The exercise was undoubtedly a success, and although the musket was inferior in range to the bow and arrow, the power was not comparable to that of the bow and arrow.

Take the best armor of the Xia Kingdom as a comparison, the best archers can't pose much threat to the soldiers wearing heavy armor, and the musket is different, the power of the projectile can shoot through the strongest armor, even if the distance is too far to achieve the ability to break the armor, the impact of the projectile can also dent the armor, causing great damage to the body.

Although the musket is equipped but the troops are on it, it is still unrealistic to completely replace the bow and arrow.

The production of iron tools in the Xia Kingdom is very low, and it is a long way to go if you want to load rifles on a large scale.

At dusk, the exercise ended, and the ministers got into their respective vehicles and followed behind Wang Lang's guard of honor, and today's exercise gave them a great shock, and the new name of the musket was deeply engraved in their minds.

Kong Er leaned on the carriage, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.

"Musket, kind of interesting!"

Lifting the curtain of the car window, he said to the guard: "Tell Zhao Shilang to ask him to investigate the situation of Ningyuan County's development of saltpeter island, see how it goes, and then report to me." ”

"Yes!"

The guards hurried away with their fists clenched.

Ningyuan County.

Since Wei Ming pointed out a clear path to the county magistrate Sun Lin, since the spring, his county magistrate has been extremely nourishing.

The imperial court decided to vigorously develop saltpeter island, and as the closest seaport to saltpeter island, Ningyuan County can be said to have taken full advantage.

After the river thawed, the sea boats transferred from Harbour City headed for Saltpeter Island loaded with people and materials.

According to the charts provided by the expedition, the voyage to Saltpeter Island was extremely smooth.

After months of development, the inhospitable island has become a small village, with three huge ships docked at the small port.

Busy workers in the harbor handle racks of saltpeter onto the seagoing vessels, and near the ore, the most striking thing is the dozens of large cages containing dodos.

As an endemic species of Saltpeter Island, Sun Lin will naturally not let go of these fat animals, this batch of dodos will be sent to the palace as a tribute, if Wang Lang can like these things, then for him it is Jane in the emperor's heart, which will be of great benefit to his career in the future.

Sun Lin is ambitious, he is only in his early twenties this year, and he knows in his heart that those old guys in the court will give up their positions sooner or later, and the future belongs to these young people, and it is not his goal to become a member of the government, and it is the ultimate dream of these civil officials to become the center.

He knew that Saltpeter Island and Ningyuan County were his chances to rise, and as long as he did this thing well, he would definitely make considerable political capital for himself.

A few days later, the large ship loaded with saltpeter headed towards Ningyuan County, and as a transit station for saltpeter, the wharf in Ningyuan County was extremely busy.

The transportation of goods has brought a lot of job opportunities to the local people, and the coachmen who pull the carts on the wharf and make money with their physical strength have made this small port city present an unusually prosperous scene.

Nitrate has many uses, in addition to being one of the raw materials for gunpowder, the most used place in the Xia Kingdom is the ice-making industry.

With the production of a large amount of natural nitrate, the ice in Xia has become much cheaper, although it is not enough for every household to use, but in the trading posts of various cities, a large number of ice warehouses have been established, even in the hot summer can eat incomparably fresh meat.

Copper Seventeen put down the tools in his hand, walked to a cool place, untied the kettle at his waist, and took a big sip of water.

Since it has been recognized by humans for its craftsmanship in Tongshan City, its life in the Xia Kingdom can be said to be much better.

A month ago, it received an order from humans, and was sent to a place called Ningyuan County to build a dock, originally it didn't want to come, during the time when Tongshancheng lived, although life was dull, but after the local humans recognized it, they got along very well with their neighbors.

Suddenly sent to a strange place, it was a little frightened in its heart, it didn't know what the humans there would think of it, whether it would encounter the previous difficulties.

But it did not dare to disobey the orders of the human race, so in desperation it had no choice but to take its belongings and be taken by the soldiers to this distant place.

