Chapter 219: Guns

A loud bang interrupted Ouyang's contemplation. Ouyang saw that he had unconsciously come to the experimental forbidden area. Look at the forbidden army standing on all sides, and the internal guards on duty on the tall buildings. Ouyang wiped his sweat, fortunately he had a big face, otherwise he would have been taken down.

"Your Excellency!" A master who was experimenting was very excited when he saw Ouyang and beckoned.

Ouyang hit the horse over, dismounted and said, "Master, what is this?" ”

"That's what adults call guns."

"Gun ......" Ouyang Khan, not to mention the appearance, grabbed it in his hand and weighed it, it was forty catties. Looking at the appearance, it is really modest to say that the gun is a bazooka. The muzzle of a huge gun, stuffed with gunpowder, was tamped with a tamper stick to connect the tail line of fire. Put another handful of iron balls in it. After loading, one person carried the 'gun' on his shoulder, and the other lit the fire.

With a 'boom', the man carrying the gun fell to the ground, and dozens of iron beads flew away. After the crackling sound, the target made of bamboo paper a hundred paces away was beaten into a sieve.

Ouyang said euphemistically: "Master, ......"

"Okay, I know your adult wants to say that this takes a long time to reload." The old master proudly took out a round matchbox-sized thing and said: "This is called a gunpowder mold, put gunpowder in it before the war, even a fool can pound it." If there is such a thing, you don't need to pound gunpowder to fight and launch, you can use gunpowder molds to go in. Just read a maximum of five numbers. After firing once, the scum can be poured out along with the gunpowder mold, so the maximum number of shots after the second time is seven. ”

"I know ......"

The old master hurriedly interrupted the introduction: "The head is high, and the voice is loud." There were several experiments, thirty iron balls each time, and an average of ten hit the target. ”

"Master ......"

"It's powerful, the cold-forged armor of the iron harrier that the adults gave us to test on is two inches into the flesh within fifty steps."

"Really?" Ouyang asked, "What do you use for experiments?" ”

"Pigs. You can eat meat after beating. The old master said: "A hundred steps are a little difficult, but even if you can't get into the meat." The momentum is also great. ”

"It's kind of interesting!" Ouyang nodded.

The old master was very happy and Ouyang appreciated it and asked, "What did the adult just want to say?" ”

"......" Ouyang Leng said after a while: "Forgot!" "What are you going to say?

"Oh!" The old master nodded: "My lord is a noble person who forgets things, and I am old and confused. The old decay still has to try the gunpowder mold, so as not to disturb the adults. ”

"......" Ouyang was speechless, and suddenly remembered in his speechlessness that what he just wanted to say was that this thing was not a gun at all, at most a cannon. Thirty pounds can only be used to arrange defense, which is not counting the weight of gunpowder to carry, so it is better to use real cannons? And it's better to have a shelf to support it...... Forget it, you don't need guns in the future, you have one cannon per person, and you can drag a bunch of shells behind you. How majestic, 100,000 soldiers and 100,000 cannons, even the mountain will be flattened a few feet in one round. Ouyang couldn't bear to hit the enthusiasm of the master. After all, the master starts from actual combat and creates weapons that can be used in actual combat. Although this thing is a bit chicken because of the heavy artillery and the hand-throwing cannon, it can at least be sold for money. Not everyone knows what they do.

The experimental site of the military factory was very well defended, and even the forbidden army forbade talking to the workers. Some further in is the gunpowder grinding ground. The region is largely non-human. There are livestock stone mills, and there are water conservancy grinders. The pursuit is to grind the gunpowder as fine as possible.

There is also a restricted area within the forbidden area is the gunpowder mixing room. There are the least number of staff and the least number of people who can enter. In this place, the three ingredients of ground gunpowder are matched according to the recipe. After mixing, put it in a moisture-proof wooden box and send it out. Although the process is simple and the technology is simple, the secret content is very high.

Ouyang and the masters had an in-depth and friendly conversation, hoping that everyone will make persistent efforts in the spirit of science and technology, and strive to reach a higher level this year. After that, he also inquired about the security work, and asked about the existing difficulties, and at the same time said that there are difficulties to solve, and if there are no difficulties, they must create difficulties to solve.

Then I went to the public relations department of the military factory, which is an office that integrates the accounting room and sales. Ouyang focused on inquiring about the first half of the year, domestic sales and export of gunpowder. Due to the fierce war between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia and Liaojin, the sales of gunpowder have been showing a good growth momentum. Ouyang conveyed the spirit that the sales department should focus on selling new weapons to the imperial court, and customizing the prices for the transfer of various new weapons.

After a turn, Ouyang left and returned to Yangping for dinner, ending a busy day in Zhixian.

……

At night, Ouyang asked people to call Zhang San, Li Si, and Zhan Ming to discuss secretly.

"The first point is that we must find out the identity of Jin Dae, where his ancestral home is, how many people are in the family, and the situation of his wife and children. Is it appointed by the imperial court or someone brought by Wan Yanlan herself from the Jin Kingdom. ”

Zhang San whispered: "My lord, since you are suspicious, it is better to finish Yanlan and Jin Da together." Aren't they all on board? The Southeast Chamber of Commerce is a lot of outlaws on the water. ”

Zhan Ming scolded: "Wan Yanlan is also the princess of the Great Song Dynasty, how can it be so simple to do something to her." Besides, from the previous point of view, Wan Yanlan helped us dig out Jin San Xiaocui, although it was ill-intentioned, it is difficult to say that it is not good. ”

Li Sidao: "Jin Da, I'll check." ”

"Yes!" Ouyang nodded, Li Si is more steady, this matter can be assured. Ouyang Dao: "The second step is to track down the owner of the Xiangcun Inn, that is, the spy." I estimate that in the next day or two, he will be in a hurry to contact his master. ”

Zhang San said: "I'm responsible." ”

"Zhanming, you have to do a bad thing."

