On July 28, thunder and lightning increased rain and downpoured.

After months of no rain, the land of Guanzhong finally ushered in the first rain of this summer. Although this rain came a little late, after the beginning of autumn, it was undoubtedly a timely rain that could not be suitable for the land of Guanzhong, which had just planted summer potatoes.

It rained all night, Liu Yu was going to the palace on an errand after breakfast, and he wanted to raise an umbrella, but it was a little windy outside, so he had to put on a coat and a straw hat like the guards, and went out.

"Let's go." Liu Yu greeted, and his voice was almost buried by the sound of wind and rain.

Lu Chu'er asked: "Uncle, it is raining so hard today, will the selection of the Imperial Forest Army on the school field continue?" ”

"I won't go either." Liu Yu raised his head and looked at the sky slightly, "Go to the palace, I should give you a vacation today." ”

Liu Yu didn't have the habit of sitting in a sedan chair, and such a day was really not suitable for horseback riding, so the group braved the rain to get to the Dongye Gate, and several female guards who were blown by the wind and rained saw the palace gate and hurriedly ran in to avoid the rain. Liu Yu looked at the high door wall in front of Dongye Gate, and stopped for a while, as if he was planning something.

"Xuanwu Gate." Liu Yu muttered in his mouth and continued to look at the door wall.

Lu Chu'er ran over from the gatehouse and said, "Uncle, it's too windy outside, let's enter the palace earlier." ”

Liu Yuzhi said that she was in a hurry to finish her errand and go home, and when it was raining, Lu Chuer wanted to be lazy. Liu Yu was not so anxious to enter the palace, after all, it would be nothing for him to go in.

Seeing that the king of Chu had embarked on the journey home, the matter had reached a very urgent point, and Liu Yu had to make calculations for his future fate. See the palace gate. He instinctively remembered Xuanwu Gate. Remembering the killing in front of the palace gate. As the commander of the Imperial Guards. He did have a basis for thinking or doing so.

But now, unlike the early Tang Dynasty, Su Yan does not have the courage of King Qin, let alone his appeal among hundreds of officials and the army.

In fact, he didn't either.

"No more in the palace." Liu Yu suddenly changed his mind, "Go and build the Imperial Sitai Yamen to have a look." ”

Lu Chu'er was very helpless, it seemed that her aunt was going to go around again today, Liu Yu rarely entered the palace in the past few days, and always wandered around outside the palace gate. And she has to follow step by step.

Liu Yu has been studying muskets for a few days, and at present, there are primitive firearms made of pig iron pipes, all of which are front-loaded, the ammunition is separated, ignited with a fire rope, and the lead pellets are fired, which is very powerful but too low in lethality. In the past few days, Liu Yu has gone to see the people from the Ministry of Industry to test fire, and the explosion alone has occurred several times, and he feels like he is holding a time bomb with the barrel of the gun. This is not the musket that Liu Yu wants.

To improve the musket. Liu Yu also borrowed the warehouse and gunpowder of the military department, and there were also a few half-baked "military experts". Together with the skilled craftsmen of several ministries of the Ministry of Works, a fixed musket research group of fifteen or sixteen people was formed.

In fact, the focus of the research is to change the front loading to the rear loading, and change the fire rope to trigger the flint firing, as for the improvement of rifling and the development of ammunition integrated bullets, Liu Yu still does not bother to consider. Just a small flint needle has given more than a dozen craftsmen a headache.

Liu Yu's brisk mouth, the trouble of the craftsmen.

On this day, Liu Yu watched several test firings of newly researched muskets, but there were still often dumb fires or explosions. The bearing capacity of pig iron itself is poor, and the ignition method is unscientific, so there are many things that need to be improved. The craftsmen's research on the musket was still stagnant, but the development of the iron hook for the test shot was timely, because it was easy to be injured during the test shot in the past, and the protection measures such as iron plates and armor were no longer enough to ensure safety, and the craftsmen made a "test shooter" with a wooden cabinet with iron wire and iron hook, and only needed to pull the iron hook far away, so that the flint was triggered to fire the musket. The distance is far away, and there is no danger in exploding the chamber.

The craftsmen would only devote themselves to the study of their own lives, and as for the musket, it was not linked to their interests, so the interest in research was not so high.

"To keep the barrel tightly sealed and tightly sealed, it is best to pack gunpowder in a small bullet." Liu Yuti's suggestions for improvement were also drawn on the drawings along with the shape and distance of the bullet, "The front warhead part does not need to be installed first, and the sealed bullet is studied first." ”

Because Liu Yu didn't know much about gunpowder, he remembered the one sulfur, two nitrate and three charcoal of black powder, and the others were very unfamiliar to him. I only vaguely remember that adding sulfuric acid and nitric acid to cotton can be made into an effective gunpowder, because these two compounds are difficult to purify at this stage, and Liu Yu's idea is only in the germination stage.

