Since it was decided to make flintlock pistols for the Later Zhou court, it was necessary to involve the question of how to transport them. After all, this time it was 3,000 flintlock pistols to be transported, not the twelve that he had brought with him when he went south to meet Chai Rong. At the beginning, the crossing was to use other goods to cover the twelve guns, so that they easily avoided all the Liao checkpoints along the way. Now this method has no practical value, not to mention that it is impossible to transport 3,000 flintlock pistols at a time, even 500 at a time. Because the amount of goods needed to cover up these hundreds or thousands of guns would be very huge, and under the current tense relations between Zhou and Liao, it is not normal to conduct such a large-scale trade between the two countries, which is enough to arouse the suspicion of all the guards at the Liao checkpoint and even the government at all levels -- although the method of moving ants and transporting dozens of guns at a time can avoid the checkpoint inspection, it will take too long, and it will not be able to be transported by the time of Chai Rong's Northern Expedition, and it is also not feasible.

Faced with this problem, Fan Wucheng, the director of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, who seemed a little absent-minded, was a little difficult and did not know how to solve it for a while - the Ministry of Commerce and Trade was responsible for the transportation of various goods aimed at overseas by the crossing team.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for Xie Tian, who was also a member of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, to relieve him. After thinking for a while, he said, "Since it is difficult to transport by land, why don't we consider taking the sea route?" ”

"By sea? How do you move? Fan Wucheng hadn't completely woken up from his wandering mind, and asked a little confused.

"That's right," replied Xie Tian, "before I came to the meeting, I went to the beach and looked at the situation on the Twelfth Brother's side. According to Brother Twelve, the construction of seaside ports, docks, docks and other facilities is nearing completion. The port and dock are already in use, and the dockyard has only some finishing touches left, and it is estimated that shipbuilding will be able to start next month. When I arrived, Brother Twelve was leading people to rebuild the sea-going ships that had been captured from the pirates, equipping them with artillery and covering them with steel armor in vital parts. It was precisely because he was busy with these things that he asked for leave from the committee for this meeting. ”

"Gun those ships captured from pirates?" Fan Wucheng, who finally came back to his senses, asked puzzledly, "Can our artillery be loaded?" As soon as the cannon was fired, the recoil could not shake the ship apart? ”

"No, no." Zhou Lei interjected on the side, "Old Twelve, they are equipped with 85 mm low-pressure direct-aim guns specially made by the Weapons Department for the current sea vessels. This gun reduced the charge of the propellant and its recoil was smaller than that of the 75mm guns used by the infantry of the Wyverns. ”

"In that case, will the power of the cannon be greatly affected?" Fan Wucheng continued to ask.

"It depends on what you say." Zhou Lei replied, "In terms of the power of the shell, although the 85-mm gun reduces the amount of explosives in order to reduce the weight of the warhead, because the caliber has an advantage over the 75 gun, the power of the two is no different." It's just that because the low-pressure gun is less loaded with propellant charge, although the weight of the warhead has been reduced, the firing range is still shorter than that of the 75 gun, about two miles. However, we are the only sea ship equipped with artillery, and even if the range of the gun is shorter, it is still an overwhelming advantage over other sea ships. What's more, according to the modification of the old twelve, these ships must also be equipped with light and heavy machine guns. ”

Fan Wucheng nodded when he heard this, and asked Xie Tiandao again: "Brother Thirteen means that he wants to transport the flintlock pistol to the south by sea by boat?" ”

Xie Tian nodded and said, "Not bad." We have a lot of industries under our name, and there are not 100 teams but 50 or 60 teams of trucks shuttling back and forth on the ground in Youzhou every day, plus his 10 or 20 teams will not attract the attention of others. If we count ten cars in one fleet, ten vehicles in ten vehicles are one hundred vehicles. There is no problem with twenty to thirty flintlock pistols in one car, so that ten convoys can transport 2,000 to 3,000 flintlock pistols at a time, and basically one or more shipments can solve the problem. Moreover, it is much easier to transport goods within Youzhou than to the south, and with our relationship on the ground in Youzhou, there will basically be no obstruction and impact, and there is enough security in safety.

As for getting to sea, that's not to mention. As the second brother said just now, the sea ships equipped with artillery and machine guns are almost invincible on the sea in this era. It is said that the Khitans have no sailors at all, and even the Southern Tang, which is the most powerful sailor in this era, is powerless to fight against our sea ships. ”,

After listening to Xie Tian's introduction, the brothers in the congregation expressed their approval. After exchanging views with several other committee members, Wang Kunjun said: "Lao Thirteen's method is very good, and the committee supports it. In my opinion, the brothers of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade and the Ministry of Military Affairs will have a good idea of how to sum it up after the meeting, and then communicate well with the old twelve people on the seaside, and draw up a specific transportation plan and submit it to the committee for approval. ”

"Haode" Fan Wucheng, Xie Tian, Qian Yuanshan and others replied in unison.

