Badomin came out of the house in a state of misery, and the first breath of air filled with the smell of soot. When I looked up and swept south, I saw the towering chimney dragging out billowing black smoke.

Something unknown is undergoing in this ancient empire that is catching everyone off guard. Bardomin belonged to the Society of Jesus, but his missionary career was hit hard like never before. Because some fools took the Pope's will and went to Jinling to preach privately, which directly touched the bottom line of His Majesty the Emperor Dashun.

So, forbidden! God, it doesn't get any worse than that!

He muttered vaguely, tidied up the Erliang Chaoguan above his head, exhaled a breath of white mist, and walked towards the door of the house. As a winter official, his salary was pitifully low, and he could not afford to hire a private carriage, so he could only hire a mule cart to travel to and from the inner and outer cities every day.

Then a novelty two-wheeled rickshaw stopped in front of him. The coachman was originally full of smiles, but when he saw his Xiyi face, he suddenly smiled, frowned, and said, "Qin Tianjian fifty wen, can you go?" ”

"Let's go."

Bardomin quickly got into the rickshaw. The empire is full of outsiders' arrogance, and the prostitutes, coachmen, and even servants here are reluctant to have too much contact with the guys with the face of Xiyi. Usually, Badomin takes a mule cart and always has to pay dozens of cents more than others.

From the outer city to the inner city, it only costs fifty yuan? Cheaper than ever!

Sitting on the rickshaw, Badomin felt that this rickshaw ran a lot less bumpy than the mule cart, so he made up his mind to take the rickshaw as much as possible in the future, so that he could save at least two taels of silver every month.

The rickshaw entered the inner city, and seeing that it was turning in the direction of the imperial city, Ba Dominion immediately said in a stiff official voice: "No, no, no, on the other side, I want to go to Guangji Temple." ”

The coachman secretly scolded 'Xiyi is a lot of things', turned around in place, headed to the northwest of the inner city, and arrived at Guangji Temple in a short time, Ba Duoming paid the fare happily, and then went to a teahouse opposite Guangji Temple.

Before entering the door, Badomin took out his pocket watch and looked at the time, the hour hand pointed exactly right, but he was not sure. The watch was always a quarter of an hour behind each day, and he had just forgotten the right time this morning.

As soon as he entered the door, an arrogant servant who liked to look at people with nostrils sneered and said, "Why did you come?" My uncle is impatient. ”

Badomin couldn't argue, so he could only smile and say, "Good food is not afraid of being late." ”

The servant snorted twice and led Bardomin to the private room on the second floor.

Bypassing the screen, Badomin saw that the noble boy was unhurriedly tapping the beat with his fingers, and in the corner, the old man was playing the lute, and a young girl in her early ten years old was singing: "...... Deserted and embroidered households, delicate people, how can they not help the wind and rain. Hello, sorrowful jackdaw, whispering Binhong—"

Badomin came to the noble prince and said, "Master Jia—"

Jia Rong raised her hand to stop: "If you have something to say, you might as well say it later." ”

Bardo sulked brightly and secretly, again! The nobles of Dashun are even more arrogant than the barbarians of the British Isles, and the barbarians of the British Isles will at most talk about the weather for a quarter of an hour before turning to the topic, but the nobles of Dashun always like to talk about the boundless nonsense of the first half of the hour before turning to the topic.

It's a waste of time! And time is exactly what Bardomin lacks.

Fortunately, other Jesuit missionaries were running around in Beijing, and His Majesty the Emperor dispelled the idea of completely expelling the missionaries in Beijing. But time is running out for Bardomin!

The defeat of the Dzungars made His Majesty the Tsar very interested in the new equipment of Dashun, and he offered a price that Bardomin could not refuse, and he had to get the exact information before February, and then cross the deserted Siberia to receive the rich reward.

Therefore, Ba Duoming took a deep breath and said solemnly: "Master Jia, I think we should get down to business." ”

Jia Rong sneered and casually pushed the paper in front of him in front of Badomin.

Badomin sat down on his own, picked up the paper and looked at it carefully. There was a machine drawn in pencil on it, and Bado was not a little accomplished, and it took him a quarter of an hour to see what it was.

