After the Shenwei cannon demonstration, the final mortar remained.

Several craftsmen took light barrels, supported them with carrying brackets, and fired them one by one.

These shells are made of hard and brittle cast iron, and when they explode, the fragments will fly out and kill nearby enemies, but the time of the explosion varies due to the difficulty of controlling the lead detonation.

Because of the shock of the two guns before, this small mortar did not cause everyone's surprise again.

But Li Wei himself knew that this thing was very useful, and it had a miraculous effect when used to attack the enemies in the bunker.

Zhu Yuanzhang finished reading this last kind of small artillery, and smiled with satisfaction.

But when he turned his head and saw Li Wei beside him with a respectful look, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

He could see that Li Wei had a grudge against him in his heart, from the time he gave the music girl to the beheading of those craftsmen, Li Wei quarreled with him from the beginning, and said those noble words, and never quarreled with him head-on again.

However, this kind of non-noisy and noisy is not really becoming well-behaved, but hiding his mind and no longer being honest with him.

Sometimes he also hopes that this kid can dare to speak up and make trouble like before, and he also likes Li Wei like that and is more assured, but he can't allow him to keep prevaricating and evading like before.

Just like these sharp weapons of the country now, if he hadn't forced them so hard, Li Wei probably wouldn't have taken the initiative to make them for him.

Zhu Yuanzhang opened his mouth, wanting to explain his good intentions, but he didn't know how to say it clearly.

"Good job, you just have to do things well, tell us if you have any difficulties, and we will solve them for you!"

In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang only said such a word of encouragement, thought about it, and then stepped forward and raised his hand to pat Li Wei's shoulder.

Li Wei, who lowered his head, felt the temperature of the big hand patting on his shoulder, and was slightly surprised in his heart, he could feel the sincerity of Zhu Yuanzhang's tone.

Others were also surprised when they saw this, although Zhu Yuanzhang was just a simple sentence and patted his shoulder, but his intimate attitude was also undoubtedly revealed, and he was definitely favored by Li Wei, and everyone could see that Li Wei's status in his heart was extraordinary.

Even Zhu Biao looked sideways slightly, he felt that his father's favor for this son-in-law was not much better than that of the prince, you must know that few of them dared to quarrel with the old father.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Li Wei was silent for a moment and responded, his mood slightly complicated.

Zhu Yuanzhang bowed his head slightly, and then announced loudly: "Li Wei has made meritorious contributions to the construction of new artillery, and he has been awarded a good doctor, and he will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of money, and the craftsmen of the cannon factory will be rewarded with ten times each!" ”

When the words fell, everyone was even more surprised, especially Zhao Ben, and these ministers made a low noise.

It's just a reward, but Li Wei, the waiter of the third grade, has been awarded the title of the second grade, which is simply a real grace of heaven!

This kind of title cannot be awarded without great merit, although there is no real position, but the glory it represents is higher than the normal official position of the same level, and the difficulty of obtaining it is much higher.

For example, Zhao Ben and their second-grade Shangshu have not yet obtained this kind of title, hearing that Li Wei, a waiter, actually got the second-grade title first, Zhao Ben's jealous eyes turned red!

"Your Majesty, it is true that Li Daren has made a great contribution to the creation of these kinds of artillery, but Master Li is a third-grade squire, even if he is added, he should be added to the three-grade general discussion and the main discussion title! It cannot be awarded directly to the benevolent doctor! ”

Zhao Ben stepped forward and said.

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him and asked unhappily, "Why not?" ”

Zhao Ben was unwilling to retreat, and still admonished directly: "Your Majesty, this is not in line with the etiquette and laws of the imperial court, please think twice!" ”

"The regulations are set by us, and we can naturally change them!"

"Your Majesty, no!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes turned cold and looked at Zhao Ben.

He directly added Li Wei to the second rank with his own intentions, now in the Ministry of Industry, Zhao Jun has been written by him in the booklet, it will not be long before it will be disposed of, Xue Xiang is old, it is time to retire, Li Wei is young and talented, it is a matter of time before Xue Xiang's class is taken, and he is doing this now is tantamount to making his attitude clear in advance.

Zhao Ben is not stupid, so he naturally thought of it, so he was even more reluctant to back down.

"Lord Li made such a sharp weapon of the country, and it is only natural for my father to be overpromoted, why should Lord Zhao be like this."

Zhu Biao persuaded from the side, he really thinks that it is really not too much to reward Li Wei so much, these artillery pieces and the telescope that Li Wei took out today are all battlefield weapons, with these things, the Ming army's future expedition will be invincible, and adding a second-grade title is really nothing.

