Fenghou

Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "If I'm not wrong, the three acres of shop land in Xinnan City was also sold to her by the lady, right?"

Lu Xiu sighed and said, "I originally said I would give it to her, but she didn't do it, and then sold it at the price of [-] guan per mu. At that time, the market price was [-] guan, which was slightly cheaper, but now it has risen to [-] guan per mu! "

Afraid that her husband would be angry, Lu Xiu hurriedly said: "My master has no children. She said that after a hundred years, all her property will be divided into two, half for me and Qiaoyun, and half for the maid who has followed her for many years."

Chen Qing smiled wryly and said: "Young lady, you don't need to explain. Of course I won't be angry with your master. I just think that her energy is spent on buying and selling houses. How can she have time to write poems and lyrics?"

"This is her pleasure too! She is afraid of poverty."

That's it, Chen Qing nodded, "Okay! Go ahead and research real estate, I guess you have followed Master to invest a lot, don't tell me, I'm too lazy to ask."

Lu Xiu was overjoyed, turned around and left, "I'll tell them, my husband won't interfere with our house purchase!"

"Wait a minute!"

Chen Qing called Lu Xiu to stop and asked, "How much did the lady invest in buying a house?"

Lu Xiu pointed out two fingers and smiled, "20 guan!"

Chapter 53 Sniping

Lu Wei is really tired of the life of this kind of undercover person. Ever since he sold an iron fire mine, these people have been looking for him constantly, asking him for information, and now they are asking for an iron fire mine. It drove him crazy.

Fortunately, King Yong came back in time to give him advice, so he gained some confidence.

Walking into the elegant room on the second floor, Wang Shuang and Zhou Hua had been waiting for him for a long time, they stood up and laughed, "I'm going to trouble Lu Sima again."

Lu Wei nodded, looked around, but did not see Lu Xuan, and asked, "Where is Lu Xuan?"

The two shook their heads, "I've searched several brothels, but I can't find anyone else."

"Forget it, this person is completely hopeless!"

Lu Wei walked into the elegant room and sat down, and said to the two of them, "The things you want may be a little bit closer!"

The two were overjoyed and quickly asked, "What's going on?"

"This time the army came back and brought back a lot of small iron fire mines. It is said that there is a problem with the quality. After testing ten of them, seven of them did not explode. The whole batch must be destroyed..."

Zhou Hua hurriedly said: "It happens to be possible to steal one from the destruction."

Lu Wei nodded, "I'm also thinking about it, but I want to tell you that it will take time!"

"why?"

"All the items have been transported to the Firearms Bureau. They will not be destroyed until the cause of the explosion is found there. At that time, they will be placed in the waste warehouse of the military department for a few days. I can't access them now."

"How long will that take?"

"I estimate about a month!"

Wang Shuang and Zhou Hua looked at each other, and the marshal was in a hurry, so they could only explain.

"Okay! A month is a month."

Lu Wei coughed and said again: "This time the risk is very high, I can't do it alone, I have to pay a lot of money to others, so I won't do it for [-] yuan!"

"Lu Sima, fifty thousand guan is already a lot!"

Lu Wei shook his head and said: "One hundred thousand coins, I won't do anything less, think about it for yourself! Give me an answer in two days!"

After finishing speaking, Lu Wei turned around and walked away. Wang Shuang and Zhou Hua were dumbfounded. Zhou Hua said angrily, "It's too easy for him to get money. Now he has learned how to open his mouth like a lion, but he still doesn't bargain."

Wang Shuang sighed and said, "He actually didn't want to do it, so he opened his mouth on purpose and asked Han Feng to go back and report to Marshal Du! If Marshal Du agrees, then just take the gold over."

"Really give him one hundred thousand guan?"

"If Marshal Du agrees, he can get another one. One hundred thousand guan will be one hundred thousand guan! This is not our business."

"That's right! The key is whether Marshal Du can agree."

