The expansion of the imperial history platform, the emperor nodded, Sima Guang and other imperial historians worried about the country and the people, and Gan Qi Gan Xianggong strongly supported, and this matter was naturally completed in the court.

Obviously, there are still many officials who do not understand the depth of this matter, add some manpower to the imperial history platform, and then send some imperial history to supervise various places, on the surface, it doesn't seem to be a big deal, but it seems to be a passing scene, but it is just one more official who doesn't care about things to the place, and more things for the office.

Gan Qi watched his plan be implemented steadily, but his heart was happy, and it was not false, it was just an extra office in the local yamen. However, after a while, Gan Qi wanted to make each local state capital have one more yamen, and hundreds of officials came in and out of the yamen, specializing in supervision and investigation.

What is this yamen called? Commission for Discipline Inspection? Inspectorate? Anti-Corruption Bureau? Independent Commission Against Corruption? Or is it just called Goshidai?

However, there is a problem, that is, a large amount of money must be allocated to the Imperial Historical Observatory, the money for supporting people and offices, and perhaps the money for buying or renting a house.

Again, that's a lot of money.

If you don't know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive, you have to spend money every day when you become the prime minister.

I have to find a way to get money for the imperial court, Gan Qi sat in his room, picking his scalp, the commercial tax is now being steadily implemented, and the major large state capitals and cities have collected commercial tax in accordance with the new commercial tax law, but there are also problems, and they are still very big, because many places can't even print invoices well, and the strength of tax collection is also lacking, this matter will be difficult to solve for a while, and it will have to rely on time to grind slowly.

Or, the first task of the Imperial Historical Observatory is to let them supervise the implementation of commercial taxes in various state capitals? When a person is sent down, he must first have an errand, and he cannot be idle.

Thinking of this, Gan Qi sent someone to summon Sima Guang to explain, and Sima Guang happily accepted the order, this Yushitai has real work to do.

Yushitai is willing to cooperate with Gan Qi so much, in fact, there is a reason, as an official, who doesn't want to have a little power in their hands? Even if it is these Qingliu imperial histories, are they really willing to live like this every day?

Human nature is like this, there is really a little power, for those imperial history, in fact, they are all happy, one by one, eager to try, the imperial history platform can arrest people, there is a prison, and there is also part of the power of trial, but in the big prison of the imperial history platform, it is often empty, in this great Song Dynasty, it is actually a very difficult thing to really catch an official in prison.

Now that this imperial history platform is considered to be a business, most of the imperial historians want to see how many people can be in the prison.

Gan Qi obviously saw through this, so he already knew that the Imperial Observatory would be very useful.

Get money, get money, get money, that's the most important thing. How can you get money?

Gan Qi thought about it, how to make money quickly? Fuck it's better to grab it faster, and you have to grab a big one.

has to fight, and the object of robbery is either the Liao people or the party members. Not to mention, the Liao people have been around for more than a hundred years, and the foundation is very thick, and in the cities outside the pass, there are many Khitan nobles, and they will definitely be able to make a fortune. The party members are poor, but the party people have a lot of valuables, because they are connected to the Western Regions, and there are many more gold, silver and jade devices than the Great Song Dynasty, which lacks gold and silver.

Ganch picked his head and headed for the Privy Council.

Di Yong is now in control of the Wansheng Army, Gan Qi has to send an official document to ask, why hasn't there been a fight yet?

Coming out of the Privy Council, Gan Qi went out of the city directly and went outside the city to find Shen Kuo.

The Gyeonggi Forbidden Army has now eliminated more than 100,000 people, and the barracks are empty, and there are countless places, and Shen Kuo and two or three hundred good craftsmen now occupy hundreds of acres of land.

Gan Qi hit the horse and went straight into Shen Kuo's territory, and when he found Shen Kuo, he almost didn't recognize that the person with a black and yellow face in front of him was Shen Kuo, and he was still wearing linen clothes, and he was dirty all over his body.

Gan Qi opened his mouth and asked: "In the village, you are also an official of the seventh grade, how did you get like this?" ”

Shen Kuo also grinned: "Xianggong smiled." ”

"Where's the cannon?" Gan Qi asked.

Shen Kuo pointed to a large mound of earth next to him and said, "Xianggong, the cannon is in this, and the eighth one has been built." ”

Gan Qi looked at the big mound of earth and reacted, this is a large mold for casting, the molten iron is poured into the mold, then cooled, and then the mold is opened, and the iron lump is inside.

Gan Qi asked again, "What about the other seven?" ”

"Xianggong, the previous ones have failed, and they have been melted, and I don't know if this door will be successful, if it is not successful, it will also be melted and rebuilt." Shen Kuo replied.

