The next day of the autumn outing was horseback riding day. Everyone changed into samurai uniforms. There were dozens of ponies raised in Chen Qing's manor. These horses are not ponies, but very small in size, as big as a healthy donkey, and have good personalities.
It is very docile, especially suitable for the elderly and women to ride.
People in the Song Dynasty rode donkeys just like people today ride bicycles. Men, women, old and young could do it, so there was no problem at all for everyone to ride this kind of pony, including children as young as seven or eight, like Chen Ji, who could also ride a pony.
The younger children can only ride with their parents. Chen Qing is holding his two daughters in his arms today. The two daughters are now very close. The two sisters sleep together at night. The two discussed it all night last night.
I decided to ride a horse with my dad today.
It was a bit inconvenient for two little ladies in pink warrior uniforms to ride on the same horse as their father, but Chen Qing still had a way to solve it. He ordered someone to bring out the Bactrian camels from the manor, and he rode on the camels.
There are two large bamboo baskets hanging next to them, and the two children sit side by side in the bamboo baskets. Their bodies are fixed with belts and their hands can be supported on the sides.
Chen Qing shouted loudly, and the lying camel stood up. The two little guys screamed in fright, but after the camel stabilized, they shouted happily. The camel was very majestic and tall, making their position very difficult.
He is so tall that he can reach out and touch other people's heads.
The team did not rush, but walked slowly around the manor, walked through the shallow river, and walked slowly along the hillside pastures, enjoying the scenery along the way.
"Your Highness!"
Zhou Kuan shouted: "When will we get some elephants and put some chairs on the elephants' backs? The children can sit on the elephants' backs. It will definitely be fun!"
Chen Qing suddenly knew who his grandson looked like. He was a very naughty grandfather. At such an old age, he still wanted to ride an elephant. But his suggestion was good, and Dali could donate some docile elephants.
, riding is free, but you can perform for children.
"It's a good idea. I'll ask Dali to donate two elephants next year. We can see them next spring if we can."
The two little ladies were so happy that they clapped their hands and said, "Dad, we want to see the elephant, please bring it to us tomorrow!"
Chen Qing laughed and said: "Not tomorrow. The elephant doesn't have wings and can't fly here."
After walking through the hillside pasture and entering the woods, there was a tree-lined avenue in the middle. People walked slowly along the quiet tree-lined avenue. The ground was covered with fallen leaves, colorful, and the atmosphere of autumn was very strong.
"Yeah! Little squirrel."
Xueer suddenly pointed to the branch a few steps away and shouted excitedly,
Sure enough, it was a little squirrel, with shiny chestnut fur, a big bushy tail, and a pair of big round eyes. It was holding a pine cone. It was not afraid of people at all. It just stood on the branch and looked at it curiously.
With two sisters.
They were so close that Chen Qing was sure to catch it.
The two little ladies were so excited that they jumped up and down. Chen Qing quickly held them down and said, "You two, you will fall if you jump again."
The little squirrel was frightened by their excitement, jumped up the tree, and soon disappeared.
"Dad, let's take the little squirrel back! We can also raise it in the mountains behind our house."
The two young ladies looked up at their father together, their eyes full of expectation.
"You can raise a few, but it's not him. He has parents! If you take him away, his parents will be sad."
"Okay! Let's raise two more."
Chen Qing smiled and nodded. At this moment, he suddenly found a deer in the birch forest. He quickly whispered: "You two look into the woods. There is a deer. Don't make any noise, it will scare it!"
The two little ladies opened their eyes wide, held their breath, and looked in the direction of their father's finger. Sure enough, they saw a sika deer, following the mother deer. The two little ladies sighed together: "What a cute little deer!"
"Daddy!"
The two rosy little faces looked at their father together again. Chen Qing smiled bitterly and said, "Fawns are not easy to raise."
Xueer grabbed her father's arm and shook it desperately, "Dad, it's okay. We also have grasslands and woods in the back mountains that can be raised. I want to raise fawns!"
Chen Qing knew that these deer were raised by the villagers and would be delivered to the house together with the mutton as a harvest at the end of the year.
