheaper than the Armor Bureau's.
"Lord Chen, this matter is beyond my control; we need to consult Eunuch Wei..."
"understand!"
Chen Ying pointed to the carriage road outside: "There's some money for tea in the carriage; I hope Eunuch Lu will put in a good word for us!"
"We can save money!"
Lu Jiugong pointed to the armor sample in front of Chen Ying and said, "Lord Chen, I'll take my leave now!"
"Please take care, Eunuch Lu!"
Lu Jiucheng boarded the carriage and saw a bag on the sofa. He reached out and lifted it, finding a full three hundred taels of silver. He was overjoyed.
Song Xianze watched Lu Jiucheng's carriage disappear into the distance and lowered his voice, saying, "Brother-in-law, you clearly..."
"Clearly what?"
Chen Ying smiled faintly, "You clearly asked for twenty taels of silver per set of armor, and Eunuch Wei didn't think it was too expensive?"
"Yes, do you find money too painful to handle?"
"It's not that we hate money, it's that we need more fuel to the fire!"
Chen Ying was actually very angry. The Ming Dynasty had no shortage of excellent craftsmen, but the problem was that the officials of the Ming Dynasty did not treat craftsmen as human beings at all.
The artisans of the Ming Dynasty actually enjoyed relatively good treatment, a true "iron rice bowl" job. Because Zhu Yuanzhang rose from humble beginnings, he placed great importance on ensuring the livelihood of ordinary people. He established a welfare system covering the entire population, and the artisan system was a crucial part of it.
At that time, craftsmen were divided into two types: shift craftsmen and resident craftsmen. Shift craftsmen only needed to serve in the capital for three months every three to four years, and could take on jobs freely at other times. Resident craftsmen were permanent staff members who worked in government-run workshops for extended periods. Regardless of the type, as long as you worked honestly until old age, the state would provide for your retirement.
The Ming Dynasty's "Collected Statutes" clearly states that "elderly and disabled craftsmen shall receive three dou of rice per month." This is equivalent to today's pension. The "Regulations for the Workshops and Warehouses" explicitly stipulate that "craftsmen who fall ill shall be given silver for medical treatment." Although the amount was not large, it was a very humane treatment in an era without medical insurance.
However, the problem is that even the best policies can't withstand the corrupt officials who implement them. The officials who implement these policies are not human. In order to embezzle money, they relentlessly squeeze the food expenses of the craftsmen. For example, the standard for making a suit of armor is two taels and four qian of silver. In the early Ming Dynasty, how much did a shi of grain cost? The best rice was equivalent to five qian of silver. During the Tianqi period, it rose to eight or nine qian, almost doubling.
Given the current grain prices, the craftsmen are lucky if they don't starve, let alone have enough to eat. They can only get five or six ounces of grain a day, which is enough to drink a bowl of thin porridge. Many craftsmen have been worked to death in the workshops.
Chen Ying has now taken in many refugees, many of whom are fleeing craftsmen. He deliberately lowers prices, preferring to earn less money, just to make Wei Zhongxian understand that the Bureau of Armory is utterly corrupt.
Given Wei Zhongxian's temperament, it would have been better if he hadn't known. If he had, he would definitely have fired his guns and taken action against the Bureau of Armory.
Song Xianze frowned slightly and said, "Brother-in-law, you'll offend a lot of people by doing this... Oh... Brother-in-law, what do you mean?"
"Using someone else to do the dirty work?"
Chen Ying said calmly, "I'm not as bored as you. If we want to develop, relying solely on these military households and refugees is far from enough. Their skills are limited. To develop faster and better, we need a large number of excellent craftsmen! But where will these craftsmen come from?"
"A weaponry or guns bureau!"
"That's right!"
Chen Ying smiled faintly and said, "If Wei Zhongxian had the choice between high-quality armor and inexpensive armor, what would he choose?"
"He just keeps telling us to give the orders to my brother-in-law!"
"That's right!"
Chen Ying laughed and said, "With our large-scale recruitment at the Thousand-Household Office, those craftsmen will definitely believe it, and they'll definitely try to escape!"
In fact, Chen Ying also judged that Wei Zhongxian would definitely make a fuss about the Bureau of Military Punishment. After all, most of the officials who could manage the Bureau of Military Punishment were sidelined. The most lucrative post in this era was not the Ministry of Works or the Ministry of Revenue, but the Censorate.
Those censors and officials who spoke out were similar to members of parliament in later times. They were paid to do things, and they could make so much money just by saying a few words.
For Wei Zhongxian, these officials were enough to make an example of. They lacked powerful backers but were extremely wealthy, so they became pigs in Wei Zhongxian's eyes, and he had to kill them.
……
As Chen Ying predicted, Wei Zhongxian was furious when he learned that the armor only cost ten taels of silver. He had considered ordering armor from the Armory Bureau to arm the Warriors Battalion, but he wanted armor that was not part of the plan. The quoted price was fifteen taels, not the twelve taels for production cost.
When Lu Jiucheng placed the armor in front of him and told him that Chen Boying only needed ten taels of silver for the same armor, he felt like a sucker. He had bought over 1,500 sets of armor from the Armory Bureau, spending 22,500 taels of silver on the cost, plus two or three thousand taels to bribe officials.
"These bastards actually dared to take kickbacks from me!"
Wei Zhongxian felt he was losing face; he had been fooled by those officials. He immediately carried the set of plate armor into the Qianqing Palace. Several eunuchs on duty, seeing his appearance, were so frightened they dared not breathe, shrinking their necks and standing timidly to the side.
The Tianqi Emperor was fiddling with a newly made mortise and tenon joint in the West Warm Pavilion when Wei Zhongxian entered. Without even looking up, he asked, "Wei, what's the matter that's so urgent?"
