My Daming New Empire

Liu Sheng waved his hands and said with a smile: "You don't need to be too polite, Shaojian Liu, how is Your Highness doing?"

Liu Wanchang smiled and said: "Your Highness is naturally good, our family is here to congratulate Mr. An..."

Liu Sheng was stunned for a moment, then bowed back and asked, "Where does the joy come from?"

Liu Wan said with a smile: "The Marquis of Wu'an will lead the North Route Army to march westward. Naturally, another suitable person must be found for the Beiming Mountain errand. Lord Ango has worked hard and made great achievements. His Highness intends to subsidize Duke Anguo."

But to Liu Wan's surprise, Liu Sheng didn't show much joy, instead he frowned and thought.After a while, he cupped his hands and asked, "Has this matter been settled?"

Liu Wan shook his head and said: "Our family is ordered by His Highness to pass on an oral order, which is to summon Duke An for questioning."

"Thank you Shaojian Liu for letting me know, but I can't take on this job!"

Before Liu Pu could speak, Liu Jing couldn't help shouting, "Grandfather..."

"Shut up!" With a stern voice, Liu Sheng didn't look at his grandson's face, and said with a smile: "Pu'er, arrange a car, Liu Shaojian, please..."

Liu Wan didn't understand Liu Sheng's meaning for a while, and asked with some puzzlement: "Why is this, Mr. An?"

Liu Sheng said with a smile: "I am not talented, I have been favored by His Highness, and now I am an extremely human minister. I have won a lot of rewards for my military exploits in the Eastern Conquest, and I will never spend my life. This Beiming Mountain, I will not go Take credit for this."

Liu Sheng knew that Liu Wan was Zhu Zhanji's confidant, so he confessed his feelings.

The servant next to His Highness, the closest one is naturally Li Liang, but Li Liang has no background. He was treated differently by His Highness because he served his grandson since he was a child.

Apart from Li Liang, His Highness's favorites are Jin Kuo, Sun Lin, and Liu Wan, and these three are all master-student relationships.

In contrast, no matter how favored Li Liang is, he is not as important as these three people.

Liu Sheng knew very well that the reason why His Highness regards Li Liang as the closest servant is also for balance.Otherwise, if the affairs of the inner court are controlled by the three masters and apprentices, there will be problems.

Therefore, it is possible to know how powerful is the great eunuch Jin Kuo, Sun Lin who is in charge of the Counseling Department, and Liu Wan who is a personal servant.

Although Liu Sheng considered himself someone close to His Highness, he was a foreign minister, so it was impossible for him to stay by His Highness's side every day like these three people.

Even if he was An Guogong, he wouldn't take money in front of him, what should be explained still needs to be explained.

Liu Wan understood as soon as he heard it, this Liu Sheng is now an extremely human minister and has no shortage of money, so now he is not only afraid of being the master of high achievements, but also afraid of becoming the target of public criticism.

Going to be on duty at Beiming Mountain is obviously to make money, but whoever replaces Zheng Heng will arouse the jealousy of other nobles.

The Liu family has taken too much advantage now, and they can't take all the advantages.

The two came all the way to the palace. At this time, the noon dynasty was coming to an end.To Liu Wan's surprise, Ji Gang was waiting outside the Jinshen Hall.

Ji Gang came back from Dongpu this time, and there was no news in advance.Liu Wan is responsible for the internal and external contacts around Zhu Zhanji, and he just found out about it.

For Ji Gang, he didn't hate Ji Gang as much as the civil servants, let alone prejudice.Even, because Ji Gang is a loyal vicious dog of the royal family, he still likes people like Ji Gang quite a lot.

Seeing Liu Sheng, Ji Gang did not dare to take the big one, he bowed and cupped his fists first and said, "Ji Gang has met An Guogong."

Liu Sheng said with a smile: "Xiao Ji, I haven't thanked you yet, the two Japanese maids you sent over are very well-behaved."

Ji Gang smiled and said: "All the men in Dongying are short mules. Women are small and exquisite. They have a special charm. It's good that An Guogong likes it. Liu Shaojian, I found a few silversmiths from Suzhou, and now I have just developed a batch of gold wares. I ask Liu Shaojian to help me appreciate it, whether it suits the preferences of the people of Ming Dynasty. I am far away in Dongying now, and what kind of style the people of Ming Dynasty like is really separated."

While speaking, a string of brushed gold bracelets fell from Ji Gang's hands into Liu Wan's hands. Liu Wan pretended to appreciate them and said a few good words, and the bracelets fell into his sleeve pocket.

Liu Wanwang turned to the guard on duty and asked, "Who is His Highness meeting?"

