PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket voted by the book friend "Yuan Xing".

Wu Zheng said in a deep voice: "But you obviously know that the Portuguese are selling firearms to the Qing court, why don't you report to this king immediately?" ”

Wei Kuangguo replied: "Your Excellency, strictly speaking, I am not obliged to report this kind of information to Your Excellency. Of course, in the light of my friendship with Your Excellency, I should have informed you, but unfortunately I have only just received a letter from the Holy See, which has discovered in Western Europe that Portuguese merchants are buying large quantities of firearms from various countries and shipping them to East Asia. ”

Wu Zheng's face softened slightly, "Since you said that the Holy See did not traffic firearms to the Qing court, this king will accept your defense for the time being." The reason why the king wants to ask you for help is not to buy goods on credit, but to have to do with the purchase of firearms from the Portuguese by the Qing court. ”

Wei Kuangguo was stunned for a moment, and asked cautiously, "That...... Please let me know. ”

Wu Zheng thought for a while and said, "According to the information obtained by this king, the Qing court purchased firearms from Hongfan in the trench realm (Macau) through Tang Ruowang...... The king has the intention to stop it, but at the moment the king's army is not enough to influence the south. Therefore, I would like to ask Mr. Maldini to contact John Tong on behalf of this king and meet with this king. ”

Wei Kuangguo deliberately did not agree, he hesitated for a while and said: "Your Excellency, Your Excellency the County King, this matter has nothing to do with our transaction, and I have no obligation to comply with it. ”

Wu Zheng snorted and said: "You are right, this king will not force you, but this king can no longer make any transactions with you from now on, you know the Portuguese and Spaniards, they also have good firearms, and most importantly, their prices are more than one percent lower than yours." ”

Wei Kuangguo still shook his head and said, "The Holy See has no intention of selling firearms to East Asia, and besides, the transaction of firearms was carried out at the request of Your Excellency. ”

Wu Zheng smiled, "The rise of Protestantism has triggered a fierce struggle between the old and new believers, and the Holy See may also have a headache, right?" The Portuguese took control of Malacca and fought several naval battles in the Indian Ocean with the British, who wanted a piece of the pie, and both sides were defeated, and the Holy See had a headache like ....... ”

"The Holy See needs the help of this king, and without this king's permission, Catholicism will completely disappear from Jiangnan and will be replaced by Protestants. As for driving out the Portuguese and completing the replacement of East Asian rights, the Holy See could not help without this king. ”

"But in this way, Monsieur Maldini, if this king is defeated, everything you have done before, including the payment of two million taels, will be lost. And the key point is that the firearms trade to the north must be controlled by the king, that is, only with the permission of the king, firearms can be sold to the Qing court. ”

Wei Kuangguo was a little shocked, he was shocked by Wu Zheng's understanding of the West.

Looking at Wei Kuangguo's expression, Wu Zheng smiled and said: "Don't worry, benefits have always been used for sharing, and all exclusive behaviors cannot last long." As long as you control the passage of the Qing court to obtain firearms, you and your papal see will get a 10% profit from the firearms trade between the king and the Qing court...... Not a lot, you don't even need to do anything. ”

"At the same time, the king promised to provide the support of sailors and even land forces in the future expulsion of the Portuguese forces in East Asia."

Wei Kuangguo's heart was moved, and he said, "I wonder when Your Excellency wants to meet with Tang Ruowang?" ”

Wu Zheng nodded with satisfaction and said, "At any time!" ”

……。

Wu Zheng then went to Songjiang Mansion, now Songjiang Mansion is divided into north, west, south three pieces, Huating as the center of this piece was originally the government, now there is a military workshop, the original Ming Jinshanwei, there is a military school, and the north of Wusong has a port, at this time is taking shape of the new city, just south of Wusongkou.

Wu Zheng went directly to the military workshop in Huating.

The new two squares of B and C have been formed, and they are connected with the first square, with a radius of 60 miles, which is quite spectacular.

At this time, the military workshop had gathered 800 skilled craftsmen in Jiangnan, and more than 5,000 ordinary employees.

Looking at this thriving and energetic scene, Wu Zheng sighed with emotion, if there was no war, these people should fight for people's livelihood technology, but unfortunately, now they are forgetting to sleep and eat for the sake of murder weapons.

Fortunately, at this time, Wu Zheng has already controlled the land of Liufu, with a population of tens of millions, and can overcome one problem after another with his own mind.

The time has come to transform this era.

Chen Shoujie and Qi Daokun lived up to Wu's expectations.

The one in front of him has been improved again and has a "Tiger Squat Cannon", just looking at its appearance, it has already made Wu Zheng happy.

The shiny barrel, the black breech, the front, middle and rear hoops with self-tightening technology, and the slender but sturdy grip "again" iron feet.

What satisfies Wu Zheng the most is that the rifling wires carved out by the three manpower in the barrel of the cannon.

Round bullets can also be rifled to improve accuracy.

Qi Daokun introduced: "After improvement, the total length of this gun is 2 feet 9 inches, which has not been shortened, but the muzzle of the gun is three points thinner, the wall of the barrel is one point thinner, and the net weight is 33 catties, which is six catties lighter than before. The gun carriage weighed seven pounds, which was one pound lighter. The total weight is forty pounds, and after the split, it can be carried by a single person. ”

Wu Zheng asked, "Has the power decreased?" ”

Qi Daokun said with a smile: "Can't the prince see that the material used in this tiger squat cannon is different from before?" ”

Wu Zheng nodded and said, "It's really a little different, there seems to be a pattern looming on this tube." ”

"The prince has good eyesight." Qi Daokun said, "This is made by melting the iron hammered by a steam engine and then casting. Its texture is much tougher than that of previous iron materials, and it has fewer pores. Although the weight is much lighter, the maximum range has been increased to 900 meters, and the accuracy has been greatly improved. ”

"Does it take a lot of time to manufacture?" This is the issue that Wu Zheng is most concerned about.

Qi Daokun replied: "If you don't hurry, it won't be a problem to produce twenty doors a month." If the prince is in urgent need, as long as there are people and sisters, it is not impossible to have thirty or forty doors in a month. ”

After watching the test firing, Wu Zheng happily ordered the gun to be named "mortar" and ordered it to be finalized and mass-produced.

Xu Shoujie also made two improvements to the grenade, this time the improvement, mainly for the two-percent dumb fire rate, by notching two pieces of flint to increase the friction, and the rope was improved, and a hollow thin bamboo tube was used to fix the position of the flint, so as not to make it displace, to increase reliability.

Wu Zheng personally tried to draw the rope with a fire, and in a hundred strokes, ninety-three times were ignited, which really made Wu Zheng very satisfied, less than one percent of the dumb fire, the impact on a battle can almost be ignored.

Therefore, Wu Zheng named it "49 style" and carried out mass production.

He also demanded that Chen Shoujie and Qi Daokun must ensure quality and quantity and manufacture 80 mortars and 3,000 grenades before the beginning of spring.

Chen Shoujie and Qi Daokun should go down.