After solving the problem of the gun, the next thing is to solve the problem of people, to be precise, to solve the problem of those secret agents that Zhang Yongde planted in the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. Rather than building machine guns in batches and reopening the flintlock production line, it was obviously more important to find and get rid of the agents, especially the one who had managed to get close to the Traverser.

Different from the previous heated discussions and the anger and dissatisfaction with Zhang Yongde and Chai Rong, when it came to the issue of secret agents, the time-travelers attending the meeting behaved much calmer and more cautious than before. Because this involves the internal members of the crossing team, everyone can't be calm and cautious.

Because the matter involved the issue of secret agents, the protagonists of the next meeting changed from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Commerce and Trade to the Ministry of Intelligence. Moreover, because there may also be members of the crossing team, Zhang Xiaofei, who is already six months pregnant, attended the meeting with a big belly despite her inconvenience, and conveyed the content of Zhang Yongde's conversation with Chai Rong in the Houzhou Palace obtained by the Intelligence Department through various channels to everyone, so that everyone can have an intuitive understanding of this matter.

After Zhang Xiaofei introduced the content of the conversation with Zhang Yongde, he handed over the right to speak to Zheng Zhiwei, the director of the second section in charge of foreign affairs of the Ministry of Intelligence, who would make further analysis and judgment to everyone -- Zhang Xiaofei was pregnant after all, and it was still a little difficult to make a tirade.

Zheng Zhiwei nodded to the brothers in the congregation, and said: "According to the telegram sent by the starling brother, as well as various news from the Kaifeng Fengtang of 'Dark Feather' and the branches of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, plus the relevant information collected by the Intelligence Section of the Twenty-eighth Brother, the following conclusions have been drawn on the matter disclosed by Zhang Yongde to Chai Rong this time that he sent secret agents to the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun.

First, Zhang Yongde's dispatch of secret agents to the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun has been going on for a long time, and the most conservative estimate also started after we went south to meet Chai Rong. In other words, it was from then that the team was listed as its key target for exploration and infiltration.

Second, Zhang Yongde sent a large number of secret agents to the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, and they were relatively concentrated in Youzhou City, Liangxiang City and other areas where the activities of the crossing team were more frequent.

Third, based on the intelligence analysis of all parties, the Ministry of Intelligence believes that the 'Feiyantang' Youzhou Branch, which has been extensively cooperative with the crossing team, is likely to belong to Zhang Yongde's secret spy system. In other words, the secret spy organization 'Feiyantang' is likely to be founded by Zhang Yongde and serve it.

Fourth, judging from the various performances of the 'Feiyan Tang' Youzhou Branch when they cooperated with us before, the Intelligence Department believes that its person in charge, Liu Yunyan, is by no means Zhang Yongde's righteous daughter, and the waste branch hall that came to the 'gilded' in the first place is even more unlikely to be Zhang Yongde's righteous son -- it is impossible for Zhang Yongde to put such an important secret spy organization in charge of such a 'waste dim sum'. What Zhang Yongde said to Chai Rong in the palace of the Later Zhou Dynasty that he sent his righteous son and righteous daughter to Youzhou to personally inquire about the news of our team was just a prevarication and perfunctory Chai Rong to cover up the fact that his secret spy organization was large, had a large number of personnel, and had been operating for many years. However, the Ministry of Intelligence believes that although Liu Yunyan and Zhang Neng are not Zhang Yongde's righteous sons and daughters, these two are likely to be Zhang Yongde's cronies who arranged to take charge of the 'Feiyan Hall'.

Fifth, although Zhang Yongde told Chai Rong in the palace that his secret agent had successfully approached the insiders of our team and gained their trust. However, fortunately, judging from the news about our team reported by Zhang Yongde to Chai Rongyu, although his secret agent is close to a member of our team, it may even be very close. However, our brother was not completely controlled by him, or in the process of interacting with this secret agent, our brother was in an equal or even slightly dominant condition with the other party, and the internal secrets of the team that he leaked basically happened inadvertently, or in an unclear state, and did not intend to provide information to the other party. ,

Sixth, according to the current living and working conditions of all the internal members of the team, the Intelligence Department believes that the status of the secret agent inserted by Zhang Yongde should not be very high next to our brother, and it is more likely that he should be a woman and a young woman with outstanding appearance. It could be a brother's outer chamber, a ring, or some other person who could easily approach our brother.

