Chapter 249 The Emperor's Reward

Time flies. In a flash, a month has passed.

Li Ke has been there for so long and has never returned, and there is no news from the capital. Counting the journey, if Li Ke travels lightly all the way and goes back and forth to the capital, half a month should be enough.

Qin Mubai had some worries. On the one side, Li Ke had no news, and on the other side, it was too quiet in the capital. Normally, the reappearance of the national jade seal and the excavation of Yang Guang's real mausoleum are all earth-shaking events. But now, everything is abnormally quiet, and Qin Mubai can't help playing drums in his heart.

For a month, Qin Mubai spent most of his time in the Assassin's Mansion to take care of the people's livelihood and government affairs left by Li Ke. Sometimes he will go back to the barracks as an inspection. There are Pang Fei and all the riders over there, and everything is normal. Occasionally, I will go to the West River to see the mausoleum guarded by Yuwen Hongtai.

Three points and one line, life is tight and busy.

On this day, Qin Mubai was dealing with official duties in the desk. A government official came to report that three "strange old beggars" came to the front of the Assassin's Mansion and asked to see General Qin by name.

Qin Mubai couldn't help laughing: "If you can go to the 'Assassin' house and come to Qin 'General', of course, it's my acquaintance. Let them come in!"

The yamen led the three "strange old beggars" in. As expected, it was the three apprentices of Niu Wuzhi, Da Lei Er Lei and San Lei.

"Three teachers, why did you come to me in person today? Didn't I send you a little runner and a handyman? Why don't you just let them run some errands? Qin Mubai asked.

In fact, Qin Mubai knew it without asking. If it hadn't been for something important, how could the three of them run to the Assassin's Mansion to find Qin Mubai together? This is the first time.

"General, the matter you told me before is almost done now. It's just that the matter is serious, so I dare to invite the general in person to have a look. Da Lei said.

Qin Mubai couldn't help but be surprised: "What, so fast? It's impossible!"

"Not only the general doesn't believe it, but the villains don't believe it either." The three old men said, "After the general told me, the old man and others and the brothers on the iron mine studied day and night to work hard. They worked day and night for half a month. In the middle, they died many times and hurt several brothers. Today, they finally made a hair embryo, and they could barely have a try. I just don't know if that thing is what the general wants, so I specially asked the general to have a test.

"Okay, I'll go right away." Qin Mubai nodded happily and said to them, "Three teachers, thank you for your hard work. From now on, you don't have to work too hard. You can rest as soon as you can. You don't have to rush too much. Take care of yourself!"

"Thank you, General Qin. Lao Xiu and others have been busy with the master for most of their lives, and they are used to it. General, let's go quickly!"

"Okay, let's go!"

Qin Mubai called for a carriage and horse, rode by himself, and took three old men to the iron mining area in the countryside. Not long after, the mining area arrived. Several craftsmen have been waiting here.

"General Qin, please!" The craftsmen didn't say much and directly led Qin Mubai and the three old men to a very remote corner of the mine.

"Good boy, let you get it out!" Qin Mubai couldn't help shouting in surprise.

Cannon!

A cannon!

The cannon in front of us still looks a little rough. As the three old men said, it is just a "hair embryo". But in essence, it is the same as the Hongyi cannon introduced to China at the end of the Ming Dynasty. The Qing people thought that "Hongyi" was indecent, and because the cannon was often covered with red cloth, they called it "the cannon in red"!

The real red cannon is an ancient cannon with a front-mounted sliding fire door ignition. The barrel is long, the tube wall is very thick, and it is gradually thickened from the muzzle to the end of the gun, which is in line with the principle that the chamber pressure is high to the end when the gunpowder is burned. There are cylindrical gun ears on both sides of the center of gravity of the gun body. The gun can be used as the axis to adjust the shooting angle, with The amount of gunpowder changes the range; it is equipped with a front sight and a sight, and the trajectory is calculated according to the parabola, which is very accurate.

At this moment, the barrel, which is enough to be called the "ancestor of the cannon in red" and weighs more than a thousand catties, is mounted on a strong car and tied up. The dark muzzle is facing a barren mountain in the distance. Just because it has not been decorated and polished, it looks quite rough. But its huge size and natural weight give it a layer of domineering and strong color.

