Reloaded the ammunition, according to Zhengde's requirements, the target was about a bowl-thick pine tree on the left cliff, and after adjusting the target position, everyone held their breath and concentrated, and some had already covered their ears.

Zhang Yong and Song Nan stood beside Zhengde, Zhengde trembled and licked his dry lips and helped the handle of the flint turntable circlip, Song Nan suddenly remembered something, hurriedly stopped Zhengde, and beckoned someone to fetch a few cotton balls. It was deafening to be so far away just now, and now he is launching it in person next to him, and I am afraid that the emperor's ears will not be able to parry, and this cotton ball is used to plug the ears.

Holding his hand on the handle again, Zhengde looked at Song Nan nervously, Song Nan nodded slightly to encourage, Zhengde gritted his teeth and pulled the handle, and the pungent sulfur smell from the flint rushed into his eyes and nose, followed by green smoke, accompanied by the terrifying sound of the fuse burning.

"Boom, boom...... Boom Boom! "It's another round of heaven and earth cracking.

The green smoke cleared, and everyone looked towards the cliff on the left, but they were all a little dumbfounded; The power was already strong, but in addition to the cracks and collapses of the rocks, sand and soil, the thick pine tree with the thick mouth of the bowl that was the target stood there, and only the branches and leaves had fallen a lot.

"This ...... Can't even knock down a tree? Zhengde was a little surprised.

An attendant with a knife muttered, "This is a bit of thunder and rain." ”

Song Nan smiled and said, "How is this brother's archery skills?" ”

The officer with the knife said: "I don't dare to say that a hundred steps through Yang, it can be regarded as an arrow." ”

Song Nan pointed to the pine tree and said, "Can my brother shoot that tree?" ”

The officer with the knife raised his head and said, "Isn't this simple? "As he spoke, he took a bow and arrow, bent the bow and arrows, and an arrow was like a meteor catching the moon, and the gathering was only more than forty steps away, which was not a challenge for these sword-bearing officials who were selected to serve the emperor; The arrow was driven straight into the trunk of the pine tree, and the next moment an incredible scene happened, the pine tree suddenly broke and collapsed, and in the process of falling, the trunk was broken inch by inch, and when it fell to the bottom of the cliff, it was broken into seven or eight pieces.

The officer with the knife was stunned, when did his internal strength be able to crack the trunk of the pine tree with an arrow and break it into several pieces; When he was pleasantly surprised, he heard Zhang Yongdao: "Your Majesty, it turned out that it was not that it didn't hit the pine tree, but that the steel balls shot through the trees, and the speed was too fast to keep the pine trees intact and not fall." Just now, the guard's arrow shook, so that the trunk could not support it inch by inch and broke and fell, congratulations to the emperor, the hit was both accurate and skillful. ”

The officer with the knife suddenly realized, his face was red with shame, and when he peeked, he found that no one cared about his feelings at all, Song Nan, Zhang Yong, and a few people accompanying him were congratulating Zhengde.

Zhengde was overjoyed, smacked his lips again and again, and the feeling of firing the cannon with his own hands was different, if it was a Tartar soldier in front of him, and a cannon bombarded the past to hit a person on his back, it would be even more enjoyable; But Zhengde also knows that since the last time Xinpingbao was in distress, he has never had a chance to face to face with the Tartars, not to mention that the outer court must not allow it, even Song Nan may not agree.

"Your Majesty, take a break with tea in the house." Song Nan saw that the temperature was getting higher and higher, there was no wind in the valley, and the purpose had been achieved, so he beckoned Zhengde to drink tea and rest in the shaded house.

Zhengde was reluctant to watch a dozen guys busily cover the rocket launchers with felt cloth and pull them away with horses, and then they came to a slightly more decent house with blue bricks and tiles surrounded by everyone. Lu Qingli and Yang Kou'er had already made tea, and Zhengde sat on a chair, his face flushed with excitement.

"Your Majesty, I believe the minister is not boasting this time, this thing is not bad." Song Nan said with a smile.

Zhengde swallowed a sip of tea, nodded again and again: "It's really powerful, if you equip the army, my Ming will be invincible in the world, what are you afraid of?" ”

Song Nan smiled: "Yes, it's just that this idea is unlikely to come true." ”

Zhengde was stunned and said, "Why? Wouldn't you like to hand over the manufacturing method to the imperial court? ”

Song Nan said with a smile: "How could the minister be unwilling, the minister made this thing for the sake of the court, otherwise why would the minister risk the crime of killing the head to develop this thing?" I said that it couldn't be because of two reasons, one is that the cost is expensive, and the other is that the manufacturing is complicated, and they can't make it just by handing it over to the Ministry of War to make drawings, and if it leaks out, it will be unfavorable to my Daming. ”

Zhengde frowned and said, "Is the cost very expensive?" ”

Song Nan said: "It takes 30,000 taels of silver to build this one; For this thing, I have personally spent nearly 150,000 taels of silver, dismantling and disassembling it, and it is impossible to use any of the steel and gunpowder. Not to mention anything else, just now we shot these two rounds, and then six or seven hundred taels of silver were gone; Each round of sixty-four small cannonballs was shot out with a bang, and this is all silver. ”

Song Nan deliberately doubled the cost and cost and said that he was unwilling to hand over the fruits of his labor, especially pointing out that even if he handed in the drawings, the military department could not make it that would make Zhengde die.