The girl who sang won the reward, and Jia Rong took the opportunity to touch her hands, forced a smile and hurriedly left with her father. Jia Rong took a sip of tea, and seeing that Ba Duoming was still watching, she couldn't help but say, "Ba Dong Guanzheng, how does this look like?" ”

This is supposed to be a raw wool blending machine, what a genius idea, the Earl of Lee actually thought of blending cotton and wool together, if the proportions were different, it would definitely get a different fabric.

Bardomin had already realized the value of this thing, but he put down the paper unhurriedly, frowned and said, "Please forgive me for being straightforward, this thing doesn't see much use. ”

Jia Rong's face changed: "Is Ba Dongguan playing with me?" ”

Badomin hurriedly changed his words: "However, I am willing to pay a hundred taels of silver for this drawing." ”

Jia Rong was annoyed, and said, "Three hundred taels!" ”

Badomin hurriedly shook his head: "It's too much, I can't afford it...... Up to two hundred taels. ”

Jia Rong snorted coldly and was speechless. The servant on the side said, "Lord Ba, there is another one down there." ”

"I'll just look at it."

Bardomin pulled out the paper below, looked at it carefully, and then looked at it more and more excitedly. This drawing depicts the locking mechanism of a firearm, the principle is not complicated, and what really surprised Bardomin was the shape of the bullet. Ammunition for fixed loading is nothing new, Europe is using it, and Dashun is also using it.

The novelty is that Count Lee seems to want to completely wrap the bullets and gunpowder in the packaging shell of the fixed ammunition, so that he no longer has to worry about the invasion of wind and rain. The question is, how is such a bullet triggered? And the firing pin drawn on the picture seems to be triggered by this thing, Bado thought secretly, could it be a firing pin made of flint?

It didn't seem right, flint was too fragile to withstand repeated impacts over a long period of time.

The Earl is known as the god of the East, and has the magical ability to turn stones into gold. Although the drawings were incomplete, Bardomin was convinced that the Earl would not do useless work—there must be something new that he didn't know about, perhaps on bullets?

Thinking of this, Bardomin put down the paper and said in a deep voice: "This drawing is very useful, but it's a pity...... It's not complete. If Jia Gongzi can get the complete drawings, I am willing to pay a thousand taels of silver for it. After a pause, seeing Jia Rong's noncommittal face, Ba Duoming shrugged his shoulders and said, "Now, it's only worth twenty taels." ”

Jia Rong sneered, grabbed a piece of paper with her hand, and then tore it to shreds: "It was originally left over from the surname Li, where can I find the full picture for you?" Since it's not worth much, let's just settle the two hundred taels first. ”

Ba Duoming came prepared and counted out two hundred taels of silver tickets, and Jia Rong got the silver tickets, and then spilled his hands away. After Jia Rong led the servants away, Ba Domin hurriedly collected the shredded paper and carefully put it together......

……………………………………………………

Lee House.

In the study, Xiangling pulled Qingwen, Qingwen's eyes were red and she was annoyed again: "Fourth master-"

Li Weijian waved his hand and smiled: "It's all said, it has nothing to do with you." It was I who made the decision to let Lai Shangwen come to the house, and now I don't know if he did it, but you are in a hurry and your eyes are red. ”

The words are like this, but the Li family has always been simple, and most of the servants hired are natives of Beijing, and they have carefully listened to the neighbors before hiring, and those who love to take advantage and chew their wives' tongues are not used. The previous two years were safe, but Lai Shangwen came here for more than 20 days, what did Qingwen think?

At this time, Fu Qiufang, Hongyu, and Xiuying also came, swept in, and hurriedly asked, "Master, what's wrong?" ”

Li Weijian said with a gloomy face: "The picture I drew some time ago is gone. ”

"Huh? What does it matter? ”

Li Weijian only bowed slightly, but did not speak.

In Su Ri, even before the expedition, his master was calm and light, and he had never been so gloomy. Fu Qiufang's heart sank, and it was expected that the picture must be extremely important.

I heard Li Weijian say: "If ordinary people get it, I'm afraid it's useless." But if Xiyi gets it, I'm afraid that it will definitely harm my Dashun in the coming day. After a pause, he said, "That's my newly conceived firebolt." ”

When it comes to weapons, there is no trivial matter!

Fu Qiufang glanced at Qingwen and said solemnly: "Don't talk about it now, there is a thief in this family, and you must find out clearly." ”

Li Weijian bowed his head and said: "Send people and gather all the people in the family." ”

Hongyu was very eye-catching, and immediately took the order and left.

