Dias had never felt death so close to him.

Abandoned by a great merchant ship, overturned by the Ming army, and thrown into the sea, he always believed that he would live and that God would favor his people.

At this moment, he was not sure.

The cold blade was in front of him, and the blade seemed to flash with blood.

Dias's hands and feet were cold, and he wasn't sure if Death's scythe was aimed at his neck.

He didn't even dare to open his mouth to beg for mercy, so he could only tremble his hands and raise a few pages of drawings in his hand, praying that the killing god in front of him would show mercy and spare his life.

Shen Xuan looked at Dias coldly, the long knife was raised horizontally, as long as he handed it forward, he could make his blood splash on the spot.

To kill, or not to kill?

Squinting slightly, he finally picked up the drawing held up by Dias with the back of the knife, and let him stand in place trembling, put the knife back into its sheath, and looked through the pages one by one.

The drawings are sketchy and mostly in Portuguese.

Shen Xuan frowned as he watched. He could see that the artillery, which was painted on the paper, was very different from the artillery that was equipped in the border army. It's hard to figure it out.

The interpreter, who was left behind by Dias, finally followed, and when he saw Shen Xuan sitting in the hall, he immediately saluted and said, "Meet Grandpa Guo." ”

"No courtesy." Shen Xuan looked at the translator, then at Diash, and said, "These days, you have been looking at this Yiren?" ”

"Returning to China, exactly."

"You've seen everything on paper?"

The interpreter poked his head boldly and said, "Xiaguan has indeed seen it." ”

Shen Xuan pointed to the ghost-like Portuguese characters on the paper, "Do you know what these mean?" ”

"Grandpa Guo allows his officials to be presumptuous." The interpreter took a few steps forward, took the drawing, asked Diash, took out the carbon strip he was carrying, wrote the remarks on the drawing, and handed it to Shen Xuan.

During the period when Dias was drawing, the interpreter had been reading Marco Polo's travels, and asked Dias if he couldn't read something. It took two months and almost three months to master the Portuguese language to a certain extent. Writing is still a bit laborious, but communication is not too problematic.

When Meng Shi learned about it, he sighed again and again, Zhao Tongyi is definitely a language genius, and it is worth it to dig him up from the Beijing branch and offend many people.

Compared with the translation, and then looking at the drawings in his hand, Shen Xuan's expression finally changed.

The interpreter stands on the sidelines, ready to make further translations.

Dias had weak feet, and when Shen Xuan looked down at the drawings, he almost turned around and ran away.

When he met Meng, he could still have a dream of making a fortune. Seeing Shen Xuan, the gold and spices became illusory, and instinctively told him that this oriental nobleman was very dangerous, and if he was not careful, he could lose his life at any time.

Fortunately, Shen Xuan didn't plan to kill people today.

Meng mentioned Dias in the letter, and at first, Shen Xuan didn't think that Dias could come up with anything good, but now, he changed his opinion. Hou Erdai did look at a certain red hair very unpleasantly, but with this drawing, a certain red hair was temporarily free of worries.

"Zhou Rong."

"Humble duty."

"Go and ask for Hinningber."

"Yes."

The guards left, Shen Xuan picked up the drawings again, and Dias was slightly relieved when he heard the familiar name.

Although the noble lord had threatened to throw him into the sea, he was the embodiment of mercy compared to the one in front of him.

In the east wing of the third hall, Meng Gang had just drunk medicine and was looking through the official documents sent by Dushi.

The voice of the guard sounded outside the door, "Uncle." ”

"What?"

"Dingguo Gong invites you to go to the second hall."

"Now?"

"Yes."

Meng put down his pen, walked out of the wing, and saw Zhou Rong waiting under the corridor, and said in surprise: "Zhou Qianhu? Grandpa Guo has something important? ”

"Back to the uncle, the Francophone in the uncle's mansion took out a few drawings, and after the grandfather of the country read it, he sent a lowly post to invite the uncle."

Drawing? Could it be the drawings of artillery?

Meng's eyes lit up instantly.

"Go right away."

I specially called him, I should be sure that this drawing is useful, right?

Meng's footsteps were fast, and Zhou Rong followed behind, his face full of puzzlement. The first time I saw Xing Ningbo so anxious, could it be that the few drawings in Hongmao's hand were really good things?

In the wing, Shen Xuan pointed to a drawing and asked the interpreter to ask Diaz how to load the shells from the back of the artillery.

Meng hurriedly arrived, and when he heard this, his smile immediately became extremely bright.

Rear loading smoothbore guns, that's right, Franc cannons.