It was only after arriving in Ningyuan County that it found that there were more than a dozen people of the same kind here who had the same experience as it.

After the exchange, Copper Seventeen found that although their experiences were somewhat different from their own, they had one thing in common, they were dinosaur people, and they were all well-known craftsmen in various places.

Humanity has gathered them, and it seems that there is a big project for them to participate in.

Copper Seventeen looked at the busy workers on the docks, grinned, and said to one of his companions, "Gui Wu, why do you say that these humans are so different from ours? ”

The dinosaur man named Copper Five glanced at the humans on the dock and said, "What do you care about so much, anyway, now we have to look at their faces to act, we should be glad that we have skills, think of those who are soldiers, and now they are still moving stones in the mines, maybe they will die one day." ”

Speaking of this, Tong Seventeen gritted his teeth and said: "They deserve it, these soldiers in the country don't treat us as human beings at all, when those nobles take our lives as a thing, I will not forget the whip on my body until now!" ”

Gui Wu, put down the tools in his hand, sat down next to Tong Seventeen, and said, "I've known you for a while, and I don't know where you are." ”

"I was born in the Red Mountains!" Brass Seventeen replied.

"Red Mountain? That place is the territory of the Red Mountain family, and you're really unlucky! Gui Wu looked at Copper Seventeen sympathetically.

Brass Seventeen touched his back, and if he took off his clothes at this point, he could see a long scar on its back.

Seeing that Tong Seventeen's face was a little ugly, Gui Wu asked, "Have you offended those big people on the side of Red Mountain?" ”

Copper Seventeen nodded and said: "Seven years ago, I was conscripted to build a beautiful house for those noble lords, I accidentally fell from a high place and smashed one of their chairs, it was just a chair, those noble lords, they pressed me to the ground and whipped me hard, at that time I thought I was dying, I was knocked unconscious, I was dragged out by their men, fortunately, my life was great, I survived, I woke up from the field, I was afraid that they would find out that I was still alive, so I ran away, and I traveled to many places in the country, Later, he was captured by the army, and he came to the human place in such a daze. ”

After listening to this, Gui Wu was silent for a while, smiled bitterly, and said: "When I didn't come to the human world, I heard that the humans here are just some smart humans, but after being here for so long, if I had to choose, I would rather stay in these foreign countries than go back to a country like Shi Lunjia." ”

Copper Seventeen nodded: "Yes, human civilization is really special, when I was in Tongshan City, I liked to watch the life scenes of those human families, and their males and females were able to form a thing called a family." ”

Gui Wu nodded and said, "Do you know Fang Shaoshi?" ”

"The traitor?" Brass Seventeen said.

"Heh, traitor, he's a traitor, what are you and me, I'm quite envious of it now, it is said that it has now become an official of the human race, and has also been received by the human emperor, who would have thought that such a small person could become a noble." Gui Wu said with emotion.

Tong Seventeen said: "The human system is really good, an ordinary person can become a respected nobleman as long as he works hard, not by blood. ”

Gui Wu shook his head and said: "Forget it, let's hurry up and work, finish this dock, we have a lot of money, with money, I also want to go to the capital of the human race, not as a slave, but with a chest and go in." ”

Escaping the midday sun, Brass Seventeen patted the dust off his body and continued to build the dock with the human workers.

Yancheng.

After more than ten days of the exercise, Kong Er looked at the information on the table, which were all information about Ningyuan County that he had found out from the household department during this time.

After reading this information, Kong Er muttered: "Ningyuan County has actually developed to such an extent, it has only been a few months, tsk, no wonder Your Majesty values this place so much." ”

Kong Er thought about it, the corners of his mouth curled, according to the current development momentum of Ningyuan County, it is foreseeable that in the future, this little-known small port will definitely be an important source of tax revenue for the Xia Kingdom.

As the department in charge of Xia Guo's money and grain, he is naturally the most concerned about this kind of thing, and Kong Er secretly pondered in his heart whether to send his own people to Ningyuan County.

