The number of reinforcements Zhu Qing said was far lower than the number of rebels, which really startled Chen Jiujin. But Chen Jiujin, who woke up, still has to face reality. As Chen Jiujin said, the only people who can come to him at this critical moment and save themselves are Zhu Qing and Jin Yiwei. What's more, at this time, he saw a firm belief in Zhu Qing's eyes.

"Say, what else can I help you with?" Chen Jiujin pointed to the gold and silver mountains in front of him and asked Zhu Qing.

Zhu Qing didn't answer in time, he walked to the door of the vault and probed into the depths of the secret passage. Then he turned to Chen Jiujin and said, "Brother Chen cultivates this secret passage, whether it is to hide these gold, silver and jewelry, right?" ”

Zhu Qing said it carefully, and couldn't help but startle Chen Jiujin.

"This ......" Chen Jiujin wanted to say and stopped. Although he trusted Zhu Qing, the treasure hidden in another place in this secret passage could not be easily revealed.

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be a secret room here, and there are treasures hidden in it......" Zhu Qing smiled at Chen Jiujin.

This smile made Chen Jiujin sweat in his heart, "Brother, you...... How do you know? ”

"Don't hide it from Brother Chen, I traveled lightly this time, and I didn't bring so many people, on the one hand, because Chengdu needs more troops and fire support; On the other hand, I already knew that you had good things here, and I could borrow them from you for the time being,......" Zhu Qing said, glancing at Chen Jiujin meaningfully.

After hearing this, Chen Jiujin didn't dare to look directly into Zhu Qing's eyes. Just looked left and right, and replied hesitantly, "Brother Qinglong, want to ...... What do you want to borrow from me? As he spoke, Chen Jiujin spread his hands over the gold and silver in front of him, indicating that his wealth was here......

However, Zhu Qing shook his head and said with a faint smile, "The things I borrowed are much more precious than these gold, silver and jewelry. Speaking of this, Zhu Qing didn't want to go around the bend anymore, it seemed that Chen Jiujin was ready to deal with it, so he continued, "Do you remember what you said when we were drinking in Kaifeng Mandarin Duck Tower before?" At that time, the brother was drunk and talked a lot, and mistakenly told the secret of Tiangang Wulei. Presumably I mean that the speaker has no intention, but Brother Chen, you are the listener, right? Zhu Qing said, and glanced at Chen Jiujin again.

Chen Jiujin hurriedly avoided Zhu Qing's gaze, but just nodded curtly and did not answer.

Zhu Qing then said, "The next day, someone saw you go to Uncle Yuan Blacksmith, and at that time, because I was busy dealing with Li Zicheng's siege plan, I didn't pay enough attention to this matter. Later I heard that you took some things from the blacksmith...... Is there such a thing? ”

After Chen Jiujin heard this, he saw Zhu Qing staring at him tightly, and couldn't help but nodded, "Yes, yes...... However, I definitely didn't take the Tiangang Five Thunders! I could swear! Chen Jiujin said, quickly raised his right hand, and swore an oath.

Zhu Qing smiled slightly, walked to Chen Jiujin's side, and took his hand down, "I didn't say that you took Tiangang Five Thunder." Besides, it's impossible for you to take the Tiangang Five Thunder from under the nose of Jin Yiwei, and Uncle Yuan is not such a rash person......"

About this Uncle Yuan, I mentioned it earlier. He was originally Yuan Chonghuan's soldier, a blacksmith, who made car cannons for the Guanning Iron Cavalry to repair weapons and horseshoes...... After Yuan Chonghuan was killed, Guanning's iron cavalry was scattered. Uncle Yuan and his daughter Yuan Ruo lived in the border pass, opened the Yuan family's iron shop, and made a living by striking iron. Later, Zhu Qing was demoted from the customs by Chongzhen, and he met the father and daughter of the Yuan family, who happened to have "Artifact Pu" in hand, so Zhu Qing discussed with Uncle Yuan to manufacture more high-end firearms such as Tiangang Wulei. Therefore, Uncle Yuan can be described as a weapon expert of Jinyiwei.

Don't look at Uncle Yuan's usual iron battalion for free production and self-management, but there are countless pairs of brocade guards around him who are staring at it all the time, just to prevent the enemy from attacking Uncle Yuan.

"Since General Yuan Chonghuan was killed, Uncle Yuan has been dependent on his daughter for his life, rarely asking about the affairs of the rivers and lakes and the court, let alone seeing him mention any relatives and friends...... However, that day, Uncle Yuan said that you told him about a person, and he let you enter the iron camp. I want to know now, who is the person you told him? Zhu Qing said, and forced Chen Jiujin to take another step.