……

The Dongyuanhe restaurant in Daming City is booming in business, full of guests, and the shopkeeper Liu Zhen keeps greeting guests.

At this time, a tall and thin man walked in and nodded to Liu Zhen. Liu Zhen understood and greeted another guest with a smile. Then he entered the courtyard through the back door, and the tall and thin man followed him to the shopkeeper's room.

The thin and tall man is called Wang Lian. He is the most capable general under Liu Zhen. He is extremely skilled in martial arts and is mainly responsible for spying on military intelligence.

"Did you eat?" Liu Zhen asked.

"Not yet! Xiao Liu said that the manager is in a hurry, so I rushed over."

"I'll tell you the task later, and you can leave after eating."

Wang Lian nodded, looking at a red mailbox in Liu Zhen's hand, which indicated that the information was important.

"The target this time is a man named Yang Jingong, who is the head of the Firearms Workshop under Wan Yanchang."

"It seems that the manager asked me to investigate him last time."

Liu Zhen nodded, "You investigated last year. This person is the best gunpowder maker under Wan Yanchang. Now Prince Yong has issued an order to kill this person and burn the materials in his hands."

"I see!"

"Do you need my help or manpower?"

"Give me a bag of kerosene, and there will be no need for manpower. I have always been alone, and I am used to it."

"Gunpowder is fine, you go to eat, and I'll give it to you when you leave."

Wang Lian quickly finished his meal, took a bag of kerosene, and disappeared into the crowd.

……

Yang Jingong was under too much pressure these days, and he was bleeding a bit. In order to put pressure on them, Wan Yanchang dismantled the development team of five of them and turned them into five teams. Each team brought a few apprentices to develop Iron Fire Thunder.

Those who are the first to successfully develop it will be promoted to three ranks, and will be rewarded with 1 taels of gold, and will be assessed once every three months.

The so-called progress is the number of times the gunpowder is tested, and the least number is the last.

The most direct consequences of this are two, hostility and fraud.

The five firearmssmiths were originally partners in a team, but now they have become enemies, guarding each other and spying on each other.

The second is fraud. The evaluation index is the number of tests, so the test is repeated every day. Originally, a formula only needs to be tested three times, and if it fails to meet the requirements, it will be given up. Now it has to be tested a hundred times. The experiments done before were taken out again to continue the experiments.

The key is that the references are all used up, and everyone does not know what kind of gunpowder can explode the iron shell, so they can only use the iron shell for testing. This will cause a big problem, that is, the number of tests is too small, at most one test per day , or even a few days to test once, mainly involves a sealing process, which is very cumbersome and can be completed in one day at the fastest.

When others experiment with gunpowder, they can experiment more than a dozen times a day, but if you experiment with frying iron shells, you only have one experiment a day, so the progress must be at the end, and the only person who will be beheaded is you.

Everyone understands this truth, but in order not to be ranked last in the progress, we can only fake it, concentrate manpower to test the gunpowder every day, and test the explosive iron shell every five or six days.

Yang Jingong is the master with the highest level among the five firearms craftsmen, with the richest experience and the deepest understanding of gunpowder. The other four craftsmen are desperately trying to make fakes, and everyone's progress has greatly surpassed Yang Jingong. Even if Yang Jingong is not beheaded, he will be severely punished.

But during this period of time, Yang Jingong has already had some clues. Two days ago, he accidentally discovered that the gunpowder that was ground into powder, and then solidified into small particles the size of sesame seeds, would spread much faster than powdered powder.

This is a major development. This is the most critical step for the success of the iron fire thunder. As long as the inferior iron shell is made next, it can basically explode. If some white sugar is added, the explosion effect will be even better.

For the past two days, Yang Jingong has been experimenting secretly at home. He is afraid that after several other competitors pry into his secret, they will snatch away the 1 taels of gold and the reward of being promoted to the third rank.

At night, Yang Jingong was sitting at the desk in the study, concentrating on recording his secrets in a small notebook.