In the palace, Wang Lang looked at the glass products sent by the Ministry of Industry, picked up these transparent things and carefully examined the sunlight.

There were no bubbles or impurities in the glass, and this level of glass was no different from the glass in his image.

"The Ministry of Engineering is doing a good job, and it's not easy to make glass when it's so busy!" Wang Lang appreciated.

Mu Feng smiled and said: "Your Majesty is serious, these are the responsibilities of the Ministry of Industry, it took several years to make some achievements, and the minister is really a little ashamed." ”

"Mu Aiqing, I'm too modest, everyone has seen the achievements of the Ministry of Industry over the years, and I'm also very pleased!"

As he spoke, he picked up a piece of glass and said, "Do you know what this little piece of glass means?" ”

"Your Majesty, isn't this glass used for telescopes? What else can it be used for? Mu Feng asked puzzled.

"Telescopes? You're underestimating the role of this thing, and the most important use of this thing is for research. Wang Lang said slowly.

"Research?" Mu Feng was a little surprised?

Wang Lang nodded and said: "The nature of this glass is very similar to crystal, but crystal polishing is not easy, we still know very little about this world, you see the rainbow after the rain, why is it divided into seven colors, what does it have to do with sunlight?" ”

Mu Feng stroked his beard and said, "Is it helpful for Your Majesty to study this thing?" ”

"We can't just look at the present, practical things are important, but the understanding of all things in nature will be of great help to us human beings, even if this help cannot be immediately translated into practical benefits." Wang Lang said in a deep voice.

Mu Feng lowered his head and thought about it, in fact, he didn't agree with Wang Lang's point of view in his heart, he had been a craftsman for so many years, and he had always been practical for the purpose, and he didn't waste energy to study the truth at all.

"I'm going to build a new school palace in Yancheng!" Wang Lang said suddenly.

Mu Feng was stunned for a moment, and asked puzzledly: "Your Majesty, doesn't the Xia Kingdom have a school palace?" There's no need to do that! ”

Wang Lang shook his head and said, "This is different, the newly built school palace is not for the purpose of studying and becoming an official, but for the study of these things that seem to be useless." ”

"Your Majesty, this is not the finances of the imperial court... Mu Feng said worriedly.

Wang Lang said: "Don't worry about this, the finances of the past two years can fully support this matter, you have been in the Ministry of Industry for so many years, you should understand the importance of technology, presumably the physics and chemistry books I wrote, you should also have read it!" ”

Mu Feng nodded and said, "I've seen it, but some of the things in it are very obscure and dull." ”

"Tell me what you can't understand." Wang Lang asked.

"Your Majesty said in the book Chemistry that everything is made up of invisible things, and you call such things atoms, and the combination of atoms is called molecules, which make up all things in the world, but since they are invisible things, how can we prove it?" Mu Feng asked.

Wang Lang picked up a piece of paper from the table, tore it in half and said: "Look at this piece of paper, tearing it apart is two pieces of paper, assuming that we can tear it infinitely, to the extent that it is impossible to tear it, is this paper still paper?" ”

Mu Feng frowned and thought for a while, and said, "Although it will be too small to see in the end, it should still be paper!" ”

Wang Lang smiled and said: "You see this question comes, if we don't study, we will never know what the answer is, I put forward a hypothesis, of course this assumption may be wrong, this requires countless generations of us to explore this answer, if we know the smallest of things, why don't we use this to benefit us." ”

After a pause, he continued: "The telescope can show things far away in front of our eyes, so we can also turn the other way around, is there something that can put very small things infinitely." ”

"Is there really such a thing?" Mu Feng was a little skeptical.

"I have a rough idea that now that we have glass, we can try it, and if we succeed, we will unravel the mysteries of this world, and with the help of this tool, we will make great progress in chemistry and medicine." Wang Lang said excitedly.

Mu Feng raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and said, "Your Majesty, can you let the ministers join in it, if it really succeeds, I also want to see the original face of this world." ”