After a while, the housekeepers and the housekeepers' daughters-in-law gathered their subordinates near the Yimen, and everyone was at a loss, muttering and muttering unclear why. That Lai Shangwen hid in the crowd, his head bowed, his heart pounding, and secretly prayed to the Buddhas in the sky, begging that the old man would not find the clue.

He was already leading the errand in the study, and a few days ago, he was afraid to steal a piece of paper, but it was useless after giving it to Jia Rong. was ridiculed by Jia Rong, and urged to steal again.

The next day, he stole a piece of paper, and it was unknown what was drawn on the paper, this time Jia Rong was extremely satisfied and gave Lai Shangwen fifty taels of silver.

Lai Shangwen succeeded repeatedly, and his courage became bigger and bigger, he stole the new-style fire gun diagram yesterday, and found a way to meet Jia Rong, but now he doesn't know if that thing is useless, and he was gathered by the big housekeeper Wu Haiping.

Lai Shangwen's heart was beating hard, and he became more and more uneasy, seeing that Wu Hai was about to come over, he hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Chief Manager, what is the matter with this aunt?" ”

Wu Haiping was also kept in the dark, because he frowned and said: "It's hard to say, just listen to it when the time comes." Why, you can't stay? ”

Lai Shangwen smiled shyly: "I ate bad stomach in the morning, and some of my stomach was ......."

"Bear with it!"

Lai Shangwen was about to say more, but saw that the crowd was silent. Wu Haiping caught a glimpse of Li Weijian and Fu Qiufang arriving together, and hurriedly whispered: "Pull your pants and let Lao Tzu endure it!" ”

Dropping a word, Wu Haiping hurriedly greeted him.

After a few words, Wu Haiping glanced back at Lai Shangwen in surprise, Lai Shangwen chuckled in his heart, and he was done!

Sure enough, I heard Wu Haiping say loudly: "Let's disperse the outer courtyard, the maids, mothers-in-law, and little maids in the inner courtyard are all left, who of you have been to the master's study in the past few days, and moved the master's picture, while the matter has not made a big fuss, hurry up and recognize it yourself." ”

A group of maids and mothers-in-law looked at each other, but no one answered. Lai Shangwen stiffened his neck, secretly thinking in his heart, and now he can only carry it to the end.

"No one admits it? Okay, then don't worry about me asking one by one. Wu Hai said calmly, and whispered a few words with his wife Qian Xue, and Qian Xue nodded: "Cui'er, you have always taken care of the second courtyard to sprinkle and sweep, have outsiders entered the master's study in the past few days?" ”

A maid hurriedly walked out of Liefu and said: "Back to Sister Qianxue, I have only seen Lai Shangwen and Sister Bitong enter the master's study. ”

Qian Xue hurriedly looked at Fu Qiufang, and Fu Qiufang clicked on Bitong: "When did you go to the master's study?" ”

Bi Tong said in a half-baked official voice: "Three days ago. My aunt sent me to bring ginseng tea to my lord. ”

saw Li Weijian shaking his head and said: "No, that picture was only drawn in the past two days, not Bitong." ”

Bitong breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly bent down.

Without the instructions of others, Wu Haiping twisted his eyebrows and looked at Lai Shangwen: "Lai Shangwen, what do you say?" ”

Lai Shangwen shrank his neck and shouted to hit the sky: "The big manager, master, the little one is wronged." The study is small and well maintained, but the little one has never been diligent, and he has never taken anything from the old man—"

"Linghun said!" Suddenly, a woman pointed at Lai Shangwen's nose and said, "Are you blind when you are a big guy?" That day, I saw with my own eyes that you took away the master's lake pen, and I deduced that the lake pen was broken. Bah! But if it is damaged, where is it broken? ”

Another old man said: "Master, when I was patrolling at night, I saw Lai Shangwen and others hiding in the side garden to gamble!" ”

Li Weijian sighed, paced forward and said: "Lai Shangwen, master, I ask myself if I treat you well, if you are interested, you might as well tell the truth, and you can also be lightly dismissed." ”

"This ...... Master, although there is something wrong with the little one, he has never taken that picture. ”

Li Weijian nodded with a smile, and when he turned to pass by Wu Haiping's side, he said softly: "It seems that it is not possible to fight without fighting." ”

Wu Haiping's brother and sister were the first to follow Li Weijian's side, asking themselves about their merits and hard work, and even their sisters got in, and they have always regarded the Li family as their own family, how can such thieves be allowed to commit murder?

