Watanabe looked at the clothes on himself and several of his subordinates with an unnatural expression, and quickly raised his hands to take off the long gown that covered them.
Upon seeing this, several of Watanabe's subordinates immediately took off their clothes, with a hint of embarrassment on their faces.
These clothes were the clothes they bought at the first Dalong City they encountered after landing a few months ago, when the weather was still slightly cool.
This time, I didn't buy new clothes because I was anxious about what His Highness had to tell me.
Unexpectedly, an ordinary Dalong blacksmith would suddenly see the loopholes of himself and others.
Watanabe threw the gown to one of his men and smiled angrily at the blacksmith boss: "The boss has really good eyesight."
The boss waved his hand casually, picked up the tea on the side and took a sip: "What's wrong with you? The North is famous for being cold. I don't know how cold it is, after all, I haven't been there either.
You may not have gotten used to it when you first came to the inner palace, but you will get used to it in the future.
You should be the guards of the caravan, right?"
"Yes, we are escorts following the caravan, so we hope to build a good weapon to protect our lives and defend ourselves."
The boss nodded casually and did not continue to ask: "Stop talking about this, are you sure you want to use hundreds of smelting iron to make weapons? The weapons made of hundreds of smelting iron are very expensive."
"How much money is this?"
"Eight thousand copper coins, and seven taels and five cents of silver will be enough!"
"Is it so expensive? I heard that the Imperial Military Department can't use so much money, right?"
"An ordinary high-quality weapon costs 3,500 yen, but you guys don't want it because you don't want it!"
Besides, can our livelihood be compared with the imperial court?
The people in the imperial court are all skilled craftsmen. With more people, the weapons and equipment built will naturally be cheaper.
They are receiving salary from the imperial court, and we are supporting our own families. How can it be the same?
You can ask around in Xing'anfang, the prices for hundreds of smelting irons are the same, and some even cost ten taels of silver."
"Then is there any better embryo than Bailian Iron?"
"Yes, martial arts families and famous sects can create weapons that are several times more powerful than hundreds of smelting irons.
But that is a family's unique secret skill and will not be passed on to anyone else. Moreover, even if they want to create a magical weapon, it depends on chance.
Do you think that a magic weapon is a lousy kitchen knife or a hoe?
Are you going to fight or not? If not, don’t interrupt X’s busy work!”
"Fight, of course we will fight! Let's get five long knives according to our physique first. If the quality of the weapons is of high quality and we are satisfied, we will make all the guards at your place!"
The boss who was just about to add fuel to the fire suddenly lit up and looked at Watanabe with a smile.
"Then you have found the right person. The thirty shops from here to the east are all owned by a certain family. How many shops do you need?"
"Ten thousand!"
The boss almost stopped breathing, and his voice suddenly became louder: "How much?"
"Ten thousand! Can't you do that?"
"Okay, that's okay. One family can probably share a portion with others, but it may take a little longer. I wonder if you can wait."
"As long as it can be built, time is not a problem, but I still hope you can build it as soon as possible."
"No problem, bring the official documents from the Ministry of War wholesale, and ask someone from a certain company to check them."
Watanabe stared blankly at the big hand stretched out by the brawny boss: "Ah? Official document? What official document?"
The boss's excited expression darkened: "Guest, you're not making fun of someone, are you?
Without the official wholesale documents from the Ministry of War, a certain company would lose their head if they privately crafted more than thirty weapons at a time.
Don’t you know that if private craftsmen make more than thirty weapons at a time, they have to report it to the government?”
Seeing the confused look on Watanabe's face, the boss felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured on him.
"Guest, since you have made five weapons, I won't care about your joke. Come pick it up tomorrow.
The deposit is five taels of silver."
Watanabe reacted, took out an ingot of five taels of silver from his arms and put it into the boss's hand.
"Okay, let's come back tomorrow."
With complicated thoughts, Watanabe turned around and walked towards the outside of Xing'anfang. After leaving Xing'anfang, he kicked the left courtyard wall hard.
"Why does Dalong still have such rules? He still has to find official documents from the Ministry of War to make weapons!"
"Chief Watanabe, Dalong seems to have such a rule. The head of the family once said that the four thousand weapons he brought back were made by many blacksmiths."
Watanabe turned to look at one of his subordinates and nodded helplessly.
"Let's go back and report to His Highness first. If there is no other way, we can only do the same as the head of the family did back then, add up a little and add up!"
"yes!"
Watanabe and his party rushed towards Honglu Temple again.
At the same time, Sakai Ga walked out of the Ministry of War with a happy face, obviously having received some favorable promise.
Matsumoto, who was guarding outside the Ministry of War office, hurriedly greeted him: "Your Highness, how are you?"
Sakai He looked around, nodded to Matsumoto, and whispered: "It counts, it doesn't matter.
The worst result is that if Emperor Dalong is unable to reward us with the military equipment we requested in the end, we can purchase a large amount of high-quality military equipment from the Ministry of War.
If we fail to do so, Song Yu, Minister of the Ministry of War, will secretly give us the sword made by the General of the Ministry of War to test its power and quality.
But Dalong officials are really evil-hearted.
Mr. Wang gave us three hundred taels of silver notes, but Song Yu, the Minister of War, actually took more than one thousand taels of silver notes before he agreed to our request.
