"Old Qi, act quickly, this batch of sulfur must be sent to sulfur for refining tonight, if the production of gunpowder is delayed, we can't afford to eat!" Amid the choking smell of sulfur, a middle-aged man who looked like a foreman shouted.

"Hmm!" Qi Yu agreed, reached out and picked up a sack of sulfur, and then strode to the carriage and threw the sulfur on the car, sulfur is a subordinate work of the Gunpowder Administration, which is responsible for purifying and grinding the sulfur transported, and then sending it to the dispensing to be mixed with bamboo charcoal and saltpeter according to a certain comparison, the steps of these gunpowder production are completed in batches, and each link has a special craftsman in charge, and the general craftsman only knows what he does, and it is strictly forbidden to inquire about other steps, so that the production steps of gunpowder can be kept as secret as possible.

Qi Yu was originally a craftsman responsible for the development of artillery in the Gunpowder Administration, and was very valued by Zhao Yan at the beginning, but later Zhao Yan left the capital, Su Song and Su Shi also left the ordnance superintendent, although the artillery researched by Qi Yu before has been used in the army, but there is indeed a gap with the ballista in actual combat performance, and he has been working hard to improve the artillery, but what he didn't expect was that after some officials of the law changer took over the ordnance superintendent, they thought that his research was too costly, and there was no great effect. So stop their research, Qi Yu was angry at that time and only argued with the other party for a few words, but as a result, not only was the research on the improvement of artillery stopped, but all of them were demoted to become coolies in the warehouse, and they worked for several years, and now Qi Yu is almost used to it.

"Lao Qi, after you send this sulfur over, by the way, you will go to cast the iron materials last time and pull them back, they said that the iron sent is not qualified, you have to use the good iron in Qiongzhou, and the damn is not how expensive the good iron in Qiongzhou is!" Then the foreman spoke again. At the end, I couldn't help but scold.

"Zhou Laosan, don't go too far, it's going to be dark this day, you let us send the sulfur and forget it, and let us pull the iron back, isn't it going to work until midnight?" At this time. A young man next to Qi Yu was angry, and shouted loudly at the moment.

"Manniu, what is your kid's name, do you think it's still time for your master Lao Qi to take power, tell you, here Lao Tzu has the final say, I say when you do what you do!" When the foreman Zhou Laosan saw that someone dared to talk back to him, his eyes were furious.

"Brute, don't give me a hard job!" Qi Yu saw his apprentice and Zhou Laosan on top. hurriedly reprimanded Manniu, and then smiled and apologized to Zhou Laosan, "Zhoutou, Manniu is young and ignorant, plus he has a stubborn temper, don't be like him, after we pull the sulfur over, we will definitely pull the iron back." ”

saw Qi Yu come forward. Zhou Laosan didn't dare to go too far, after all, among these people under him. A considerable number of them were Qi Yu's friends and apprentices, and if they really caused trouble, he would not be happy as a foreman, so he shouted a few more times at the moment, and asked Qi Yu and them to work seriously, and then left with a scolding and scolding.

After seeing Qi Yu leave. Manniu was still very unconvinced and kicked on the sack, and then sat down and sulked, but at this time, Qi Yu came over and sighed and said: "Manniu, Zhou Laosan is the elder brother of Wu Jucheng's concubine, we can't afford to provoke it." Don't be rash in the future! ”

"Master, I'm just angry, he Zhou Laosan didn't have any skills, and he used to want to kneel down and slap you, master, but now he relies on his brother-in-law's momentum, and actually climbs on our heads and yells at us, with your master's ability, you still have to suffer from this kind of villain's anger, I just don't accept it in my heart!" Manniu's eyes were red when he said the end, his father and mother died early, and when he was eleven or twelve years old, he was lacked by his father to work in the Ordnance Division, because he was young and bullied everywhere, fortunately, Qi Yu looked at him pitifully, not only took care of him everywhere, but also accepted him as a disciple and taught him to make firearms, so Manniu couldn't see others bullying Qi Yu the most.

"Hehe, these are all trivial things, and I blame my bad temper at the beginning, which angered the superiors, and even you suffered with me." Qi Yu smiled indifferently at this time, after several years of training, he has matured a lot in recent years, and he doesn't care about these little things at all.

"Qi Tou, you say this, you can see the outside, our brothers have been together for so many years, you still don't know our temper, the boss didn't let us continue to improve the artillery, even if you don't argue for our brothers, we have to go together to discuss the explanation, but it's a pity that those gang of sub-law changers are simply short-sighted, and there is no way to compare with His Royal Highness King Yue!" At this time, a middle-aged man carrying a sack also smiled and said, this middle-aged man was also one of the craftsmen who studied artillery at the beginning, but unfortunately now he has been reduced to a coolie.