Historically, the Franc cannon was introduced to the Ming Dynasty in the late fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century through the Franc machine ship. If Diash's drawings could really be used, the Ming Dynasty would have built the rear-loading cannon nearly a hundred years earlier than in history.

Compared with the artillery that is filled by the muzzle, the heat dissipation is slow, and the firing interval is longer, the Franc cannon is equipped with a sub-cannon loading, which has the characteristics of fast heat dissipation and rapid fire in bursts, and the probability of exploding the chamber is much smaller than that of the existing artillery in the Ming army. Although the firing range is not as good as that of the later Hongyi cannon, compared with the artillery of the same era, the advantage is still very obvious.

The skill and creative thinking of the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty was extraordinary, and with Dias's drawings, it was not a problem for the Franco cannon to come out in advance. Perhaps even better guns can be made.

With the giant ship cannon, will the ocean era belonging to the Ming Dynasty be far away?

At least half a century before Europe explored new shipping routes and started the Age of Discovery, the Ming fleet had enough time to take the lead.

With the power of sea hegemony, deterring Western states, reaching as far as Africa, and discovering the Americas, the footsteps of the Chinese people will go to every corner of the world!

Meng knows that dreams are still far from reality.

However, as soon as the first step is taken, there will be people who will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors. As long as the path of the Chinese nation is not cut off from the middle, as long as the barbaric invasion does not happen again, his expectations can be realized one day!

"Sir."

With tears in his eyes, Dias seemed to have seen a savior.

It's a pity that Meng didn't have time to pay attention to him, let alone comfort his wounded heart.

It's not that he has an opinion about this red hair, it's just that the reaction to the person who met Dingguo Gong for the first time was basically the same.

There is no need to comfort, you get used to being scared and scared.

He still has a lot of places to use Dias, and he will definitely see Shen Xuan no less. If you don't have much courage, you will faint when you meet, which is more or less a trouble. There's nothing wrong with exercising ahead of time.

Meng walked to Shen Xuan's side, and the two met head to head and studied the drawings of the artillery together.

Meng asked more questions than Shen Xuan, from the materials and weight of the artillery, the composition of the artillery, the shells and gunpowder used, etc., all of which were very detailed.

When Dias was asked in a hurry, he would speak Portuguese and quickly write down the notes in his booklet while translating. If you don't understand something, you have to record it and replace it with big food language to facilitate communication.

"Use wrought iron...... Mainly the belly and barrel, but also the sub-cannon...... Continuously fires gunpowder projectiles......"

"The projectile is solid."

"It is not yet known whether the artillery can be mounted on a vehicle and whether it can be used on a warship."

Between questions and answers, a thick stack of drawings piled up in front of Meng, most of which were drawn with reference to artillery drawings and Dias's answers.

Meng was not a professional, he only knew certain compositional principles, and the artillery he drew was still much more intuitive than the simple lines of Dias's brush.

Shen Xuan spread out the drawings separately, pondered for a long time, and then drew them.

As the pattern on the paper gradually took shape, Meng was once again hit by the second generation of Hou of the Ming Dynasty.

He looked at Shen Xuan suspiciously, was he stupid or was he too smart?

Shen Xuan put down the pen, blew dry the ink on the paper, turned his head, raised his eyebrows, and Meng Shishilang continued to stare until his eyes were dry, and he was finally defeated.

It's not as good as drawing, and it's not good at staring.

Who said that it must be the protagonist after crossing, domineering-gas-side-leakage-invincible in the world?

Absolute big kick over!

With the drawings, Dias's "confinement" was temporarily lifted.

"After a few days of hard work, Mr. Dias might as well go around the city and look around." Of course, you must bring Zhao Tongyi.

Meng smiled very kindly, and asked people to give two pieces of cloth, a piece of silk, and a copper coin, which should be the reward for Dias to take out the artillery drawings.

At the price of the time, this remuneration was not small. Although it can't be compared with Emperor Yongle's generosity, it is enough for Dias to live comfortably for a while.

Dias had little interest in copper coins, but he grinned in his arms and praised God.

The corners of Meng's mouth twitched, and in the end, he was kind and gave him a piece of silk.

Dias was grateful, and once again swore allegiance to Meng in the name of God.

With the previous experience, the red-haired Franc learned to be obedient and didn't hold Meng's hand again, otherwise, the end would definitely be a hundred times worse than being kicked by the guards.

"Sir, you are so generous!"

Dias hugged the silk, a bubble of happiness floated on his head, and his steps fluttered.

