The two guns of the Pinghai fired two sets of sub-guns, that is, a total of twenty shells, one of which hit the target, hitting the hard reef with a basin-sized cannon mark, and the remaining eighteen hit three of the sea within a radius of fifty paces of the reef, and the others all missed. This may seem like a bad result, but in terms of the undulating sea, it is already a good result.

After watching the shelling, Zhou Zhong and Liu Tao went down to the gun cabin and gave a few words of encouragement to several gunners who shot today, among which the group that hit the reef was personally rewarded by Zhou Zhong with ten taels of silver, encouraging them to make persistent efforts and strive to shoot faster and more accurately in the future (what a strange feeling).

Since he came to Pinghai, Zhou Chong was not in a hurry to go back, and sat down with Liu Tao and Shi Ping at the moment, let people cut the beef in the pot on the shelf, and chatted and bragged while eating hot pot, Zhou Chong liked to listen to them talk about some things related to navigation, after all, he relied on navigation to eat, and it never hurt to know more about navigation.

However, just when Zhou Chong was chatting happily, someone suddenly came to report, saying that it was Ashikaga Kazuki and Tayama Naoyoshi, and they didn't know how Lu Dao knew about Lu Dao and they were drinking together, so they also rushed to ask for a glass of wine.

Speaking of Ashikaga Kazuki and the Japanese envoy took the ship of the Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce, named Yamato, but this Yamato was a lucky ship built by the Ming Dynasty, not the kind of lucky ship imitated by the Japanese people, this is because the Japanese imitated the lucky ship not only the speed is not as fast as the real lucky boat, but also much smaller, sturdiness and safety are also very poor, and only some small forces among the Japanese will be greedy for cheap and use the kind of Japanese self-built lucky boat, such as the Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce and other large chambers of commerce have abandoned their own ships. Instead, use the fortune ship of the Ming Dynasty.

Hearing that Ashikaga Kazuki is also coming. Zhou Zhong glanced at Liu Tao and the others. Then the three of them all smiled tacitly, no need to ask, the other party must have been attracted by the sound of artillery just now, so they wanted to come over and inquire.

"Hurry up, please, and let someone add a few more pairs of chopsticks!" Zhou Zhong said with a smile, since they dared to test the cannon so openly when sailing, they were naturally not afraid of Ashikaga Kazuki and they heard it, and it just so happened that he also had a business that he wanted to talk to Ashikaga Kazuki.

Hear Zhou Zhong's command. The people below agreed and turned to leave, and soon saw Ashikaga Kazuki, Tayama Naoyoshi and Hatano Hidego coming to the boat, only to see Ashikaga Kazuki first smiled and said: "Zhou Gongzi, we were taking a nap just now, and suddenly heard a roar like thunder outside the window, I thought it was going to change the sky, but I didn't expect it to be Gongzi testing the cannon, and just now I have seen the cannon marks on the reef, and it is really amazing!" ”

Regarding Ashikaga Kazuki's praise, Zhou Zhong just smiled lightly and asked the other party to sit down and said, "President Ashikaga has won the award." You are also a person who often runs on the sea, so you naturally know that the sea ships are often watched by pirates and other small people. So I had to equip some weapons for self-defense, the Nanyang and the Peace Sea were both new ships to the sea, and it just so happened that our Chamber of Commerce cast some artillery, so I asked people to put the artillery on the ship to try the power, I don't want to disturb the Ashikaga chairman and Ambassador Tayama, Zhou is here to make amends to the three. ”

Zhou Zhong didn't have much explanation for the test of artillery, but he deliberately revealed a message to Ashikaga Kazuki in his words, that is, his Nanyang Chamber of Commerce already has the ability to cast artillery, in order to show Ashikaga Kazuki and them his strength.

Sure enough, after listening to Zhou Chong's words, the three of Ashikaga Kazuki all looked at each other in some shock, among them, Tayama Naoyoshi and Hatano Hidego were better, although they had artillery imitating the Ming Dynasty, but because the skills were not up to par, the power was not great, and there was not even much actual combat value, and it was rare to see artillery on the battlefield of the Japanese country, so they didn't pay much attention to artillery, and they didn't understand what it meant for Zhou Zhong to be able to make artillery.

But Ashikaga Kazuki is very clear about the power of the Ming artillery, and also understands the significance of the artillery to the Ming court, and he also knows that the casting of firearms has always been in the hands of the Ming court, but now Zhou Zhong also has the ability to cast artillery, which in Ashikaga Kazuki's view, Zhou Zhong must have been supported by the great tomorrow, so he can cast artillery, otherwise Zhou Zhong even if he has the casting skills of artillery, I am afraid he will not dare to cast artillery without authorization.

Thinking of the joints, Ashikaga Kazuki looked at Zhou Zhong with a little more awe in his eyes again, the other party has been so trusted by the great tomorrow at a young age, and the future future must be immeasurable, which makes Ashikaga Ikki secretly make up his mind in his heart that he must take good care of the relationship with this Zhou Gongzi in the future, otherwise offending the other party is likely to offend the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and that kind of serious consequences are definitely not something he can bear.

