For Master Lu, the head craftsman of the Ministry of Industry's workshop, it was the first time for him to come to such a high-end and high-grade yamen.

Privy Council, if you can get out alive, this bull can blow for a lifetime.

In fact, it was the first time for Li Kui to come to the yamen of the Privy Council, and he was curious when he looked east and west. It's just that this yamen is like this, it seems to occupy a large area, but there is no White Tiger Hall?

Only then did Li Kui remember that the White Tiger Hall seemed to be the core secret place of the palace marshal Taiwei's mansion, and the grade was worse than that of the Privy Council. Without curiosity, Li Kui looked down and saw a bag of food when he was leaving. He is a native of Jingdong Road, a place formerly called Qingzhou and later returned to Shandong, and is good at wraps.

Li Kui was in the lobby of the Privy Council, and after rolling a cake as if no one was around, he found that Li Qingchen and Master Lu were looking at him in a daze, and their eyes were full of incredulity. Li Kui is an interesting person, and asked Li Qingchen with a shy face: "Teacher, have you eaten for a long time?" ”

That is, Li Qingchen, Li Kui used honorifics.

Li Qingchen glared and said, "The old man has been waiting for you, did you say the old man has used it?" ”

Li Kui hesitated for a moment, handed the burrito in his hand to Li Qingchen, and said tentatively: "Or, teacher, you can simply take a bite!" ”

"It's not easy for you, it's you who eats and makes things in the imperial city." While speaking, Li Qingchen took a bite, the mutton sandwich cake, the bite was very laborious, but surprisingly fragrant. He said, "You kid still has a little bit of research on eating, but you have to stop in moderation." Don't learn from Lao Su, what do you see what he eats? ”

The fat man was despised, and Li Qingchen was quite disdainful of Su Shi's fat body in his words.

Of course, Li Qingchen is not the kind of old-fashioned person. In fact, he is not a traitor, but more like an official like Su Zhe, who flaunts himself with the requirements of a scholar. He can eat delicacies from the mountains and seas, or he can eat coarse tea and light rice, and he is not particular about food. I don't pay attention to food and clothing, but I don't pick the door, and I don't deliberately flatter.

In contrast, Li Kui is more willing to deal with people like Li Qingchen than with Zeng Bu, Yang Wei and the like.

Zeng Bu and others used all kinds of means, and it can be said that they were officials for the sake of power, and they never thought of doing things. And Li Qingchen wants to be an official, and at the same time he is doing things. In contrast, Li Qingchen is much purer. As for Cai Jing...... I'm afraid this guy is an official in order to make money and hold power, which is one level lower than Zeng Bu's high level.

Speaking of the ancestor, Li Kui must stand up and say a fair word: "The bachelor did not delay doing things for the people, and it is better to be greedy than to be greedy." ”

Li Qingchen frowned slightly, and didn't say more.

He didn't want to see Li Kui before, but he didn't want to see Su Shi and Su Zhe's brothers, especially Su Shi. Back then, as Ouyang Xiu's descendants, they were boasted by Lao Ou as a rare literary giant in the sky and no one on earth. But Lao Ou secretly ranked Su Shi in front of Li Qingchen very inauthentically, which made the conceited Li Qingchen very angry. It's really better than writing articles, poems and songs, Li Qingchen is indeed not as good as Su Shi, this is embarrassing, and he can only sulk secretly when he is angry, and he can't say it yet, he can only hold it in his heart, what a nest!

Love the house and Wu, when I saw Li Kui, I thought of Su Shi, can I be happy?

He is dignified Li Qingchen, with the posture of a dragon and a phoenix among people, where can Su Shi and other officialdom salted fish compare?

Of course, Li Qingchen's article is really good, Ouyang Xiu once boasted that Li Qingchen's literary talent has surpassed him. Of course, the words of the literati cannot be believed, and it is not uncommon for them to use exaggerated techniques to say that a small thing is a disaster for mankind. But if you really want to talk about it, Li Qingchen's articles are indeed outstanding among his peers.

At least Zhang Dian, who was more conceited than Li Qingchen, never thought of comparing Li Qingchen with Li Qingchen in the article.

Zhang Dian didn't even think that his articles could compare with the best literati of his time, so he had to shamelessly boast that his handwriting was good, and his calligraphy level was close to that of the two kings.

Of course, Zhangdun is a big official, and everything he says makes sense.

As for why the relationship between Li Qingchen and Li Kui has changed?

