(ps: Continue to ask for a monthly pass, a monthly pass is nothing to the gods, but for Lu Fatzi, it is related to the order of a ranking.) ）

After fully exchanging views and expressing feelings, they understood each other's situation and position, and deepened their understanding of the two parties. Lu Fatzi and Gan Wenkun, the two loyal and good men of the Qing Dynasty, finally eliminated their previous suspicions, and decided to reunite closely around the Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, with the construction of the Eight Banners as the center, holding high the great theoretical banner that the Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty must withdraw the feudal domain, adhere to the spirit of the Eight Banners that are not afraid of hardship, tiredness, and loss, and take the monitoring of the Pingxi Imperial Mansion and the removal of the Wu Domain as the first important task, fundamentally change the passive situation in which Yunnan and Guizhou fell into the hands of the Pingxi Imperial Palace, and severely crack down on and suppress the Pingxi Annihilation King Wu Sangui's vain attempt to split the Qing Dynasty. The wolf ambition to overthrow the Great Qing Dynasty and overthrow the privileges of the Eight Banners of the Great Qing Dynasty! Jackal intent!

After talking next to the stream, the sun had completely set, and it was about to be dark in front of him, and Gan Wenkun had no interest in continuing to inspect the harvest of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste - anyway, it was in vain to see it, Xiao Mazi had already agreed to the national tax exemption of the Eight Banners Fushou Paste under the joint coercion of Ao Bai and Wu Sangui, and Wu Sangui could not cheapen the Eight Banners Fushou Paste that could make huge profits to the old enemy Gan Wenkun, so that Gan Wenkun would also get a piece of the pie, which means that Gan Wenkun was equivalent to sitting on the sea of gold and silver, But he couldn't put a tablet in his pocket. So after leading Lu Fatzi back to the team, Gan Wenkun immediately ordered to hurry back to Qujing City.

When he returned to Qujing City, it was already dark, and Gan Wenkun was too busy and tired in the past two days, so he didn't talk to Lu Fatzi at night, but temporarily settled down to rest in the original governor's yamen, and Lu Fatzi also went back to his house to rest. But in the early morning of the next day, when the sky was not yet full and Lu Fatzi was still whirring in the bed, the people sent by Gan Wenkun pulled Lu Fatzi out and ordered Lu Fatzi to hurry to the governor to meet him.

After changing into an official uniform and hurriedly coming to the governor's office, to Lu Fatzi's slight surprise, Gan Wenkun seemed to get up early, because when he saw him, he, his brother Gan Wenkunjiong, and his son Gan Guocheng were all drenched in sweat, and it seemed that he had just returned from morning exercise. Lu Fatzi didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute, while Gan Wenkun waved his hand and ordered: "Excuse me, it's all my own people, not in public in the future, just hold a fist, and don't need to be so troublesome as fighting thousands." ”

"Governor Xie raises love, but the officials don't dare." Fat Lu said modestly, and asked curiously: "Lord Governor, do you still have the habit of morning exercises?" ”

"Since I was a child, I used to practice martial arts in Baoding and now in Guiyang, and I have to practice riding every morning in addition to martial arts." Gan Wenkun replied casually while asking the maid to wipe the strong muscles on her body with a hot towel. At the end, Gan Wenkun said casually: "But Yifeng, you also have to strengthen your exercise, get up in the morning to practice the five bird plays, run and run, you can strengthen your body, don't look to the present, I heard that when my personal soldiers went to see you just now, you haven't gotten up yet?" This is not a good phenomenon and needs to be corrected. ”

"If you stayed up late last night to design rocket nozzles and study the structure of the airship until four o'clock, and before seven o'clock in the morning, I'm afraid you won't be able to get up." Fat Lu muttered in his heart, and said with a smile on his lips: "The lesson of the Governor is that you must pay attention after being humiliated, and strive to insist on getting up early to exercise." ”

After a few words of gossip, Gan Wenkun turned the conversation to the point and said, "I called you here so because I wanted you to take me to Nule Peak." I have already heard that Wu Fan has adjusted his strength several times in more than a year, all of which have increased troops to the Nule Peak camp, and now the garrison there has exceeded 3,000 troops, and that place is neither inappropriate nor an important city, and does not have much strategic value, why did Wu Fan station so many troops there? It's an important situation, and I have to go there and see it with my own eyes. ”