"Knock it open and take a look." Gan Qi was a little impatient, as long as he thought of fighting, he thought of cannons, without this thing, Gan Qi was really reluctant to let people die to pile up the city wall.

"I'm about to open the fan, it's the right time for the prime minister, I poured it yesterday." Shen Kuo said as he instructed the craftsmen to knock on the mold. These molds are all disposable, and the molds are called "fan" in this era, which means exemplary. The raw materials of this fan are actually not complicated, mainly washing sand and soil.

But the "fan" concoction is the technology, which will add charcoal or pulverized coal, use a small amount of water to make shape, and even add vegetable oil. This is the core technology, and we have to keep experimenting.

In order to ensure that the specifications of each cannon are the same, wood molds will also be made to shape the casting molds.

The craftsmen hit the mound with hammers, and after a while, the cannon inside slowly revealed its shape, gray and white, it did not look like a metallic luster, and the surface was not smooth, but it could be seen that it was uneven and frosted.

The craftsmen carefully cleaned the surface of the cannon and slowly dug out the contents of the barrel.

The whole body of the iron bump finally appeared, a straight cannon barrel, a round buttocks, thick at the back and thinner at the front.

The craftsmen began to wear cannons with ropes and carry them with sticks.

Gan Qi asked, "How much?" ”

"One thousand two hundred pounds." Shen Kuo's eyes were always on the cannon, and he replied casually.

Gan Qi sighed twice and said, "It's small." ”

Shen Kuo turned his head to look at Gan Qi: "Xianggong, 1,200 catties, is it still small?" ”

"Try it first, you have to build it in Dali, at least two thousand catties, three thousand catties." Gan Qi has seen the world, two thousand catties are only about one ton, and three thousand catties are only one and a half tons. If you want to be able to open the city gate and collapse the city wall, you must build it in Dali. The Hongyi cannon of the Ming Dynasty could reach 3,000 catties.

For Gan Qi, no matter how big it is, four thousand catties is not too big.

"Xianggong, I'm afraid it's too big and heavy, and it's hard to march." Shen Kuo was worried.

"You don't care about this, as long as you can build it, I can take him on the march, and the people will push the horses, and they can be transported to the front line." Gan Qi doesn't care about those, a ton or two of stuff, it's nothing. Even if it is climbing a snowy mountain and crossing a meadow, it doesn't hurt to pull a horse to death.

More than a dozen craftsmen carried the cannon to a wooden shelf, at this time Gan Qi and Shen Kuo stepped forward to take a look, Gan Qi was casually looking, but Shen Kuo was looking around the cannon, and even lying on the ground to watch, put his hand into the barrel and felt it, and threw the fire fold into the barrel to take a closer look.

After looking at it for a long time, Shen Kuo got up and said: "Xianggong, this one is good, there are no flaws all around, and there are no flaws in the barrel, this is a good cannon." ”

Ganchi was anxious and said, "Fire a shot." ”

Shen Kuo hurriedly shouted: "Quick, go and get the medicine I prepared a few days ago, and bring the cast iron ball over." ”

After a while, a large wooden barrel was moved, and the black powder in it was extremely skilled, and the powder went in a lot, and then the iron ball was stuffed in, and a fire twist was stuffed in the ignition place, it was as simple as that.

"Move this way, where no one is there." Shen Kuo kept commanding, and he seemed to be more anxious than Gan Qi.

"Torches, torches."

The torch was quickly fetched, but Gan Qi suddenly approached: "Give me the torch, I'll come." ”

Shen Kuo also persuaded: "Xianggong, let's go down to the official, this cannon is very quiet, it's not good to surprise Xianggong." ”

Gan Qi waved his hand: "Don't scare me." ”

Shen Kuo could only give the torch to Gan Qi, but he was worried, afraid that the loud noise would frighten Gan Qi.

Gan Qi's face did not change, he lit the fire twist with a torch, and took a few steps back, Shen Kuo actually took a big wooden shield and stood in front of Gan Qi, or a scientist is rigorous, this newly made cannon, in case it explodes, it will be terrible, and Gan Xianggong must be protected.

"Boom!"

There was a loud bang, and white smoke filled the sky. Ganchi was not frightened, but he scared Ganchi and the horses of the guards into kicking around.

Gan Qi hurriedly looked into the distance, and vaguely saw the dirt flying in the distance ahead. "How far?" he asked. ”

"Seven or eight hundred steps." Shen Kuo replied.

"Check it out." Gan Qi turned over on the horse in a few steps, patted the horse's neck to soothe him a few times, and beat the horse forward.