Because Li Qingchen found that although Sumen was hateful, it was more bearable than Zeng Bu and Zhang Dan. In addition, Li Qingchen originally thought that Li Kui was the head of the disciples pushed out by Sumen, but in fact, after his observation, this was not the case at all.

Li Kui is Li Kui.

Suman is Suman.

Li Kui, except for some official fans, basically has nothing to do with Sumen, conservatives, or even the reformers. Even his imperial identity is very fake. This guy does things, just by virtue of his own preferences, do it indiscriminately, there are few rules to speak of, he likes to smash it all the way, if there is no movement, this thing will change places with a frown and continue to toss. The dignified Jinshi and the first Tanhualang, who has been an official in the capital for half a year, has not participated in a single literary meeting, and in addition to the noisy chickens and dogs jumping all day long, he is going to the Royal Boxing Gym to play with a big knife.

To say that he has no sect and no faction is the truth. Especially after the bigwigs discovered Li Kui's urine, they all gave up their thoughts on wooing Li Kui.

This guy is talented and talented, and he is always able to inadvertently scare people. But the ability to cause trouble is also one of the best, like a bastard, who suddenly blended into the court from the street. At first, everyone thought that this product was a fierce beast, but in a blink of an eye, they found that this product was all vegetarian, but it was very strong, and no one could pull it.

For example, Li Kui had a pain in the secretary's spare time, and then encouraged Su Song to make a big bell together. He really made it. The Great Bell Tower of the Great Song Dynasty Imperial City has not yet been built, and this guy has gone to provoke the Queen Mother again.

Then he was driven to the northwest.

Before going to the northwest, he didn't say that he didn't want to go, he just wanted a general judge, but he was ruthlessly refuted. No one expected that in just half a year, Li Kui made great contributions in the northwest, and this time he returned to the capital as a hero of the Great Song Dynasty. Generally, the officials who have been recalled to the capital after meritorious service have only two situations waiting for them: transfer, the peaches are ripe, and someone wants to pick ready-made peaches; The other is that the emperor and the court should be reused.

Li Kui obviously belongs to the latter, the emperor and the court are all holding back their strength to use troops against the Western Xia, and Li Kui, as the official who has made the greatest contribution to the Western Xia war, naturally wants to give more power. In anticipation of a greater victory in the northwest of the Great Song Dynasty.

Therefore, it was very easy for Li Kui to come to the capital this time.

After the emperor Taimiao sacrificed his prisoners, it was when Li Kui left Beijing again.

The Privy Council has been at odds with the Metropolitan Hall recently, but in the appointment of Li Kui, it magically maintained the same opinion and reused Li Kui.

There are reasons for the emperor, as well as the fact that on the issue of Western Xia, Li Qingchen and Zhang Dian had the same goals. If Zeng Bu was sitting in the official position of privy envoy, it would be impossible to say. However, Li Qingchen did not give Zhang Dian too many constraints on the major issues of right and wrong. Although, they have turned against each other.

Li Qingchen's eyes on Li Kui were a little complicated, he had thought about winning over Li Kui, but he was worried that after winning over Li Kui, he would have to clean up the mess for Li Kui. In addition, he found that Li Kui could easily eat the cake, and he ate half of it, and he actually held it.

"Look at the tea!"

The concierge brought hot tea, and Li Qingchen was relieved after sending the food down with the tea.

But Master Lu flashed with his eyes on the side, and reminded Li Kui anxiously that we didn't come to the Privy Council to eat burritos, but to do big things, but Li Kui didn't care about him at all.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency!"

Master Lu reminded Li Kui in a whisper, and Li Qingchen naturally found that Master Lu was looking for an old man who looked strong and looked like he was working hard, and the traces of time were especially clear on Master Lu's face. It looked like a craftsman, but he didn't understand why Li Kui brought him to the imperial city?

"Renjie, who is this person?"

"Supervisor of the Metalworking Workshop of the Ministry of Industry."

Metalsmith's Workshop?

There are more workshops in the capital, and the most important one is the workshop for making the Divine Arm Bow, which is directly subordinate to the Privy Council. Since its appearance, the Divine Arm Bow has always been a sharp weapon in the Great Song Dynasty. Advance can be attacked, retreat can be defended, and the lethality is amazing. The only drawback is that there are many processes to make the Divine Arm Bow, which is time-consuming and expensive, and it is the most expensive weapon in the Great Song Dynasty. The cost of each Divine Arm Bow is in the hundreds, and it has always been high.