Feng Sheng watched them arguing, but did not step forward to speak, the relationship between them and Li Wei deteriorated during the Zhengdan period, and he was not as close to His Majesty as Xu Datanghe, so keeping silent was his best choice.

Feng Sheng didn't speak, Zhang Long, Cao Zhen and the others wouldn't be nosy, what they were thinking about now was how to ask His Majesty for these cannons when they went on the next expedition, as for Li Wei, although this cannon was made by him, but what he said didn't count.

Li Wei himself didn't care much about these, in his opinion, the so-called increase in title is an increase in salary, although it is good, but he is not short of money now.

"We've spoken, that's it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't give Zhao Ben a chance to continue arguing, and directly made a final decision, turned around and left.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, Long." Li Wei was respectfully thanked behind him.

"Your Majesty......"

Zhao Ben wanted to say something more, but Zhu Yuanzhang had already gone away, and all the generals followed.

Li Wei saw him standing in place in pain, and chuckled: "Lord Zhao is not leaving?" Why don't I show you the guns again? ”

Zhao Ben glanced back at him, although he was resentful in his heart, he had nothing to say.

This Li Wei, who has only been demoted to the Department of Teaching Workshop, has been reinstated so quickly, and there is a tendency to go further, which makes him both worried and envious.

"Don't bother Master Li!"

Zhao Ben gritted his teeth and said, waved his sleeves and left.

Li Wei smiled and followed the guard of honor, and sent Zhu Yuanzhang and many princes out of the Ordnance Bureau with Lu Ti and others.

Looking at the honor guard of everyone's departure, Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief.

After making these kinds of artillery, Zhu Yuanzhang can be regarded as having an explanation, and he can go about his own business.

He planned to find a place to build a school for the children of the craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau. The dead craftsmen Zhu Yuanzhang gave some compensation, but it was impossible for the dead to be resurrected, and Li Wei would recruit the children of these people.

As he had more and more things to do, he felt more and more powerless, and many things could not be carried out without his help.

Although the craftsmen have good manual skills and are also very hard-working, but they can't understand the theoretical knowledge he teaches, he still has to teach some students from scratch to help him engage in research and development, otherwise, there are so many industrial classifications, not to mention that he is not proficient in everything, even if he has it, it is impossible for him to do it all himself, otherwise he will not be able to finish it.

Even if there is sufficient technical theory for many things, they have to be constantly tested to verify them, and some low-end experiments can still be done by these craftsmen, but once it comes to more complex knowledge, they can't do anything.

After leaving the Ordnance Bureau, Li Wei ordered Laifu to find a house for himself, preferably closer to the Ordnance Bureau, which was also convenient for him to run back and forth.

The Minghuang Chamber of Commerce is now all over the city and well-informed, and this matter was quickly handled by Laifu, and a large courtyard was found next to the Ordnance Bureau.

Li Wei went to take a look and thought it was good, so he settled down.

For the first time in recruitment, he doesn't plan to recruit too many people, and it's enough to have fifty people, which is about the same as a class.

After tidying up the courtyard, preparing some tables and chairs, and hanging the sign of Minghuang Academy, Li Wei began to enroll students.

After letting Lu Ti release the news at the Ordnance Bureau, the craftsmen were all excited when they heard that Master Li was going to recruit students.

Most of their children can't afford to go to school, so they can only learn crafts from them, and continue to be craftsmen in their classes in the future.

They have all seen Li Wei's skills, and Li Wei is in a high position, if he can study under him, it is very likely that he will become a big official in the future.

What's more, Li Wei said that he would not charge tuition, and he would also take care of lunch, and running this school could be regarded as a benefit for the craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau.

Whether it was to become an official, or to learn some real skills, or simply to have a lunch, these craftsmen took their children to the registration office set up at the entrance of the Ordnance Bureau.

Outside the Ordnance Bureau, the crowd was crowded, crowded into several long lines, and Lu Ti and a few stewards were helping to recruit students.

Li Wei frowned slightly at this situation, and had to add a few hard conditions to the admissions, such as limiting the age to about ten years old, and having not studied with other teachers.

But even if the conditions were added, there were still hundreds of children who met the requirements, so Li Wei had no choice but to increase the enrollment quota and recruit 100 people on a first-come, first-served basis.

In addition to these hundred people, there are also several children who have special preferential treatment, that is, those craftsmen who have been beheaded.

When everyone was recruited, Li Wei took them to the new school.

(End of chapter)