The prefect actually took the seventh exam?

Song Cai's jaw dropped in shock.

When Zhao Jun came out, he also said that he did not do well in the exam.

As a result, they directly won the seventh place.

This is outrageous.

You must know that those who can get the top 20 in the examination have a great chance of passing the Jinshi examination.

Because it means that they have a high level of knowledge about the imperial examination, it is easier for them to get a high ranking in the Jinshi department.

And generally those who go to the "Book of Filial Piety" are poor students, even if they are lifted, they are all at the end of the list, which is why Song Cai looks directly at the end of the list.

How do you know that although people went to take the "Book of Filial Piety", they went directly to the seventh position, which is really surprising.

It's just that what Song Cai doesn't know is that Zhao Jun's seventh place or the "Book of Filial Piety" exam is poor, and there are a few small mistakes, otherwise the capital of the list may compete.

The main reason is that the proportion of the imperial examination in the Song Dynasty is indeed not high, and it is mainly based on poetry, strategy, and songs.

Zhao Jun's poems, strategies and songs are the best, after all, Fan Zhongyan's poems, Su Shi's fu, his excellent strategic vision, it is difficult not to get the ranking.

If he can memorize the "Analects", "Book of Rites" and "Spring and Autumn", even if he is a Jinshike, as long as there are no more than six scripture and meaning errors, it is not impossible to really enter the vertical arch hall to play with a champion.

Song Cai left from the list in a bit of a daze, although he was very happy to be in the middle of the move, but he couldn't be happy to see that they were all taking the "Book of Filial Piety", but the difference in rankings was so big.

No wonder people are the governors.

Even if you take the "Book of Filial Piety", everyone is in the top ten.

Song Cai could only sigh in his heart.

After coming out of Xingguofang, where the rite house is located, the group will go to the restaurant to celebrate.

Soon at eleven o'clock in the morning, they ate almost breakfast and lunch, and they kept eating and drinking in a nearby restaurant.

At this moment, a carriage, guarded by a hundred or so guards, slowly passed through the streets.

Song Cai happened to be by the window, caught a glimpse of the situation below, recognized that it was Zhao Jun's convoy, and hurriedly said, "I'll go out." Then he hurried downstairs.

The rest of the people were confused, but Song Cai might have something, so everyone didn't care.

At this moment, people are coming and going in the streets and alleys, and the carriage is crowded in the crowd and slowly moving forward, Song Cai is trotting all the way over, and finally catching up when he arrives at the street corner.

When they saw someone approaching, many guards went up to stop them. Fortunately, Song Cai had the waist card given by Zhao Jun, so that he could meet Zhao Jun smoothly.

"Zhiyuan."

Song Cai came over and bowed his hand respectfully.

Zhao Jun saw that it was him, so he smiled and said: "It turned out to be Brother Song, how about it, it seems to be a list today." ”

"Thanks, I'm ranked 376th."

Song Cai was a little embarrassed.

Ranking third from the bottom is really not a glorious thing.

"As long as you can get the lift."

Zhao Jun smiled.

Song Cai said: "Compared with the Zhiyuan, it is still too far behind. ”

"Oh?"

Zhao Jun was surprised: "I won't be hit too." ”

He really didn't pay attention to it.

After all, it was Lu Yijian who fooled him when he went to take the imperial examination.

As early as when he was blind, Lu Yijian and the others brainwashed Zhao Zhen and let Zhao Jun enter the imperial examination.

Now that he has come to his senses, fought hard, and forced Lu Yijian and them to compromise, there is naturally no need to pay attention to the matter of the imperial examination.

"Yes."

Song Cai gestured and said, "The Zhiyuan is in seventh place. ”

"It's pretty high."

Zhao Jun was happy, but he didn't expect that not only did he win, but he was still in the forefront.

But it's normal to think about it carefully, I copied the poems and songs of Fan Zhongyan and Su Shi, plus the strategy, as long as Jingyi is not completely wiped out, this ranking is not high, then the ghost is here.