But now the position of the Divine Arm Bow on the list of the most expensive standard weapons in the Great Song Dynasty is no longer guaranteed.

Li Qingchen is a dignified privy envoy, how can he know the workshop supervisor under the Ministry of Works? But guessing from the name of the workshop, it should be the craftsman who cast the artillery, so he asked: "What problems do you encounter in cannon casting that requires the old man's help?" ”

"It's been cast, and I'm waiting for the Privy Council's approval to take it to the school to test the gun."

Li Kui took a sip of tea unhurriedly, as steady as a thousand-year-old king. But Li Qingchen's eyelids jumped directly in anger, and he scolded: "Why didn't you say such an important military matter earlier? ”

Li Qingchen's anger did not frighten Li Kui, but it scared Master Lu half to death, and he sat on the ground with a puff, unable to speak, if he could say it, there were only three words that could express Master Lu's mood at this moment - wronged! Li Qingchen looked at Master Lu angrily, and said impatiently: "I didn't say anything about you." ”

Of course, Li Kui knew that Li Qingchen was not dissatisfied with Master Lu, because the little eunuch was not worthy of angering the dignified privy envoy at all.

"Teacher, the test gun will be tomorrow at the earliest, and it's really too late today. I don't care about this half-time guy. Li Kui slowly found a piece of paper, wiped the mutton fat on his hands, and then took out a request document that had been written a long time ago, waiting for Li Qingchen to look at it. After the latter saw it, he said to Li Kui: "Don't be so troublesome, the old man will come tomorrow." ”

"Hey-" Li Kui secretly glanced at Master Lu, and then looked at Li Qingchen, and said carefully: "Teacher, the experiment may not be successful!" ”

"You've used them all on the battlefield, so why aren't the artillery made by the Ministry of Engineering not necessarily successful? You play sloppy here with the old man, is it useful? I warn you, it won't be this cannon that you casually said, and if so, the old man will never spare you! Li Qingchen warned.

Li Kui hurriedly denied: "How can it? Mainly in the Northwest, any student can toss. But this is in the capital, everything must be foolproof. I'm learning from you to be pragmatic! ”

"Less swearing." Li Qingchen angrily pointed to Li Kui at the door of the Privy Council and said, "Outside the old Zheng Gate tomorrow, I will wait for the old man at the hour." ”

Li Qingchen became angry as he spoke, and his pragmatic style was simply ironic. Because he was not familiar with military affairs, the Privy Council was now quite inefficient. Don't look at the many articles he has written on how to rectify the military strength and improve the combat strength, it is all on paper. If you really want to do it, there are so many things that you can't start at all. It is frustrating that the efficiency of the Privy Council is slow.

But this is also a helpless thing, Li Qingchen also wants to run the Privy Council vigorously, but the problem is that he needs to ask his subordinates and find past records in many very military affairs to have a safe way. This makes the Privy Council particularly procrastinating.

Li Kui didn't care about being scolded, but just reminded: "Teacher, you have to tell the big camp about this, so as not to be unprepared when you get it." ”

"You don't have to worry about that."

Li Kui turned around at this time, stopped suddenly, walked cautiously to Li Qingchen, and asked Li Qingchen in a low voice: "Teacher, this time the student has made a lot of meritorious service, what kind of official will the imperial court promote me?" ”

He also has no scruples and asks whatever comes to mind. The rules of officialdom are only useful to those officials who are in a bad position or follow the rules. Most of the rules of officialdom like him can't be restrained on his head.

Besides, he can't always have a nine-rank county lieutenant on his head to command tens of thousands of troops, right?

This is also too dismissive of military men.

Li Qingchen didn't have the intention to hide it, and said with a bow: "You are the first person in Shaosheng, as soon as the Yuan Chief's verification of military merit documents arrives, your official position will be discussed between the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Hall, considering that you will also act as a supervisor, Your Majesty will call the shots for you, and the dispatch of an observer envoy will not run away." ”

"Observer? A few pins! "There are too many temporary dispatch officers in the Great Song Dynasty, and it is normal for Leng Buding to take out one, and Li Kui has never heard of it.

"Five products."

Li Qingchen shook his head helplessly, Li Kui really heard the five-grade official, he smiled, his mouth couldn't close, he was going to change into a scarlet official robe.

Following.

Beiying Campus.

Not only Li Qingchen came, but Zhang Dian also came, and even Cai Bian, Zeng Bu, and Su Song entered the school field with a young man in their arms. As soon as these men entered, the temple guards took over the guards of the school grounds.