"Your Majesty, please take a look at this."
The Tianqi Emperor put down his plane and walked over to examine it closely. He weighed it in his hand, frowned slightly, and said, "What kind of armor is this? It doesn't look like lamellar armor."
"Plate armor, the new plate armor made by Chen Boying of the Shahe Garrison Command. Your Majesty may try it on."
"Try it here?"
"Try it here. Your Majesty, shoot here with all your might."
Although Emperor Tianqi found it strange, he still fired the nocked crossbow bolt at the armor.
"call out!"
The crossbow bolt struck the plate armor with a clang, sending up a trail of sparks. The bolt bounced off and hopped a few times on the blue brick ground.
The Tianqi Emperor took a closer look and found that only a faint white spot remained on the plate armor, without even a dent.
"Great nails!"
"Your Majesty, use your knife, just keep cutting."
The Tianqi Emperor possessed considerable strength; he swung his sword down. The blade struck the steel plate, producing a piercing metallic scraping sound. After five or six slashes, five or six shallow marks appeared on the plate armor.
"This...this armor is ten times better than the armor made by the Armory Bureau."
"Your Majesty, guess how much silver this set of armor costs?"
"Forged from fine steel, weighing thirty or forty catties, it must cost at least twenty or thirty taels of silver, right?"
"Ten taels."
"How many?"
"Ten taels. That's the price Chen Boying quoted himself."
Wei Zhongxian took out an account book from his bosom and spread it on the imperial desk: "This is the account book that Lu Jiucheng brought back from Shahe. Thirty-eight catties of iron, with a market price of twelve cash per catty, totaling four qian and six fen; coal, auxiliary materials, and food for workers, totaling seven liang and eight qian. If sold for ten liang, there will be a profit of two liang and two qian."
The Tianqi Emperor grabbed the ledger and quickly scanned it: "What about the Armory... How much did the Armory report for each set of lamellar armor they made?"
"Twelve taels. But Your Majesty, do you know? The armor from the Armor Bureau has one-third fewer armor plates than the standard, the size is shrunken, and the iron is as thin as paper. Such tattered armor, and they still dare to quote twelve taels!"
Wei Zhongxian grew increasingly agitated, his voice becoming shrill: "Your Majesty, over the years, how many times have the generals of the nine border regions submitted memorials, saying that the armor issued to them crumbles as soon as it's worn, and is ineffective against swords and arrows! The Ministry of War has investigated, the Ministry of Works has investigated, but each time nothing has come of it..."
The Tianqi Emperor remained silent. Did he not know these things?
In fact, they knew it. Just as Wei Zhongxian said, every investigation ended inconclusively because everyone from top to bottom was corrupt.
In the Ming Dynasty, almost every official was corrupt. From the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War to the Ministry of Works, from the lowest-ranking official to the head of the Armory, each level skimmed off the top. Of the twelve taels quoted, only four taels were actually used on armor. In the end, the investigations only resulted in a few minor officials being arrested to take the blame.
"Your Majesty..."
Wei Zhongxian knelt down, his voice trembling with sobs: "This servant knows, everyone outside says this servant is greedy. This servant is a eunuch, without family or children, how much can I eat or wear? What use is silver to me? But these parasites in the Armory, what they covet is the blood of soldiers, the lives of border troops! Chen Boying, a newly appointed garrison commander, with only a few thousand men, can forge such fine armor. The Armory has tens of thousands of craftsmen, and the national treasury allocates hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, yet they produce worthless junk that crumbles at the slightest touch! Your Majesty, the very foundation of the Ming Dynasty... the very roots of the Ming Dynasty are being gnawed out!"
The Tianqi Emperor stood in the center of the warm pavilion, his back to the snowy light streaming through the window, his figure somewhat frail. He remained silent for a long time: "Wei Banban, get up..."
"But what about the Bureau of Armory..."
"check."
The Tianqi Emperor calmly said, "Go and investigate personally. From the Minister of Works to the foreman of the Armory, every single one of them. Whatever amount embezzled, make them return it; those who cannot, pay with their lives. Over the years, I've always felt that this Ming Dynasty is like the wooden artifacts I've made—they look fine, but inside the joints are loose, on the verge of falling apart. I wanted to repair them, but I didn't know where to begin. Now I know. Start with what needs to be strongest. If the armor isn't strong, how can the soldiers be strong? If the soldiers aren't strong, how can the nation be strong?"
Wei Zhongxian prostrated himself on the ground, trembling all over: "This servant... obeys the decree."
Just as Wei Zhongxian was sharpening his knife, Chen Ying was also sharpening his knife. Zhu Youjian arrived, a guest had come to the house, especially the dignified Prince Xin, the future Chongzhen Emperor, who was actually beaten to tears.
There was no other way; Chen had to be coaxed.
The person who made Zhu Youjian cry was none other than Chen Ying's adopted daughter, Chen Anning. All of Chen Ying's adopted sons were of the Yong generation. The first eight adopted sons were named after benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and trustworthiness, while the rest were named after the Thousand Character Classic. Regardless of whether the names sounded good or bad, they were simply grouped upwards. For example, the youngest, Chen Yongguang, was actually the sixty-fourth in his generation.
Adopted daughters are given the generational name An, and the eldest is Chen Anning. At the age of thirteen, Chen Anning has been serving as a steward for Song Yanniang for a long time. Originally, Zhu Youjian did not offend Chen Anning, but this little brat Zhu Youjian was not very good at seeing things. He patted Chen Anning on the shoulder and asked where Chen Ying was.
Chen Anning's masculine appearance immediately infuriated Zhu Youjian, who promptly delivered a powerful punch that made Zhu Youjian cry.