Song Cai complimented: "The talent of the Zhiyuan Tianzong is naturally not comparable to us ordinary scholars. ”

Zhao Jun looked at the time and said: "There are a lot of compliments, so you should work more and talk less." You came to me, is there something else? ”

Song Cai hurriedly said: "If you go back to the Zhiin, I have a good relationship with the Great Health Saburo during this time, and I have heard a lot of news about Izumo Province and Iwami Province from him, and I have written a book and am about to dedicate it to the Zhiin. ”

As he spoke, he took out a booklet from his bosom and handed it over respectfully.

Zhao Jun took it, casually flipped through it, looked at it for a while, nodded with satisfaction: "You have done a good job, Da Song needs a talent like you, what are you going to do next?" ”

Song Cai said: "The villain knows that he is the material for failing to pass the Jinshi exam, so if he can serve the Zhiyuan, he must go all out." I won't be attending next year's spring, and I'm going to wait until next spring, so I'll go to Izumo and Iwami in person with Nadai Health Saburo in the name of going to Japan to trade. ”

"Well, it's better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books, and it's very good if you have this ambition."

Zhao Jun pondered for a while, and then said: "In this way, from now on, you are the head of the imperial city, and that waist card is your identity." When you are going to Japan in the future, you will transfer a group of people from the Imperial City Division to be stationed in Japan and become the Japanese branch of the Imperial City Division. When you arrive in the local area, you must find out the situation. ”

"Thank you."

Song Cai knew that he had made the right move, and he immediately became excited.

Although Zhao Jun gave him a waist card last time, he didn't give him an identity. Now he plans to go to Japan in person, and sure enough, he is being taken seriously.

He knew that his ability was afraid that he would not be able to pass the Jinshi, even if he took the name of a person, he was no different from ordinary people, and his future was still bleak.

But now it's different when it comes to Zhao Jun's thighs.

Although it is a military position, Xia Zhu is also a civilian job transferred from a military position. With Zhao Jun's power, if he can do his errands well, maybe he can also be a civilian official in the future?

Thinking of this, Song Cai bowed his hand again and again, and said excitedly: "The villain will definitely not live up to the trust of the Zhiyuan." ”

"Hmm."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "The most important thing when you go to another country is your own safety, everything is based on investigating information, don't put yourself in danger." ”

"Yes, yes, yes."

"Go ahead."

"Thank you."

Song Cai happily took a few steps back, stood respectfully to the side, and watched the carriage leave.

The carriage moved slowly in the direction of the outer city.

In the car, Zhao Jun looked at the booklet given by Song Cai.

He had a little time at noon today, so he planned to go to the Outer City Yuan Guangbei Siege Bureau and the current Firearms Division to have a look.

Zeng Gongliang Ding Wei expired, has been transferred back to the DPRK and China, and now serves as the Quanzhi Firearms Department, specifically responsible for the research and development of firearms equipment.

In the past, Zhao Jun pointed out the direction of research and development for him, and secondly, he also took a look at the research and development of firearms in the Song Dynasty.

Unexpectedly, he met Song Cai again on the road and gave him a big gift.

At present, Zhao Jun has gained a firm foothold in Bianliang.

Down, a large number of underworld forces such as Sanssouci Cave and Ghost Fan Tower were cleared, and corrupt officials in Kaifeng Mansion were swept up, and Han Yi and Liu Yuanyu were also defeated by the imperial court.

The rest of the Yushi, Sanya, Sansi, Liubu, and Privy Council also arrested a lot, as well as the Han family, the Ma family and other prime ministers' families were also destroyed, which can be said to have done a lot of great things.

There are also a lot of supporters in the officialdom, and basically the opposition is dancing happily, and there is nothing they can do about him, and Zhao Junzhiyuan's position has been as stable as Mount Tai.

But doing these things just makes Bianliang better.

Now the entire Great Song Dynasty is still in a stormy stage, the land annexation in various places is serious, and the people are not able to make a living.

Therefore, he planned to go out of Beijing next year, starting from the basis of seeking truth from facts, to inspect the situation in various places, investigate the grassroots level, and look for problems in various parts of the Great Song Dynasty.

