When everyone was still surprised by the convenience and practicality of the artillery, Ni Yuanlu threw out the idea of the musket, which was very shocking. Compared with ordinary broadswords, bows and arrows, the power of muskets and artillery is not the same, what kind of armor and thick shield in front of muskets and artillery protection is greatly reduced, even if the strong city wall is hit by powerful artillery many times, it will collapse. However, the biggest disadvantage of musket artillery is also obvious, that is, when you want to make a second shot after firing a shot or a shot, it takes a lot of time to prepare, and it is likely that the enemy's saber will already come to harvest your head while you are busy.

Xu Guangqi, Sun Yuanhua and others are knowledgeable, but Tan Jing doesn't understand how powerful it is, he saw that everyone was shocked, so he asked Xu Guangqi: "Lord Xu, what kind of sub-mother cannon and sub-mother gun is this very useful?" ”

Xu Guangqi nodded slowly and said: "I used to see that the Jurchens had amazing combat effectiveness, and I was always very worried, but fortunately, we were not very worried about the strong city artillery, and later I heard that the Jurchens were also making artillery, so it can be said that they were worried, worried that they couldn't defend and couldn't defend the field." Now it seems that as long as the two things that Lord Ni said are done, any Jurchen Mongols, including the red-haired foreigners who occupy Taiwan, can be said to be of unimaginable use. ”

Tan Jing said: "According to what the adults said, these things are really useful, but they haven't been made yet, and I'm not sure, so Lord Ni will continue to make them, and then go and explain them to the emperor in person." Don't worry about the silver, Lord Ni said that it is very useful, and it doesn't matter how much you want to use this silver, I will go back tomorrow morning to report the good news to the emperor, and Lord Ni had better come back in a few days, because the emperor has been very busy these two days. ”

Early the next morning, everyone went to see the test gun again, and saw that the gun body made of fine iron showed no signs of deformation and cracking, and the barrel of the copper sub-gun did not change much, but the base part of the gun tail was blown through because it was too thin. After a while, the soldiers came to report that the shells had also been found, and the range was not too far and not too close, and the power was acceptable when it was drilled into the dirt a foot deep. The copper sub-cannon barrel was placed in the fine iron cannon barrel, and it was not deformed because the mother cannon was restrained, but Ni Yuanlu found a small change, that is, the part that was not put into the mother cannon barrel was hanging outside because it was larger, and this part was somewhat deformed because of the extrusion.

Ni Yuanlu didn't say anything in his heart when he saw this, Xu Guangqi saw that Sun Yuanhua and Mao Yuanyi were very interested at this time, so he said: "On the whole, it is quite successful, it would be better to simplify the way of firing the cannon, I still have something to do in the Bo Academy, I will go back to the city with the manager today, you two are interested in taking a look and helping Master Ni come up with some good ideas by the way." ”

Ni Yuanlu was overjoyed when he heard this: "I also think this thing is too bulky, and I can't have to be smashed every time I fire a cannon, I wanted to find a few Taixi people to ask about the mechanical matter but I was afraid of leaking secrets, it would be great if Lord Sun and Lord Mao could help, thank you in advance!" ”

Sun Yuanhua and Mao Yuanyi also said together: "For the sake of Daming, these are all things, Lord Ni doesn't have to be polite!" ”

A few days later, Ni Yuanlu and Sun Yuanhua wrote down the test results of the child and mother cannon in detail, and then wrote the idea of matching the musket with the mother bomb, and then returned to the city together to show the apocalypse. When they came to the Military Affairs Academy, Tianqi and Sun Chengzong received them together, but the expressions of the two of them were a little weird, as if there was something difficult to do and had to be done, and Ni and Sun secretly wondered.

Ni Yuanlu didn't care so much, first briefly introduced the matter of the sub-mother cannon, and then took out the report he wrote with Sun Yuanhua, which explained in detail that the idea was inspired by Wu Sangui, and the firing mechanism was the result of the help of Sun Yuanhua and Mao Yuanyi, Mao Yuanyi is still in Shanglin Yuan to find a way to improve, saying that it is necessary to achieve the purpose of easily firing the cannon so that the gunner will not be injured safely. Sun Chengzong took the report of the two and looked at it carefully, and after asking a few details and the personnel involved, Tianqi was silent.

Ni Yuanlu thought that the merit of this proposer could not be buried, so he said to Tianqi: "Your Majesty, although this Wu Sangui is young, he is a talent, and he has a flexible head and many ideas, not to mention that it should be good to fight, and when it comes to killing the enemy, it is like slaughtering a chicken, and the minister is ashamed of himself, so it can be seen that he is also a ruthless character." If there is a reward this time, the minister thinks that he should still have a share, but the minister still thinks that he should stay in the Bo Academy, and the little doll may be more promising if he is trained more. ”

Apocalypse said: "If he is willing to stay, he should cultivate him well, but he himself is not willing to be forced to stay, and it is a good thing that he is not willing to stay and go to the front line to fight." At the beginning of the year, Liu Zongzhou of the Holy Academy and Xu Guangqi Xu of the Bo College had suggested that from now on, they should take a few more tests for the selection of Jinshi, saying that in addition to the ancient teachings of the saints, they should also take new knowledge such as mathematics, machinery, and agricultural administration. But since they have this suggestion, it makes sense, so after I have selected the Jinshi, I opened another subject for those who did not pass the examination to rely on new knowledge, do you know why? ”