"Finally, someone noticed the camp of Nule Peak." Lu Fatzi's heart sank, and he quickly shook his head and said: "Lord Governor, it's not that you disobey your duties, it's just that it's useless for you to go, the Wu Domain's army there will not allow you to enter the camp to inspect." Even the lowly position is now unable to enter the inner camp of the Nule Peak Camp. ”

"Why?" Gan Wenkun was stunned and asked, "Didn't you say that the big camp was set up to monopolize the glass mirror forging technology you invented?" Why, you can't even get in now? ”

"Back to the Governor, the Nule Peak camp is now divided into two camps, the inner and outer battalions." Lu Fatzi explained: "The glass mirrors and glass utensils are now forged in the outer camp, and even if they enter the camp to guide the craftsmen, they can only operate in the outer camp, and cannot enter the heavily guarded inner camp. Moreover, since the lowly skills of the Wu clan were learned by the craftsmen of the Wu Domain and the price of the glass gradually fell half a year ago, the students were rarely able to enter the foreign camp. ”

"Is there such a thing?" Gan Wenkun was stunned again, and hurriedly asked, "Then do you know why this situation happened?" Why did Wu Fan attach so much importance to the inner camp of the Nule Peak camp? ”

Lu Fatzi didn't answer, just looked left and right, Gan Wenkun waved his hand knowingly, and the soldiers and maids present retreated together, only Gan Wenjiong and Gan Guocheng stayed, and closed the door. It was also at this moment that Lu Fatzi said in a stumbling voice: "Lord Governor, the humble position is only speculation, and there is no evidence - the humble position suspects that the Wu Fan army is likely to secretly cast firearms in the inner camp!" ”

"Secretly casting firearms?" Gan Wenkun was taken aback, stood up and asked, "Isn't there already a firearms battalion on the edge of Dianchi Lake in Wu Fan?" Why did you come to this Nule Peak to get one again? ”

"As far as the humble knows, the Dianchi Firearms Battalion of the Wu Domain can only cast some bird guns and lifting guns, and even the Furlong machine gun can't be cast." Fat Lu's face was solemn, and he said: "I suspect that Wu Fan is likely to plan to secretly cast Hongyi cannons, but the location of the Dianchi firearms battalion is densely populated, and it is difficult to keep it secret, so I secretly established a firearms battalion in Nule Peak to secretly cast cannons!" ”

"Do you have any proof?" Gan Wenkun couldn't wait to ask.

"If there were, I would have reported it to the emperor in secret." Fat Lu said with a wry smile: "It was only based on some clues and analysis that I came to this conclusion. ”

"What clues? Let's take it into detail. Gan Wenkun's face became more and more solemn.

"First, on the twenty-third day of the winter month last year, when I entered the outer camp of Nule Peak to guide the craftsmen to forge glass, I overheard a loud noise coming from Nule Peak Mountain." Lu Fatzi recalled: "Afterwards, I asked the battalion sergeant about the reason, and the sergeant said that he was making firecrackers and accidentally caused a gunpowder explosion, but fortunately the craftsman was not hit. Although he didn't believe it, he couldn't go up the mountain to find out the real reason. ”

After that, the more I pondered it, the more strange it became—could this firecracker be made in the well-guarded camp of Nul Peak? It is precisely because of this that the lowly job suddenly recalled the incident, remembering that after the humble duty studied Western knowledge and successfully calcined the glass with Western technology, Liu Xuanchu, Wu Fan's confidant and advisor and also the teacher of the students in Yunnan, once asked the lowly post after drinking, whether he knew the Western art of casting cannons? ”

At that time, because the lowly position never liked the strange silver skills of Western firearms, and knew nothing about it, so he honestly said that he didn't understand, Liu Xuanchu seemed to be very disappointed, but he didn't pursue it, and the lowly position didn't go to his heart. It wasn't until later that the lowly position understood, and if the lowly position said that he knew Western firearms, what did Wu Fan plan to do to me? ”

"After understanding this, he paid special attention to the material consumption of the Nule Peak Camp, and found that the coal consumption of the Nule Peak Camp was very huge, and all the coal produced by several coal mines in Qujing County was bought by the Nule Peak Camp, not to mention, and three new coal mines were opened in Pingyi, and all the high-grade kiln coal produced was also transported into the Nule Peak Camp, under the foot of the mountain on the west side of the Nule Peak, the whole smoke was billowing and the flames were soaring into the sky, what is this doing?"