"That's right, the people above are completely blind, when His Royal Highness King Yue comes back from the south, he will definitely be able to seek justice for us, and then the people above will be waiting to be unlucky!" At this time, another craftsman also spoke, they have suffered a lot in the past few years, but they still have not lost the hope in their hearts, one of the biggest reasons is that they know that Zhao Yan attaches great importance to artillery, so they firmly believe that as long as Zhao Yan comes back, they will definitely be able to uphold justice for them.

Qi Yu also showed a little smile on his face when he heard the two brothers who shared weal and sorrow mention Zhao Yan, but then he was a little helpless, because he didn't know when Zhao Yan would come back? In fact, Qi Yu didn't know that Zhao Yan had come back a few days ago, but because the Ordnance Supervision Department was relatively closed due to secrecy, and the Gunpowder Department was outside the city, so Qi Yu and they didn't know the news of Zhao Yan's return.

At that moment, Qi Yu persuaded the bull a few more words, and then the master and apprentice both stood up and continued to work, and finally moved all these choking sulfur to the car, at this time the sky was already dark, and then they drove the car to the sulfur work, unloaded the sulfur on the car again, and finally ran to the casting work to pull the unqualified iron back to the warehouse.

Speaking of the various materials used in the previous ordnance superintendent has always been the best, after all, the ordnance superintendent is in charge of the army's equipment manufacturing, maybe a small cannonball, can determine the outcome of a war, so every link in the ordnance superintendent needs to be improved, but unfortunately in recent years, since some officials of the reform faction have been stationed in the ordnance superintendent, many old people in the ordnance superintendent have been squeezed out, which also leads to some new officials are not familiar with their own affairs, often make some omissions, and even some people boldly make money from the ordnance superintendent, They also don't want to think about it, with the importance of the weapons prison, making money from here is simply self-defeating, even if they succeed for a while, they will inevitably be found out in the future, and I am afraid that no one will be able to save them at that time.

Qi Yu, who was carrying iron materials, thought of the changes in the Ordnance Prison in the past few years, and couldn't help but sigh at the moment, and then he thought that when Zhao Yan was in the capital, whether it was Shen Kuo Shen Judge or Su Songsu Judge Prison, the entire Ordnance Prison was huddled together, making the Ordnance Prison more and more prosperous, and even when they were craftsmen outside, they had enough confidence to speak, because the Great Song Dynasty army was able to destroy the Western Xia, relying on the firearms manufactured by their Ordnance Superintendent, but in just a few years, the entire Ordnance Prison had become a miasma, I heard that some of the firearms sent to the army were unsuitable, which caused the non-commissioned officers to explode during training, and for this reason, the troops in several places have written to the military headquarters to request a strict inspection of the weapons superintendent, but they have all been suppressed.

Finally waited until Qi Yu and they pulled these unqualified iron materials back to the warehouse and put them away, at this time it was almost three watches, at the moment Qi Yu and they dragged their tired bodies out of the warehouse, where they were located in the gunpowder factory is located outside the city, so they also moved their families to live outside the city, and now it has formed a small village and town, and it is three miles southeast of the Gunpowder Department, there is a dirt slope in the middle, the reason why the distance is so far is mainly because the gunpowder department is too dangerous, in case of an explosion, the vicinity may also be involved, Therefore, the place where the family members live is naturally farther away.

The distance of three miles is not too far, Qi Yu and they dragged their heavy steps back to the place where they lived, at this time there were still some vendors on the streets of the town who did not go back, at the moment Qi Yu and they found a stall to call a few bowls of noodles, and ate the chili sauce without money, and when they were sweating all over their bodies, they felt that the fatigue on their bodies had subsided a lot, and when they were full, Qi Yu and they dispersed.

Qi Yu has already married, and he has three children with his mother-in-law, when he used to study artillery, the monthly remuneration was also very considerable, enough to make their family very rich, but in recent years, he has suddenly become the lowest coolie in the Gunpowder Department, and his monthly salary is pitiful, so his mother-in-law is not less angry with him, if he comes back late at night, he will not even have food, so he is too lazy to be angry with his mother-in-law's family, so he tries not to eat at home.

Feeling the dark and returning home, he was complained a few words by the mother-in-law of the family, saying that he came back late and spent money outside to eat, Qi Yu didn't hear this, took off his clothes and fell asleep on the bed, and waited until the next day before dawn, Qi Yu woke up again, put on his clothes and went out of the house, and then went to Manniu's house to wake up the house, Manniu was young and sleepy, and there were no old people at home, only a few younger brothers and sisters, so he often couldn't get up in the morning, so he was embarrassed by Zhou Laosan.

Qi Yu and Manniu had breakfast at the small stall, and then hurried to the warehouse of the Gunpowder Department to prepare for work, but they didn't expect that not long after they came, there was a sensational news spread throughout the Gunpowder Department: His Royal Highness King Yue is coming here to inspect! (To be continued......)

PS: Two old books have been sealed, and Lao Yu has to spend time revising these two old books, otherwise they can't be unsealed at all, it's really hard to force!