"General, according to the drawings and repeated instructions you left, we cast six gun bodies in front and back with the casting method. We have also tried to bombard several times in the past, and twice we blew up and injured our own people. After repeated modification and testing by these masters, it should not be so easy to explode now. Da Lei said this to Qin Mubai.

"Where's the cannonball? Let me have a look." Qin Mubai said.

"Yes." As soon as Da Lei waved his hand, the two strong men brought a small box and carefully opened it, revealing a huge dark spherical shell.

"The shells are mostly made of iron and lead stone. They are different in size, shape and weight, and can be successfully launched." Da Lei said, "General, do you want to test it on the spot?"

"Okay, I'd like to know if this cannon really succeeded." Qin Mubai took a deep breath and said, "If it's...then, you people are really going to change history."

"Change...history?" Everyone looked at each other confusedly and didn't seem to understand much. They were ready to fill in and debug.

"General, just in case, we'd better retreat and leave a long lead. If it explodes, it will be life-threatening!" Everyone said together.

Qin Mubai's heart was also chilled. Although he had full confidence in his theoretical knowledge and design, he really couldn't believe too much about the things made by these "civilian inventors".

"Then retreat away. Everyone must be careful and make sure that it won't hurt the people in front of you." Qin Mubai said.

"The general can rest assured that there is a barren mountain ahead. It has been used as an experiment for days. The mountain has already been closed, and strangers will not go up."

"That's good." Qin Mubai said, "Let's start!"

Everyone retreated to Xu Yuan's distance. A bold man held a torch and carefully dragged an extremely long lead to ignite it. Then, he shouted and ran back and fell into a weed pit.

Everyone covered their ears and stared at the burning lead. Seeing that it was about to burn on the cannon, everyone squatted down nervously, and even Qin Mubai felt a little faster.

"Boom!"

Suddenly there was a loud noise, and the sky in the place ahead seemed to have collapsed!

In an instant, Qin Mubai lay on the ground almost instinctively, and the others also screamed in panic and fell to the ground without getting up.

Obviously, this is a bomb!

Fortunately, everyone was far away, and there were no casualties this time.

"What a pity!" Qin Mubai loosened his ears and sighed. The three old men and the craftsmen also sighed together and kept asking Qin Mubai to plead guilty.

"It doesn't matter, I don't blame you. If it's so easy to succeed, it's not our turn to think about it. Qin Mubai said so, with some regret in his heart. After all, it is something that transcends the times. I have no corresponding tools and no practical ability. It seems that there is nothing else that can be done except design and provide theoretical support.

It seems that inventions and creations do not seem to be so easy. Compared with high-end technology and advanced weapons, the red cannon is so old-fashioned. However, it is really difficult to actually build it without the corresponding equipment and technology. It is a metaphor for the skills of casting, the purity and high temperature resistance of steel, the amount and purity of gunpowder, etc. There can be no mistakes in these small links.

"General, the villain has a suggestion. I don't know whether to say it or not." A craftsman said.

"Oh, I remember you. You are the oldest qualified caster in Xiangzhou Iron Mine, Master Zhou, right? Come on, I'd love to hear your advice." Qin Mubai said.

Master Zhou smiled bitterly twice and shook his head and said, "I'm not afraid of the general's jokes. In fact, the villain is just an incompetent model caster. The skill of pouring copper and cast iron is not very good, and the casting of gold and silver is even more ignorant. Otherwise, how can you stay on this small iron ore for decades? - The villain's suggestion is that if you want to make such an extraordinary artifact, you have to hire a real master caster!"

Qin Mubai frowned gently: "You mean, let me go to the court to be a prisoner?"

"Exact. Most of the skilled craftsmen and masters under the world are supervised by the imperial court. No matter how hard we work, I'm afraid we can't make the magic cannon that the general wants. Master Zhou said, "If you don't believe the general, you can go back and take a look at your own family's weapons, which will be the tiger-headed golden gun made by the Military Weapons Department. If you have the skill of Fan Zhuye, why don't you worry about not making the magic cannon that the general wants?