Li Kui turned his head to Master Lu and said, "You have to hit with one shot." ”

"Didn't you hit three shots before?"

Li Kui touched his chin, hesitated for a while, and said, "Push forward a hundred steps, can you guarantee it?" ”

"It's less than a mile to push a hundred steps forward, didn't you say that the range of the cannon is as important as the accuracy?" Master Lu is a technical talent, and his brain is relatively axial. Of course, Li Kui's current official rank is not much bigger than him.

Li Kui said in a deep voice: "I said that one shot must hit, naturally there is a truth that one shot must hit, Your Majesty is here." ”

Master Lu was able to see the privy envoy already smoke from the ancestral tomb in his life, and he didn't think that the emperor would come back, so he was stunned: "That Your Majesty? ”

"Just say this to you, it is cheaper to distribute Salmon Island." Li Kui sneered.

Only then did Master Lu react and tremble: "Is it an official? ”

finally eased up, and then made a lot of determination: "The lower officials listen to you." ”

The emperor is in front of him, if the experiment fails, Li Kui may not be unlucky, but Master Lu will definitely be unlucky. The emperor on the high platform didn't know why, but he found that Li Kui and the others were pushing the cannon farther and farther away from them. Zhao Xu asked Li Qingchen puzzled: "Li Qing, why is this?" ”

"Xu is afraid of disturbing the holy driver." Li Qingchen didn't understand what kind of medicine was sold in Li Kui's gourd. I can only find a casual reason to perfunctory the emperor.

Fortunately, the preparations for the launch were completed.

The launch order is given.

Boom –

After a loud bang, a cloud of fire and smoke, the shells burst out of the chamber and rushed towards an abandoned barn that was the target. It has to be said that luckily, after the barn was hit by shelling, it shook for a while, and the roof of the barn collapsed. The dust was picked up by the air current, turning into a cloud of earthy yellow smoke, and from a visual point of view, the cannon was simply invincible. This kind of movement, as if Li Kui deliberately set up an ambush, even the main owner didn't believe that the cannonball played such a majestic pomp?

After the shock, the emperor was pleasantly surprised, and stopped to get closer to the cannon. Tong Guan understood and asked people to pull the cannon back.

In terms of appearance, the bronze cannon looks better than any bed crossbow. The key is that its value can be seen only by the material.

"Minister Li Kui, Master Lu."

"See Your Majesty, long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

"Aiqing is flat."

Zhao Xu couldn't wait to touch the cannon with his own hands, but the identity of the emperor made him give up this idea of being too Meng Lang reservedly. But the rewards for Li Kui and Master Lu will definitely not be less.

But before that, there was something more important to do, Zhao Xu asked Li Kui: "Aiqing, does the artifact have a name?" ”

"Four-inch artillery. Fires three-pound stone projectiles with an attack range of more than a mile. ”

Li Kui looked up and said blankly. Artillery is naturally classified according to its caliber, or the mass of the projectile fired. You can't all make guns of the same caliber, right?

The loss is that the ammunition has changed from an iron bullet to a stone bullet, and if it is an iron bullet, with such a large caliber, the weight of the projectile will exceed ten catties, and the 600-pound cannon body simply cannot withstand the explosive force of gunpowder pushed by such a weight of shells. But by changing to a stone projectile, it can easily push the projectile a mile away. The projectile weighs only three catties, but no class can withstand the devastation of this weapon, not even a war elephant. It can be said that if this artillery is one-on-one, it can crush any class.

Zhao Xu was not interested in the parameters of the artillery at all, he secretly took out a holy decree, and then handed it to Tong Guan and asked him to read: "...... God bless the Divine Dynasty, and the special artifact to protect the country is - Qin gives the invincible divine power to break the general fire cannon...... Chin this! ”

When Tong Guan finished reading the holy decree, Li Kui trembled, and as the inventor, he was ruthlessly deprived of the naming right of the artillery. The point is that after listening to the new name, he was shocked to find that he could not accurately repeat the name of the artillery official given by the emperor.

What made Li Kui even more speechless was that the emperor had been prepared for a long time, and he didn't know how many nights he hadn't slept before he came up with this broken name.

After Master Lu and Li Kui looked at each other, they decided to call each other. But the emperor's face could not be left unlimited, and he followed Zeng Bu and the others to bow down and congratulate: "Congratulations to Your Majesty on finding the artifact to protect the country!" ”