When Fat Lu said a word, Gan Wenkun's face became solemn, and in the end, Gan Wenkun's face simply sank and dripped, and after a long time, Gan Wenkun said: "According to this inference, Wu Sangui is probably playing the idea of secretly casting Hongyi cannons!" Whether this matter is true or not, we must not take it lightly, and we must report this matter to the emperor. ”

After saying that, Gan Wenkun frowned again and said, "But there is one thing that is very strange, where did Wu Fan come from? After I entered Guandingding in the Qing Dynasty, I unified the cannon casting craftsmen to the Longtan Artillery Casting Bureau in Yanjing and the Jiangnan Artillery Casting Bureau in Nanjing. ”

"Oops! How did I not know this? "Fat Lu was taken aback - Wu Sangui didn't have a cannon casting craftsman but cast the Hongyi cannon, isn't the first suspect himself who is proficient in 'Western culture'? At the same time, Lu Fatzi suddenly remembered something, so many advanced technologies appeared in Wu Sangui's army at once, if the news leaked out, who would the Qing Imperial Court suspect first?

"Could it be that there are still scattered cannon casting craftsmen among the people who were found by Wu Sangui?" Gan Guocheng asked.

"Impossible." Gan Wenkun categorically denied it and said: "After I entered the customs in the Qing Dynasty, in order to prevent the remnants of the former Ming Dynasty from casting artillery and plotting rebellion, the whereabouts of several craftsmen of the former Ming Dynasty Casting Bureau have been carefully investigated. And as far as I know, casting cannons is definitely not as easy as casting swords and muskets, and it is difficult to cast Hongyi cannons without the guidance of skilled craftsmen. ”

"Is that a possibility? Wu Fan got a cannon technician from the West? Gan Wenjiong also proposed such a possibility.

"General Gan, Lord Governor, according to the humble position, this may be a very small surname." Seeing that the fat man Lu was about to lift a stone and hit his feet, he hurriedly expressed his loyalty: "Because Westerners are all yellow-haired and blue-eyed, look like ghosts, and their appearance is very easy to identify, if such a person appears in Qujing, it is impossible not to be noticed by the lowly eyeliner." ”

"Reasonable." Gan Wenkun was very satisfied—Fat Lu had finished everything he wanted to say. At this time, Fat Lu's body suddenly shook and exclaimed, "Could it be him?!" ”

"Who is it? Who do you remember? Gan Wenkun hurriedly asked.

"Here's the thing." Lu Fatzi wiped his sweat and said: "After the Nule Peak camp was established for a period of time, once, a middle-aged scholar named Sun Dianying suddenly came to me with a few Wu Domain soldiers, holding a letter from Liu Xuanchu, saying that he was the master of the Nule Peak camp, because there were some processes that he didn't understand when calcining the glaze, so he specially asked me for advice, hoping that I could give him some guidance. ”

"What is he asking for?" Gan Wenkun couldn't wait to ask.

"Shaft furnace (blast furnace) process." Lu Fatzi blurted out, and recalled: "He seemed to ask how to burn more glass at a time, that is, how to build a large shaft furnace, I don't know much about the big shaft furnace, so I only gave him a little guidance on the furnace soil, but the guy named Sun Dianying knew better than me in this regard, and also said two furnace recipes that I didn't know, and then the surname Sun saw that I couldn't ask anything here, so he asked me if I had any Western books on this subject, and I said that I had it, but it was written in Western language, I was afraid that he wouldn't understand." ”

"And what did he say?" Gan Wenkun asked nervously.

"He laughed and spoke to me in a bunch of Western Chinese, several times more fluent than I was." Fat Lu scratched his head and said: "I was dumbfounded, and asked him the reason, he said that his ancestors had been famous high-ranking officials, and the family still had a little silver, so he went to Nanyang to do maritime business a few times, so he learned it." In the end, I had no choice but to let him go to the study and look through my books, but he only took a Western iron-making book with him, and then took his leave. ”

"And then? What happened? Gan Wenkun became more and more nervous.

