The uncle and nephew laughed for a while and continued to get down to business.

Wang Rong asked Zhu Shencone when he planned to set off after the beginning of spring and whether he had made preparations.

Zhu Shencone told him that he only had such a thought now, wasn't this discussing with him? And if you want to go to Mongolia, you have to cross the pass, Zhu Shencone has never walked this road, and Wang Rong has to help.

"This matter is not in a hurry, Rong I will think about it carefully, this is not a trivial matter, it has to be arranged properly." Wang Rong thought about it and nodded.

"Then please leave it to my uncle......."

"If a family doesn't talk about two families, don't mention this." Wang Rong waved his hand happily, and then said: "In addition, you will definitely not be able to go alone, and you can rest assured that you will pick a few more in the village when the time comes." ”

Zhu Shencone originally meant this, the people in Wangjia Village were all his own people, and it was naturally impossible for him to go to the grassland alone, no matter what, he had to bring some people.

After talking about the grassland, the uncle and nephew talked about the business this time.

Before Zhu Shencone came, Wang Rong's side had already made almost all the arrangements, just waiting for Zhu Shencone to come over.

And this year's winter came very early, and after a little more than a month, the real weather changed, and after a heavy snowfall, the road was even more difficult.

So the day earlier travel is more certain, Zhu Shencone didn't want this matter to drag on for too long, after discussion, the two decided to set off the next day, rest in Wangjia Village for one night today, and set off in the early morning tomorrow.

After the discussion, Wang Rong got up and went to inform people to make preparations, and Zhu Shencone also went to the blacksmith shop in the village.

Most of the people in Wangjia Village are military households, but there are also artisan households in Wangjia Village.

Zhao Da of the blacksmith shop in the village is a craftsman household, and in addition to Zhao Da, there are two other households.

It stands to reason that the artisan households should be specially managed, but because of the special nature of Wangjia Village, these three artisan households have long been no different from ordinary villagers like the military households here, and they have become their own people after a long time.

Following the jingling sound, I reached the western corner of the village, where Zhao Da's blacksmith shop was located.

Blacksmith Zhao Dazheng is busy with his son Shishi, Zhao Da is in his thirties, his body is stout and powerful, and his son Zhao Shishi is also fifteen or sixteen years old, and his appearance is almost carved out of the same mold as Zhao Da, and he is also a sturdy and thick figure.

"Uncle Zhao, are you busy?"

"Oh, it's the sixth master, you're here!" Zhao Da, who heard the sound of striking iron, looked up, and saw that it was Zhu Shencone who immediately smiled, and hurriedly put down the work in his hand and asked Zhu Shencone to sit.

Zhao Shishi stood aside and grinned at Zhu Shenchong, Zhao Da saw that his kid was so eyeless, he was so angry that he kicked over, and scolded in his mouth: "What are you doing with a pestle?" Why don't you go and bring a bowl of tea to the sixth master? ”

Zhao Shishi came back to his senses at this time, and he didn't care about his father's kick because of his thick skin and thick meat, so he happily ran inside to get a pot of tea and a bowl out.

Serving the bowl and pouring the tea, Zhao Shile said happily: "Sixth brother, please use tea." ”

Looking at Zhao Shishi's honest appearance, Zhu Shencone thanked him, picked up the tea and took a sip, although it was coarse tea, he didn't care at all.

Putting down the tea bowl, Zhu Shencone didn't go around in circles, and asked Zhao Da bluntly how the things he asked him to make last time were going.

Zhao Tiantian knew what Zhu Shencone was doing, and immediately nodded with a smile and said that it had been done.

A touch of joy passed over Zhu Shencone's face, Zhu Shencone got up and hurriedly asked where the things were, Zhao Da invited Zhu Shencone into the house to talk, Zhu Shencone followed Zhao Da into the room next to the blacksmith shop, this is Zhao Da's home.

After entering the house and saying a little wait, Zhao Da went to the inner room to get something, and after a while, he walked out holding something wrapped in oil paper.

"Sixth master, the thing is finished, you first see if it is appropriate, if you are not satisfied, I will change it." Putting the things down, Zhao Da stood aside and lowered his hand.

"Good! I'll take a look first. Zhu Shencone nodded, reached out and took the oil paper bag, this oil paper bag was quite weighty, he slowly opened it, and soon revealed a thing inside.

This is a musket, which is very different from the self-generated firearm that the Ming army is now equipped with, and is much smaller than the commonly used three-eyed gun.

The length of this short musket is about 35 centimeters, and the barrel and body are made of wrought iron, and the workmanship is extremely fine.

The musket's door was moved from the top to the right, and it was equipped with a powder pool, a light door, and a front sight, and the handle was made of walnut, which was a good size and extremely comfortable to hold in the hand.

The ignition device of this musket is a fire rope, not that they don't want to use flintlock, but Zhu Shencone and they have tested flint before, and found that the success rate of flint is low.

Ignition with flintlock, the success rate is almost less than half, if in a critical moment, such a success rate is equivalent to looking for death, Zhu Shencone doesn't want to be unable to catch fire at a critical moment, the advantage that can be won becomes a disadvantage, you must know that between the electric light and flint, half a breath can decide who lives and who dies.

I picked up the musket and held it in my hand, although it was a little heavier than expected, but it was not a big problem.

Zhu Shencone carefully looked at the barrel, especially the wall of the barrel.

The barrel of the musket is very important, not to mention the backward metallurgical technology of this era, it is impossible to use seamless steel pipes to make barrels like later generations.

Now don't talk about seamless steel pipes, it's impossible to even make a barrel out of stainless steel. The original musket barrel was made of bronze, and only later was it changed to wrought iron, which is also wrought iron.

The artisan household system of the Ming Dynasty played a major role in the early days of its formulation, and with the founding of the Ming Dynasty for a long time, the original system was different from the original.

In addition, the Ming Dynasty now emphasizes literature and light on military force, and it has long not attached as much importance to armaments as before, and empty salaries abound in the army, and the ordnance bureau and the military war bureau in charge of ordnance are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, and even the E-word library and Guangji Library, which keep ordnance, are also under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry.

Noble and lowly, most of the big turbans in the imperial court don't know anything about the military, and they are dispensable for the ordnance requirements, coupled with serious corruption at the top and bottom, the appropriations above have long become a common practice to drift below, and the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry can't even eat enough on weekdays, who will take things seriously? Naturally, the quality of the Ming Dynasty's ordnance, especially firearms, is really worrying.

The quality of Daming firearms is not good, which does not mean that Daming's craftsman ability is not good, these are completely two concepts.

Craftsmen like Zhao Da are ancestral crafts, as long as they are serious, the quality of the things they make is absolutely first-class.

Looking at the barrel carefully, Zhu Shencone did not find any signs of holes in the wall of the tube, and the barrel was forged very strong, uniform in thickness, and exuded a metallic luster in the sun, which made Zhu Shencone extremely satisfied.