Because he immediately rolled up his arms and sleeves, he ordered two servants and said, "Bring this thief to me!" ”

Lai Shangwen shouted: "Why? The old man is unfair, and he didn't get the evidence, why should he say that he took it small? ”

Li Weijian would talk to such a smash, just stared at it without saying a word. But seeing Wu Haiping pick up the stick, the two servants had already seen that Lai Shangwen was not pleasing to the eye, kicked the back of the knee, took off his pants to hold his arm, and listened to the sound of the stick hanging in the wind, and pulled it over with a buzz.

Smack-

"Ahh

Ten winter wax moon, a stick down is a bloody purlin, Wu Haiping was born in a family, and he knows how to fight so that it hurts and does not hurt his muscles and bones. The sticks crackled and crackled, and more than a dozen sticks went down to open the skin and flesh, Lai Shangwen is not a good man, where can he eat like this?

When Wu Haiping raised the stick high again, Lai Shangwen hurriedly shouted: "Don't fight, don't fight, it's a small move!" ”

Smack-

"Ah......h

Wu Haiping squatted in front of Lai Shangwen viciously: "Say, don't say that I will send you to see the king of Hades today!" ”

Lai Shangwen snorted and tears, and said intermittently: "Yes...... It was Uncle Rong of Ningguo Mansion who instructed the small one to steal, and the little one didn't listen at first, so Uncle Rong called someone to beat the small one, and forced the little one to sign an IOU of one thousand taels. ”

Li Weijian stiffened his face, secretly happy in his heart, such a villain, but if he can pass the buck to others, he will never admit it by himself. That's good, just as he wants.

Because he spoke: "Put him in the firewood room, watch carefully, and you can't let him get away under any circumstances." ”

Wu Haiping patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, even if the heavenly soldiers come to the future, they can't take it away, and if something happens, the master will take a small responsibility." ”

Li Weijian bowed his head, and immediately said: "Prepare the car, go to Ning Guofu!" ”

The Ding brothers hurriedly ordered someone to prepare the car, and hurried towards Ning Guofu with Li Weijian.

But he said that Hu Ledger heard a lot of movement in the inner house, and couldn't help but be restless. checked the account books indiscriminately, and suddenly saw Wu Haining passing by, and hurriedly came out and grabbed him and asked, "Little brother, what's going on here?" ”

"Tsk, there's a thief."

"Oh?"

Wu Haining said: "Some time ago, the lord was instructed by the prince to try to make a new type of firebolt when he was ready to prepare for the year, this firebolt is very powerful, not afraid of wind and rain. As a result, the picture was drawn, and the next day there was no shadow. I just checked, but it was Lai Shangwen who stole it. ”

Hu Ledger said: "Lai Shangwen? What's the use of him stealing that picture? ”

Wu Haining pouted and said, "It was said that it was instructed by Uncle Rong of Ningguo Mansion...... Tsk, we all know that our lord is the God of Wealth, I'm afraid I want to get an idea, so I can get rich when I turn around? Oh yes, my aunt just ordered, the matter involves Ning Guofu, and this matter is not easy to spread. If you are related to your family, the old man will go to Ningguo Mansion this time, and I don't know what the situation is. If it's not good, it's going to have to be broken. ”

After some chatter, Wu Haining went. Hu Shufang blinked, and his heart couldn't help but be moved. It's not easy, King Zhongshun sent him to find Li Weijian's handle, but he has gained nothing for two years, and now isn't this a handle?

Hu Shufang couldn't sit still anymore, so he looked for Wu Haiping to ask for leave, and hurriedly went to Zhongshun Palace.

The Zhongshun Mansion is in the northwest of the inner city, not far from the Li family, and before Li Weijian arrived at the Ningguo Mansion, the Hu account room arrived at the Zhongshun Palace.

It was not more than noon, and Hu Ledger said eagerly, Changshi did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly sent someone to invite King Zhongshun to come.