It just so happens that Fan Zhongyan will also go to the northwest next year, and Song Cai will go to Japan, so that the three lines are parallel.

Zhao Jun dealt with the issue of local land annexation in various parts of the Great Song Dynasty, Fan Zhongyan dealt with the issue of national defense in the northwest, and Song Cai looked for the issue of foreign exchange in Japan.

The carriage moved forward slowly, crossed the Cai River, and arrived at the West Street, near the west of Yanzhen Temple, is a large courtyard covering a magnificent area, the outside is all surrounded by walls, larger than a square city.

Here is the east workshop and Wanquan workshop of Bianliang, which has the armor office, the imperial front military weapons office, the manufacturing weapons office and the capital courtyard, etc., is the place where the weapons are manufactured, Di Qing's later house is near here, opposite the west teaching workshop to the west, and it is the home of the Empress Wencheng Zhang in history.

After arriving at the East Workshop, the carriage was hung with the sign of the Constitutional Academy, and it entered it unimpeded, and when it arrived outside the original Guangbei Siege Bureau, which has now been renamed the Firearms Division, Zeng Gongliang had already received the news and went out to greet him.

"Xiaguan Zeng Gongliang, I have seen the prefect."

Zhao Jun got out of the carriage, and Zeng Gongliang, who was wearing a red robe, stepped forward and saluted.

Zeng Gongliang was only a secretary from the seventh rank before Ding Wei, but although his career was slow, his qualifications were relatively old, and he was a jinshi in the second year of Tiansheng, and he was in the same department as Song Zhen.

And Song Zhen is already a doctor from the right of the fourth grade, and he has a pivotal position in the platform, but Zeng Gongliang, who is on the same list, is still up and down in the seventh or eighth grade.

After Zeng Gongliang was recalled to Beijing this time, Cai Qi promoted him to the position of the political capital and the director of the firearms department.

The firearms department is a dispatch, and the political capital is a sent official, which belongs to the subordinate officials of the political system, and is the fifth grade.

Now Zeng Gongliang is also wearing a crimson robe.

Zhao Jun looked him up and down, he was a middle-aged man in his forties, with an elegant face, so he nodded and said, "Mr. Mingzhong's name, I have heard of it, and I heard that you have a wide range of knowledge and are good at ordnance. ”

Zeng Gongliang said with a smile: "I used to read a lot of miscellaneous books, but I didn't expect that for this reason, the imperial court would let me be in charge of the Firearms Division." ”

At this time, it was still three years before he and Ding Du co-authored "The General Essentials of the Martial Arts", but before that, Zeng Gongliang had accumulated a lot of ordnance knowledge, so that he could write the famous military work.

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Firearms are the development direction of future weapons, and in the future, the Great Song Dynasty must move forward towards this trend, and the Firearms Division must develop better firearms." ”

"Yes."

Zeng Gongliang nodded, stretched out his hand and said, "Please take a look at the courtyard." ”

Zhao Jun followed him into the Firearms Division.

When you enter the inside, you will be greeted by a strong smell of saltpeter, but the yard is very clean, and there is no clutter.

All the way through the courtyard of the hall in front, to the workshop in the back, you can see a large number of craftsmen making firearms in various wooden huts and sheds.

There are all kinds of medicines and ores in it, and the craftsmen get what they want by burning, beating, distilling, etc., and then mix these things together, put them together, and turn them into a small ball.

Zeng Gongliang introduced them one by one: "Zhiyuan, this is a fireball, this is a smoke ball, this is an iron-billed fire harrier, this is a bamboo fire harrier"

He said more than a dozen kinds of firearms in one breath, all of which are recorded in the "General Essentials of the Martial Arts", but there are no assault rifles and artillery, because these two things were invented in the Southern Song Dynasty, one is in the period of Song Xiaozong, and the other is in the period of Song Lizong.

Moreover, the power of the assault rifle and artillery is not great, especially the assault rifle, which is made of bamboo, which is basically a disposable product, and the arquebus in the Ming and Qing dynasties is a backward product.

