A week later, when Zhu Wenkui came to the school field outside the capital, Guo Kang was waiting for him outside the door.

This training ground was originally in the city. The castle had already declined, the originally prosperous city was sparsely populated, and there was a large open space within the walls of Theodosius, not to mention finding an empty space as a training ground, and even farming in the city.

But now, as the population of the city gradually increases, the training ground has to be moved. Especially Guo Kang likes firearms, and always wants to move the whole thing. The people in the city were so unbearable that everyone could only invite him and his messy little inventions outside.

As soon as the two met, Zhu Wenkui hurriedly said hello, and couldn't wait to take out a small iron part and show it to Guo Kang: "This is the connector you said last time, I thought about it, it is better to change the structure, so I adjusted the design and found someone to help me type it." How about you take a look? ”

"So fast?" Guo Kang was a little surprised. He took the iron tool and looked back and forth: "This surface is really good, how did you make it?" ”

"The master you looked for before was a related household recommended by the guild, and his craftsmanship was terrible." Zhu Wenkui shook his head unhappily: "I can't stand it, so I just go on my own." You see, I grind better than he does. ”

"That's ......," Guo Kang didn't know what to say for a while.

The guild organization does have the problem of suppressing newcomers and monopolizing positions, but there is no shortage of people who have seen the world in the Khan's court today, and if they want to occupy this position, they still have some ability. The previous Greek master, not to mention the craftsmanship, is not exquisite, at least it is the local top level, which is not bad.

Guo Kang suspects that there are other reasons.

"Is it because their tools don't work, or maybe there's something wrong?" He asked.

"There may be problems." Zhu Wenkui thought about it and analyzed: "I see that the quality of the grinding wheels they use to polish parts is not good. ”

"The so-called grinding wheel can be understood as a disc-shaped whetstone that rotates at high speed." He explained to Guo Kang: "Actually, this is a very ancient thing, and some people used it in the pre-Qin period. I also specifically checked the information, and said that the Greeks also invented this kind of thing very early, and it was the first to popularize it in the capital. ”

"I think this thing should be very mature." He shook his head: "I didn't expect it to be so rude to this day." ”

"The Greeks have been beaten back and forth for hundreds of years by people from all walks of life, and there is no way to regress technology. There is at least one more city on this side, and when we regain Athens, it will be a den of bandits. Guo Kang excused the Greeks.

"In the beginning, the 'Greek homeland' of Athens and the Moreana area was a place where some Western European mercenary groups fought with pirates and warlords from all walks of life. The Khan's court had no interest in it at all, and felt that it was too poor. ”

Later, when the Empress Dowager Helena came to power, she insisted that recovering her homeland would help increase the legitimacy of the Purple Horde. Later, she sent her troops to blast away the Catholic warlords there, and then ran there herself, and did everything possible to subdue the Greek stockades in the mountains—these 'descendants of Socrates and Aristotle' were already more barbaric than the Slavs on the northern plains. ”

"A few days ago, I heard a Greek teacher talk about that place, and that Athens was once a little overlord of the sea." Zhu Wenkui also sighed with emotion: "Looking at it this way, it's really a big regression." ”

"yes." Guo Kang nodded and said, "So, if there is any problem, don't blame others." You see what tools need to be improved, and just ask the assistant to tell me. If I can find it, I'll find you a better one; If you can't find it, I'll try to get you some more money, and we'll do it ourselves. ”

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to make you spend a little more." Zhu Wenkui immediately complained: "Although I am not a craftsman, I have been a little interested in these instruments since I was a child. Their craftsmanship is not bad in one place, but not everywhere. ”

"Look." He pointed to the polished surface: "This place, it seems that it is just a grinding technique, in fact, I took a look, it is their grinding wheel, which is not round enough, I don't know how it was recognized as qualified." Moreover, the shaft of the rotating grinding wheel is not straight enough, and it will bounce back and forth when grinding, how can this be used? ”