'Since the Porcelain Fire Thunder can be successful, it should not be the problem of the gunpowder formula, but the burning speed of the gunpowder. Could it be that the spies got a fake Fire Thunder, which led to a big detour in the development of the Iron Fire Thunder?I have serious doubts...'

At this moment, a black shadow appeared behind him, and the light cast a long black shadow on the wall.

Yang Jingong dipped some ink and was continuing to write, when suddenly a hand covered his mouth, before he could react, Yang Jingong felt a sharp pain in his back, and the dagger pierced his heart, killing him instantly.

The man in black picked up the notepad on the table, looked at it, put it in his arms, and sprinkled kerosene all over the study, especially the bookcase and desk, and then threw a fire folder into the kerosene, 'Boom! 'The flames burned, and the man in black jumped out of the window and left quickly.

Not long after, the house was burned through, the flames soared into the sky, and there were constant explosions. Several barrels of test samples that Yang Jingong hid in the study were ignited and exploded.

Yang Jingong's family stumbled and escaped, calling for help. Soon, the neighbors ran to put out the fire with drums and gongs, but the constant explosion of gunpowder scared them all back, and they did not dare to go forward to fight the fire. The fire burned bigger and bigger, and thick smoke billowed , engulfed five or six houses in the entire yard.Wan Yanchang's dream of iron fire and thunder was completely buried in the fire.

The first thousand and fifty-fourth chapter is not fast

At dawn, Wan Yanchang received a report that the house of Yang Jingong, the deputy manager of the Firearms Workshop, caught fire. Unfortunately, Yang Jingong died in the flames, and his body was burned into coke.

This news made Wan Yanchang really angry. He had just received a pigeon letter from Jingzhao. The other party asked for one hundred thousand guan for a discarded iron fire mine that had not exploded.

"Why did it catch fire?" Wan Yanchang asked angrily.

"It should be that Yang Jingong was experimenting at home, which caused the fire. The neighbors confirmed that explosions occurred continuously in his house, and the roof was blown through. His son also said that he has been experimenting at home for the past few days, and his family members have persuaded him. He just doesn't listen."

No matter how angry Wan Yanchang was, it was useless, he immediately ordered: "Bring me the other four gunsmiths!"

The soldiers left in a hurry, and Cui Jiu advised him: "Marshal Du, don't be too superstitious about this iron fire mine. The information doesn't say that none of the Western Army's iron fire mines exploded, which means it is very unstable. More importantly, Regarding the combat capability of the army, the Western Army defeated the main force of Wanyan Wushu on the battlefield, this is not good news, Marshal Du still puts his energy into training, and I feel that this is the capital of our war."

Wan Yanchang nodded, "You are right. This time the Central Plains suffered a disastrous defeat, and Bianliang was also lost. The emperor was furious and called Wu Shu back to Beijing to report on his duties. I may also go back. I am worried that Wu Shu will bite back and accuse me The logistical support was weak, he was not given meat, which led to a drop in morale, or the iron fire mine was not developed, so I was a little anxious and asked them to develop the iron fire mine."

"The artisans have worked very hard and are experimenting day and night. Marshal, let nature take its course!"

"That's all, but you can't decompress them. Once the pressure is reduced, they will definitely be lazy."

At this time, four gunpowder craftsmen were brought to the hall. They also heard that Yang Jingong was burned to death because of a fire at home. It's a fake thing about Huolei.

Wan Yanchang walked out of the hall and said, "You all know about Yang Jingong being burned to death unfortunately!"

The four nodded one after another, and Wan Yanchang said: "The first thing I want to explain is that firearms and gunpowder are never allowed to be brought home, and can only be tested in the firearm workshop."

"Follow the order!" The four of them bowed together and saluted.

"Secondly, I want to ask you, to what extent has it been developed?"

An older gunpowder craftsman said: "Reporting to Marshal Du, there is no shortcut to develop the Iron Fire Thunder. It is to constantly experiment and improve the formula to find the greatest burning effect. At least tens of thousands of experiments must be done. If you can't succeed, it depends on God's will?"