This silk will cover all the expenses of leaving his homeland and coming to the East. Together with the additional silk cloth and the porcelain obtained during his stay in Bofu, he would definitely become a rich man and a rich man when he returned to Portugal. You might even get a knighthood.

Dias smiled dreamily, Zhao Tongyi didn't say a word, let alone remind him that as long as his uncle didn't let him go, his dream would be difficult to realize. However, as long as he does things for his uncle wholeheartedly, even if he doesn't return to the Buddha machine and stays in Daming, he can still become a rich man.

From Diaz's mouth, Zhao Tongyi has a certain understanding of today's Europa, and the first instinct, who said that the Tartars are barbaric? Compared with these European kings and nobles, the Waratulyanha can be classified as civilized.

Previously, Zhao Tongyi had some interest in Europashan, but after Dias's explanation, all interest suddenly disappeared.

He never wanted to see such an exotic place in his life!

It's a pity, thinking about it, when he was thrown on the long-distance ship by the "selfless" Uncle Meng, the only thing Zhao Tongyi could do was to lie on the side of the ship, look at the distant land, and sprinkle tears into the sea.

Protest-Proposal? It's useless at all.

Angry rants? With the Duke of Dingguo here, Zhao Tongyi doesn't want to find death yet.

In May of the third year of Yongle, Jin Yiwei took a secret letter and flew from Daning to Nanjing.

Soon, Emperor Yongle directly issued a central decree without going through the cabinet, and Xu Daning made artillery.

Bai Yanhui, the eunuch of the Beijing Military War Bureau, received a secret order from the Son of Heaven to personally order more than a dozen craftsmen to go to Daning in the starry night, stationed in the Daning Miscellaneous Manufacturing Bureau, and supervised the manufacture of new artillery together with Dingguo Gong.

The ambassador and deputy envoy of the Daning Miscellaneous Manufacturing Bureau worked up 120,000 spirits, and the craftsmen who were summoned did not dare to slack off at all.

Xingningbo made it clear that the Son of Heaven attaches great importance to the new artillery, and whoever dares to have a problem at this time will be eaten and hung up by the whole family.

Because the border army urgently needs a large number of fire and thunder, the Beijing Ordnance Bureau is very busy, and has no time to compete with the military battle bureau for the time being, so it will only wait for the artillery to be built.

At the same time, Zhu Gaoxu took the opportunity of patrolling the border to visit Daning, with only one purpose, to ask for a knife.

The long knife made by Daning is extremely sharp, and in battle, it can even cut the scimitar in the hand of the tartar.

Before coming to Daning, Zhu Gaoxu went back to Xuanfu, discussed with Zhu Gaosui, and wrote two letters to his father in Nanjing. Zhu Di's reply was very fast, and Zhu Gaoxu got the letter and immediately brought someone to Daning.

With his father's approval, the official couldn't find a crime if he wanted to participate.

Leave the station, daddy.

Extortion...... No, please ask Xingningbo for help, and it is also Daddy's permission.

Looking at the Han King, who was heroic but behaved like a really scoundrel, Meng gritted his teeth, gritted his teeth again, and finally failed to get people out.

"Your Highness, five hundred long knives is too much, at most only a hundred."

"Can't be accommodating?"

"It's not that the ministers are not accommodating, it is indeed impossible." Meng shook his head, "Your Highness has also seen what the current situation of the Daning Miscellaneous Bureau is. Most of them are busy making artillery, and only the Japanese workshop is still casting, and a hundred is already the limit. ”

Zhu Gaoxu frowned, insufficient manpower? There should be only this craftsman in the Daning Miscellaneous Manufacturing Bureau, right?

Meng sighed and counted with his fingers, "The craftsmen in the Miscellaneous Bureau, His Royal Highness and His Royal Highness King Zhao will each have a batch, and His Majesty has ordered some of them to be transferred to the Beijing Military Bureau. A few days ago, the Beijing Ordnance Bureau also asked for people, including masters and apprentices, no less than 20 people. ”

Zhu Gaoxu touched his nose and was silent.

Meng continued to complain, "Daning already has many military households, few civilian households, and few artisan households. In other health centers, there are still reinforcements on the tenth day, but Daning can only go in and out. Especially the artisan households, when the ministers arrived in Daning, there were no less than 300 households, and there were many skilled hands, but now, I am afraid that there are not even 100 households. ”

"This ......"

Zhu Gaoxu was choked.

People's hearts are flesh and blood, and the heavenly family is ruthless, but since they met, Zhu Gaoxu remembers how much Meng has helped him. If it were someone else, he would have been angry, but Meng, he couldn't do that.

