After a while, just when Chai Rong, who was depressed in his heart, was about to let Lu Liye go down first, and then ask him after discussing this matter with other important ministers of the court, a little eunuch walked in gently from outside the palace and reported to Chai Rongyu: "Qiyu bixia, Zhang Yongde and Lord Zhang are asking to see him outside the palace." ”

Hearing that it was his brother-in-law who came to find him, Chai Rong changed his mind and decided not to send Lu Yuanye away first, but to listen to Zhang Yongde's opinion on this matter first. Therefore, he put down the hand that had been raised again, and instructed the little eunuch who reported the matter: "Xuanzhang Aiqing go to the palace." ”

The little eunuch agreed, and soon brought Zhang Yongde in.

After Zhang Yongde entered the hall, he first greeted Chai Rong, and then greeted Lu Yuanye next to him with his eyes, and then thanked Chai Rong who gave him a seat, and then sat down on the chair that the little eunuch moved.

Zhang Yongde has been an official for many years, and he is Chai Rong's brother-in-law, so he still knows his titular brother-in-law very well. As soon as he entered the hall, he saw that Chai Rong, who was sitting behind the imperial case, had a sad look on his face, as if he was embarrassed. Therefore, after sitting down, he arched his hand to Chai Rong and asked, "The minister seems to have a bad face when he looks at Bixia, could it be that the dragon body is not safe, or that he has encountered something difficult?" ”

For Zhang Yongde, Chai Rong naturally has no reason to hide. Therefore, even if Lu Yuanye asked him to put the production of weapons and flint muskets in the field of weapons, he could not complete the equipment of the recruits of the "Shenji Army" before next year.

Zhang Yongde pondered for a moment when he heard this, and then asked Lu Yuanye: "Master Lu just said that this flintlock musket is exquisitely constructed and the materials are exquisite, and even the skilled craftsmen of the Ordnance Supervisor can only use one of the three shots. ”

"Exactly," Lu Liye replied respectfully.

"That being the case, in the opinion of Lord Lu, how does the flintlock musket made by the most haode craftsman of our Ordnance Supervisor compare with the twelve muskets sent by General Xu and Dr. Wang?" Zhang Yongde continued to ask.

Regarding Zhang Yongde's question, Lu Liye was somewhat embarrassed to answer. Because he knew very well that among all the flintlock muskets built by the Ordnance Prison from the third year of Xiande to the present, none of them could be compared with the twelve gift muskets sent by Wang Kunjun, Xu Shaoan and others. Not to mention the precision of the barrel and bolt parts, the iron used in the ordnance superintendent is far from the twelve gift guns -- the twelve gift guns are all made of haode steel, while the flintlock muskets made by the ordnance superintendent are basically wrought iron. This is not to say that the ordnance supervision cannot produce that kind of good steel, but for the consideration of cost and man-hours. Nowadays, the cost of building a qualified flintlock musket has been as high as 30 times, and if it is replaced with good steel, I am afraid that the cost will have to rise by two or three percent. In that case, the colleagues on the household side will definitely have to complain in front of the official family again.

Thinking of this, Lu Yuanye couldn't help but secretly curse that General Zeng Zhilin Zeng in his heart, complaining why he wanted to open his mouth in the first place, telling the official family that a flintlock musket only costs fifteen times. Now the flintlock musket made by himself is twice as expensive, and in the eyes of the officials, doesn't it mean that he is incompetent.

But I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Zhang Yongde's question still has to be answered. Therefore, after a slight pause, Lu Yuanye replied: "Back to Lord Zhang, although the officials and craftsmen of the Ordnance Supervisor have put a lot of effort into this flint flame gun, they are ashamed to say it. Judging from the flintlock muskets made by the Ordnance Prison at the moment, even the most haode among them is much different from the original twelve gift guns. Not to mention anything else, the fine steel used in gift guns alone is not something that ordinary blacksmiths can smelt. ”

After saying that, Lu Yuanye also blushed, retreated to the side and bowed his head silently. After Zhang Yongde heard this, there was no intention of ridiculing Lu Yuanye on his face. He thought for a while, and said to Chai Rong: "Bixia, in the eyes of the minister, this bell still needs to be tied to the bell." According to what Master Lu just said, General Xu, Dr. Wang and others were not only the creators of this flintlock musket, but also able to create a flintlock musket that was far better than that of the imperial court ordnance supervisor. Moreover, judging from the submission and deference of General Xu to the official family when General Xu stayed in the imperial court as an official, and Dr. Wang and his other brothers were very willing to serve my Great Zhou when they first came to Beijing to meet them, they had long been yearning for my Great Zhou and were very willing to serve my Great Zhou. In addition, Bixia had just been promoted to their brother's official position not long ago, which made them even more grateful. ,

