Yan Zhuang went and returned, and reported to Li Hong that the matter had been ordered, and the secret guards would act at night, and they would get the news tomorrow. Although Li Hong did not doubt what Yan Zhuang said, he was very worried about the ability of the secret guards of the East Palace and the intelligence investigation.

Yan Zhuang seemed to understand what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was thinking, and after a deep sigh, he spoke, "Your Highness, the minister also knows the importance of the secret guard and intelligence system to the East Palace, but now we are a talented person in this side, and I really don't know how to improve and improve!" ”

"Do you have any recommendations?" Li Hong asked.

At that time, Wu Er committed suicide, making his plan ruined, and he was very angry with Yan Zhuang, but after thinking about it carefully, he was relieved. First, Yan Zhuang didn't have the talent in this area, and it was already great to be able to set up this East Palace secret guard and intelligence system, and second, he hadn't supported Yan Zhuang before, and Yan Zhuang had no one in his hands, so it was inevitable that such a problem would arise now.

Yan Zhuang hesitated for a moment and said, "Wei Chi Xun is worth cultivating. ”

"You're optimistic about him too?" Li Hong asked in surprise, last time Chen Gong mentioned Yu Chi Xunyan to him, but he didn't expect Yan Zhuang to mention Wei Chi Xunyan today, which had to make Li Hong think carefully.

"Has anyone recommended him to His Highness?" Yan Zhuang asked in surprise. Li Hong nodded slightly, but he didn't say that this person was Chen Gong, he was the crown prince, so why did he have to explain to Yan Zhuang?

"What does Your Highness mean?" Yan Zhuang asked again.

"You've been in charge of the East Palace's secret guard and intelligence system for so many years, if you want to improve it this time, do you have any good suggestions?" Li Hong asked.

Yan Zhuang pondered for a while before he spoke, "The minister has three suggestions: First, there must be someone in charge of their daily training and actions. Second, there should be a safe and secret place for them to lurk. Third, there must be enough money to support it. ”

Li Hong very much agreed with the three suggestions put forward by Yan Zhuang, especially the third point, which hit the nail on the head at once. Because in intelligence work, spending money is like running water, and it is really difficult to build a huge intelligence network without money.

However, Li Hong thought about it carefully, he was now short of people and money, and he did not have a hidden place dedicated to training secret guards.

"It's a bit tricky!" Li Hong sighed slightly.

"Is Your Highness talking about money?" Yan Zhuang asked.

As the chief steward of the East Palace, He knows very well how much His Majesty allocates from the treasury to the East Palace every year, and it is not a problem for these silver dollars to be used to maintain daily expenses, but it is a bit stretched to support the formation of an intelligence system and the training of secret guards.

"Money, people are lonely." Li Hong said.

At this moment, a guard outside the study returned, saying that someone who would be a prisoner had come to see His Royal Highness the Prince, and was waiting in the Chongjiao Palace.

When Li Hong heard that he was going to be a prisoner, he was overjoyed.

Because he asked Yan Zhuang to send the drawings of the embroidered spring knife to the general supervisor, he wanted to see if the general supervisor could master the two forging techniques of steel cladding steel and covering the earth burning blade, and create an embroidered spring knife that matched his requirements. ”

The guards received the order and strode away.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man in his 40s and two young men over 20 walked into the study.

"Will be the prison Xue Feng to see His Highness!" When the middle-aged man and the two young men behind him saw Li Hong, they hurriedly bowed down and saluted.

Li Hong waved his hand to signal that they didn't need to be polite.

Xue Feng turned around and took a long box from the hand of a young man behind him, respectfully held it in front of Li Hong, put it on the table and said, "Your Highness, this is the embroidered spring knife that the minister spent ten days carefully crafting in accordance with the requirements of the drawings sent to the prison by the Yan family order a few days ago, and I also ask Your Highness to take a look." ”

The box is four feet long, made of nanmu wood, and the outside is inlaid with gold flowers and pearls, which is specially made for him at first glance.

"Are you now proficient in the two forging techniques of cladding steel clamping and covering soil burning blades?" Li Hong asked as he motioned for Xue Feng to open the box.

"I haven't fully mastered it yet-" Xue Feng said in a low voice, not daring to look at Li Hong, he put his hands on the button in the middle of the box, just lightly pressed, he heard a "click", the box opened, and Li Hong saw the three Xiuchun instruments in the box lying neatly inside. Li Hong got up and took out an embroidered spring knife from the box, and as soon as the knife came into his hand, he felt a cold killing intent hit his heart. He looked at the embroidered spring knife in his hand for a moment, and found that this knife was three feet three inches long, the blade was two feet six inches long, and the handle was seven inches long, which could be held with both hands, and the blade of this handle was not light, it weighed six catties.

