After speaking, Liu Pei asked for two followers from his entourage and handed them over. said: "You two take a closer look, can you make a fire like this?" ”

The two old men each stepped forward to take the torch and began to observe it carefully. These two people looked inconspicuous just now, but as soon as they got the delicious food in their hands, this person's demeanor changed and he became confident! The two men each held a firecracker, and observed up and down. From time to time, I looked up and thought for a moment. Touch it with your hand, buckle it here. He also pulled a small hammer from his waist and knocked on the barrel. It can be seen that the movements of the two people are very consistent, and they should be taught by one person!

After a long while, the two of them looked at each other and handed the firearm back to the guard. Liu Pei asked eagerly, "How is it?" Are you sure? ”

The old man said: "Back to the old man, although the idea of this firearm is very fresh, most of the parts are not much different from the firecracker used in the guardhouse, and we can make it." But we can't do the wire wrapped around in a circle! That thing has to be made of good steel! Otherwise, it won't be used a few times and it will be scrapped. ”

Liu Pei understood, he was talking about the spring on the flintlock pistol. But the spring problem really can't be solved at this time! If you don't have good enough steelmaking technology, you really can't practice spring steel. This made Liu Pei feel very scratched. Is it necessary to develop steelmaking technology? But Liu Pei suddenly thought about it, Daming can't make springs here, but modern society can! And the volume of the spring is so small, hundreds of thousands of customizations at a time can't occupy a container. So Liu Pei said: "If you don't consider the problem of that spring, you should be able to make other parts, right?" ”

The two old men glanced at each other and breathed a sigh of relief. The older one said, "The others are simple, they can be made!" ”

Liu Pei asked: "I want a good firecracker, not the kind of firearm that explodes as soon as it is used!" ”

The old man sighed and said, "I'll tell you the truth to the eldest master." We can't make anything good in the guardhouse! Shangguan sent down the iron material is insufficient, and the fineness is also poor, and Shangguan still does not send Lu rice all year round, so we can only deduct the iron material and make some farm tools and the like in exchange for rice and grain to make a living, and we can't watch our children and grandchildren starve to death! In this situation, even if we have great ability, we can't make good things! I guess that most of the old man's firecrackers are for his own family, and he should be willing to spend money. So I dare to say that as long as the lord can give us enough iron and rice grains, I dare to say that the firecrackers made by our hands are all easy to use! ”

Liu Pei sighed in his heart when he heard this, and cursed Boss Zhu's craftsman system by the way. The good craftsmen were converted into craftsmen by Zhu Yuanzhang's order, and their descendants were not allowed to leave the craftsman status. Shengsheng has turned a group of creative artisans into captive creatures. As a result, this system did not play a good role except to facilitate the deduction of food and salary by the officials. As a result, the level of armament in the Ming Dynasty continued to decrease.

Liu Pei continued: "If you don't have to worry about this spring. If I give you sufficient iron and money, will you be able to make the same firearms as they are in their hands? ”

The two old men said in unison, "Surely!" ”

Then Liu Pei turned to the craftsman who made gunpowder and inquired, and the answer was similar to that of the first two people. The difference is that the blacksmith sells farm tools, and he sells fireworks! So Liu Pei knew it in his heart.

He said to these people, "I'm going to set up two workshops here. One is to make firearms, but also to make some weapons and agricultural tools. So this workshop will be huge. You alone can't hold it up. The same is true for the gunpowder workshop. So I ask each of you to teach more disciples. ”

As soon as Liu Pei said this, several people in front of him looked embarrassed. His lips quirmed, trying to say something, but he held it back. Liu Pei asked, "What can you say?" ”

But a few people still didn't speak. When Liu Pei was about to ask, Liu Jiang stretched out his head at this time and whispered in Liu Pei's ear: "Looking at their appearance, they don't want to teach their disciples." This is for fear of teaching the apprentice to starve the master! ”

Liu Pei immediately realized. At this time, the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty have no life security. These people have to rely on apprentices or children in old age. Therefore, there is often a phenomenon of teaching apprentices to starve their masters to death. As a result, many masters always keep a hand when they teach their disciples! Stayed and stayed, and it all ended up in the coffin. As a result, many of China's peerless schools have also been annihilated, which makes people sigh!

The few people in front of them must also be worried that they have taught their apprentices and have no way back to take them over. But it doesn't matter, Liu Pei has a way! Throw money at it! Liu Pei said: "Are you worried that it will be useless for you to teach apprentices, so you only want to teach your children and grandchildren?" ”

A few people were obviously afraid that Liu Pei would be angry, but they still nodded firmly? Liu Pei smiled after seeing their reactions and said, "Don't worry! I'll take care of your worries. I say to you, Your monthly salary is two taels of silver per month plus five measures of grain. Moreover, for every qualified disciple you teach, I will give you 5 taels of silver. In addition, I also gave each of you 200 taels of silver pension money at a time, I think this is enough, right? ”

These people were very surprised when they heard Liu Pei's words! The money and food given by Liu Pei is not a decimal! And with 200 taels of silver, what can you do if you teach your apprentices not to support their old age? If that's the case, don't worry! Then the old blacksmith struggled and said, "If this is the case, the younger one is willing to teach the younger brother." ”

Liu Pei was very satisfied and said, "Your willingness to teach is one thing. But you still have to teach seriously, and you can teach well, so that you can be worthy of the money I give you. Everyone nodded their heads.

Liu Pei turned his head and said to Liu Jiang: "You will send a few of them to Fushan Village for resettlement." I gave the money when I sent it. I don't have the money to get it from Wang Chuanhao. Then you go to the shopkeeper of Huashufeng and send a letter, tell him that I am going to set up a workshop, and ask him to find a shopkeeper to help. The monthly salary rose by 30%. ”

Liu Jiang knew that the relationship between Liu Pei and Hua Shufeng was relatively close, so he directly agreed. When he accompanied Liu Pei out, he said: "The master of the family, about the matter of the shipwright, it is impossible to directly talk to those big families to ask or borrow people, they can't be willing to have an opponent!" So my idea is, when the manpower training below comes out, I will go directly to the south to tie up a few boatmen and come back, what do you think? ”

Liu Pei nodded and said, "Well, this is a good way, but you have to pay attention to one thing, if you want to tie it up, even his family will tie it up!" Otherwise, if you can't keep people, you will become enemies, and it will be boring! ”