"It's not okay to fix the shaft for him, because the entire drive device is a shoddy product made of wood, and it's normal for this thing to run and be unstable." He spread his hands: "If you look at it like this, it looks like there is something wrong with the whole workshop." ”

"If you really want to make a batch of compliant parts, instead of having to grind every one of them, I guess you have to build a new workshop from scratch." He threw the parts to Guo Kang again: "There may be more than one workshop." The other workshops that provided the components to this workshop had to start all over again according to higher requirements. You see, it's going to cost a lot. ”

"It doesn't matter, my family has a lot of money, I'll just figure it out." Guo Kang generously said: "Please go to the workshop to supervise the construction when the prince is free." It's tiring over there. ”

In his heart, he had already thought of a plan.

When he was tinkering with the steam shrine before, his stepmother thought that he was not good at studying, and he was not willing to give money because he was doing crooked things every day, so he persuaded the Wang Da Lama, who was good at magic tricks and had a good eye in this area, to obtain a special investment from the church on the grounds of demonstrating miracles.

And this time, it's not difficult. If Zhu Wenkui is brought in, he can directly ask the Great Khan's family for money in the name of diplomatic spending.

The expenses of the Purple Horde Khan were also divided into the private accounts of the Great Khan and the public accounts of the imperial court. In normal times, the expenses for entertaining guests and sending envoys are basically public accounts. And when it comes to rewards, gifts, banquets, etc., even if the Great Khan pays for the treat out of his own pocket, it is counted in his private account.

In the private account, there are some confidential fees that are very flexible and are called "grape money".

This is not for the sake of greed and profit, but for the sake of the situation.

In the early years, the kingdom of Aidenbey in western Asia Minor decided to pay tribute to the Purple Horde, and Bey personally came to Dadu and was warmly received by the Great Khan.

However, when he returned, the Ottomans sent spies to infiltrate the capital, obtained accurate accounts and transportation records from the merchants who sold wine, and found that Bey not only drank at banquets and mansions, but also bought a large number to bring back.

Osman used this to accuse the Aydin dynasty of violating the Shari'ah and called on everyone to go to jihad against him.

Aiden's Bey was not easy to mess with, he sent people, and soon found the handle of the Karamans in eastern Asia Minor.

It turned out that Karamanbey not only drank heavily during his visit to the court of the Purple Horde, but also had an incident: shortly after their feast, the Great Khan John Syrah died of illness. Folklore has it that the Great Khan was actually drunk to death.

So, why only hit yourself? With so many Turkic princes, he didn't believe that anyone hadn't done it. Have the ability to check one by one, one by one, and see who can hide.

As Hamid achieved the "wine bondage", which was a deterrent to the other Beys, everyone quickly agreed to work together to prevent the Ottomans from sending troops and not to let things get bigger.

Karaman was a large local power, and with the help of business contacts, Bey soon learned that Osman himself was even worse: he hadn't been to the Purple Tent lately, and he hadn't left any accounts. But the court merchants there regularly had to cross the sea to the Crimea to buy fine wine from the Venetian dealers. Counting it, they consumed it quite quickly, more than the other Beys.

After Karaman announced the news, Osman was also very embarrassed. In the end, they had to negotiate and decided not to condemn each other on this ground, and at the same time sent a letter to the Purple Horde Khan, asking them to control their subordinates more strictly and not to make big news all day long.

The Purple Horde had no choice but to accept. After that, there was no record of this part of the wine purchase in the Khan's account book, but it was collectively referred to as "grape money", which indicated the entertainment expenses. When purchasing, I also look for a familiar businessman who is tight-lipped, and secretly buys it for other reasons.

Giving Zhu Wenkui a workshop is also considered a diplomatic reception, so this part of the funds only needs to find the queen to nod, and then ask the Grand Treasurer Otrifus to give money. Theodora is much easier to talk to than her stepmother, and it is certainly not difficult to ask for money through her.

After thinking of a way, Guo Kang accepted the parts and asked Zhu Wenkui to visit with him.