Zhan Ming hugged his fists and said, "My lord, please command." ”

"The emperor has already told me not to investigate this case anymore. But I need the forbidden army's confession to Jin Dalu in Xiangcun. This confession is now in the Gyeonggi Punishment Yamen. ”

Zhan Ming agreed without hesitation: "Don't worry, my lord." It's up to me. ”

"Well, as long as we are sure that Jin Dae did indeed confess like that at that time, no matter what his background is, we must arrest him in place. So Li Si, you still have to determine the whereabouts of Jin Da. ”

"Yes!"

"Go ahead, time is your own."

……

At noon the next day, Huilan found Ouyang, who had nothing to do at home, and handed over the information of Wang Hao and Li Bangyan to Ouyang. Ouyang was a little dissatisfied after reading some of them, and deleted part of it and said: "Zhang Xuanming secretly played the emperor, and he basically copied it from here." There is a possibility that this thing will leak out in the future, so there must be no trace of our royal newspaper. ”

"Well, I didn't think about it that much." Huilan said apologetically: "I just received two pieces of news this morning, the first is that Wang Hao and more than a dozen ministers have joined forces with Li Bangyan as the right minister. ”

"Hah, that's kind of interesting." Although Wang Hao and Li Bangyan both worship Cai Jing as their boss, their private relationship is very poor. In addition to Liang Shicheng, who usurped the throne and died, and the unlucky Yang Jian, there was also Zhang Bangchang, who was framed and demoted by Ouyang, although both of them were representatives of the old school of real power in the imperial court. But in private, they don't like each other. Ouyang asked: "Li Gang has always hated these people who are in power, if they come to power, these people will not have good fruits to eat, it seems that they are holding together to make fire." What are the results? ”

"The emperor asked the hundred officials to discuss it by themselves, and said that the left minister is in charge of national affairs, and he can't be vacant for too long, so let the hundred officials go to the table as soon as possible." Huilan said: "My lord, if Wang Hao and Li Bangyan are released at this time, I am afraid that the emperor will have some scruples and dare not make a move." ”

Ouyang asked, "Why do you say that?" ”

"Everyone knows that Li Gang was recommended by the emperor by hand. And halfway through, Li Bangyan, who had more than a dozen ministers to protect him, was killed. At this time, the emperor wants to punish them, and I am afraid that some people will have opinions. Huilan said: "I mean only the king of the table." Once Wang Hao is unlucky, there will naturally be fewer people who support Li Bangyan. And most of the courtiers will not work against the emperor, so it can be a matter of course, not only to do Wang Huang to let the emperor earn back face in Cai Jing's affairs, but also to help the emperor push Li Gang up by the way. Besides, Li Gang himself is loyal and upright, if this person is on the phase, Li Bangyan will not be able to run away sooner or later. ”

Ouyang nodded: "*** You are good at fighting, just do what you say." You just said two things, but what about one more thing? ”

"There is another thing, it is that Yu Shitai received a report, saying that the adults embezzled taxes and used the public to enrich themselves. And the proceeds were exchanged for silver, and the foreign silver of the Southeast Chamber of Commerce was turned into legitimate commercial income. Zhang Bangchang, who was demoted to the imperial historian because of his adult, said in the court that although the anonymous report was not credible, he would rather believe it than not, and he hoped to send the imperial history and the household department to check the accounts of the adult, so as to show that the adult was honest, and the rumor would naturally be self-defeating. ”

"It turned out to be anonymous." In the Imperial History Yamen, there is a special window like this, similar to the current report box, which is customized during the Taizu period. Among the three provinces, six ministries and twenty-four divisions, the Imperial Historical Observatory is the most important institution responsible to the emperor, and their duty is to supervise hundreds of officials and correct the emperor's inappropriate and inappropriate speech and behavior. Li Gang used to be the official of the Imperial History Tower, but unfortunately Song Huizong's strength was smaller than that of Song Taizu, and he didn't like to listen to what he said, so he belittled Li Gang when he was unhappy. However, anonymous reports are generally not investigated, and according to the circumstances at the time, hiding one's head and tail is not a good thing in itself.

Whelan nodded and said, "The emperor said that Lang Lang is good and dares to report officials, but he does not dare to leave his name." This must have been made out of nothing. ”

It's a pity that this trap was originally reserved for the villains behind the scenes who are eager for success. I didn't expect people to rather not sue themselves than show up. Ouyang said: "If there is nothing else, you can go and get busy first." ”

……

The phase dispute is a major event in the imperial court, although Li Gang has a good relationship with Ouyang, but he is neither a new nor an old faction, not only capable, but also fair. In the above table, most people said that Li Gang was the most suitable candidate. However, Wang Hao and others immediately turned over the old accounts, discussed the mistakes of the government and government for five years, and were dismissed from their official positions. In the first year of Xuanhe, because he asked the Emperor Taishang to pay attention to internal and external troubles, he was degraded and pulled up to say that Li Gangmu had no father, and if he was the prime minister, I am afraid that he would become the minister of power in the future.