Paper shell gun bullets?
Zhu Yijun was a little disappointed, but paper shell gun bullets were paper shell gun bullets!
In the history of firearms, although paper shell bullets were not that famous, they still had a place in the history of firearms. Currently, Zhu Yijun's matchlock gun was simply a front loading gun. Usually, gunpowder was added directly from the muzzle and then the bullet was loaded. The operation was slow and the amount of gunpowder was not certain, so the shooting effect was not stable.
Fixed loading was an effective way to solve this problem. In that era, there was no such advanced processing technology.
In order to speed up the loading and keep the gunpowder to a certain amount, paper shells were used.
Currently, paper shells only used a paper cylinder with gunpowder inside. However, the bullet and bullet were loaded separately, so the loading speed was still slower.
The paper shell gun bullets that Zhu Yijun requested were to load the bullet and gunpowder together into a paper shell.
Packing the primer, gunpowder, and bullet together could greatly increase the shooting speed. Of course, in Zhu Yijun's opinion, metal shell ammunition was the most perfect.
After the problem of metal shell ammunition was solved, rear-loading guns could be put on the agenda.
"The two of you, continue to work hard. Make metal shell ammunition and flintlock guns as soon as possible." Zhu Yijun looked at the two of them and said.
Pan Jixun and Chen Ju acknowledged and bowed before leaving.
After exiting the palace, the two of them looked at each other and smiled as if a heavy burden had been lifted off their shoulders.
They finally passed this hurdle. The emperor had high hopes for the military department. If there were no results, they were afraid that the emperor would be disappointed.
Zhu Yijun stretched his waist and stood up to walk a few steps. He looked at Zhang Jing and ordered, "Get the people to prepare, we are leaving the palace."
"Yes, Imperial Majesty!" Zhang Jing quickly replied and turned to walk outside.
In reality, Zhu Yijun really wanted to go out for a walk, but he didn't have the energy or time to do so in the past.
Now that he could breathe a sigh of relief, it could be considered as stealing half a day of leisure.
After changing into casual clothes, Zhu Yijun sat in a carriage and left the palace. He was going to Daxing County today.
Although Zhu Yijun also wanted to walk around in the capital and understand the people, he still wanted to go to Daxing County today.
It had been some time since the civil servant was sent away. He wanted to go to Daxing County to see how it was going.
Compared to other aspects of reform, Zhu Yijun was more concerned about this.
On both sides of Zhu Yijun's carriage, there were more than 30 guards with swords and spears. With one look, one could tell that they were not ordinary people. The people on the street all stayed far away from them.
In fact, there were many guards in the crowd, but they were all Dark Guards.
"Imperial Majesty, Daxing County is just ahead!" Zhang Jing said as he sat on the shaft of the carriage and looked at the county ahead.
Zhu Yijun lifted the curtains, and sure enough, a county town appeared not far away. The city walls were not very tall, and it did not look very big.
Two words were engraved on the top of the city wall, "Daxing." Although the city was not big, there were many people going in and out.
When the carriage arrived at the city gate, the soldiers guarding the city gate did not stop it, nor did they collect money.
In Daming, collecting the city gate tax was a very serious matter. Zhu Yijun had long heard of it.
There was a table at the city gate, and a young man was sitting there drinking tea. From the clothes on his body, it could be seen that he was a civil servant.
From his expression, he did not seem to be annoyed by the gate, and his expression was very peaceful.
"Go, call him over. I have something to ask him." Zhu Yijun ordered Zhang Jing.
Zhang Jing jumped down from the shaft of the carriage and walked straight to the person who was guarding the gate.
"Gate officer, my master invites you over. He has something to say." Zhang Jing said to the gate officer with a smile.
The gate officer was stunned. He looked at Zhang Jing, and then looked at the parked carriage. Then, he stood up and said, "Alright!" Saying that, he followed Zhang Jing over.
At this time, Zhu Yijun also came down from the carriage and went straight to the tea stall at the city gate.
The gate officer looked at Zhu Yijun and was even more hesitant. Such a young master?
But after thinking for a while, the gate officer understood that the old people in his family were probably dead, and this had nothing to do with age.
But the way he dressed, he did not look like an ordinary person!
"Gate officer of Daxing County, Liu Bian, greets Mister!"
Zhu Yijun looked at Liu Bian from head to toe. He seemed to be in his twenties, and he was not bad looking. Although he could not be said to have sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, he had a straight nose and a square mouth.
Nodding his head, Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Lord Liu, please sit!"
Liu Bian glanced at Zhu Yijun. Seeing that he had no intention of introducing himself, he did not ask.
"This is my first time coming to Daxing. When I entered the city gate, I noticed that you don't collect city tax?" Zhu Yijun looked at Liu Bian and asked with a smile.
"Mister, we do collect city tax, but it is only collected by merchants in the city, such as those who sell large quantities of goods in the city."
Liu Bian explained with a smile, "For ordinary people, such as selling firewood or grain in the city, we don't collect city tax."