In recent days, there have been changes in Tatar and Warat, and fires have frequently broken out in the northwest. When patrolling the border, he encountered a small group of Tartar cavalry many times, and with his long knife in Daning, Zhu Gaoxu slashed and killed two Tartar hundreds, one thousand, all of which cut off each other's scimitars with one sword.

The two armies fought against each other, and their strength was equal, and the quality of the weapons in their hands could play a key role in the battle. In this way, he had the idea of going to Daning to be equipped.

I don't want to, Meng complained a little, no matter how difficult it is to say if he is ready, the root of his ear is also a little feverish.

Zhu Gaoxu blushed, Meng also closed his mouth, and accepted it when he saw it.

The purpose of Zhu Gaoxu's sword was to arm the border army and defend the border. Five hundred knives, he can take them out, but if he gives them to Zhu Gaoxu, do you want to give them to Zhu Gaosui?

Liu Zhen Mengshan of Liaodong, He Fu of Ningxia, Song Sheng of Gansu, King Jin of Shanxi, King Zhou of Henan, anyone who has handed over a message before, will you give it?

Given, what does the Son of Heaven say?

If you don't give it, you will be offended all at once.

Give King Han five hundred, and the others don't even have five? Even if Zhu Gaoxu exchanged real money and silver, Meng couldn't do it.

The only way not to offend people is to give the sword to the Son of Heaven and distribute it to the imperial court. Emperor Yongle gave it to whoever he liked, and no one dared to trouble the emperor because of a knife. Of course, the Duke of Wei and the Marquis of Wuyang were exceptions. But Xu Huizu and Xu Zengshou are Zhu Di's brothers-in-law after all, and others want to follow suit, but they don't have this capital.

But in that case, eighty percent of the craftsmen who make knives can't keep it.

No matter how you think about it, you will suffer.

Meng didn't want to suffer, considering the border defense, he couldn't refuse in one bite.

It is difficult to contribute to the country.

It's just as hard to want to lose yourself.

In the end, Zhu Gaoxu let go first, a hundred is a hundred, and the knife is not in vain, and when he returned to Xuanfu, he immediately asked people to send twenty war horses to Daning, which should be bartered, and never let Meng be embarrassed.

"The lonely will show Xingningbo's difficulties to his father." Zhu Gaoxu said, "This matter is too much to think about. ”

Tell my father first, then discuss with my brother, and let out a word in the north, and others who want to trouble Meng have to weigh it carefully.

Meng breathed a sigh of relief, "Your Highness Xie." ”

Zhu Gaoxu's message to Emperor Yongle was far more useful than his superiority. It would be better if the Son of Heaven could feel a trace of "guilt" and enrich Daning from elsewhere.

In order to thank Zhu Gaoxu for his "righteous speech", Meng took the initiative to increase the number of long knives to 150, and gave him a chariot, 50 strong bows, and more than 100 rockets for free.

"Xingningbo is like this, but Xiao Wang is ashamed." Looking at the carriage covered with tarpaulin, Zhu Gaoxu sighed and hugged his fists, "Xie Xingningbo, a soldier under the command of the Lone Generation." ”

"I don't dare."

Meng hurriedly and modestly, but Zhu Gaoxu suddenly approached and clasped Meng's shoulder with one hand, "There are not many lonely friends, and Xingningbo is definitely one of them." This thank you is naturally deserved. ”

"I'm ashamed."

"There is one more thing," Zhu Gaoxu suddenly lowered his voice, "In June, my father will send someone to the West, and the leader of the team is Zheng He, the eunuch of the internal officials. ”

Meng Qidi's eyes widened, "Is Your Highness serious?" ”

"The specific day, Lone is not clear, but the news will not be wrong." Zhu Gaoxu straightened up, "Father Xu Gu has eight ships, and Gu Keyun has three ships to give up Xingningbo." ”

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Not necessarily." Zhu Gaoxu smiled and took the reins of the horse, jumped on the horse, and during the action, the golden coiled dragon on the prince's regular clothes seemed to be about to take off, and his handsome face was heroic, "Lone will take his leave." ”

"Send it to Your Highness."

When he waved the whip, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly turned around and said with a smile: "There is still a word in Lonely, Xing Ningbo is busy with political affairs, and martial arts should not be left behind." It's so thin, it's really ......"

Before he finished speaking, the horse's hooves were raised.

Leaving behind a cloud of smoke, the horses and the knights on the horses went away together.

Meng stood in place, his ears constantly echoing Zhu Gaoxu's words before leaving.

Recalling the two words he vaguely heard, his face suddenly darkened.

If he knew this, he would never be so generous!