When I got to the landing point, there was a big depression crater, and there were no projectiles, and I didn't go far ahead, and there was a smaller crater, and I didn't see the projectiles, and I went forward, and there were pits......

The shell hit the ground, bounced several times, and smashed a series of craters.

"Yes, the power of the medicine is not bad." Ganchi summed it up.

"It's all made according to the recipe of Xianggong, and you have to think about it carefully, add or subtract a little, and you will definitely be able to add some more power." Shen Kuo replied.

"How many cannons can be made in a month with such a thousand two hundred pounds?" Gan Qi asked.

"With the current manpower, if there is enough iron, we should be able to build ten doors a month." Shen Kuo replied.

"This little cannon can only make ten pieces a month?"

"Xianggong, this is not a small cannon, such a cannon is the only one in the world. In the past, the tiger squat cannon was only forty or fifty pounds. Shen Kuo couldn't accept the adjective Gan Qi's "small".

Gan Qi didn't bother with big or small things, and said: "It seems that there are still not enough manpower and material resources, and in the final analysis, there is not enough money." Two months, 100 guns, enough for 5,000 rounds of gunpowder and projectiles. How much does it cost? ”

"Xianggong, a hundred cannons, iron alone costs 120,000 catties, 5,000 projectiles are not counted, a pound of good iron costs more than 100 yuan, and the gunpowder configuration costs a lot. Coupled with the manual money, I am afraid that it will cost about 200,000 yuan. Shen Kuo said this number, his heart was empty, although he was an official, he had never seen much of the world, and 200,000 yuan was unimaginably much for him. Fortunately, this is Bianliang, the place where the world's goods are concentrated, as long as there is money, raw materials will not be too lacking, and it is a big deal that Bianliang City will no longer be able to buy artillery battles this year.

"200,000 guan, okay, I'll ship it to you tomorrow. You can first cast a hundred of these cannons. After that, don't make it, I want more than 2,000 catties. In Gan Qi's heart, fighting is more important than anything else, and he still can't look down on this cannon, but if he uses it first, five thousand rounds can always collapse the walls and gates of several cities.

"Is Xianggong serious?" Shen Kuo was a little surprised, he had 200,000 yuan between his words? What kind of family conditions is this?

"Seriously, in two months, I want to see a hundred cannons." Gan Qi said solemnly.

"Then the subordinate must do his best to do a good job."

Gan Qi suddenly frowned, and said solemnly, "I still have to tell you something." ”

"Tell the other hand."

"Tomorrow, there will be 10,000 forbidden troops here, from now on, no one is allowed to enter and leave this place at will, but all craftsmen who come here to do things can be paid double their wages, but there is one rule, you have to move your family to live in the barracks, and remake household registration documents and make a register. Do you understand the reasoning? ”

Ganqi will always be cautious, this weapon of war must be strictly controlled, even the people involved in the manufacture must be strictly controlled, the household register, and even the family situation, the clansmen and relatives must be registered in the register, which is convenient for inspection and supervision.

If there is one person missing, they have to investigate, where is it? He's dead? Where the dead are, where they are buried, and who testifies. Outsiders entering and leaving must be strictly investigated, and this is what the 10,000 forbidden army has to do.

When Shen Kuo heard this, he immediately understood the meaning, nodded and replied, "It's better for Xianggong to think about it." ”

"I'll send two thousand soldiers to give you a hand, and you have to take them with you when you use the artillery." Gan Qi said again.

"Xianggong, this is ......"

"You teach them how to fire cannons, and even have to test a lot to come up with a protocol for the dosage and range, and I have to rely on them to fight."

"Oh, the lower official understands, the lower official understands." Before Shen Kuo's head, his mind was obviously not here, but now Gan Qi's mind was a mind to fight.

After the explanation, Gan Qi quickly returned to the Privy Council, summoned Li Ming, the former imperial city minister, and led 10,000 horses to control the affairs of the artillery factory, and handed it over to Li Ming.

Among them, Gan Qi also talked to Li Ming secretly. This artillery factory will only grow bigger and bigger in the future, and even become a production base, in which personnel management is the top priority, and Li Ming's task will be even heavier. Artillery gunpowder must not be leaked.

Gan Qi and Li Mingmi talked about it when it was dark, and only then did they fully explain the matter.

Li Ming was obviously also promoted, General Wupin Dingyuan, and the commander of the rear of the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army. When Li Ming was in the Imperial City Division, he was originally a military officer from the sixth grade, but now he has become a military attache of the fifth grade, and the fifth grade is basically the ceiling of the general military attache of the Great Song Dynasty.

Befriending Gan Qi and following Gan Qi with all his heart can be regarded as the most successful decision Li Ming has made in his life.