After Zhao Jun saw these firearms, he said as he walked: "What is the gunpowder ratio of this fireball?" ”

Zeng Gongliang said: "There are 14 taels of sulfur, 7 taels of wohuang, 40 taels of nitrate, 14 taels of pine resin, arsenic, powder, yellow dan, dry lacquer, bamboo ru, hemp ru, yellow wax, tung oil, concentrated oil, clear oil and so on. ”

"It's too miscellaneous, it affects the power."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "What I want is pure gunpowder, and in the future, to produce gunpowder, one catty of gunpowder should contain 12 taels of saltpeter, 1.6 taels of sulfur, and 2.4 taels of charcoal, understand?" ”

This ratio is the best proportion of black powder in later generations, that is, 75% saltpeter, 10% sulfur, and 15% charcoal.

Hearing his words, Zeng Gongliang thought about it and summoned a craftsman to give an order.

The craftsman went into the shed, and carefully took out the saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal with his scales, and mixed them together into a black mass of black ash.

"Chiji!"

The craftsman walked over with the black ash in his hand.

Zeng Gongliang asked Zhao Jun: "Zhiyuan, is this pure gunpowder?" ”

"Hmm."

Zhao Jun looked over, thought for a while, and said, "Get some more egg whites." ”

"Yes."

Zeng Gongliang asked people to find eggs.

A moment later someone took a bowl with egg whites in it.

Zhao Jun instructed: "Pour the egg whites into them, mix them together, and knead them into granules." ”

Granulated?

The craftsman didn't understand, but he knew what it meant to mix, so he simply put the handful of gunpowder in a bowl and stirred it.

A moment later, a large amount of granular black powder appeared.

"Zhiyuan, it's done."

Zeng Gongliang looked at the granular gunpowder in the bowl and said.

"Use it to make fireballs, test your power, and remember not to mess with anything, just put some pieces of iron."

"Okay."

Zeng Gongliang responded.

The processes in the workshop are ready-made, and the craftsmen directly use the method of thunderbolt fireballs to make a small clay pot with a lead on it.

It is recorded in the "General Essentials of the Martial Arts" that this thing is used to put it on a catapult, ignite it and throw it into the city and then explode, and the power mainly comes from the clay pot outside that breaks and hurts people.

Soon the thunderbolt fireball was ready, there was a school field in front, Zhao Jun asked people to take a few scarecrows and put them in the middle of the clay pot, and then let people light the clay pot and leave quickly.

The experiment's craftsman did just that.

At this moment, on the school field, the winter wind was blowing in the afternoon, the sky was gloomy, Zhao Jun, Zeng Gongliang and others were standing in the distance, and the rest of the officials accompanying them were also watching the excitement.

A craftsman placed the clay pot on the school yard in the distance, surrounded by several scarecrows, the lead drawn extremely long—Zhao Jun specially ordered.

When everything was placed, he lit the fuse with a fire breaker, and then immediately ran away.

Fortunately, the lead was long, and the craftsman ran out of a hundred meters.

He looked back.

Almost at the moment of turning back, the thunderbolt fireball exploded!

"Bang!"

With the sound of an explosion several times louder than the usual thunderbolt fireball, countless dust and dust exploded on the spot in an instant.

Even from a distance of 100 meters, the craftsman could feel a wave of dust rushing towards his face.

"What's going on, did the earth dragon turn over?"

"It sounds like it's from the school grounds."

"What's wrong, go and see."

Many craftsmen in the rear workshop were startled when they heard this loud noise, and they put down their work and ran over to watch.

At this time, the straw men around the school field had been blown to pieces.

Ceramic fragments were even embedded in the ground half a foot!

Zeng Gongliang and the others opened their mouths wide and looked at all this in disbelief.

Only Zhao Jun smiled with satisfaction.

It is believed that the granular grenade of pure gunpowder will definitely give a big surprise to the Western Xia and the Liao State.

The last chapter was indeed a little watery, but the important plot promotion of this chapter can't still be water. I just came back from the hospital in a bad state, and I won't be able to water in the future

(End of chapter)