For Jin Yiwei, this is a key issue that cannot be ignored, for so long, Zhu Qing has not pursued it, but he questioned Chen Jiujin in person tonight. It's not that he doesn't treat Chen Jiujin as a brother, but as soon as he walked into this secret passage, he smelled a trace of gunpowder that was not easy for ordinary people to detect!

"He ......" Chen Jiujin stopped talking and glanced at Zhu Qing, Zhu Qing's eyes didn't open a little, and he didn't even blink. But there was no hostility towards the enemy in his eyes, but he was full of longing, longing for Chen Jiujin to give him a real answer, which was beneficial and harmless to both Jinyiwei and Chen Jiujin.

Seeing Zhu Qing's sincere gaze, Chen Jiujin finally responded, "He is also a blacksmith, and his skills are on par with Yuan's blacksmith." His surname is Ma, and the people of the rivers and lakes call him Ma Blacksmith. In fact, he and Yuan Blacksmith are from the same family and are brothers in the same class. Both of these brothers are rare geniuses in today's iron industry. Since you have accepted Yuan Blacksmith, you should also know his ability, his advantage is that he is skilled, as long as there is a picture, Yuan Blacksmith can make you the iron you want. ”

Zhu Qing listened and nodded undeniably, which is also an important reason why Jinyiwei values Yuan Blacksmith so much.

Seeing that Zhu Qing nodded in agreement, Chen Jiujin continued, "The senior brother of the Yuan blacksmith is calm, but the junior brother of the horse blacksmith is even more elf. Blacksmith Yuan can make it for you exactly according to the picture, and the horse blacksmith may not make it so similar, but this horse blacksmith has a hand, that is, even if he doesn't, there is only a general outline, and he can make it for you. It may be a little different from the original, but it is often surprising. Who says something has to be made that way and can't be made that way? The horse blacksmith is very clever in his mind, knows how to be flexible, and often transforms things that are better than the original......" Chen Jiujin said, he couldn't help but smile, it seems that he admires this horse blacksmith very much, and he should care about it well.

"Therefore, you didn't really want to find Blacksmith Yuan to talk about his junior brother when you entered Jinyiwei's Iron Weapons Camp, and you didn't expect to take a piece of iron from the Iron Weapons Camp, you just took the opportunity to go in and read it, memorize the contents in your mind, and then come back and tell Blacksmith Ma that he would help you make firearms...... I'm not mistaken, right? Zhu Qing looked at Chen Jiujin, who was a little complacent, and paced a few steps beside him and smiled.

The smile on Chen Jiujin's face really faded away, "Qinglong is Qinglong, you can't hide this from your eyes." ”

"It's not that you can't hide it from my eyes, it's that you can't hide it from Jinyiwei's eyes at all, if Jinyiwei finds out that you took away a piece of iron from the Iron Weapons Camp at that time, I'm afraid you won't be able to return to Zigong. That's why you can come in and out of the way

The reason why it has not been traced by Jinyi for a long time. Zhu Qing said to Chen Jiujin.

Although Jin Yiwei was deeply hidden, Zhu Qing's knowledge of the whole situation still made Chen Jiujin secretly admire it in his heart.

Chen Jiujin couldn't help but give Zhu Qing a thumbs up, "High!" So it's not that you don't want to check on me, but you want to put a long line to catch a big fish? ”

Zhu Qing nodded without denying it, "So to speak." Because from the moment you decided to support land reform, I felt that although you were rich, you could care about the world. So I didn't ask Jinyiwei to investigate this matter. If you can make something good, with your heart, I don't think it's a bad thing for the imperial court. ”

"But it's a big risk." Chen Jiujin sighed lightly, "At the beginning, the situation was not stable, I just thought that doing this might leave one more way for myself in the future." You know, making firearms is a capital offense. That's why as soon as you mentioned it, my heart went up to my throat......" Chen Jiujin said, and couldn't help but glance at Zhu Qing, hoping that Zhu Qing could understand what he meant......

"This score, if this thing is to protect the family and defend the country, I think even the emperor likes to see it, but if this thing is sold for personal gain, it can even be used for ......" Zhu Qing knew that some things don't need to be said, let alone exported.