But at a moment, King Zhongshun yawned and looked at Hu Ledger with frowns: "What's the urgency?" ”

Hu Ledger said happily: "Lord, the little one has got the handle!" ”

"Oh? Come on! ”

The stock exchange did not lose less, and after that, the eight major salt merchants were uprooted, and King Zhongshun cut off his wealth, knowing that he could not provoke King Zhongyong and Yan Xiyao, so he hated Li Weijian so much. I wish I could get the handle to wipe out the family surnamed Li.

After the hut room finished chattering, King Zhongshun suddenly frowned again, and thought about it: "This matter...... It doesn't have much to do with the surname Li, right? ”

Hu Shufang bowed his head and was silent.

However, the Jia family is also the enemy of the loyal king, because it is the loyal and obedient king, and said: "The Jia family is really not a weapon, and the stealing is all stolen to the relatives' houses?" ”

As he spoke, he looked at Changshi and said, "What is the crime of stealing military weapons?" ”

Changshi's surname is Ji, his name is Yujiao, and when he heard the words, he said: "Stealing weapons should flow and hang according to the law." ”

King Zhongshun smiled and said: "Seeing that the New Year is coming, I should give the Jia family eye medicine, and Ming'er will let people hand over the bullet stamp." ”

Ji Yujiao bowed down and received the order: "Don't worry, the prince will contact Sun Yushi one or two." ”

……………………………………………………

Ning Guofu, the servant in front of the door recognized the Li family's carriage and horses, but only said that this time he was going to Rongguo Mansion. When the carriage stopped in front of Ning Guofu, Menzi hurriedly called the housekeeper Lai Sheng, and Lai Sheng led people forward to greet him.

Seeing that Li Weijian jumped out of the carriage without waiting for the stool, Lai Sheng hurriedly smiled and said, "Yo, what kind of wind blew Lord Li here?" ”

"Brother Jane is here?"

Seeing that Li Weijian's face was not good, Lai Sheng was slightly uneasy in his heart, and hurriedly said: "The master is at home, please stay for a while, and the little one will be invited." ”

According to the rules, Li Weijian is a distinguished guest, and he must be greeted by a wide open door. Li Weijian was impatient with the rules, so he walked straight and quickly from the corner door and walked all the way towards the Yi Gate.

Lai Sheng's heart became more and more worried, and he hurriedly sent someone to pass it inside. At this time, Jia Zhen was eating and laughing with Second Sister You and Third Sister You, and suddenly a mother-in-law came to report, which made Jia Zhen annoyed.

"What's the matter? Didn't you say that the size is appropriate to report to Mrs. and come to disturb less? ”

The woman trembled and said: "Master, it's Lord Li who is here, and Manager Lai said that look at the posture, it seems that the person who came is not good." ”

"Lord Li?" Jia Zhen drank too much wine and didn't react for a while.

The third sister said: "It is the brother of Xifu Zhu's grandmother, Li Caishen." ”

"Eh!" Jia Zhen suddenly sobered up halfway from drinking. Although he doesn't care about everything now, he also knows that Li Weijian is not what it used to be. immediately put on his clothes and hurriedly went out to greet him, but saw Li Weijian pacing back and forth on the left side of the Yimen.

As soon as the cold wind blew, Jia Zhen woke up a little more, and hurriedly stepped forward and smiled: "Why did Brother Jian come suddenly?" ”

Li Weijian smiled reluctantly: "I am helpless, please forgive Brother Zhen." ”

"My own relatives, it's okay, this is not a place to talk, let's go to the study to talk."

Li Weijian responded and followed Jia Zhen to the study. Jia Zhen served the tea, but Li Weijian couldn't hold it anymore and said, "Brother Zhen, I asked myself if I had ever offended Brother Rong, but I don't know why Brother Rong calculated against me several times?" ”

"Huh? What do you mean by that? ”

Li Weijian said: "Today, there is a thief in the house, saying that he was instructed by Brother Rong to come to my house to steal the pattern, and the stolen partiality is a new type of firearm that was just designed." Now everyone on the side is easy to say, and I also asked Brother Zhen to quickly invite Brother Rong to chase back the picture, otherwise...... It's too late! ”

Jia Zhen worked in an idle position in the Fifth Military Department, and he knew the importance of weapons, especially new ones. I didn't want to see my own son Jia Rong in my heart, and this son was even more angry from my heart.

Smack-

The porcelain vase was shattered, and Jia Zhen suddenly got up: "Come on, go and bring that beast here, and bring the family law together!" ”

(End of chapter)