The little eunuch bowed and said, "Peking is being struck by lightning, and the main hall has been destroyed. Xiao Yi, the head of the Ministry of Industry, returned to Beijing to plead guilty."

Liu Wanqi said: "Isn't there a lightning rod? Why was it struck by lightning again?"

The little eunuch became unclear at this moment, and Liu Wan didn't expect him to answer, he cupped his fists at the two of them and said, "Wait a moment, I'll go ahead and report back."

In the side hall of Jinshen Hall, Zhu Di arranged a reception hall here according to the living room arranged by Zhu Zhanji in Xingqing Palace.

In the middle is a bright yellow single sofa nearly two meters high. Although it is a single sofa, it is no problem for two people to sit on it, and you can even lie on it to sleep.

In front of this sofa is a huge tea table, which is nearly two meters wide and three meters long.In front, on both sides are two rows of single sofas that are more than half the size. Between each sofa, there is a mahogany coffee table, and the sofa is also red.

This reception hall in the form of a living room is much more comfortable than Fengtian Hall and Wuying Hall.So on weekdays, Zhu Di usually likes to handle official business here when he is not meeting foreign ministers.

The thirteen ministers of Gu Ming did not accompany Zhu Zhanji to handle official business every afternoon. In the early court, they would determine who would be interviewed today.Minister Gu Ming who has nothing to do with these matters will not serve as a staff officer to advise Zhu Zhanji. Today, there are only eight Minister Gu Ming serving around.

After Liu Wan came in, he walked along the wall to the inside of the hall and let Zhu Zhanji see it.

At this time, Xiao Yi, the head of the Ministry of Industry, was kneeling in the middle of the hall, waiting for Zhu Zhanji's fate.

Zhu Zhanji is not like the general emperor, who thinks that a lightning strike is God's anger, and this incident is a natural disaster and has nothing to do with the staff.

However, Xiao Yi was in charge of installing the lightning rods in the government. When he installed the lightning rods, he didn't strictly follow the procedure, and he didn't connect the bottom line properly, so he was responsible.

So after finding out the facts, according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, this Xiao Yi will be fined, resigned, and put in prison.

However, Zhu Zhanji gave him a chance to atone for his crimes, and asked him to return to Peiping in vain, reinstall the lightning rods in the mansion, and then serve three years of labor to install lightning rods on high-rise buildings all over the country.

It's not that Zhu Zhanji is kind, but that there are too few scientific and technological talents today. It is a waste to put such a scientific and technological talent in prison. It is better to let him play a role.

Xiao Yi was so grateful, she apologized and left, and Liu Wan stepped forward to inform Ji Gang and Liu Sheng that they were waiting outside.By the way, he also directly stated Liu Sheng's opinion.

Liu Sheng is a smart person, otherwise, he would not have always been the most favored among Lord Hou during the Yongle period.He single-handedly controlled the musketeers and artillery of Daming, which Zhang Fu could not match.

Zhu Zhanji can also understand his worries.He doesn't want to go, and Zhu Zhanji won't force it, because there are too many people who want to go.

"Let An Guogong come in first, Ji Gang will see you later, and tell the imperial chef to stay with Shi Jianbo for lunch today."

Outside the main hall, Ji Gang had no objection to Zhu Zhanji meeting Liu Sheng first, and felt even more honored to hear that Zhu Zhanji wanted to invite him to have dinner with him.

Liu Sheng entered the hall and bowed to salute. Zhu Zhanji waved his hand and asked him to sit down. "Now that the army is marching westward, can Duke An have a good strategy?"

Liu Sheng leaned on the sofa, cupped his fists and said, "The old minister is now at a critical juncture in developing the Shenwei Cannon, and he wants to create a more powerful cannon for His Highness."

Because of the increase in furnace temperature, the melting of molten steel today is far more than in the past, and the impurities in the steel are much less.Nowadays, the number of copper cannons in Ming Dynasty is getting less and less, but the small steel cannons are more and more.

Of course Zhu Zhanji knew the development history of artillery, and said, "An Guogong is an expert in firearms. He has an idea alone. I don't know if it can be realized."

"Your Highness, please order."

"In order to be more powerful and shoot farther, today's artillery has always emphasized loading more gunpowder and increasing the caliber. But Gu believes that lengthening the barrel is a better way. In addition, making the shells pointed and elongated, even Linking the propellant to the warhead could be studied."

"Gunpowder attached to the bullet?"

Not all of Daming's shells are round, and now there are chain shells and explosive shells, but the technology is still relatively low-level.

However, what Zhu Zhanji said about connecting gunpowder and warheads is still very novel, and this technical solution has never been done before.

Zhu Zhanji had been prepared for a long time, and asked Li Liang to bring over the drawings he had drawn before, and greeted Liu Sheng to come to the desk in front of him.