He didn't dare to tell his daughter this cruel fact, so he could only smile and said, "Okay! I'll get two fawns back and raise them later. One is called Xiaoxue and the other is Xiaobing."
The two little guys were overjoyed again, but soon they became distracted. The little deer was very spiritual and found them, so he followed them and took away the souls of the two little ladies.
We walked around the manor for a long time, and then went to Yang Zaixing's manor next door to visit his fish pond. We didn't return to the manor until noon. We had a relatively simple meal at noon, which was all farm-style food.
Everyone was in high spirits and enjoying the fun of autumn outing. The children went crazy and clamored to go fishing in the shallow water of the river. The adults severely stopped them. How could they still go into the water after the white dew had passed?
At this time, Wang Hao and several of his men came on horseback from Jingzhao, which slightly dampened Chen Qing's vacation fun.
In a large tent in the military camp, Chen Qing listened to Wang Hao's report.
"It's really unexpected. That Lu Jiao claimed that he could get the iron fire thunder formula, and it turned out to be true."
Chen Qing was startled, "What's going on?"
Chen Qing really couldn't believe that he had taken such strict precautions and yet there was still a loophole?
"He is the son of a craftsman. The craftsman's name is Yan Kuang. He is a craftsman who prepares gunpowder. He has three sons. Among them, the youngest son is studying at the Craftsman School. He is only twenty years old this year. I don't know when he started to get involved in prostitution.
It was a bad habit, but his family didn't give him much money, so he asked his classmates to borrow money, promising high interest rates, and borrowed money here and there. He already owed more than a thousand dollars in debt, and they would finish their studies at the end of the year.
He was interning in various workshops, and now everyone began to ask him for money. At this time of desperation, he heard from the madam that Lu Qiao wanted to buy the formula of Iron Fire Thunder at a high price."
Chen Qing suddenly said angrily: "That person actually publicly said that he wanted to buy the formula of Iron Fire Thunder?"
"Your Highness, this kind of person doesn't understand at all. He brags about his knowledge in front of prostitutes all day long and dares to say anything nonsense. Some people even pretend to be His Highness's brother in a brothel. In fact, no one will believe it."
"Then what?" Chen Qing asked with a gloomy face.
"Then Yan Sanlang found Lu Jiao and said that he had a way to get the iron fire and thunder gunpowder formula. He also revealed that his father was a first-class gunpowder craftsman. The two hit it off and reached a sales contract. Lu Jiao was willing to pay three thousand guns.
The money will be used to buy Yan Saburo’s gunpowder formula, and the agreed time is within one month.”
"The results of it?"
Chen Qing wanted to know whether the gunpowder formula was leaked?
"Our internal security spies focused on Yan Sanlang. Yesterday at noon, Yan Sanlang went home. As soon as he came out of the third area, my internal security spies pushed him to the ground and found this on him.
"
Wang Hao handed a palm-sized piece of rice paper to Chen Qing. Chen Qing took it. It could be seen that the paper was a little old. Perhaps it had been stuck in a book for a long time and looked very flat. What was written on it was the gunpowder formula.
, is similar to the current iron fire and thunder gunpowder formula, but lacks the powdered sugar.
However, the handwriting is a bit faded, and it must have been written a long time ago. There is an unclear seal underneath, and the words "Seal of the Firearms Bureau" can be vaguely discerned.
"What's this?"
"Reporting back to Your Highness, we asked the gunpowder maker Yan Kuang. This was the gunpowder formula of the Bianliang Firearms Bureau. Yan Kuang kept it in a book for twenty years, and he, the traitor, took it out to deceive Lu Jiao."
Chen Qing knew full well that this was not a lie. This was the gunpowder formula of the Iron Fire Thunder. If the gunpowder was made with the right craftsmanship, the low-quality iron shell could be exploded even without the addition of powdered sugar.
Are they trying to deceive the Jin State? They are afraid that the Jin State will succeed in developing it by mistake. They cannot be careless at all.
Chen Qing pondered for a moment and said: "Close the Internet cafe! Catch all the Jin Kingdom spies in Jingzhao. We won't need them anymore."
"I humbly obey the order. In addition, I have an important thing to report."