Entering July, the heat is unbearable, the night room is stuffy and unbearable, Wan'er ordered people to sprinkle water on the bluestone slab open space in the back garden, moved the bamboo bed and bamboo chairs on the top, after dinner, Song Nan and the wives and concubines came to the back garden to enjoy the cool.

This has been the rule of the Song family since the beginning of summer, melon and fruit tea are placed on the bamboo bed, everyone sits around Song Nan and chats and amuses, while waiting until the heat subsides before returning to the room to sleep; For Song Nan, the wives and concubines and children sitting around him, the coquettish and soft words of the beautiful wife and concubine, and the babbling and noisy of the children can make Song Nan's mind relax even more, and his brain is also very fresh, and many major events are also decided on this occasion.

That night, the topic of the Song family sitting in the back garden was that Lu Qingli and Yang Qian'er spent fifty or sixty thousand taels of silver to make those iron lumps; The idea of a multi-barreled cannon had been proposed two years earlier, but it had been halted due to lack of funds, and after the restart two months earlier, the abundance of money had made progress smooth.

Lu Qingli happily described to Song Nan the power of today's live ammunition and multi-barreled firecracker cannons. After another rockery collapsed in Houyuan last month, at the strong demand of everyone, this destructive reality was forced to move to the small depression of his own manor in Shilizhuang in the south of the city, and it took more than ten days to build a house and level a piece of ground, and Lu Qingli and Yang Ko'er went back and forth every day.

"Don't you know that today I conducted the first all-ammunition firing test with Coo, and actually blew down half of the small hill wall on the west side of the hillside; Oh my God, it sounded like thunder, and Chloe ran away with her ears covered after lighting the fire, and almost fell into a puddle, hahaha. Lu Qingli laughed, pointing fingers and foaming at the mouth.

Yang Ko'er blushed and said embarrassedly: "Who fell into the puddle?" Don't you hide in the distance for a long time and don't dare to probe, and you don't dare to light a fire, so I'm embarrassed to say. ”

Lu Qingli hugged Yang Qian'er's shoulders and smiled: "Okay, okay, I shouldn't make fun of you, okay?" I'm a coward, too, and it's done. ”

Song Zhidao, the eldest young master of the Song Mansion, who was already walking all over the ground, walked crookedly, and followed the babbling and said, "Coward! ”

Song Nan and the other girls laughed, Lu Qingli stretched out her hand and twisted Song Zhidao's white and tender face, and said fiercely: "Boy, if you talk more, Aunt Lu Ming'er will throw away all your toy snacks." ”

Song Zhidao hurriedly fled to Dai Su'er's arms, and Dai Su'er hugged and kissed and comforted: "Auntie loves you the most, tease you." ”

Song Nan smiled and asked, "Is the power really so great?" I don't understand what you're talking about after talking about it for a long time, what I want is range, accuracy, whether there is a danger of exploding, dozens of firearms are not a simple combination, they will affect each other when they are fired, I want these things. ”

Lu Qingli stomped his feet and said: "I know that it is thankless, it is easy to get it almost according to what you said, Kou'er and I and the more than 20 helpers below are like black charcoal every day, and I haven't seen you say a word of relief." ”

Song Nan hurriedly said: "Hard work, I don't say it, I am worried in my heart, I know that this thing is not easy to handle, otherwise how could I invite you two masters to do this thing?" I'm just paying lip service, and if I were to do it myself, I wouldn't be worried. You and Chloe are very powerful, I can only leave this matter to the two of you, it is very important to me, understand? ”

Ye Fanggu said: "Qingli, don't talk like that, who said he doesn't care about you?" Every day, I personally ordered someone to deliver chilled melons and fruits to you, and bought the most comfortable and spacious carriage for the two of you to facilitate your return and back, the carriage is like a small house, have you ever seen anyone ride in such a magnificent carriage? The construction site is so busy, Su'er also helped you sew a cool cloak by hand, and the little county lord helped you buy the secret sunscreen powder made by Biyunlou for you to wipe, who doesn't remember you? ”

Lu Qingli wasn't really angry, but just complained casually, and immediately turned her face and smiled: "I know, it's just a casual remark, Coo'er, come on, don't you remember any numbers?" It's a matter for the two of us, don't just watch the excitement and not talk. I tell you, if this matter is done, the matter of you entering the Song Mansion as the fifth lady will be a certainty. ”

Dai Su'er's face was red, and she reached out to grab Lu Qingli while spitting: "Chew your tongue and rotten mouth, who wants to be the fifth lady." ”

Lu Qingli grinned and dodged Yang Qiao'er's claws, and reached out to pick up the pink pair sitting on Ye Fanggu's knee as a shield. After laughing for a while, seeing Song Nan's face full of expectation, Yang Ko'er sat down in full clothes and said: "There are a total of sixty-four fire gun tubes in parallel, and I am afraid that the idea of as many fire gun tubes as possible that Brother Song said before is a little flawed." ”

Song Nan smiled: "I just hope that the power is strong enough, it must be that the more firearms there are, the worse the effect, right?" ”

Yang Kou'er nodded and said: "Sister Qingli and I have been one hundred and eight, eighty-eight, sixty-four three, and found that too many fire guns are juxtaposed, which will cause the guns to affect each other, causing overheating, deformation and other effects; Because the juxtaposition is too dense, the thermal insulation between each other is too thin, and if it is placed too loosely, it cannot achieve the lightness that you said can be pulled uphill and through the ditch; So we decided on sixty-four pipes and listed them as the best way. ”

Song Nan nodded slowly, there are a lot of sixty-four pipes, if it can be successful, this is also an amazing firearm; Sixty-four rocket launchers, this is no joke.