While discussing with the craftsmen, a person walked in from outside and shouted, "Brother Liu." Liu Yu turned around, it was Han Sheng.

"Don't ask anything, you'll know when you arrive." Han Sheng's pretense of smiling is mysterious.

Liu Yu was afraid that he was hiding a knife in his smile, but when he saw that the direction he was taking him was towards the palace, he said that the emperor should be looking for him. Could it be that the King of Chu returned to Beijing ahead of schedule?

It was still raining outside, Liu Yu and Han Sheng entered the palace together, did not go to the Yaqian Palace, nor did they go to the Fengcui Palace, but went straight to the direction of the inner court, and when they were about to reach the inner court, they turned around again and arrived at a palace, not from the main entrance, but from the side door.

Through the screen, you can hear the voices of the ministers in front of you, and the quarrel seems to be fierce.

"This is the Chamber of Internal Chambers." Han Sheng explained, "On weekdays, the court meeting is over, and if there is still a discussion, it will be held here, and those who can get here are at least officials of the second rank or above." ”

The screen is translucent, and you can see that there are many ministers on the tile, and the old emperor sits in the position at the head, and does not speak, but only lets the courtiers discuss it themselves. There are no princes and princesses, and the people who are discussing are all important ministers who often walk in the Liutai Yamen.

Originally, Liu Yu was not unusual, he was originally a military general, the commander of the Imperial Forest Army responsible for the security of the palace, and he should avoid court affairs. But since the old emperor asked him to come, he just wanted him to listen, maybe he would ask his opinion later. Liu Yu also paid attention. After listening carefully, I realized that the matter of deliberation was not simple, but the matter of discussing the establishment of the prince.

This is the most taboo topic at the moment, and I don't know which courtier didn't open his eyes to play the emperor to talk about the establishment of the crown prince, but the emperor did not be as angry as before this time, but just called the ministers who were counted in the court and some retired ministers to discuss together. To put it bluntly, it is to listen to the opinions of the ministers in the audience.

This starting point is good, but Liu Yue knows that the courtiers are basically gangs and factions, and there are not a few people who are close to the princes and princesses, and the words they say may not be fair, most of them are saying good things about the princes and princesses who are loyal to them. Liu Yu listened to it, and there were the most people who supported the four princesses and the four princes, which was also the embodiment of the division of power in the court, and after the fall of the three princes and the five princes one after another, Su Bi and Su Ren also became the most powerful contenders for the crown prince. Of course, this is the opinion in the eyes of ordinary courtiers.

There is almost no one who speaks for the Seventh Emperor Su Zhe, that is, the King of Chu, and of course no one speaks for the Ninth Emperor Prince Su Yan. This also means that the two of them have no power of their own in the court, and some other famous princes and princesses, such as the sixth prince, the eighth prince, the eldest princess, and the second princess, are also supported. After all, Su Dian is the emperor's son-in-law.

From beginning to end, the old emperor did not speak.

"Brother Liu, what do you think?" Han Sheng suddenly looked at Liu Yu with a smile.

Liu Yue couldn't help but smile bitterly, this question clearly didn't need to be asked, and the opinions of the courtiers were obviously not in line with the old emperor's wishes. In other words, the old emperor would definitely not raise the issue of making the king of Chu the crown prince in public, which is not in line with public opinion.

"Brother Han, is the emperor looking for me, or are you old?" Liu Yu asked rhetorically.

"It's the emperor's intention." Han Sheng suddenly looked at the screen and said, "You didn't pay attention, there is an important person who hasn't squeaked all the time?" ”

Liu Yu looked at it, and really remembered that Yuan Bolang, the right minister, never expressed his opinion. It stands to reason that he is the new right minister, and he is an old minister of the two dynasties, and his speech is not ordinary.

Han Sheng said: "Yuan Xiang's attitude should be the same as you and me, everything is according to the emperor's wishes." This is also the emperor's original intention to use him as a prime minister at this juncture, and if the emperor asks, you must also answer carefully. ”

Liu Yu still understood this, and nodded in agreement.

Liu Yu thought about it again, the king of Chu was fledgling, although he was an adult, but he also needed to be assisted by courtiers like the ministers of Gu Ming, if the Wenchen side was headed by Yuan Bolang, the old emperor of the military generals hoped that he Liu Yu would stabilize the overall situation. Liu Yu thought again, if he could win Yuan Bolang over, it might be helpful for the future situation. (To be continued......)