Chen Jiujin shook his head again and again and explained, "No, no, no, absolutely not." I wouldn't dare if you borrowed ten guts from me. ”

Zhu Qing looked at Chen Jiujin's performance, and nodded, "So, can you tell me now how many unknown firearms are hidden in your secret passage?" ”

Although Chen Jiujin still hesitated slightly, he quickly nodded, invited Zhu Qing out of the vault secret room, and pointed towards the end of the secret passage, "Brother, I won't tell you, it's all in the secret room over there." ”

"See?" Zhu Qing asked.

Chen Jiujin nodded repeatedly, "Of course, of course...... Let's go, I'll take you to take a look......" As he spoke, Chen Jiujin twisted the mechanism hidden in the fern outside the vault door, and the vault door slowly closed. Chen Jiujin watched the door of the warehouse close without a single gap, so he left with confidence.

Zhu Qing looked at Chen Jiujin's appearance, and couldn't help but smile in his heart, sure enough, only by loving money can he get rich, the rich man is rich, not only earned, but also guarded!

"Can you go?" Zhu Qing asked.

Chen Jiujin wiped the sweat on his face, and walked forward with a smile, "Let's go, please come here." "Half of Chen Jiujin's wet body was splashed out by Zhu Qing with water just now, and the other half was probably scared out of a cold sweat!

Chen Jiujin led the way in front, and the two kept walking forward, but Zhu Qing felt that the stone steps under his feet felt a little uphill, and he wanted to come here The terrain was higher than other places. When the two of them came to the end, they saw that this place was not as damp as the rest behind them, and the rock walls and dirt were very dry, but in this dry place, a bush of thorns was produced, and small flowers were blooming, and the thorns were dressed up so that people could only watch from a distance and not play closely.

"Whew...... It's really fragrant......" Chen Jiujin couldn't help but close his eyes and took a deep breath on his back.

The fragrance that spreads through this passage comes from this thorn flower.

"This thorn flower is used to mask the smell of gunpowder, right?" Others smell the fragrance of flowers, but Zhu Qing can smell another smell from the fragrance of flowers - the smell of gunpowder.

was guessed by Zhu Qing, Chen Jiujin couldn't help but nodded.

"But where is this arsenal? Where will its mechanism be? Zhu Qing said, and couldn't help but reach out and touch the nearby rock wall, and knock and beat from time to time.

At this time, Chen Jiujin smiled quite proudly, because there was finally something that could escape Zhu Qing's eyes.

Just when Chen Jiujin wanted to say the answer, Zhu Qing couldn't help but stop the movements in his hand, turned to the thorn bushes, and smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, "It won't be among the flowers, right?" ”

When Chen Jiujin heard this, the confidence he had just ignited was gone, and he replied with a wilt, "You know all this......"

Zhu Qing knew that even if there were no outsiders at this time, he couldn't help but give Chen Jiujin face, so he quickly shook his head and smiled, "I guessed it?" ”

Hearing Zhu Qing say the guessing word, the expression on Chen Jiujin's face slowed down a lot, and he even responded with a smile, "It's hidden in those thorns." ”

"High! The world loves roses so much, but they are afraid of the thorns under the word. Brother Chen hides the mechanism among the thorns, and he knows it well! This time, it was Zhu Qing's turn to give Chen Jiujin a thumbs up.

"It's just each other......" Chen Jiujin knows, Zhu Qing, who can tell the truth, knows this better, so he smiled and hugged his fists, "Brother, wait a minute, I'll go open the door." Chen Jiujin said, then carefully put his hand into the thorn flower, only to see him gently pluck a small flower, and the secret passage "rumbled" a little shock.

Zhu Qing hurriedly swept around the stone walls, but there was no secret door in any place. Just when Zhu Qing was puzzled, he suddenly heard the sound of a stone slab sliding overhead, and some dust fell.

"Brother beware, the ladder is coming!" Chen Jiujin snorted lightly and picked a small flower.

Immediately afterward, Zhu Qing looked up and saw that the rock wall above his head suddenly slid over a stone slab, revealing an entrance, and on the side of the entrance, a row of ladders was slowly lowered, but it was all made of iron, even with gears and ziplines. When the ladder that Chen Jiujin said reached the ground, Zhu Qing couldn't help but sigh, this is definitely from the master's hand!

Seeing Zhu Qing was surprised, Chen Jiujin really walked over with confidence, holding the two small flowers he had just picked in his hand and handed them to Zhu Qing, "Don't look at it, this is indeed made by strange people." With that, he stuffed the little flower into Zhu Qing's hand.

Zhu Qing took the flower and saw that this flower was also made of iron sheets! But in the flowers, it is difficult to distinguish the real from the fake.