"According to your construction, after changing the original circular juxtaposition method to square juxtaposition, the original problem of uneven blows has also been improved, and now it is a parallel of eight horizontal and eight vertical, and the distribution of blows is also very even."

Song Nan nodded and said: "Eight horizontal and eight vertical, eight eight sixty-four, exactly sixty-four pipes; If there is a gap in the middle, in fact, there is no need to fill the insulation, it is best not to connect as a whole, so that the damage of one or several tubes will not affect the launch, and it can be disassembled and replaced. ”

Yang Kouer said: "Okay, this shouldn't be difficult. Including the iron baffle behind the wheel of the pedestal, it weighs a total of 823 pounds, and two healthy horses can pull it to move. ”

Song Nan said: "How far is the range?" ”

Yang Kou'er said: "About fifty steps, if you go farther, you will deviate too far from the target, and the power is not enough; Today, the distance between me and Sister Qingli's real yàn is forty steps, and I deviate a little from the target on the cliff, but the power is really amazing, and half of the cliff has collapsed. ”

Song Nan was silent, and Lu Qingli said, "Do you think the range is not far?" ”

Song Nan nodded and said, "Yes, I thought I could shoot a hundred steps away, the same distance as a bow and crossbow, but now it seems impossible; However, it is understandable that the range of the previous firearm was only twenty or thirty steps, and this thing has nearly doubled the distance, and it is a multi-pronged salvo, which is already very good. In fact, there are ways to increase the range, increasing the barrel, increasing the strength of the primer gunpowder can be done, but in that case, it will lose the effect of maneuverable strikes that I wanted; If I want to fight far, I might as well just cast the cannon of the general. I'll take a look tomorrow and finalize the model, hmm...... I forgot to ask, how much does such a course cost? ”

Lu Qingli and Yang Kou'er glanced at each other, Yang Kou'er twisted and refused to speak, Lu Qingli gritted her teeth and said, "Sixteen thousand taels of silver, not including ammunition." ”

Everyone exclaimed, and the little county lord smacked his tongue and said, "My God, this thing is so expensive, what's the use of getting it?" Besides, the husband should ask the court to pay for the manufacturing, does the husband plan to make it himself? ”

Song Nan calculated in his heart, the cost of 16,000 taels of silver is indeed too high, and the consumption of ammunition is actually the big head, just imagine, this thing is sent out of sixty-four all of a sudden, that is the cost of hundreds of taels of silver, a battle is fought, just shoot a few rounds casually, that is the consumption of tens of thousands of taels of ammunition, this is a bottomless pit.

Moreover, the little county lord is right, if this kind of heavy firearm is made without the permission of the imperial court, it will be a big thing. After all, the previous firearm was only a light firearm, and it saved Zhengde's life at a critical time, so nothing unpleasant happened. Afterwards, he also pretended to ask the court to make it, but it was just doubling the cost, and in the end, the court really didn't have the money to make it, so he acquiesced in the matter. But now, if this thing is made, once it is discovered, it will definitely cause panic, and Zhengde may also doubt his behavior.

Song Nan waved his hand and said: "In any case, the firearm needs to be finalized, and I will properly solve the rest of the things, this firearm is temporarily named Mrs. Song Rocket Artillery, and I will go to Shilizhuang in person tomorrow afternoon to take a look, where Qingli and Miss Kou'er are waiting for me." ”

The crowd chatted for a while, and the night grew darker; The children had fallen asleep in the crooks of their arms, and the maidservants were using fans to chase away mosquitoes, and the heat gradually subsided, and everyone said goodbye and went back to their rooms to rest.

Song Nan didn't go back to his room to sleep, he sat alone in the garden, looking up at the starry sky, his mood was a little upset, and he occasionally let out a soft sigh.

"Does the husband have something on his mind?" I don't know when, Dai Su'er turned back, sat down next to Song Nan gently, and asked softly.

Song Nan smiled and said, "Why don't you go to sleep?" Things on the construction site during the day are sad enough, so get some rest early. ”

Dai Su'er shook her head and said, "I'm not tired, my husband has something on my mind today, and the slave family can see it from having dinner, what's wrong?" ”

Song Nan shook his head and said: "It's better not to talk about official affairs, and don't mention official affairs in the house, this is already a rule, so as not to affect everyone's mood." ”

Dai Su'er said: "The slave family wants to share the worries of the husband, the husband doesn't say that the slave family will naturally not talk much, can I sit with the husband for a while?" ”

Song Nan stretched out her hand to grab Dai Su'er, Dai Su'er obediently snuggled in Song Nan's arms without saying a word, Song Nan couldn't help but speak: "Hey, it's okay to sue you, you are just a curious kitten, I actually want to know in my heart, but I said that I was not reluctant, but I paced in front of me and wagged my tail." ”

Dai Su'er laughed when she ate, and said tiredly: "Where is the tail of the slave family?" ”

Song Nan reached out and touched her slippery buttocks, and said softly, "You are a vixen, and your tail has disappeared." ”

Dai Su'er's body trembled with a smile, her hands wrapped her arms around Song Nan's neck and rubbed in his arms, Song Nan rubbed on her familiar plump body for a while, and said softly: "This morning, the emperor summoned me to meet me." ”