Then, according to the minister's opinion, it is better to give a decree to Dr. Wang and his brothers in Youzhou, ordering them to build a thousand flintlock muskets within three months and secretly transport them to the capital. In this way, not only can the recruits of the 'Divine Machine Army' be equipped with firearms in time, but also the ordnance supervisor will have enough samples to learn their strengths and have enough time to improve their crafting skills. Wouldn't that kill two birds with one stone? ”

Although transporting guns from the "Qingyuan" brothers was somewhat embarrassing to Lu Yuanye, the most important thing for him now was to provide weapons for the recruits of the "Shenji Army" on time, rather than caring about his own face. Therefore, as soon as Zhang Yongde's words came out, Lu Yuanye immediately responded and agreed.

Zhang Yongde's opinion also made Chai Rong's eyes light up, but he immediately thought of the difficulties and asked: "What Zhang Aiqing said also has some truth. However, although Wang Kunjun and his brothers were highly skilled in the creation of firearms such as flintlock pistols, they were ultimately limited in manpower. According to what Wang Kunjun said when he met with me at the beginning, and Xu Aiqing had previously told Lianlian about the situation of his brothers, only four or five of them could make all kinds of firearms. So, even if they were skilled, how could they have been able to build a thousand flintlock muskets in just three months?

Second, even if they can find a way to make these thousand flintlock muskets, Youzhou and Kaifeng are more than a thousand miles away, and there are cities and border towns guarded by the Khitans, how can they transport these muskets to the capital. After all, the volume of this thousand-shot flintlock musket is quite large, and it is almost impossible to walk more than a thousand miles without people knowing it. ”

Zhang Yongde didn't care when he heard this, and bowed his hand to Chai Rong and said: "If it is other ordinary wealthy businessmen and gentry, maybe they don't have this strength as Bixia said." But for Wang Kunjun and other 'Qingyuan' brothers, these are definitely not difficult things. ”

"How can Zhang Aiqing say this, could it be that Wang Aiqing and his brothers really have such strength that they can easily do things that even the imperial court weapons supervisor can't do?" Chai Rong asked in disbelief.

"Of course they can," Zhang Yongde replied confidently, "Have the officials forgotten the battle of Dabaoshu at the beginning of the fourth year of Xiande?" ”

Hearing Zhang Yongde mention the once sensational battle of Dabaoshu, Chai Rong was stunned at first, but immediately reacted, and asked with some hesitation: "Could it be that Aiqing means that the battle of Dabaoshu was done by Wang Aiqing and his brothers, how is this possible?" Not to mention how they built a team of nearly 2,000 people under the noses of the Khitans, and not to say what they built this team for, even if they were really able to build this team, then for what purpose, at the risk of being discovered by the Khitans, they pulled the team to the puppet Han hundreds of miles away, and after fighting a big battle with the puppet Han army at Dabaoshu and winning a complete victory, they pulled the team back to Youzhou? ”

Zhang Yongde hesitated a little when he heard this, looked around with the corner of his eye, and saw that in addition to the Lord Lu of the weapons supervisor in the main hall, there were only eunuchs and palace maids who were waiting, so he made up his mind to play the card in his hand, so as to take this opportunity to suppress Wang Kunjun and his brothers, lest these guys who were very close to Zhao Kuangyin, who was almost equal to him, gain power in the future and become another obstacle to realizing his ambitions.

So, he took the risk and said to Chai Rong: "What the official said is extremely true, and the minister also doubted his judgment when he first came up with this idea. But the information that the minister later received from Youzhou proved that not only was the minister's guess true, but also that Wang Kunjun and his brothers had a very good reason to do so. ”

"The Privy Council has not reported that Wang Aiqing and his brothers have anything to do with last year's Battle of Dabaoshu, how did Aiqing learn about this?" Chai Rong asked suspiciously.

Zhang Yongde naturally expected that Chai Rong would ask this question - his important ministers got news from the enemy country and did not know anything about it, and any emperor would have an idea. Therefore, he hurriedly got up, knelt on the ground, and Xiangshang kowtowed: "Bixia, the minister is guilty." ”