Zhengde was stunned for a while and said: "Thirty thousand taels of silver? This is too expensive, isn't it, the Shenji Battalion Zhankou General Cannon only costs a few thousand taels, this thing is so powerful? ”

Song Nan said: "General Zhankou can only shoot dozens of shells before it is scrapped, and the steel used in my firearm is added with rare things, so it is very durable; It's just that this thing is very difficult to refine, easy to say, but too difficult to do. I don't want to spend 8,000 dollars of silver just to launch it dozens of times and scrap it, that's a waste. ”

Zhengde thought for a while and said: "Tens of thousands of taels of silver for one door, this is really not equipped; If it weren't for the method you proposed to tax real estate, it would have been difficult to balance the fiscal and tax expenditures of the imperial court last year, and the imperial court would have to spend money everywhere. Such an expensive thing is really difficult to equip, one or two do not work, ten and eight will cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and the food and equipment allocated by the military department to the Beijing camp are only a few million taels. ”

Song Nan smiled and said, "Ten doors and eight doors are also called equipment?" At least thirty gates start, lined up on the battlefield, can block a passage in the width of the mile, even in the face of the cavalry-based Tartar soldiers and horses are absolutely not worthy. It's better to have hundreds of these things, and then there is no disadvantage. ”

Zhengde smacked his tongue and said: "You said it lightly, you go to the cabinet in front of the scholars, go to the head of the household department to say it, don't they immediately blow their beards and stare at you?" ”

Song Nan smiled and said, "I'm not going to tell them, today I invited the emperor to see this thing, not to see an ornament." ”

Zhengde said: "I know that you are afraid that I will misunderstand your illegal attempts to make firearms privately, you can rest assured, I have not been confused to that point, you have a heart for the country, I am clear, but this piece of hard work is in vain, the cost of such an expensive thing, the court has no money to equip." ”

Song Nan said: "Your Majesty, if I use my own money to make firearms and use them to equip the Beijing camp, what do you think?" ”

Zhengde was stunned and said, "You pay for it yourself?" ”

Song Nan said: "Yes, this is actually the minister's wish, the minister knows that the court's finances are tight, but the power of this thing The emperor has also seen it, if you can't equip the Ming army, wouldn't it be a tyrannical thing?" ”

"But if you make it out of your own money, it is a little inexplicable; Besides, where did you get so much silver? ”

Song Nan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, many people have recently criticized me for openly and high-profile business, and I fell headlong into the eyes of money, but they don't know why I am like this." Today, Song Nan and the emperor dissected their hearts, and the reason why the minister did this was to accumulate money and be able to use it to serve the court. The minister has always remembered what the emperor said to the minister, the emperor said that he wanted the minister to rectify the Beijing camp and increase the combat effectiveness of the Beijing camp, and the minister has always remembered this sentence. Therefore, the ministers did not dare to relax at any time, and the combat strength of the Beijing camp was enhanced, firstly, by effective training methods, secondly, by equipment and tactics, and then by whether the generals were effective. The minister's strength is meager, so he can only start with the immediate military equipment, which is the fundamental reason why the minister wants to make money in business and endure infamy. ”

Zhengde looked very excited, he had said that he wanted Song Nan to rectify the barracks, but soon after he forgot about it, he didn't expect Song Nan to still remember it, and he has been working silently; In an instant, Zhengde felt guilty about Song Nan.

Indeed, as Song Nan said, Song Nan's high-profile business and making money were criticized by the ministers of the court, although Zhengde did not clearly state his attitude, but he couldn't help but be a little dissatisfied in his heart, but now it seems that he misunderstood Song Nan.

"Song Nan, I ...... I don't know what to say, but it's a blessing for me to have someone like you to help. Zhengde sighed.

Song Nan said with a straight face: "Don't say that, the emperor doesn't say that, it is natural for the courtiers to serve the emperor, not to mention the money and reputation, even if they give up their lives." The minister only asked the emperor to allow the minister to keep this firearms workshop, and also asked the emperor to allow the Shenshu camp to be equipped with firearms; Using the Shenshu camp as an experiment, we found the best way to strengthen the Beijing camp and extended it. ”

Zhengde said excitedly: "I am very moved, I didn't expect you to make such a big sacrifice and forbearance, just for the stability of my country." I have allowed you to continue to run a firearms workshop, and I have allowed you to equip the Divine Camp with firearms. In the future, if anyone uses this matter to impeach you, you will sue them, and I have granted it. In addition, remember how much money you spent, and in the future, the imperial court will have a good budget, and then I will slowly return it to you. ”

Song Nan shouted long live thanksgiving, and the words of returning the silver were just a casual remark by Zhengde, but today, no matter how many misunderstandings and mustards Zhengde had in his heart in front of him, I am afraid they will all dissipate without a trace, which is ten thousand times more precious than silver.

Of course, Song Nan is not wronged, as long as this thing can have the qualifications to legally produce equipment, it will be a matter of time before the imperial court buys and equips it.