"Ahem~, Gongzi Zhou!" Ashikaga Kazuki was stunned for a moment, then suddenly cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, "I didn't expect your Chamber of Commerce to have the right to cast artillery, but I don't know if you have the will to sell artillery, our Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce is very willing to buy it, and the price will definitely satisfy you!" ”

When Zhou Zhong revealed that he could cast artillery, he had already guessed that Ashikaga Kazuki would definitely want to buy it, after all, now their Ashikaga clan dreamed of forming an armed force to turn over, if there is artillery to help, it will naturally increase the strength of the army, and his Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce also needs a large number of artillery ships, so no matter which aspect, Ashikaga Kazuki will be tempted by artillery, in fact, it also proves that Zhou Shige's guess is correct.

I saw that when Zhou Zhong heard that Ashikaga Kazuki wanted to buy artillery, his face showed a look of embarrassment, and then after a long while, he sighed and said: "President Ashikaga, it's not that I don't want to promise you, it's just that you also know that artillery is the most important weapon of the country, and our Ming Dynasty must not easily sell it to other countries, although I have the right to cast, but I don't dare to disobey the orders of the imperial court, so don't mention the purchase of artillery!" ”

Just kidding, Zhou Chong from later generations knows the way, artillery is known as the "god of war", although the current artillery is still very primitive, but with the development of artillery technology, one day it can become a key weapon to determine the victory or defeat of the battlefield. Therefore, for this kind of weapon, it is absolutely impossible for him to let the Japanese people grasp it.

In fact, Ashikaga Kazuki regretted it as soon as he said it, because he also knew that his request was really a bit excessive, and now when he heard Zhou Chong's direct refusal, Ashikaga Kazuki was not surprised, but sighed regretfully: "Alas, that's really a pity, our military strength is much weaker than Ouchi Yoshiko and Hosokawa Takakuni, if we can have artillery, we can narrow some gaps, but now it seems impossible." ”

Seeing Ashikaga Kazuki's regretful appearance, Tayama Naoyoshi and Hatano Hidego looked at each other strangely, in their cognition, artillery is just a somewhat enlarged fire system, although it is somewhat powerful, but the operation is too complicated, it is not convenient to move, and it will also take up a lot of precious iron, so in their opinion, instead of buying impractical artillery, it is better to spend money to build more ordinary weapons armed soldiers.

When Zhou Zhong saw Ashikaga Kazuki's depressed appearance, he took a sip of tea with a light smile, and then said slowly: "President Ashikaga, although I can't sell you artillery, but Zhou is also very sympathetic to your current situation, so I can sell you some weapons, such as knives, spears, etc." ”

"This ...... It's true? Hearing Zhouzhong's promise, Ashikaga Kazuki immediately said excitedly, although their Ashikaga Chamber of Commerce is doing a lot in the smuggling industry, but most of the smuggled goods are civilian goods such as porcelain, silk, cotton cloth, etc., as for weapons and even iron, few people dare to smuggle them, because these things are military supplies, the imperial court is very strict, and the profits are not very high, so even if Ashikaga Kazuki wants to smuggle weapons from the Ming Dynasty to the Wa Kingdom, no one is willing to take this risk.

"Of course, in fact, our Chamber of Commerce has its own iron-making workshop, and the steel produced now is mainly used to cast artillery, but although our Chamber of Commerce has a large demand for artillery, at the current casting speed, there will soon be no longer a need for iron-making workshops to supply a large amount of steel, and then I will build some ordinary weapons, which were originally intended to be reserved for the use of the people of the Chamber of Commerce, but I think that President Ashikaga is in urgent need of weapons now, so those weapons can be supplied to you first!" Zhou Zhong said with a smile.

Zhou Zhong didn't have any good intentions when he sold weapons to Ashikaga Ikki, of course, not to make money, but he knew very clearly that even if Ashikaga Ikki and they could talk about Emperor Zhengde this time, but with the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that they will not be able to give them too much substantial help.

And according to the original history, Ashikaga Yoshisai's resistance to Ouchi Yoshiko and Hosokawa Takakuni is doomed to failure, this is not the result that Zhou Zhong wants to see, after all, he also needs the Ashikaga family to become a pawn that affects the political situation of the Wakoku, so this chess piece must survive, and he is now selling Ashikaga Ichiki weapons, which is to let the other party help Ashikaga Yoshisai have stronger strength, which can also make the political situation of Wakoku more chaotic.

Where would Ashikaga Kazuki have thought that Zhou Shige would still have such a vicious mind when he sold him weapons? However, even if he knew the way, I am afraid that he would still choose to trade with Zhou Zhong, after all, in his opinion, in order to restore the former glory of the Ashikaga family, even if it is to bring the entire Wa Kingdom into the abyss of no return, he will not hesitate to do it.

Hearing that Ashikaga Kazuki and Zhou Shige had reached a business to buy and sell weapons, Tayama Naoyoshi and Hatano Hidego were also shocked, and then began to discuss with Ashikaga Kazuki in a low voice, it seems that they also want to get some benefits from this deal, and Ashikaga Kazuki also knew that this was a good opportunity to win over the Tayama clan and the Hatano clan, so he also generously agreed to give a part of the weapons obtained in the future to the other party. (To be continued......)