After his reminder, Qin Mubai really lit up: "It makes sense! So, is it really worth a try?"

"The general forgives his sins, and the villains and other generations are really powerless. Perhaps the masters who will be in prison can help the general achieve his wish!"

"Well, anyway, thank you very much." Qin Mubai nodded and smiled, "Thank you for your hard work. I will send someone to distribute the reward to you immediately. If there are any difficulties in the future, I may come back to ask you for help. Please keep this matter secret and don't leak it out.

"Thank you, General! Don't worry, general, we are all people who know good or evil. The craftsmen all thanked each other with joy.

Qin Mubai left the mining area and was somewhat disappointed, but he ignited a glimmer of hope. When I return to Chang'an one day, I can ask the prisoner to help me make cannons! At that time, even if you can't make a dead Shenwu cannon, it's okay to build two tubes of fire, right? Everything is difficult at the beginning. When Edison lit the first light bulb, he certainly didn't expect that the glory of the spacecraft would shine in the vast space galaxy.

As long as I first drill into the research and development of the first tube of fire and the first cannon, with the radical, inclusive and creative national temperament of the Tang Dynasty, there will definitely be more capable people, intelligent and skilled craftsmen, follow the optimization of this invention, and constantly create more excellent advanced products. My current behavior is just like Edison lighting the first light cannon back then.

In other dynasties, especially in the Qing Dynasty, if I change these so-called inventions, I may also be labeled as "demon words to confuse the public, magic skills ** skillfully chaos the country"...

Thinking all the way, Qin Mubai returned to the front of the Assassin's House. Counting the time, I actually went there for more than half a day, which wasted a lot of time. There are still many official duties to be dealt with today.

Just now, when I arrived at the door of the government, there were only a few very eye-catching soldiers standing there, and there were strange carriages and horses in the courtyard.

"Oh, Yu Linjun? Is Li Ke back? Qin Mubai recognized the robes of these sergeants and couldn't help stepping in with joy.

"See General Qin!" A person who looked like a small school obviously recognized Qin Mubai and hurriedly greeted him and bowed, "We are on the order to make a special trip to hand over something to General Qin."

"What is it?" Qin Mubai glanced at his little colonel and said, "Aren't you the Qianniuwei in the palace? Did His Majesty send you here?"

"It's exactly what General Qin said." The little school replied, "Actually, this is a reward given to the general by His Majesty the emperor. It's just that your majesty has a word first. If you can't do it, you won't give a reward. It's just a private gift. General Qin can accept it, and there is no need to kneel down to thank him.

"Oh, is it so complicated?" Qin Mubai couldn't help laughing, "Okay, then Weichen will follow the oracle, neither kneel down nor thank you - what is it, bring it!"

The little school waved his hand, and a Qianniuwei soldier came over, holding a scarlet lacquer box in his hand and handing it to Qin Mubai.

"The general has received the treasure, and we will return to Beijing immediately to pay the decree and say goodbye!" After saying that, the little school took this group of Qianniuwei into the car and crossed the horse, and left in a blink of an eye.

"What the hell, mysterious?" Qin Mubai was puzzled. He went back to the study and opened the box. He couldn't help laughing.

It turned out to be an "Analu"!

Ana Rhythm is one of the Buddha tools introduced by Tianzhu. The handle is shaped like a heart, and it is often made of bamboo, bone, copper and jade. When the mage preaches the scriptures, he often holds Analu and records the scriptures on it in case of forgetting. Later, this Buddha began to spread with the prevalence of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty, and its shape gradually changed. Until now, Meiyu was often used in the court of the Tang Dynasty to make this kind of "ana rhythm", and the front end was made into a hand shape - specially used to tickle the back.

Therefore, Analu has another alias, "Don't ask for others", also known as - Yu Ruyi!

"I'm too familiar with this thing. Isn't this Li Shimin's Yu Ruyi? When he is idle, he often tickles his neck and back with this thing. Qin Mubai couldn't help laughing and said, "Now he has given me his 'Don't ask for help' and 'Yu Ruyi'. Is it the matter of Xiangzhou that I deal with exactly what he wants?"

It seems to be a good omen!