With more than a thousand taels of silver notes, how many precious specialties of Dalong can you buy?"
"Oh, the world is as dark as crows. The officials on the Emperor's side are also very dark-hearted. In order to win them over in the country, the gold nuggets spent were so despicable that I couldn't sleep."
"Be careful, Fujino's eyes and ears are watching us. Leave a few people to monitor the military office. Let's talk about it after we go back."
"Yes, please, Your Highness."
After Sakai He left, Fujino Ninghe and others rushed to the Ministry of War to ask for a meeting with Song Yu, the Minister of War, but Song Yu refused because he was busy with official duties.
This scene happened to be caught by the eyeliner left by Sakai He.
One person was assigned to report the good news to Sakai He, while the remaining people continued to monitor the situation at the Ministry of War office.
After being turned away, Fujino Ninghe cursed a few times and quietly rushed to the Ministry of Works office with his entourage. This time, he was not turned away and was warmly received by Yang Tao, the Minister of Works.
And Sakai Ga received the report from his subordinates, and learned the news that Fujino Ninghe had encountered a wall at the Ministry of War Yamen. Combined with the news that Watanabe brought back from Xing'anfang, he immediately became happy.
One is the old fox Fujino, who was hampered at every turn in establishing a military armament council among the people, and the other is himself who has received the approval of the Minister of War of the Dalong Court.
Whoever rushes back to the homeland with troops and equipment first, the result is clear at a glance.
The 28th day of the fifth month of the third year of Dalong's reign of peace.
Liu Mingzhi refused the request of the two Japanese envoys to reward troops and equipment in their credentials, citing the opposition from the Minister of Household Affairs and the Manchu civil and military affairs. Instead, he rewarded the Japanese envoys with other valuable treasures to take back to the homeland as a sign of the favor of the heaven.
The state envoys of Annan and Siam all received similar rewards.
In addition to being refused the request to marry the princess of the Celestial Dynasty, Goguryeo also received a large number of rewards from Liu Dashao.
Helpless, Jin Tae-eun could only agree and silently accepted Young Master Liu's reward.
In the third year of Taiping, June 15th.
Envoys from various countries, all well-laden, left Beijing one after another and returned to their home countries.
Especially the two Japanese envoys, Sakai Ga and Fujino Ning, had extremely complicated thoughts.
Although they completed the mission entrusted to each other by their masters and brought back a large number of sophisticated military equipment, these weapons were not gifts from Emperor Dalong, but were purchased with officials from the Ministry of War and Ministry of Industry of the Dalong court at a huge cost.
of.
After the silver for military equipment was delivered, the remaining gold and silver treasures that could be purchased for Dalong specialties were very few compared to the number previously expected.
Fortunately, although he did not receive the reward of the Great Dragon Emperor's military equipment, he did receive countless great dragon treasures that he and others could not understand, but at a glance they were 'of extraordinary value'.
A few days later, Ga Sakai and Ning Fujino, who each had their own ulterior motives, led their envoys to thank Mr. Liu and then bid farewell to him.
I left Dalongjing City with a full load.
On the east wall of the capital, Liu Mingzhi and a group of officials silently looked at Fujino Ning and the Japanese delegation who were gradually retreating.
Sakai Ga had already set off on his journey three days ago, and Fujino Ningkazu was the last of the envoys from various countries to leave Beijing.
When there was no trace of the convoy anymore, Song Yu looked at the calm-looking Young Master Liu with a smile.
"Your Majesty, I have a question, whether I should answer it or not."
"Say it!"
"With so many missions to North Korea, why are you so prejudiced against the Japanese missions?
The old minister vaguely remembers that many years ago, they were also a mission from Japan. They seemed to be a brother and sister named Sakai Kazuko.
Your Majesty was also extremely wary of the Japanese mission, which was dominated by their brothers and sisters.
Is there something special about this Japanese country that your Majesty should keep secret?"
After hearing Song Yu's question, the other officials also looked at Liu Mingzhi.
They were also puzzled as to why His Majesty targeted this Japanese mission in such a way.
Liu Mingzhi chuckled lightly.
"Japanese pirates are barbarians. They are fearful of power and do not possess moral principles. They are a serious danger."
Although several people did not know the meaning of Liu Mingzhi's words, they nodded in agreement and turned their thoughts to their own interests.
"Your Majesty, what do you think about this commission?"
"That's right, Jun Wuxi, we can't go back on our word!"
"Old minister seconded the proposal!"
"Seconded."
It was a matter of personal money for themselves and others, so these people were naturally very concerned about it.
Young Master Liu nodded with a half-smile, turned around and walked towards the bottom of the city wall.
"You have nothing to say, so naturally I will not regret it.
I have already sent someone to deliver the commission checks to your house, it should be too late to rush back now!"
The smiling faces of the four people suddenly fell down, and the corners of their mouths twitched as they looked at Young Master Liu's back as if they were mourning for an heir.
"Your Majesty, there is no such thing!"
"What a sin."
"You are neither a human being nor a wise king!"
"What else are you talking about? Hurry up and borrow a horse from the Forbidden Army to drive back. If it gets to Madam, all your hard work will be in vain!"