Fifteen miles away from Bianliang City, there is a sparsely populated open field, five or six tall houses made of black stone stand very abruptly here, on the plaque at the main entrance is written "Tokyo Gunpowder Bureau" five big characters, and then with vermilion paint added: no fire.

Ling Zhen was the deputy gunner of the Gunpowder Bureau, known as the Thunderbolt.

When it comes to thunderstorming, the first thing that comes to mind is of course Tong Guan's attack on Liangshan, Zhang Heng used the thunderstorm to break through the ice and freeze 10,000 officers and soldiers to death without spending a single soldier.

But Zhang Heng and his navy were just executions, and in the final analysis, Ling Zhen was the real hero of that victory.

This person is from Yanling, who is good at making artillery, and his obsession with gunpowder is no less than Cai Jing's love of power.

In that year, he attacked Liangshan with Hu Yanzhuo's army, but was captured alive by Ruan Xiaoer in the water, so he returned to Liangshan.

After arriving in Liangshan, he still focused on gunpowder and developed a wide variety of artillery, such as sub-mother cannons, golden wheel cannons, wind cannons, car box cannons, sky-bombing cannons, etc......

When Liangshan Dajuyi ranked the seats, according to the display of the stone pillars falling from the sky, Ling Zhen's corresponding asterisk was the earth auxiliary star, ranking 52nd in Liangshan. The position is "in charge of the manufacture of a large and small cannon".

The trumpet cannon is the signal cannon that is released during the war, and it has the role of commanding and deterring the enemy.

The most brilliant time was when Liangshan conquered Tianhu, Ling Zhen was ordered to fire a series of cannons all night, which caused the Gaizhou soldiers to not sleep all night.

However, the true power of gunpowder was not brought into full play.

It can be seen that a generation of geniuses has been buried like this.

Especially when Liangshan attacked Changzhou after Zhao'an, there were countless casualties after several days of fighting, but he still did not break through the city.

Ling Zhen took the initiative to ask Ying to open the city gate with wind and artillery, but Song Jiang refused on the spot, bluntly saying that this was not the right way of the soldiers, but an opportunistic trick, and would be laughed at by Tong Guan's army.

And conceited: The small city of Changzhou can be broken tomorrow.

At this point, Ling Zhen was completely disheartened, and after the extermination of Fang La, he did not triumph with the army, but returned to Kyoto in advance, and with his familiarity with gunpowder, he got a job as a deputy gunner in the Gunpowder Bureau of Jingnan Fifteen Miles.

Before going to Liangshan, Ling Zhen was the deputy envoy of the Gunpowder Bureau, and after the battle, he was still the deputy envoy of the Gunpowder Bureau.

And Ling Zhen never dreamed that today's uninvited guest would completely change his fate.

Li Yan showed the goldfish bag to the guards guarding the door, and the soldiers did not dare to slack off, so they immediately let them into the courtyard, arranged them in a simple stone house, turned around and ran away to call the main and deputy envoys.

After a while, two people walked in from outside the door and bowed into the house.

An obese man took the lead and said, "Xiaguan Niuben greets your lord." ”

Another man with dark skin, dull eyes, and the appearance of a cropper said, "Xiaguan Ling Zhen, meet your lord." ”

Li Yan skipped the thin white and tender beef ben, and set his eyes on Ling Zhen, only to see that this person's clothes were full of holes, and there were large burns on the back of his hand and right cheek, and he already knew it in his heart. Respectfully return the salute and humbly say:

"There is no need to be polite to the two, Li has no official business today, but is here for private affairs."

Niu Ben said: "If you have something to do, just tell me." ”

"That's the case, Li has a happy event to do in a while, and he needs a lot of fireworks to celebrate, I don't know if there are any in the bureau?" Li Yan said tentatively.

Niu Ben looked embarrassed, their gunpowder bureau is to store and make signal cannons, how can there be fireworks, I wanted to say no truthfully, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to talk to Li Yan, so I said: "This, this ......"

Li Yan observed the words, saw Niu Ben slapping Ling Zhen with his elbow, and said with a smile: "It's not in the way, but it's okay to say it." ”

"Back to my lord, there are no fireworks in the bureau. However, Deputy Envoy Ling can be improved. Niu Ben finally couldn't help it and rushed to say.

Ling Zhen glared at Niu Ben dissatisfied, and snorted coldly, his expression very displeased.

Li Yan was happy in his heart, the more arrogant a person is, the greater his ability, this is an eternal truth, but his face showed hesitation, and he said:

"Ouch, are you okay? I don't want much, but I can ask for a lot. Of course, the silver will not be underpaid. As he spoke, he took out a stack of silver tickets from his sleeve and stroked them back and forth twice.

Li Yan's habit of going out with a large number of silver tickets, Yan Jiuniang and Li Bei'er have long understood, so there is no need to explain, they will check when they get up early to change their clothes, take more and make up for less, of course, not more than once......

Seeing the silver ticket, Niu Ben's Adam's apple moved obviously, and he snorted and swallowed greedily, "Yes, Deputy Envoy Ling's craftsmanship is rare in ancient and modern times, and you can mention any requirements your lordship." ”

"What do you say, Deputy Envoy Ling?" Li Yan asked uneasily.

Ling Zhen sighed "hey", hugged his fists and said, "Your Excellency, tell me." ”

"Okay, the firecrackers I need can shoot three miles away, and when they explode, they can collapse mountains and fly rocks; I also want a fist-sized firecracker, the lead is a finger long, which can explode countless iron pellets, and can pierce armor within five meters; I also want a kind of firecracker that is both heavy and explosive; I also want that the weight does not exceed thirty pounds, and the impact of the explosion can destroy this house. ”

While paying attention to Ling Zhen's reaction, Li Yan recounted the cannons, grenades, mines, and explosives bags in his previous life in a language that people of this era could understand.

When Li Yan said the cannon, Ling Zhen raised his head in surprise; When he said the grenade, Ling Zhen frowned slightly, and seemed to be in thought; When he said landmines, Ling Zhen's eyes lit up; When he said the explosive bag, he couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart, if it wasn't for the big gap in identity, he would have hugged Li Yan.

As the saying goes, a thousand dollars are easy to get, but a confidant is hard to find.

Over the years, no official of the imperial court has paid attention to the artillery he made, although he knew the importance of gunpowder to the military, but no official gave him the opportunity to show it.

However, what kind of firecrackers do these second-class officials want today, which are obviously lethal artillery.

Therefore, Ling Zhen said excitedly: "My lord, my lord is going to take him to the battlefield in Liaodi?" ”

"No, no, no, Deputy Envoy Ling misunderstood, home, home." Li Yan said with a smile.

As soon as these words came out, Niu Ben and Ling Zhen were terrified, this kind of thing is at home? Lie to the ghosts, and the ghosts don't believe it......

Seeing this, Li Yan knew that he was going to talk about it, so he immediately changed the topic and said: "This matter is not urgent, can you take this official to inspect the warehouse, this is a business matter." ”

This is the skill of speaking, Li Yan deliberately replaced Li as an official, and deliberately highlighted the word "business", intending to put pressure on Niu Ben and Ling Zhen, using both soft and hard, and the affinity that began to be shown was just to pave the way for the toughness in the future, reminding them not to forget Li Yan's identity.

Of course, Li Yan is a second-class civil official, and it stands to reason that he can't control these two people, but he still has the right to inspect the gunpowder bureau, and by the way, picking something wrong will make them unable to eat and walk around.

Unless they do nothing wrong, but! It's impossible......