When Xue Hong and Zhu Hui returned to the army with the imperial edict, Xue Hong's appointment also reached the Ministry of Industry directly.
Jia Zheng was sitting behind the desk, reading a book of songs. He seemed to be absorbed in it, completely immersed in the literary world of the book of songs.
Colleagues on the side were not surprised by this, and even said: "You deserve to be unbeatable in your position for ten years! This is the Ministry of Industry! This is not the Hanlin Academy. It doesn't matter if you don't work during working hours, but you are still fishing openly? It shows that you are talented. , you are not even a civil servant, why are you pretending to be a cultural person!"
Basically, those who can stay in the six divisions of Beijing are either Jinshi who have been promoted in previous imperial examinations, or people with strong family backgrounds.
In other words, even the Ministry of Industry, which is at the bottom of the Six Ministries, still has a much higher per capita education level than Jia Zheng!
At this moment, the minister of the Ministry of Industry walked in holding a bright yellow imperial edict in his hand.
Everyone stood up and saluted upon seeing him, and among them, Jia Zheng was the fastest and most serious in saluting.
The minister of the Ministry of Industry smiled and said: "The young people are so scary! We are going to have one more junior colleague!!"
After finishing speaking, the Minister of Industry informed everyone of the contents of the imperial edict.
The general meaning is that after Jinling Ziwei passed away, Xue Hong was awarded the title of "Jie Yuan" at the age of sixteen. He had a quick mind and was good at the art of studying objects and mechanisms. I appreciate and trust Xue Hong's talent, and hereby give him an unusual gift of Wai Lang, a member of the Ministry of Government and Industry, in order to achieve meritorious service.
After the officials heard the content, they caused an uproar.
"Xue Hong? At the age of sixteen, he was educated in the Yuan Dynasty. It is rare in ancient times and modern times, but it is not an unusual reward for a foreign minister of the Ministry of Industry, right? After all, he is a fifth-rank official!"
"Is it because of family background? That's not right! Ziwei Sheren, it sounds scary, but to be honest, he is still a businessman. If the Xue family hadn't embraced the Wang family, the Jia family would have been a big deal! None of these officials would take it seriously!"
Although everyone was puzzled, no one dared to say that there was something wrong with Emperor Longqing's will. After all, they were the Ministry of Industry, not the official censor! No one wanted to provoke Emperor Longqing to death, even if Emperor Longqing now had a problem on his head The same goes for the Supreme Emperor!
After everyone was surprised, they were praised and complimented.
"I think this Xue Hong must have abilities that are different from ordinary people. He really is a hero from a young age!"
"Huh? When the Holy Emperor is alive, it is natural for God to send talents."
Just when Jia Zheng's brain was shut down and he was stunned, a doctor next to him said: "Master Jia, I remember that the Xue family in Jinling seems to be related to your family by marriage."
Jia Zheng came back to his senses and saluted quickly: "Reporting to your lord, that Xue Hong is my nephew. My sister-in-law is Xue Hong's aunt."
Upon hearing this, all the officials saluted and congratulated: "Congratulations to Mr. Jia, congratulations to Mr. Jia."
"Master Jia's nephew is so outstanding, but we didn't know it. This is your fault, Master Jia! Why are you hiding such an outstanding junior?"
Jia Zheng is a relatively low-level official in the Ministry of Industry, and at least half of the people in this hall have higher positions than him.
So Jia Zheng could only be busy saluting, while his mind went blank.
The official position that he worked hard for half his life, Xue Hong rose to the top in one day?
This strong reaction made Jia Zheng feel unreal and even a little jealous. Why did Xue Hong get the position that he had worked hard for half his life at the age of sixteen?
In addition to jealousy, he was more dissatisfied with Jia Baoyu.
He is also a boy, so why did Xue Hong fall in love with Xie Yuan, and now he is on an equal footing with him?
And what about Jia Baoyu? He was still making trouble in the back house eating the maid's rouge.
Jia Zheng suddenly remembered that Jia Baoyu had caught Rouge when he arrested Zhou, and he had scolded her for being a hungry ghost. Now it seems that she was right!
It is worse than Xue Hong, the child picked up by Xue Gong! It is better to throw Jia Baoyu out and have another child!
Even if he picks one up, he is much better than Jia Baoyu!
The more Jia Zheng thought about it, the angrier he became. He secretly made up his mind to teach Bao Yu strictly when he returned home. If he continued to mess around, he would be silenced and beaten to death!!
It’s useless for anyone to plead for mercy this time! I, Jia Zheng, said it!!
…
In the Bingzhang Division, Xue Hong and Zhu Hui just came back and met Mr. Xu Yan.
Mr. Xu Yan has even assembled the flintlock gun.
Mr. Xu Yan, carrying a flintlock gun, walked towards the two of them and said happily: "You guys came just in time! Boy Xue, see if this gun is right? Is it different from the drawing you drew?"
Xue Hong took the gun and checked it carefully, but found no problems. He was really surprised by the efficiency of Bingzhangsi. Without a machine tool, the craftsmen made it out by hand within an hour!! It’s really awesome!
Now that you have the gun, the next step is to test the gun.
A soldier operates a flintlock rifle according to Xue Hong's instructions.
The final result is that the accuracy of the flintlock gun is slightly inferior to that of the matchlock gun and the fire door gun. But the speed of loading ammunition is enough to make up for this trivial shortcoming!
After all, I fired two shots when someone else fired one, so I couldn't make up for the difference in accuracy! What's more, the musket battalions of this period basically gathered together and lined up to shoot, and what was fired was a row of projectiles. There was no accuracy at all. question.
When the two armies are fighting, just shoot directly into the crowd of people on the opposite side, without even taking aim!
Moreover, the firing frequency of this flintlock gun is much higher!
You can fire two shots in the time it takes to fire one, which is already a huge advantage!
Xue Hong, on the other hand, was lost in thought.
"The biggest shortcoming of the original flintlock musket was probably the ignition success rate. There were also flintlock muskets during the Ming and Qing dynasties, but they were abandoned because of the low ignition rate. How come all ten guns have been fired now? "
Many people said before that it was a flint problem. Fart! What is the difference between Chinese and European flints? They are both the same thing.
Xue Hong thinks that the problem still arises with the gunpowder.
During the Ming Dynasty, due to the large-scale use of firearms, gunpowder was developed and strictly controlled, so that the gunpowder was well preserved and dry, and the nitrate used to make gunpowder was of high purity, so the ignition rate was so high.
During the Qing Dynasty, due to the massive massacres and the burning of precious cultural relics and books, the books on purifying saltpeter may have been burned. As a result, the purity of gunpowder in the Qing Dynasty was not as good as that of the Ming Dynasty!
After all, the gunpowder used in the Ming and Qing dynasties had the ratio of "monitrine, disulfur, and charcoal". There was nothing wrong with the formula, but the problem could only arise in the ingredients.