Of course, I say this and it means that the agent must not be a man, but may also be a servant, a local craftsman or a treasurer, or even a guard in the guards of the various places of residence. However, this possibility is relatively small, and it can not be the focus of future work for the time being. ”

After listening to Zheng Zhiwei's introduction, most of the brothers in the congregation couldn't help but look at each other - for those who had just learned the news, this matter was a little incredible, a little unimaginable, and at the same time unsettling. The "Feiyan Hall" Youzhou Branch, which has always maintained a cooperative relationship with the crossing team and has been suppressed by the crossing crowd in the process of working with the team, is not the official secret spy organization of the Later Zhou Dynasty as everyone imagined, but may be a private spy network created by Zhang Yongde, the brother-in-law of the Later Zhou Dynasty and Chai Rong. And a certain agent in this spy network, which is not too much in the eyes of the brothers, not only successfully approached one of his brothers, but also gained his trust, and then obtained some internal secrets of the crossing team through various methods.

Judging from the current situation, the cooperation with "Feiyantang" at the beginning is actually equivalent to the crossing team "luring wolves into the room". Although when they decided to cooperate with "Feiyantang", they thought that this cooperative relationship between the two parties was a relationship of mutual use in which they were in an advantageous and superior position. However, the fact that the other party had extended its tentacles into the inside of the team still made the congregation brothers a little frightened, and at the same time, they also realized that the opponent was not as incompetent as they imagined.

However, there is no regret medicine in the world. Moreover, the cooperation with "Feiyantang" was also a decision made by the brothers of the crossing team based on the situation at the time, and no one had any reason to complain. Moreover, it is imperative to find out the spy and his accomplices, rather than complaining and blaming each other, especially in the presence of foreign enemies.

You must know that the current Zhang Yongde is far from the Zhang Yongde who is known for his ability to fight battles, loyalty, righteousness, virtue and filial piety, and is good at self-preservation but has no political ambitions -- since the time of the war, Zhang Weixin has often given history lessons to his brothers and introduced those well-known historical figures of this era, so everyone is more familiar with the description of this Zhang Yongde in the history books of his previous life.

Although this Zhang Yongde had been against him when the crossing team went south to meet Chai Rong, the people who had been crossing had always regarded his behavior as a courtier's sense of responsibility to the emperor and the court, because they doubted the origin of the people and the purpose of going south to meet them, so they looked at the people with distrust, and then went against the people everywhere.

But it turns out that the other party's purpose of opposing him is by no means as simple as the duty of a courtier. The Zhang Yongde he encounters now is completely different from the Zhang Yongde who was dedicated to serving the court and facing Zhao Kuangyin, who usurped the throne of his nephew, and who bowed down very respectfully - maybe the two are the same, but the Zhang Yongde in the previous life failed to grasp the opportunity and lost to Zhao Kuangyin in the process of "yellow robe", and had to surrender to Zhao Boss to take the lead and advantage.

However, regardless of whether this Zhang Yongde is Zhang Yongde or not, will Zhang Yongde in this time and space still lose to the more prepared Zhao Kuangyin like in the previous time and space. Since the other party has already attacked the crossing team first, the crossing team must fight back.

Therefore, after Zheng Zhiwei's introduction, everyone proposed to the committee to conduct a large-scale investigation within the team to find out the secret agent who was very close to the core of the team; use all the liliang that can be used to figure out the relationship between Zhang Yongde and "Feiyantang"; Until definite evidence is obtained, there is no objection to the proposal to only strengthen the control and surveillance of the "Feiyan Hall" without destroying it.

On the seventh day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar in the fifth year of Zhou Xiande (the eighth year of the Liao Ying calendar), just one day before Xu Shaoan received Chai Rong's will to build 3,000 flintlock guns, a telegram from the committee and a message from the Kaifeng branch of "Dark Feather" were handed over to him at the same time. The committee's telegram was to inform him of the relevant resolutions of the enlarged meeting of the committee the previous day, so that he would have a code of conduct when dealing with the flintlock gun deal and investigating the secret spy organization under Zhang Yongde. The news of the Kaifeng branch of "Dark Feather" was to report to Xu Shao'an that the imperial court's will to ask the "Qingyuan" brothers to build 3,000 flintlock pistols had been drawn up, and a eunuch would come to deliver the decree the next day, hoping that Xu Shao'an would be ready to deal with it.

It was with these two reports and reports in hand that Xu Shaoan behaved both calmly and helplessly when he received the holy decree. Calm because he has long understood the content of the holy decree, but helplessly because the arrival of this holy decree has completely shattered the illusion of the crossing team about Chai Rong and the Later Zhou court, and in the coming days, the two sides will probably have more struggle than cooperation.