Zhu Yijun nodded his head, "Then, have you ever thought that the merchants would split the goods and let people transport a small amount of them in?"
"Of course I have thought about it!"
Although he did not expect Zhu Yijun to ask such a question, he still said, "We have a registration here. There are rules on how much goods each person brings and how long the interval is. Basically, this situation can be avoided."
Zhu Yijun nodded his head and then asked, "Looking at your attire, you should be a civil servant, right?"
"When I was in the capital, I heard that it is not easy to become a civil servant. Moreover, it is very important to the emperor. Why are you here as a gatekeeper?
This doesn't seem to match your status, right? "
Liu Bian's expression did not change at all. He only said indifferently, "The sage said, 'If you don't sweep a house, how can you sweep the world?' You can't not do things because they are small. If you can't do small things well, how can you do big things?"
"Although being a gatekeeper is small, it is related to the livelihood of the people. Anything that is related to the livelihood of the people is big."
"I have suffered from being a gatekeeper before. At that time, I accompanied my father into the city to sell firewood. A bundle of firewood does not sell for much money, and I have to pay two copper coins as an entrance tax." At this point, Liu Bian's face showed a hint of bitterness.
"To many people, two copper coins may not be much, but it took my father an entire day of chopping firewood to exchange for two copper coins."
"The mountains are high and the roads are long, and there are many snakes, insects, tigers, and leopards. These two copper coins are very difficult to obtain.
But it is because entering the city requires paying two copper coins as an entrance tax.
Later, when I was studying, I specially went to investigate. "
"Although the Great Ming Dynasty has an entrance tax, it is targeted at merchants and goods, not ordinary citizens."
"But those who transport goods into the city do not pay the tax. On the contrary, it is the people who pay the tax who can't even afford to eat.
Now that I am fortunate to be an official, I want to do something practical for the people. This gatekeeper is very good. "
"Sir, look, the man who is pushing the cart is called Ma Er. His family does not have much land, and they can't eat enough. Most of the time, they have to rely on hunting for a living."
"His home is eight miles away from Daxing County. Look at the fox and mountain goods on his back. If it was in the past, he would have to pay four copper coins as an entrance tax. But now, he doesn't have to pay."
"The decrees of the imperial court need to be upheld. They can't be used for private purposes. We, the civil servants, do this."
Zhu Yijun looked at Liu Bian and saw that he was looking at Ma San with a warm smile on his face.
Yes, warm. Seeing Liu Bian's smile, Zhu Yijun's first reaction was to make fun of him, "Then you are afraid of cutting off a lot of people's livelihood!"
The gate tax was for the county government and also for the gatekeeper. The people who guarded the gate all relied on this to earn extra money.
In fact, they basically did not have a salary. Even if they had a salary, it was very little, and most of the time, it was owed.
The money collected by the gate was their main source of income. Without it, it was equivalent to losing their rice bowls.
Liu Bian said with a smile, "This is about our county magistrate. Our bailiffs in Daxing County are responsible for a lunch every day and a salary of one copper coin a month.
With such a high salary, coupled with severe punishment, it can naturally make them behave. "
A salary of one copper coin?
Zhu Yijun nodded. Now, a bucket of Daming rice was 13 copper coins, which was about 960 copper coins.
A month's salary could buy about 70 buckets of rice. According to the Daming system, a bucket of rice was 18 catties, so a month's salary could buy 1200 catties of rice.
There was no need for meals, but it could fill one's stomach and cut a piece of meat.
Although it was not considered rich, it was not a problem to feed a family of five.
According to the current price of Daming, this salary was absolutely high, especially in a place like Daxing.
Many restaurant waiters only had a monthly salary of two hundred copper coins. The salary of a bailiff was not low.
Zhu Yijun glanced at Liu Bian and asked with a smile, "How much do you earn a month?"
Liu Bian was stunned, then said with a smile, "I earn two copper coins a month, but our food and accommodation are all provided by the county government. We eat in the kitchen."
"It seems that your county magistrate has to spend a lot of money to feed you every month!" Zhu Yijun stood up with a smile and said, "You are very good. Do a good job, we are going to the city!" As he said this, he led Zhang Jing to the carriage.
Although Liu Bian did not know who he was, he knew that he was not simple, so he smiled and stood up to send them off.
After getting on the carriage, Zhang Jing said with a smile, "The Imperial Majesty is wise and farsighted. This civil servant is indeed not ordinary!"
Zhu Yijun smiled faintly. These civil servants were the best of the best, and they only got them after three months of training.
Those pedantic and pedantic people had all been kicked out, so it was not surprising that they had such a performance.
However, Liu Bian's words, "The law and discipline needs to be maintained, and this is what we civil servants do." made Zhu Yijun feel that it was very good.
The carriage entered Daxing County. Zhu Yijun jumped over the curtain and looked outside. He found that there were civil servants patrolling the streets with people, and from time to time, they would greet the merchants. It looked very harmonious, and both sides seemed to get along well.