"Sonorous!" Li Hong pulled out his sword, and heard a dragon groan from the embroidered spring knife, the blade of the knife emitted a dazzling light, and the blade revealed a burst of cold air.

"It's a good knife!" Li Hong said with heartfelt admiration. He has been practicing the knife for more than ten days, and he can roughly judge the quality of the knife, not to mention the sharpness of this embroidered spring knife, he is very satisfied with the appearance and forging process alone.

Xue Feng saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was very satisfied with the forging process of the embroidered spring knife, and his tense nerves couldn't help but loosen a lot, so he turned around and took out an ordinary horizontal knife from the wooden box in the hand of a young man and said to Li Hong, "Please try the knife Your Highness!" ”

Li Hong nodded slightly, and shouted in a low voice, "Chen Gong." ”

Chen Gong, who was outside the study, heard Li Hong's summons, so he strode into the study and saluted Li Hong, "I don't know what His Highness commands?" ”

Li Hong handed the embroidered spring knife in his hand to Chen Gong, pointed to the horizontal knife in Xue Feng's hand and said, "You try this knife." ”

"No!" Chen Gong respectfully accepted the order, took the embroidered spring knife with both hands, and walked in front of Xue Feng, he raised the embroidered spring knife and slashed at the horizontal knife that Xue Feng had already prepared.

Click! I heard a crisp sound of metal breaking, the horizontal knife in Xue Feng's hand was broken into two, and the embroidered spring knife in Chen Gong's hand was intact, and the blade was still very sharp.

"This knife is so sharp!" Chen Gong said enviously. As a military general, war horses and famous swords are their favorites. With such a sharp handle in Chen Gong's hand, he couldn't put it down.

Yan Zhuang on the side saw Chen Gong's demeanor and couldn't help coughing softly a few times.

Chen Gong came back to his senses and found that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was looking at him with an angry face, so he was taken aback, and hurriedly handed the embroidered spring knife to Li Hong, and said a little embarrassed, "Your Highness, I lost my temper just now, and I ask for forgiveness." ”

Li Hong ignored Chen Gong, but moved his gaze to Xue Feng and asked, "How many swords can be forged in a day by such a sword?" ”

"If you can mobilize a hundred craftsmen to forge with all your might, you can probably forge ten of these swords in a day." Xue Feng thought for a while and replied. He forged these three embroidered spring knives, and it took thirty craftsmen ten days to forge a total of ten knives, and only three were qualified.

"Ten handles!" Li Hong sighed, "It's a little little!" ”

Xue Feng saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was quite dissatisfied with his answer, so he immediately promised, "Your Highness, as long as you have enough money with the minister, and give the minister half a year, so that the craftsmen can master the two forging techniques of cloaking steel clamping and covering the earth burning blade, and the minister can guarantee that the embroidered spring knife can also be mass-produced like a horizontal knife in the future." ”

It does take time to thoroughly familiarize yourself with the two forging techniques of cladding steel clamping and covering earth burning blades, which Li Hong can understand, and it is normal to spend money on military merit research. Therefore, hearing Xue Feng's assurance, he thought about it and asked sternly, "Then Gu will give you money, and then give you half a year, after half a year, Gu wants you to forge a thousand embroidered spring knives, are you sure?" ”

"Yes." Xue Feng replied without thinking.

"Good! If you can deliver 1,000 embroidered spring knives on time in half a year, you will be rewarded by Lonely. Li Hong said happily, but he said in a stern tone, "However, for the two forging techniques of cladding steel clamping and covering soil burning blades, you will be supervising the work of secrecy, and you must not leak it outside." ”

"The minister knows this, please rest assured." Xue Feng replied.

"Alright, then go down! Half a year later, I will hear the good news from you. Li Hong said loudly. Xue Feng and the two young men beside him took the order and bowed down and exited the study.

At this time, Li Hongcai moved his gaze to Chen Gong in front of him, and scolded with a smile, "Chen Gong, look at your unpromising appearance now. Alright, the knife is yours! ”

Chen Gong thought that he had angered His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and would be punished, but he didn't expect that the Prince not only did not punish himself, but also gave himself such a famous knife, and he was stunned for a moment, and then said happily, "Thank you, Your Highness!" ”

Seeing that the prince seemed to be thinking about things and didn't have time to pay attention to himself, he bowed down and withdrew from the study.