"After about ten days, he sent someone to return the book to me." Lu Fatzi recalled carefully and said: "Later, I probably saw him three ......, two, two more in the camp of Nule Peak, but he didn't speak. By the way, once I saw him enter the inner camp with a few craftsmen, but no one stopped him! ”

"Then it's really this Sun Dianying." Gan Wenkun was a little excited, and hurriedly asked, "What does this Sun Dianying look like?" What are the characteristics? ”

"Please let the subordinate think about it." Fat Lu held his head and recalled carefully, and after a while, Fat Lu said slowly: "He is a little tall, about half a head taller than Xiaguan, in his forties, with a thin face, ordinary facial features, a little goatee ......, ...... accent, the accent is a northern accent, it seems to be the accent of Zhili, I seem to have heard it before, by the way, it is a Baoding accent, when I returned to Yunnan from the capital, I passed through Baoding and heard such an accent. ”

"Oh, by the way, this Sun Dianying also has a hobby." Lu Fatzi added: "He is also very proficient in antiques, when he entered my study, he carefully read several antiques in my study, and the dynasty history said that the score is not bad." I heard him say that in order to collect antiques, he also dug graves. ”

"Baoding accent?" Gan Wenkun was even more surprised - when he was the governor of Zhili, the yamen of the governor of Zhili was in Baoding City. Surprised, Gan Wenkun turned to his brother and son and asked, "In our Baoding Mansion, are there any celebrities with the surname Sun?" Have you been a high-ranking official and are you famous? ”

"Yes! Sun Chengzong! Gan Wenjiong and Gan Guocheng replied in unison.

"Sun Chengzong?!" Lu Fatzi and Gan Wenkun jumped up at the same time, and exclaimed in unison: "Could it be that he is Sun Chengzong's descendant?!" After shouting, Lu Fatzi added, "That Sun Chengzong, but the sworn enemy of our Eight Banners of the Great Qing Dynasty, even when he died, he resolutely refused the surrender of our Prince of the Great Qing Rui!" ”

"It's not that simple!" Gan Wenjiong also said: "Wu Sangui's father, Wu Xiang, was also raised in the hands of Sun Manzi. ”

It may be that Sun Chengzong is a descendant, who is more proficient in Western knowledge than Lu Fatzi, came to Lu Fatzi to ask for the shaft furnace technique, and also took away Lu Fatzi's iron-making book, and he has been stationed in the Nule Peak camp for a long time, which may be secretly casting cannons, these clues are connected together, and the answer is not obvious? It is precisely because of this that Gan Wenkun is even more nervous and worried, and after turning around the room dozens of times with his hands behind his back, Gan Wenkun gritted his teeth and said: "No, this matter must be reported to the emperor immediately, please pay attention to it." Also, I'm going to get to the camp of Nule Peak anyway! Let's go! ”

"The lower official will accompany the Governor." Lu Fatzi volunteered: "When the time comes, the lower officials will come forward and see if they can use the excuse of asking for education to invite that Sun Dianying to the Governor, so that the Governor can see his appearance with his own eyes!" If we can really confirm that Sun Dianying is the descendant of Sun Chengzong's barbarians, then we will grab the big handle of Wu Fan. ”

If Lu Fatzi finds an excuse to prevaricate, or deliberately delays time, then Gan Wenkun will definitely be suspicious, at least he will doubt whether it is possible for Lu Fatzi to report the news, but Lu Fatzi took the initiative to go to the Nule Peak camp immediately, and also volunteered to invite this Sun Dianying to meet with Gan Wenkun, Gan Wenkun naturally had no doubts, and immediately agreed, and hurried back to the room to change clothes, Gan Wenjiong and Gan Guocheng also hurried back to change clothes, and ordered his own soldiers to prepare horses.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Fat Lu escaped into the thatched house under the pretext of urinating, then took out a short graphite pen from his sleeve, hurriedly wrote a few words on a small note, and then pinched the note tightly and hid it. And when it was time to go out and get on the horse, this small note was naturally stuffed into the hand of Xiao Erlang, who handed over the reins............

(To be continued)