The canal, although it is heading north against the wind and current, is still moving steadily under the hard pull of the slender man in front, and the speed has not slowed down.

In the howling cold wind, Lu Zhen stood on the deck and looked ahead, although he was in a cold environment, his heart was hot, because the expectations of the years seemed to be about to see a happy result soon.

This is the fifth day that he left Suzhou and sailed north, and he has long been far away from the Jiangnan boundary, but he still remembers the events of that day clearly, as if it was right in front of him-

After forcing those pirates to honestly confess the details of the origin of the artillery, Lu Zhen immediately made a decision, no matter what the cost, he must bring the smaller and more powerful artillery from the west back to the Ming Dynasty, if he can, it is best to let the craftsmen who can cast such ship-borne artillery also come to the Ming Dynasty, and teach the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty to cast this battlefield killing weapon.

Although today's firearms are still too far from those of later generations in all aspects, especially muskets, in addition to a slightly longer range, there is a big gap between them and bows and crossbows in terms of accuracy and loading bursts. However, artillery has long been used by the Ming army because of its power, but it is too cumbersome to be fully promoted, and at most it is used to defend the city.

But as a traverser, Lu Zhen knows very well that the future world will respect firearms, which are also the strongest weapons used to restrain the nomads' fast horse scimitars. You don't have to go too far, just at the end of the Ming Dynasty in history, relying on the mobile rapid-fire Franji cannon and the powerful Hongyi cannon, you can kill the gradually rising Jurchen tribe and lose their troops, and even their own Great Khan died under the artillery.

If the Ming Dynasty is now strong and equipped with powerful artillery, not to mention completely leveling the grassland, it will be easy to inflict heavy losses on the Mongolian tribes such as the Warat and Tatars in the north, so that they will not dare to take the next step in the south for one or two hundred years. As long as there are two hundred more years of peacetime, perhaps with the diligence and intelligence of the Chinese people, the firearms will be reborn and qualitatively leaped, thus forcing cavalry combat to completely withdraw from the main stage of war.

For this wonderful future, Lu Zhen has thought about it in the past. However, as a liberal arts student, he really didn't have any knowledge of firearms or anything, even if he knew that the musket could be improved, but he didn't know what to do, so naturally he couldn't provide any advice, so he had to bury this idea deep in his heart.

But this time, after seeing the cannon on the pirate ship and listening to the other party's explanation, Lu Zhen knew that the future he hoped to see had the possibility of becoming a reality.

So he ordered the officials of the Suzhou City Department on the spot, telling them to think of sailing ships to the western countries and obtaining artillery there by various means. At the same time, he also asked many merchants from Manraka to make them think of going to the West to find artillery, cannon casting methods and craftsmen. It wasn't until these people solemnly agreed to Lu Jin's request that he was relieved and left Suzhou.

Now, everything he can do has been done, and when Da Ming can take a step forward on the basis of the existing firearms, so as to completely reverse the offensive and defensive situation with the Mengren, it only depends on when the line he laid can be realized.

"I have planted everything, I just hope that God will bless me and God will bless me in China!" It wasn't until he silently prayed in his heart that Lu Zhen exhaled, and his eyes became more and more resolute.

Even though he is almost an idle earl now, Lu Zhen is still doing his best to help the Ming Dynasty become stronger than it has been shown in history. Because he knows that only a strong country can enable the people in the country to live a happy and healthy life, and not to cause the Chinese nation to suffer disasters again and again for hundreds of miles in the following hundreds of miles, and be bullied and enslaved by foreigners......

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At noon on 16 November, Lu Jin's carriage finally crossed the high and thick walls of Beijing and rushed back after a lapse of more than half a year.

Compared with the excitement of being greeted by many people when he came back in the past, Lu Jin's return this time was very low-key, only his own subordinates who had already received the message ran to Tongzhou Wharf early to greet him, and then quietly entered the capital in the flow of many cars and horses in and out of Beijing.

After seeing the familiar streets and familiar shops here, Lu Jin, who was sitting in the carriage, unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. Although on the surface he is from Suzhou, in fact, in his heart, he has long regarded Beijing as his hometown in this era - after all, in the past ten years after the crossing, he has stayed in Beijing for the longest time, and there are his wife, children and family here.

"Is everything okay at home?" This made him suddenly remember that he had been away from home for many days, so he rushed out to ask a little guilty.

Han Wutong, who was following the car, hurriedly replied: "Don't worry, master, everything is fine at home." The two ladies had planned to take Miss Childe out of the city to greet you, but they didn't come out for fear of attracting too much attention. "He rushed back to the capital earlier than Lu Jin, so he can give an answer.