"Is it a horse blacksmith?" Zhu Qing couldn't help asking.

Chen Jiujin nodded, pointed to the two small flowers in Zhu Qing's hand and smiled slightly, "This is the key, one to open the warehouse door, and the other to put the ladder." It is usually inserted in flowers, but in fact, the main trunk of this thorn tree is made of iron, and this thorn does not have such thick branches, and the other branches grow out of the iron rod, and few people will know about this thing. ”

After hearing this, Zhu Qing nodded in admiration, he only felt a little strange when he saw the thorn tree for the first time, but he couldn't say where the strangeness was, let alone that this branch was made of iron!

Seeing that the Iron Thorn Tree was so lifelike, and the Kumen and ladders were so cleverly designed, Zhu Qing knew that the elven horse blacksmith that Chen Jiujin said was indeed as good as Yuan Blacksmith!

"Brother, please!" Seeing that Zhu Qing was still immersed in this wonderful secret passage, Chen Jiujin couldn't help but smile slightly and called Zhu Qing.

"Oh, please." Zhu Qing came back to his senses and followed Chen Jiujin up the ladder.

"It took a lot of work to put the secret room overhead, didn't it?" Zhu Qing followed Chen Jiujin to climb the ladder and asked.

Chen Jiujin shook his head, "It's really not easy to carve out a secret room in a mid-empty rock formation, but my secret room is naturally formed. My grandfather said that when the secret passage was dug here, he felt the wind blowing overhead, and after careful investigation, he found this half-empty cave, and later my grandfather and my father used it to store wine, and our family's wine can be famous all over the country, so it can be said that it is inseparable from this cave. Chen Jiujin talked about the history of the Chen family and praised the cave above his head.

Zhu Qing nodded and smiled slightly, "I didn't expect that in your generation, it would be used to hide firearms......"

"Oh, there's no way, firearms can't be put casually, they are found and not to mention, just put them on the ground, I'm afraid it will be easy to get damp, rust and mold, especially the gunpowder, once it gets wet, it's a pile of rotten soil...... I had to move the cellar out of the cellar. Because of this, my mother said a lot ......about me, "Chen Jiujin is thoughtful, otherwise it would not be possible to hide so deeply."

"No wonder I saw your mother in the study just now that she was worried about the maid who came into the house to get paper, and she was not only worried about your vault, but also about this firearms vault." Zhu Qing remembered that the scene of Mrs. Chen scolding the maid in the first secret passage was definitely related to the secret room in this secret passage.

Chen Jiujin smiled back and nodded, "By the way, how did you get into my study?" ”

Zhu Qing couldn't help but pause after hearing this, raised his head and said embarrassedly, "This kind of sneaking into the house, it's still not right?" "Zhu Qing absolutely no matter what the reason and purpose, sneaking into other people's homes, especially his friends' homes, always feels a little unspeakable.

Unexpectedly, Chen Jiujin smiled indifferently, "If you don't say it, I also know that you came in through the secret passage in the backyard......"

"Oh?" Zhu Qing was stunned for a moment.

"Brother, you are really smart and confused for a while, you forgot to tell me that you saw Xiaoqi? When Chen Wuyong came to look for me at night, my housekeeper had already gone out to take a look, knowing that the situation outside was as grim as ever. No matter how powerful you Jinyi Wei are, it is impossible for you to infiltrate the Chen Mansion easily, not to mention that you have to make a secret visit instead of attacking hard, so it is not easy to sneak into the Chen Mansion with a deep wall under Xu Dingguo's strict monitoring. It was Xiao Qi who told you about the secret passage in the backyard, so you can come so lightly......" Chen Jiujin turned around and said to Zhu Qing.

Zhu Qing smiled faintly, nodded and said, "I almost forgot about this." ”

Chen Jiujin shook his head again, "Brother, you are so capable, how can you forget such an obvious thing?" Something else must have something else in mind, right? Chen Jiujin said, and couldn't help but smile meaningfully at Zhu Qing.

Zhu Qing nodded without denial.

"Rest assured, it's almost there. When the blacksmith asked me if I wanted to let the ladder go up and down, I didn't think it was safe. Now that I think about it, if I had let him do that, he wouldn't have to climb so hard. Chen Jiujin said, wiping a handful of sweat again, and he really climbed the ladder to sweat at this time......

Zhu Qing listened to Chen Jiujin's words, and couldn't help but scolded secretly, I'll wipe it, is this going to get an elevator?!

Just as Zhu Qing's thoughts were flying, he only heard a "click", and Chen Jiujin above opened a door......