Ni Yuanlu saw that Tianqi had just mentioned Wu Sangui and immediately talked about the big exam, and he couldn't think of any connection between the two for a while, so he thought about it carefully and said: "The ancients 'ruled the country to not disturb the people', the emperor did this because he didn't want to move too fast and make people confused. ”

Apocalypse shook his head and said, "Not breaking the old rules is only one aspect, the main thing is to consider a question of loyalty. Taking Xu Guangqi and Master Xu as an example, Master Xu only came into contact with the Tessie missionaries in his thirties, and he learned the new knowledge of Tessie as soon as he learned it, which shows that the so-called new knowledge is not so mysterious. Everything is the same, as long as you are willing to learn, you don't necessarily have to start from elementary school, isn't you Ni Yuanlu also a halfway monk to make something new? But the cultivation of loyalty must start from elementary school, the words of the sage are learned and then the others are all-rounders, those who do not learn the words of the sage can only be regarded as half talent, and Wu Sangui is also considered half talent at most. ”

After listening to the words of the apocalypse, Ni Yuanlu realized that the emperor didn't like martial artists like Wu Sangui, in the eyes of the emperor, no matter how powerful the generals were, they could only be regarded as half-talented, and in the same way, no matter how powerful the person who studied Taixi's new knowledge, he could only be regarded as a half-talent, and what the emperor liked was an all-rounder who was both loyal and easy to use.

At this time, Sun Chengzong also finished reading the report written by Ni Yuanlu and Sun Yuanhua, and he saw that Ni Yuanlu did not speak and knew that Ni Yuanlu disagreed with the words of the Apocalypse, so he said: "Reading the book of the saint from an early age is the best time to cultivate a person's loyalty, and listening to those Taixi people say that they are full of countries can be said to be divided, which is the reason why they have not received the teachings of the saint, and it is sad and lamentable." Yuan Lu, look at the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, needless to say, the people in the Government Affairs Yuan, how many of the military ministers in the Military Affairs Yuan are not from Jinshi? Is there anyone in the world who has not listened to the teachings of the saints since childhood and become a scholar? ”

Ni Yuanlu thought about it carefully, it was indeed the case, except for the British Gong Zhang Weiying, all of the military affairs were born as jinshi, and the British Gong Military Council was also because of his loyalty, the emperor immediately thought of the British Duke when he eliminated Wei Zhongxian, and isn't everyone talking about loyalty? Of course, an emperor likes loyal and capable people, but when loyalty and ability conflict, loyalty first and ability second are the options that everyone will choose.

Tianqi said at this time: "I also hope that the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty will be as noble and bright as Zhou Gong, and like Zhuge Liang, they will do their best and die, but this is difficult and difficult to do." Therefore, there must be a differentiation, those who are born in Jinshi will definitely be reused, and others will not be treated badly but cannot be the main officer, this is a matter of principle. ”

Ni Yuanlu said: "The minister also knows the importance of loyalty to the country, but there are also many people who are willing to degenerate, corrupt and take bribes, such as the eunuch party and Yan Song a few years ago. ”

Apocalypse said: "Of course, there are no absolutes in this world, but there is a big difference between jinshi and non-jinshi in terms of loyalty or not, and this difference is a general comparison that does not include individual cases. As you said about embezzlement and bribery, I divide this kind of behavior into two types: active corruption and passive corruption. But people who are not from Jinshi take the initiative to embezzle, and most of them are like flies when they see money, and they don't want to pounce on them when they see blood, and they are better than those who are from Jinshi, after all, they have read so many books on etiquette, righteousness and shame, and they are embarrassed to be too openly corrupt. ”

Sun Chengzong also said at this time: "Since the emperor implemented the economic inspection system three years ago, I heard that ordinary people can take the initiative to declare their personal income, and they can also take the initiative to hand over abnormal income if they find it, but there are also some people who are lucky. A while ago, I heard Master Gao Panlong Gao say that those who are lucky are generally miscellaneous officials, and those who are from Jinshi can take the initiative to declare and hand in on their own initiative, so it still makes sense for the emperor to distinguish officials from Jinshi and non-Jinshi. ”

Ni Yuanlu said: "In this case, the minister will say hello to Wu Sangui again, and let him keep his mouth shut about the sub-mother cannon, but he can't forget him if he has a reward." ”

Tianqi said: "Since you have already warned him, it is enough, and if you go to say hello, it may not be counterproductive, he can ask his father to give a good warning at most in Ningyuan now, and let Shi Quan and them pay more attention to the movements of Wu Sangui and his son." ”

Ni Yuanlu asked: "The emperor said that saying hello more will have the opposite effect, this is the first time that the minister has heard this kind of speech, why is this?" ”

Tianqi said: "Wu Sangui brought up a chili bomb, but he may not know how chili peppers were promoted in Daming. It is said that at the beginning, a county order was ready to let the people of the county plant chili peppers, because he heard that chili peppers can be dehumidified and made as condiments, and they are very fragrant, who knows that the people of the county are not interested. Later, he asked people to plant secretly and forbade ordinary people to plant, and the common people were surprised and stole the seeds, so that it was slowly spread. What does this mean? It shows that people are curious, if you don't let him do it, he wants to know why, Wu Sangui is the same, if you greet him again now, maybe it will arouse his interest. ”