Lu Zhen smiled: "That's good, you don't have to be so polite between your own family members." After a pause, he sighed softly: "It's a pity that I won't be able to go home today." "This time he rushed to Suzhou to investigate the affairs of the sea, but he went by the will of the Son of Heaven, so according to the rules, he still had to face the saint before he could go home after handing over the will. At this time, the emperor was busy dealing with large and small government affairs, but he may not see himself indirectly from time to time.

I don't know if it's a psychological effect, Lu Zhen always feels that the relationship between himself and the Son of Heaven has become a little different. Perhaps this is the common sense between monarchs and ministers, no pair of monarchs and ministers can always be close, and the contradiction hidden under the surface of the water about King Zhou only plays a catalytic role.

"Let's go to the pavilion in the west of the city first, Wutong, you go home first and report to your wife and them that you are safe." After a little thought, Lu Zhen made a decision. When you settle down, you will hand a sign to the palace to see if the Son of Heaven will summon you.

Han Wutong hurriedly agreed, and left the team in a hurry, while Lu Zhen and the others continued to move forward, and soon came to the rather magnificent Xicheng Pavilion Station. Just when Lu Zhan identified himself, and the officials in the pavilion came out to greet them, and arranged a good courtyard to receive them, two fast horses suddenly galloped over, and as soon as they saw Lu Jin, the people above hurriedly rolled off the saddle and saluted: "Dudu!" ”

Lu Zhen swept his eyes and saw that it was Qinggel who rushed over, so he smiled and said: "Jinyiwei's ears and eyes are becoming more and more flexible, I just entered the capital, and I was targeted by you?" ”

"The governor laughed, it was the brothers who sent us a message before entering Beijing." Qinggel also smiled, and then said: "I have come here to summon you to the palace at the behest of His Majesty. ”

"Huh? Even Your Majesty already knows that I have entered Beijing? Lu Jin felt a little strange in his heart, so he nodded: "In this case, then don't be busy settling down, you can go to the palace with me." "If you can see that the Son of Heaven has given his will, you will naturally be able to go home later.

So our Uncle Lu didn't enter the pavilion to take a breath, so he returned to the car directly, and was escorted by Qinggele and others to the palace again.

After walking for a while, and making sure that no one was paying attention to the surroundings, Qinggele leaned over to the carriage and whispered: "My lord, in fact, Your Majesty knows that your return is not from my Jinyi Guardian, but from Dongchang. ”

"Dongchang ......" Lu Jin's face sank slightly after hearing this name: "Did he still set up Dongchang again?" Didn't those adults in the court fail to dissuade His Majesty after all? ”

As early as last year before he left the capital, Zhu Qiyu had the intention of reopening the East Factory - in fact, it cannot be regarded as a reopening, the East Factory has not been abolished, but with the collapse of Wang Zhen's party, it has collapsed, and there are no more privileges.

In fact, this is also very understandable, it was because of his hatred for Wang Zhen and his henchmen, and his hatred for Wu and the house, that the emperor would completely ignore Dongchang. But after the change that seized the door that year, and saw those palace eunuchs being rebellious and brutally killed in order to be loyal to him, the Son of Heaven's perception of these people changed.

And as he reigned for a long time, he had a further desire for power, and Zhu Qiyu naturally hoped that someone could help him fight with the officials of the Manchu Dynasty. Originally, this candidate was Lu Jin, but he chose to keep a low profile very wisely, so the emperor could only find another helper. And let me ask, beside the emperor, in addition to the group of eunuchs, is there a more suitable helper?

So, just like his father, Zhu Qiyu has also begun to reuse eunuchs again in the past two years, and even has plans to restart the East Factory. Although this decision was unanimously opposed by many courtiers, he was the emperor after all, and after some perseverance, it was done.

Although today's East Factory is far from being as good as the Jinyi Guard, which has long been heard and heard, from today's point of view, it has also taken a small scale.

"It seems that in the future, there will be no peace in this capital again......" Lu Zhen sighed softly in his heart. But some things are always unavoidable, and as long as there is power, there will inevitably be struggles. Fortunately, he has almost jumped out of this battle now, presumably as long as he does not provoke right and wrong, Dongchang will not dare to break ground on Tai Sui's head.

"My lord, what do you think we should do next?" Qinggel is obviously not as indifferent as him, and he has begun to worry that his family will be affected by the East Factory.

Lu Zhen said: "Just wait and see." Now that the East Factory is newly established, it is the time when the edge is exposed, as long as it does not rub against my Jinyiwei, you don't need to pay attention to it. As for those adults in the court, they can only ask for more blessings for themselves. ”

On the whole, Lu Jin's strategy is indeed not wrong, after all, the East Factory is set up by the Son of Heaven, and he can't get along with the emperor, right? But what he doesn't know is that sometimes there are some things that you don't have to provoke people, and you have to prevent others from provoking you!