"Why do you still have to depend on God's will?" Wan Yanchang was really dissatisfied.

"Marshal Du, some things are beyond our control."

"Like what?"

"For example, the quality of the fire nitrate. We have seen the fire nitrate from Tiehuolei last time. The quality is quite good, much better than our fire nitrate."

Wan Yanchang said coldly: "It means that the iron fire thunder cannot be made, it has something to do with the quality of fire salt!"

The leading craftsman quickly bowed, "Reporting to Marshal Du, we don't know whether it is related to the quality of the fire nitrate. It is just a hypothesis at present. If it is not proven to work after countless tests, it is most likely a problem with the fire nitrate raw material."

These craftsmen even discussed the way out, and if they couldn't do it, they blamed the poor quality of fire nitrate, which had nothing to do with them, "What can you do to me?"

Wan Yanchang was so angry that he had nothing to say, and asked again: "Then I will ask you again, I want to bring back another iron fire thunder, do you think it is necessary?"

It was Yang Jingong's repeated request to ask for another iron fire thunder. He wanted to compare the performance of gunpowder, but the other four didn't want it at all.

The four of them shook their heads together, "It's completely unnecessary. It doesn't make any sense to just see the gunpowder without knowing the formula, otherwise we would have imitated it a long time ago."

Cui Jiu also said: "Marshal Du, those iron fire mines are also waste products that have not exploded, and they will mislead the craftsmen to develop them. Besides, my gold is also very tight. Using this gold to buy iron fire mines is better than buying important information. .”

Wan Yanchang nodded. He also felt that it made sense. If it was useful, it should be imitated.

"Okay! I don't want this Iron Fire Thunder, let them use the money to get me the formula."

……

Jingnan Road originally only governed the six prefectures of Tan, Heng, Dao, Yong, Shao, and Chen as well as Wugang Army and Guiyangjian. The concept of "Xinghu Road" has been expanded, including part of the former Jinghu North Road, and has become a generalized Jinghu South Road.

This morning, a fleet of warships arrived in Baling County along the Yangtze River, and [-] soldiers disembarked. An elite scout, who came to Jinghu South Road to fight illegal salt.

The general who commanded this army was none other than the young inner guard commander Zhong Huan. This time he shouldered the heavy responsibility to lead the army to clear the rampant illegal salt on Jingnan South Road.

Zhong Huan was stationed in the barracks outside the city of Baling County. Cheng Guangya, the prefect of Baling County, came to meet Zhong Huan. At this time, Zhong Huan had a cover military position. His real duty was temporarily assumed, in order to command a thousand scout soldiers.

"The next official, Cheng Guangya, magistrate of Baling County, greets General Zhong!"

Chong Huan clasped his fists and said with a smile, "I'm bringing trouble to Chengzhi County!"

Zhong Huan took out an order from the military newspaper and handed it to Cheng Guangya, "This is the logistics coordination order of the military department."

Cheng Guangya took a look at the coordination order, and smiled wryly in his heart. This is to ask the local government to provide logistical support for the army, but the opponent's army is not many. Fortunately, there are only more than 1000 people, and Yuezhou can fully support it.

"No problem, I wonder what supplies General Zhong needs?"

"We mainly need food. We will have [-] war horses coming soon, so we also need fodder or black beans. As for other pigs, sheep and vegetables, we can buy them at market prices, but please contact us with the source of supply from the county magistrate."

"I don't know how long the general will stay in Yuezhou, so that I can consider how much food to send over."

"About two or three months! We are a scout army, mainly monitoring whether Zhang Jun's army in Jiangbei will go south."

"Understood, the humble official transferred [-] shi of grain and [-] shi of black beans from the former official warehouse to the general, and prepared [-] dan of fodder."

"Thank you! Where do I need to apply for official transfer?"

Cheng Guangya smiled and shook his head, "There is a logistics coordination order from the military newspaper, no application is required, and the grain can be adjusted directly."