Zhou Xian kept playing with the pistol, unable to let go of it. Apart from its appearance, it looked a little rough, there was no other flaw. He asked Zhao Yu: "Brother Zhao, how long is this shooting range? How many magazines have you made?"

Zhao Yu looked puzzled, and when he saw the position Zhou Xian pointed, he suddenly realized it. He immediately smiled and said, "You talk about this gunpowder cabin! It's true that the magazine is as its name suggests. I only made three of them temporarily. This pistol is slightly less powerful. I went to the countryside and wilderness to test the shooting several times, and could only shoot the lead balls seventy or eighty steps away."

Zhou Xian nodded and thought in his heart. The range of 70 or 80 steps, so the effective damage range should be about 50 steps, and it is more than 30 meters converted into meters. Although the power is indeed very small, fortunately it is much lighter than ordinary hand guns, and it is better to use it as a self-defense. He looked at the musket and said to Zhao Yu for a moment: "Brother Zhao, can I test the shooting?"

Zhao Yu was startled and said shrillly: "What are you kidding? The court explicitly prohibits the public from hiding firearms. Testing the shooting in Kaifeng City, are you dead?"

Zhou Xian's face changed slightly, and then he realized that although the late Ming Dynasty relaxed the restrictions on weapons, the firearms were not listed. Zhao Yu made this privately to satisfy his interests. Strictly speaking, he had violated the Ming law. But such things can be big or small, and there will be no problem as long as no one reports it. But it is a big deal to conduct a test shooting in a big city like Kaifeng. But looking at the hand gun in his hand, Zhou Xian felt reluctant to leave. Looking at Zhao Yu, spring smiled.

Zhao Yu was furious when he saw him, and some uneasiness flashed through his heart, and he said in a trembling voice: "You, you, what do you want to do?"

Zhou Xian coughed, leaned over with a smile on his face, and whispered to Zhao Yu: "Brother Zhao, I really like this pistol. Can you bear the pain of giving up and selling it to me?"

After hearing this, Zhao Yu immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's all! I thought you wanted to do again! It took me four days to make this thing. If Brother Zhou, you just take it yourself, and you would like to sell it. But after all, this is not an official firearm. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, you'd better not show it to outsiders easily."

Seeing that Zhao Yu was so happy, Zhou Xian agreed. He was moved and hurriedly said, "This is natural."

Although Zhao Yuming said he wanted to give him away, Zhou Xian insisted on not accepting it. In the end, he kept all the silver he brought with him for Zhao Yu. Not much, it was only about thirty taels, and at least he could help him supplement his household expenses.

Because Zhou Xian and his party were going to the capital next time, they could no longer use the carriage. At first, they wanted to sell it casually and exchange it for some money. But after seeing Zhao Yu's predicament and talent, Zhou Xian changed his mind. He wrote a letter, called the restaurant servant, and asked him to send the letter and carriage to Zhao's house after he left. In addition, several cans of good wine were included.

Although he only met twice, Zhou Xian felt that Zhao Yu's nature is not bad. Apart from being lazy, he seems to have no other shortcomings. Laziness is also relative. He can make such a pistol purely by hand in such a short period of time, which is enough to show that he is just a master of the wrong era. If he is given room to play, he may really change this era.

During his trip to Kaifeng, Zhou Xian met Li Xin, Hong Niangzi, and Zhao Yu. He didn't know if he and them had a chance to meet again in the future, but Zhou Xian was willing to give them such kindness. Maybe it was useless, maybe it was useful, and these didn't matter, just because he felt that they could all be handed over.

The spring breeze blows on my face, and the willows sway. Zhou Xian and the others hired a carriage to take them to the Yellow River Ferry.

Zhou Tai was full of excitement and kept talking about what good things he had eaten in the past few days. Zhou Gan probably didn't sleep well last night, so he had to respond to him one or two from time to time.

Jinse was wearing a blue dress with a hairpin worth twenty months worth of her that Zhou Xianxin bought for her, and she carefully put the original one away. Zhou Xianbai looked at the spring scenery outside the window boredly, and was extremely quiet, and his thoughts were no longer floating where they were floating.

The carriage stopped slowly, Li Kai lifted the curtain and said to Zhou Xian: "Second Young Master, we are by the Yellow River, it's time to get off."

Zhou Xian jumped off the carriage and looked into the distance. The waves were surging, and the turbid water flowed eastward. Under the illumination of the rising sun, countless ships filled with cargo were speeding rapidly in the rippling waves.

Li Kai paid the car, and the groom fell down and thanked him and drove away. "Second Young Master, you can wait here for a while. I'll go to the ferry and ask if there are any ships heading north now?"

The Yellow River flows from west to east, and to get from Kaifeng to the capital, you need to drive down from the ferry here for a distance, then turn north to enter the Grand Canal of Beijing and Hangzhou. Originally, the distance from Kaifeng to the ferry at Jinghang could be reached by carriage by land, but Zhou Xian wanted to appreciate the scenery on both sides of the Yellow River, so he chose this time-consuming route.

Li Kai walked away and then moved back in a short while. It was said that there was a cargo ship carrying grain, which was about to go to the capital. Five people, fifty taels of silver, were responsible for all the food on the road.

Zhou Tai yelled: "Does there be no corresponding passenger ship? Cargo ships are all cargo, so the place where they live is definitely not very good."

Li Kai shook his head: "I asked, the serious passenger ships here are all shipped every five days. If we want to take the passenger ship, the most recent one will be three days later. I just asked the boatman to take me to see the residence on the ship. Although this is a cargo ship, it is still clean. The most important thing is that the hull is relatively large and it is safer to drive on the river than those passenger ships."

Zhou Xian pondered for a while and said, "Since that's the case, then sit here! Anyway, it's only a few days, so it's over if you endure it for a while."

Seeing that Zhou Xian had already expressed his opinion, Zhou Tai no longer had anything to say. He held his luggage and followed Li Kai towards the ferry.

The ships went downstream and then moved into the Grand Canal half a day later. There were suddenly many more ships here, most of which came from the south. They were loaded with silk, grain and various cargoes heading north.

There were many wars in the north, and with years of severe drought, most of the supplies were supplied by the south. Some people say that several southern provinces supplied more than 70% of the Ming Dynasty's food and taxes, which was not false at all.

Therefore, when Emperor Chongzhen wanted to increase taxes in the south in the late Ming Dynasty, it led to strong opposition from the officials and gentry in the south. Many people used this as a reason to talk about fairness. However, they did not know how the prosperity of the south would continue once the north was completely lost to the enemy.

The world is originally one, one prospers and one prospers, and one loss is both detrimental. Each performs its duties, supplying grain in the south and serving scholars in the north. Only by working together can the country be permanent.

Why bother to be petty there? To set off your contribution, you will try your best to criticize your fellow comrades.
Chapter completed!