Chen Mo didn't know that King Huai was already planning to crusade against him, although he knew that sooner or later there would be a day when swords and soldiers would face each other between King Huai and himself, but he didn't expect it to be so soon.

At this moment, he took the Xia family sisters, Nangong Xian, Geng Songfu and them, and just arrived at Longmen Xian.

Because of the intention of annexing Jiangdong, the 5,000 sailors offered by Nangong were transferred to Linzhou and incorporated into the Fish Scale Guard to prepare for the lower Jiangdong.

At the same time, his twentieth birthday was just a few days away, and with the help of Geng Songfu, he organized his own "coming-of-age ceremony", also known as the crown ceremony.

This means a lot to men.

After a little free time, Chen Mo personally went to the secret workshop where the explosion occurred outside the city, accompanied by the county commander Huang Xiu.

When I came to the valley, this area was even more sealed off than before the explosion, and no idlers were allowed to enter or leave at all.

As the county magistrate of Longmen County, Huang Xiu reported to Chen Mo the scene of the explosion: "When the lower officials came here, they only saw dust and fire, and there was a feeling that the sky was collapsing and the ten thousand rooms were flattening, and the buildings in the valley here were even leveled, and I didn't know what happened?" ”

Huang Xiu had never seen gunpowder, never seen a clay pot bomb explode, and didn't even know when there were buildings in this valley, so he had limited understanding of the situation here.

But since I heard the movement that night, I brought the officials here to check on it, and when I saw the army, I also realized that something important was going on in secret.

But I didn't think that this was a research weapon with great damage.

Or rather, they don't think about it at all.

Chen Mo didn't explain to Huang Xiu, but said, "What about the casualties?" ”

"This" Huang Xiu was a little embarrassed, and then said: "Master Hou, the Shen Yongwei stationed here did not let the lower officials investigate the specific situation at all, but only said that they would report to you, so the lower officials did not know the casualties. ”

Hearing this, Chen Mo thought of this, and told the defenders sent here that no matter what happened, he would report it directly to him, and others had no right to intervene.

"Got it, you go down first." Chen Mo said.

Huang Xiu knew that there were some things that should not be asked, so he immediately gave up.

Chen Mo asked Sun Meng to summon the leader of the defenders here.

The heavy troops sent to the valley were a team of people that Chen Mo asked Sun Meng to draw from the pro-military camp, just to keep it secret.

Soon, Sun Meng called someone over.

This person is a centurion in the pro-military camp, a nine-rank martial artist, named Xu Mu. He was once a soldier in the Yuzhou army, and after being incorporated by Chen Mo, he killed the enemy in the Battle of Yangpo and was promoted to centurion, and then Chen Mo transferred him to his own personal barracks.

Chen Mo asked him about the casualties.

"Twenty-three artisans were killed, six were wounded, and only three survived." Xu Mudao.

"What was the cause of the explosion?"

"It was the craftsman's improper operation and illegal use of fire, which caused an accident, and the craftsman who lit the fire was even blown into meat puree."

Chen Mo frowned, if he remembered correctly, the workshop repeatedly emphasized not to touch the fire, not to touch the fire, even the oil lamp inside was placed in the middle of the water tank, just to prevent the sparks from bursting out, but there were still people using fire,

This is a big violation.

"Is the chief engineer still alive?" Chen Mo asked.

"Seriously injured, but the doctor said that I am afraid that I will not survive the beginning of spring." Xu Mu replied.

Chen Mo turned back to Sun Meng and said, "Remember to do a good job of bereavement work." ”

"No."

The secret workshop was almost leveled, and the research results during this period were naturally destroyed, but fortunately, from the mouth of the chief engineer who could still speak, he learned that every experiment failure would be recorded in the book, which recorded the detailed operation process.

In fact, strictly speaking, the gunpowder that failed in these experiments will not explode even if it is ignited.

And the reason why it exploded that night is most likely due to a mistake, and the person who lit the fire made the experiment successful.

In this way, through the records in the booklet, after some research, it may be possible to reproduce it again.

If it can really be reproduced, then it will be no problem to attack the city and plunder the land.

Chen Mo planned to secretly build a gunpowder workshop in the valley again, learn a lesson, and continue to study.

After Chen Mo finished the crown ceremony, Geng Songfu left behind.

Chen Mo personally sent it to Linzhou, which was already in spring, and Chen Mo sent Geng Songfu, who was dressed as a businessman, to Huaizhou by boat with the goods.

After that, Chen Mo went to see the shipyard of the fish scale guard who was training.

On the other side, King Huai's secret letter also arrived in Chongzhou.

However, at this time, the war in Longyou was tight, and King Chong could still divide a force of soldiers and horses to threaten Yuzhou.

In fact, if you insist on sending out a team of soldiers and horses, King Chong can still draw them.

However, just for the sake of King Huai, King Chong was reluctant to do this.

The brothers also settle accounts.

King Huai and King Chong were brothers, but they were not born to the same concubine.

In the past, King Chong responded to King Qin of Huai and respected King Huai as the master, because the interests of both sides were the same, but after the defeat of King Qin's army, because of the different domains to which they belonged, the interests of the two were already different, and it was not an exaggeration to say that they were "competitors".

In addition, Longyou is close to Chongzhou, once Longyou falls, and then go west through Qinguan is the land of Hexi, and Chongzhou is in the land of Hexi.

If Longyou falls, and the Seven Kingdoms do not continue to go south to Yuzhou, but go west through Qin Pass, wouldn't it be to fight on his homeland again

It is impossible for King Chong to cause damage to his own interests in order to help King Huai.

But then again, if the Seven Kingdoms are defeated, King Huai asks him to help, and out of revenge for his daughter-in-law being robbed, King Chong is willing to help.

But it can't be done now, once Chen Mo is angered and let him also send troops into Longyou, the situation will be in trouble.

Therefore, King Chong refused.

When I received the news of the rejection, it was already mid-April.

The sun is shining and the weather is warm.

After reading the content of the letter, King Huai couldn't help frowning, in terms of age, he is a few years older than King Chong, so in his heart, he wants King Chong, who is a younger brother, to follow his own brother.

And the expansion after taking Fengzhou made King Huai even more arrogant.

But the refusal in the letter made King Huai understand that King Chong was also ambitious and unwilling to live under others, and it also made King Huai feel disgraced.

When he adopted Liu Ji's suggestion, he made a copy of the king's mouth, and King Chong would definitely help.

King Huai looked at Liu Ji, and at this moment he was a little hesitant whether he should crusade against Chen Mo or not.

Liu Ji gave up his hand and offered his advice again: "My subordinates received the news that Chen Thief is training a sailor, and he has obviously coveted Jiangdong for a long time, how can the Wu family not know that if it is to unite with the Wu family."

(End of chapter)